Steve Callan, CPA

Steve Callan started his practice in Bend, Oregon in 1982. He's been a Sterling client for the past year:

"I was frustrated with my inability to have time for myself, to realize income from all the effort I was making. I was also frustrated with not being able to direct my staff to do what was needed. So I went to Glendale for Sterling's program.

"The Sterling executive training taught me what it took to be a business owner. I learned what I needed to do to direct my firm to have a better quality of life for myself and reap more financial rewards. I also discovered that many of the problems in my office were of my own making. I had to take more responsibility for what occurred here, and I learned how to do that as well. I learned what not to do as well as what to do.

"My production statistics have increased since I did the training. I would do it again! I've already made back what I spent on the Sterling program. I feel really, really good about it. The office has smoothed out quite a bit already. I now have the tools to deal with the problem areas.

"This year I have focused on the numbers, on doing what I need to do to get my personal production increased. I focused on making that happen, whether it meant getting a project done myself, getting a billing out the door, or getting cash collected. Whether the people who should be doing that did it or I did it, I didn't care. One of the things I appreciated learning from Sterling is that my job as an executive is to promote my business and implement policy. But, if I don't have the people in place to implement policy, then I've got to do it! I sat here a year ago just wondering why it wasn't getting done, instead of jumping in with both feet and getting it done. I know that sometimes this seems like obvious stuff, but my past has been more quandary and ambivalence, and now it is much more action oriented. Whether that means my staff do it or I do it, it is going to get done. It is working, very much so, for me.

"The last three months of the year really make or break a CPA firm. If I can't keep people productive in October, November and December, then I give away what I make in tax season. The end of last year was different, better than it was the year before.

"I had a CPA call me recently about whether he should do the Sterling program. I told him, 'If you're not willing to change, don't do this program.'

"I'm pretty good with people but this program really helped solidify some things that were up in the air with me. It has helped me communicate with people and to direct them in what I need from them. I've had better communication with everyone I deal with. I've also had more management information to share with my clients. When my business clients have problems, I now have a specific frame of reference to tell them what to do to solve their problems. I didn't even think of that before now - I haven't quantified it but it has given me a whole other set of services to sell. I feel like I'm more of a well-rounded accountant.

"One of the things that Sterling asks you to do is to consider having a planned evening for you and your wife. So my wife got excited about this because now Wednesdays at 6:30, I'm hers.

"It is almost funny, when I look at what Hubbard did, it was so smart! He basically wrote down his observations; and most of what he wrote down, if you stop and think about it, is very obvious. But he was smart enough to write it down. It's not rocket science, it is common sense stuff that makes real sense and can be applied on a daily basis.

"I'm very pleased with the consulting I'm getting from Sterling. I always get something out of dealing with my consultant. I'm still a very busy practitioner, but when I know that I have an appointment to keep with my consultant, I have to prepare for that, which forces me to deal with my accounting firm. At some point I need to be my own consultant and I recognize that I need to deal with my accounting firm and the running of my business on a regular basis without external pressure. I'm not too far from that. The consulting has a lot of value for me in doing that, in gently forcing me to deal with my practice.

"A couple of my staff told me, after I came back from the training, within the first few months that there was a quiet calm about me that there wasn't before, as opposed to being just a nervous, workaholic guy. That was very flattering to hear.

"When I signed up with Sterling I had one other CPA, two bookkeepers and a part-time receptionist. Our firm does mostly tax work. We do some business consulting, financial statement preparation and payroll preparation, but no audits. Since hooking up with Sterling I've added one more bookkeeper, and shortly I'm hiring another CPA. Most of my staff are more responsible now. There are a couple that haven't caught on yet, and I am still working to get them there.

"I use statistics to evaluate staff performance. I use them to evaluate office performance. I use them personally for my own personal production. When my chargeable hours are down for a week I go, 'Hey, I can do better than this!' I use them to challenge me. I keep track of billings on a weekly basis, as well as cash collections. I compare them from week to week, as opposed to last year's statistics, because I wasn't keeping such statistics a year ago. So far they are helping me. I have ballpark ideas of what my office needs to do on a regular basis. Rather than evaluate that once a month, I evaluate it weekly, which gives me the opportunity to do something about it before it is too late. Once the month is gone, you are back in the frame of mind of, 'Well, it's too late.' As I told some of my colleagues recently, 'If you expect change, you've got to be willing to do something different!'

"Not all my goals are quantitativeÐ many of them are qualitative. I've already met some of those qualitative goals. There is more camaraderie in my firm than there was a year ago. I am much calmer about what is going on than I was a year ago. I'm really happy I did the Sterling program - meaning I would do it again.

"I look at life more now as an entrepreneur, rather than as a 'Time-for-Money' person. There are some other business ventures I'm thinking of taking on. With the Hubbard management technology it is hard not to want to apply it in other areas.

"A year ago, I was just about ready to give up the ship. I remember reading one of Sterling's articles in a trade publication. I read it and thought, 'There's hope! There are people that actually like what they are doing again.' I really love being an accountant, and I love the opportunities I get on a daily basis to help people. I just didn't like how I was going about it. I was acting in ways that were getting me to give up, but I didn't know it. Which is pretty bad for somebody who really likes what he is doing!

"This year I'm taking on being an assistant basketball coach on my daughter's basketball team. That means I'm going to put in some longer hours in the morning so I can be gone in the afternoon, and I'm sure I'm going to have to expand my workday. But last year I wouldn't even have thought that possible!"