Thoughts on Information Diets from Bridging the Gap

Hello and welcome to the Big 4 Transparency podcast. This episode is going to be short and sweet and is going to be a solo episode because I'm recording from the road. I am currently at the Bridging the Gap conference here in Chicago and having a really great time. But essentially what I wanted to talk about today is kind of inspired by being at this conference where I have been blown away by the positivity and the hopefulness of a lot of the people here and how many new perspectives, new solutions to a problem and new approaches to having a happy and fulfilled career I've come across while I've been here. And what that kind of made me think about is in general like what is your information diet and what are you exposing yourself to? For me this is my first accounting conference that I've ever done and I really think that it has introduced me to a lot of new ideas, it's introduced me to a lot of people who I want to kind of follow and add their content to what I'm consuming on an ongoing basis to be able to just basically broaden my horizons. I think a lot of people here sort of lean on accounting meme accounts and Reddit for their consumption of media in the accounting world. And while these will keep you up to date on culturally relevant topics, things going on in the accounting world to a certain degree, I think they typically have a pretty bleak and negative tone to them. And I think if you are consuming too much of this content or lean on it too heavily, I think that you will ultimately also develop a very kind of pessimistic and negative perception of the industry, potentially of your situation in general, and of just what it means to be an accountant. So I think it's good to vent, it's good to see some of these things and you learn that you need to stand up for yourself in the industry and advocate for yourself for what you're worth. But just don't let too much of that negativity in, because like I said, I've been so refreshed by the people here and the hopefulness and the optimism that people have about their prospects in the industry. And yeah, I wanted to kind of share this lesson learned where I'm realizing that I consume a lot of content, but even at that, I think I need to broaden my horizons a little bit and look at a wider array of things, a wider array of information sources when it comes to accounting. So personally with this podcast, what I try to do is I try to bring on guests who've made accounting work for them and are in what I would consider a very enviable position because of it, and be able to follow and learn what the blueprints are of what has worked and what paths have led to their really happy and fulfilling outcomes. But I wanted to point out a few other places that I think there's a lot of good value, and there are a lot of different perspectives from my own or that of my guests. So things like the Unique CPA Podcast might help you learn about mental health in the accounting space and being authentic. If you're a student and you're looking for a voice of optimism and positivity, I think Online Conversations by Chayton is a really good one for you, and you can follow in his natural curiosity. If you're already practicing, if you're already in your career and you just want to learn more of what's new and what's out there, I think Jason Stats is a wonderful resource, or Logan Graff will show you what the early days of starting a firm are actually like. There's so much out there. I have one more who was at this conference and I was speaking with, but Scotty Scarano, who is also a guest on this pod, is someone who can show you that it's possible to have accounting provide you with this ultimate lifestyle. He's found a way where he's almost completely passive when it comes to his firm and has built it in a way that does not really require his day-to-day involvement. I think that these people's perspectives are just so valuable, and beyond podcasts, I think it is so important for people to go to conferences and meet new people. I have personally been doing a lot of my networking and learning about what's out there online, and I think the rate at which I have been exposed to new things, new ideas, new people for the last couple of days here at Bridging the Gap has been just exponentially more than what I could have really achieved by just browsing and seeing what's online and consuming content. So if you're looking to do so, I think personally the caliber of guests at Bridging the Gap has really blown my mind. I think they've really done a good job of curating a really good group of people here. I've heard really good things about certain other conferences like Firm Growth Forum, but I think really any conference that you choose to go to, and it doesn't even need to be a conference. It can be a meetup. It can be something like that. It doesn't even need to be accounting related. Maybe it's something in a niche that you're interested in. I think it's really, really helpful to broaden horizons, and yeah, I just kind of wanted to share my experience, share my thoughts on that. I think I fell out of the habit of doing this type of thing when COVID started, and I just haven't really gotten back into it. And this is sort of my first time in a long time coming to one of these where I've gotten this much value, this many new connections, and just people that I'm really inspired by. So yeah, this is just kind of a quick podcast touching on my experience while I'm here. I've learned a lot of new things. I've met a lot of really, really great people that I'm excited to interview and bring on to the podcast and introduce all of you to. But yeah, I was really reminded of what I've been missing out on by not making that conscious effort to be involved in the community in more ways than just being online. So on that note, that is it. I'm going back to the conference. There's some fantastic speakers here. And I will be back next week with a guest interview podcast, and we'll be going back to that format for at least the next little while because I've got some fantastic people lined up. Thank you very much. Have a great day.