Xerocon 2019: Gineris Reactions & Actionable Business Advice
This June, five members of the Gineris & Associates team attended Xerocon 2019 in beautiful San Diego, California. Over the three day conference, we learned from some of the most influential thought leaders of the cloud accounting industry, were introduced to awesome, time-saving apps and technologies in the marketplace, and spent quality time team building over drinks, meals, a Padres game, and an escape room.
Xerocon 2019 was a massive success… the escape room was a failure
In this month’s article, you will hear from each Gineris team member who attended Xerocon and read their reactions from the technology announcements or the keynote speakers presented throughout the conference. Next, we’ll discuss the industry trends presented in Xerocon 2019, and how a small business owner can translate these trends into their own businesses.
Gineris Reactions
Dave Betz – Chief Success Officer
One of the most profound moments for me was during Xero CEO Steve Vamos’ keynote speech on the first day of Xerocon. He introduced his keynote with the statistic that 50% of small businesses fold within five years. Comparatively, 85% of small businesses connected to a Xero accountant are still in business after five years. It’s a statistic that we’ve had on our website for about a year now, but in that moment of Steve’s presentation it felt like it finally sunk into me just what we’ve been able to do for our clients.
This year’s Xerocon felt like it validated all of the process changes and technology adaptations we’ve implemented and helped clients implement throughout the year. The landscape of business has already changed. There’s still time to embrace cloud technology and I want to help anyone I can adapt, because it’s a change for good. If you’re still faxing documents to the firm, there’s an easier way and we’d love to help.
Pat Gineris – Managing Principal, CPA
To me, Xerocon 2019 was confirmation. When I made the commitment to be fully virtual three years ago, we partnered with Xero because they were light years ahead of the curve in relation to everyone else in the industry.
I’ve attended three Xerocons since partnering with Xero and with each conference I’m reminded just how ahead of their industry they truly are. It is not a joke.
While I appreciated the keynote speakers, my head was focused on how we can continue to provide our clients with incredible service and results through Xero. The truly game changing announcement for me was a partnership announcement between the Xero platform and Stripe, an online payment processing platform. Stripe is an application I’ve been considering utilizing for a few months now, and this integration is a massive win. It’s easy to use, gets results, and now integrates directly into Xero. Great stuff.
Outside of the conference, we had a chance to catch a Padres game with some of the friends we made in the Xero community and PetCo Park is a beautiful stadium that I highly recommend.
Callie Stephens – EA, Account Manager
My favorite part of Xerocon was by far the presentation by keynote speaker, Kelly McGonigal. Her method of twisting your mindset to approach stress as a positive instead of a negative is something that resonated with me. I am trying to apply her methods in my daily life!
In terms of Xero related reactions, I am most excited for the Stripe integration. I think that will be a handy tool for some of the accounts I currently work with and cannot wait to put it to great use.
Kellen Leone – EA, Tax Accountant
This was my first Xerocon, the first thing that stuck out to me was how the convention embraced innovation. Xero is so much more than an accounting software for small businesses. It built a foundation that innovators and business owners can use to solve their everyday problems. I can send and receive payments, run reports and process payroll, but why can’t I do it better? You can, and Xero wants to help. Xerocon 2019 showcased over 30 partners who are helping to drive innovation. Xero has encouraged integration with an open API and over 700 business apps available in their marketplace.
Being at the convention with like minded professionals from all over the globe also enforced a sense of strength in numbers. While every business is unique in its own way, it is not alone. We met with partners from Australia to Canada, who want to make it easier to run a successful business. Regardless of where your business is based, business owners experience similar difficulties. Managing time, cash flow and growth are critical. Xerocon 2019 brought together a community of like-minded people from many different backgrounds to share their ideas and learn from others. It was a unique opportunity to network with customers, vendors, and peers.
Austin Scherer – Manager of Digital Marketing
Outside of gathering footage for the newsletter video, with my background in digital marketing I had several seminars that were relevant to my career and interests.
My major takeaway that is also relevant to small business owners is focused around digital content marketing and personal brands. It’s natural to become an expert in the field you work in; however, it’s incredibly difficult to make potential clients and customers aware of your expertise. Creating articles, videos, infographics, and other forms of content with topics relevant to your field and easy to find for others in the industry to consume is increasingly necessary to stand out in a digital landscape.
Personal content marketing a lot to process and doing it right is time consuming, but the outcome can be exponential for a small business. If this is something you think you’d be interested in, reach out to me, I’d love to help.
Actionable Business Advice from Xerocon
Embrace, Automate, Enjoy Life
Like Dave wrote in his reaction, “the landscape of business has already changed”. Leveraging cloud technology for your business is not a brand new concept, but if you’ve been dragging your feet you’re not alone. Less than 10% of small businesses are cloud connected; however, this minority is blazing the trail for everyone else.
Embracing and leveraging technology is about more than increasing sales or cutting costs, it’s about simplifying and automating your established workflow. Technology saves YOU time throughout your workday which allows you to reinvest that time into another aspect of your business, into a hobby, or with your family and loved ones.
Track your KPI’s and Plan For the Future
With Xero, KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) can be calculated near instantaneously allowing you to keep up-to-date on your business’ vital signs. Those vital signs may be financial or non-financial, but proper monitoring of these KPIs can help you correct mistakes, experiment with new ideas, and continually tweak and develop your current business plan.
Speakers, vendors, and partners at Xerocon heavily enforced the benefits of taking advantage of this information and making sure you’re consistently on top of your cash flow. Be sure to plan thoroughly so you’re prepared to deal with any surprises!
Quality Content over Quantity
In this digital landscape, content is king. To thrive in content marketing and get noticed by customers or industry leaders your content has to be high-quality and relevant to your watchers, readers, listeners, etc. If you’re only able to write one blog a month for your website, spend some time and really put effort into the project and the results will eventually pay off in dividends. (If you need more time in your day, consider automation!)
Don’t get discouraged, not everything you post can go viral. By releasing consistent, quality content that others can find value in will generate an audience that you will be able to market to.