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Cool Careers in Accounting Ep. 13 - Best of Both Worlds: Professional & Personal Success with Mayumi Young
110 Plays13 hours ago
Mayumi Young, founder and CEO of CPA Moms, shares her journey from CPA through entrepreneurship with a purpose. Her passion for family—and defining success through both client outcomes and personal fulfillment—inspired her to help CPA mothers do great things in tax and accounting while maintaining balance in their family lives. Learn from her strategies on overcoming challenges, constantly developing, and the stories of many professionals who have grown through CPA Moms. And above all, gain insight into the very important synergy between personal values and professional goals.
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Transcript
Introduction of Mayume Young
00:00:09
Speaker
Hey, Spencer Payne here with Becker and another episode of Cool Careers in Accounting. Here today with CPA and founder, Mayume
Balancing Career and Family
00:00:20
Speaker
Young. And Mayume, could you just describe to us what it is that you describe your job as, title, what you do to friends and family and people you ask? How how would you describe what you do for work?
About Makana Enterprises
00:00:32
Speaker
Well, what i actually do for work is I help accountants take control of their career and be present. with their families, predominantly women, predominantly working professional moms.
00:00:43
Speaker
um My official title is actually CEO and founder um of multiple businesses. um The parent is Makana Enterprises, but the core brand that I focus on is called CPA Moms.
Creating Practices for Work-Life Harmony
00:00:56
Speaker
So that is what I do. I actually run a national virtual turnkey accounting and tax franchise. And we support accountants that want to create their own practices and help them build those practices, launch them and create work-life harmony while doing it.
00:01:13
Speaker
Awesome. and And that's, there's a, there's a lot to unpack with that. How do you know you're doing that job? Well, like how, how do you look back at the end of a year and say like, yes, we had a great year at fulfilling our mission, growing revenue, whatever
Measuring Success with KPIs
00:01:25
Speaker
it may be. how do you, how do you know you're doing that job? Well, but we measure everything. So from a very practical tactical perspective, we have certain We call them KPIs internally that ah for us determine and dictate if we're successful.
00:01:40
Speaker
And most of those are based on our clients being successful. So how much um revenue did they generate? um You know, really at the end of the day, the the the hardcore numbers are,
00:01:55
Speaker
one measure of success as a business, but the real measure of success, like how are we accomplishing our, our primary mission and vision is, is really through feedback.
Impactful Client Feedback
00:02:06
Speaker
um I literally will get texts, messages. I just got one this week, 15 years later from a woman that I helped launch her own practice. She hired most of her family and she just texted me saying, I just celebrated my 15th year as an entrepreneur. Thanks to you.
00:02:23
Speaker
yeah, You know, I've gotten um families CPAs and accountants that have sent letters from their children thanking them for being raising them and being home. i mean, that makes me cry still to this day.
00:02:36
Speaker
um we get feedback from accountants when they talk about they went on a family vacation in the middle of tax season, you know, things that they could never do.
00:02:48
Speaker
when they um worked in their career and we create those opportunities for them. And so that's what actually lights me up. Sure. We want to hit our numbers. We want, you know, it's great if they feel that way and they're not financially successful, then in our world, that's not success either, but it's that and.
00:03:07
Speaker
yeah um So, yeah. um I want to stress that's the first time I've ever heard, and maybe this isn't a KPI or not, but it could be. How many letters from your client's children did you get this year thanking you for helping their client, their their parents do their job better, spend more time with their kids?
00:03:26
Speaker
um Again, maybe that's not something you officially track, but I thought I heard that in there. And if that's a track metric, even if you're getting one, like that's an um that's amazing. That's an incredible thing to be able to look forward to on ah on a regular basis.
00:03:36
Speaker
um And going forward, what are you looking forward to maybe over the next, say, six to 12 months? Are there any interesting projects on the horizon? Is there anything that's got you energized as you kind of look forward, say, in the next a year
Growth and Fundraising Strategies
00:03:49
Speaker
or so?
00:03:49
Speaker
Well, there's always a project. So... um You know, we are, um we're entering the growth stage. We're actually fundraising professionally for the first time. And I've been an entrepreneur now for, thank you, for 26 years. And I've always either self-funded or did very sort of friends and family. and And we're we're ready to grow into that next stage. So that's a big a piece of our focus now.
00:04:17
Speaker
we We are launching um a So we've done it once, but i really want this to be a cornerstone of what we do for women in the profession. And it's called the CARE Conference.
00:04:30
Speaker
And, um you know, this is an opportunity for us to really, in a way, give back to our community and support them beyond their career specifically, but in their life.
Launching the CARE Conference
00:04:42
Speaker
And looking at, you know, a well-rounded life and really launching that um conference live. I know most people are going virtual. I've been virtual since 2000. So when everyone went virtual at COVID, oh but we actually,
00:04:57
Speaker
as soon as we could we did the opposite i'm always going in the outdoor so everyone's virtual now now we're like oh let's do live events um uh so yes we're excited for that and we've been focused mostly on cpas um and we're actually looking at expanding in and adding um a support mechanism to help launch bookkeepers in their own practices so that's a big endeavor just a couple two three things that we have going on and that's the short list Yeah, that's awesome. and And just curious, like this fundraise for the first time after out of being an entrepreneur for so long, ah what what is maybe the number one thing that you hope to be able to do with that fundraise? Like what what does that unlock for you that that is you're not able to do or maybe not able to do fast enough without that?
00:05:40
Speaker
Yeah, great question. does The thing that challenges us the most is that we you know we are not as visible. People don't know about what we do and you can have the best offer in the world, the best solution in the world. But if nobody knows about you, you know, you're not adding the value or making the difference and having the impact that you want to make.
00:06:02
Speaker
And so it's, you know, we spent the bulk of our time really building um a solution that performs.
Franchise Accountability and Transparency
00:06:09
Speaker
um And you had asked earlier, and and i'll and I'll say, I'll answer a question you asked me earlier in while answering this one, when you're in a franchise,
00:06:18
Speaker
There's ah a document called an FDD. It's a franchise disclosure document. In there, there's a section and in all FDDs are the same for the over 4,000 franchise brands that exist.
00:06:29
Speaker
In there, there's an item called item 19, and it gives you the opportunities optional to disclose your performance. And a lot of franchise brands don't take that option.
00:06:41
Speaker
They say they don't want to disclose it. Well, that was one of the things that I took a stand on in the very beginning when we became a franchise that I want to disclose performance because that makes you accountable to actually fulfilling because you can't hide. You can't choose your story. You can't feature these highlight these when everybody else, you know, okay the one or two people that were successful, but the 80 percent that failed.
00:07:03
Speaker
This is truth serum and it keeps the enterprise on it. So, you know, in in our world, we want. um We want to be able to expand and use the capital to get more visibility, expand our our network of professionals and up level ah the training and support that we're able to provide them and the technology that we're providing them. So lots to do.
00:07:28
Speaker
And really, it's more about visibility and outreach.
From CPA to Entrepreneur
00:07:31
Speaker
Awesome. and And I'd love to come back to how how did you get here, especially within the context of you know entrepreneur for 26 years, so fundraising, multiple companies, wanting to make sure people are hitting ah not only top line revenue targets, but also personal targets.
00:07:50
Speaker
um When most people think CPA, that's not necessarily all that like all that in in conjunction isn't necessarily what people think of. So how how did you end up here? what What has been your path to to get here?
00:08:02
Speaker
And especially maybe help us understand where did you start and maybe where there's some fork in the road moments along the way that helped you get to this point where you are today? So that's a really great question. um My journey started, um I'll say i was in school.
00:08:16
Speaker
I was an undergrad. I needed to pick a major. I had a lot of student loans. I got an A in my accounting 101 class and found out how much accountants made and decided to be an accountant.
International Finance Experience
00:08:30
Speaker
That's where the journey started. It literally was that sophisticated. on And, you know, it I sort of defaulted and it was, it came easy and I saw a stable career for myself, which is the culture and the family environment that I grew up in. Everyone had jobs. That's what they did.
00:08:50
Speaker
And that's what it was expected of me. And so I went into public. I went to Pricewaterhouse initially and spent four years there. um I was recruited out of there into a it's an international telecom company, and I did their international finance and accounting, um financial reporting, and then ultimately um was promoted to international finance director and I helped a lot of the integration of, um they did a lot of M&A, they acquired a lot of other smaller telecom companies. So i was integrating a lot of those finance teams all over the world into our centralized system and building those systems and all of that. And um found a love for for systems and architecture and, you know, taking the sort of complex, in you know,
00:09:42
Speaker
you're melding not just financials, but people and cultures and entirely, you may not even realize this, but in France, for example, they have entirely different standard chart of accounts for the entire country.
00:09:55
Speaker
and And just having all of this um integrated is is um was just a fun exercise. And then i I found a point, i was I had reached a point in my late 20s where i was I was traveling a lot.
00:10:10
Speaker
um I was on the road more than I wasn't. And I was in an airport and um um um a woman and her daughter, I think she was probably eight years old, came up and, you know, oh, what are you doing?
Realization and Career Change
00:10:22
Speaker
what are you traveling? what What do you do for a living?
00:10:25
Speaker
And I gave my patent answer, which sounded wonderful. Great title, traveling around the world, super sexy. who and um And the mother looks at her daughter and like, wow, isn't that great? Wouldn't you like to be like her someday?
00:10:41
Speaker
And i looked at this child who looked at me like we were eyeball ah eyeball. And I swear she looked into my soul and I was just like, Oh, need to take that back. Cause the truth in that moment was i was actually really unfulfilled. And, um, I, I call it dead inside.
00:11:00
Speaker
You know, I really, my life had reached a point where I didn't have a lot of meaning. And though I loved the work that I was doing, something was missing and I couldn't put my finger on it. And,
00:11:11
Speaker
I didn't take it back in that moment, but that moment informed my entire future um in a way, kind sort of paying it forward and always telling the truth about I'm feeling, what where I'm at and never trying to shine it up, put on a facade, which doesn't serve anybody, least of all myself.
00:11:33
Speaker
And shortly after that, I decided to leave my job. I quit. but turn Sorry, shortly after, is that like next week?
00:11:43
Speaker
Is that like six weeks? How did this eight-year-old peering into your soul before you're like, yeah, it's time to make a change?
Quitting for a Purpose
00:11:51
Speaker
It was less than three months. yeah It was weeks.
00:11:57
Speaker
And I was in the middle of renegotiating a contract for a position I had already been working. And I set the terms to be non-negotiable.
00:12:07
Speaker
And I did it in on purpose because I'm like, well, if they accept it, then I'll continue. And if they don't, I'll leave. And they didn't. And they counted with something that was highly insulting. And so i was like, really easy choice.
00:12:20
Speaker
I'm out of here. And I had already been performing the role. um So I quit with no plan. And so say real quick, nothing lined up at this point. so just Just a total like staring into open space for the first time in your life, especially with this background of I chose accounting because it was stable. i had student loans.
00:12:40
Speaker
I knew that would be a nice, stable, high paying career. And now all of a sudden you're, i don't know, eight years or so into your career. And now it's the exact opposite of why you chose your your first career. And so yeah what's going through your mind at that point?
00:12:55
Speaker
um When you reach a point where the pain of staying is greater than the pain and the fear of leaving, you leap.
00:13:06
Speaker
then you leave leak Um, and so I don't recommend this. This isn't a share, like let's give you a blueprint on things that, you know, this is a highly unrecommended app.
00:13:22
Speaker
I was, I didn't see another way. I didn't have mentors. I didn't have podcasts to listen to. I didn't have at that time access to the depth of personal development that I, I, I went, you know, I i started at deepening.
00:13:38
Speaker
once I took this leap of faith, but I just felt like my life, that I existed on the planet for another reason. I had a purpose.
00:13:49
Speaker
I didn't know what that purpose was. yeah I just knew that there was more to life than what I was doing. i just didn't know what it was. And I felt like the longer I stayed where I was, I was never gonna discover that. So I literally quit and went to Hawaii to find myself, not kidding, false true story.
00:14:07
Speaker
and spent three weeks there and had the most profound, miraculous experiences. Things that no one will believe if I said all the miracles that happened.
00:14:17
Speaker
And i made a promise in that moment that, and I knew when left, I'm like, I'm gonna give myself three months. I had no money in the bank because I had participated in what I call retail therapy for several years. So you know there was nothing saved or put aside.
00:14:37
Speaker
Um, and I gave myself three months and i like, it's an accounting. I can go get another job if I absolutely need to. Yeah. And, um, you know, miracle after miracle happened three months worth of income showed up in the form of a tax refund that I'd forgotten that I was going to get because I bought a house the year before and all these things, like everything lined up.
00:14:57
Speaker
And, um, and the promise that I made in that moment is that I would never, ever work just for money, that it had to also be for purpose. And then i needed to know that I was using my gifts and talents in a meaningful way.
00:15:10
Speaker
And I've stayed true to that ever since. um Incredible. And what was what was your next ah job, career, venture to start after that? So now we're we're you're you've spent your time in Hawaii. You've had your miracles. You got your tax refund.
00:15:27
Speaker
You've promise to yourself. And what did you say yes to next?
First Business Venture: Financial Literacy
00:15:33
Speaker
two and a half months into my three months. And to remind you, I live in San Diego, so I was surfing and learning how to surf and living and not.
00:15:42
Speaker
I wasn't searching, I was just being so it was really important that I just let the answer come to me instead of thinking my way through a problem that I couldn't imagine even yet.
00:15:57
Speaker
And I was at a family function. An aunt pulled me aside or a cousin pulled me aside and and said, can you help me with something? And I said, sure. She said, um i said, what can I help you with? And she said, well, will you help me do a budget?
00:16:09
Speaker
i have a daughter who's about to go to college and I don't know how to budget for this. And so it was a private conversation. So we went into a car and I literally an hour and a half later, just fire hose her. She was glazed over and I was inspired. I'm like,
00:16:25
Speaker
Why do more people not know this? And so my first company was um ah designing financial literacy curriculum for kids in schools. I was really empowered by the idea of bringing um financial education, specifically not economics, not business education, but financial literacy specifically to kids in schools.
00:16:44
Speaker
um And that was my first venture. Um, incredible. And if, if we might just continue the story, so that was the first, that was your first job, which wasn't even saying yes to a job. That was you creating something out of narcis effectively ah your first business.
00:17:02
Speaker
And can you give us maybe the, what's the short version of that first business to where you are today? Like how, what, what, like how long ago was that? And how did that business do? And maybe what's the meandering path to CPA mobs?
00:17:15
Speaker
Yeah, that was, um, I quit in April of 2000. I launched it in July of 2000. um I was green. There was nobody around me. I had no mentors. I had no coaching. I had no do training. I didn't know anything about entrepreneur.
00:17:31
Speaker
The only thing I knew is go join a network marketing company so you learn sales. I'm like, okay, I'll do that. like i like literally knew nothing. and um I was just deeply inspired. I the most amazing miracles happen. I was one of business plan competition and all these things happen.
00:17:51
Speaker
And I was selected at a charter school to pilot my curriculum at one of the most prominent charter schools funded by the Gates, Bill Gates Foundation.
Second Venture: Financial Coaching
00:18:00
Speaker
Okay. Incredible.
00:18:02
Speaker
Great feedback. And I loved what I was doing, but I didn't have an economic engine for it. I didn't know how to um get paid in that business. I didn't have a revenue model.
00:18:12
Speaker
And these were things I just didn't understand. and the first go. So the passion was there. The love was there. The doors were opening. I just didn't have a, uh, a vehicle yet. Um, I ended up getting hired by uh,
00:18:27
Speaker
charter school i and know worked there for a year as I was sort of literally on my knees praying for an answer. Do i sell my house and keep going? Do what do i do? And literally 48 hours later, I got a call. We're the final interviewing staging for a position, but we thought of you. Do you want to come in and interview? Those are the miracles that show up in my life, like it just doors open.
00:18:51
Speaker
um So I stopped that. I shelved it knowing that I would come back to it someday and I will. Um, has spent a year, got stable again, financially and, um, was inspired to create my second company, which, uh, I call club freedom. And that was designing, it was financial coaching.
00:19:11
Speaker
And, um, this is back when there was no zoom, there was no video conferencing, uh, there's conference calls for a dollar a minute per person on a line. Nobody knew what a coach was back then.
00:19:23
Speaker
So when I described it, people were like, so you're a financial planner. I'm no. um You know, and so we were, was coaching entrepreneurs on how to transform their emotional relationship to money.
00:19:38
Speaker
Yeah. And supporting people to become financially free um as a choice and financially. And so I did that business again. I just, it was ah cut.
00:19:50
Speaker
I say it, but people who aren't spiritual may be like this California girl. She's really she's going to start hugging trees and all kinds of things. But it was a calling. i was called to do it I launched a program, um got incredible feedback, and I had to keep doing it. So I did that for a few years.
00:20:08
Speaker
And then the 2008 crash recession happened. and um And I just felt like i I was always just a little too early.
00:20:21
Speaker
Um, I, I now understand that I have the sort of persona of a visionary so I can see 10 years, 20 years down the future. And I sometimes enter a market a little early.
00:20:35
Speaker
yeah Um, that was true for the financial education. And that was true for coaching now for a rock hit a coach. Everyone knows what that is, but when you have to educate your potential client and serve, that's a very difficult business to be in.
00:20:51
Speaker
and um And so I stopped that business and joined my husband in his real estate investment um education business at the beginning
Founding CPA Moms
00:21:01
Speaker
of 2008. And then the recession happened.
00:21:07
Speaker
And I had been tapped on the shoulder by some real estate investors that I was networked with, and they were not getting the support they needed from their accountants.
00:21:19
Speaker
And so they're like, can you help us? Our accountant just disappeared. And just as a friend, I'm like, sure. I wasn't a practicing accountant any longer. I let my CPA go inactive and I just did it out of care and concern for my fellow entrepreneur.
00:21:35
Speaker
And I literally would look at these books and I would just be like, you paid somebody to do this to you? I don't, like, it was mystifying to me. I'm like, this was so unacceptable on so many levels. I just, I was, it upset me.
00:21:50
Speaker
But I didn't make it, you know, I didn't make a big deal out of it. I helped one person and then weeks later, another person out of the woodwork. I'm not going out. I'm not asking, you know, hey, does anyone need their books done? I use people are just literally tapping me on the shoulder and I'm in a way giving them the Heisman. Like, I don't do that anymore because as if I have the master plan, I don't.
00:22:10
Speaker
um And ah by the third person, I went, okay, I'm listening. what What is it you want me to do?
00:22:20
Speaker
So, you know, all right, I'm listening. I'm here to serve. I promised that I would answer any call that was made of me and I'm clearly being called, but i don't want to be a practicing accountant.
00:22:35
Speaker
I need to do something that has social impact. And I remembered back to my Pricewaterhouse days watching what I call a one-way revolving door of women going on maternity leave and never coming back. And I had actually coached a woman um when I had my coaching business who was stayed home mom for eight years and was trying to reenter the workforce. I actually gave her one of my clients. I'm just like, here, you can do this. It's like riding a bike, building confidence.
00:23:01
Speaker
And I just put the pieces together and went, huh? I wonder if I take these really technically well-trained women And i match them to entrepreneurs who can't afford, you know, a big firm, but need something more than a bookkeeper. Yeah. And you've seen what the poor job the bookkeeper does so far. So, you know, there's opportunity and you you know, there's a need on both sides, right? It's not just like, oh what could this maybe could work? There is a genuine need on both sides for what you saw there.
00:23:36
Speaker
And of course, it's an assumption until you can prove it to be true. So, It started off as an assumption and within a few months it was like, hold on your seat. It was a wild ride. So while everyone else was going through a recession, I was blowing up and trying to keep up with it.
00:23:51
Speaker
And so clearly there was a need on both sides and it, and um there was something special there. It took me a few years to realize that.
00:24:02
Speaker
and at the time I had my own consulting firm, which again, kind of put me at the center of what I wasn't trying to be at the center of. and and i shut that down so that I could be an agency for accountants and supporting professionals and building their own practices instead of my own um and help them generate new business, help them train and educate, coach them, build confidence and built a lot of, launched a lot of CPA um practices and accounting careers. and And then we franchised the whole model in 2020.
00:24:39
Speaker
um And as you look back on all of that, all those twists and turns and starts and stops and restarts and people asking you to do something that you thought you weren't to do anymore.
00:24:49
Speaker
Is there anything that you look back on with all that that ah that just still makes you super proud that you did it or that that you look back on and you say like, it still lights you up or makes you smile. Or maybe even there's even a little tear in the eye that you or people you work with were able to do X. um Does anything out of all all this, all this windy road that you've experienced, does anything strike you as kind of rising to the top there of proudest moments or things that you look back on? And they still just, they still just kind of light you up thinking about what you're able to do.
00:25:21
Speaker
Definitely. My proudest moment was November of 22.
Proudest Moment: CARE Conference
00:25:31
Speaker
We launched a care conference in San Diego.
00:25:36
Speaker
um it was something that I had planned to do a year prior and was going to promote and build for this conference. And I ended up really, really,
00:25:48
Speaker
I got very ill for about six months, so I couldn't. And we were locked into a contract with the hotel and we had the opportunity just eat the cost and walk away. And I said, well, I'm already going to pay the hotel.
00:26:01
Speaker
And I've been dreaming about this conference to support women in the profession for a really long time. We're coming on the heels of COVID. And i decided that I would give the whole program away.
00:26:15
Speaker
So we did a two-day um free two-day five-star conference at a five-star resort. um Hotel, food, program, everything was included. They just had to get themselves there. And we did it for CPAs that were moms. It was my way of paying it forward and saying, you really were hit hard um during COVID, um you know,
00:26:45
Speaker
professional working moms, I don't think anyone understands the difficulty that they had to go through during that time of becoming teachers and entertainers and caregivers and still working in an industry that became the government's right arm to navigate the all of what happened.
00:27:04
Speaker
And I just felt like, you know, they deserved to be pampered. And that's what we did. And it was my proudest moment. Incredible. um
00:27:17
Speaker
I hate to even go another direction because that's just so powerful. um But I am curious to to go another direction still as you look back on any of the the antithesis of proudest moment. But as again, you've had this and very...
00:27:33
Speaker
wild and varied career. Are there any that that people can learn from maybe some dark moments where maybe you really questioned yourself and how did you get back on the right track in the middle of
Entrepreneurial Challenges and Lessons
00:27:45
Speaker
those? So, I mean, you did mention that quitting your job, going to Hawaii for three weeks. There are some miracles that happened. I don't know if maybe one of those is shareable potentially, but can you can you kind of help help folks understand maybe it hasn't been all joy and it hasn't been all easy ah what's What are, what's maybe a one or two moments or something that rises to the top that a really tough time? And how did, how did you get through that? And what was on the other side of that?
00:28:12
Speaker
um I'm very transparent to a fault. And the reality is I, I've, now that I've been an entrepreneur for 24, I said 26 earlier, I can't clearly can't do math. Basic math as an accountant, 24 years.
00:28:29
Speaker
um I don't actually believe that entrepreneurship is for everyone. um That doesn't correlate with a lot of the messaging that's out there.
00:28:40
Speaker
um
00:28:43
Speaker
hey I'll say it the way I heard it from, I'm going to borrow this from Tony Robbins because I think he says it really well. He's like, you know, to be an entrepreneur is like being a gladiator. It's the only sport that the longer you play, the more likely it is you're going to die. It's really like,
00:28:58
Speaker
ah Like so true statistically, 90% of businesses don't make it after 10 years, 50% after five, something like that. It's it's that it's it disastrous statistic.
00:29:13
Speaker
um And having now started three businesses from scratch, I understand why. And on I would say that it's been harder than it's been good.
00:29:28
Speaker
And, um you know, I've been at this as long as I have. And there's still days where I'm just like, why am doing this again?
00:29:38
Speaker
Like what crazy human thinks this is a good idea? And yet, and I don't have those conversations very often anymore, but it used to be like, hmm, maybe I should get a job. I'm not employable any longer, but i even though I don't question being an entrepreneur,
00:29:58
Speaker
here you're going to make out of 10 choices that you can make a day, nine of them are going to be wrong. You're going to make a mistake every day. And if you can't deal with failure, daily, regular failure, this is not the game to be it. It's just not. and um And so the challenge is,
00:30:24
Speaker
I mean, gosh, I mean, there you don't have enough time in this podcast for me to describe the challenges there. the The biggest ones are six inches between your ears. It's everything that you say, you believe, all the meaning that you make up, the interpretation of fact. and And we can only see the level of understanding that we're at. We can't see beyond that.
00:30:49
Speaker
And so... um
00:30:54
Speaker
So the my biggest mistakes, oh gosh. Or a favorite failure. Is there a favorite failure one that was like, ah, I really didn't like going through that at the time, but now that I'm through it, I learned so much from it that um maybe um i I don't want to experience it again, but I'm glad I went through it because of what I learned. Does anything strike you?
00:31:18
Speaker
yes two of them but I'll say two. One is easy. Anytime I didn't trust my instinct, I overrode an instinct and I knew better and I did it anyways.
00:31:31
Speaker
I hired somebody though I knew I shouldn't, I invested in that something that I knew I shouldn't. And i just, you could, I knew i I felt it. I knew the instinct was no and I did it anyways. And it always, it was always a bad decision.
00:31:46
Speaker
um the But the one tangible one has, his shaped more of what I'll say is I, when I was an agency, I helped a lot of ah CPAs launch their own practice. And it was inside of a legal contract that um i would be compensated on performance over time, which from where I'm standing is a win-win-win.
00:32:11
Speaker
I'm not collecting a lot of upfront capital. You're taking little risk and I'm taking actually in that scenario, a more risk. But there'll be a long-term relationship and I'll gain the reward.
00:32:25
Speaker
And i am an optimist. I look at people and I see the good in everyone, but there's that in the world and there's that in business. And my contracts weren't as strong as they could have been to protect my side the fence.
00:32:42
Speaker
um And so I would have instances where someone would leave and though there's non-competes, which are, legally unenforceable in most cases.
00:32:54
Speaker
um i lost a third of my business in tax season, the beginning of the tax season, because someone left and didn't honor their contract. it was It was brutal. and it was a matter of understanding, one, I have a deep care um and I really give everything I've got to help others be successful in life and in their business.
00:33:23
Speaker
But I wasn't drawing clear enough lines between you are a client. This is a business transaction and I care about you as a person. And I was too much on the side of, I care about you as a person and not taking care of myself and my business.
00:33:41
Speaker
And I think that I'll say that, especially for women, it's great. to care about others. And we should. And I don't want to change that anyone. And it's important to protect do business the way it's designed and understand that not ah everyone has the best intentions and not everyone is going to, mostly people are looking out for themselves.
00:34:06
Speaker
That's the human condition. It's not right. It's not wrong. It's not bad. It's not good. It's just what's so. And if you're going to play this game, you need to learn how to play at that level. Doesn't make you any less caring or generous or compassionate, but you know, I've had to grow a lot as an entrepreneur and grow up as an entrepreneur and do business in a way that protected the business and myself.
00:34:30
Speaker
And that's been the hardest shift to me for me to make um in my own journey. Yeah. There's a, the way contracts are written is often very particular. I'll share a funny story of a friend of mine. Who's a real estate agent and instructor.
00:34:44
Speaker
He's got this his koi pond story. And I'm just going to highlight this on the importance of exact language in legal contracts, because sometimes this stuff really matters. So a client of his, a friend of his was asking, I'm i'm in ah i'm in trouble. i'm um I sold this house and there's five koi pond in the koi pond.
00:35:00
Speaker
um There's five koi in the pond. And the contract says, you know to be delivered at closing, five koi in the pond. And right before closing, like one of the koi dies somehow, right?
00:35:13
Speaker
And so the buyer of the house is going like, you've got to be kidding me. Like I expect five koi, like he's being a kt he's being nitpicky about this, right? And the real estate agent goes back to my friend Bill is like, what do I do? He's like, well, let's look at the contract. He's from North Carolina. He's got that North Carolina accent. He's like, let's see, five koi be delivered at closing. It doesn't say living. It doesn't say living.
00:35:39
Speaker
but and So, I mean, again technically, he didn't need to do anything to correct this situation. All that being said, they kind of got the practicality of like, all right, like this is ah this is a multimillion dollar house. It's a big commission. I'm going to go out of my own pocket and replace the koi. It's what he ended up doing.
00:35:58
Speaker
But the point being is like he could have, based on the way the contract was written, just say, sorry, there's five koi in the pond. You delivered five koi. Like you have to buy the house. You have no outs here to the person who's buying the house. So again, these little nuances sometimes really matter in the way that that contracts are are written.
00:36:16
Speaker
um to go To go into a couple more rapid fire here questions, quick hitter
Advice on Passing the CPA Exam
00:36:21
Speaker
ones. ah Curious, your CPA, when did you knock that out? Did you do that while you were working full time?
00:36:28
Speaker
Did you do that kind of before you started working full time in college, maybe the summer four before? How did you approach that? And given how you did it and how you've seen others do it, what would you maybe recommend for folks today on how to approach the CPA exam?
00:36:43
Speaker
um Almost everything I do, I don't recommend others do. So I'll start by saying that. So um my strategy, i was working at the time i was ah at PW and I sequestered myself at my mother's house.
00:36:59
Speaker
So I left my own apartment. went into her house so she would feed me. um And I got one of the, I can't remember what course it was, but they were in floppy disks back then. Oh yeah. And it was like all the tests for 10 years.
00:37:15
Speaker
And I literally took a pad of paper and a pen or a pencil because I'm also tactile learners. So I need to write out the problem as opposed to on a computer.
00:37:27
Speaker
And by doing so, I could literally visualize and see where i put the answer in the top right corner. And I would try to like extract what did I write? And I just went through years of tests, several notebooks full of tests and questions and answers and practice and practice. I didn't do a review course. I just did the the um the discs and I crammed for a week. And all I did was I woke up, I studied, i ate, I went to sleep. I woke up, I studied, i ate and crammed and craned and I crammed.
00:37:57
Speaker
For a solid week. I sat, took two and in in the state that I got licensed, which was Massachusetts the time you had to take, you had to sit for four, but pass two at 75% or higher for any of them to count.
00:38:10
Speaker
Which sadly, unfortunately, I met a woman, sidebar, who sat past three and got under 75 on the fourth one. yeah and didn't get credit for any of them. I think they've changed the rules since then, but I just felt for her. It's not that hard anymore. Yeah.
00:38:26
Speaker
So glad. So I passed you. And then the other ones, I did something similar to get the third and fourth one complete. But yeah, I crammed it. And I assure you that the minute I put my pencil down and completed my test, I forgot everything that i i had ever learned.
00:38:41
Speaker
So yes. How would i recommend people do it now? I'm sure, I mean, honestly, if I were to do it over again, and I probably would have done a review course. I would have done, you know, there are people who, this is what they do. They help you be successful. um And I would have loved to have just sat for all four and completed all four at one time, having to drag out the third and the fourth um was painful.
00:39:06
Speaker
I know some people try to work and do it at night or what, I just can't, i that I need complete devoted focus time. So I probably would have chosen, you know, take either taken a leave of absence from work for a period of time on a slow season or something. Most employers are good with that.
00:39:25
Speaker
um But would not have, tried i definitely would not recommend trying to work and study at the same time. um You know, just set yourself up to win. And it's, it it's, it's, a I mean, I don't know what it's like now, but it was brutal back then. So.
00:39:40
Speaker
I mean, it's always brutal. It's a little less brutal. You don't pass two at once for one to count, but still always brutal. um And going back to a similar time, if you could give advice, number one biggest piece of advice to folks who are maybe seniors in their master's of accounting year in college, or maybe in their first year in the working world,
00:39:59
Speaker
um knowing what you know now, right? What what might you go back and and give as that number one piece of advice to to folks
Advice for Young Professionals
00:40:05
Speaker
in that position? Or i mean, thinking about it for yourself, what what might you wish you could go back and say to yourself if you were in that position, knowing what you know today?
00:40:13
Speaker
Number one, i wish I had done personal development way like in college sooner, younger. um i didn't really start expanding my my soft skills, if you will, leadership, communication, on integrity, time, ah mindset until I was in my early 30s.
00:40:38
Speaker
And gosh, I've been a number of failures and twists and turns and having to feeling like I had to take a leap and go to Hawaii to find myself. A lot of that could have been avoided if I had had the right environments, the right mentors, coaches,
00:40:55
Speaker
the tools in my toolbox that you carry around in your whole life. I had those earlier, it would have made a huge difference. And I say, you know, they're they call them soft skills. I think that's that's a deterrent for people to want to to have them.
00:41:10
Speaker
i In my world, the world exists because you be first, then do, then have, be, do, have. And unfortunately, we're trained in school and beyond to do, have, be Tell me what to do so I can have the result so that I can be happy and it just doesn't work that way.
00:41:28
Speaker
um On that note, and you mentioned Tony Robbins earlier, but on this note of soft skills, mentality, et cetera, is there maybe one book, ah one person to follow that you recommend for people to go to go read a book or or follow X person on their YouTube videos or something like that? Is there is there one leave behind you'd wanna give for people to go learn from that person?
00:41:50
Speaker
So, um I have a tool that will help people find the right person to follow. That tool is called, um it's a profile and was created by one of my mentors.
00:42:05
Speaker
ah The tool is designed to identify what your genius is, that when you do it, it gives you life. And what happens is when you have these personality profiles, people, every profile is good. Every profile is is successful. But for example, um Zuckerberg has one profile and Warren Buffett has a completely different profile.
00:42:27
Speaker
So I could say, hey, you should follow Warren Buffett. He's, you know, got all the answers. He's successful, right? He loves his job, right? Just follow him. That doesn't necessarily apply.
00:42:38
Speaker
But if it's not a match for your genius, for how you see the world, how you add value to the world, then you're going to feel like a fish that's climbing a tree. I think Einstein says, you know, when you're a fish trying to climb a tree, you go through your whole life thinking you're stupid.
00:42:55
Speaker
When in reality, you're just not designed that way. yeah And so I think if you do anything, start taking personality profiles, you can take this one, Flow Profiles. And you could ah identify for yourself what your value is, what your genius is, which is not the same thing as a strength test. I'm very good at stuff. That doesn't mean that's where I get life yeah from.
00:43:20
Speaker
And then usually gives you lists of people who share that profile. Then you go and you follow those particular people that have that same genius. That way, the people you're learning from are most correlate to who you actually are. Spend your life figuring out who you are.
00:43:38
Speaker
Know thyself and then spend the rest your life. Know thyself and to the self be true. Align to who you really are and stay true to yourself. And that's the whole journey of life. No matter what you choose to do in your profession, what career you choose, that's why you can dance and navigate with everything that life throws at you. Recessions, pandemics, industry changes. You could be fired. You could be, could,
00:44:02
Speaker
go find Go to Hawaii to find yourself. You do all those things. As long as you know who you are and you know where you want to go, you'll always find a path to get there if you stay true to you. Underrated advice. Was that Flow Profiles? Is that what I heard?
00:44:15
Speaker
Lowprofiles.com. And then you can take a profile and... figure out what your genius is and go from there. Awesome. And and last last quick question, anything else that you'd like to add or leave behind to the audience or anything else that you would like to maybe go back and re-highlight because it's just that important? And maybe it was just your last quote about knowing myself because that felt like that got some energy. So um anything else you want to add or anything else you want to go back and highlight as as ah as a leave behind for the audience?
00:44:52
Speaker
Well, I'll say two things. One, on it isn't talked about in our profession and I think it's really important.
Trusting Intuition and Vision for the Future
00:45:01
Speaker
And I work with women a lot, so I'll say especially for women, but it's not just for women.
00:45:05
Speaker
um Your brain is a very powerful tool to figure things out, but your heart is equally powerful in figuring things out. And giving yourself permission to trust your intuition in your heart And allow that to guide you along with your mind and work in partnership, I think is really critically important as you navigate life um and make the best choice you can in the moment.
00:45:35
Speaker
And have a future vision for yourself, because in the absence of that, you will default to a life of survival because that's the human condition.
00:45:45
Speaker
In the absence of a future that you invented or created, The default is just to survive. So if you want a new outcome, you want a new future, create it write it set a timeline.
00:45:58
Speaker
All the things that are taught around goal setting and and planning and visioning. um People underestimate what they can accomplish in 10 years and they overestimate what they can accomplish in a year.
00:46:09
Speaker
Create it and watch the miracles happen. Don't worry about how, just create it from nothing based on what you truly want and then watch the magic happen. Watch the magic happen.
00:46:20
Speaker
I like it. ah Thank you so much. This is definitely a cool career in accounting. um And thank you so much for sharing it with the Becker audience. Appreciate it My pleasure. Thank you for having