Kaizen CPAs + Advisors

10/07/2026

Working harder isn’t always the answer.

There’s always another deadline, another meeting, another email, another problem that needs attention. Which makes it surprisingly easy to get too busy doing the work to stop and think about how we’re doing it.

Last week, our Kaizen team stepped away from the day-to-day for Leadership Advantage, our quarterly offsite focused on becoming better leaders, communicators and teammates.

Josh Parnell of Limitless Leadership shared the old story of the woodcutter whose productivity kept dropping even though he was working just as hard. When his boss finally asked when he'd last sharpened his axe, his answer was pretty relatable: he'd been too busy chopping trees.

That one stuck with us.

Sometimes getting better means stepping away long enough to look at what's working, what isn't and what we could do differently.

That's what the day was really about. We sharpened the axe.

Now comes the part that matters: putting it to work.

10/06/2026

Saurav Jain heads back to India today after a visit to the US. Saurav is a Client Advisory Manager on Kaizen's India team, and this trip gave the US team a chance to spend some time with him in person.

The Antioch office team gathered on the front steps for a photo with him, and he joined everyone at the fall outing at Richardson "World's Largest" Corn Maze with Eric Joern and David Jenkins III. Clay and Amy Hamlin took him up to the Skydeck at Willis Tower (still Sears Tower to plenty of Chicagoans), where he sat out on the glass floor 103 stories up. They wrapped up his trip with his first round of golf.

Safe travels home, Saurav. It was great having you here!

10/06/2026

Saurav Jain, Client Advisory Manager on Kaizen's team in India, has been visiting the US, and one of the things he got to do while here was meet John Wang, owner of TWD Group, in person. Saurav works with John from the other side of the world, so until Saturday every one of their conversations had happened over video.

Saurav, Clay Hamlin, and Amy Hamlin had dinner with John and his wife, Hanju, at Aroma Indian Restaurant in Vernon Hills. Work mostly stayed off the table, and the night turned into a chance to just get to know each other better.

Saurav said he really enjoyed the evening and the time with John and Hanju. Thanks to both of them for a great night out.

10/01/2026

What is your auto repair shop actually worth?

Revenue is part of the picture, but it’s not the whole picture.

How dependent is the business on you? How strong are your systems? How stable is your team? How clean are your books?

These are some of the things that can affect the value of a repair shop.

Our free Shop Valuation Tool gives you an estimate of what your shop may be worth and helps identify areas that could be affecting its value.

Get your estimate:
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Find out what your auto repair shop is worth today. Punch in your numbers, answer seven questions, and get a directional estimate with a ranked action plan...

09/25/2026

Saurav Jain, one of our Client Advisory Managers and team lead in India, is visiting the U.S. this week. While he's here, he's been getting out to meet some of our clients in person.

Earlier this week, he and Managing Partner Clay Hamlin stopped by Goldman Products to see owners Mr. Rim and his daughter, Elizabeth. They got a tour of the plant, checked out the new building, and had some good conversations about the business.

Thank you, Mr. Rim and Elizabeth, for welcoming Saurav and Clay and making time for the visit!

09/24/2026

General accounting practices know basic profit and loss, but specialized firms understand the exact operational metrics that drive your specific industry. In auto repair, for instance, a niche CPA firm looks beyond basic tax prep to evaluate parts markup, labor dollar rates, and shop software metrics. Working with an industry-focused advisory team ensures your financial reviews uncover hidden revenue and streamline daily shop performance. https://hubs.li/Q04sRGHb0

09/23/2026

With IRS staffing cuts leading to notorious phone delays, reaching a human representative on your own can feel nearly impossible. Partnering with a tech-forward CPA firm gives you access to direct call-queuing services that bypass standard hold queues. Leveraging these specialized tools saves business owners hours of frustration and gets tax issues resolved in a fraction of the time.

09/22/2026

When you invest in a quality accounting firm, you aren't just paying someone to click a button and submit payroll tax forms. You're funding a full ecosystem of high-level expertise, specialized software, and support staff that frees up CPAs to focus on strategic financial solutions. Offloading routine processing to a dedicated team ensures your business gets proactive advisory services instead of basic data entry.

09/21/2026

Sometimes showing up looks like a hairnet, a scoop, and an assembly line.

Last week, our Kaizen and YPD HCM teams spent time giving back in two very different parts of the world.

In the U.S., volunteers joined Feed My Starving Children - Libertyville for two shifts, filling, weighing, and sealing MannaPack Mix. Across the two sessions, volunteers packed 126 boxes, totaling more than 72,000 meals headed to families in Uganda.

A couple of our team members also brought home something special from FMSC’s distribution center, which sells handcrafted goods made by artisans in the communities they serve. One chose a handwoven bowl made by women in Uganda, and another picked up a stuffed elephant made by artisans in the Philippines. A small way to support artisans in the same communities FMSC works with around the world.

Meanwhile, our team in India spent their day of service closer to home. They split into groups across the city. Some visited hospitals, some worked with schools, and others spent the day caring for animals at local farms.

Different countries, different ways of helping. Same instinct: show up.

09/17/2026

While AI excels at drafting customer messages and organizing data, raw AI outputs should never be sent to clients without human review. Language models can occasionally hallucinate incorrect facts or misinterpret technical automotive details. Relying on your technicians' hands-on experience to verify AI recommendations ensures your shop maintains total accuracy while still benefiting from AI-driven speed. https://hubs.li/Q04sVN6x0