Every contractor needs an accountant, but certain relationships have the potential to become trusted advisors. As a contractor, you may want to be asking more of your accounting provider. Tim was a trusted advisor for several contractors during his time working for an accounting firm. He joins us on The Morning Huddle to share the principles that made his relationships so strong and strategic with his contractor clients, and what contractors can do to find and develop this kind of partnership with their accountant.

Transcript:

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00:11
Speaker 1
All right, it's morning huddle time.

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00:13
Speaker 2
Good morning.

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00:14
Speaker 1
I'm not saying it works. I wish you God speed, Godspeed with all of that. I think that's really nice. You know, I'm not sure what kind of success you're going to have with that today because the world, my friend, has changed.

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00:27
Speaker 2
Right. A lot of American construction workers, they have completely different.

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00:33
Speaker 3
These awards have a huge, like, criteria that you have to fill out and they usually have a community service or community relations portion, you know, the most.

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00:44
Speaker 2
Productive with a high performance value. And, you know, sometimes it's 11 o' clock at night.

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00:51
Speaker 1
Funny, isn't it? Yeah. Not for me.

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00:54
Speaker 3
Not for me.

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00:55
Speaker 1
At 11 o' clock, I am guaranteed to be snoring. So foreign. It is morning huddle time. I'm Chad Prinke. Thank you so much for joining us. I've got, as always, wonderful producer and co host Stacey Holzinger with me here this morning. Stacy, how are you today?

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01:18
Speaker 3
I'm doing great. Good morning, everybody. Welcome, Tim.

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01:23
Speaker 1
Thank you. Yeah. So today we have Tim Klimchock who he and I got an opportunity to meet just I guess what Tim about a year ago, something along those lines about that. Yep, maybe a little less. But in, you know, Tim and I were similar to Stacy and I actually on a similar life journey of having spent a long time working for somebody and being, you know, put in a position to reconsider that and start working for ourselves. And so Tim has been running his own business here for, you know, the past, I don't know, six months or something along those lines. And, and we'll give you an opportunity to talk a little bit about what it is you're doing with that business.

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02:08
Speaker 1
But you know, when Tim and I were connected, it was just one of those things like sharing the wonderful, exciting, scary challenge of being an entrepreneur. So it's, you're in good company here with Stacy and I. We've been, you know, just over the past two years both on the same journey. So Tim spent better part of, I don't know, 10, 12 years or something like that at Stambon Ness, which is an accounting firm in Pennsylvania up and up in York area. He was the director of the AEC Group in that market and before that was an accountant for another firm for 10 years. So 20 plus years of accounting experience. I'll shut up and let you expand on that. Tim, what else would you add? And what are you doing now?

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02:59
Speaker 2
Excuse me. Thanks, Chad. Appreciate it. Appreciate the opportunity to be here today. Yeah, 20, 24 years in public accounting. This is definitely a new experience this tax season that I don't have 450 returns to sign this year. So it's. It's definitely been a little bit of a transition for me, but having a lot of fun. Had a great experience in public accounting. I think it's a great place to have a career. And I think for me it was this next step of just doing a deeper dive with a smaller group of clients and really getting a little more intimate with things as opposed to kind of hitting it with a shotgun approach, really just focusing on working with five to 10 clients at a time and really trying to add value and do some really cool things.

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03:42
Speaker 2
The name of my firm is Collaborative Advisory Group. Like you said, it's been. It's. I've started about four or five months ago, and things are off to a great start and I'm really enjoying a lot of the stuff I'm doing. And, you know, it's been a lot of fun so far.

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03:56
Speaker 1
Well, it's. I'm already benefiting, you know, and my clients are already benefiting from Tim. I've pulled Tim into a couple of different situations. One that we're in the midst of now. Pretty, pretty exciting to, you know, benefit from your experience and. And expertise on the financial front, really as that, you know, small boutique kind of service where, like you said, you can really be, you know, deep in it and. And extremely helpful. So glad that you're a part of it. I'd also be remiss. I have to. I'm seeing them on the chat. Potentially my best friend in the world is. Is. Is with us this morning is Jason Dixon, who has joined. And Jason's actually the reason that we connected and, you know, there's a Penn State connection there that I find a little off putting as a terp. But I'll.

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04:46
Speaker 1
But I'll struggle through. I'll make it.

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04:49
Speaker 2
I've known Jason since I was 16 years old and he was 18, so that was a couple of years ago, to say the least. Yeah.

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04:55
Speaker 1
That's awesome. That's awesome. All right, well, good. So we're going to get in today to talking about something you have a ton of experience in, which is I'm hoping to kind of educate our audience on. You're really the kind of relationship they should be expecting out of their accounting firm. The vast majority of our audience is contractors. There may be some accounting firms and maybe bankers or other professional service providers who also join us on a regular basis or may be joining us specifically for this episode. And they are probably going to have some good ideas for how to be a better service provider based on this discussion. But I'm hoping that contractors take away something that they can, you know, start to a new standard that they can start to aim for when it comes to establishing partnerships with their accounting firm.

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05:41
Speaker 1
So with that, I'm going to dive in. Stacy, as always, master of ceremonies, help us to get some awesome questions in through our, you know, audience this morning and we'll bring you back with about 10 minutes to go and get some audience questions.

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05:56
Speaker 3
Sounds good.

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05:57
Speaker 1
Thanks. See you in a bit. All right, so. So, Tim, let's go. Let's start with a crash course 101. I know this is, you know, maybe even pre 101, but I'm going to ask because I think it helps to set the stage, talk a little bit about just inside a construction company, what their finance and accounting makeup really needs to be and how they, you know, what they're trying to accomplish. Just talk about the goal of that financial silo inside a construction company, like leaving the accounting for a minute. Just what's the goal of the accounting silo or the financial silo inside?

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06:36
Speaker 2
Well, like everything in account, we always joke. Well, it depends and I think a lot of it depends on the size and the complexity of the company. You know, I think there's some differences between general contractors and specialty contractors, for sure. But, you know, a lot of times you're going to see someone in this controller, CFO type role that has the ultimate oversight responsibility of the company's financial operations. My personal definition has always been the controller is more focused on looking at the past and summarizing the past, where a CFO is really more forward looking and looking at the future. However, I do see in my experience a lot of times where that person, you know, again, depending on the size of the company, can't afford both functions or it doesn't make sense to have both that.

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07:21
Speaker 2
That controller slash, cfo, regardless of their title, has the responsibility of doing both of those things. And then to that point, obviously segregation of duties and making sure you have controls in place amongst the different people underneath those folks is important too. A lot of people have somebody separate for billing and then have another person on the payable side. Again, depending on size, somebody might be doing both of those functions. But ideally you want to make sure that there's this segregation of duties, as we say in the accounting world, that, you know, make sure that the checks and balances are in place. And some. There's always somebody reviewing somebody else's work. So. And then when it comes to construction specifically, then someone has to really take ownership of the WIP schedule and job cost and revenue recognition and everything that goes with that.

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08:10
Speaker 2
That's the biggest thing that's unique about contractors is that whip schedule and having a whip schedule that makes sense, that you're tracking your job costs, that you're recognizing revenue and just getting everybody on the same page. And that controller, CFO person really should be the liaison between the project managers and the estimators and ultimately with the owners.

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08:33
Speaker 1
Awesome. I love it. I, I like that idea of the control, pardon me, of the controller being this liaison between the departments tying together the financial picture of the business. So great. I think that's a great picture. Now layer in the 101 level of where the accountant fits into the mix. So do I need to hire an accounting firm or can I, you know, why am I hiring an accounting firm as a contractor and what fundamental role or traditional role am I really looking for that accounting firm to provide?

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09:10
Speaker 2
I think from a traditional perspective, you know, everybody thinks there's really two pieces of the puzzle. You have your financial statement side and you have your tax return side. And as everybody knows, tax returns need to be filed, whether it's for the company and then ultimately for the owners. And a lot of times the CPA firm takes that role of being the tax preparer. And hopefully there's some tax planning involved with that before year end. And then there's the regulatory compliance of filing the returns that you need to, both at the federal level and for most people, multi state level. The financial statement side is really driven by the surety companies and the banks. And there's three types of financial statements.

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09:47
Speaker 2
There's compilations, reviews and audits, depending on, you know, what you're borrowing, depending on what the size of your company is, that's really going to drive the type of financial statement. And it's really three different levels of service that the accounting firm steps into. And think of it as just a verification of your internal numbers and helping you get your numbers in line. And then ultimately we sign off on a report that says that we've either compiled, reviewed, or audited these numbers. And there definitely is different stages and obviously there's different cost levels for all those things as well, based on the amount of effort that, you know, the traditional CPA is going to have in that.

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10:25
Speaker 1
Yep. All right. Good, that totally makes sense. So I look at that as. Tell me if I'm wrong in the way that I'm thinking of this, but I always think of that as kind of the, that's the price of entry for an accounting firm, like. Right. Meaning you better have the ability to handle tax and financial statements perfectly like that. That's the expectation. It's the minimum threshold. And, and you know, in your experience be, you know, obviously you're not in any way, I will say this for you are not in any way talking about your previous employer or throwing anybody under the bus. Right? Like that's not what I'm asking you to do. But what I am asking you is, you know, in your broad and you know, 20 plus year experience as a CPA serving contractors, how many CPAs are failing?

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11:22
Speaker 1
What percentage do you think are failing to meet, you know, that level? That standard of these things have to be tight.

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11:30
Speaker 2
I think, you know, I think they're. And one of the biggest challenges in the business development area for accounting firms is there really are a lot of good construction accounting firms out there, my previous firm included. They're every region, everywhere across the country. There's a lot of CPA firms that pick construction as a niche and you know that they're really focused on it. But then there are some other firms out there perhaps that we used to joke about it as. And construction. So a CPA firm and it's something, you know, for your listeners to think about is, you know, looking at the whole picture of what this CPA firm does in the construction area.

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12:05
Speaker 2
So the end construction thing is you'll see on their website that we do nonprofits, we do manufacturing and governmental stuff, we do distribution, maybe we doctor's practices and construction will be at the end. And it's like, you know, I think that's really where the differentiator can be, is that you avoid those firms that are the end construction. And how do you do that? I think part of it is, you know, making sure that you're looking at the relationship with the cpa. Do you know these people, Are there people at your, whatever trade organizations that you're involved with, whether it's ABC or cfma, you know, not to promote any specific organization. But do you see these people pushing thought leadership out there? Are they, are they going out of their way to, you know, push webinars out there and content?

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12:52
Speaker 2
Are they sending you frequent emails? Hey, this is what's going on specific to your Industry, those sorts of things are the things to really target on. But that, but it is a challenge because there really are, you know, I could sit here and name you 10 to 15 firms, say in the Baltimore region and up here in south central Pennsylvania that I think are good quality firms. I know a lot of people at these firms and there's a lot of people that are doing good work. So that's really where you get into the next part is what extra value add stuff can these people bring to you? Right.

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13:24
Speaker 1
Yeah. So. And that's so. So if I'm hearing you right, the likelihood that one of these highly qualified construction. Construction accounting groups is missing the mark on the cost of entry, on the tax preparation the, the likelihood that one of them is. Is dropping the ball in that area relatively low.

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13:49
Speaker 2
Relatively low. Yeah, I mean there's, yeah, there's certain people obviously can better than others, but I think that there's a lot to choose from in the marketplace. There's some people that dabble in it that shouldn't be dabbling in it because there are some very specific things with construction accounting that are very unique.

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14:04
Speaker 1
You know, let's jump into that for a minute. I'm interested in just it like, you know, what makes construction unique for an accounting firm that would make it something that the. And construction guys maybe shouldn't be dabbling.

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14:19
Speaker 2
I, I think it's totally the whip schedule and folk, you know, the whole. Everything about the whip schedule, whether it's revenue recognition, whether it's cost, you know, accumulation, you know, whether it's, you know, estimating, you know, and everything about project management, you know, the fact that you're not like anybody that would focus on a manufacturing operation, let's say, let's not pick on the manufacturers out there. But, you know, there are certain things that are consistent and very repetitive with manufacturing a product. As we all know, construction is definitely not that way in a lot of respects. So the fact that there's uniqueness, the fact that you're building a unique product every time really takes a lot more oversight.

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14:58
Speaker 2
And just the whole, that you have this system now, project managers and estimators and a bunch of people looking at these things, because it's not exactly the same thing every, you know, every single time. So it's really about, you know, what estimates are you using moving forward, you know, over under billings. And like there's just, you know, a lot of that stuff comes into play, you know, Manufacturer might just be worried about receivables, but we have this unbilled receivable, the under billing that we have to worry about too. So there's just unique things. It's something, you know, I, as we joked about before, I think, you know, I've been doing this for 25 years and I think I know what I'm doing now.

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15:33
Speaker 2
But I think back to different in parts of my career where it's sort of like, wait a minute, like you thought you got it, but it's like, wait a minute. I didn't understand when I first started what this meant.

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15:43
Speaker 1
So yeah, it's, if that doesn't happen, you haven't been growing, you know, but the key is to remain humble today, knowing that 10 years from now you're going to look back and be like, man, I was an idiot. So that's, that is the key, you know, you do your best and you stay humble. So that's extremely helpful. And I think if I get then past the barrier to entry and I think, okay, I'm working with an accounting firm that clearly understands wip, that understands over and under billings, that has the ability to look at my, you know, financial silo and really make not just heads or tails of it, but have the ability to understand the nuances very quickly and add value in the, in that form.

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16:36
Speaker 1
Like if something's not working internally in the way that you're logging or tracking or you know, cost codes or whatever, that your accounting firm would have the ability to pop their head in and say, hey guys, I'm noticing some stuff that needs to be sorted out. And, and if they don't have, if they're and construction guy, they're probably not going to have that. And, but if they have that construction background, they're going to be able to see it quickly, they're going to be.

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17:00
Speaker 2
Able to resolve it.

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17:00
Speaker 1
That's very useful. Let's talk about the value add where so if you've got this group of 10 to 15, you know, in any given region, qualified capable construction accounting firms, how do I pick which one to really use at that point and what, you know, what criteria should I be overlaying to consider who's adding more value?

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17:25
Speaker 2
Well, I think once you get through that initial scrub of saying, okay, these are the qualified contractors, construction CPA firms, then I, I see the next step is really being, okay, what else do they bring to the table like we talked about before, how are they involved in the trade associations that you belong to? Do you know who their other clients are? You know, get an understanding of what other companies are they working with? And, you know, another thing I've had come up on occasion is on a rare occasion it might be they're working with a competitor that you might not appreciate. The fact that your CPA is your direct competitor who maybe you don't get along with is, you know, we don't want to make sure that we're, you know, there's a confidentiality piece to our business. But there is that perception.

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18:10
Speaker 2
If you, if you do too much work with one particular company, there might be, you know, a risk of, you know, that some people are focused on that. Very few, but I have seen that before happen. But, you know, I think it's really about, you know, focusing on those value add things that they can bring to the table in terms of what associations are they involved with? Are they pushing thought leadership out there? What ideas are they bringing to the table? Are they ask, you know, some things I was thinking about or, you know, are they, you know, what would be wrong with asking your CPA asking you to go on a job site visit? Let me see boots on the ground. Let me see your actual process in the field. Let me understand your whole process from estimating to project management.

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18:55
Speaker 2
You know, inviting your CPA potentially to come to a project manager meeting and just sit there as a fly on the wall just to observe, just so that they, because there's only so much that person can do. It's based on what you're telling them ultimately. So it's, you know, them seeing it live and really seeing behind the curtain a little bit really will help add, give them the opportunity to add that extra value, for sure.

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19:20
Speaker 1
Love it. I love it. You know, it's so the. Mike, My business, believe it or not, is not podcasts. I, I, this is for fun. But, you know, in my business as a strategic consultant, I'm sorry to say that I can probably count one hand the number of times that a client has really connected me with their accounting firm or that their accounting firm has reached out to me and said we should really be, you know, on the same page. In the small handful of times that has happened, these are extremely strategically valuable relationships that those people have. Right. Like they're telling me they're giving me insights into the numbers, if that. So if that client hires me to help them to go from 5% net to 12% net over the next, you know, three years.

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20:20
Speaker 1
And that's the focus, is to drive up that net profit. Having a real strategic accountant. I mean, it's like a, it's like an easy button for me figuring out what needs to occur. Because they have such incredible insight into the, the things that are keeping them from being able to get to their goals. And whether it's people or lack of processes or, you know, markets or lack of technologies, all those things. You know, I'm hearing you say, if you have a relationship with an accountant who is willing to climb inside your business and not just stay on the outside, but actually climb inside your business a little bit and understand how you're operating, they have the ability to add so much more value and really be a consultant and an advisor.

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21:06
Speaker 2
Yeah, it's really about that advisor piece. The fact, like you mentioned the IT side of things, that's another area that can be incredible. And the CPA can play a role in that, too. If you read the trade publications out there's so much technology stuff going on in construction, there's that an owner has to be overwhelmed by, like, where do you even begin? Like, I can only imagine being in your shoes. It's like, okay, what do I invest in? What's not a waste of money you're getting, you know, getting a lot of that comes from the trade associations that, you know, are helping to push some of these things too. But, you know, there's so many ads out there, like, just to weed through that process.

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21:41
Speaker 2
You know, I think the cpa, again, is that trusted advisor can play a role in that if you let them. But again, you have to be willing to open up and show the person what you're looking. Well, this is the help that I need. And if there's a good, caring relationship there. Because that's the other biggest part, too. I'm not saying you have to best friends with your CPA and CPAs. Typical accountants aren't cool people is what most people think. But we can. So it's sort of like, you know, build that relationship, like, understand who. And here's the other part, too, that I didn't mention is I, I, years ago, I, I came up with this idea of just who do you want to meet? You know, I was doing almost 100% of my work for architects, engineers and contractors.

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22:22
Speaker 2
It's been like this for a long time. I'm in a position to make referrals, too. You know, if you have a good CPA and I know you're not thinking of an accountant like this, but, you know, there's opportunities where if you want to meet somebody, maybe I know how to get to that person and can help facilitate an introduction. That's been the part that I've enjoyed.

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22:39
Speaker 1
The second part I would add too.

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22:41
Speaker 2
Is, you know, a CPA that's involved with some of your. If you're a GC that's involved with some of your specialty contractors. One of the things I like about being involved regionally is that I know what's going on about a lot of projects. I know developers, I know the gcs. I know what I hear things of what projects are going where. And a lot of times when you meet with. A lot of times when I'm sitting down with a client for the first time in a while, the coolest part for me was that people would ask, so, Tim, what are you hearing out there? There? Like they, that was the pause and they wanted to hear. And I'm sure you get this too, Chad.

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23:15
Speaker 2
It's sort of like you just have a pulse on things that they don't see because they're so focused and working in their little silo, let's say, for, you know, and they don't get the chance to talk to people sometimes because they're so busy with the office stuff. But you're a guy and I'm a guy that's out there, so they actually like that feedback. What are you hearing from your banker friends? And, you know, what are you hearing? What's going on with legal issues out there, HR issues, all these things. And it's just you have all these resources available to really help people. And a lot of accountants don't want to take that step because it's out of their comfort zone. But a lot of them do.

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23:48
Speaker 2
And those are the ones that you really want to focus on is finding people that can, you know, help. Help make those connections for you.

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23:54
Speaker 1
Makes total sense. So, so I, I'm. I want to provide a quick summary.

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23:58
Speaker 2
And, and I'm, I'll.

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23:59
Speaker 1
I'm going to bring Stacy back because I will have some questions that she'll pose to us here. But quick summary of my takeaways is three categories of value add. The first category is business advisory. That is that your accounting relationship, having a deeper understanding for your unique business, the people in your business and being able to help beyond just a dollars and cents standpoint. But to point it maybe the drivers of the dollars and cents outcomes and give you Some advice and support from a business advisory standpoint. That's number one. Number two is, I would say relationships and, you know, they're being plugged in a complimentary space and having the ability to connect people, bring people who should be collaborating or doing business together, directly pulling those folks together. And, you know, that's probably a relatively rare trait for an accountant.

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25:17
Speaker 1
You know, not that they're not cool, Tim. I think they're cool, but they're not necessarily the most social people in the world, necessarily. Right. Like, there's a. There's a tendency for those, for people who are involved in high detail work to not be socially oriented and external. So that would be. The second category is the relationships they can bring to the table. And then the third category would be market intelligence is that their ability to provide useful data about things that are happening in and around the market. Big projects that might be moving forward, turnover trends and what we're seeing in terms of employees leaving or in terms of materials pricing or in terms of. Right.

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26:08
Speaker 1
All this different type of insight that somebody would be getting from just simply being immersed, plugged into the market gives them the ability to add value from a market intelligence standpoint. So advisory relationships, market intelligence. Add that to your selection criteria for accounting, in addition to ensuring that they have a strong deep construction practice, because if they don't, they're really not going to be able to provide any of these three things in any meaningful way anyway.

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26:41
Speaker 2
Right. So it's a matter of just getting started. You know, set up quarterly meetings with your accountant. Let them come out. Let's, you know, have a conversation with them and just get the ball rolling with this. If it's a new relationship or an existing relationship, it's. I think people just weren't thinking of it in these terms that it's. It's okay to have a conversation and get that. That accountant to open up a little bit, because there's a lot of value there for the people that specialize in this work. It's just a matter of. Sometimes you have to ask them to get the ball rolling a little bit.

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27:11
Speaker 1
That's all. Love it. Love it. Good stuff. All right, Stacy, we probably have a few questions before we have to jump off with Tim today.

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27:21
Speaker 3
Yeah. Eric just posed a question. What's the best way to find one of these unicorn CPAs that are willing to climb into your business with you and have these three things?

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27:32
Speaker 1
Yeah. Is there like a. Is there like a cpa, A unicorn CPA detector that we can.

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27:37
Speaker 2
Yeah, I love that I use that term unicorn a lot. So I love that. So I think that, you know, if you're not getting that from your existing accountant and you think they're. That that ability is in that person, you should ask them. It's like, okay, this is what I'm looking for this relationship to be. But you know what I had said, I think at the. Be sort of toward the beginning of the presentation here, you know, look for people that. I almost feel like when I was meeting with clients, it's almost like I'm. There's. There's an initial presentation. It's almost like I feel like I'm on a stage when I'm talking with people.

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28:11
Speaker 2
And so that makes me think, you know, anybody who's willing to do a formal presentation for your trade associations, that's someone that's used to sharing and is open, you know, that might be a way to look at it. You know, people that are actually pushing that thought leadership out there and doing presentations, that might be someone that. Again, I, I don't feel like I'm on a stage necessarily when I'm with clients, but I feel like I need to have my thoughts together to present ideas to them when, hey, Tim, what are you seeing out there? That market intelligence stuff. That's me being on when I'm with these people and then, you know, being engaged and dynamic. So that might be one way to find that person. You know, you know, I definitely, I, I.

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28:52
Speaker 2
Not to plug any specific trade organization, but you know, see, with this type of work, CFMA is a big one. Construction Financial Management association, national organization that has local chapters. There's a designation that I have called a ccifp, a Certified Construction Industry Financial Professional. I think that's a good way to find somebody too is focusing on that because there's continuing on top of taking an initial exam to get the certification, there's continuing education requirements that are specific to construction accounting that have to happen that you have to report every three years. So that's another piece of the puzzle too as you're trying to weed those out with looking for somebody that specializes. That's awesome.

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29:36
Speaker 1
Yeah, that's a. It's a good litmus test to check real capability set in the industry is if they have a ccifp. I think that's great. I. One of the things I want to piggyback on or build on that I think you hit the nail on the head with was just right at the very outset. Tell these people the criteria, whether it's your existing CPA or whether you're shopping for a cpa, tell them that this is a part of the criteria and that it's a part of the expectation and ask them to demonstrate to you how they have the ability to do that. If they, if they struggle and they're scrambling to try to figure out how to present it to you, they probably aren't strong doing that.

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30:21
Speaker 1
If, if they're able to give you example after story after story and you know, situations, then it really works. It makes me actually think of a long time general contractor client of mine that I remember it was probably 10 years ago or eight years ago. They said to, they conducted a search process and they told their cpa, we're looking for you to be strategic, specifically in the area of relationships. We're looking for a CPA who can make connections and introductions in the developer community. They hired one that said they could do that and a year later they did. They, they went through and they said, look, you didn't do that, you're fired. We're moving on to the next one. And they ended up finding a, a really strong long term partner that way. So that's the other aspect of it.

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31:08
Speaker 1
I know it's uncomfortable, but you have to be willing to make a change. Even though you totally like your accountant and they haven't done anything wrong. The question to your point, Tim, it's like there's a lot of qualified people and that's not going to necessarily be your barrier. It's, you're not going to necessarily struggle to find, you know, strong qualified accounting firms in construction. What you are going to struggle to find are people who are committed to providing this level of service.

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31:37
Speaker 2
Right? Yeah, it makes sense if you think about it that you know, one, when they come in, we have a specific assignment that we have to get through those formal financial statements and tax returns. So it's really easy to focus on the production side of things and getting those deliverables done. It's that extra part that I think just gets lost sometimes. But frankly that's the part, that's the fun part. The part I've realized it isn't doing the financial statements. I mean, I did that for a long time. Tax returns for a long time. The fun part is really building these relationships with people, getting to know them, taking them to lunch, you know, maybe you play golf with them, go to a ball game with them, spend time with these people so that you get the opportunity to really, you know, build that relationship.

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32:18
Speaker 2
And just understand who they are. And then when it is time and you're working your 80th hour of tax season and you have to work another two hours to get something done, there's a different feeling. If you care about that person and that relationships there, it's like, okay, I'm going to find a way to get this done because I know they need this and expect this from me.

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32:35
Speaker 1
I love it. I think that's right, Stacy. I think we could probably squeeze in.

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32:39
Speaker 3
One additional say, with that being said, can you share us or illustrate any ideal relationships or stories with any of your clients?

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32:49
Speaker 2
I, I think, you know, I, I, as I said, finding ways to put people together, that's the part that I've enjoyed. And a lot of, one of the things I'm known for, I guess, is building those relationships and, you know, finding opportunities to put this architect together with this general contractor or putting this engineering firm together with this art. An architect, you know, finding ways to make those connections. And, and the guilty pleasure of this is if I actually go to the lunch and you make the connection, I just sit there, Believe it or not, I talk all the time, but believe it or not, sometimes I actually just sit and listen. And that's again, part of me building my intelligence level and just understanding their industry even better. So that's where, you know, finding opportunities like that, like, that's the cool part.

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33:31
Speaker 2
If you know, the people, when people say thank you because you went out of your way to create business for them, you know, that was part. I wasn't expecting to happen on my CPA accountant journey, but that's been some of the best. Yes, I can save you money. I can help with strategy. We'll save you taxes. Will present things great for the bonding company and the bank for you, all those things, but that's, that should already be a given. What else can you really bring to the table? And really, that's the fun part where you really add value and make and people say thank you. That's been, that's been the best thing for me.

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34:02
Speaker 1
That's awesome.

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34:03
Speaker 2
I love it.

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34:03
Speaker 1
And I think it may be, if you're a professional service provider and you're watching or listening to this episode, one of the takeaways I would have, if I were you, would becoming fascinated by, excited by the idea of being more of a connector. I think to the extent that you do that, you have made yourself irreplaceable as a service provider. Assuming you're providing a really strong tax and financial statements, you know, service, then you have this differentiator that protects you long term. And I'll just quickly ask Tim, in your 25 years, when being a CPA, did you have a pretty good client retention rate? Yeah.

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35:00
Speaker 2
Yeah. I used to joke, I said to a client one time, how hard would it be for you to fire me? And he said it'd be next to impossible because I'd have to tell so many people because you're part of that network. So that's. So if the CPAs out there that are listening, it's like, that would. That'd be my one piece of advice here. It's good for retention here. If you find those extra things in the event something doesn't go right or there's a miscommunication of something, that capital that you're building up with that client, and this can be applicable to the bankers out there and illegal and any other professional service that's servicing the industry. You know, the whole point of this is we're building up capital, but mistakes do happen, and miscommunications do happen.

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35:38
Speaker 2
This is how you build up that capital with people to really, you know, build that relationship so that when those things happen, it can weather that storm that happens once in a while.

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35:47
Speaker 1
Yeah, of course. Yeah. Because we're human and service providers, and in a service business, things happen. So there's.

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35:53
Speaker 2
There's.

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35:53
Speaker 1
There's no doubt. Tim, this has been a lot of fun. Thank you so much for. For joining us for the morning huddle. Do you have any parting words?

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36:02
Speaker 2
No, I think. I think this was great. You know, I appreciate the opportunity to be on the podcast. A lot of great topics that you guys have going, and look forward to the next one. Absolutely.

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36:12
Speaker 1
Thanks. Please do. Yeah. Continue to. Continue to spread the word. Join us and we'll, you know, maybe. Maybe episode 84 will bring you back. Or episode 41. Right. Stacy's like, I can't believe we're gonna do more of it. We're going to do that many episodes. Yeah, it's freaking. Yeah, I know. It's all right. Thank you so much, Tim. Stacey, we have a little bit of cleanup to do. Let's talk about next week. So first things first.

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36:40
Speaker 2
Next.

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36:40
Speaker 1
Next week, you tell me Women in Construction Week is not next week. It's the following. Is that right?

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36:46
Speaker 3
Correct. So we're ahead of the head of the game, and we're going to be talking about workwear for women, shoes, clothes, and careers. We have Three guests on next week. So it's kind of like a panel lineup. I actually just bought Juno boots from one of our guests. I have not worn them yet. I'm going to test them out on Friday. I'm going out to a job site. So I'm excited for that. But her shoes are, they're beautiful. So we'll get to talk about all that fun stuff.

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37:17
Speaker 1
I'm psyched. I'll be. This will be a moment. I'm again, you know, we talk about it a lot, but there are these opportunities to learn that I feel so fortunate to have with all these guests that come on, we just get to ask them really cool questions. And I don't know if you notice, I, it's. I literally am filling up pages full of notes for me, you know, when I'm having these conversations. And I look forward to doing that again next week. A three person panel. Women in Construction to ring in Women in Construction Week. A little ahead of schedule, which will be great as always, I think. You know, guys, the mailing list, it continues to grow every week. Please share your email with Stacy H. Steeltocom.com and she will get you set up so that you're receiving a weekly email.

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38:07
Speaker 1
And it's very easy to register as well as follow up with the previous week's episode. If you didn't catch it live. You'll have all the links and all that type of stuff. We stream live on LinkedIn, YouTube and Facebook, but we're also on Apple podcasts, Spotify and of course recorded on YouTube. I continue to hear from people who are listening to us driving down the road. That's how I take in my podcast. So as much as we wish you were here live, you know, please, if you're a listen and driving type of person and this time slot isn't perfect for you, make sure that you find that and tell a friend, please spread the word. We're trying to, we're trying to, you know, make the biggest possible impact in, you know, creating this platform for positive change in the building industry.

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38:56
Speaker 1
Stacy, are we ready to announce a certain. We can, yay, talk about it.

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39:02
Speaker 3
Nawic. So national association of Women in Construction. Chad is going to be. Well, Chad and I will be attending this spring forum. Do you have the date for that?

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39:14
Speaker 1
I do, yeah. It is May 5th and 6th. It's a two day event. May, Friday, May 5th and Saturday, May 6th.

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39:23
Speaker 3
So we're gonna do our first live podcast event with a panel there so we'll get more details of the time and when to tune in and all that fun stuff. But we're excited for that.

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39:35
Speaker 1
That should be sufficiently nerve wracking.

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39:37
Speaker 3
Yeah, we'll see how that goes with the noise and all that stuff.

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39:43
Speaker 1
Yeah, totally. But it's going to be, you know what I'm really excited about is to bring attention to NAWAK and to have an opportunity to learn more about what they're doing and spread the word there. I'm actually going to be giving a keynote presentation On Saturday the 6th, first thing in the morning. It's going to be about driving change from within your organization, regardless of your role in an organization and in doing so in a male dominated environment with some sort of, you know, advice for gaining buy in and traction on ideas. So I sincerely hope that if that is something of interest to you will sign up for the NAWIC conference which I believe is going to sell out.

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40:28
Speaker 1
I think they're going to have somewhere around 150 to 200 attendees and you know, early indications are that they will run out of those. So check out nawic. We'll have more information that we'll send out in the newsletter with register registration links and all that type of stuff to help them to spread their word and help our members to take up those seats before they go away. So. All right, that's it, Stacy. I'm gonna stop with the talking and we'll transition into next week. I can't wait to see everybody again soon. Stacey, anything to say before we part?

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41:02
Speaker 3
Nope. I'll see you guys all next week. Have a wonderful day.

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41:06
Speaker 2
Thanks.

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41:06
Speaker 1
See you too.

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