Why Your Business Needs to Rebrand Salim Omar, CPA

Brought to you by Salim Omar and the Small Business Success podcast.

Spotlight: Salim Omar

Omar is a highly credentialed CPA and an entrepreneur who started his own CPA firm over 25 years ago. During this time he has helped more clients than can be counted. He has a masters degree and is an accomplished author. Omar has published four books in numerous magazines, including Forbes.

Backstory

Salim was born and raised in Kenya, Africa, where he lived for the first 20 years of his life. He spent the next three decades in America. His initial move was for the purposes of receiving a college education. He then entered the corporate world as a CFO for a small investment boutique firm in New York City. After several years of working, Omar decided that there has got to be more to life than commuting three hours every day, dealing with corporate politics, and limited family time.

"I come from an entrepreneurial family. I decided that it would be great to start my own accounting practice,  and use my education to work with small businesses. It was a very interesting journey. When I started my practice, for the first five or six years, things didn't go well for me. I was always behind on trying to get work done. Cash flow was always tight. I had a hard time keeping employees, I wasn't working with the right clients. We weren't providing amazing services. I was working long, crazy hours," says Omar. 

Eventually he began seeking out entrepreneurs that had paved the path before him. Those that had faced the same problems and had solved them. He began to study them by reading books, attending seminars and hiring mentors. This led to the insights and knowledge that has allowed Omar to transform his practice. 

Omar began to share his ideas with his small business owner clients. They started having conversations that went beyond financial statements and tax returns.  Instead they asked questions like:

• How can we help you grow your business? 
• What are your challenges and stressors?

"These conversations led to the success you see today," says Omar. 

Omar can be contacted through his website straighttalkcpas.com.

The Rebranding of Straight Talk CPAs

Omar believes that every business needs to be rebranded at least every seven years. 

This was the advice given to him by somebody who had been in business for many years. "He said, "Salim, if your business is not reinventing itself every seven years, it's becoming irrelevant, simply because the marketplace is changing so rapidly","says Omar. 

Omar goes on to say that the seven year time period has become outdated. The time period for reinventing your  brand is getting much shorter. 

"Business owners need to do introspection. They should ask themselves the question-How do we play this game in a bigger way and in a better way? You need to be aware that if things don't change internally, your business will become irrelevant," says Omar.

Resources Omar Tapped into to Help Find Ideas For Rebranding

• Communication and feedback from clients
  Gather the intelligence and insights that come from simply communicating with your clients.

• Team communication

           Team members that are on the frontline usually have the lowdown on what your clients really want.

• Watch the marketplace
  Reading, listening and watching other entrepreneurs that are in different stages of their business. Omar recommends being part of a coaching group.


"As professionals, we try to be the experts, the ones with all the answers, but I don't have all the answers. We find answers-this is a constant continuous process," says Omar.

Straight Talk CPAs- The Purpose Behind the Brand

The three elements of Straight Talk CPAs.

The Straight Talk Trifecta-

1. Real-time financial data. Omar aims to  harness the power of technology so that business owners can have complete visibility with real data- not just gut feelings. 

"Clients want to spend the least amount of time behind the desk doing accounting work. We want to help them streamline the accounting process, and help them automate their backend processes as much as we can, and with today's technology that is possible," says Omar.

2. Prospective advice 
"How is the financial data going to affect things in the future? We give clients actionable growth-oriented advice based on expert analysis of this financial data," says Omar.

3. Total client focus
Customer service- providing our clients with five-star customer service.

Keep Up With Global Changes

Omars believes in staying connected with his team as well as entrepreneurs that are successful.

"I get a lot of inspiration from that. Sometimes it's reading their emails, watching a webinar, or watching a YouTube video that really inspires a lot of new ideas," says Omar.

Who Is Your Brand Meant For?

It’s ideal for-

• Entrepreneurial businesses
• Growth-minded businesses
• Businesses that want to succeed 
• Businesses who challenge the status quo. 

"Straight Talk brings growth. We drive businesses forward. We have created an environment that supports this," says Omar.

Final Words of Wisdom

For Omar, the rebranding of his business is a new and exciting adventure. 

"Rising from the ashes, after a pandemic, we are excited about the future. Despite the devastation, the pandemic has caused people to be more open to growth, to test new ideas, to try different ways of doing things. We are very in tune with our customers and clients. I think there's lots of opportunities there. As a CEO of Straight Talk CPAs, I'm extremely excited about the opportunities in the future," says Omar.

Closing Statement

Straight Talk about Small Business Success podcast is brought to you by Salim Omar, CPA. Straight Talk CPAs is a firm which provides individuals with tax return preparation and tax planning. If you are a business, we have a unique approach when providing Virtual CFO, Accounting services, and Tax Planning and Tax Preparation services. Contact us today.