Hello, and welcome to the unique CPA with your host Randy Crabtree. Today we continue our series of episodes on the power of community in the accounting profession. We'll explore how strong connections lead to healthier, more fulfilled professionals, and together create a supportive network that enriches everyone. The Unique CPA is brought to you by Tri-Merit, the specialty tax professionals. Today our guest is Yuri Kapilovich. Yuri, and I got it right. I was concerned.
I wouldn't say the name right, but Yuri Kapilovich. Yuri AKA. The fun CPA is on a mission to showcase the exciting side of accounting, proving, and I love this, proving that this profession is anything but boring. Through his LinkedIn content Networking Events podcast and YouTube series, Yuri is inspiring accountants to break from the old school stereotypes and embrace a more dynamic and engaging future.
This is pretty cool, and when he is not shaking things up in the industry, he's running a full service accounting firm. Yuri, welcome to The Unique CPA a. Thank you. Thank you for having me. That was a really good introduction and to be honest, I learned a little bit about myself on that one, so, so thanks. Well, that's nice. Yeah. I, and you and I talked about this before you and I, but I've been actually the last few episodes asking Che PT to help me write intros and it does an amazing job.
Yeah. I mean, that is you, in my mind, that is you. I assume you felt that encapsulates what you do. Yeah, yeah. In my mind, that was me. So I feel like it was, and it was like a nice twist to it, like, you know, really wor really well worded version. So yeah, I'm into it. Yeah, I was actually, I was talking with Logan g Graff about this yesterday 'cause he was on the show and he said the same thing. He said, yeah, Che GPT, the one thing it does great is writing intros.
Yeah. And I completely agree. So now I just gave up my secret that I don't write the intros myself other than I get it all. But, but yeah, I did edit it quite a bit actually. So I'm gonna take credit for this. Yes, you should. My friend chat helped, but that's it. Alright, let's get into this. You and I, what We've been in contact for a couple years now. We've actually had a couple of false starts on recording this episode, so I'm glad we were able to get it in today.
We met in person, what was it for the first time last? May. Yeah. Is that the Accounting Today Firm growth form? Yes. Yep. That was awesome. And you got up and sang didn't you? Or rap? I did, I did. That's right. You were, I saw you, I saw you over there in the, in the crowd jamming out to my, to my song. Yeah. Well that's part of the whole fun CPA it is just getting, getting out there and having a good time, which is awesome. And I'll give you credit for that.
'cause I've done the, I think karaoke twice and there was a karaoke party, which was a lot of fun. Yeah. What song? I'm trying to remember. 'cause the last time I did it was with Scott Scarano and I think it was a Red Hot Chili Peppers song. We were in Austin, Texas. Cool. And I'm a little concerned he has a video of it, but the video's never surfaced, so that's a good thing. So let's, let's get into this whole, the fun CPAI love that moniker. Thank you. That name you.
And so, where did this come from? How did this come about? Where the reputation, obviously you are fun and that is part of it, but you know. Where did it come from and why do you think it's needed in the profession? Yeah. You know, it's funny, everything that I do across, like literally everything is unplanned, is random and has no like goals to it, right? It's kind of like just adjust as you go. And the fun CPA is no different.
I started posting in September of 2021 on LinkedIn and when I was posting, I was posting, you know, well at first it was my bus thoughts. So I was on a bus literally driving to the city for an hour.
Yeah. And in the morning I was just keeping myself entertained and like, and I was just posting the things that I did not like about the profession, trying to give people staff some hope and trying to give 'em some guidance for, you know, one of the things I used to post about is, you know, how to, for example, how to look good to managers, how to do that feedback request. How about those kind. Struggled with my career. So that was bus thoughts as the posting evolved.
Eventually one day I just started riding the fun CPA, like while I was riding my bike or while I was doing this. It was just something random. The fun cpa. The fun cpa, and then the, the aha moment to it was probably, it was September, 2022, and I decided to reach out to these people that do these high-end like rich people toys. A conference or event.
And basically it was a two day event in an airport where they had private jets, private helicopters, a bunch of different stuff like private flying lessons. Uh uh, it was obviously around aviation a lot, but I just reached out to the organizer. I said, Hey, would you guys have like a CPA there? Because that weird, you know, and they were like, never had that before, but we're gonna give you a discount on the booth price. 500 bucks. I was mind blown. Yeah. Like, okay, 500 bucks. I don't care.
I wasn't really making that much money at the time, but I was like, I'll spend it 'cause it's cool and different. And I had a sign made, like it went all in on the fun CPA thing and I made a sign. And the aha moment was when people walk by, look at the sign and go, is it the funk? What? What does that say? Because it literally does not translate. Like nobody can even process the fund. CPA exists. So that's when I knew, I was like, this is if you questioning something and so.
Events and all this other stuff, YouTube and all this other stuff that kind of just generate outta that. But it was by no means planned. And to this day, I don't know what I'm doing with it other than consistently trying to show that you can have fun. Well, I, I can vouch for that and I have no problem with this not having a game plan going into anything.
'cause with the, the podcast, I don't normally, but we do send a pre-interview, a sheet out and, and your response to what you wanna talk about was. No specific topic, open to a freeform chat. So I guess that kind of ties in with what you were just saying there. So I'm consistent on all fronts. Randy, I, I, I, I have nothing, you know, I, I like to just chat. Yep. Right? Agree. Have a good time.
And I feel like a lot of times, like if you have a specific thing you wanna talk about, then you may end up missing out on just something that would've came up that provides value. I'm just all about honestly, bringing value. The profession. Yep. In whatever way possible. And I agree completely with that.
I had, and I don't know when it was, but it was one of my first, you know, 10, 15 episodes I recorded of The Unique CPA a I went in with this whole preconceived idea of this is what we're gonna talk about, and then I. We totally went a different direction. It was one of the most, I think, impactful conversations that, that I had early on in the podcast, but that made me realize I shouldn't go in with what I think this discussion is gonna be because I'm not the important person on this podcast.
It's the guest and they're gonna have something to talk about that they're passionate about, that they love. And so, yeah, you and I completely are on board with that same concept. Yeah. And you were on my show also, and, and I think we had honestly, no, no offense to anybody else that was on my, my show, but I will tell you it was the best recording, the best podcast. I, from a topic of conversation and, and the fact that I feel like you and I are very similar.
Yes. Just maybe like a generation apart, you know, I, I'm older when you say, no, no, no. You know, you got more hair than me, so it's fine. Yeah. Regard it. It's definitely interesting and unique because there's not a lot of fun CPAs out there. Yep. Yep. It's, I like that. I like, you know, I have a friend, Kristen Keats, who wants to bring the joy to account, and I mean, you have people with these type of things. I love seeing that. And let's get into that, you know?
Yeah. Even though we don't have a game plan. You do. We did talk about, in the intro that you wanna break free from the old school stereotypes and. Embrace a more dynamic and engaging future. So that is kind of things I talk about too is this, we do have this misconception of what this profession is like. Now. There is reality issues we need to change too, but there is also a the perception is wrong.
What do you think the biggest misconceptions that people have about accountants and, you know, how do you think we can change that narrative? I think the biggest misconception about accountants is that, well, we're boring. Everybody is boring. Right. The other misconception is that, oh, we do a sit in the room in the house or in the office, never leave and and work crazy hours and park. True. But doesn't have to be that way.
And the other thing is, is just that, you know, in tax season, we don't exist. Right. And I think those three things are very important to me to change the perception on. Yep. Because it's possible. Oh, it's definitely possible when you're in the. It seems impossible when you're in these big firms where all they do is push hours, mandate, these stupid billable hours that don't make any sense. You know, we can certainly get into that. Yep, yep. But that's a whole different line.
But you know, you're in there and you're feeling like it's hopeless. And I think the other issue is because people are feeling that way. Students and folks that wanna be accountants are discouraged from that. All you have to do nowadays is hop on this website called Reddit. Click, you know, subreddit accounting, and you're bound to never come into this profession. Yeah. And that is the unfortunate part that I just hope and, and, and try to flip the script on.
Yep. The truth is when people are in it, yes, the hours are terrible. In the big firms, the culture is toxic and 95% of the firms have been at, it's the truth. But when you go out on your own. And certainly there are also other firms out there that are great. That are a good place to be and you could have a good time and actually show your personality in accounting. Yep. Let's highlight, I actually wanna go back to that event you did with the planes and all that, but let me do that in a minute.
Sure. Let's highlight one of the things you just said, the hours in these billable hours that are, you know, because with you, when you and I talked last time, I think, and you know, correct me if I'm wrong, but. The hours you put in are significantly lower than most people think when you're coming into accounting. Why don't you tell us about how you look at that from an hour standpoint?
Yeah. Interestingly enough, again, not planned, not intentional, but honestly speaking, it's all the time that I have. Right? So I worked backwards as I was building my firm, first thing I did was I, I got into contracting and I just started contracting 20 hours a week so I could keep the lights on. Mm-hmm. It was giving me four to six. In tax season, almost 10, that's an insane amount of money for 20 hours a week or you know, sometimes a little more, right?
But it was great, you know, and the other 20 hours when I was not, you know, doing the contracting, I was just building the firm in my own way. I was saying no to clients, no, no, to potential clients that didn't fit my ideal client profile, which is value first. So the end goal for me was important from the start and the end goal was. I don't wanna work. I, I don't want to ever work more than 50 hours a week ever again in my life. Not interested. Yep. How do, how do I get there?
How do I get to working less than 40 hours a week during tax season by taking on high value clients? High paying clients, people that respect your time and, and yourself and your expertise and working backwards from there. So right now though, you know, my son, so I have two kids. My son goes to school, you know, around like eight o'clock, and my daughter goes to school around nine o'clock. And then I prioritize going to the gym. So after I drop off my daughter 9, 9 30, I get into the gym.
I finish up around 10 30 and that's when I start my day. So now we've got 10 30 and my son's bus comes back around 3 15, 3 30. That's my day. So unless I give up something, either I may, you know, obviously there's days I don't go to the gym. Those days I have a little bit more time. But typically my, I work between three and a half to five hours a day, sometimes six. And so to get there and to get the client's work done. I mean, at this point we're on February 19th.
I don't take on any more clients right now. Yep, that's it. You know, that's where I'm at. I don't make millions of dollars, but That's okay. I make a decent living, make a good money. I posted my financials back a couple months ago. And you know, I think it definitely shook up the profession a little bit in that regard. But to show off that I have the free time, right?
I have the ability to be flexible and I have the ability to go do whatever, pick up my son, go with him to wherever because, you know, extracurriculars and such. So that's what's important to me. I'm not saying that's for everyone, but that's what I'm here to show. Yep. And show that it could be done. And you're not, you're doing significant work on your backyard right now, so I know the money's coming in. Yeah, well it's going out as well. Yeah. It's coming in and going right out.
Yeah. Hey, tax season and, and all my clients are just shoveling this money right into. Literally into the ground, but that's a different story. Yeah. So now let's go back to that event that you did the $500. Yeah. And again, not planned. You just did it. No. Did that really jumpstart? Did you get clients out of that or did it just help mindset for you of how you wanted to do this? What did, what was the outcome of that event for you? The outcome. I'm trying to remember.
I, I didn't get any clients. I got like two or three potential, like referrals that I still speak to every once in a while. One of them was a big client probably, but it would've been $60,000 in fees. I'm not so sure I would've taken them on even if they said yes. Right. But they were very close to wanting to work with me. But I was fairly, he hesitant because sometimes saying no is, is, is better overall. You don't wanna put all your eggs into a 60,000 client, right.
And it might be too complicated and it might be worse than better, but at the time, this was like about a year into my firm. Lemme tell you man, that's 60,000 at the time sounded great. Oh yeah. But I think in, in retrospect, it's a good thing he didn't end up choosing, he ended up going with a bigger firm. Yeah. But that was one of the people that, that was a very wealthy and that guy was very wealthy. And so it was cool to go at that event, but to go back premise.
And the point of going that event was not to get clients, honestly. It literally was Whoa. That's a cool event. It's gonna be fun. I love airplanes. I'm a very big into aviation and like that kind of stuff. And, and, and I've taken a few flight lessons myself and in general. And so I was like, you know what? I just wanna go to this thing. Yeah. Like, I feel like it's cool to just go. And so I just signed up and I paid this 500 bucks and then I was like, all right, cool.
And then my wife was like, you need like stuff for your booth and stuff. And I was like, right. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, all right. Yeah. I should probably think about that to go, this is how, this is how I operate. You know, I have these grand ideas, and then I'm like, right, I gotta execute them now. So then, yeah, we, I bought a table. Some stools and people to sit around.
I bought a bought bunch of champagne and rose and stuff like that, was pouring it out for people, so people were coming by for that. I had chips, like snacks and stuff like that, and then I just walked around and just met people and yeah, I mean, like I said, I didn't get any clients out of it, but I got, I just got to have a good time and do something that. Most CPAs would never imagine doing. It was the fun factor. It was the fun factor for me, which pretty much dictates.
I feel like most of what I do like, it's like, is it fun for me? Am I gonna enjoy it? Right Then I'm gonna do it. Yep. Well, let's go back then again to the firm now 'cause we got your hours. Yep. 10 30 to three 15. Unless you're not working out, then maybe there's some more time. Yes. Is that consistent all year long? Is tech using any different? Consistent all year long. Alright. I gotta adjust.
I, I really think that in the next, probably next week I gotta start going a little earlier to the gym and figuring that out. But my wife works full-time, so I gotta, you know, a lot of times I gotta get the kids ready and I gotta get, do all that stuff before nine. Yep. So my time is, is very limited and I don't feel like waking up at five 30 to go work out, to come back in time to do all the kid stuff. So I gotta figure it out. But for now, yeah. That's the schedule still.
Okay. And then the other thing you said earlier was talking about value and value first, and that that was the most important thing when you're looking at, you know, or one of the important things when you're bringing on new clients. So define what you mean by that. How's value play into you working with clients? So, I mean, I think the way that it ends up shaking out, I have a very high minimum fee. It's $2,000 for any tax return. That's even if it's just a very simple W2.
Yeah. Typically speaking, I have found that drives the, the people who don't, who are looking for just somebody to prepare the return and be out. Obviously that's gonna drive them away immediately. Nobody is gonna be paying a $2,000 for a W2 only tax return. Yep. Like this is reality. Right. So then who are you bringing on? You're bringing on probably business owners, which is who I, you know, who I seek to work with and people who maybe saw my content and maybe think.
They just wanna be associated with someone who, you know, is more high-end, is more, you know, handholding in some senses and derive value from that. So that's the high level. By doing that, I, I'm able to be more selective. I'm able to pick specifically, like, say business owners is, is who most often comes my way with that. And then meeting with them quarterly, discussing their, their financials and, and, and having that ability to actually.
Be somebody that they could just reach out to versus many other CPAs who are just unreachable, who are so busy, swamped with thousand of clients and don't have any time to actually service differentiator. That's the value that I, but to get there. The fees have to be high enough for people to see the value.
Yep. That's a, a important thing too, because what you just mentioned, you're meeting with them quarterly, you're looking at things, you're not surprised by anything, you know what's happening. And so when tax season does come around, you're prepared already. Yeah. Because you, you already know the answers. You don't have to co file a tax return and be surprised.
I assume that's not one way that you're able to, you know, spread out the seasonality of this business and reduce the hours during tax season. In some senses, yes. I mean, the quarterly clients, the only thing we do is we just meet quarterly. Okay. And a lot of the times the filing and tax work still happens in tax season. Yep. The only difference is because the fees are higher, I don't have as many clients. Right, right. So that's really how I made it, able to control it.
So right now I'm hovering around a hundred clients or so, 120. Subtotal returns is probably about one 50, give or take around 150. Some clients have businesses, whatever it's, yep. And then on average, my fee is, like I said, around $2,000, give or take. So that's how I'm able to get up to, you know, the 200, mid 200 range on my own and still work these hours and still get everything done. Okay. And I assume nothing you do is gonna be based on hourly billing based on that conversation earlier?
Yeah, no, everything is flat fee value based. So my like tax only if somebody doesn't wanna do the quarterly Yeah. It starts at 2000 for any tax return. The quarterly billing client start at 6,000, so 1500 a quarter, and then my monthly clients are started on a thousand a month. And so, yeah. And that, that incorporates, you know, basically, like I said, and I, and, and my whole goal is. I don't want to send you any other invoice.
That's what I tell my clients all the time, like, you know, potential clients, right? When we sign, when we start working together. If it's 1500 a quarter, you're not getting anything else from me, right? Invoice wise, unless it's something way out of scope, like, you know, due diligence or something like that. Yes. Whatever it is, what we talk about it ahead of time, but that's the whole goal. The whole point is. No surprises. High value.
When they pay that 1500 a quarter, we schedule the meeting and now they're getting that feeling that they got something for their money. Yep. And it forces the conversation. Okay. And then I wanna, I wanna move on, but I'm, I'm intrigued right now, so I can't help myself. I gotta ask more questions. Do it with your client base of that 150 returns or whatever. Is there a concentration in a certain industry or a certain, you know, way we can define your client base?
Yeah, the only, I don't have a niche right now. Yeah. But I would say if there was like a, my only criteria is 5 million and below in gross revenue. Okay. That's a niche to me. So, yeah, to me it's also a niche. It's not the niche of uh uh, a stereotypical niche like real estate or blah, blah, blah. Right. But the reason why I 5 million or below is complexity. Okay. Anytime anybody that's making less than 5 million gross is typically speaking in one or two states.
They're typically not complicated, maybe service-based businesses or whatever it is, minimal amount of, obviously no, no accrual issues. Mostly cash-based, you know, taxpayers. 'cause they're under the 5 million and that's really the, the goal I found in my career. At the moment, they go over 5 million. You really can't make $10 million in one. Geographical region most of the time. Yep. You gotta, you know, and then you get to talk about 15, 20 states not interested. Right.
Because, you know, the complexity around that is just not for me. Oh yeah. As we grew, when we first started, I was doing our tax return and once I started realizing we have a lot of states we need to file on, that's it, it made no sense for me anymore, and it's not something I was doing anyways. So yes, it, that's been, I don't know. We're going on 10 years now since I. Yeah. Than any we work, but I honestly, we, I, we probably filing in 30 plus dates, I'm guessing maybe more. I'm assuming so.
Yeah. Yeah. It's a mess. That is a mess. It's a lot of work. I don't wanna, and again, I know how to do it in theory, but I don't want to. Yep. Because that's just. Too much work. It's not fun. No, it's not fun. Exactly. It's not fun. Alright, well let's pivot 'cause I, I'm just, I, I could talk about your firm and how you do it all day long 'cause it just intrigues me. But I also wanna talk about the community aspect of the profession, because that's a big thing for you.
You know, simple things like going to conferences, but in addition you've got your LinkedIn content, you've got the, you've done networking events. Let's get into the things that you've done and then, you know. I guess, yeah, let's talk about that. Explain the things you do around networking or community building. Yeah. Yeah. So once again, guess what? Zero attention and zero plans. One, it started two, two years ago now. 2023 tax season.
I'm sitting there right around this time and I was procrastinating doing my work and I'm sitting there and I'm going, you know what? I'm like, it'll be really cool to do a networking event. Like my own in a fun way that isn't your stereotypical one where you just wanna leave as soon as you get there. Because I've been to networking events and all I wanted to do was go home. Yeah. The moment I got there, I was like, I wanna be here. So I'm like, how do we make it fun?
How do we make it different and unique? And then I, I started reaching out. I had a, I belonged to a boat club, so I reached out to the boat club owner right next to that boat club. There's a little bar that's on sand and has fire pits. And again, right by the marina. Right next to that, there's a barbecue truck, so I just called up those three people. I said, you know the, the marina owner? I was like, Hey, can you put two boats on the water for me?
I want to have the attendees go out in groups of six or seven on there. It's like an icebreaker, just a little tour. It was like probably 10, 15 minute little boat ride. Then they come back. Now they get to have a little bit of a forced conversation. Right. That's different. Then I had the, I have a DJ that does like my house parties and stuff like that. So he like had him come out. He was, you know, we were trying to be on a budget here and and that was a ton of fun.
So we had nice music going and then, and then we had the bar, which had open bar. That was a lot of fun on the sand with the fire pits going. I mean, it was great. And then the unlimited barbecue was cool. So all that, putting that together, I was like, this is gonna be fun. And I rolled that out and then, you know, we had about 50 people and ended up showing up.
But I learned a lot about, you know, events and one of the things that this little unplanned and random idea that came about cost me $4,000 out of pocket. Yep. Just for that event. And the next three events were less. I'm doing, I'm getting better. Yep. And not coming out of pocket as much, but you know, it's not everybody's like, why are you doing them? And as usual, my answer is I have no idea. I just do it because I believe, and I want people to have a good time in, in networking events.
Yep. And who's coming to the events? Is it accountants or is it clients or is it a combination or? Initially and to this day, like, I mean, I'm hoping that as this builds up and grows and people start realizing that I'm actually doing networking events here and like the fun and you know, and, and the brand grows, I'll get more accountants. The initial goal was more accounts. The initial goal was. Let's just get people who are. Who are fun, who identify as fun.
Mm-hmm. Accountants, you know, fun CPAs, but are just sitting there and hating their lives and get them out together, you know, like-minded individuals to really, you know, stick together and, and make good relationships. But then I realized real estate professionals were coming out to this, attorneys were coming out to this. I had doctors coming out to, to that physical therapists teachers. So really, you know, it was kind of like running the gamut of random people.
But again, it was just people, just whoever was feeling it, I guess ended up coming out. 'cause I needed more, more attendees. The funniest thing. I think we talked about this before. In my mind I was like, this is amazing. I like put together this really cool event. Like I'm gonna roll it out on Eventbrite and I'm gonna get so many signups, I'm gonna have to end it early. Like I, you know, I'm gonna have to cut it off. And, and my cutoff was 75 people.
'cause I was like, you know, anything more than that And really as you near a hundred, it becomes too overwhelming. Yep. Less real, authentic connections and. Ended up barely getting 50 and I was pulling teeth on every single one of them to come. Yep. And I was like, okay, well that didn't work. And the next three events were the same. But the problem I think now in retrospect is I roll out the invites to late, like if there's a month left, the event. Man, it's hard.
Yes. Like it's hard to get people. That's why it'll be like, I'll roll it out and then I'll have to go get everybody to come. Well, here's the deal with events. People don't sign up till the last minute. That's just the way it is. So Yeah, it is. Yeah, as you know, we run a, a conference bridging the Gap, and I'll be there first two year. Well, and I'm looking forward to that.
The first two years it was, oh, everybody waited till the last second to sign up, and so then you're freaking out the whole time. We're really fortunate. This year. We're five months away right now. Yeah. And a month ago, so six months before the conference, we already had a third of the registrations we had all of last year, which Nice. Last year at that same time we had about 1%, I think we're at 70 people registered right now and and the same time last year we were probably less than.
Five people registered, so Wow. It's a timing thing too. Once you go around, once people see it, once people get, you get, and you gather reputation going, once you get that reputation going, yeah, then they start to get more excited. And honestly, everybody I talk to now is like, oh yeah, no, I wanna get to your event. I wanna be there. Yeah. And so once that happens, you'll see it. So Yeah. And that's okay.
And, but, but the other thing is, is then on my, after my second event, I got a sponsor. Oh. So the first event. I had a sponsor, but they backed out last minute, so that's why ate $4,500 or whatever it was that hurt. So I'm trying to not remember that anymore. But then after that, I got a sponsor. But my thing with sponsors is when I have a sponsor, I'm so focused on bringing value to them and making sure that the right people are there that they want.
Yep. Now I'm like, okay, well I don't know who's coming to this. I want accountants. Like, you know, tax Dome was one of my sponsors. Yeah. Which was amazing. And they really didn't expect much, but I was still, even though they didn't expect much, I'm still like, I wanna bring more people to them. Oh yeah. To make it worthwhile. For them to come out. And so I'm very focused on that.
And so when I don't see people signing up it, you know, it was tough, but, so yeah, hopefully, well that's your value mindset. You know, you wanna provide value to them and it carries through everything. So if there was anything that's consistent that is planned is value, but val, but value is in the eye, the beholder, and I think. That's the challenge, right? Yep. Well, you're building the community, that's for sure.
I wonder, I I, I, I have this impression that, not that there's any plans, because I know we don't plan ahead of time, but maybe the fun CPA will actually be a community of accountants down the road. You know, like I said, I just talked to Logan Graff. Yesterday and he's got his counter community. You got Jason Staats with Realize you got Ryan Lazanis with [Future Firm]. Kellie Parks has Calmwaters and all there.
I can keep going, lots of communities out there, but that's because they're needed and because they bring so much value Yes. To the people that become members of it. So I wouldn't be surprised if whether it's in your mind or not that that may be, come it. I got a feeling it is in your mind. So that might be be coming out. Well. So Yuri. I really appreciate this conversation.
Just seeing how you are breaking the mold and changing and bringing the reputation up of the profession and showing you don't have to work 80 hours a week and showing that you can bill more than your mind thinks you can bill, because we have that mindset that, you know, we're only worth so much. And then the creating community, it's all great stuff. So just before we wrap up, anything you wanted to add on our discussion?
Yeah, I think the, when you just said about our minds blocking us, about our minds telling us that we're not worth, I think the issue with our profession is that especially when somebody's starting a firm or you know, wants to go out on their own, they have this vision of how everybody else is doing it, and they have this vision that it's a race to the bottom. Like this is my biggest frustration with a profession at the moment. Aside from the not and all that there people out.
The race to the bottom is killer. And it makes you as a practitioner Yep. Want to follow suit. Yep. To get more clients to, you know, whatever it is. Somebody out there I can guarantee you is doing the same thing that I'm doing, is providing the same value, but they're charging 200, $300 a tax return. Yep. Because they want to get more clients in the door, or you know, it's just an hour, it's just half an hour. It's just this, you know, the race to the bottom has to stop.
And I think we need to value ourselves more as a profession. Yep. Great advice to tie into that, valuing ourselves more. I, I, I know you've done a good job of that from a standpoint of the hours you work and what's the most important to you. And, and work is important, but there's a lot, you got a lot of time to do a lot of other things. So what are those outside of work, passionate things you love doing? Yeah. I mean I, I love boating.
Yeah. I love spending time, you know, spending time with my family and, and being able to, in the summertime here, go into the pool, you know, my son comes home and hop in there and, and just have the free time. I'm very passionate about my free time. Yep. I think that, to me is more important than anything else. I think a lot of people are focused on this retirement concept, and I'll enjoy my money at retirement, but I'm like, I want to enjoy it now, because you never know.
And so that I think is super important to me too. That. That's funny the way you said that because that's a mindset that I had always had. I said, Hey, I'm gonna enjoy it now, especially when I'm younger too. Yeah. And at 62 I still feel young and I get out and good. My wife and I did a four and a half mile hike with about a thousand foot elevation change yesterday, which was a nice exercise. Awesome. I'm getting out. But yeah, I always had that mindset of.
You know, why wait till you're retired to enjoy things. Let's do it now and, and if I work an extra year because I spent more money now, or less time now, whatever. Or two years or three years, yeah. But yeah, I think that's a perfect mindset and a perfect way to, to end this episode. So before we do that though, one last question. People wanna find out more about the fun CPA or the things you're doing, where's best places for them to look? LinkedIn. LinkedIn is where I live.
Just Yuri Calovich over there on LinkedIn. Gimme a follow and you know, feel free to shoot me a DM or just watch the, you know, engage with the content or just keep posting fun stuff. Yep. That's what I try to do. And congratulations, you said your name correctly, so that's nice. Yeah. Thank you. I, I, I had a lot of experience approximately three, six years. Alright, well here, this has been a lot of fun. Thanks again for being on The Unique CPA A alright. Thank you for having me. Randy.
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