Success doesn’t have to mean “big.” Shape your business to fit your own vision and happiness, not someone else’s expectations.

Glenn Harper and Julie Smith discuss the age-old question: is bigger always better when it comes to business?

As they talk about the pressures entrepreneurs face to constantly scale and grow, Glenn Harper and Julie Smith explore why some of the best businesses intentionally stay small — focusing on profitability, purpose, and personal satisfaction over sheer size.

Together, they uncover the importance of quiet reflection, defining your own vision for success, and tuning out the noise from social media and peers.

Whether you dream of running a multinational company or a boutique operation, this episode will help you clarify your goals and find fulfillment on your entrepreneurial journey.

Here are 3 key takeaways for any business leader considering their next move:

• Define Your Own Success - Don’t let external noise dictate your goals. Ask yourself what truly makes you happy and fulfilled in your business (03:00). Is it maximizing profits, impacting more clients, or maintaining flexibility and control?
• Intentional Planning is Essential - Growth for growth’s sake isn’t always the answer. Carve out quiet time away from daily tasks (preferably on a mountain, according to Glenn Harper!) to reflect on the future you want and map a path to get there (02:19).
• Scaling Requires Support - If growth is your goal, don’t go at it alone. Building a great team or hiring experienced consultants can make scaling more manageable and successful (01:31; 04:04).

This episode is brought to you by PureTax, LLC. Tax preparation services without the pressure. When all you need is to get your tax return done, take the stress out of tax season by working with a firm that has simplified the process and the pricing. Find out more about how we started.

FAQ's

Is it better for a business to stay small or try to scale up?

Glenn Harper and Julie Smith discuss that "better" depends on the entrepreneur's vision and goals. Some find more satisfaction and profitability by staying small, while others thrive by scaling up and building large teams 00:33 01:58. Ultimately, choosing the right path means assessing personal happiness and business objectives rather than blindly following growth trends.

How can entrepreneurs decide what size they want their business to be?

Glenn Harper recommends entrepreneurs spend quiet, uninterrupted time away from daily tasks to reflect deeply on what makes them happy and what they truly want their business to be 02:19 02:50. By tuning out outside noise and societal expectations, they can clarify their own definitions of success before committing to growth or staying small.

What steps should business owners take before scaling their company?

Before scaling, Glenn Harper suggests entrepreneurs clarify their vision, assemble the right team, and seek guidance from experienced consultants 01:26 04:04. He emphasizes that attempting to scale alone is very difficult, so learning from others can dramatically improve the process.

Running a business doesn’t have to run your life.

Without a business partner who holds you accountable, it’s easy to be so busy ‘doing’ business that you don’t have the right strategy to grow your business.

Stop letting your business run you. At Harper & Co CPA Plus, we know that you want to be empowered to build the lifestyle you envision. In order to do that you need a clear path to follow for success

Our clients enjoy a proactive partnership with us. Schedule a consultation with us today.

Download our free guide - Entrepreneurial Success Formula: How to Avoid Managing Your Business From Your Bank Account.

Glenn Harper, CPA, is the Owner and Managing Partner of Harper & Company CPAs Plus, a top 10 Managing Partner in the country (Accounting Today's 2022 MP Elite). His firm won the 2021 Luca Award for Firm of the Year. 

An entrepreneur and speaker, Glenn transformed his firm into an advisory-focused practice, doubling revenue and profit in two years. He teaches entrepreneurs to build financial and operational excellence, speaks nationwide to CPA firm owners about running their businesses like entrepreneurs, and consults with firms across the country. Glenn enjoys golfing, fishing, hiking, cooking, and spending time with his family.

Julie Smith, MBA, is a serial entrepreneur in the public accounting space. She is the Founder of EmpowerCPA™, Founder of PureTax, LLC, COO for Harper & Company CPAs Plus, and Co-host of the Empowering Entrepreneurs podcast. 

Named CPA.com's 2021 Innovative Practitioner of Year, Julie led Harper & Company's transition to an advisory-focused firm, doubling revenue and profit in two years. She now empowers other CPA firm owners nationwide through consulting and speaking, teaching them how to run their businesses like entrepreneurs. Julie lives in Columbus, OH with her family and enjoys travel, coaching basketball, sporting events, and the occasional shopping spree.

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Copyright 2026 Glenn Harper

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Brought to you by Harper & Company CPAs Plus

Running a business takes vision, grit… and the right financial partner. At Harper & Company CPAs Plus, we don’t just crunch numbers—we empower entrepreneurs. From proactive tax strategy and accounting to business advisory services, our team helps you keep more of what you earn and scale with confidence. Whether you’re launching, growing, or preparing for exit, Harper & Company is in your corner with expert guidance built for business owners like you. Visit www.harpercpaplus.com to book a complimentary discovery call today - or call us at 614-456-7222.

Brought to you by Harper & Company CPAs Plus

Hello, everyone. Welcome to another edition of the Empowering Entrepreneurs Podcast. I'm Glenn

Harper. Julie Smith. What's going on, Julie? It's been a bit since we've been in

these seats. Couple weeks. Life keeps happening, you know. Yeah. You

got some hurdles we gotta overcome, and here we are, you know, just like

everybody else. There's always something, a little pothole in the road you

gotta navigate through. Which brings me to our topic of today with. Do

tell. You know, is bigger better or

better better as far as the context? Well, you know, growing and

scaling a company business. Yeah, I wasn't talking about your hair. I know this.

If I had my mullet, I'd be in. No, I think

that's a great question because it seems to me that

everybody always says you got to take your business and scale it and grow it

to this monstrosity of a company. And the question is, well, should we even do

that or not? And so I always ask the question back to our clients. Is,

is bigger better or is better better? You just stole that from me.

I know, but it's the question, right?

Is it better to be a better company, more profitable,

less time involved, more profitable clients, or is it better to be this

massive company that is just keeping you up all night and doing all

the things to. But I don't necessarily think that, you know,

sometimes when people go bigger, they figure out how to do it without

staying up all night. Right, well, just to be devil's advocate over here,

of course you are. That's what you. That's what you do. I think the

key to that is when you're ready to scale, you can't do it

by yourself. You have to have a team to do that, and you have to

know what is you're trying to sell, what you're trying to do with your products

and services, and who are the people and the roles. And you have to have

somebody help you. If you try to do on your own, it's going to be

very hard. Unless you're musk. That guy could do anything. But ultimately, the rest of

the. I think he's got some good people, he's got great people. But if you

don't have the right people, it's really hard to scale by yourself. So,

you know, back to the question. I think it goes back to, like, what is

your vision? What is your goal? Where. What do you want to do with

the business? Right. Well, again, most people don't think that far

ahead. They're trying to do this task. They're trying to do their job. They're trying

to service their client, and they're not thinking, is this what I want to

be doing a month from now, five months from now, a year from now, ten

years from now? It's really hard to project that out because they're just trying to

get through the day to solve those tasks, hand and solve those problems.

So how does one decide? You got to have some quiet time. You got to

separate yourself from the business, go on top of the mountain, chill out and

try to do that deep thinking and decide, what is it that I want this

company to be? Do I want it to be this big monstrosity?

Do I want to run this multinational organization, or do I want

to just have a nice little boutique little thing and make things happen at the

small level that I'm doing? And once you decide that, it's easy to come back

and implement it. So what questions do people ask themselves during this

quiet time to get to that, you know, answer? Well, again, the

hard part is you're listening to the noise out there, telling you what you should

be doing. And then you have to get to your true self to figure out

what is it that you really want to be doing? What makes you happy?

What gives you the most joy, satisfaction, what makes you get up in

the morning. And most of the time, what makes you happy

is not what everybody else is telling you you should do. So you have to

go figure that out. That's the algorithm. You got to solve that noise. It's.

It's loud. It's. Especially in today's society. Well, you can be judged

so quickly from social media, your peers, colleagues, family, everybody, that

if you make one wrong move, you're going to be judged. So it's hard to

just put it out there and say, this is what I want to do, and

go do it. And those people we all know are the most successful people ever.

They're the happiest. They're being the most productive. They're living their best

life, and it doesn't matter. Again, it could be just to have one client do

one thing or have hundreds and thousands of clients. Doesn't matter. Once they figured out

it's. They're the happiest people. Sounds like we all need to book a trip to

the mountains or the beach or something and have some quiet time. And not the

beach. Figure this out. Distractions, the sand, it's sunscreen.

You really got to go to the mountain because there's really nothing to see but

just openness. It's really the place to be. All

right. Well, hopefully that'll help all of you try to figure that out. Again, find

your quiet time. And when you do find that quiet time and you, you kind

of get a plan, hire a consultant. Hire somebody that has done it before

and can help you navigate how to get that. Because trying to do it

yourself is so, so hard. There you have it, another edition of

the Empowering Entrepreneurs Podcast. I'm Glenn Harper. Julie Smith.