Hidden Money Podcast

If your CPA doesn't know your name, you're a small fish in a big pond... and it's costing you. 

In this episode, Mike and Kevin break down why big accounting firms are structurally incapable of serving high earners well, share real client stories where the difference in service was life-changing, and explain exactly how Revo is built differently from the ground up.

Some of the key discussion points
  • A $3M earner couldn't get a callback for three weeks from a Big 10 firm. Revo got her a cost segregation estimate the same afternoon.
  • Big firms are built on billable hours, not client outcomes. The incentives are not aligned in the client's favor.
  • Revo deliberately overpays staff and builds excess capacity so clients never fall through the cracks, but always receive premium strategy and service.
  • You don't have to settle for being just a number. Whether you're a client or a CPA, there's a better pond for you to be a big fish in.

Are you paying for a big firm's reputation while receiving poor, unpersonalized service?

Like, subscribe, and share with someone who deserves better than a three-week wait on a simple question.

Ready to be a big fish? Reach out at https://www.revotaxpayer.com/

Connect with us

Chapters
[00:00] — Cold Open: Small Fish, Big Pond
[00:48] — Welcome: What It Means to Be the Big Fish
[01:27] — Mike's Football Story: Choosing the Right Pond
[02:25] — The $3M Client the Big Firm Ignored
[04:50] — Three Weeks. No Response. Not Even a Cost Seg Estimate.
[05:37] — All Our Clients Are Big Fish
[08:00] — The Big Four Partner Getting Underserved by His Own Firm
[11:00] — Why Revo Overpays Staff and Caps Hours
[19:26] — An Invitation to CPAs: Come Be a Big Fish With Us
[25:37] — Closing: Come Join the Little Pond With a Big Mission

Disclaimer: This is not a CPA firm and these services are not regulated by the Texas State Board of Public Accountancy. This content is for educational purposes and does not constitute tax or legal advice. Always consult a qualified tax professional for your situation.

What is Hidden Money Podcast?

In the Hidden Money podcast, you'll learn how you can legally use the tax code to your financial advantage. There’s wealth inside the tax code. Taxes aren’t the enemy.
Most people hate taxes (and pay more than they should). But when you view taxes only as an evil expense, you miss out on legal ways to grow your wealth. Unlock the secrets to saving tax and building wealth with the Hidden Money Podcast! 🎧💰 Hosted by Mike Pine and Kevin Schneider.

Kevin Schneider: No one wants to
be this Small Fish in this Big Pond

we hear from people coming into our firm

I can't even get a callback
from my CPA 'cause You're a

Little Fish in their Big Pond

Mike Pine: if you're at this big firm
and you're just a number, There's no way

you're gonna get good tax planning we
don't ever wanna be one of the big firms.

We always wanna be the best.

Kevin Schneider: I had a client with
one of the Big 10 accounting firms.

She tried for three weeks and
couldn't even get a response

Mike Pine: We overpay our staff.

We try to build excess capacity, We charge
more than an average regional tax firm

And that's why we do it 'cause we need
to be able to provide better service

We are saving our clients so much money
in taxes Truly life changing money

Kevin Schneider: Welcome to this
episode of the Hit and Money Podcast.

Today Mike and I are
gonna just talk about.

How to be the big fish in a little pond.

That's, I think that's
what we all want to be.

No one wants to be this
small fish in this big pond.

And just what that means is just being
lost, being a, a, a number to somebody.

And that's why at our firm, we
really tailor ourselves differently.

Not, not only with proactive tax planning,
that's our bread and butter, but that

client service, yes, client service is
one of the biggest key points that we

hear from people coming into our firm is.

My CPA doesn't talk to me, or I can't
even get a callback from my CPA 'cause

you're a little fish in their big pond.

Mike Pine: Yeah.

You know, here's an interesting
story I've never shared with you.

Um.

Um, when I was graduating high school,
I was offered a bunch of college

scholarships to play football, right?

I was offered some division one, um,
scholarships, um, UGA, Tennessee, Alabama,

Auburn U United States Air Force Academy.

They actually gave me
an athletic appointment.

There's no way I could have
gotten one with my grades with

a con Congress normally have to
your congressional appointment.

And I got a West Point appointment, um,
and I went on a bunch of these trips.

They call 'em official visits.

They take you out there
and there's huge stadiums.

But the fact is, I would've been
a little fish in a big pond.

I would've been lucky if I started
my senior year, maybe my junior.

Um, not saying that's always the
right reason to choose a school you

went to, but I ended up going to
division one aa, I don't know what

they call it now, but a smaller school.

You teach Chattanooga
on football scholarship.

'cause I wanted to be a
big fish in a big seat.

I wanted to matter and I
wanted to play all the time.

Kevin Schneider: So,

yeah,

it's very important.

And it's funny enough, I had a client
who, um, you know, we service clients

from any range on the income spectrum,
but if you're really making like

three, 500 grand and above, we can
really help in ROI Your situation,

this person was making $3 million.

That's incredible through their S
corporation, and they had some tax

planning they wanted to do, and they were
with one of the Big 10 accounting firms.

So in accounting we have a
bunch of quote unquote Big Four

now they're Big six, big 10.

We have all these kind of big
accounting firms where they have

employees all over the world.

They have big departments,

Mike Pine: And

we don't ever want to
be one of the big firms.

We always wanna be the best.

And

we are.

Kevin Schneider: That's right.

And, but that's where this person ran
into an issue is because they're like, you

were just ma you're just making 3 million.

So to them they're like, I have clients
making hundreds of millions of dollars and

I'm enacting a tax plan, or I'm enacting
just accounting for them year round.

Mm-hmm.

That like, I have one client
and this is who I'm focused on.

So this person making $3 million,
that's a pretty big fish for any.

Mike Pine: any.

Kevin Schneider: Practitioner
out there who's not in one of

these big accounting firms.

So she came to us and I had a
consult with us and she's, she

wanted to do a cost segregation.

She had two short-term rentals and
she wanted to offset her W2 income.

And she's like, Hey, I'm
aware of the strategy.

I don't need coaching on that.

I just need help implementing and then
providing future, uh, opportunities.

'cause I

Mike Pine: Was she a
listener to our podcast?

She was.

So our podcast edu That's
what I'm talking about.

We're changing the world right here,

Kevin Schneider: man.

And so she came and she was just like,
man, I, you know, I want to be able

to do more than just real estate.

Well, at the end of it, we got
her a cost segregation estimate.

Yeah.

That day she tried for three
weeks and couldn't even get a

response from her tax person.

And this was in February or
March, so it was in tax season.

But at the end of the consult I was
like, Hey, before we even hang up, I'm

gonna introduce you to our engineer.

He is quick and he'll give you a
no cost, no obligation estimate

on your, your short term rental.

We'll give you an estimate of what
the tax savings would be and then

you just thumbs it up or thumbs
it down or whatever you wanna do.

But if you thumbs him up, he's going
and we'll have a report pretty quick.

And so, yeah, our guy got her
the engineering study estimate

like probably that afternoon.

Mm-hmm.

So we did all of that and, and it's
not like it's complex work, it's just

intentionality and client service.

It's all

Mike Pine: is.

So lemme get this straight for
three weeks she was emailing,

calling just about a, eg.

Her CPA, just asking about a cost, eg no

Kevin Schneider: response.

She, she didn't even ask about
like, Hey, what is a cost?

Eg.

You know, what is, she's
like, I want to do a cost, eg.

Please get your guys on this.

And she want, she knew what she wanted.

She didn't need coaching, she

Mike Pine: didn't need anything,

which is crazy 'cause all those big firms
have their own cost tech departments.

We only recently got ours two years ago.

Right?

Yeah.

Kevin Schneider: That's crazy.

And so the whole idea of our firm
is we want to take that, that.

They were a little fish in that big
pond, but they're huge fish because if

you're making $3 million, you're probably
paying close to seven, 800 grand in tax.

Yeah.

Think of the ROI.

We could provide them just by servicing
some very tried and true tax measures and

tax savers to reduce that tax liability.

Yeah.

It's, that's what

Mike Pine: live for.

So

wanna be careful here.

We're not saying if you're not
making, if you're making less

than 3 million a year at our firm,
uh, you're gonna be a small fish.

Actually, all our
clients are all big fish.

Um, but the point we're trying to
make is if you're at this big firm

and you're just a number, they don't
really care about you, you're not

getting the service, there's no way
you're gonna get good tax planning.

It's not even possible.

Um, they're just, they're too busy,
they don't have enough time, and they.

There's a different set of
values and culture in these big

firms, and I've been part of 'em.

I started the biggest
firm in the nation, PWC.

Um, I worked at Crow
Howorth, big eight firm.

Um, worked at a couple other large ones,
and the culture is gate billable hours.

That's right.

The most billable hours you get, even
if they're not unneeded, billable hours.

As long as they can bill the clients
for it, then you're doing well.

Um, if you're answering an email
that might not, and you're just

referring to a different department,
that's not that important.

As a matter of fact, at these big firms,
there's turf wars because each partner

generally has their own book of business.

If you refer some of your clients
to a different specialty area, you

lose that revenue, it goes to that
area, and now the partners get

paid less who referred you away.

It's ridiculous that the
incentives are all messed up.

Which leads me to think of another
big fish little pond story or.

Little fish, big pond story.

Sorry, I'm getting this backwards.

Um, this is, this is, it's unbelievable.

I love explaining and talking about this.

You probably are tired of hearing
me talk about it, but I got a tax

consult last year who is a partner
at one of the big four firms, one

of the biggest two firms actually.

Um, CPA firms.

And his, at these big firms, they have
their own group internal that prepares

their tax returns, that supposedly
provides them tax planning advice.

This guy calls me and he's like,
can I just show you my return?

These guys, I, I'm not,
I'm paying too much in tax.

I know what, I was
listening to your podcast.

Um, what am I doing wrong?

And we looked at it and there was a
bunch of stuff that they had just missed.

He had tried to go get a buy a tax credit
when they were selling those few years

back, and it was a legitimate tax credit.

The firm said, we don't, we don't do this.

You can't take this.

And it was a legitimate tax credit.

Um, the partners think they're
getting the best service.

Hey, they're the partners.

They're the bosses of these
people preparing them returns.

They're at the big firm.

Um, granted this guy wasn't a tax partner.

He was a different partner.

Um, but all that being said, the guy was
making a million dollars a year sending

it to the partner tax group, getting
completely mutilated and underserved.

Um, but when you're a partner of these
big firms, you get a K one from every

single state that has an income tax.

So he was really concerned, didn't
want to come to us because we're

gonna bill him for every state.

And, and he still hasn't come by the
way, and he still calls asking for

advice and I won't give it to him.

He needs to either come, you know,
either fish or cut bait, right?

So, but the deal was is he has
like 31 states he has to file in.

And of course we got charge for
each of those states, our flat

rates charged for those states.

But that would've been like,
what, 15 grand, 15, 16 grand.

Instead, he's still using them.

And he's overpaying his taxes by a
couple hundred thousand each year.

Um, it's annoying, but yeah, it's being a

Kevin Schneider: mal
fish in a big pond sucks.

Yeah, you have to.

And that's why we've implemented
like QC process and that's why

our tax returns are more expensive
now, not comparative to pwc.

He's probably getting a deal

Mike Pine: 'cause it's a partner.

I didn't say he was a pwc, but he

Kevin Schneider: or Deloitte
or wherever he is at.

But if, I'm sure he's getting some
sort of preparation deal, but.

Mike Pine: He,

he,

Kevin Schneider: returns prepared.

It's pretty actually.

Yeah.

So that's a, I can't beat that deal.

Uh,

Mike Pine: moneywise,

but I can beat it in tax savings.

And I showed him you can't, but he
just couldn't pull himself out of that.

Kevin Schneider: He will one

day.

Yeah, because he must be
in the accounting side.

He just sees the accounting.

Mike Pine: those auditors, you

Kevin Schneider: auditor.

I know.

They just see what's in front of him.

But yeah, you, we like, that's
why our tax returns and our client

service is where it's at, is because
we have a 24 hour email policy.

If I hear of any of our staff getting
bombarded from a client for three weeks

with no response, that's gonna be.

Huge issue that's going direct
against our culture and what we're

driving for what Mike and I believe
as owners of the company, what we

believe people should be treated.

Yeah.

Now there's always times that you
can't get back to them in 24 hours,

but we acknowledge, like if that
first instance in my story that I was

telling on the onset, if they said,
Hey, I want to cost second, and Mike,

that guy or girls busy that week,
they could say, Hey, I got your email.

Yeah, we're gonna do a eg,
let me call you Thursday.

Let me call you Fri.

Tie up that loose end
and not just ignore it.

Right.

That is the most annoying

Mike Pine: and I come across this all the

time.

That's absolute service failure.

Kevin Schneider: some service failure.

That's not service.

I've, I do you, you come across
this too, like dealing with

contractors, general contractors.

I've done so many repairs to our
house, and then it's just you, you're

just like, Hey, where's this at?

Where's this at?

Where's the bid?

Where's the bid?

Hey, you said Thursday, it's Friday.

You like, I am mentally
tracking their project flow.

'cause it's my house, it's my job.

Of course I'm gonna be in it.

Mike Pine: but it's just like

you're a little fish.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I got bigger jobs, so I had the same
problem with my pool contractor.

Um, let's talk about, let's be
honest here though, and transparent.

The reason we're able to offer this
kind of service to our clients.

It's not like we don't
have a bunch of clients.

We've got amazing practice and
a amazing, uh, group of clients.

We overpay our staff.

We try to build excess capacity,
um, and we reward people who

are providing good service.

And we only keep those.

And that's why we have to pay so much more
for our team than the average accounting

firm pays for their tax preparers,
their tax seniors, their tax managers.

Uh.

We charge more than an average
regional tax return or tax firm.

Um, and that's why we do it 'cause we
need to be able to provide better service.

If we don't have the capacity and
the time to focus on our client's

individual facts and circumstances.

All we can do is prepare a tax return and
we are not tax return preparers at Revo.

We are tax strategists and
you can't strategize if you

can't, if you can't focus.

On your individual clients, if you
can't serve them, if you can't get

to know them, if you can't answer the
phone, like tax planning, tax strategy

involves proactive tax strategy.

Mm-hmm.

You gotta do it during the tax year.

And if we have a client that's calling
and emailing for three weeks not getting

anything, and they're about to make a
jump into a deal or sign a contract or

start a business or sell something, and
we don't answer, we can't add any value.

Yeah.

So.

That's, that's how our model is
built, and it's a good model and

we might charge more, but our

Kevin Schneider: our
clients save a heck of a lot

more.

They save, they save a lot
more average on taxes for sure.

I see it every day.

Yeah.

They get better service.

All of our reviews, because we,
we meet weekly with this, with

the, with our management team.

We meet.

And then we see the feedback
we're getting from our clients.

Like, we're so thankful.

Thank you.

Like the client services there,
our workflow, our communication.

And that's another example, man.

I had, um, a guy I work out with,
he's in, um, he's actually, he was

a, he's a friend in my community,
but he eventually became a client.

Well, he sent Steven, one of our tax
managers in IRS noticed that he got.

He sent it on like Friday.

I read that email Saturday morning.

Steven already, um, replied to him saying,
Hey, I'm gonna tackle this on Monday.

I go and I emailed Steven.

I go, Hey man, it's the
middle of tax season.

You can reply to this IRS notice by mail.

You can call it in whatever you want
to do, whatever your capacity is.

But I'll just talk to him at the
gym and like, I'll just let him

know like, Hey man, we're gonna
tackle this in like 15 days.

Just give Steven 15 days
to get past April 15th.

By the time I check my email back Monday,
Steven goes, Hey, I called the IRS, got

the penalty abated, you're good to go.

I'm like,

Mike Pine: What I was like,

that's, that's why we keep
those team members and they're

Kevin Schneider: not gonna
leave us to get a higher

salary.

Yeah.

And I'm almost defending Steven.

'cause I was like, dude, I know.

I know your workflow.

It's April 1st.

Yeah.

I know how much workflow
you have right now.

Being a CPA and a client had an issue,
he could tell that he was stressing him

out and he just solved for it real quick.

On

Mike Pine: first thing, and he's
just like, already took care of it.

Yeah.

Similar issue with, with, with
Brooke, our, another amazing senior

manager we have, and it's tax season.

They are in compliance.

I want in, they're

Kevin Schneider: in the

Mike Pine: swamp right now.

That's a better way to say it because
we're knocking out tax returns.

There's a due date.

And we had a tax planning meeting
with a new client and she's gonna

be the the manager on that count.

And I flat out told her,
look, you come in cold.

I got this first strategy meeting,
I'll do all the back work.

And then we get to our management meeting
and she's like, well, I only spent

about a half hour reviewing the details.

And I said, I told you you don't need to.

She's like, but I can't
go to a client meeting

Kevin Schneider: I'm prepared.

Yeah, you've got amazing.

They, they are absolutely amazing.

They are really nice.

And that's why, and that's why we, we
pay them what we pay them and we keep

them like, we didn't lose any staff
the past, probably year and a half,

unless it was on from our end of.

Some

Mike Pine: of reasoning on, you know,

yeah.

Under,

Kevin Schneider: or they didn't

underperformed or they didn't
fit the culture, then yeah,

we are not gonna keep 'em.

Even if they could prepare tax returns,
we're not gonna keep 'em if they don't

fit our, our core, um, beliefs and stuff.

So it's been, we got a really good
team, but it costs money, like

our health insurance and if we're
staying in the transparency lane.

Yeah.

As a business owner, you, you already
know where I'm going with this.

Our health insurance went up
40% this past year, and so.

We're like, okay,

Mike Pine: Where, where does
that revenue have to come from?

And so we're just trying to,

on the back end, well, let's be honest,
we went and shopped other plans and

tried to find other alternatives
because we do have the best of the

Kevin Schneider: best in health
insurance, which is important

Mike Pine: us.

We have a lot of young families.

We do,

but we went and shopped a bunch of other
ones and we found some cheaper options.

Mm-hmm.

But the coverage sucked.

Yeah.

And, and we would have to change doctors.

And I'm not gonna pull what one
of our previous presidents did and

why, and say, if you wanna keep your
doctor, you can keep your doctor and

then they can't keep their doctor.

Yeah.

And

Kevin Schneider: you
and I agreed with that.

So we kept

the, we kept the expensive plan,
but that's the reason, like we make

business decisions not from cost.

Cost always comes into
account as a business owner.

You if, if my cost increase 40%
across the board, I'd be unwise

to not look at other options.

But at the end of the day,
you have to weigh the options.

Like, okay, I, if I switch plans.

I could lose an employee or two and
I love my team too much, so we're

gonna, we're gonna absorb that
cost as a firm and take that on

Mike Pine: just so

Kevin Schneider: that we can
keep the same health insurance.

Yeah.

I mean, so it's, those decisions are
going on behind the scenes all the time.

'cause costs are increasing everywhere.

Oh my gosh.

But we, like our client
service is top notch right now.

It has been for years,

Mike Pine: but I want
it to continue growing.

Yeah.

It's like, I'm just thinking about.

Mentioning costs, the people, the
company, that, it's a big multinational

company that we pay for all of our
tax software, document service,

um, our document management system.

And those costs have just skyrocketed.

Yes.

But we can't get those
people to respond to us.

Like our, our, our client service rep

Kevin Schneider: takes two months

Mike Pine: get back to us.

And

we pay them hundreds of thousands a year.

Yes.

And it's just, that's,
that's what the culture is.

But you know what?

Selfish, they're not getting
the best health insurance.

Those people aren't, they're
not getting the best salaries.

They jump from firm to firm to
get a two or three or 5% raise.

Mm-hmm.

We can't do that.

If we do that, if we try to ink out, we
ink out every, every bit of cash that

we can out of our staff, our stuff are
gonna hate it, and they're gonna quit.

But to be honest, it's a job for them.

Some of them are buying into the
vision, wanna partner with us.

Most of them, they still need
to grow a little bit before they

can even decide what they want to
do for the rest of their lives.

Hopefully they'll partner with us.

'cause all of our team
members are, are incredible.

Um, but it's still a job to them.

And if we're gonna pay 'em the
least or work 'em the hardest,

that's another thing we do.

What other firm do you know, ask your
CPA if you're not working with us.

Ask your tax prep firm.

Um, how

Kevin Schneider: many hours on
average are the preparers working?

Yeah.

It'd be eye-opening when you see,
because if they're working 70 hours

a week, I don't want them picking
my return up Saturday night at 9:00

PM 'cause they've already burned
65 hours and then they're gonna be

like, all right, next, here's Kevin.

All right.

Kevin, what do you, uh, I'm just gonna
Chuck, I'm gonna slug through this thing.

Mike Pine: thing

Kevin Schneider: I mean, that's, I've
been there, I've been in those shops

where you're working that, those hours.

And I, that's what happens.

'cause I'm a human and I get
tired and I make mistakes.

And then my, my capacity to care

Mike Pine: honestly went down because
if you're on your 80th billable hour

Oh.

And I had a client email

Kevin Schneider: me twice.

I'm sorry.

I, I can't get to it.

I'm too busy.

Yeah.

And when you're, when you're that
late, and if I'm on my 80th hour.

My pile's still growing.

Mm-hmm.

I had three, 400 clients I had to serve.

If I just cranked out one more tax
return, two came in and I'm just like,

do I want to sit down with this client?

Do I want to?

And I'm like, okay, yes I do.

They, it's gonna help them.

I'm going to do it.

And then it just adds more time.

It's just this cycle.

And so we have prepared our firm way
differently in that regard too, is we

cap our hours and then we incentivize.

Mike Pine: we say, Hey, if you choose to

Kevin Schneider: go over
these hours, you're gonna

Mike Pine: get paid.

Kevin Schneider: But you're not.

We cap 'em.

We cap 'em, and so it's, it's
been a great, and so this

is actually a good point.

If you're a CPA out there and
you just got at the end of tax

season, you don't have to be the
little fish in those big CPA ponds.

Either you could come join us and
you could be a big fish with us.

We, you can change your
trajectory of your net worth.

You could change your capacity at home.

You can change all of these things.

Just reach out to us.

And if you're like-minded with me
and Mike, we always need good CPAs.

We need good consultants who believe
in our mission, who want to push, uh,

forward our client's best interests and
advocate for them and fight for them.

Provide good service at a really
reasonable cost that provides

an ROI for all of our clients.

So if you're out there listening, you're
unhappy with the firm you're at, give us

Mike Pine: call.

Go to go to our website, vo taxpayer.com.

Um,

lemme throw a caveat
though, a caveat into this.

We are not the right firm
for most CPAs out there.

We are the right firm for the CPAs
who are out there thinking we can

do better than this for our clients.

Um.

I'm being overworked and if I had
enough time to focus on this client,

I could, I could change their
life, I could improve our service.

I want to serve our clients.

Um, those are the kind of people
that we are the perfect fit for.

And again, it's a great firm to work at.

Lemme tell a little backstory on this.

I know

Kevin Schneider: you've
heard this a million times.

I bet you get

really bored.

Mike Pine: reality.

These podcasts.

I've stories a million times.

Kevin Schneider: It's

Mike Pine: fine.

It has been a long time
that we've been together.

Didn't that football story earlier?

Well, there you go.

This one I'm sure you've heard.

So where this model came from is
when I started at Price Warehouse

Coopers, everyone was overtaxed.

And by the way, the reason people work 70
hours in CPA firms, that's the standard

business model for tax or CPA firms.

Most CPAs don't get overtime.

So they just get their salary paid.

The bosses, the firm, the company
makes the most money on them.

When they're working overtime,
they get twice as much

'cause they bill by the hour.

They get twice as much money when they
work 80 hours than when they work 40

hours, but they still pay them the same.

And I took a long time to
understand why that was the case.

But at my, when I was at
pwc, we had a 33% attrition.

The first year, one outta
every three people quit.

And we lost a lot of knowledge, a lot
of skillset, a lot of, a lot of client

knowledge and skills just left the door.

So what did they do?

And, and here's why a lot quit.

They wouldn't pay a senior in those
days, more than $62,000 a year.

That was the cap in internal cap.

Mm-hmm.

But if they needed to hire you
out of Deloitte or Ernst or

somewhere else, they'd pay 68.

And guess what?

The people at Deloitte and Ernst,
they weren't getting more than

62 either, but if they could hire
someone from our firm, they'd get 68.

So the people were leaving to save our
firm, $6,000 a year, they were leaving,

and then we'd hire these new people that
never done this kind of tax returns,

and it would take them six months before
they could even carry their own water.

In the meantime, those poor schmucks
like us that stayed, we're picking up

all the slack and instead of working
80 hours that year, the next year we're

working 95 to just keep the slack going.

And then guess what?

Second year, almost 40% quit.

And I was one of the dumb
schmucks still there.

And, and again, same thing happened.

It was over the same amount.

And I thought, and I I, I came up
with this plan at that point, why

don't you just pay your people more?

And as a matter of fact, hire
extra people that you don't really

Kevin Schneider: need.

So people

Mike Pine: have to work as hard and work
as many hours money for you as the owner.

Yeah.

Well, so I would, I would go and I had
good relationships with the partners,

or at least I thought so maybe all the
partners didn't, but I'd go and talk

to them and tell 'em this and they just
smile at me and say, I understand, but

you know, it's a big bureaucracy here.

It makes sense, but we can't do that.

So then after that, I went to another
firm just up the street from here.

I'm a regional firm.

Same thing.

We had, it was a little lower
attrition, it was closer, like

28, 30% each year over year.

But the exact same model working
us to death, no overtime.

Um, people leaving and I, I brought it
to those partners and they're like, um,

you don't know how to run a business,
so work here for another 10, 15 years

and then tell me you wanna do them.

So ultimately I quit, started my own
firm, and that's what we're gonna do.

That's right.

Hire more people than we need.

Pay them better than
anyone else is paying them.

I figured out why they wouldn't do it,

Kevin Schneider: Um, but

Mike Pine: one else would
do it for five years.

I, because you're the lowest paid person.

For five years I didn't get paid.

And then when I was getting paid, finally
I was the lowest paid person per hour.

And it took us eight years to build that

Kevin Schneider: up now.

Mm-hmm.

We have that model and it's working.

That's right.

Yes.

You stayed, you paid, you,
you persevered, you, you

Mike Pine: You stood through that trial.

You came out the other

side?

Well, part of the problem in the beginning
was I was charging the same tax return

preparation rates as tax preparers
were charging, but I was offering tax

planning and good tax strategy and
that money had to come from somewhere.

I couldn't take it out of our team
salary, so I had to take it out of mine

and I had someone like you come and

Kevin Schneider: join and take a pay cut.

'cause you bought

it.

It's good.

Yes.

And

so it's, it's a, it's a really cool
testimony and I'm excited to see

kind of where we continue to go.

We were just

Mike Pine: talking in the car.

It's

Kevin Schneider: like,

man, we're heading down.

The right road.

We're, we're heading in the direction.

We know where we're going.

We're confident together and united
of where this firm needs to go.

Now we just need more people to join us.

'cause there's always room for capacity.

And man, there's so many underserved,
like that first client I talked

to in the, on at the top of this
podcast there, there $3 million is a.

Huge income.

Huge income.

But if you're at one of those big firms,
you're not scratching the surface of kind

of their work, their problems, right?

So you don't have to be that you can
come en join us as a client or as a CPA.

That you can change people's lives.

And we're doing it all the time.

And it's just, it's such a joy to be
in this industry and to creatively

come up with solutions on the tax
side in this underserved market.

It's severely underserved.

So, um, come be the big fish.

We're, we're a little pond now.

Um, we got like 17 employees, but

Mike Pine: mission and our heart is big.

And you could be, you can come join us

and we're changing people's
lives for the better.

We are saving our clients so much money
in taxes, truly life changing money.

Um.

It's, it's, it's awesome.

It's our mission, our vocational
mission, and we love it.

So please consider it.

You don't even have to be a CPA
If you love tax, if you're good at

tax or if you're good at consulting
and know tax, give us a call.

Reach out, go to our
website, rev tax payer.com.

Um, didn't realize this was
gonna be a recruiting video,

but the fact is that's it.

It goes along with the
whole theme of being a.

Kevin Schneider: big fish in a small pond.

Yeah.

Versus being a small fish in a big pond.

That's right.

So thank you for joining
us on this episode.

We'll see you next week.