This is the Twelfth Lesson in “My 21 Lessons in 21 Years” Series

To celebrate 21 years in business, based on what I have learned from working with accountants, bookkeepers and tax advisors over 21 years I am sharing my journey and some of the lessons I learned along the way. I hope you join me on this journey and maybe learn something along the way too.

The Toronto Mastermind That Changed How I Think About Money (And Who I’m Willing to Be)

The Room in Toronto

It was late 2018. I was sitting in a conference room in Toronto with about 30 other entrepreneurs, all of us paying attention to Stu McLaren.

Stu was talking about subscription models. We already had subscription offerings at OmniPro—membership programs, recurring consulting packages. We weren’t new to this.

But then Stu mentioned a name I’d never heard before: Robbie Kellman Baxter.

“If you really want to understand the subscription economy,” he said, “you need to read Robbie’s work.”

I made a note. Ordered the book that night. Started reading on the flight home.

And something shifted in how I saw everything.

Not just what we did. But what was possible.

What We Thought We Knew

Here’s the thing: we’d been running subscription models for years.

Membership programs. Monthly retainers. Annual engagements.

But we were thinking too small.

We were still thinking about subscriptions as “another service we offer” instead of as a fundamental business model that changes everything—cash flow, client relationships, how you deliver value, how you think about growth.

Robbie’s framework opened my eyes to something bigger:

What if the entire business model for accounting firms could shift from transactional billing to recurring revenue relationships where clients are subscribed rather than just another service for fee customer?

What if we could help firm owners eliminate the feast-or-famine cash cycle that keeps them up at night?

What if we could help firm owners eliminate cash lock up through debtors and work-in-progress and create the forever transaction

What if instead of constantly chasing the next project, they could build predictable, recurring income that gave them breathing room to actually build the firm they wanted?

The Business Model Shift

That mastermind—and the thinking that came from it—transformed how we structured everything at OmniPro.

Not just what we taught clients. What we did ourselves.

Today, we take in almost 50% of our revenue through monthly or annual recurring income.

Monthly memberships. Annual programs. Predictable cash flow.

But here’s the part most people miss: we also shifted our consulting services to a pay-as-you-go model.

No more billing in arrears. No more carrying debtors for 30, 60, 90 days. No more work-in-progress sitting on our books. No more cash locked up waiting for clients to pay invoices.

They pay first or they pay as they go. Then we deliver.

It almost completely eliminated our debtors and work-in-progress overnight.

Think about that for a second: most consulting firms spend half their energy chasing unpaid invoices. We just… stopped having that problem.

Because we changed the model.

The Harder Lesson

But the subscription economy thinking wasn’t the biggest lesson from that Toronto mastermind.

The bigger lesson came from something Stu said almost in passing.

“Love me or hate me,” he said. “There’s no money in the middle.”

He wasn’t talking about being polarising for the sake of it. He was sharing something one of his mentors had shared with him. He was talking about clarity. About showing up authentically. About understanding that if you try to be everything to everyone, you end up mattering to no one.

He was taking about authentic leadership and showing up as who you truly are.

 I sat there in that conference room and realised: I’d been playing in the middle my whole career.

Trying not to offend anyone. Trying to appeal to everyone. Trying to be the version of Des that I thought people wanted me to be.

Safe. Measured. Professional.

But that’s not who I actually am.

I’m direct. I’m opinionated. I swear occasionally. I tell uncomfortable truths. I challenge people. I share vulnerable stories that make some people uncomfortable.

And for years, I’d been tamping all of that down because I thought I had to.

Stu’s line hit me like a punch: “Love me or Hate me – There’s no money in the middle.”

More than that: there’s no connection in the middle. No real relationships. No one who genuinely cares about what you do.

Just a lot of people who are vaguely aware you exist.

The Decision That Followed

After that mastermind, I made a decision.

I was going to stop trying to be all things to all people.

I was going to show up as the actual Des—the one who tells the real stories and tells the truth about the mistakes I have made, who admits he kept a toxic business partner for 16 years, who shares the messy, uncomfortable truth about what building a business actually costs.

Some people would love it. Some people would hate it. Most people would be somewhere in between.

But the ones who loved it? They’d really really LOVE it. They’d connect. They’d engage. They’d become clients, community members, advocates.

And the ones who hated it? They were never going to be good clients anyway.

It was one of the most freeing decisions I’ve ever made.

Because trying to please everyone is exhausting. And it doesn’t work.

I am still stepping into this. That’s where the idea for 21 Lessons in 21 Years came from. What if I just came out and shared the reality behind the curtain, with the world.

I have been sharing the reality behind the curtain in my ProfitPro Inner Circle Mastermind members for years. They get to see what I do, what I win at and what I fail at on an ongoing basis. I set up the ProfitPro Mastermind and Launched it for the first time back in 2018 after getting of the plane from Toronto and its really about authentic leadership and turning up as yourself.

What Changed

Here’s what happened when I stopped playing the middle:

Our content became more engaging. Our community became stronger. Our clients became more aligned with what we actually do.

But more importantly: I became more aligned with what I actually do.

I stopped apologising for who I am. I stopped softening my message. I stopped worrying about the people who weren’t going to like me anyway.

And the business grew. Not in spite of being more authentic. Because of it.

Because people don’t connect with perfect. They connect with real.

They don’t want another generic business consultant. They want someone who actually understands what they’re going through because they’ve been through it themselves.

Someone who’ll tell them the uncomfortable truth instead of what they want to hear.

Someone who’ll challenge them. Push them. And occasionally make them angry because the message hits too close to home.

That’s what “love me or hate me” actually means.

It means giving people permission to have an opinion about you. And trusting that the right people—your people—will find you.

There are some people WE ARE MEANT TO SERVE and some not so much.

This is about finding those ideal clients that we were meant to serve that we can do our best work with.

The Subscription Economy Connection

Here’s the thing about subscription models that Robbie’s framework helped me understand:

They’re not just about recurring revenue. They’re about recurring relationships.

When someone subscribes to what you do, they’re not just buying a service. They’re buying into who you are. Your perspective. Your approach. Your values.

Which means you have to BE someone worth subscribing to.

You have to have a point of view. You have to stand for something. You have to be willing to be yourself—fully—and let people decide if that’s for them or not.

The middle doesn’t work in subscription models. Because nobody subscribes to “fine” or “okay” or “not bad.”

They subscribe to people and businesses that resonate. That challenge them. That feel like they were made specifically for them.

Love me or hate me. There’s no subscription revenue in the middle.

The Lesson for You

If you’re running an accounting firm, a bookkeeping firm or a tax advisory firm this matters more than you think.

Because most of you are playing the middle right now.

You’re trying not to offend anyone. Trying to serve everyone. Trying to be the firm that does “everything for everybody.”

And it’s killing you.

It’s why you have some clients who don’t respect your worth. Why you’re underpriced. Why you’re exhausted trying to be everything to everyone.

Here’s what I learned from Stu:

The fastest way to grow your firm is to get clear about who it’s NOT for.

Stop trying to serve everyone. Stop softening your message. Stop being the “safe” choice.

Create a Red Velvet Rope Policy

Be the firm that stands for something. That has a point of view. That attracts the clients who actually value what you do because they resonate with who you are.

Yes, some people will hate it. Let them. They weren’t going to be good clients anyway.

But the people who love it? They’ll become your best clients. Your advocates. Your community.

And they’ll pay you premium recurring fees because they’re not just buying your services. They’re buying into your approach to helping them build the firm they actually want.

This connects directly to  the Red Velvet Rope Policy, the Client Pruning Matrix and Ideal Customers in the ProfitPro 6-Step Success Path.

Because ideal clients aren’t just about demographics or firm size. They’re about values alignment. They’re about finding the people who appreciate you for who you actually are—not who you think you’re supposed to be.

The Questions You Should Ask Yourself

Who are you trying to please that you should actually be willing to lose?

What would you say or do differently if you stopped worrying about offending people who were never going to be good clients anyway?

What’s the real version of you that you’ve been hiding because you thought it wasn’t “professional” enough?

And here’s the big one: What would it feel like to build a firm where you could actually be yourself—and attract clients who love you for it?

Because that’s what subscription models really enable: the freedom to be exactly who you are and build recurring relationships with people who value that.

Not everyone. Just your people.

Love you or hate you. There’s no profit in the middle.

THE INVITATION

Your Turn:

What version of yourself are you hiding because you think it’s not “professional” enough?

What would you say or do differently if you stopped trying to appeal to everyone?

And more importantly: What’s it costing you to play it safe in the middle?

I’m curious: Have you ever tried to be everything to everyone in your firm? What happened? And what would change if you gave yourself permission to just be yourself?

Let me know what resonates. Sometimes the most profitable thing you can do is stop trying to please people who were never going to be good clients anyway.

Tomorrow Lesson 13/21 “Time Management 2.0 – Why Your To-Do List Is Killing You”