Unbalanced

Unbalanced

di Candy Bellau, Sam Hallburn, Anchor
Imprenditoria
Stagione 4

What changed when his operations hire became a co-owner with Jason Blumer

Julie Ship started out helping Jason Blumer fix a few broken things in his firm. She was so good at it that she eventually became his partner, and that's when the opinions she'd been keeping to herself started coming out. She reminded him she was an owner now, and Jason realized he had a choice to make. Jason, CEO of Thrival, joins Sam and Candy to talk about the growing up he had to do once partnership stopped meaning "help me do what I want to do." He shares how he and Julie divided their roles as visionary and integrator, why they never talked about ownership shares, and what he learned about staying in the room when every instinct told him to run. Now, with Julie transitioning out, he's making firm decisions on his own for the first time in a decade. Listen now, and follow The Unbalanced Podcast for more honest conversations about running a firm. Unbalanced is brought to you by Anchor. We help accounting and professional services firms send agreements, collect payments, and manage billing in one simple system. Join the thousands of accounting firms who have made the switch.
S4 · E74
6 ott 2026
54:22

Reinventing a 25-year career in the age of AI with Amy Nubson

When Amy Nubson noticed the rates she could charge had dropped back to where they were twenty-five years ago, she realized something fundamental had shifted in her industry. On this episode of the Unbalanced Podcast, hosts Sam and Candy talk with Nubson, who runs two firms, New Fire Collective and Women Getting Visible, about what happens when artificial intelligence starts competing on price and speed instead of substance. Nubson explains how she moved from running a marketing agency to becoming a growth strategist, often discovering that what looked like a marketing problem was really a breakdown in client retention or sales communication. She talks about why storytelling, careful listening, and proactive client communication matter more than ever, and why she now turns away clients who want speed over connection. Unbalanced is brought to you by Anchor. We help accounting and professional services firms send agreements, collect payments, and manage billing in one simple system. ⁠⁠Join the thousands of accounting firms who have made the switch.
S4 · E73
29 set 2026
41:45

The unfair advantage she says most founders won't admit to with Kate Johnson

Kate Johnson almost didn't say it out loud: having a stable, supportive spouse gave her an advantage she calls uncalculable, and she wanted her audience to hear that plainly. Kate owns Heritage Business Services, a bookkeeping firm she niched entirely around one accounting software, and she built a free community, including a Facebook group and YouTube channel, to help other bookkeepers consider entrepreneurship. She also started the Accounting Cornerstone Foundation, which sends first-time attendees to accounting conferences on scholarship. In this conversation, Kate talks about the reluctant path that led her from corporate finance and military moves into running her own business, why choosing to niche around one software opened doors instead of closing them off, and how she is still figuring out what "enough" looks like with a full to-do list and a family she wants to prioritize. Unbalanced is brought to you by Anchor. We help accounting and professional services firms send agreements, collect payments, and manage billing in one simple system. ⁠⁠Join the thousands of accounting firms who have made the switch.
S4 · E72
22 set 2026
40:32

The pricing shift that doubled her business without new clients with Jessica Fox

Jessica Fox still remembers waking up at 3:30 in the morning in a cold sweat, convinced she'd forgotten something for a client, only to find she'd already done it. She just had nowhere to prove it. That moment became a turning point for Jessica Fox, owner of Florida Virtual Bookkeeper, who rebuilt her business around documentation, workflows, and a plan for what happens if she can't show up one day. In this conversation, Jessica talks candidly about downsizing from a team back to working solo, why it took years for value-based pricing to finally click, and how a membership service she found almost by accident now protects her clients if something ever happens to her. She also shares the pricing mistakes, hiring lessons, and marketing missteps that shaped how she runs things today. Unbalanced is brought to you by Anchor. We help accounting and professional services firms send agreements, collect payments, and manage billing in one simple system. ⁠Join the thousands of accounting firms who have made the switch.
S4 · E71
15 set 2026
47:57

What eight hour interrogations taught him about building trust with Mark O'Riordan

Mark O'Riordan once landed back in Detroit less than 48 hours after attending Nelson Mandela's funeral, only to be called in the next morning to help work a homicide case. That whiplash defined his eleven years with the Secret Service, much of it spent as a polygraph examiner conducting hours-long interrogations. In this conversation, Mark talks about leaving federal law enforcement to build New Mountain Investigative Services, focused on investigative interviewing and communication training for corporate professionals. He and hosts Sam and Candy dig into the shift from law enforcement intensity to entrepreneurial uncertainty, why rest doesn't come naturally after decades of nonstop work, and how building trust with another person, whether a criminal suspect or an HR complainant, comes down to the same core skill. Unbalanced is brought to you by Anchor. We help accounting and professional services firms send agreements, collect payments, and manage billing in one simple system. ⁠Join the thousands of accounting firms who have made the switch.⁠
S4 · E70
8 set 2026
52:54

The lesson she wishes she'd learned before year two with Hope Brown

Hope Brown figured out one of her most important lessons in year two, and she is honest that it came later than it should have. Running a firm she never planned to open, she got so caught up in the work she loved that it nearly swallowed her whole. In this episode, she talks with Sam and Candy about balance, and why loving what you do is not enough if there is no core left for yourself. Hope runs Brown Business Solutions, a virtual firm based in Washington, D.C., known as the Tax Minded Bookkeeper. She shares how one client's bookkeeping question grew into a company, why she left federal procurement behind, and what community financial education means to a second-generation business owner. Along the way: why not every client is your client, why you do not have to do it alone, and why getting out to conferences changed everything. Unbalanced is brought to you by Anchor. We help accounting and professional services firms send agreements, collect payments, and manage billing in one simple system. Join the thousands of accounting firms who have made the switch.
S4 · E69
1 set 2026
47:43

Why more automation made accounting firms busier, not freer, with Ryan Lazanis

Ryan Lazanis noticed something counterintuitive: the firms building the most elaborate AI automations were often the busiest, not the freest. In this episode, the founder of Future Firm and former owner of Zen Accounting, one of North America's earlier online accounting firms, joins Sam and Candy to talk about why fundamentals still matter more than the latest shiny tool. Ryan draws parallels between today's AI rush and the arrival of cloud accounting, which promised to automate everything and instead made firms busier than ever. He argues for doing less, not more: finding the one or two projects that move the needle, using technology to improve the client experience rather than just the owner's, and hiring for values instead of skills alone. He also shares the hardest decision of his career, selling his firm, and the advice that reshaped how he works: define what enough looks like before you build the business around it. Unbalanced is brought to you by Anchor. We help accounting and professional services firms send agreements, collect payments, and manage billing in one simple system. Join the thousands of accounting firms who have made the switch.
S4 · E68
25 ago 2026
40:35

The FBI raid that forced her to rebuild in three weeks with Jennifer Scott

The day before her husband was set to join the new company they had spent months building, Jennifer Scott opened the inbox to a reporter asking for comment on the arrest of the business owner behind it all. The FBI had raided the New York office. Overnight, a two-income family became a zero-income family, and the firm they had planned no longer existed. Jennifer runs HireEffect™, a client advisory services practice offering bookkeeping, payroll, HR, and recruiting to owner-run small businesses. In this conversation, she walks through rebuilding from roughly $7,000 a month and a single bookkeeper, why she calls herself the accidental CEO, and what it actually takes to run a firm alongside a spouse. She is candid about a hard-won lesson: no matter how close you are to someone, get it in writing. Unbalanced is brought to you by Anchor. We help accounting and professional services firms send agreements, collect payments, and manage billing in one simple system. Join the thousands of accounting firms who have made the switch.
S4 · E67
18 ago 2026
46:16

Why relationships beat AI in accounting with Tyler Otto

Tyler Otto once fired a client in their first month, after a 6 p.m. Monday request to rebuild a cost segregation report by 8 a.m. the next day was followed by an all-caps email asking why nobody had responded yet. Tyler, who leads Specialized Accounting (a firm built around hotels, restaurants, and marinas) and hosts the UnAccountable Podcast, joins Sam and Candy to talk about the parts of running a firm nobody prepares you for. They get into the emotional toll of firing bad clients, how a staff survey tracking client goodwill turned into an actual hit list, why mental bandwidth, not billable hours, becomes the real limit on growth, and how to price for the thinking time a difficult client quietly demands. As AI speeds up the work, the conversation turns to what clients are actually paying for: the relationship, not the transaction. Unbalanced is brought to you by Anchor. We help accounting and professional services firms send agreements, collect payments, and manage billing in one simple system. Join the thousands of accounting firms who have made the switch.
S4 · E66
11 ago 2026
44:42

Stop being a technician, start being an advisor with Trevor Myres

When Trevor Myres admits his firm got better the more he stepped out of its way, it lands as an honest reckoning rather than a humble brag. On this episode, the owner of Myres CPA joins Sam and Candy to work through the parts of building a firm nobody warns you about: conducting his first interview with zero real management experience, learning that hiring for potential can quietly cost you, and discovering that delegation without follow-through is really just abandonment. Trevor also makes a clear case for why the profession is splitting into those who can build relationships and those who cannot, and why he believes AI will widen that gap rather than close it. Along the way he explains why he leads every client relationship with tax planning, when he tells a prospect they are not ready for his firm, and how a habit of posting on LinkedIn became a hiring pipeline. Unbalanced is brought to you by Anchor. We help accounting and professional services firms send agreements, collect payments, and manage billing in one simple system. Join the thousands of accounting firms who have made the switch.
S4 · E65
4 ago 2026
48:41
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