First You Have a Business Model Problem. Then You Have a People Problem.
(Fix that—and your Talent Stack becomes clearer.)
If your partners are living in the gap of the work that needs to be done and the deadlines keep coming, and every hire feels like a gamble—it’s not just a capacity problem. It’s likely your business model is lacking clarity and alignment.
Too many firms are still stuck in the old model—hiring generalists locally and reacting to deadlines rather than designing teams proactively. Or searching for the unicorn that doesn’t exist. The firms making real progress have flipped that script. They’re putting their business model first, then designing the right Talent Stack around it.
Here’s what we learned from Renew members on a recent group call—and what your firm should be doing next to evolve and compete in 2025.
Key Outcomes
1.Talent is a Tier 2 issue—so fix Tier 1 issues first
You can’t design the right team if you haven’t defined your:
The above are business model issues. If these aren’t clear, you’re hiring into confusion. Start with the business model, then build the team to support it.
“Once we got clear on our model, it became obvious which roles we needed. The overwhelm started to lift when we focused on designing the right team—not just filling seats.”
— Theresa Sutton, Renew Member
2. Offshore hiring is no longer a secret weapon—it’s a strategic move
Blake Meester shared how his firm has built a 14-person offshore team, now comprising around 60% of his delivery team. These roles include bookkeepers, tax preparers, client managers, and project coordinators.
“We stopped thinking in terms of ‘how do we hire more people’ and started thinking in terms of ‘how do we build leverage.’ That changed everything.”
— Blake Meester, Resident Firm Advisor at Renew
Firms often underestimate how much quality they can access offshore—at a fraction of the cost—if their systems and expectations are well-defined.
3. Most firms are underleveraged
Dig into your team’s billable time and productivity. Too many partners and senior staff are buried in $40/hour work. Why are your partners and senior staff performing half their time as overpaid administrators? You will never get leverage if high-value people are stuck in low-value tasks.
Ask yourself:
- Where are you (or your team) the bottleneck?
- What can be delegated, documented, or outsourced / offshored?
4. Don’t just hire—design
Smart firms aren’t reacting to open roles. They’re proactively designing their talent stack based on:
- Admin Support: Critical for unlocking capacity
- Functional vs. Client-Facing Roles: Defined expectations and responsibilities
- Project Coordinators or Pod Managers: Key to meeting deadlines and preventing partner overload
What to Do Next
1. Fix your Tier 1 issues first – a starting point for all Renew firms
Before hiring or restructuring, clarify:
- Who are your target clients?
- What’s your core service package? How do you stop scope creep?
- What’s your minimum and target price?
2. Audit your existing team
Identify where time is being spent and where leverage is being lost. Ask yourself: is each person doing the RIGHT work? Most firms trade dollars. That is hiring people for little profit, marginally producing more than they cost.
3. Design your future Talent Stack
Segment roles into:
- Onshore Advisory Roles: High-trust, client-facing positions
- Offshore Delivery Roles: Compliance, bookkeeping, tax prep
- Operational Support: Admin, onboarding, project coordination
4. Start with one change
Pick one role—perhaps offshore admin or prep—and test it. Build your muscle one position at a time.
5. Find out more about how Renew helps accounting firms transform their business model.
For clarity, we are not a recruitment agency or a BPO. We are your transformation partner. We help you transform your firm by creating value for the right clients, at the right price so that you can attract and retain a team that works less so that the firm profits more.
Download our Business Model Transformation Coaching Brochure
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