I set a personal record over the July 4th
holiday – three barbecues in three days.
To be honest, I don’t want to see another hamburger, hot
dog or slab of ribs until Labor Day. And forget about stepping on the scale
over the next two weeks.
I’m also wondering how someone ate 62 hot dogs in 10
minutes during the annual July 4th contest held at Nathan’s Famous
in Brooklyn.
Upon hearing that news I felt slightly ill. I wonder if
the terrifying Indominus Rex of
Jurassic World could even approach that number.
But I digress.
At the last outing of the weekend’s carnivorous
triumvirate, I was introduced to Bert, one of the guests, who just happened to
be an accountant. The party host, upon learning what I did for a living, told
me in confidence the practitioner wanted to retire shortly.
Bert’s story was typical of a small sole prac – he worked
out of his house, generated between $350-$400K in billings, had a high net and
his wife was in charge of all the admin duties.
Perfect, I thought, a small “tuck in” practice that is in
great demand of late.
Except the host got the facts just slightly wrong.
This CPA did not want to retire in the near future; in
fact he wanted to work at least 10 more years.
And he loved his autonomy, a fact he repeated to me not
once, not twice but THREE times for emphasis.
“I like to take hikes on Wednesday afternoons. If I merge
into a larger firm I don’t want someone looking over my shoulder. Besides all
you brokers want to do is merge firms together.”
So let’s see I thought – a high net (approaching 80
percent), a 10-year timeline and a distinct aversion for reporting up. That was
not a combination for success in our line of work. And I thought it best to set
the record straight for the 4,000th time that we were not a broker
but a full-service consulting firm.
In any event I gave him my card and told him that should
he ever change his mind, I’m in the neighborhood – sort of.
But in truth I’m not hopeful he will ever call.
There are just some people we can’t help.
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