Mentors-in-Residence
Book a 1:1 call with a mentor to unload all that keeps you up at night, or just get a second set of eyes. Learn what it's like to work with a business coach with experience running their own firm
Where Accounting Leaders Build Confidence Through Community
We believe high-effort communities are an essential part of every accountant's personal growth stack.
We're doing the same work in parallel. Let's come together, and share what we're learning in community.
We're investing in community to enable a more efficient value exchange for our profession.
Your Private Community
You don't need another water cooler community
Join a high-effort community that isn't underwritten by your software vendor.
- High-context mastermind groups
- Paid community managers
- PM Software meetups
- Advisors in residence
- Ongoing workshops
- A bespoke platform
Realize in 90 Seconds
Realize has helped over 500 accounting leaders grow into more confident, sustainable versions of themselves
The Best Live Events on the Web
We organize ongoing series with the most influential thought-leaders in the profession. Sessions are run for members in an intimate, interactive format.
In addition to Realize-organized sessions, members organize events internally as topics arise that merit live discussion.
- AMAs
- Book Clubs
- Live Coaching
- Monthly Workshops
- Software Demo Days
- Quarterly Karbon Meetups
- Quarterly Keeper Meetups
- Quarterly Canopy Meetups
- Quarterly TaxDome Meetups
- Quarterly Financial Cents Meetups
PM Pros-in-Residence
The practice management system is the most important tech in your firm. We've sourced professional implementation experts for most of the major systems on the market, so you can ensure you're getting the most from your system. These are real accounting firm owners who have become super users of the software.
Developers-in-Residence
Whether you're looking for support with no-code apps like Zapier or Make, looking to implement RPA, or are considering a full custom development project, the help you need to make your dreams a reality are available in Realize.
Attorney-in-Residence
We even roped in an attorney who runs a hybrid law/CPA practice to tackle general questions you run into in your firm.
Advisors-in-Residence
Grab time with some very talented firm advisors
at no additional cost
Current Series
Hall Pass with Brandon Hall
Each month, Brandon selects 2-4 members who have volunteered to go through a live coaching session for the community where he helps them build, market, sell, and fulfill advisory services.
Take a Step Back with Geraldine Carter
Each month Geraldine selects three firm-runners who have volunteered to be coached LIVE on how to find a new niche or further develop an existing niche.
Into the Chadiverse with Chad Davis
Chad hosts a monthly session to introduce accountants to intermediate-to-advanced automation topics, and new developments from apps like Zapier, Make and Airtable. Each session consists of discussion, Community show-n-tell, and build walkthroughs.
Kellie’s Workshop with Kellie Parks
Kellie joins Realize for a monthly workshop where she will cover topics that help firm owners run more efficient firms with a great client experience. From password management to form building, clear through slide deck creation, Kellie shows us what she keeps in her tool belt, in a series she's developed just for Realize.
Bookkeepers Only with Rebecca Driscoll
Rebecca facilitates a monthly roundtable for bookkeepers. All members are welcome to join, but the main focus is discussing issues that bookkeepers and bookkeeping-only firms are facing.
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There's More
What else can you do when you have a member-funded, vendor-independent community?
As it turns out, quite a bit.
Software Demos
We have a growing library (40+) of recorded demos Realize has produced with the most popular software vendors in the space. Giving you the opportunity to explore new tech without being sucked into the sales process.
Mastermind Groups
Each quarter we matchmake high-context mastermind groups. They run 6 months at a time, and are made up of 5 members each. These are groups of people who run very similar firms, and these sessions have proven to be transformative for many.
Show & Tell
We often get together to privately share our live client setups. One of the best things Realize enables is having the opportunity to swap ideas with other practitioners who are equally motivated to share otherwise sensitive information in a private, high-trust setting.
Past Live Sessions
Where privacy and vulnerability aren't an issue, we generally record our live sessions. We've built a large library of valuable content over the last few years on topics such as presenting better on camera, Airtable training and much more.
Hi, I'm Jason Staats
Five years ago I switched my firm to a new practice management system. We spent a year of work researching, planning and training a team of 40 for the change, and in three months I realized we'd chosen the wrong system.
The reason? We made decisions according to what colorful brochures and commissioned sales people told us.
We were left with an impossible decision. We'd thrown away two years on this project, only to start the process over again. The ultimate cost would be years of lost productivity, and more sleepless nights than I could count.
I needed to ensure I never made the same mistake again.
Flip on a webinar to learn, and you find the same people who are sending you cold emails. Sit down at a conference talk, and you find the CEO of the same company, who bought a hefty sponsorship package to get on the main stage. Don't get me wrong, I adore the software vendors I work with, but their job is to sell software. My job is to get home by 5:20 to make dinner and try not to piss off my staff with more software changes.
It wasn't until sitting at in-person conferences that I realized I'd rather talk to the guy across the aisle. The lady I'm sitting next to who tried this app six months ago. Why I was addicted to conferences was the people, the lunch conversations, the person you run into who understands your pains unlike anyone else in your life. I needed to bottle that inspiration.
Twitter DMs were sent, and an idea was hatched. I gathered my favorite folks in the profession. The types of people who could be vulnerable, would share their wins and losses, and we created a private space for discussion.
We raised money so we could go back out to our favorite experts, and pay them well (better than conferences do, as it turns out) to run private sessions without the vendor filter.
And we found there was more to be learned in a room of people who run firms just like you than anywhere else.
Two years ago I changed practice management software again. I knew every tool in the space. I sat down with 10+ firm owners, who in the last 18 months made the same transition I was considering. They walked me through their live client setups, and told me what it did and didn't do well. The transition went well 😊
These days I have the unique opportunity to invest in making Realize into the space I needed when I was on an island, wondering what the hell I was doing, creating everything from scratch.
Finding community, in all its forms, is the greatest personal unlock I've ever discovered. It's the reason I'm still in this profession. Because we're better off sharing what we've learned along the way, and growing together.
Pricing
We aren't underwritten by a product company. As a result we're able to see the world through the lens of fellow practitioners, rather than that of our vendors.
Sign Up
In exchange:
- You never talk to a vendor
- We invest in the platform itself
- We pay advisors to deliver coaching at no add'l cost
- We hire the profession's brightest minds to run live sessions
- You will work alongside like-minded high-output professionals
The Realize community is organized into small and medium-sized groups. You get all the benefits of a big community in a setting that still feels intimate.
FAQs
What happens after I sign up?
You'll get an email confirmation with a link to get access to the community, along with a scheduling link to book a 1-on-1 tour of the community.
I'm busy. Is this for me?
It's a community of successful firm owners, we're all busy 😆 Events are designed to be concise & impactful. Wherever possible events are recorded if you can't join live.
I'm concerned about price increases
The price of the community is never increased for existing members. It's only increased for new members over time to ensure the group doesn't grow too large.
Why does Realize need a paywall?
The best communities are those that are full of people willing and able to share value. A paywall raises the stakes. It's not only the price you're paying, it's the price everyone else is paying to be there alongside you.
Is this a way to hang out with Jason?
Not really, it's a way to hang out with a bunch of other cool accounting leaders, many of whom also found the community through Jason. Which objectively is a cool crowd.
What sort of firms are in Realize?
Currently about 50% of Realize is 1-3 person firms, with the other 50% being of every other size, up to 150 or so. It's split fairly evenly between folks running accounting practices and folks running tax practices.
Do I sign up as a firm or as an individual person?
Memberships are on an individual basis, but the membership price for additional members of your firm is 50% off whatever the current rate is.
I think I'll sign up [X future date]
We all go through seasons of life that enable more latitude than others, but Realize has been built around a core group of folks who are never too busy to grow. Because making the decision to stop investing in yourself is a slippery slope.
I'm kinda sorta an accountant
If you have any other questions about whether Realize is for you, send us an email. In order to maintain Realize as a safe space for accounting leaders, there are no exceptions to the requirement that you're a practicing accountant or bookkeeper.