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Jordan Sublette, CPA
Helping Accounting Firms Find US-Quality Talent Offshore⎹ Get Staff in 4 Weeks at 50% Savings | CPA | Exited Firm Owner
Jordan Sublette is a CPA and the CEO of Cloud Accountant Staffing, a company that provides talented offshore team members to accounting firms.12 He founded this company in February 2022 after a successful career in accounting and entrepreneurship.7
Prior to his current role, Jordan was the Founder & CEO of AccountedFor, a professional bookkeeping service for small businesses in America, which he sold in January 2023.14 His entrepreneurial journey began when he acquired a small accounting firm in 2019, which he grew from $500,000 to $1.5 million in revenue within 36 months.25
Jordan's expertise lies in leveraging offshore talent, particularly from the Philippines, to help accounting firms scale their operations and reduce costs.5 His company, Cloud Accountant Staffing, specializes in connecting US-based accounting firms with skilled professionals in the Philippines.5
Jordan holds a Bachelor of Science in Business, Accounting and Finance from Indiana University - Kelley School of Business.1 His professional experience includes working as a Supervisor at Somerset CPAs, P.C. and holding various accounting roles at Northwestern Mutual.1
As a thought leader in the accounting industry, Jordan frequently shares insights on topics such as outsourcing, firm growth, and leveraging technology in accounting practices.36 His innovative approach to building and scaling accounting firms has made him a respected figure in the industry.
Highlights
2 pipelines helped me scale a struggling firm to a 7-figure exit in 3 years.
Here’s why you should always be building both – and how I do it ⤵
- The Sales Pipeline
When I bought my firm, the sales pipeline was nonexistent.
I get it – every firm owner is careful about their sales pipeline at first.
But once you’ve:
- Fought your way to full capacity
- Reached a comfortable income
- Worked 5x more than expected
Sales tend to fall by the wayside.
You’ll probably get away with it for a while.
But all it takes is a client or two:
- Deciding to go in-house
- Getting acquired
- Closing shop
And you’ll be scrambling.
My advice:
When we needed revenue in the next 6 months, I started:
- Launching automated email campaigns
- Leveraging my network for leads
- Asking clients for referrals
And grew our MRR from 0 → $100k+.
Once the existential stuff was covered, I pivoted to:
- Gathering social proof from clients
- Doubling-down on networking
- Creating content
The point is, you have a ton of options.
But whatever you do —
Don’t do nothing.
Pro tip:
One of our most effective emails?
→ “Hey (Client), how’s business going?”
- It reminds them we exist
- Keeps communication open
- And lands us new projects
- The Hiring Pipeline
You probably don’t need to be reminded of this —
But 99% of small and medium-sized firms can’t find qualified candidates when they need them.
So even if you’re in the lucky 1%...you should be building a hiring pipeline.
That means constantly:
- Networking with recruiters
- Tapping into new talent pools
- Nurturing connections with local talent
So when your firm is ready to scale, you have:
- Professionals you can trust
- A reputation to lean on
- And plenty of options
Sales and hiring aren’t the only pieces of the puzzle…
…But you’ll always miss the bigger picture without them.
So – how much time do you invest in building your pipelines?
Will they be ready when you need them?
It turns out the 150-hour rule isn't 100% to blame for the CPA shortage —
FASB/GAAP are responsible, too.
And Anthony Le can prove it.
Quick background:
- Le is an accounting PhD at Columbia University.
- He suspected GAAP played a role in the talent gap.
- His 118-page study was published back in December – and it's a great read
Here are my top two takeaways:
- Accounting got too boring
Accountancy has never been adrenaline-soaked — But Le claims GAAP has made it duller than ever.
He found that as rules and regulations went up:
- Fewer accounting grads sat for the CPA exam.
- Majoring in accounting became less popular.
- People started leaving for different fields.
Le blames "restrictiveness."
GAAP regulations pushed accounting toward "compliance and rule-following." And away from creativity, critical thinking, and professional judgment.
This shift made the field "inherently less interesting" to both accountants and students. (I know. Ouch.)
- Pay is a problem
Restrictiveness isn't the only issue.
- Supply is down
- Demand is up
- And wages are stagnant
Accounting has never promised CPAs 8,000 sq. ft. penthouses and a Rolls Royce for every day of the week...
But comfortable pay has always been part of the deal. (It's what made all the Saturdays somewhat tolerable.)
Taking that away isn’t going to help accounting's reputation or recruiting issues.
So – what do you think led to accounting's talent crisis? Is there another factor at play? Let me know below. ↓ — Hi, I'm Jordan.
I help small & medium accounting firms find engaged, US-equivalent talent at 50% total cost savings.
Need accounting talent? Send me a DM.
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Mesh works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Mesh offers several powerful features including:
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Mesh is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Mesh is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Mesh as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Mesh offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Mesh takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Mesh encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Mesh work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Mesh is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Mesh is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Mesh is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Mesh offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Mesh offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Mesh for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Mesh accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Mesh offers extensive integration capabilities. Mesh introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Mesh supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Mesh also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
Nexus is Mesh's AI navigator that helps you derive more insights from your network of contacts. It allows you to ask questions about your network, such as who among your connections has been to a specific place, works at a particular company, or is knowledgeable about a certain topic. Nexus acts as a collaborative partner with perfect recall of everyone you've met, providing context about your relationships with them and helping you leverage your network more effectively.
Mesh makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Mesh's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Mesh is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Mesh stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Mesh excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Mesh is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Mesh offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Mesh's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Mesh has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Mesh offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Mesh focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Mesh also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Mesh offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
Mesh isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Mesh instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Mesh is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Mesh can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
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