Where good ideas go to die.
Every business has a ‘Too hard Basket’ (THB).
Accounting firms’ THBs might look a little different to the average business, but the concept is the same: important-but-not-urgent ideas and projects go there to die.
The THB is filled with tomorrow’s problems that we “don’t yet know how to start”, that feel “too disruptive this quarter”, or are inconveniently “chicken and egg” with that other thing.
Common THB rotter’s include:
Starting social media marketing
Creating a cohesive and consistent services list and pricing strategy
Developing the first layer of advisory services that intermediate accountants can deliver
Fixing the website (Karen left three years ago)
Implementing client NPS survey and doing a Google Business Review drive
Clarifying leadership roles and preparing the structure for overdue promotions
It’s not laziness or lack of ambition. It’s cognitive overload.
The firm doesn’t run itself. Clients have niggly questions. The team needs direction. Compliance deadlines are hard. Business-as-usual stays busy and feels productive.
So, without a clear starting point or in-house expertise, we postpone the bigger projects that might genuinely shift trajectory. They require head space. And headspace is scarce.
These THB ideas don’t present like IRD deadlines (there’s no penalty notice). Just friction, small compromises, deferred decisions, and postponed conversations.
Until the gap between ambition and execution quietly widens and the tensions compound. Then, you find yourself having the same conversation - with more urgency.
Maybe clients started retiring and the pipeline didn’t replace them.
Maybe you lost that future partner to a firm that moved faster.
Clarity doesn’t arrive first
Most people are waiting for clarity before they start. But it rarely appears on its own, it shows up through movement. You don’t need a fully mapped transformation plan. You need the first structured conversation. The first strategic decision. The first piece of alignment.
Once that happens, the fog lifts faster than expected. Momentum creates clarity.
Our role is helping you work out what’s actually in the basket.
Is it a positioning issue disguised as a marketing frustration?
Is it a service design problem masquerading as “low advisory uptake”?
Is it a leadership misalignment stalling execution?
We help isolate the real tension, prioritise the moves, and sequence them properly.
If You’ve Got a Basket…
If there are important ideas you’ve been meaning to tackle but haven’t started, you’re human.
You don’t need to know exactly what the issue is. You just need to be willing to take an idea out. You’re expert enough to know something feels off. It’s our expertise to help you diagnose it - and turn hesitation into forward motion.