my name is Barett young and this is the
art of succession podcast welcome to the
end of season 1 I want to thank everyone
who's been along for the journey so far
I decided when I started the show that I
wanted to do this show in seasons and so
the first six months the first 11
episodes comprise season 1 and this is
going to be the end of season one clip
show this is going to be a chance for me
to just talk about the podcast so far
share some of my favorite moments from
this season and then give you a sneak
peek into season 2 right now my goal is
to launch season 2 in January but I'll
give you get more into that at the end
of the show I want to thank you for uh
just listening to the show watching the
show all the feedback that I've received
I want to thank my guests for being on
the show stalking season 1 with episodes
was a lot easier than I expected I'm not
new to podcasting used to have podcasts
about eight years ago I was running
three podcasts concurrently with three
different friends and I would call those
uh two buddies in a beer kind of podcast
where we would just talk about whatever
topics were on our mind those podcasts
were audio podcasts though and they were
not guest interview podcasts I was
always stuck on the concept of guest
interview podcasts because I didn't know
who I would interview I didn't know what
kind of value an audience would be
interested in uh getting from guests
back in last winter as I was
contemplating our YouTube channel and
what the work that we've been doing at
gwcp around succession planning and
Advising moving our focus more blatantly
into that based off of our expertise the
idea came to me that that I should
interview people who've bought
businesses that was the initial impetus
for this show and it clicked for me and
I knew my audience and I knew the guests
that I would have on and I immediately
knew the value that I wanted to bring to
those guests and so that was a big piece
that uh just fell into place for the
artist sucession that I didn't have on
any of those prior podcasts uh it was a
learning experience video podcasts are
new to me not having been in the game
for the past eight years they were just
kind of getting off the ground in 2013
14 15 when I was last podcasting so
there was a lot of learning experiences
and my guests have been great I guess
the world is ready for video podcasts
and I haven't had a guest turn me down
yet that being said I am interested in
hearing your thoughts as a regular
listener to the show do you watch us on
YouTube more often or are you listening
on Spotify or apple podcasts the show is
distributed audio if you were not aware
of that it is available via transistor
FM uh and sent to all the all the
platforms um and again as I talk about
season 2 there'll be a change in season
2 uh that you can look forward to at the
end of this episode personally I've been
watching more video podcasts I also
subscribe to YouTube premium and that
means that I can put my phone in my
pocket while I'm mowing the lawn or
doing dishes and continue to listen to
videos uh just the audio form I do like
the video format um because I feel like
I have a better connection with the host
of a podcast when I can see them um but
I'm interested in your thoughts on that
and I've been listening to podcast for
over 20 years it feels
maybe 20 years and so 10 15 years of
Audio Only definitely felt like I was
friends with everybody the podcast that
I'd listen to I I felt like I was
invited into their lives but hopefully
video gives you more of a connection to
the voice behind the microphone that's
really my desire for a video podcast
conducting interviews I need to see the
person that I'm talking to even 10 years
ago I used to run one of our podcasts
over go to meeting uh before Zoom came
along and blew up the scene and me and
my buddy would record our audio separate
tracks on devices in our own house and
then he would upload it to Dropbox and I
would put them together but it's
important to me to see uh eye to eye
with the person that I'm talking to and
so video is always going to be a part of
how I conduct the interviews and it just
makes sense I feel uh to invite the
audience into that experience as well
with video podcasts what I was not
prepared for is some of the issues that
I would have running a video podcast you
don't know it because my video editors
are so awesome but that first episode
that I recorded with Jason I had
something going on in my Chrome browser
and the video would stop every 4 and 1
half minutes my video would stop and
drop me from the call and I would log
back in I'm using Riverside uh this is
not a fault of Riverside this is a fault
of my Chrome browser and it's limited
virtual memory but I would log back into
Riverside and Jason just got used to
finish the thought that he was in the
middle of and then what would pick back
up after after I logged in I was not
expecting that that was my first um my
first video that I recorded and I wanted
to cry and give everything up I was so
frustrated that this is what I had
committed to um but again kudos to my
video editors they took my I think I
gave them 11 video files for my side of
that conversation and they were able to
put it together uh and it's one of our
most watched episodes of the show I was
not prepared uh and this is something
I'm still struggling with booking guests
how difficult it is to filter through
all of the noise there are a lot of
booking agents out there that will just
book their client for you without any
concern about the type of podcasts that
I'm running they don't understand the
concept of did they buy the business
from somebody else that seems to go over
their head so lots of Noise with booking
agents I think I've cancelled probably
almost as many podcasts as I've uh
scheduled and and run just because I
can't get an email address for the
actual person that I'm going to be
talking into so that I can communicate
with them directly leading up to the
recording and if I don't have an email
address and if I don't have contact
information for the person I'm uh
interviewing I refuse to interview them
because I want to do the preparation
before we press record uh so that I'm
going into the interview with a little
bit of knowledge about the person uh so
that I'm not just going to surprise you
guys with popup spammer uh trying to get
on the show that said I am active in a
couple Facebook groups and that is where
I found a number of the guests as you
can probably tell uh half the guests
that I've had on the show so far have
been peers or introductions through
peers within the CPA space um and those
have been great I've Loved digging into
the details on some of these uh other
accounting firms and how they came about
to acquire them that's been really
interesting uh Mike and Tatiana the
chiropractors from episode 4 they were
also intro introduced to me by a client
and friend of mine uh who works with
them through honey badger uh so that's
really been great but that leaves about
four or five of my guests five I think
five of my guests out of the past 11
that have been brand new uh
introductions and I've really just
enjoyed digging into those businesses
and getting to know more about those
guests I know in my heart that I have
this business because of my dad and my
grandpa and like I wouldn't have it if
it weren't for them I love that it's my
grandpa's Legacy U my grandpa was a
really special person and I love that I
get to do this here with his name again
the autonomy that he gave me um to allow
me to see my vision and start building
what I wanted uh even while I was in
here ready working with him as long as
his bills were getting
paid uh you know and and he and he
checked the social boxes like he had the
friends through the business he was
good uh I I didn't realize that that was
okay for him but it wasn't okay for me I
just love how an interview allows me to
get a guest to talk about themselves and
talk about what excites them about their
business and so some of these interviews
have gone really deep really quickly uh
thinking specifically about uh Lisa's
episode just sharing that heartbreaking
story of buying their dream job and then
watching it crumble around them uh just
due to a lot of issues um within the
acquisition and having to close that
down but the the resilience that Lisa
had and she was actually coaching me on
the call that's that episode is probably
the closest I've come to uh tearing up
on the show so far um that's just power
ful that she would be so willing to
share that with a stranger um a couple
others that were like that for me Alana
Thomas was um was a difficult and
interesting interview and then uh amber
Kendrick also just having to kick her
own dad out of the company because he
was no longer doing what was best for
Pete's Auto Parts those are powerful
interviews and I've really appreciated
those moments experiencing them as the
interviewer and then being able to share
them with you as the guests as well but
the show hasn't been all heartbreak
there have been some amazing just
amazing Stories too specifically Curtis
the opportunity to work with your
grandfather in the same profession I
can't just I cannot wrap my head around
how cool that would be my own
grandfather died when I was 18 years old
in boot camp and he had Parkin since
most of um the end of his life and so I
was a stupid teenager that didn't wasn't
comfortable around nursing homes for
about the last 10 years of his life and
so I didn't have a relationship with my
grandparents uh for various reasons um
but just to be able to work with your
grandfather for 15 years in the business
regardless of all the conflict that
comes up between two partners budding
heads with visions of a company just the
experience and I could hear it in
Curtis's voice just the appreciation
that he had for pops uh just being able
to learn from him in this profession
that they both love and gain an
understanding uh for why he's made the
decisions that he's made that that was
very powerful thinking of also Jim
marrow taking the business under his
wing while his dad's going through chemo
That's The Power of family business
especially um though I would say that a
number of us that are in Partnerships
not with family we would still jump
through hoops and pull more than our
fair share of the weight if necessary to
to alleviate our partner suffering in
any bit with in any bit that we could
but just to hear that story of Jim going
back and forth to chemo treatments and
taking care of his dad while also trying
to take care of customers it's there's
just something there that is powerful uh
and it's what I love about small
business another awesome story you know
we we heard Mike's story with his dad
Ross uh how he doesn't call him Dad at
work he calls him Ross but just how
rewarding that is to have that kind of
relationship where it's not a conflict
at the outset or it's not it's not a
conflict every single day of parent and
child Waring in different directions
parent and child pulling in different
directions in order to get what they
want out of the business it takes a
special kind of leader to recognize when
your Offspring or somebody that you've
mentored is coming up in the company and
has skills that you don't have and has
drive that you don't have a vision for
the future um that maybe you used to
have and no longer have um I really
admire that uh in some of the leaders
that I've talked to on this show just
the the relationships that they've had
in their businesses really envious of
that uh and just really want to model
that within GW CPA between me and my
partner Sam uh for the incoming next
level of leadership next next group of
leaders that come in in this company I
want to know what some of your best
moments have been I I do want to share
some clips and then just talk about them
briefly but I want to know who's been
your best your favorite interview what
moments stand out to you and also what
was your first exposure to the artist
succession podcast who was your first
interview and did you go back and listen
to any others certainly we early enough
in the podcast are you a Binger when I
find a new show and I find that I'm you
know maybe less than a 100 episodes uh
into the show I'll go back to season one
and I'll start listening to the whole
thing um I hope maybe by now I've gotten
one of those on the artistic session so
if that's you uh go ahead and leave me a
shout out and let me know and just know
that I appreciate every listen whether
it's every episode whether it's every
other episode it just it means a lot to
me that you find Value in this show and
you've subscribed and want to hear about
the stories that these these business
owners are sharing one of the changes I
made mid-season I don't know if you've
noticed it or not when I started the
show I was very clear that I wanted to
hear from people who've acquired their
business from somebody else um but as
you as you saw there towards the end of
season 1 I did start to introduce
starting with Lisa people who have
closed or sold their business so we've
heard from Lisa we heard from Alana
we've heard from Jerm who was not an
acquir of the business he was brought in
as a partner in order to rescue the
business and then most recently we've
heard from Jillian sedot Who Sold her
law firm and is now moved on from that
part uh from that business that she
built I added these with caution
certainly I want to make sure that I'm
bringing my audience the most value and
I think that a lot of that value is
found in the tales of the people who've
purchased those businesses and all of
the pitfalls and surprises and uh just
victories that they've had in that new
business but also I am interested in
giving us a perspective as as the
acquirers giving us a perspective into
the minds of the seller perhaps you are
in a family business right now or you
are in the succession Journey as I am
myself um and you have not taken over
100% yet and you're trying to to
understand what's going on in the mind
of the seller why are things not moving
faster why are they making some of the
decisions that they're making that's
kind of been my intention in
interviewing the sellers of businesses
opening that up to Future guests as well
but I want to know if that resonates
with you as a listener to the artist
succession is that something that you
are interested in I appreciate hearing
from Sellers as well because I will be a
seller someday as well you most likely
if your business continues so that's
that was an easy yes for me uh to bring
those in I will say I have had a lot of
other inquiries a lot through these
booking agents but then not just other
peers within the space that have been
interested in being interviewed that are
not acquirers of their business not
sellers of their business but they work
within the murders and Acquisitions they
work within the succession planning
space I have held off on bringing those
in as a professional in that space I
know there can be value to be heard from
somebody in that space but I also know
it's different if you're going through
it than if you work with people that are
going through it and that's not a bad
thing I think that they have a lot of
value that they can add but I don't want
this to become mostly just about
marketing their services to my audience
providing value certainly but I just
have figured out how to provide value in
a way without duding the core tenant of
the artist succession podcast which is
business owners who are purchasing their
business from somebody else um so let me
know your thoughts on that as well uh
that's not going to be in season 2 but
possibly in a future season I might
entertain that another thing that I've
considered is just doing those as bonus
episodes or just extra content on the
YouTube channel we certainly have an
attorney that we work with closely with
all of our clients and so I've talked to
her about doing interviews focused on
specifics around uh succession planning
so that is something that we are keeping
in mind um but I haven't decided yet if
I'm going to bring that into the artist
succession as formal guest interviews
yet so let me know your thoughts on that
another decision um I've made in
discussions with my partner and then
just viewing the YouTube landscape Out
There Our firm specializes in succession
planning for multigenerational
businesses and so does the art of
succession podcast once once you get
into this space you find out that
there's a lot of other tangential
content out there that's not directly
related to succession planning so the
easiest one is exit planning so those
are business owners that just are ready
to retire and they want to get out a lot
of exit planning is focused on
consolidations uh focused on selling to
an outside um entity an outside buyer
not directly succession uh within the
company an employee or a a descendant
within the company it is more about this
larger competitive of mine is swallowing
up a lot of our our types of businesses
so that's exit planning that's distinct
in our minds from succession planning um
obviously Jillian sedot that would have
fallen under exit planning one thing
I've avoided with the art of succession
um and if I can just be open for a
minute here as I talk to people who have
sold their businesses I'm going to be
very cautious about business owners that
have sold their businesses to somebody
other than another small business so
so-called mergers and acquisitions
Equity private Equity buyers there's a
lot of that in our space right now um
and I know that there's a lot of that
interest and it's easy to gain views if
you talk about that on YouTube the
reason this is called the art of
succession and not the science of
succession or the art of the deal or the
the mechanics of the deal or anything
like that is because as a small business
owner and as a small business owner that
works with small business owners our
businesses have soul our businesses have
a purpose that is closely tied to who we
are as owners the values that we bring
to our work every single day and the
values that uh Drive what we do for our
clients and soap box here private equity
in the accounting space I think is a
really bad idea it's easy exit for a
firm owner that has not done the work
necessary to make sure that there's a
business there of value that conveys to
another generation and I think that it's
debilitating for professionals who work
in those companies who maybe have worked
in those businesses for 5 to 7 10 years
just to find out that they're being
Acquired and rolled up into a regional
firm or uh that their founder that their
boss is taking private Equity money uh
and everything's about to become a lot
more corporate and focused on the bottom
line I would not have stayed at a firm
like that uh in my career uh I
specifically became a CPA and I've moved
CPA firms in the past because of the
path to ownership um and private Equity
mergers and Acquisitions rollups
completely destroy the path to ownership
in those companies and so that's not
what this show's about that's not the
kind of guest that I'm interested in
hearing from I certainly would want to
get into their minds about why they made
that decision um but that's not
something that I want to Champion with
this show and it's not something we
Champion with our YouTube channel
similarly in the YouTube space there's a
lot of emphasis or a lot of focus on
employees that go out and they get
private Equity money or they get search
funds behind them and they go out and
they buy these boring businesses and
they don't step into the role of
operator within those businesses there's
a lot of emphasis on you just install an
operator and you get to collect the
dividends as an owner that's fine a lot
of people are interested in that again
that goes against the ethos that we have
at gwcp and the artist succession as
well small business ownership is an art
it's not a science we're dealing with
real people we're dealing with real
employees and we're dealing with real
concerns that they have I mean certainly
there's nothing I think illegal about
what they're doing obviously and if your
goal is to buy a company and step away
from from it I understand that I was
there 15 years ago that's what I did
with my first uh company that I started
before I came here to work at gwcp I was
all about setting up the systems and
walking away making passive income
4-Hour Work Week all that and at 32
years old I was burned out and retired
and so I think a lot of those people I
don't wish them ill but I think a lot of
them will be will find out that it's not
everything that they've uh they've blown
it up to be in their heads I I find a
lot of satisfaction in the work that I
do uh both as a professional and as a
business owner so I love being a CPA I
love being a business owner of a CPA
firm even more um and I think that work
is satisfying I think that uh just
personal talk here I think that I was
made in the image of my Creator and my
Creator is a God who works and I am uh
made in that image and work is difficult
work is unbelievably difficult um but it
is satisfying and I think that it's one
of the ways we find a lot of just
fulfillment in life and it's not
something that we should walk away from
it's something that we should engage in
each and every day I've really
appreciated that about my guests and I
hope you hear that in the arst Su
session that the the toughest moments we
go through as business owners they rip
our hearts out they stomp on them but we
come out on the other end and we say I'm
a better person because of what I went
through I am a better business owner and
I can sympathize with my employees
because XYZ happened in my career I can
understand my customers and my customers
points of view their perspective because
I'm also in the fight on a daily basis
my focus that drives my questions on the
artist succession podcast has been to
want to get into the weeds sometimes on
that raw stuff that does make us to be
better business owners on the other side
it is gut-wrenching uh as you are going
through it I would not wish it on
anybody except that I do wish it on you
if you're a business owner because I
know that you're going to come out
better on the other end but it is going
going to be unbearable uh and to go
through that I would definitely
recommend starting off as an employee
and working your way up if we were to
ever bring a partner into our business
that's how I would do it I don't think I
would ever put someone in as a partner
right off the bat and I don't care where
they came from guess who else gets to
decide I get to decide and this is what
we're deciding and and and then when it
became like that clear like I don't owe
anybody anything
I owe I owe myself and my family
something and I owe my employees
something too but I don't owe them that
don't owe them all of me I I I really
want to work myself out of a job to the
extent that there's other stuff I should
be and can be focusing on and and kind
of moving the needle in in a different
way um so would have just been
impossible without me kind of delegating
all that work and looking for the the
most appropriate path to success
hopefully this has been beneficial to
you just to hear some of my thoughts
behind running the show in season 1 um I
have favorite episodes and I've listened
to a couple of my own episodes uh and
laughed even though I was there in the
moment um they still just bring uh bring
joy to me to hear us have those
conversations and so I've really enjoyed
recapping season 1 with you and letting
you know just a little bit more behind
the scenes about where the artist
succession came from uh now I want to
shift Focus to season 2 so like I said
my goal was to set up Seasons originally
my goal was if I couldn't book enough
guests for SE this season two uh which
would start during tax season um I would
take a break and I would resume in the
spring with season 2 as of right now I
think I'm going to have enough guests to
get me through ta season without having
to record I am looking for guests so if
you know someone who should be featured
on this show uh I would love to
interview them please go ahead and uh
just pass along the information I'm
going to put the booking link down in
the description below it's there every
episode but you can find that if you
have anybody that's going to be that
would make a great guest on the show I'd
love to get into their story but because
of that I'm going to continue season 2
is going to pick up right where we leave
off here with season 1 episode 12 season
2 will come out the first Tuesday of
January I'm really excited about season
2's first episode I've got a treat to
share with you I'm actually going to be
interviewing my partner Samantha bowling
she's the managing partner here at gwcp
she started in this firm 32 years ago
she became managing partner last year
she's got a great story that I can't
wait for you toar here she's um she's an
amazing CPA she's an amazing business
owner I am so happy to work with her uh
I was happy to work for her for a couple
years there before becoming partner here
as well um and I'm just excited to share
her story um when I shared my idea for
this podcast back last March with her
she said I want to be a guest on the
show and I said absolutely that will be
such a treat uh for the listeners so I
decided I started season 1 with one of
my very good friends and a mentor of
mine J blumber and I'm going to be
launching season 2 with a very good
friend of mine and a mentor uh Samantha
bowling so look forward to that next
that episode next month some of the
changes I'm going to make for season 2
so YouTube is different for podcasts You
Know audio podcast it's it's nothing to
listen to a 40 minute hourong podcast
audio uh YouTube is a little bit
different and so there's retention
graphs in YouTube there's a lot of
information in YouTube and I know that a
lot of our guests don't have time to sit
uh and watch a video for an hour
non-stop not everybody subscribes to
YouTube premium though you should one of
the best subscriptions I have Cuts cuts
out all the ads and allows you to listen
while the screen is off and in your
pocket not everyone does that and so I'm
going to be making a change for season 2
I'm talking with my video editors about
this we're actually going to split
season 2 into two episodes um we're
going to have a Part One release on
Tuesday and we're going to have part two
release on Thursday morning so every
guest is going to be split into two
episodes I am also cautious and wary of
the time uh that our episodes have been
getting up there over an hour and so my
editor is also going to be focusing on
bringing the time down and really just
trying to keep the most um the most
important information in those episodes
for you guys to make sure that you're
getting the best value for the for the
interviews audio podcast will still be
released 100% uh in full on Tuesday
mornings and so you can listen to that
on Spotify or apple podcast or any
wherever you get your podcasts but on
YouTube we're going to have part one
released on Tuesday mornings and we're
going to release part two on Thursdays
if you come to the episode afterwards
you'll just be able to find that in the
end screen of part one you'll be able to
get to part two of that episode so if
you're not somebody who listens on the
first day hopefully it won't U be that
big of a difference for you uh but I
think that that's going to help bring
new people into the the audience uh and
it's just it's something I'm
experimenting with there's a lot of
experimentation that happens in business
uh and a lot of it is based off
incomplete information incomplete
feedback but as I watch YouTube I know
that 20 minutes for an episode is a
pretty decent commitment I've certainly
listened to 45 minute episodes I have
listened to a couple 2-hour episodes but
I also have the ability to pause pick up
in my car listen on listen through my
car radio get home press play when I'm
doing the dishes press play when I'm
cooking uh and it's a little bit more
seamless there and I know that not
everybody is able to uh not everybody
has that workflow so that's one of the
changes we're making for season two
truly it was that that messy and I do
think that that has worked historically
in my favor that people very much see a
human element and it's not so methodical
and tailored and perfect in the way that
you come to Market just like hey like we
really want to do a good job there came
a point where I started to see people
who commit to things longterm and they
don't give up no matter what they're the
ones who end up being on top in 30 years
in 40 years like when I'm the books of
the people I'm reading it's like these
people have been doing it for 40 in 50
years I'm like that's that's the people
I'm looking up to um and so longevity
started to become for me um that's what
I want to do like I if I if I can help
people now I can really help them 20
years from now the success that we
experience as business owners or
entrepreneurs uh came with likely a lot
of scars and I think if somebody's
telling you that they don't have those
scars or they didn't have any you know
hard time or challenges um I going to be
bold enough to say they're lying and we
say that I I mean I I wholeheartedly
believe this from the bottom of my heart
everyone has a story to tell and
everyone should tell their story we
talked a lot about uh a lot of good
things but I will say Never Say Never
and pay attention to those little
details because you never know what's
going to happen um I had a plan and it
was in 24 hours so one of the other
things that I did uh is the lightning
round at the end of every episode I
enjoy the lightning round it does open
up some cans of worms that I probably
would want to explore a little more and
so I'm going to be playing around with
the the layout and the positioning of
the lightning round in the episodes and
future Seasons um but I appreciate
knowing this information about my guests
getting to see what kind of what drives
them and yeah I enjoy them and so in the
spirit of that I've Ed at this a couple
times on other episodes I'm going to be
doing the lightning round here so that
you know um what my own preferences are
and so here we go lightning round for
the host Barrett young of the artist
sucession podcast coffee or tea and how
do I like it uh I drink coffee I do like
creamer in my coffee usually uh three
little cups of creamer three pumps of
creamer from the coffee I do at home
freshly grind my beans about once a week
and put them into a in a jar here at the
office we drink curig I definitely
prefer the semi freshly ground coffee at
home and I have a stove top percolator
that I really like home as well pie or
cake um pie overall my favorite pie is
pican pie um but coconut cake is um what
I request at my birthday U me and my
father-in-law both eat coconut cake and
coconut cake and a tall glass of cold
milk he puts ice in his milk I do not uh
but that's my go-to and I really like
coconut cake and Con Pie for that matter
I really like coconut cake because I
don't have to share with my family uh
it's it's a unique cake that a lot of
people don't like and so I get more of
it for myself what is a common belief
among entrepreneurs that you would want
to challenge um I've been thinking about
this one for the past year this is
actually the impetus behind the art of
succession uh this is kind of what
drives me in the YouTube videos and this
is counter to who I was at 28 years old
when I started my first company the the
belief I would challenge among entrepr
rurs is that you have to start it in
order to be an entrepreneur you have to
start the business in order for it to be
your business I actually the the thesis
I'm working off of in the back of my
head is I actually feel that most people
will probably be better served buying an
existing business rather than starting
one from scratch now there's a lot of
caveats to that and I'll cover those in
YouTube videos but that's the belief
that I want to challenge in the minds of
entrepreneurs what is my favorite
holiday and why so Thanksgiving uh which
just passed I do love Thanksgiving I
love I love food I love uh smoking
turkeys uh this year we did chickens I
love being with family I love
Thanksgiving because it's the kickoff
for me of the Christmas season so I do
not separate Christmas and Thanksgiving
it's all part of the Christmas season
with Thanksgiving being the kickoff for
that and I love me a dog show uh goat
pugs they won this year at the at the
Philadelphia dog show so that's that's
my favorite holiday Thanksgiving am I a
morning person or a night person and do
I have a favorite routine I want to be a
night person but I cannot stay awake if
I sit down late at night um my kids
laugh at me I think 910 I was asleep by
9:10 last night couldn't even make it
through a 3 minute YouTube video um so
I'm a morning person I'm awake whether I
like it or not usually by about 5: try
to get out of bed right when I wake up I
fail more days than not I do like to
train in the mornings uh if I do if I am
training for anything I like to get it
out of the way uh if I train at night it
usually just revs up my heart rate and
I'm not able to sleep uh so I really
like training in the morning but I love
a cup of coffee and I love to read
that's kind of my morning routine what
is one thing that you want your
successor to remember you for I did not
have good examples I did not have
inspiring examples in this profession
when I first became an accountant my
first partners that I worked for I asked
one of them if I should become a CPA and
he said it doesn't really matter to us I
would want my success essor to remember
me for encouraging them with all the joy
that there is in this profession uh with
the the feeling of it being worth it I I
don't know how how to word that better
being a business owner is worth it it is
one of the most heart-wrenching things
you'll do the work that you put in is
what makes it worth it it's not in spite
of the work that you put in and so
that's what I'd want my successor to
remember me for they're in this
profession because I encouraged them in
this profession because I told them that
they could I showed them how they could
do it how they were imp EMP powered to
stick with this profession and to become
a business owner that's what I want them
to remember me for where are you finding
creativity right now uh YouTube I
probably watch YouTube more than any
other streaming service I'm always
looking for something else uh to learn
something to grow in YouTube about
YouTube has been my big Obsession for
the for 2024 I'm starting to finally
move away from that because it it does
just get overwhelming um and so I'm
starting I'm I'm watching a lot of
YouTubers right now on advisor services
and especially pricing and and different
things like that just trying to work on
knowledge knowledge building uh for that
uh so that's why I'd say I'm finding
creativity uh what do I have coming up
in the next year that's got me really
excited oh boy uh season two of the
podcast I'm excited to see how that
launches and see the reception just
making improvements in the podcast
hopefully they pay those improvements uh
are are noticed and received and
appreciated we've got a lot of changes
in The Firm coming this next year one of
the big ones is I've fully moved into
the role of tax partner here at the firm
and that means that every tax return is
coming through me rather than Sam uh and
that's a big responsibility and a big
change and I'm I'm excited to step into
that role uh it's also my 20th
anniversary next year uh so I'm hoping
to take my wife uh to Ireland that's the
goal uh and so I'm really excited about
that uh and where can people find me you
can find me right here on the artist
succession podcast thank you for
entertaining this uh season 1 finale I
had a lot of stuff to talk about and
share with you about what this podcast
has meant to me so far hopefully You'
found value from this uh you can also
check out the YouTube channel where I do
long form talking head videos mostly
about succession planning uh and
hopefully that is added benefit to you
along this journey I want to thank you
for watching thank you for listening to
season 1 of the artist succession
podcast we've had some great guests I
hope that you find a favorite and share
it with a friend uh and just bring them
into this audience and I hope that it
has grown you whether or not you're
buying a business or not it has grown
you in your profession in your
appreciation for small business and I
will see you in season two