A necessary skill to acquire in transitioning an accounting practice from chaos to simplicity is the ability to say no gracefully, and often.

To do this well, one needs to drop the desire to please or satisfy others. (Remember, this is not possible anyways; listen to episode 022 if you don't believe me yet.)

Here is one way to say no that can help you avoid taking on new work:

...

“Thank you for reaching out. At this time, [our firm] is not accepting new clients.

[These three CPAs] are all accepting new clients, and have expressed interest in receiving referrals.

On [this date in the future], our firm will be reevaluating capacity. If at that time we are taking on new clients and you would like to have a conversation, we would be happy to reconnect with you. If this is the case, please reply with a quick 'YES' and we will follow up with you [at this time].

All the best,
[Our Firm]