Building and Selling a Business - Stu Block - #006

Stu Block is a CPA and environmental accountant who founded Sustas LLC, an ESG and sustainability consulting firm based in Boise, Idaho. He built the firm from scratch after leaving Ernst & Young, landed clients including Amazon, and grew and sold the company in just a few short years. He is currently the Energy and GHG Inventory Leader at GE Vernova, and is launching a new business on the side as well: Warm Springs Financial Group — with the tagline "Finally, a CPA who knows your name in July."

Stu, you're a gangster. Thanks for the great stories and advice. 

0:00 — Intro & Stu's background: CPA, environmental accounting, Ernst & Young
 10:00 — Building an independent consulting firm: "You are the product"
 23:00 — Origin story: solar panels on a frat house roof and how it led to entrepreneurship
 26:00 — Networking strategy, maintaining relationships, and why phone calls still win
 35:00 — Working inside big companies: small wins, communication styles, and ego at the door
 41:00 — Pricing yourself, rate negotiation, and scaling the solo practice
 46:00 — Sales mindset: confidence vs. desperation and why "sell" isn't a dirty word
 51:00 — Finding a co-founder, building the partnership, and what happened at the exit
 59:00 — What's next: Warm Springs Financial Group and "the CPA who knows your name in July"

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Game phase, game phase, MM, put the hood up, lose yourself.

SPEAKER_02 0:04

Lose yourself.

SPEAKER_01 0:06

What's up, gang? We're here with uh with Stu Block today. Um the man the myth legend, he's uh an environmental accounting guru, a ping pong legend, and got a a stomach of steel. How do you feel about those things?

SPEAKER_00 0:22

Uh I feel like it's pretty representative of my diverse skill set.

SPEAKER_01 0:26

You really only need like a couple skills and that's true.

SPEAKER_00 0:30

That's true. Although, you know, being a Swiss Army knife, sometimes it's valuable.

SPEAKER_01 0:36

You gotta have the glue guy here and there, you know? Big vibes a guy. Um, which I hear I hear the glue guy on on your pick-up basketball team.

SPEAKER_00 0:44

I can't shoot, but I can I can do a lot of other things out there. Effort, big effort guy. Big effort guy.

SPEAKER_01 0:50

We need that. Yeah. We need it. We need it. My my sources tell me that I'd I'd probably destroy you in a game of ping pong. How do you feel about that?

SPEAKER_00 1:00

Uh I'd like to see you put your money where your mouth is. That's how I feel about that. Okay. Lots of ping pong back in the college days. Is that true? Very true. I mean pre-college. Oh. Yeah. I mean, I was just uh last weekend I was in Chicago seeing my best friend from I've known since we were three, and his wife threw him a surprise party. And um growing up, he had a ping pong table in his basement. I can't tell you. Like we were this weekend trying to calculate the number of hours we spent playing ping pong in junior high and high school. Couldn't do it. Wow. Couldn't do it. Wow. Um, we played competitive tennis too. So like when we were at a tennis tournament and it was raining, you go in the clubhouse, you play ping pong. It's what you do. That's awesome. It's sweet. Yeah. So we bought a house. I told my wife, I was like, look, I'm getting a ping pong table for the garage. It's a non-negotiable. Wasn't a debate? It's a non-negotiable, yeah, yeah, yeah. She's like, just don't spend more than like this much. And I was like, all right, we'll see.

SPEAKER_01 1:52

Way to lay down the law. I like that. Exactly. Um big ping pong guy all through middle school, high school, college. Um, you've recently exited a business. What's kind of the path from college to this exit? Um, what that kind of looked like for you, kind of going through the ropes and getting there.

SPEAKER_00 2:09

Entrepreneurship was like never something I ever saw myself doing. Um quite honestly, I wanted to be Jerry McGuire, dude. Yeah. I wanted to be a sports agent. I'm a sports statistics junkie. Like I love sports. Um, growing up in Pittsburgh, like, you know, I was there when um, so so the first professional sports game I ever went to was Pittsburgh Penguins, NHL. Um, my dad was a primary care physician and used to refer patients to the Penguins team doc, who was an orthopedic surgeon. And so once a year, you know, we'd get to go as a family to a Pittsburgh Penguin hockey game. And my first hockey game ever that I can remember, it was like Mario Lemieux, Yamir Jagger, and like hockey legends, right? The Penguins are down six to one going into the third period or five to one going into the third period. They won that game by a goal in overtime. And as a kid, I'm just like, this is incredible. Sports are awesome. Um, and I became obsessed with Steelers, Pirates, Penguins. Um, my dad played college football, my brother played college football, so huge football family. And it just kind of took off from there. And I was like, man, like I want to be involved in sports somehow in my life. And um, you know, because I like to talk, obviously, everyone was like, you go to law school. You know, that'd be good. I was like, all right, maybe, you know, we'll see. And um, so I wanted to be a sports agent. Obviously, that didn't happen. Um, you know, I uh I decided to change my major. I can't really remember, you know, some something with like watching a Drew Rosenhaus clip of like him on TO's driveway kind of resonated with me. And I was like, do I really want to like represent this kind of athlete? And granted, those aren't the only kind of athletes out there, right? They come in all shapes of sizes, but um read this book on sustainability about like putting solar panels on all roofs that face the south, you know, blanketing our coastlines with wind turbines, and doing that would meet our electricity needs from renewable energy sources. This was back in 2008. Today with data centers, AI, not a chance. But in 2008, that was possible. And I was like, dang, this is kind of cool. But if it's that easy, why aren't we doing it? And um, so really just got into sustainability that way and started as a consultant at a boutique firm, um, you know, decided to go back to school and get my CPA license to do more of like the sustainability accounting audit, environmental accounting audit type work, and um went in-house for a little bit and then just had a crazy opportunity to start my own business. I actually, you know, usually you have an idea, you start a business, then you go get clients. I had a client who was like, you should start this business. We want to be your first customer. And that's how the idea, you know, for for my um sustainability accounting firm was born. So for me, it was a little bit different in that like I didn't even have it on my radar. And then someone was like, No, I I would like to pay you to do this for me, please. And it just took, you know, a little convincing and um a little logistics, and we made it happen. And it was right place, right time, right political environment. Um, some regulations were coming out that directly aligned with the skill set that I had at that time, and it was brand new. Um and so I just kind of grew this business out of nowhere pretty quickly. And um, you know, one of the things I pride myself on is networking, really networking, really maintaining relationships. And so, you know, a group that uh I talked to earlier on about starting a practice and sustainability at that firm when I wasn't ready, I reached out to them and they happened to, you know, have the MA funds available to to make an offer and I I took it. Um, and that's in a nutshell, that's kind of what happened. I mean, it's um, you know, talking about it that quickly probably, you know, it's like a blink of an eye. But um, for me, that was, you know, a good 12-year journey to go from leaving college to starting and selling a business in 12, 13 years. And um to this day, I still don't like fully think it settled in my brain and my body that like I did that. That's real, that happened because it happened so fast, dude. I started a company in um like I quit my corporate job and I started this business in October of 2023. Okay. And then I signed the deal for the acquisition in November of 2024.

SPEAKER_01 6:42

That's extremely fast.

SPEAKER_00 6:43

It was, it was too fast. It was too fast because again, like you get to that point where I was having so much fun building, building, building, building. And I got to that oh shit moment where it was like, I've got so much work and so many prospects. And it's just me and this this business partner of mine who can help me automate a decent amount with AI before, you know, AI was really a big thing. This was again 2023. Um and I was having so much fun and then I sold it and I went back into this established corporate hierarchy. Um, and I didn't even, you know, again, it didn't resonate that. Oh, I was having so much fun building this thing. I cashed in. It would happen to be the right decision at the right time with everything that happened. But I think it was so fast that it didn't ever register in my brain what happened. Just a blink of an eye. Wow. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:41

Um and I I know what your company did, but can you kind of elaborate on? Um, it was called Sus, yeah. Susten, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:48

So S-U-S-T-A-S, which stood for sustainability accounting solutions. Look at that.

SPEAKER_01 7:54

Um marketing genius.

SPEAKER_00 7:56

So it's so it's a really funny story about the company name, actually. Um I love my wife. She's the sweetest, sweetest, sweetest woman in the world. I love my wife. But she looks at me and she goes, Sustence? Like, why wouldn't you just call it what it is? Why wouldn't you just call it sustainability accounting solutions? And I was like, I mean, you've got a point there, but how long does it take you to say sustainability accounting solutions? Too long. Um, sustace, quick, easy, boom, love it. Then, you know, the more I got into it and the more people pronounced it incorrectly, and the more like it just didn't hit. I was like, you know, maybe she maybe she's got a point there, but I still like sustace. I still like it.

SPEAKER_01 8:36

It's good.

SPEAKER_00 8:36

I think it worked. It gets the job done. Yeah. I'm waiting for my vanity license plate, you know, to at one point I'll probably get a vanity license plate for that, but not yet. But um, yeah, that was that was really funny. She was like, why don't you just call it what it is? And I was like, I don't know. I think this is funnier. I think this is better, a little, you know, quick. Yeah. No one has any idea what it stands for. That's okay. That's okay. No, they do. I like it. But yeah, so um Sus was a sustainability accounting and reporting advisory firm. So our mission was to help companies mature their sustainability accounting and reporting processes to prepare for regulatory requirements around the disclosure of items like energy use, greenhouse gases, um, water consumption, waste generation, all of these non-financial metrics that companies somewhat tracked, inadvertently tracked, or, you know, if if companies had more mature sustainability programs with goals to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions or their energy use, they would already be tracking it. Um, but I took the angle of regulatory requirements are coming. You have to disclose this in the Europe in Europe. At the time, the US, the um Securities and Exchange Commission had a regulation around this type of disclosure in financial filings. And so companies were going to be required to obtain external third-party assurance, which is just a glorified word for an audit. This was gonna have to be audited and signed off. And so companies needed to have very well documented and defined processes for data collection, controls to make sure that data was complete, accurate, representative, and then, you know, support through an audit. And I had spent time as an auditor, as a CPA at Ernst ⁇ Young, um, you know, doing these kind of audits before this was even a regulatory requirement when it was voluntary. So I knew what the audit was going to be like. And I was able to reverse engineer that process to then come up with guidance for companies on how to set things up the right way from the beginning, put these data controls in place so that the audit would be a much more efficient process and less painful than audits can be when you're not prepared, right? And um again, with the regulatory environment, that skill set, that value proposition was perfect because companies really, you know, didn't know what to do. And the larger consultancies and accounting firms can certainly fill that need, but it was going to be expensive, right? Because, you know, you've you've got overhead, you've got other things that you build into those rates. And so what would be, you know, a $500,000 to a million dollar project for companies, they could come to me and do it for like $50 to $100K and get the same level of quality because I used to be at one of those big firms. Um, and that was when the light bulb went off for me. Like, oh wow, okay. This is kind of cool. Like starting a consulting firm, you know, it's really just you. You are the product. Your IP is the product. Um, and they teach you that when you're at the bigger firms, but you have the branding to back it. Um, and so that was the one, you know, thing that that I really appreciated was um, you know, having that experience of working at one of those brand name firms, going in front of clients to sell the work, seeing the cachet that brought, but then also understanding what are the key components of that value proposition that people are looking for. Like, yeah, your brand gets you in the door. But once you're in the door, you need to differentiate yourself from the other brands that also got them in the door. Um, and so that taught me a lot about how to connect with people, how to sell to people, uh, how to relate to people. Um, because most of the time, consulting, everyone has the subject matter expertise. Maybe someone has like a little bit more than someone else, but not enough that like you're an expert so much more in this field that someone's gonna go with your firm because of that expertise. Most of the time, people want to go with a firm because they really get a good vibe from that person and they want to work with that person. And so I said earlier, like networking is a is a big thing that that I invest in. Almost all my clients were people that I had known for years. And I either gave them some free advice at one point or worked with them at one point under that big brand banner, and it just ultimately resulted in a relationship over time and then business when I went into it for myself.

SPEAKER_01 13:13

I love that.

unknown 13:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:14

I wrote here, um, there's a time to learn and there's a time to earn. And I think you're uh you walked that path entirely. What was it like working at uh I know Ernst and Young, which was a big four, and you worked at a few other companies as well. What was it like working under these huge corporate companies and you know, how did that help you grow so that you could break off and do your own thing?

SPEAKER_00 13:33

Yeah, I might steal that phrase, dude. You got time to learn and a time to earn. I mean, I think it hits a really interesting fundamental point that that I see a lot of folks entering the job market today not willing to do. And it's one of the things that that I kind of pride myself on is you cannot be successful unless you roll up your sleeves, do the hard work, and learn how to do the work. And um, you know, I think that's it's such a valuable lesson that you can only get from actually like being in a situation where, okay, there's a task and there's a team, and the team leader goes, okay, who's gonna do this? And usually in corporate America, you hear silence, you know, maybe one person will step up and say they're gonna do it. And I always go back to this one story. I was actually talking to this guy um about an hour ago, and I told him I use this as a story all the time, and I'll I'll tell it now. But um he's a very direct client. He was a very, very direct client, and we were auditing his numbers, and we just came to this impasse where you know, my team had one interpretation of the accounting guidance, he had a different interpretation of the accounting guidance, and our stance was this, and his stance was this, and there was a gap. And at the you know, towards the end of the call, it's a Friday afternoon, he goes, When was the last time, you know, you or someone on your team read the accounting guidance cover to cover? And there was silent, because like, you know, you know, our partner was like, I mean, everyone's read it, but like not cover to cover in one sitting to address this specific item. And um, you know, the client was like, Okay, all right, I would have expected someone to do that. And, you know, we on the call and then our team debriefs. And um the partner goes, All right, who's gonna read this cover to cover this weekend and write a memo that explains our position and references this guidance? And I was like, I mean, it's COVID, like, I'll do it. Sure, why not? What am I gonna do this weekend, right? And um that one taught me so much more about that accounting guidance because I did read it cover to cover. Two, I got to build an argument in a memo, cite it, make my case. Three, it got me great exposure with leadership within my firm to say, wow, this kid's willing to roll up the sleeves and do the work. Oh, and by the way, he convinced me with the memo he wrote. Four, then I got to present it to the client. And then I built cachet with the client. And over time, that became one of my biggest clients. And that partner helped promote me pretty quickly up through the firm. Wow. And so, to your point, there's a time to learn when when you are presented with an opportunity to do work. If you're anywhere in your 20s, early 30s, like, or I don't care what your age is, like if you're somewhere in the mix and you want to move up and you want to grow, you've got to put in the work, dude. You've got to do it. And I think that's really attributed a lot to my success is my willingness to roll up the sleeves and do the work. And that was the biggest lesson that I learned in corporate America that paid off as an entrepreneur. Because when you become an entrepreneur, there is no one else to do the work. You've gotta do it. And so it's like, yeah, as an entrepreneur, like there's the potential to earn is higher. You know, you don't have that corporate hierarchy. Um, you sing for your supper. So yeah, you take on all the risk, but you take on all the reward. And the reward is as big as the amount of effort you're willing to put into work to get that reward. And that was the lesson I learned from that. So, like the time to learn, 100% very, very true. But I am seeing it less and less in people as I like see new people enter the workforce or I get on bigger teams. It's more and more folks I'm seeing are like, so how can I avoid having to do work but continue to get promoted? You know, and I'm like, if you avoid the responsibility, you avoid the work, like you don't learn anything. That's how you learn. Um, you know, I mean, I went when I went back to school to get my CPA license, I'd been consulting for about three years. I felt like I had a pretty good amount of professional experience. But part of my graduate program was then doing an internship and then going to Ernst ⁇ Young. Well, I had to start at the lowest level on the ladder at Ernst and Young with people who had no work experience, were fresh out of college, and I was their peer. And I'd been working for like, you know, three, four years at that point and felt like I had at least a little bit of experience. But, you know, again, that was like, okay, well, I actually don't know how to do this work. So I don't care how much experience I have, and I don't, you know, I don't care if I'm 27 sitting next to a 22-year-old. Like, as far as I'm concerned, we have the same level of knowledge of what we need to get done to be successful here. And the only thing that I know I can do is outwork them. I can I can put in more effort than that person so that I learn more. And if I do good work and I learn, then I get more responsibility. And sure enough, that's what happened. But yeah, 100% time to learn. Like that's the time to embrace everything. Um, because that's how you get to earn.

SPEAKER_01 18:56

I love it. I think, I think you're right with people. I don't know if I should speak on people as a whole, but it seems like some people want to work less and and get compensated for it. Or, you know, they want to, you know, you see all these things like, oh, I make passive 10k a month doing this passive thing where I barely do anything. And it's like, well, what if we just do the work and get paid? What if uh what a thought. What a thought. Right. Um touched on this learn and earn again for maybe somebody who's coming out of college or um, you know, and thinking about wanting to start their own business. Would you recommend that somebody go into a specialized field and like learn first or just rip it and go and learn along the way? What are your thoughts there on just starting an entrepreneurship right away? Or okay, I'm gonna take two or three years, I'm gonna go work at a big four, I'm gonna go work at a big corporate gym, or I'm gonna go work at big corporate whatever and get that experience and then start versus just ripping it.

SPEAKER_00 19:49

I think it it so depends on the person. I think, yeah. I think um excuse me, spindrift. Thank you. Um bubbly. Yeah, it that's such a good question. It almost depends on the the type of person you are. It also depends on the amount of confidence you have. So, you know, being an entrepreneur going for it takes a lot of skills, right? We talked about skills. I think the biggest skill it requires is courage. Thousand percent courage. Because, you know, again, you you're an entrepreneur, you are the product, like your idea or or you yourself are the product. So it takes an incredible amount of courage to put yourself out there and do that. And if you think you want to be an entrepreneur, but you don't know what you want to do, then take the time to go to some of those other jobs and build some good skills, you know. Um, see what work ethic is like, see what team cultures are like, learn how to write in business language. I mean, that that's one thing I think I I learned the most um going from undergrad to consulting was oh, there's a whole nother way of talking to people, other than like what I did in college, writing papers and taking tests. And um, there's a way to communicate value. There's a way to um sell without like being tacky, you know? And those are skills that I learned through, you know, going on the job and and doing those kinds of things. And some people naturally can adapt to that. I feel like I was a little too raw and I needed a lot of polishing. And I'm very thankful that I took the time to do that. However, if someone has a fantastic idea and they're raw, go for it. But then also like seek coaching, right? Like that's the that's the biggest thing I think we're all afraid to ask is for help. Naturally. Because uh, you know, there's this perception like, oh, you're weak if you have to ask for help. You know, like, oh, you need help, like, you really must not know what you're doing. Everybody needs help. I need help. But it, I think what's important is who are you going to surround yourself with to help you achieve your goals? That's the bigger thing. Uh, I was lucky enough, you know, when I was an undergrad, I had this crazy idea to put solar panels on the roof of my fraternity house at the University of Florida. Nice. And I was like, I'm gonna do this, right? And and I fundraised um about $30,000 to do it.

SPEAKER_01 22:37

That's so cool.

SPEAKER_00 22:38

It was, it was so, it was so dope. It was kind of like my moment of like, oh, if I'm this passionate about solar panels and like putting them on my frat house, like this is where I gotta go in my career, right? You know what I mean? You know what I mean? And um it was funny, I was like on the cover of this the student newspaper, and the tagline was like, solo cups aren't the only thing on this fraternity house's roof. And I was like, come on, nice, nice, nice. I was hanging in the office or yeah, I've got it laminated. I have all those, I have all those savings laminated somewhere, not in my office, but maybe I should not give me collage, a little collage, right? A little memory board. Um, but you know, through that process and and then what that led to, I met a lot of really cool people um who were entrepreneurs or business people. And that was when I was like 19, 20 years old. And I had no idea what I was doing. And these people had gone through serious things in life that kind of coached me along the way, you know. And I mean, my dad is another one who's a huge um advocate for me, but also someone I confide in a lot and bounce ideas off of. Um, lucky enough to have that. And then just other friends and people I've met along the way. But I think it also comes down to like you have to value relationships. You have to value your network. I always like to say your network is your net worth. Love that. That's my thing. Love that. Right. And so if you want to be an entrepreneur or if you want to be successful even in corporate America, it's all about who you know. Even as we go more digital, as we go more AI, the biggest difference between person A and person B is like who they know, who they're connected to, and how they can build with those people to do something successful. Right. And so again, do you go right into entrepreneurship? Do you go right into corporate America? Do you have courage? Do you have an idea of what you want to do? And do you have the right support system around you? And if the answer is no, no, and no, okay, well, then maybe the structure of a corporate America or a consulting firm or an accounting firm helps you build those kinds of skills. And they really do. I think the big four does a great job with like networking events, coaching opportunities, leadership training. Um, there's a reason companies offer those things to like people that are just starting out, and it's it's because it it's a skill that you have to like practice, just like muscles, dude. Like you gotta go rip some bicep curls. Like, yeah, I need to rip a few networking calls before I get really good at them, you know?

SPEAKER_01 25:10

True.

SPEAKER_00 25:11

It's an art conversation's an art form. It is. It is. You gotta practice it.

SPEAKER_01 25:16

What does valuing those people in your network look like to you? Like from a tactical point, like what does that look like to value somebody and build your network for you?

SPEAKER_00 25:26

It's so simple. Effort, a text. I don't care if it's been six months, I don't care if it's been a year and a half, if you know it happened the other day. Like I just saw something on LinkedIn from one of my former clients I haven't kept as much in touch with, but saw he did something great, tagged his name and commented like great work, and he texted me and he was like, Hey, dude, we should catch up. Like it's been so long. And I was like, that's effort. That's someone I will invest an hour of time in catching up. And we just had a great conversation, like time didn't pass. But it's it's just as simple as like effort, a little bit of thoughtfulness, you know? Well I I used to, I used to, when I first started my business, I dedicated three hours a week to just networking calls. Just how are you doing? What do you, what are you doing? Where are you today? And I never start a call with business. I want to know how the person is doing. Like, how's their spouse? How are their kids? How old are their kids now? Like, where are you living in the world? Like, are you still in that house? You still doing that thing that you told me you were doing five, six years ago? Like, I try to remember those things. Unfortunately, I have an elephant brain and I remember too much. Like sometimes it's really embarrassing stuff that I remember of people and they're like, damn, you remembered that? Like, yeah, dude, you can't you can't outlive that. I remember you can't outlive that. Um, but it it's it's uh I used to spend a lot of time texting, messaging, keeping up with people. Um, and when I took a break after I exited the firm that that bought me, I was like, you know what? I want to see who reaches out to me. Because to me, that would show reciprocation of that effort. And it was really interesting the people that did reach out and the people that didn't reach out. But the people that did reach out, to me, I knew that they valued my effort and my thoughtfulness. And so I, you know, I was happy to spend time. And and maybe those, you know, everyone didn't reach out right away, but people reach out over time. And um, you know, one of the guys two weeks ago that I connected with, um, he, you know, I used to work with him a lot at Ed EY. He he was like, dude, I'm sorry. Like, I've been so bad at keeping up with you. I text you like once a year. And when I text you, it's always about like career advice. And I was like, don't apologize, man. Like, this is what networking is all about. It's not about just like, you're not asking me for anything other than you just need advice. Like, you're not actually asking me for money. Right? You're asking me for a little bit of time. And like, yeah, I don't care if we talk once year, I don't care if we talk once every two years. You reached out, you genuinely want to know how I'm doing. Like, yes, you want advice, but we spent the first 30 minutes talking about golf. Well, you know what I mean? Like, for me, it's just a little bit of effort, a little bit of thoughtfulness. That's how you build a network. Wow.

SPEAKER_01 28:21

I'm inspired.

SPEAKER_00 28:22

Do it, dude. That's what I'm saying. Like, it's funny, like, sit, like, so um, here's a funny story. So that solar panel project, right, that I did. Um, the company that installed the panels was like, we didn't even have to sell this, you did it for us. Would you like to come sell for us? And I was an undergrad. So this is how I paid for my senior year of college. I just sold like two big solar panel systems. Um, it was great, dude. It was great. But so um I got a text from him three or four months ago, and I hadn't heard from him five years. Wow. But he sent me a text like, Hey, how you doing? Would love to catch up. And so I I I just called him. And um, you know, he was just, yes, he was looking for business and work and stuff like that. Um, but we talked for like an hour. And he was like, you know, I was just kind of going through my text messages and I was reaching out to people that I hadn't even talked to in years. And he was like, and you were the first person to pick, like, just pick up the phone and call me. And I was like, Well, yeah, dude, like you did me a solid 10 years ago. And like we've texted maybe like once every three years, but you're the same dude every time we talk. And he reached out and he, you know, was genuinely like, hey, I could really use some help, but yeah, I'm gonna go out of my way and give you a call. How much effort did that take? Not right.

SPEAKER_02 29:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:45

And so I'm like, if he took the time to go through those texts and he saw my name and he was like, I'm gonna text too. Yeah, I'm gonna give you a call, man. It's like just a little bit of effort, right? And it's like the uh ATT commercial that's going on right now. If you have time to sit in a 20-minute Uber and like scroll on your phone, you got time to make a 20-minute phone call.

SPEAKER_02 30:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:06

It's so true. Yeah, it's so true, but like we don't talk on the phone anymore. We just message, right? And I mean, that's what it is, right?

SPEAKER_01 30:15

Yeah. Um, it's funny. I I called a buddy of mine out of the blue today and we just chatted for 10 minutes. I was riding my bike home from the gym and just called him and chatted for 10 minutes. We used to talk quite often. He did, he helped me get my gym set up in the first place. He was my nice commercial realtor. And like it was so nice just to, hey, what's going on? Oh, what's good? He's he's he got a baby on the way. I was like, how's the baby coming along? This, that, and the other. And I hung up the phone. It was like a seven-minute conversation. I was like, that was great. I need to do it more often.

SPEAKER_00 30:42

How right? And like every time you hang up the phone, don't you say, like, damn, I really need to do this more often? Every time. Every single time. Yeah. Every single time. Um, and now it's happening where like I see people. So like my buddy who lives in Chicago, um, seeing him this week, and I was like, man, like, I know I only saw you like six months ago, but we shouldn't really let this much time pass. I mean, six months isn't that much time. But it's like, dude, I feel like I haven't seen you forever. And um, you know, you think about a phone call, you're like, man, we should we should talk more. It's like, isn't it just a little bit of effort? A little bit, a little, a little bit of effort. Like, yeah, you know, that's why I value that kind of stuff so much. It's because I do think it it truly is going again, especially as we go, like AI is taking, will take people's jobs.

SPEAKER_01 31:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:30

There's no doubt about it. I don't think you know there's debate of like how many jobs it'll take, and it AI will transform the economy. It will transform the way we look at money. The thing it won't change is how we look at uh relationships with other human beings. Like that's going, it's going to become currency.

SPEAKER_01 31:47

Yeah. Yeah. It's the one thing it can't replace. No. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:52

Yeah. Well, maybe. I don't know. Have you seen the movie Her? I'm familiar.

SPEAKER_01 31:56

Maybe it will replace some people.

SPEAKER_00 31:58

Yeah, some people, but not everybody.

SPEAKER_01 31:59

Not everyone.

SPEAKER_00 32:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:00

We were chatting about um, oh, pardon me. Oh, with how to communicate in business, right? We were chatting about that and the things that you learn. You've worked with some big companies, and what was it like working with some big companies? I know you worked with Amazon, worked with some others as well. What was it like like almost like a I don't want to call it a David River Goliath moment, but you're working with the biggest company in the world. Um yeah, but what's it like working with these giant companies?

SPEAKER_00 32:27

Yeah. Um I think, you know, one, w what's really important is like you gotta leave your ego at the door. Okay. Just because you're working with Amazon, you're still working with like a ton of human beings who just happen to work at Amazon. Right. Like they're they are not Amazon, they are just human beings. And so for me, that's like the first thing I do is I always try to like make it personal when you're working with those groups. Um and then when you start a role, it's always important to listen. Like I would just show up meetings, wouldn't talk a lot. I'd like to listen, though. I want to know what people are talking about, what are some pain points, what are some things that are happening. Um again, that time to learn. Um, and then there comes a point in time where where, you know, you you you kind of start slowly introducing ideas, slowly interjecting, because you can't really drop big ideas or or big initiatives until you've built some cachet. So I call it like the small wins principle. Like if you can get 10 small wins and people start being like, oh, okay, you you do great work. Like this is great. Then when you have that big idea, people will listen. Right. So I always like to try to slowly develop a few small wins, build rapport with people. Um, I don't want to do something big and transformative from day one. I just want to make sure like we're talking, my small ideas are resonating with you so that as I build, you know, up to a larger initiative, this spindrift keeps coming up, man. Um, you know, sorry about that. Um ultimately, you know, you uh you you then have an audience for that big idea. And so um the other thing I'll say is like every company's culture is unique.

SPEAKER_02 34:18

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_00 34:19

So at Amazon, big ideas are communicated in memos. You know, you get six pages and you better make your point in those six pages. Um and everyone shows up to meetings and they read those memos, you know, in the meetings. Like it's it's it's crazy. Um and that's how a lot of ideas are born. So elsewhere it's it's very, very, very different. Um, some companies are like, if you're gonna show up to a meeting and talk, like you better have a PowerPoint deck ready to go. Um, some companies, and and even within companies, it depends on the leader. Some people want you to benchmark six of their peers and say, like, what are my six top peers and competitors doing? And how did that inform what you're telling me today? You know, um, and so I think the biggest, the biggest challenge, right, is um, especially as a consultant, I actually found that being an independent consultant and having my own firm helped me a little bit. Those big shops have models and templates. And you're always trying to fit a round peg and or a square peg into a round hole where um, you know, a client will ask for X, Y, and Z and you develop a proposal to meet those needs, but you develop the proposal using the template. So you got to figure out how am I gonna meet this client's needs within this template. And, you know, a lot of times you would lose work because, you know, you weren't flexible enough. They were like, oh, well, you just put forward your template and you put our name and a few of our concepts in there, but it wasn't really the solution we were looking for. I've gotten that feedback before.

SPEAKER_02 36:00

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 36:00

When it was me, you know, in my firm, I was like, okay, here's my expertise. Here are the areas that I can help you. I don't want to come in and tell you exactly what this project is gonna look like because I don't know. But here's my rate per hour. Here's how many hours I'm willing to dedicate to you. Here's the total bill. I will bill you based on what I work. And you give me tasks or you let me sit in meetings and learn. Like, you'll pay for that time. But then, like, okay, once I've learned and I come up with how I can help you, that's when you're the, you know, the clock really starts on the billing. And I found that people really like that approach because when I wasn't working, when I wasn't sitting there or actively dedicating my time to learning what they needed, they weren't getting charged for it. So, yeah, like that David versus Goliath moment actually worked in my favor because it gave me the flexibility to sit there and say, like, let me really understand how to effectively communicate within this organization. And then from there, I'll get some small wins. And then from there, once I have a little bit of cachet and audience, that's when I'll come up with a bigger idea and push it forward. And that's my project, you know? Um, and and that I think that's something you gotta learn everywhere you go because every company is different, right? Like I said, some companies, you gotta write a memo, some companies, emails are the lay of the land, and like whatever's said in an email is law. In some companies, it's Excel spreadsheets, some companies it's PowerPoint decks. Um, and depending on the leader and depending on the company, you've got to figure out what that communication method is so that your ideas can actually gain traction. Um, because a lot of times, like you might have the best idea in the room, but if you don't have the context of how people present ideas or how leaders want ideas presented to them, like let's say a leader wants a memo, you give them a PowerPoint deck. It's going in the trash, dude. Like they're not even gonna read it. And I think a lot of people miss out on that nuance and get so, so, so discouraged. My hope is that you learn from it and you say, okay, well, I need to understand how this person wants me to communicate to them, and then I'll communicate it in in that manner, and then they won't be distracted by anything other than what we're talking about at hand. And it takes a long time sometimes to learn that with certain people. Um I certainly had to learn that the hard way a few times, you know. But um, I think that's that was kind of the working with big companies, you take the company name away and you just get to learn how ideas are passed around and how they're accepted. And that's really the way you can infiltrate any company. Because the best idea only wins if it's presented in the in the right format for it to be received.

SPEAKER_01 39:00

Gotta learn to speak their language.

SPEAKER_00 39:02

Yeah. It's really all it is.

SPEAKER_01 39:04

Yeah. Um, you got in with these places and and learned to speak their language. Um what was it like kind of moving on towards like the sales process and you know, getting them on board with your ideas and okay, now it's time to now it's time to ask for money. How uh any like tips, tricks with negotiations and sales and and working with these big companies to make sure you get paid what you're worth?

SPEAKER_00 39:25

Yeah. I think you have to have an idea in your mind of um what your worth is, first of all. Um second of all, I think you you really have to be careful um about your perception of your vet your worth and someone else's perception of your worth. Um because I I do think we have this tendency to say, like, oh, I should be rich. Like, of course.

SPEAKER_02 39:58

I should be rich, right?

SPEAKER_00 40:00

And like everyone wants to be rich. I think it's great. When you get into business, do not get into business for money. If you're getting into business just because you see dollar signs and you don't really care about the idea, or it's not even an idea that like has been on your radar, but you're like, all the money's flowing there, I'm gonna go there. I I would tell you not to do it. Tell you not to do it. I did not start my business because I wanted to get rich. I was like, this is a good opportunity, it's a growing industry. I happen to have the right skill set to fill that need. So that's why I'm getting into that. The money will follow, right? So if you're early on in your customer acquisition process, okay, if you're early on in your business development process, you have to be willing to like take a little bit less than what you think you might be worth. And the reason you want to do that is demonstrating immense value. You want to come in a little bit under, you want to deliver the heck out of it. Maybe don't accept new work for a little bit while you like really build this out because that's gonna be your first customer testimonial, that's gonna be your first marketing material. You have nothing until you have your first client. Like you, you, I mean, sure, you can build a website, you can have all the marketing materials until someone asks for a reference and you've got a customer that's willing to be your reference, you ain't got anything, dude. So you might have to start off a little bit lower than you want to. And I certainly did. Amazon happened to have the negotiating power. And so I said, hey, like hypotheticals, I want $1,000 an hour. And they were like, okay, why do you think you want $1,000 an hour? And I was like, well, I know the rates that you're paying the big four accounting firms. I know that $1,000 an hour is in line with what you would pay a manager level. I'm operating at like a partner level. So from my perspective, you're getting great value. They're like, true. But we know you don't have overhead. We know you're a single man shop. And actually, we're taking a little bit of risk hiring you and not just giving the money to the big four. So how about you take $500 an hour? And I was like, all right, it's a little low. Just $500. Yeah, just $500. Like, can you come up to $600 an hour? These are all hypothetical numbers. I was not making it for the record. I was not getting paid $1,000 an hour. I wish.

SPEAKER_01 42:22

Getting $2,000 an hour.

SPEAKER_00 42:24

Exactly. Peasants get $1,000. No, I'm kidding. Um But you know, so so like you have to have a little bit of market data to support where you're coming in at. Okay. And with those first few customers, right? Like, you know, the customer's taking a risk by going with you. There's a risk premium associated with that, and it's a discount on what you think you should be getting paid. So, like, that's why I say don't get in it for the money initially and be willing to accept a little bit less because there's a risk premium that a company or person is taking by being your first customer. And so be willing to take a little bit less. But over time, you will get to that number. And if you do really good work and you demonstrate really good value and you build a great customer base, I promise you, you will exceed that number. Because then as your demand starts to grow, you say, okay, I can't afford to take on another client at this rate because I'm already tapped. So if I'm gonna work 60 hours a week, I need this client to pay me 1.5x what I would traditionally want to make. And lo and behold, like that client will come up with the money if they want to work with you. And if they don't, that's fine because you're already stretched pretty thin. And another 20 hours of work a week, like going from 40 hours to 60 hours, doesn't sound like a lot. That's a lot of time. And even 1.5x your rate, it's not enough money to justify the time. Because you're you're you're running in a marathon, you're not sprinting. This is a marathon. Right. But that client will come back to you. Guarantee it. Or maybe that's your signal that you're doing something right and you need to go hire someone part-time to help you with your work so you can take on that 1.5. And maybe that 0.5x goes to someone you pay, or you uh some of that goes to someone you pay for 20 hours of work a week to help you so that you can serve all of those clients. And that's where the entrepreneurship game starts to come in. It's like, okay, I've sold enough work. It's at a little bit of a lower rate. But now that I've got my customer testimonials, I've got my proof of concept, I go, I go to market, I start getting a ton of demand. Okay, you get the demand, your rate goes up, you see who's still willing to pay for your services or your products now that your demand's a little bit higher. Okay, now that you're making a little bit more money, how can you offload some of that workload? Is it paying for anthropic claude chat GPT to build an AI agent that takes your admin tasks away? Is it paying someone who's in college and could intern and do a few tasks for you each week so that you can focus more on sales and growth? Or do you then maybe look for a business partner to complement your skill set so that you can then exponentially take off and take on every single client or customer opportunity in your way? I think that's how you really got to think about it in terms of sales. And um the the first guy that hired me said, sell is not a dirty four-letter word. There are a lot of dirty four-letter words out there. Cell is not one of them. And if you keep it casual, if you keep it relationship-based, and someone says, okay, I want to work with you, they already know you're gonna come to them with money. That's part of business. So you shouldn't be intimidated about talking dollars and cents. And the more open and honest you are with your clients about dollars and cents, the better the conversation goes. Like, so let's go back to that. I offered a thousand, they came back at 500. If I say, I can't do it for 500, like can you come up with more? They might come back to you and say, Yeah, we can go up to 700, that's fine. Like, let's do it at 700. Or they'll say, I think we can do 550. You're like, could you do six? Can you do six? You know, like it's just it's a negotiation doesn't have to be, let me write a number on a piece of paper, slide it across the table, you look at it and scratch that. You know, like it's not the it's it's it's not, it doesn't have to be that way. And I think the more in my experience, the more open, the more casual you are about that conversation, the easier it is. If you're both honest with each other, like what's the worst that's gonna happen? The deal doesn't go through because you can't agree on money. Okay, that's fine. If they like you enough and you didn't ruin the relationship because of money, they will come back to you when they have the budget. Or they'll come back to you when they can't find someone else to do the work and say, okay, we're ready to pay what you want. But again, it's all relationships, man. Like as long as they have a good experience working with you and they're like, I just don't have the budget, but I really want to work with you, they'll go find the budget.

unknown 47:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 47:09

There's always more money.

SPEAKER_01 47:11

True. Man, I feel like I learned that one the hard way at the gym with talking money. Like, there was a time where I was just like thirsty to get sales, like thirsty to get more people in, and people can smell that from a mile away, first of all. Um but I was like, hey, I'll give you half off, you know, your first month or your first couple months, just get in here, you know, and and it it discounts what we're doing, you know. And so anymore, I'm like, hey, this is what we offer, this is what it costs. It's either a fit or it's not, you know. And you know, with what you're doing, there's a little more wiggle room there. But um, yeah, but money is such a I don't know, it's a taboo thing for people to talk about, which is interesting. Which like, I don't want to say money rules the world, but money plays a big part in what we're doing.

SPEAKER_00 47:57

So 100%. But I, you know, I don't know about you, I we're we're probably a little bit different stages of life, right? But I will say more and more and more of my conversations with peers, money is brought up. You know, what your financial status is, what you're doing, your trips, your van, like, you know, people are counting money. Um, and and it happens, and you're right, it is such a a taboo, uncomfortable thing to talk about. But like, should it be? Like, probably not. I mean, in business, it's part of the deal. Yeah. You can't talk about money, you shouldn't be in business.

SPEAKER_01 48:34

Yeah, especially B2B. That's like, I'm gonna save you X amount of dollars for this X amount of dollars, right? Exactly. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 48:41

That's what it's all about. I mean, with your gym membership, you know, situation where you're offering like, here's how much it is per month. If you want to try one class, come and try one class, get a feel for it. If you like it, great. If not, no harm, no foul. Do you do something like that?

SPEAKER_01 48:57

Yeah, we do a free day and then I'm selling you right now on a membership, actually. But we do a free day and then we actually do two weeks for 20 bucks, two weeks unlimited membership for 20 bucks, come get a feel. Yeah, and it's a great way for people to come and see, like, okay, is this for me? They put a little bit of money down, get a little bit of financial input, qualifies my leads, make sure that they're actually willing to put a little bit of money towards this. And then at the end of two weeks, I call them and say, Hey, what do you think? This is what we got. You want it, you want in, you want out? And you know, if it's yes, great. If it's a no, okay, what was what was wrong? What didn't you like? And make my notes.

SPEAKER_00 49:25

I mean, how easy of a way. See, but that's the point, right? Like a quick phone call. If they say no, totally fine, no pressure. What didn't you like about it that I could change? That's like the best way to get, you know how hard it is to get that kind of feedback, right? Like you got someone in the door. Who cares if they don't sign up? Because that feedback, if you actually take it to heart and like make that change, maybe you get five people that come and join instead because that's no longer a turnoff. Like, how valuable is that? That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 49:57

That's that's the game.

SPEAKER_00 49:58

How's that worked out for you so far?

SPEAKER_01 50:00

That's been great. It's been good. And I've just been freaking, I make my phone calls every day. Just pick up the phone and call people and see what their honest thought is and talk to them face to face. When you're talking about AI replacing so much of communication, like yes, we have an automatic texter. Yeah, and people know they're getting texted by a robot. But when I call and leave my voicemail, there's a lot better feedback. Or when I call and get them, hey, you got a second? Yeah, what's going on? How's the gym?

unknown 50:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 50:22

Way better results. I love it. Um, yeah. You're talking about the the problem, the problem of having too much work and having to ask for more money. And all right, do I make a hire? You did make a hire. So I I gotta assume that was an extremely important hire if it was just you to hire somebody on. Um, what was it like hiring one other person on? And I don't know if they got any ownership in the company or anything, but um, what was that like when you got to the point where it's like, okay, I'm no longer a one-man show. I need to get a little bit of help. What'd that look like hiring them? And how did they complement your skills as well?

SPEAKER_00 50:57

Yeah. Um, right, you know, a lot of my story is right place, right time. Um, so I met my business partner. He and I actually were both brought on as consultants to Amazon at the same time. And um, you know, we were kind of talking because there was a group of four of us that started at the same time. Uh, a week later it was just us two. Oh, then they brought on another three the next week. Three weeks later, it was just us two. And so I was like, all right, this kid can hang. Um, you know, I knew what I was getting into with Amazon because they were a former client of mine before um starting my own thing. They were a client of mine when I was at Ernst ⁇ Young. Um, and I knew what I was walking into and I was like, okay, he's never worked with them before, but like he's hanging in there. It's impressive. Um, and also, like, you know, he definitely had a different skill set. We were working on different things. But I went to him and I was like, hey, dude, this is a huge data set. I know you're working with a lot of like data visualization things. If I wanted to do these five things, could you put that into a spreadsheet for me, like have it all calculated, this and that, do some reconciliations, error logs, whatever? He's like, Yeah, I think so. Like, give me, like, give me two days. And in two days, he did it exactly, and it identified all these errors across the board that then was our big work stream that we worked on. And I was like, man, that's impressive. And I kept every now and then would go to him and be like, hey, I I can't, you know, I don't know how to code. I don't know how to use AI. Like, can you help me manipulate these large data sets? Um, and so it would take my subject matter expertise and his data analytics capabilities. And he wasn't a great communicator, but he was great with data. And I could communicate and I knew the subject matter and what to look for and what to test. And so, like, okay, over time I was like, this is working out really well. And then he and I were kind of that unit within Amazon, but he was going through um a subcontracting firm. So he was a subcontractor of like the staffing firm. And we had an all-team meeting in Washington, DC. And um I was like, you know, maybe I'd maybe I should talk to him about this. And so I took him to dinner and we went to a Washington Capitals hockey game, sports, you know.

SPEAKER_01 53:17

There we go.

SPEAKER_00 53:18

And um I was like, if I were to build this thing, like, would do you think you'd be down? Like, I've got a lot more work other than just Amazon. I can't keep up with it. Like, are you interested? And he was like, let me think about it. You know, we'll talk this and that. He came back to me. He's like, Yeah, I think, I think we should do it. Like, and that was about two, three months later. And I was like, okay. And and my mentality was like, sure, like I generated the work, I gener like I brought the clients to the table, but like I can't do what he does. And I also can't run this business without him because he's gonna take a lot of work off my plate. So, you know, we talked about it and I was like, look, dude, like if we're gonna do this, we're gonna be partners. And I don't want to pay you a salary, like I want you to be invested in building this business. Like you're gonna be working more than just 40 hours, dude. Like, yeah, we have to give Amazon 30 to 40 hours a week. Like, this is gonna be a lot of work on top of that, because we've got now, like at that time it was four other clients, a lot of work. And I was like, if we're gonna do this, like, you know, I I want you to be my partner in it. Like, I don't want to have any domain over decision making. Um, and he was like, Okay, like if you're willing to do that, cool. Cause he's like, my wife will not let me do this unless we're equal partners, by the way. And I was like, All right, so then like you didn't even have to ask for it. You know, like I was like, you're taking a risk. Yeah. Um, you know, like he was going off of um the benefits of the contracting firm. He's going on his wife's benefits, like all of a sudden now he doesn't have a paycheck coming every week. He's got a kid, another kid on the way. You know, he was taking a huge risk, and he was like, You need to fly out to Denver. Also, like my wife wants to meet you before we do this. My wife, meanwhile, is like, go do whatever the heck you want. Uh I had to fly to Denver, meet his family, like, really pitch it on it. And and I really believed in him. Wow. Um, and he had been an entrepreneur before. And so he knew some things that I didn't know as well. Um, and um, you know, it it was a great decision. When we sold and you got the lump sum, he was like, pay back everything you put into this company that like because he was paying me back little by little, anyways. But like I was taking 55, he was taking 45 of our distributions. He was like, pay everything back, and then I'm gonna give you, you know, another lump sum on top of that because you were just so good to me. And to me, that's like, you do the right thing and you're good to people. I don't give a shit about the money, dude. It'll come back to you. You'll make the money. Don't do things because of the money. Like at the end of the day, yeah, would I have liked to have taken more of the pie? Sure. But like now I get to see, like, no, that dude, he's got a great nest egg because I took a chance on him and he took a chance on me. Like, you know, like, sure, you can have the best idea in the world as an entrepreneur. If you can't execute, then like, do you deserve all the equity?

unknown 56:19

No.

SPEAKER_00 56:19

Because you're not as you're you cannot do it without the other people around you. Um, and that was, you know, a big thing for me. Like, this was my first bout of entrepreneurship. And for me, it was like, I don't want to get into a situation where it's like, no, dude, I started the company, my company, my name, like get in line. Like, one, I would just never do that. But two, like, I never wanted him to second guess it. You know, and going in 50-50, he was fully bought in. And it worked.

SPEAKER_01 56:48

Wow. That's amazing. Yeah, great. I got chills as you're talking about that. Um, that's that's so cool. That's what it's all about. 100%. Dude, I could sit here and chat year off for another hour, but we're running low on time. Uh I know you're I know you're starting up uh another business here soon. Yeah. How can people get a hold of Stublock and what do you got, what do you got going moving forward?

SPEAKER_00 57:07

Yeah. So um, I think we started off my last conversation. Unfortunately, I just got a promotion. Unfortunately. Um, so I'm still in corporate America. I did just take on a new role in in corporate America and very, very happy with it and um looking forward to that. But, you know, one of the things that I learned and selling my business, right, is transactions come with big tax bills. And I'm a CPA. Um, but you know, I've I've never, you know, I've I've never filed my own taxes. I've always used someone else. And, you know, to be a CPA, you have to know the tax code. You have to take this exam. And I was like, it's really not that hard. I should just do it myself. But like, let me just get through this transaction, learn from it, how my accountant's taking it and all that, read cover to cover my tax return, right? And then really kind of figure it out. And um, what I've really realized, right, is a lot of people have an accountant, have a CPA, they talk to once a year, pay them a couple hundred bucks, and either you have a tax bill on top of that or you have a refund. And you don't really understand why you owe money to the government, why the government owes you money, if you could have planned for that a little bit differently, if you bought a car or you started your own business, or you bought a house, or you got married, or you had a kid, like, how do those things impact your taxes throughout the year? And then also, like, do you know where your money goes every month? Like, are you making your bills? Are do you have a savings goal? Like, are you putting money in a savings account? If you had a $2,000 emergency, could you afford it? You know, like 90% of Americans can't afford a $500 emergency. It's insane. Isn't that crazy?

SPEAKER_01 58:42

Crazy.

SPEAKER_00 58:43

So, you know, because of selling the business and being more comfortable, and um, more and more friends have been asking me these kind of questions. And I was like, you know what? Like, there's really not a solution for that right now. And so I've started um a company called Warm Springs Financial Group. Um, no formal clients, just friendly conversations helping people right now. Um, but the idea is being that CPA and that just general accounting friend who plans your taxes, talks to you throughout the year, files your taxes for you, but then also helps you budget so that you can live life without worrying about the money. You don't wonder where your money goes. You know, you know where it's going. You know you can afford emergencies, and you're working towards that goal of buying a house, buying a car, buying an engagement ring, whatever it may be. No pressure. No pressure. Uh she listens to these. Yeah. But, you know, that that that was the big gap. And and I know, you know, as Boise's growing, CPAs are on the decline. They're not on the rise. And we have a lot of CPAs that are retiring. And um, you know, over time, I think if I decide to leave corporate America in the future, that would be an area that I really want to help people. Um, is, you know, I've I've gone through big transactions, I've gone through very mundane, boring years where I get my corporate W 2 and that's all I have to file. Um, but I want to help people build a relationship with their CPA. It's one of the more valuable financial tools that that people have that you never you talk to them once a year. So my tagline is like finally a CPA who knows your name in July. Wow. That's because like, do you ever talk to your CPA in July? Probably not. So I I want to change the the narrative around your relationship with your CPA um and have it be more relationship-based, more education-based. I don't care if at some point you leave me and file your own taxes, that's fine. If you do that and I've given you the knowledge to do that, then I've won. Because now I've got, you know, a friend out there who's in charge of their financial future, right? It's all for me, it's all about education, learning. And if you want me to be your, you know, um outsourced education on that, that's fine. I'm happy to do it. Um, but if you want to learn and then take it over yourself, like that's your goal, I'm here for it. And I I think we we we are missing that right now.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:17

Gotcha, dude. You have been just so fun to chat with right now. I appreciate that. You are an inspiration to me. You're a great speaker.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:25

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:26

And dude, I that was that was a blast. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:29

Absolutely, dog. My pleasure. Thanks for having me. This is this is the stuff I love to do, man. And this is why, like, hey, you want me to be here? I'm here, dog. You know, let's do it. Love it. This is great. Thank you, man. Thank you. Awesome. Cut done. Yeah, that was sick. That was a good comment, dude.