Built for Julian Brown, Lighthouse Accounting & Consulting

Good talking with you at the Chamber event, Julian.

We didn't get past the small talk on how I help businesses use AI, so I put something more useful together than a business card: an actual look at where it could give you back hours, based on what's live on thelighthousecpa.com today.

thelighthousecpa.com Norwalk, CT, serving clients nationwide CPA-led tax, bookkeeping & advisory
What I noticed

You're running a one-person firm with a five-segment client base.

I read through your site before writing this. A few things stood out of where the hours are probably going, but happy to chat through where my early findings might need more information.

One advisor, every question

Your site is built around "one advisor, one relationship." That's a real strength for trust, but it also means every client question, from S Corp elections to quarterly estimates, comes to you directly. There's no associate to route it to first.

Five distinct client types

Self-employed professionals, small business owners, S Corps and LLCs, W-2 earners with side income, and professionals in transition. Each group asks similar questions, worded differently, and each answer still needs your judgment behind it.

A standing quarterly commitment

Quarterly Planning & Check-Ins is one of your listed services. That's four structured touchpoints a year, per client, that each need prep before you can talk strategy instead of just reviewing numbers together.

Three content channels, one writer

A newsletter, video resources, and an insights page all live on your site. That's a lot of original explanation of tax and accounting topics being produced by one person, on top of client work.

Why this is worth ten minutes

This isn't a hunch. It's where solo CPA practices are actually finding hours.

15-20 hrs

a week is what firms winning with AI in 2026 are freeing up per accountant, then redirecting into advisory work like the kind you already offer.

Accounting AI Statistics 2026, AdAI
64%

of SME accountants say client communication is where they use AI most day to day, ahead of task automation and research.

Karbon, 2026 SME Accountant Survey
93%

of accountants using AI say it's helping them do more strategic advisory work, not just faster compliance.

Karbon, 2026
Where I'd start with you

Three specific places, not a platform pitch.

Nothing here replaces your license, your judgment, or the advice you give as a CPA. Each one is a way to get a faster, better first draft, so you spend your time reviewing and advising, not starting from a blank page.

Routine client questions

Answer the fifth "what's the S Corp deadline again" without it taking your whole afternoon.

With five different client segments asking overlapping questions, a lot of your inbox is probably the same handful of topics reworded. A simple workflow can draft a clear, accurate first response in your voice, ready for you to check and send, so the routine questions stop eating the time you'd rather spend on the complicated ones.

Client communication is the single most common day-to-day AI use case reported by SME accountants.
Quarterly check-in prep

Walk into every quarterly review with the talking points already drafted.

Before each Quarterly Planning & Check-In, a workflow can turn a client's latest numbers into a short set of discussion points and questions worth raising, built from your own past notes and their financials. You'd still lead the conversation. You'd just spend less of it re-familiarizing yourself with the account first.

Accountants report that AI is shifting their time from compliance execution toward strategic advisory conversations.
Newsletter & insights

Turn one explanation into a newsletter piece, a video outline, and an insights post, without writing it three times.

You're already producing original tax and accounting content across three channels. A repeatable workflow can take your core explanation of a topic and draft it into each format, so you're editing three drafts instead of writing three pieces from scratch.

Content drafting from a single source is one of the most common time-saving applications reported by small practices.
How this actually works

You stay the CPA. AI just gets you to the first draft faster.

This isn't about handing tax advice or client relationships over to a tool. It's a skill you build and keep, no matter what software you're on next year.

You prompt

You set the direction

You decide what the answer, the check-in, or the newsletter needs to say. The tool never guesses at your advice.

You review

You catch what's off

Every draft comes back to you before a client sees it. That's the whole point, and it's non-negotiable for anything with your CPA license behind it.

You decide

You send it, or you don't

Nothing goes out the door on autopilot. The workflow saves the hour of starting from zero, not the judgment call.

One thing before you go

Curious Co is taking on a small group of founding members as we build out this practice.

If any of this is useful, Julian, you'd be one of the first businesses I work with under the new direction, at a founding rate that won't be offered again once the first group fills. No pressure either way. I just wanted you to have the option.

Let's talk about which of these is worth doing first.

Reply to this and tell me which one caught your eye, the routine client questions, the quarterly prep, or the content across your three channels. Fifteen minutes is enough to know if it's worth a real conversation.

Looking forward to connecting