Terrell Turner sits down with Lisa Simpson of the AICPA, who leads the organization's Transforming Your Business Model initiative, live from Bridging the Gap 2025 on Episode 272 of The Unique CPA. Lisa makes a compelling case that the old model, with its long, billable hours where firms carry too many of the wrong clients, is not only unsustainable, but actively unnecessary. Firms that have right-sized their client base are almost universally earning more the following year, not less, because they can finally deliver the kind of advisory value clients will actually pay for. She traces how the pandemic's visible toll on practitioners sparked a broader reckoning inside the AICPA, and how that translated into concrete tools, peer stories, and low-cost resources now available to firms of every size. Lisa also touches on the cultural inertia that slows change down, and why technology is making that resistance increasingly hard to justify.

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Recorded live at Bridging the Gap 2025 in Denver, Randy Crabtree sits down with founder of LiveCA, tech commentator, and full-time glamper Chad Davis for a wide-ranging conversation that captures exactly what makes BTG different from every other conference on the calendar. On Episode 271 of The Unique CPA, Chad talks about why he rerouted his entire week just to be there, and the two get into the real tension Randy is wrestling with: how do you grow something without killing the thing that made it worth growing in the first place? Shifting to Chad's upcoming session on what accountants should actually care about in tech right now, they discuss the mental health dimension of overwhelm that rarely gets named, and why having an operating framework like EOS changes what you actually do with the ideas you pick up at a conference. A candid and camp-themed conversation.

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Recorded live at Bridging the Gap 2025, Terrell sits down with Questian Telka, co-host of the She Counts Podcast and a late-diagnosed ADHDer, for a conversation that goes well beyond the typical conference interview. On Episode 270 of The Unique CPA, Questian talks candidly about what it meant to finally receive her diagnosis as an adult, the moment she describes as "my whole life makes sense to me now," and how understanding her own brain became less about labeling herself and more about having a user manual. She moderated a panel at BTG where three highly successful CPAs reframed ADHD not as something they succeeded in spite of, but often because of, like a "superpower." It's a perfect example of what Bridging the Gap does differently from other accounting conferences, and why the profession needs these conversations happening at all times, not just once a year in a hotel ballroom.

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Continuing the conversation at Bridging the Gap 2025 in Denver, Randy Crabtree sits down with Krystal Joiner from the conference's marketing team on Episode 269 of The Unique CPA for an honest look at what goes into making BTG what it is. Krystal talks through the months of behind-the-scenes planning that attendees never see, and why the relaxed, connected energy on the conference floor doesn't happen by accident. The tone, she explains, gets set long before anyone lands in Denver, through social media, sponsor relationships, and every touchpoint along the way. There's also a candid moment about what it feels like to finally arrive at an event you've spent half a year building. With BTG Charlotte on the horizon, Krystal is confident the best is still to come: "We just get better."

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Recorded live at Bridging the Gap 2025 in Denver, Terrell Turner sits down with wealth advisor and speaker Rory Henry on Episode 268 of The Unique CPA to talk about what he calls "return on relationship." "ROR" is the idea that when you genuinely invest in understanding the people you serve, the ROI takes care of itself. Rory makes a compelling case that the real work of financial professionals isn't in the numbers at all, but in the questions: What are your best hopes? What does your ideal life actually look like? Drawing on behavioral finance and values-based planning, he argues that money is rarely the point, but rather, meaning and wellbeing are. The conversation also takes in the energy of BTG 2025 itself, the growing wave of new talent in the profession, and why Rory is convinced that in-person connection remains one of the most underrated growth strategies available to any practice.

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Support for this episode comes from BILL. Simplify your workflows and accelerate your growth with BILL's Accountant Console. Take a demo today at BILL.com/uniquecpa for a $250 gift card – terms apply.

Repeat guest Roman Villard built Full Send, his Boulder-based accounting firm, on a deliberately contrarian premise: hire leadership first, reject the CAS label, and train your team to think like the business owners they serve. Four years and 18 team members later, split between Colorado and Argentina, the results suggest he was onto something. He covers a lot of ground with Terrell Turner on Episode 267 of The Unique CPA: the weekly Friday training rhythm Roman runs entirely from team-submitted topics, why "build relationships and solve problems" is a more honest job description than any service-line acronym, and how managing across cultures has forced a more intentional approach to feedback than most firm owners ever develop. They also get into the genuine complexity of AI adoption right now: Roman is candid that even firms on the forefront are still figuring out how all the moving pieces fit together. (And then there are the 34 miles and 8,000 feet of vertical he's about to run!)

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Recorded live at Bridging the Gap 2025, Terrell Turner sits down with Chayton Farlee, a Gen Z accountant whose first-ever conference was Bridging the Gap itself, on Episode 266 of The Unique CPA. What started as a LinkedIn ad turned into a career-defining experience, and Chayton has been vocal about BTG ever since. He makes a pointed case to Terrell for why accounting firm owners should stop sleeping on Gen Z talent, not just for their comfort with AI and automation, but for the energy and outside-in perspective they bring to firms that have been doing things the same way for decades. Chayton moderated a "Gen Z Effect" panel at BTG 2025, where he gave firm owners a frank look at what it's actually like to be a young person entering the profession right now, and why the opportunity to tap into that talent pool is bigger than most realize.

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Support for this episode comes from BILL. Simplify your workflows and accelerate your growth with BILL's Accountant Console. Take a demo today at BILL.com/uniquecpa for a $250 gift card – terms apply.

In 2008, John Sensiba became managing partner of what is now Sensiba, and promptly watched revenue fall from $18 million to $13 million. On Episode 265 of The Unique CPA, live from Bridging the Gap 2025, he tells Randy that it turned out to be the best thing that could have happened. His and his team's deliberate, sometimes painful commitment to values eventually transformed a regional firm into a near-$100 million practice. John also talks candidly about the moment in March 2020 when old fears resurfaced, why he eventually gave up his tax practice entirely to focus on leading, and what a six-years-out succession announcement actually does for an organization. He also makes a sharp case against time sheets, not as a billing philosophy argument, but as a values one.

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