Starting An Accounting Practice? Your Business Model Sucks Moose Eggs

Business Model
So you're going to break out on your own. Leave the corporate rat race, become an entrepreneur. You've got what it takes and you're going to show those peons back at the office. Heck, you were the only one with an imagination there anyway.
Why, all it takes is a little bit of planning and you'll be able to start bringing in clients like it was nothing. You've already started writing your press releases, speeches for the civic clubs and planning the classes you're going to give. You're hip to all the Rainmaker tricks. You read the book.
Yeah. And pigs fly.
Have you thought about who your target market is? Why they would want to retain you? Or even how you're going to deliver your services? Have you thought about your "Business Model?"
Yes, the working model for accounting practices differ from practitioner to practitioner. What one office does to stay in touch with clients could be totally different from what another office does. How one office processes the daily work could be totally different from what another office does. Every feature of every office could be different, and that affects how their clients perceive them, and what clients they retain.
How can you tell what other accounting practitioners are doing, and what they're going to do? How can you figure out their strategy?
Well, actually, you can't always tell what they're going to do, but, you can tell a lot about what their current strategy is by looking at the way they are currently set up. Just by observing the way they do things and who does it, by seeing who their clients are and what the fees they charge are like, you can get an idea of their business model.
From what you see, you can tell what their strategy is because a businesses strategy is a reflection of their business model. Once you know a competitors strategy, you can plan your attack to carve out your own market niche. And that's a key.
Yeah, I said "plan your attack."
Not because I think of business strategy like a lot of folks do, as a military campaign where your objective is to defeat your opponent. But rather, as an attack on a new or abandoned territory in order to establish your own colony and subjugate the natives.
Why? Hey, you're the newcomer here, right? Do you really think you have even the slightest chance of winning in a head-to-head fight with "the big boys?" You have about the same chance as the proverbial snowflake in Hades. None, nada, squat, zip, zero, zilch. There ain't no way in Sam Hill you're going to be able to compete on their terms.
You've got to define your own territory, where you can establish a presence and build a loyal following, quickly and definitively, before the behemoths have a chance to react. Once you've slipped in under their radar, you're the establishment, and they're the outsider, playing catch-up.
So, how does this fit in with yours.
The moment you offer your first service, the moment you target your first niche, the moment you create your first specialty, you have added a component to your business model, and that defines your strategy.
Your business model defines what you are going to do, how you are going to do it, and where you are going to do it. Your business model defines the who, what, when, where, how and why of your strategy. Your business model and your business strategy are inseparable, but different. They are not the same.
The structure of your model defines the structure of your business, while your business strategy defines your plan of action. Your plan of action is what you do, your structure is what you got. Tactics (another subject entirely) are the minor threads of your strategy. They are the weapons you use to implement your strategy.