Being Yourself at Work
Blissful Balance with Amy Vetter
On Episode 143 of The Unique CPA, Randy Crabtree chats with Amy Vetter about her diverse roles both inside and outside her career life, and the value of authenticity. A CPA, a yoga instructor, a technology business executive, an author, and more, Amy discusses her experiences with identity and career transitions, and the Business Balance Bliss concept she constructed as a result. Amy goes into her work at the B³ Method Institute, her achievements as a Certified Speaking Professional, and the programs she’s developed to make work-life “harmony,” rather than just balance, an achievable goal for CPA firms.
Today, our guest is Amy Vetter. Amy has an interesting tagline everywhere you see things written about Amy: She’s a CPA, a yogi, and a technologist, which, we’ll have to talk about the combination of those three somewhat today. A few other things on Amy, she’s creator of the B³ Method, she hosts the Breaking Beliefs podcast, she’s a speaker and author, a highly recognized person in the profession through Accounting Today’s Most Influential People in Accounting, through the Most Powerful Women in Accounting. I can go on and on—I wanna give Amy some time to talk. So Amy, welcome to The Unique CPA.
Well, thank you, Randy. I’m so excited to be here.
Yeah, I’ve been looking forward to this ever since you and I talked—where were we? Louisville?
Yeah, at CPA America.
Yeah. I lose track of cities, and I’m sure you do too.
Exactly!
But we were in Louisville talking, and I think you spoke at the event. I spoke at the event. You hosted a yoga session in the morning, or least one of the mornings there, which I, unfortunately, wasn’t able to attend. But, man, it was a good time, and it was great to talk to you there.
So some things: I said you got the CPA, the yogi, the technologist—you want to give us a quick explanation of, I mean, you meld these together? Some I mean, obviously, that is who you are, and so that’s why it’s listed. But, what’s the interaction between those three things?
Well, I think the whole person and, you know, for a long time in my career, I kept my worlds separate and felt like, you know, one world wouldn’t be accepting of another world and so forth—people just see you as you in that world. And I remember, it was probably early in my yoga teaching career, so probably, like, in my early thirties, I was teaching a yoga class, and at the time, I had an accounting practice, and a client walked into the class, and they were like, oh my goodness! You’re the yoga teacher? And then everybody’s ears were kind of perking up, that were my students in the class. And, you know, my client started talking about some things about, you know, her business. And they’re like, wait. So then the students in the class were like, you’re a CPA? And I’m like, yep. And they’re like, my father’s a CPA, my husband’s a CPA, you know, this person’s a CPA, and it actually started wanting everybody more knowing all sides.
And that was something I think in different generations that you know, in accounting when I started, it was very much navy blue suits. You had a certain way of being at work, and what was accepted at work. And so when I started opening myself up to bring in all sides, that’s when you really feel at home at work, I think
Yep. So you and I are on the exact same page with that. I’m not sure if you’ve listened to the show, so I’m not gonna answer the question, but one of my—and if I don’t say this now, anybody that is a listener will think, well, Randy had a perfect opportunity to talk about John Garrett there! Do you know John?
Yeah!
Have you been on his show?
Yes.
I figured—you’re a perfect candidate for John’s show and What’s Your “And?” Was “And” yoga for you, or did you have a different “and?
Bass guitar.
Oh! That’s right. Multifaceted, multiple “ands.” And yeah, John is somebody that, when you were talking there, I’m just thinking, that’s exactly that message that he’s saying is to be your whole self, bring your whole self to work. So that’s awesome. And I love that story that, you know, this light bulb went off and now, hey, boom, I can I can be the yogi and the CPA, and the technologist and the bass guitarist, and the mom and whatever, you know, all these things in one. So that’s awesome.
And say it. Say it out loud.
Yes!
You know? And so I think a lot of times we don’t actually say those things out loud, or talk about those things. And I know even still I’ll, you know, speak at a CPA firm when they introduce me to, like, “and she’s a yogi,” I mean, what sounds strange about that? And it’s like, it’s not strange! It’s just, we all have another side to us.
Right.
And when you open up that other side, other people start telling you their other sides as well, even if it’s not the same thing, they’re like, oh, you know, I love the paint. I love of this, you know, and and that’s, you know, much more bonding conversation than, you know, trying to keep that mask up at work.
I agree completely. I would guess that if you ask people about me, they’ll as much as anything, they’ll say, oh, he’s that craft beer guy, you know, rather than the CPA or the podcast host or whatever. And so just because that’s the fun things to talk about when you’re Although I love talking about the things we’re talking about today. But yeah. So, okay. We can go on tangents. I could talk about this all day. and that’s awesome. That’s a great start. We this is like, you know, we are going.
That’s what happens when you talk to another podcast host.
That’s right. Well, at some point, I do probably wanna talk about Breaking Beliefs because I love the name of that podcast too. In fact, let’s do it. Let’s talk it now. So give me a breakdown of the podcast, Breaking Beliefs, and what’s the goal there, and what you talk about with your guests.
Yeah. So that really originated because of the book that’s gonna be launching in a couple weeks, and the book is all about these belief systems that we carry with us that we often don’t even recognize, that are generational patterns or beliefs people have told us to believe and we start thinking they’re our beliefs, but not sure. When we question it—are they our beliefs or not our beliefs?
And when I started the process—this book, really, I’ve been writing for over 17, even though it’s my third book, it’s the one that I’ve had to have the most courage to put out into the world, because it’s very personal. And I’ve been writing stories about, you know, I wrote the book in my phone for 12 years. And then the book writing process, because it’s such a—it’s a much deeper book—has taken five years of just going back and forth, making sure everything was right. And through that process, I really decided to start the podcast, and I think I started the podcast, I think it’s been three years, if not longer at this point.
Wow.
We have over 125 episodes at this point. So it’s kind of flown. And I really created it about breaking these belief systems and interviewing people about their life stories and kind of where their belief systems came from. As you grow and learn and become a leader and so forth, you decide whether to question those beliefs or not, or whether they’re serving you, or patterns of behavior that show up. And so that’s really what that podcast is about is everybody that comes on talks about their life story and the beliefs that have served them, but also that they’ve had to break free from as well in order to achieve the success that they have.
Yeah, that’s awesome. And we should say, the the book is Disconnect to Connect?
It’s called Disconnect to Connect: Tap into the Power Within You to Create the Life You Desire.
Well, I already, I signed up to get on the pre-order list or whatever it is.
Yay! Thank you.
So now I’m looking forward to it. Just the name by itself, it’s like, okay, this is also things I feel like I talk about all the time. At least from that, disconnecting to connect is cool.
And so I wanna share one story because I’m the host. I can do this, but that, personally, because when you were talking, I started thinking, you know, what beliefs have I had to you know, overcome. And one of them that really—people know in the past had a stroke, and my stroke created some mental health issues and boom, I’m all past that. But one of the things that that did for me is it made me look and say, what do I like doing? What don’t I like doing? What is my identity? And for the longest time, I thought my identity was, I’m an entrepreneur, I start a business, I run a business. And that’s really not it. I can start a business. I don’t have to run the business, I found out.
And boy, when I gave up managing partner role of Tri-Merit, Everything just took off for me personally, for the business. And I got to do what I love, which is sitting talking to Amy Vetter and everybody else that’s on this podcast. And just be out, communicating and educating, and that just is such a change. Every day is awesome. And that was not always the case when I was managing partner. So I love that topic.
Well, and I wanna say about that, is that process is not easy to let go of things we define ourselves by.
No.
And these titles that we try earn or, you know, succeed with. I know I had a similar experience when I sold my first business—that was my accounting practice. And the day after I sold it, I realized I was really depressed. I was, you know, sitting at breakfast, like, not wanting to move, when I thought I’d be really happy about, you know, because I had started to move into a role with Intuit, so it was a transition in my career. I was basically starting over, you know, not over-over, but it was a whole new career project.
A new direction, yep.
Which I’m glad that I did. But at the moment, I was like, I’ve always defined my, like, my business was, like, a part of me. And now who am I? And I have a great podcast about this one topic about, who am I? And it’s with a psychiatrist, his name’s Dr. Keith Bernardo, and he talked about the story about when he was young, his father had a near death experience. Then his father, when he got healthy again, sat Keith and his sister down who were about, you know, 9, 10, 11, that kinda age and said, who are you?
So Keith said, I’m a football player. And he’s like, what do you like about football? And he’s like, I love winning games. He’s like, what do you love about winning games? And he’s like, I love, you know, getting down the field, scoring the goals. He’s like, what do you love about that? And he’s like, I love figuring out the plays and how we get it and the strategy behind it. He’s like, So you’re not just a football player. You’re curious. And a lot of times, we don’t define ourselves at that base level, and when we get out of alignment, of curiosity for him, then he’s not gonna be happy. And it’s not about the title. When we can get away from the title and that whole perception of ourselves, which is ego, right? At the end of the day, it’s holding on the, you know, some, you know, false perception of ourselves—that we can get to the root of who we are to make sure we are happy and we are in alignment with what we’re doing with the work we’re doing in our personal life. All of those things.
Yeah. So what you just said there. I mean, if people ask me what I do, I don’t have a description for who I am or what I do, it’s just, I go out and I educate, I guess. And but it’s not I don’t have a title. I’m like, what is my title? I guess I don’t have a title. I don’t want a title. You know? And because I don’t, and maybe that’s because when I had the title of managing partner, I thought that’s who I was. Maybe subconsciously, I’m like, I don’t want a title now. I’m like, and then I was thinking, well, my chief education officer, no, I don’t want that. That sounds weird. So, yeah, I like that. You know, getting rid of that, identity as your title or whatever it is, and just go do the things you want.
Well, and it just always drives the wrong behavior in the end, if that’s the goal, because it’s not out of purpose, it can make you behave in ways that maybe you don’t wanna behave, or drive health issues, like you said. It’s something that really isn’t what makes you happy. And so this is really what the book is about is getting to those things that make you happy, and being okay with it. And, you know, a lot of my story is that I was trying to please other people for so much of my life, that when I got to that deep therapy and trying to unravel, and on top of it with yoga and all the self work, and learning—and it never ends, there’s never an ending, it’s just awareness that you’re achieving because things will always shift. But being okay, if what you are is not what people expect, or might think less of—you have to be okay with who you are and be proud of your life. Like, the only person living your life is you.
And so, you know, the way I really look at this book is almost like a prequel to Business, Balance, & Bliss. So I wrote that book five years ago, but this was the work I had to do prior to it, and people would always ask me with that book, you know, how did you get there? You know, how did you… and this is really the deep work. It’s, you can’t just surface level anything. You have to sit in the mud. You have to go through the hard stuff in order to really uncover. We’ve got so many layers inside of us. And as we experience life, different layers pop off and different layers come back on, and we have to constantly be aware and shift, but know to shift and have that self awareness that we need to probably assess.
Yeah, be true to your true self, I would guess, is the, you know, don’t try to be something. You’re not be the something that makes you happy. I don’t know. That sounds interesting to me. I don’t know how to do that. I guess I do. I have done it.
Yeah!
So you just mentioned the Business, Balance & Bliss, which was your first book, right? It’s also, “Business Plus Balance Equals Bliss,” and then you have the B³ Method, and a lot of things built off of that. Why don’t we expand on that? What is that whole concept?
So it’s really, what I, you know, encapsulate as creating work-life harmony. And, you know, going through life as a CPA and executive, and you know, entrepreneur, all of those things are so stressful. And I remember people would, you know, talk about work-life balance, and I’m like, I don’t get what they’re talking about! And then you start feeling bad about yourself and so forth. And as I started putting more practices in my life to disconnect and give myself space, that’s where I coined the term work-life harmony instead of balance, because it really is the ebb and flow of each day and not putting that pressure on yourself. Because once you start putting pressure on yourself, you’re not getting the fit of the balance.
You know, all the research around work-life balance is, it’s not about the quantity of time, it’s the quality. and so even if it’s two minutes in the middle of your day, if you’re able to release your mind and take away some of stress or get back to your breath or whatever you have to do to keep your energy where you want it to be for your day—that’s work life harmony. And so rather than putting all this pressure on yourself about, well, someone else looks like they’ve got it and I don’t have it or I can’t keep up, I’ve got kids, I’ve got this, I’ve got that, there’s always two minutes. And so it’s finding, you know, those moments in our day so that we can reset.
Yeah, I don’t know. I I think, either we have the same mind or we—because I do this. When we were in Louisville together, I was doing the presentation on mental health. But the one thing I talk about there is just, you know, simple little things you can do and exactly what you said, you know, close your computer for a minute and just take five deep breaths. Don’t eat at your desk. Take a walk and leave your phone behind. Disconnect. Let your mind refresh. All these things that you can do to be a better work-life harmony.
And yeah. So I love that. So now, you know, you’ve not just coined this term and the B³, and all this, you’re out educating on this. And so who’s bringing you in? Are these CPA firms, businesses, general accounting, I mean, and then what’s that, consulting look like, I guess?
Yeah. So, I mean, on one part of my business, I am a keynote speaker, so I’m hired by conferences all over the country. So I spend a lot of time traveling, speaking, which I love meeting people, and just being able to share experiences.
We also offer courses through the B³ Method Institute. We have a “Finding Balance” course and we’re launching our intentional time management course. And these courses are 30 days where there’s e-learning, and then we meet once a week and attention set, see what’s working, what’s not working, help each other.
And then we also go in and do firm retreats and consulting as well. The firm retreats, we do a whole wellness phase. Also I teach yoga and teach meditation, I chair yoga, all of that stuff. So we’re able to incorporate all of that in.
But our latest thing that we’ve been working on in the last couple of years is what I call “workplace transformation”—that work-life harmony is possible in this profession. And we have now, developed a tried and true process, but it is a 12 month process. People have to dedicate the time, and it has to be a partner mindset shift to do it—giving them all the guidance of the things they need to do each month over the next 12 months to start making these changes, get everyone involved in the firm, that you can transform the firm, you can get it to 45 hours or less a week. All of these things are possible, but it takes the work, the action plan, all the partners around it, all the leadership around it, the staff involved. And so that’s been a big initiative for us is not just talking about it, but helping these firms to truly transform, and we’re seeing it, and it’s awesome.
Yeah, again, that is another thing I talk about all the time is that we probably are not as efficient with our time as we need to be. There’s just so many interruptions we let take control of our lives and our time that it is just, you know, that’s why we’re working 60 hours plus during tax season, and when in reality, like you just said, 45 hours is possible. and I honestly, I know somebody who has done that. Her entire firm, maximum hours during tax season is 45 hours a week because of their time management that they put in place. So I feel like I wanna go sit in these classes and hear everything you’re talking about. This is a Man, this is great information. And that’s out there already, that’s there’s a new 12 month program starting now. Are you filled up on that? Are people still signing up?
We’re getting close. So, definitely if people are interested in it, we have a B³ Method Institute site, which is BusinessBalanceBliss.com, and, that’s where our courses are. So we also do client advisory services courses to help transform those practices, so that they can get better balance, and also create a foundation to scale. So we have a number of courses to really change your business life to be able to achieve this work-life harmony that we want so badly for all the thousands of accountants that are out there.
Oh, yeah, millions. I think there’s something like one point something million CPAs in the country or something. So, yeah, and not even just CPAs—EAs, bookkeepers, accountants, you know, we’re talking in the millions.
Yeah. I mean, we definitely have people take the courses that aren’t accountants for sure, but the ones that are very focused on, like, their accounting practices and can see, like, their business is taking over them, and they’re not able to work on the business, they keep working in it, and really control the, you know, throttle a little bit. And make sure they’re making money. You know, not working around the clock and not getting the return that they had hoped to get.
So this is something that we know if we can start at that foundation level, we can change mindset, we can change the workplace, you know, with all of that in mind.
It was a note I just wrote down is “changing the mindset” because I think that’s a big part of, we’re in this profession, and we know we have to work 60 hours a week, and we know that—and you don’t. But that’s what everybody thinks. And we have this—that’s the one of the mindsets. The other mindset is, we have all the answers, we know the solutions. We wanna help everybody, and therefore, we forget to help ourselves. I mean, that’s how I see things too. And so mindset’s the biggest thing.
Now when people bring you in, obviously, there’s somebody there leading it and they want this mindset change. I assume the mindset change is a huge part of this whole thing. Right?
Yes. I mean, if it does not start from the managing partner and the partner shift, it can’t work. And this really goes to what you’re saying about the focus on mindset shift really comes back to belief systems. And the reason we think that is because we got trained that way.
Exactly. Exactly.
And that’s the only way we know, and we think that’s the billable hour is what equates to success, which actually drives pretty bad behavior most of the time, or behavior that doesn’t benefit the firm in total when you really drill into it. So if the mindset at the top can’t be broken, it will never work.
Yep.
And so that’s why with our programs, we’re a facilitator, they have to lead it, and we are not leading it. We are there pushing from behind and giving them all the tools, the templates the coaching, the training to be able to execute it. But if they can’t do it themselves, if we tried to do it for you and then walk out, the whole thing fails.
And so everyone’s got to be proud of what they come up with. And every solution and every firm is a little bit different. No matter if it’s a framework that we go through, but you make it your own, you know, at the end of the day with the ideas of the people in it and and the partners, but also listing the people that are the future of the firm, you know, and it is a different mindset than the people that have been there for 40 years and 30 years and so forth because that is the belief system they were trained on. But if they keep going down that path, they’re just not gonna have a firm. You know, they’re either going to have to sell out, or it’s gonna, you know, slowly dissipate away, and they’re gonna be working till they’re 90, which is not beneficial either.
No.
So it is a very hard mindset change because it is breaking a belief system. And it’s something that in order to change a habit, which I talk about in the book, You have to repetitively do it every single day, and you actually are training your neural channels, because that is something that is hard-set. You know, it’s a belief system that you aligned to or whether you thought it was right, you know, a lot of the things that are going on today in the profession, I didn’t feel different when I was an assistant account. I didn’t like doing a timesheet, I didn’t, you know, you know, doing work that I didn’t feel was valuable work and, you know, all of the things that you hear today at that staff level or having clarity into what your career looks like long-term, that’s not different. It’s just now people are making decisions to not buy into it. And so that is a big thing. If you can’t shift and understand that you’re gonna have to come to the middle, it’s really gonna affect the future of the firm.
Yeah. I agree. Yeah. And that’s what you talked about. It’s the whole timesheets and that. It’s, you know, the bad behavior is one just, you know, filling out timesheets forcing things into time to make sure that you show that you were working next hours. But then how do we make more money if we’re billing by the hour for selling hours? We work more. And so it just, it incentivizes us to work more because that’s how we make more money. And so there’s just so many better ways, I think, to do this.
Alright. We’re getting me on my soapbox here. T
Well, the problem is when, from a heart space I think they love the client work. They love working with the clients. You know, like you said in the beginning, sometimes they leave themselves last because they do have a passion around it and don’t mind working as many hours as they do. But part of the mindset shift is, well, you know, if you wanna continue to do that, then you’ve gotta figure out a way to not model it as behavior. Because even if you’re doing that, then there’s ways to do it behind the scenes, because if you are, then the staff thinks that’s what they have to do to become a partner or to become a manager.
Exactly.
And people don’t realize how visible their behavior is. And then people make their own, you know, when I go in and talk to staff, they look at that and say, there’s no way for me to manage my family and still grow with this firm. But if you talk to the partners, they’re like, well, they saw me working on Saturday because I took Friday afternoon off. It’s like, but they didn’t know you took Friday afternoon off.
Right.
You need to be transparent about that. It’s not something we have to hide anymore. And that is really important so that people see that, yeah, you can have a life in these roles, make a good living. But if people aren’t seeing it. If they don’t see that behavior modeled, it’ll never happen.
Yeah. That’s, I’ve told the story before, but, you know, I caught myself sending the teams message out at 8 o’clock at night or something like that just because I wanted to get it out of my head. And then what happened? Immediately, I get a response. So I’m like, oh, crap. I don’t want people to think that they have to be responding to me at 8 o’clock at night.
Right!
That was so stupid of me to do that! And I’m still pissed, and I try not to do anything like that anymore, but it, yeah, because you model that behavior, they expect that that’s the expectation that I have for them now. Yeah. It’s little things like that can make a big difference in your work-life harmony.
Yes.
Alright. So yeah, we could go on about the things that you’re passionate about. I can tell for a long time because of the same things that I’m passionate about as well. You know, making this profession better, making professionalism better, making better from a standpoint of just healthier, physically, mentally, you know, make more work less, all that stuff.
And so, again, we can go on that forever, but we’re gonna need to wrap up pretty soon. So I wanted to talk about one thing, and I meant to bring this up at the beginning because I recently saw this—I think it was on LinkedIn—where you just got, and you could correct me to the right saying—but that you’re a certified professional speaker, is that the designation? Did I get that right?
Yeah, Certified Speaking Professional.
There you go.
So, yes, that was a major undertaking and dedication to doing that. And it’s one of those things too, that when I decided to have a professional speaking business—so I have always been a speaker, and when I worked in corporations, they would, you know, have me as the keynote or the keynote slot, but I had never been on the other side speaking, which is a hard business. It’s a much different business than I could have imagined.
Yep.
And I decided to join a speaking organization, you know, just to learn more. And they put up this designation and talked about it and, you know, and what it takes to get it. And in my head, I’m like, please don’t do it, please don’t do it. If someone puts something up for a certification, I have such a hard time not doing it. And I just kept saying, and then people would ask me to get it, I’d say, “no, I don’t think so.”
Well, that didn’t last.
Yeah. This is the type A in me that, you know, you just have to be aware of it and accept it. But I do believe in any profession that you go into, it’s important to support the associations, and this is why I volunteer so much with the AICPA and the Ohio Society, I’m on the board. And it is important to be involved. You know, for speaking, this is my profession. And so that’s why I got involved. And then, you know, their designation, you have to prove that you’ve had 250 live events over a five year period and made a certain amount of money, and then you have to get a good portion of those events to give an endorsement within, like, a week’s time.
Wow.
Like, it is, I mean, what my staff has to do to make this happen was unbelievable. And it’s also what was just such an honor that so many of these conferences jumped in so fast and said, yeah, we are so happy to do this for you. So that meant a lot in that process. So it was crazy, but I’m really glad. You know, I’m always glad I do it. It’s just, so then I’m like, do I really have to go after that? But it’s just who I am.
Nope. Understood. But when I saw that, I I looked it up. I’m like, okay. Maybe I’ll do this. And I saw that 250, and I said, nope. I’m not doing this.
And they can’t be free events.
Right!
And so that’s just paid. That doesn’t count all the free stuff you do.
Right. I mean, so if you get airfare and hotel to speak at some place, is that a paid event, or is that?
I think that only counts depending on how many people are in the room. Also, they have to verify the number of attendees.
Oh wow, no.
It’s pretty intense. And then you have to submit a video for the committee to evaluate you, and it can’t be edited.Set the camera and go. So there were many phases to this process.
I may not be as Type A as you, I guess, because I’m not gonna go for this.
When I first learned about it, I was like, yeah, not doing it. But then it was always in my head because I was like, this is my chosen profession, you know?
Right.
This is what I’m doing. And you can do it over a 10 year period of time, you just have to have five years over the 10 years, so I was really going for the five years and then what happens is COVID hits.
Right.
Right in the middle. And so then the virtual ones didn’t count.
Oh, really?
So I still had to prove it out live even with COVID right in the middle. So it was crazy.
Yep. Well, maybe I’ll have somebody pay me every time I record a podcast, although that’s a virtual, it’s not gonna work.
Yeah.
Alright. Then we won’t.
They really make it so there’s no working around it.
Alright. Well, I’m glad that you got this. It sounds like an awesome thing. I won’t be joining you in that designation at this point, but, alright.
Well, before we wrap up, I gotta ask one question, which I think we already touched on at the beginning, and then we’ll get into some, just contact information.
So final question. This is the question that everybody’s got from day one of the podcast, but this question is extremely important to me. And we already talked about of how important it is. I we I think you agree is, okay, so you do all this stuff and and you’ve got your in a certification now and certification now, and you’ve had everything else, but what do you do when you’re not working? What’s your passions?
And honestly, it’s John Garrett, it’s What’s Your “And?,” but I was doing this before I met John Garrett. So, what are your outside of work passions, and we already talked about a few?
Yeah. So I’m a yoga instructor. I did get my spinning instructor certification this year too. So I really enjoy, just I love putting together playlists, and having that energy of a class. And then I play bass guitar, but one thing I added to that is I started learning how to sing. So I do an adult band program where each season, we do a different genre of music. And so the one that just ended, which was in February, we had our concert. I sang some of those songs.
Really!
That was a new experience of pushing myself and something that definitely not natural to me is to sing. But putting that in place. So I have so many hobbies. It’s just having work, it just gets in the way, you know?
I think that Type A goes into the hobbies as well.
Yeah. Exactly.
Alright, well, that’s awesome. Got one question on that: Did you take singing lessons, then?
Yes. So I have a vocal teacher, and what was interesting is she really, a long time ago, she used to be a vocal teacher for my son. I gave her free yoga at my studio, as a gift, and so she really got into yoga. And because of that, a lot of really training your voice has to do with breathing, breath work—and so we’ve been able to tap into the yoga breath that’s been able to help me, which is pretty cool.
Everything working together.
It does, yeah!
So to that end, on my end of things, so I’d said to my wife the other day, we’re sitting on the couch watching TV, some TV show. And I said, you know what? I think I wanna try acting. And so maybe I do have a little Type A in me, I’m like, I don’t know why. I just think I love being in front of crowds, and so maybe it’s something like that. I don’t know if it’d be any good.
Why not? Yeah, and you also learn skills doing those things that end up helping you in other places. And that’s the cool thing.
So I may look for some, I started researching on Google yesterday if there’s local, you know, coaches that’ll help you with acting skills. I think and like you said, I think that would help just in my presentations too. Well, that’s the one thing I might try then. Not that I’m not gonna get certification, but maybe we’ll try acting.
Alright. I think that’s a good idea.
Alright. So this was awesome. I loved talking with you. I assume people enjoyed it—I’m gonna tell them they enjoyed it. And if they wanna find out more about the book, Amy Vetter, B³, anything else, the coaching, where would they find more information out?
So we have two websites: AmyVetter.com has all my keynotes and the books as well. So there’s a section for books with Disconnect to Connect. Disconnect to Connect will be on Amazon and then, BusinessBalanceBliss.com has all of our courses. It also has, if you want to sign up to virtual yoga, we do live virtual yoga classes every single day and have a recorded library of yoga, so if you miss the live class, you have that as well.
Well, I am in the middle or at the beginning of building out a yoga studio in my house, so I’m gonna have to have the TV in there so I can get on the Amy Vetter yoga classes.
Awesome!
Well, Amy, again, thank you so much for being here today. This was everything I expected, and I had a great time. So thanks for being here.
Thank you!
About the Guest
As a keynote speaker and published author, Amy Vetter seeks to inspire a culture of mindfulness when utilizing technology and an environment of innovation and collaboration. Her deep cloud technology and transformation experience helps when educating and consulting with accounting and finance practices on how to develop and grow their Client Advisory Services practices, making them capable of scaling and providing them the structure to create better work-life balance.
As a mindful leadership keynote speaker, Amy is a unique mix of yin and yang and all of the following: A CPA, a Yoga instructor/Studio owner, a technology business executive, an Audience Choice Award Winner for her TEDx Talk, “Disconnect to Connect,” one of the Most Powerful Women in the Accounting Profession (2018, 2017, 2016), a Top 100 Most Influential People in the Accounting Profession (2017, 2016, 2015), the author of Two Books: Business Balance & Bliss and Disconnect to Connect.
Meet the Host
Randy Crabtree, co-founder and partner of Tri-Merit Specialty Tax Professionals, is a widely followed author, lecturer and podcast host for the accounting profession.
Since 2019, he has hosted the “The Unique CPA,” podcast, which ranks among the world’s 5% most popular programs (Source: Listen Score). You can find articles from Randy in Accounting Today’s Voices column, the AICPA Tax Adviser (Tax-saving opportunities for the housing and construction industries) and he is a regular presenter at conferences and virtual training events hosted by CPAmerica, Prime Global, Leading Edge Alliance (LEA), Allinial Global and several state CPA societies. Crabtree also provides continuing professional education to top 100 CPA firms across the country.
Schaumburg, Illinois-based Tri-Merit is a niche professional services firm that specializes in helping CPAs and their clients benefit from R&D tax credits, cost segregation, the energy efficient commercial buildings deduction (179D), the energy efficient home credit (45L) and the employee retention credit (ERC).
Prior to joining Tri-Merit, Crabtree was managing partner of a CPA firm in the greater Chicago area. He has more than 30 years of public accounting and tax consulting experience in a wide variety of industries, and has worked closely with top executives to help them optimize their tax planning strategies.