He Had a Stroke. Then He Built a Conference. Here's What Accounting Got Wrong | With Randy Crabtree

The Accounting Leads Now Podcast

The Accounting Leads Now Podcast
He Had a Stroke. Then He Built a Conference. Here's What Accounting Got Wrong | With Randy Crabtree
May 07, 2026 Season 4 Episode 76
James Donovan

You're exhausted. You keep telling yourself it's just tax season. But deep down, you know it's been longer than that.

Randy Crabtree pulled over at a phone booth to quit his job and become a CPA. He built a firm, burned out, sold it, co-founded Tri-Merit Specialty Tax and landed on the Inc. 5000 three years running. Then a stroke in 2014 forced him to rethink everything.

In this conversation, Randy gets real about what burnout actually looks like before it takes you down, why niching down accelerated his growth instead of limiting it, and the one client-list exercise that can change how you run your firm starting today.

If you're running on fumes right now, this one's worth your commute.

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