Latest / The Inspired Stories Podcast / The Tax Advisor Who Prays, Hunts, and Took a Bullet — Katie Cox’s Story

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The Tax Advisor Who Prays, Hunts, and Took a Bullet — Katie Cox’s Story · The Inspired Stories Podcast

0:04
Welcome to another edition of the Inspired Stories podcast,
0:08
where leaders share their experiences so we can learn from
0:12
their successes and be inspired by how they've overcome
0:15
adversity. My name is Anthony Kotaspodi and
0:17
today's guest is Katie Cox, owner and enrolled agent at
0:22
Katie Cox and Company. They are a boutique tax and
0:26
accounting firm in Dublin, OH. Now.
0:28
Her journey into accounting began with an unexpected
0:31
inspiration, the TV show Miami Vice.
0:35
It sparked her childhood dream of becoming an FBI special
0:40
agent. Driven by this goal, she pursued
0:42
degrees in Accounting, Criminology, and Business
0:45
Administration from The Ohio State University and Franklin
0:48
University as she made a bold move to leave a firm she'd been
0:53
at for 25 years and start her own firm in the midst of COVID.
0:58
Katie Cox and Company is a faith-based firm focused on
1:01
personalized tax planning, preparation and business
1:05
advisory services. Her company's mission is to help
1:08
clients maximize deductions, optimize their business
1:12
structure, and feel confident about their financial decisions.
1:16
They stand out by offering advisory first solutions rather
1:19
than simply handling routine tax filings.
1:23
All right, before we get into all that good stuff, today's
1:25
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2:08
All right, back to our guest today, Katie Cox.
2:10
Thanks for making the time to Share your story today.
2:13
Yeah, thank you so much for having me.
2:15
All right, Katie, so I got to hear about this Miami Vice
2:18
story. Hugely popular crime show in the
2:20
80s. How did this lead you into the
2:22
accounting and tax world? It was so crazy.
2:26
So, you know, it was Friday night, 10:00 at night on NBC.
2:30
That was where everybody in the world was watching Miami Vice.
2:34
I was 11 years old when that show came out, and that was the
2:37
first time I saw Don Johnson playing Sonny Crockett and
2:41
totally fell in love with him. But what really drew me to that
2:46
show was, you know, the fast cars, the music was incredible.
2:51
If you remember, you know, with Phil Collins and all that.
2:54
It was just such an exciting TV show.
2:57
But what really stood out to me was when the FBI would come in
3:01
and they would take over the case and, you know, there are
3:05
always dressed in suits and they would take over all the chaos of
3:09
the show. And I just remember thinking,
3:12
you know what, I want to be in charge.
3:14
I want to be that person that takes over.
3:16
I want to be that suit. So that's kind of how that all
3:19
happened. And when I was graduating from
3:22
high school, long time ago, the FBI, they were recruiting law
3:27
students and accountants. And so that's why I got my
3:29
accounting degree with. So I had the chance to get in
3:31
the FBI. OK.
3:33
And how did that go? That went great.
3:36
I took the test, passed it. I was, you know, getting ready
3:39
to go to Quantico. And then I, I guess I just got a
3:43
little nervous. My mom was very ill at the time
3:47
and the firm that I worked out wanted to make me a partner.
3:51
So I decided not to go in the FBI and stayed in public
3:57
practice. And I really kind of regret that
4:00
a little bit. Even still today, you wish you
4:02
had gone the FBI route. Yes.
4:04
Now I did do something crazy this year.
4:09
I graduated from the FBI civilian Academy.
4:13
That was in May. It was like a couple months of
4:15
classes and I I got to learn everything about the FBI.
4:18
So it was reliving my childhood dream.
4:22
But they do a lot of charity work, believe it or not, that
4:25
the FBI does. So anytime there's a, a, a
4:29
victim or victim's family, they will come in and help provide
4:33
resources, whether you know if the victim needs physical
4:37
therapy, help paying rent or God forbid, you know, if they passed
4:42
away, they help with funeral costs.
4:44
So they work with nonprofits to help the victims.
4:48
So that's kind of what I do right now with the FBI is when
4:51
they need some funds, I'll reach out to my clients or people that
4:55
I know that have a charitable giving side and they don't want
4:59
to just give it to the church or the same usual things.
5:02
They actually want to give it to people to help.
5:05
I'll reach out to them and the FBI helps them, so that's a
5:08
pretty cool thing. What was that civilian training
5:10
like? It was so great.
5:13
I got the opportunity to meet so many special agents and I got to
5:19
learn about, oh gosh, you know, weapons of mass destruction,
5:24
terrorists, the the canine unit that they have.
5:29
It was just such an eye opening of learning everything that they
5:32
do. And then I got this incredible
5:35
opportunity to go to DC and tour the FBI headquarters, the DEA
5:42
and got to got to speak one-on-one with the special
5:45
agents. So that was really cool.
5:47
Now, how was that training helpful for It sounds like what
5:53
you do for them now is, as needed, help to raise some funds
5:58
to help people out. How?
6:00
How did that training kind of help prepare you for that?
6:04
So, you know, I, I didn't even tell you this.
6:08
Also with that training, which is the most important piece, I
6:11
got to shoot sniper guns. I got to knocking doors with, Oh
6:16
my gosh, I can't think of the thing where you pound in the
6:18
door. I got to do that.
6:21
I got to wear the whole the SWAT gear, so I got to train with the
6:26
SWAT team. I got to see how they used
6:29
drones, which was really cool flying through glass and things
6:33
like that. So I got to see all that cool,
6:35
fun side. But in reality, I think because
6:39
I'm a a business owner and I'm in the community and I know a
6:42
lot of people. So when the FBI needs help, I
6:46
can help them with, you know, I might know someone who they need
6:49
to speak to. So that's really what they were
6:53
trying to do your. Trusted resource.
6:55
You're a friend, A friend of the FBI now.
6:57
Got it. Yeah.
6:59
Now, you mentioned one of the reasons you decided not to go
7:01
into the FBI is the firm that you were working at was offering
7:05
to make you a partner. Was that Harper and company or
7:08
was that was this another group? Yeah, so it used to be, it
7:13
started out as David Warner and Associates, then it was Warner
7:17
and Harper, and then it was Harper and Co.
7:19
So it was the same owner as just changing names.
7:24
Dave left and then it was just Glen Harper.
7:29
So yeah, so it was like the same firm, but different people left.
7:33
And yeah, I was there for 25 years and it just wasn't right
7:38
for me anymore. You know, change is hard.
7:41
You get comfortable, and even if it's not healthy, you still kind
7:45
of stay in places where you probably shouldn't be.
7:51
But when I was there, I learned what type of leader I wanted to
7:54
be and I learned what type of firm I wanted to create.
7:59
And I really wanted to create an amazing environment for my
8:03
associates for them to be valued and feel appreciated and have
8:09
flex time and just create a really amazing environment for
8:13
my associates. And then I wanted to give
8:16
exceptional, beyond exceptional service for my clients.
8:20
And then it became a reality. I left during COVID and there
8:25
was really never a good time to leave but COVID was probably the
8:30
worst time to leave. But I was going to say.
8:32
Why then of all the times? It worked out really well.
8:37
I mean, and again, change is so hard to do, but I did it and my
8:43
vision became a reality and creating the greatest
8:48
environment leads to the greatest results.
8:50
And that's literally what happened with my firm so.
8:54
What, what was the trigger like? Why exactly at that moment
8:57
during COVID, was it just sort of like this is just like this
9:01
idea is just percolating in me like it needs to come out right
9:04
now? Or was there something else, an
9:06
outside force, that said that this is the right time?
9:09
Yeah, I think there was just like a whole bunch of things
9:11
that were coming together. And I came home from work one
9:15
day and I was very upset. And my husband was like, Katie,
9:20
the God. The God is holding the door
9:23
open. You just have to walk through
9:25
it. And I'm like, you're right, it's
9:27
time to do it. I just got to do it.
9:28
And it was the greatest thing I've ever done.
9:30
It's been the greatest joy. And I just wish I would have
9:33
done it long time ago. OK, so you pull the ripcord
9:36
during COVID. How did you get your first set
9:39
of clients? So it took a while for my Old
9:44
Firm to release some of my clients.
9:47
And you're going to think this is crazy, but, you know, being
9:54
in Bridge Park is, you know, pretty expensive, right?
9:57
You know, having office space software is $80,000 a year.
10:01
And I wasn't sure what I was going to do because I didn't
10:04
really have the clients. I got down on my knees and asked
10:09
God, I took this leap of faith, please help me, What am I going
10:12
to do? And then I walked down to Pence
10:15
Mechanical to have a beer. And I met some gentleman down
10:19
there and they had all these questions about taxes.
10:23
And I was able to answer it. And I, I got this big firm
10:26
there. And two days later, another firm
10:30
came up to my office and they saw my sign.
10:32
It's my dog, Beefcake on the side, and they were asking who's
10:36
this chick with a bulldog? We want to meet her.
10:39
And they're a very big company too.
10:41
They have a location in Cincinnati and Columbus.
10:44
And no joke, about a total of 30 corporate clients came to me
10:49
within just a few weeks. That's pretty much unheard of.
10:52
That's like a spiritual miracle. My entire career.
10:57
The most you could get would be maybe 2 to 4 clients per year,
11:02
but it literally was 30 corporate clients.
11:04
And then I was like, OK, God, I think I have enough work and it
11:07
didn't matter that I didn't get my clients yet for my Old Firm.
11:11
It took like a couple months to get it.
11:14
So yeah, God just has a way to provide And I, I think I just
11:18
had to show him how much I had faith in him and, and believed
11:22
in him. So that's how that happened.
11:25
I think on behalf of all my listeners, I want to ask the
11:28
question of what exactly did you say in that prayer?
11:32
So that's a magic prayer. Yeah, I pretty much just, I took
11:37
this leap of faith. Please help me.
11:39
What am I going to do? Those were literally the words
11:42
that I said because, you know, I, I took my money out of my
11:46
retirement. It was great because I had
11:48
COVID, so I didn't have to have that 10% penalty when you pull
11:52
that out. So it was good that I got COVID
11:54
so I could avoid that penalty. But I took that money out.
11:57
I took everything out that I had to create this business.
12:01
Wow, Yeah. And like what you're talking
12:03
about for people who don't know, we're both here in central Ohio.
12:05
Bridge Park is not a cheap rent area.
12:08
You know, when you're starting a business, a lot of people are
12:11
like, hey, I'm just going to do it like dining room table.
12:13
But like you went all in and you're talking about like
12:16
$80,000 in software cost. You're like, I'm doing this.
12:20
Oh, shoot, where are the clients?
12:23
And so this prayer that you throw out to to God, what, what
12:27
was the energy of that prayer? Was this like desperation?
12:31
Was this just like calm confidence?
12:33
What? What were you feeling in the
12:35
moment? I think I was feeling so many
12:39
different emotions because going out on your own, it's a scary
12:45
thing, right? And I, I have this conversation
12:47
with my business clients that come to me.
12:49
You know, they have this calling, they feel like they're
12:52
supposed to do something more, but but they're afraid and they
12:56
want to stay in their W2 job. They know it's safe, but
12:59
they're, you know, something just pulling and tugging at
13:02
them. I truly believe that's the Holy
13:04
Spirit calling them to do what their divine purposes that God
13:08
is calling them to do. So I believe that God gives
13:13
people a vision of thought and then they just have to execute
13:18
it. So, you know, figuring out my
13:20
purpose in all of this, I realize I think I'm here to help
13:24
calm that voice down that's giving you those doubts because
13:28
I went through it. I can really relate to my other
13:31
clients. And you know, God wants you to
13:34
succeed in all areas of your life.
13:37
So you just have to believe and and take that risk because
13:40
someday we're going to have to meet our maker.
13:42
And if he asked you, hey, I gave you this, all these talents, all
13:46
these, these gifts and you didn't use it.
13:49
And what are you going to say? I was too afraid.
13:51
And like you, you can't be afraid.
13:53
How many times does he say in the Bible?
13:55
Do not be afraid. So do you find yourself almost
14:00
being like a little bit of a life coach to your clients?
14:03
Yeah, I think it's, I think that's where the faith-based
14:07
firm comes in and it's amazing. My associates, all of us, we
14:12
pray for our clients, we pray for each other.
14:16
We we pray together. You know, if a client comes to
14:20
us and, you know, if they didn't file something that they were
14:23
supposed to and now we're filing the right way, we're like,
14:27
please, God, let this go through just fine.
14:29
You know, so we're just always praying for for everybody
14:33
because when people come to us, they're generally upset.
14:36
You know, they have complicated issues.
14:40
Either the partnership is breaking up or there was a death
14:43
in the family. They have all this money that
14:44
was inherited. There's a fight between
14:47
siblings. You know, there's just all these
14:49
emotions when they come. So, yeah, not only do we get
14:53
your filings completed tax planning for you, but we also
14:57
pray for you and help you. And we and all of us, really do
15:00
care for our clients. Now, is that prayer?
15:04
Is that a separate line item on my quarterly invoice?
15:08
It should be. So I want to hear more about
15:12
this faith-based accounting. What does this mean exactly?
15:14
Do you only take clients who share the same faith values as
15:19
you? No, not at all.
15:22
We're open to everybody. I we have a lot of atheist
15:26
clients. We have a lot of clients that
15:28
may have different political views, but it doesn't matter.
15:32
We are there to help them. And you know, even when they
15:36
come to me and they're upset and they're emotional, they could be
15:40
crying. I don't know what to do but grab
15:43
their hands and pray. They never get upset.
15:45
They stop crying right away. They hug me back.
15:48
So it's just compassion and caring for our clients.
15:52
You know that saying nobody cares, Work harder.
15:56
How many times that I even have a T-shirt that says that?
15:59
Think about that. Nobody cares if something's that
16:01
going right for you or you have fraud on your account, nobody
16:07
cares. Nobody helps you, You know, you
16:08
have to call and call and I don't know, we just do it
16:12
differently. We we're just like, you know
16:14
what, we do care. Let's pray about this first.
16:16
Let's try to get some clarity and let's take the next steps
16:20
and. So you use this as a guiding
16:23
principle in terms of how to talk to and address clients who
16:28
are going through stressful situations.
16:31
How else does it show up? Joyous occasions too.
16:37
We'll be like, oh, thank you Jesus.
16:40
You know, that comes up as well. But you know, generally people
16:43
are coming to me because they're in a stressful situation.
16:48
They know they need help. Now the clients have been with
16:51
me for a long time that, you know, just, you know, a lot of
16:54
my clients I've been taking care of for 20 plus years.
16:58
When they know something's going on, you know, they'll just text
17:00
me and say, Hey, can you say a quick prayer for my father?
17:04
He's in the hospital or, you know, things like that.
17:07
And it's it's I had all my clients have my cell phone
17:10
number. We're not that typical
17:13
corporation where like, oh, you can't have her cell phone.
17:16
You can't reach out to us that that's not it at all.
17:21
So, OK, talk to me about the new client process.
17:25
You've got somebody that comes in the door, maybe they're going
17:27
through something stressful, maybe they're not.
17:29
But what does that onboarding process look like?
17:32
So it depends on if you're a business or a personal client.
17:35
If you are a business client, I have all my business clients go
17:39
through this advisory service. This is where the owner and I,
17:43
we sit down together for six hours and yes, it's a very long
17:47
time. Six hours.
17:48
Yes, six hours. That's fantastic.
17:51
I do have bourbon, whiskey, vodka, food, you know, whatever
17:57
we need to get through that 6 hour meeting, but that's six
18:00
hours. This is where I educate and
18:03
implement tax strategies for the client.
18:05
So for example, we'll talk about all the different types of
18:08
entities. We'll figure out which entity is
18:11
right for him. We'll talk about how he gets
18:13
paid based on what type of entity he is.
18:16
We talked about, you know, are you able to income shift to your
18:19
kids, to your spouse? What does that mean?
18:22
What are the most common deductions that you can take and
18:26
what does the IRS and the state require you to keep to be able
18:31
to prove those deductions? What are all the tax filings
18:34
that you have to file? You know, what is the BWC true
18:38
up, What is payroll? You know, how do you deduct your
18:42
vehicle through the business? I mean, we just go through
18:45
absolutely everything and then we also discuss their why, like
18:50
why are they doing this? Most business owners have no
18:54
idea what they're doing or why they're doing it.
18:56
Once they define it, then all their business decisions then
19:01
make sense. You know, if they are thinking
19:03
like, Hey, I want to create this business, I want to sell it
19:06
right away or I want to build it up and then maybe gifted to my
19:11
kids, things like that, or they just want to build it up and
19:14
retire right away. I implement a tax plan for
19:17
whatever their wants are. The other thing is I teach them
19:22
how to read a financial statement.
19:23
You know, we have the balance sheet, the assets, the
19:25
liabilities, the equity. What does that all mean?
19:28
What does retained earnings mean?
19:30
Then we look at the profit and loss statement and, and all the
19:33
expenses and how do you pay taxes on this?
19:37
Can you really afford to hire more employees?
19:41
So I go through that whole process and then by the time the
19:46
client leaves that meeting, we know everything that's going on,
19:51
all the taxes that they have to file, all the forms that are
19:55
required. How are we doing the accounting,
19:57
all of that. So those are the business
19:59
clients. Then we have just personal
20:03
clients and. I have a really good system with
20:06
personal clients. They'll give me a copy of their
20:09
last year's taxes and I give them a questionnaire that they
20:14
fill out. And then I go through line by
20:16
line to make sure, you know, are we maximizing all our all of
20:20
their deductions? Did they forget to give me
20:21
anything? Should we file married filing,
20:24
joint married filing separately? You know, how many city taxes do
20:29
we have to file in Ohio? The city taxes are crazy, but we
20:33
just go through everything. And then if they owe that year,
20:36
why do they owe? Is there anything we can do to
20:38
help alleviate some of that tax burden?
20:42
And then I implement a tax plan for the following year so they
20:45
don't have these big surprises. And I teach them how to read
20:49
their tax return. So, you know, good referrals for
20:53
me are people that have no idea why they're paying so much in
20:56
tax. They don't know what's going on.
20:57
They don't know how to read their tax return.
20:59
Those are all good referrals for me.
21:02
So thinking about small businesses, what is a common tax
21:07
strategy that most of your clients are not using before
21:10
they come to you that you're like, oh, this is like low
21:13
hanging fruit, let's put this in place right away.
21:16
Income shifting to your kids and most people who do it do it
21:22
completely wrong and it actually costs them money.
21:26
So the other thing with the advisory services, when I
21:29
implement a tax strategy and we need the retirement person on
21:34
the e-mail or the payroll person on the e-mail, I sent an e-mail
21:38
out and say, hey, we're going to do a four O 1K traditional 4%
21:43
match with an option of profit sharing.
21:45
And then I e-mail the payroll company, tell them what we're
21:48
going to pay the owners, the children, boom, boom, boom.
21:52
So then there's no miscommunication and that's why
21:56
business owners tell other business owners to come reach me
21:59
because I do it for them. They just sit back, they get
22:02
those emails and it's all done for them.
22:06
So what is the strategy that most people are using for
22:10
revenue shifting, where they're getting it wrong and then how
22:13
should they be doing it? Well, that's a secret.
22:19
Well, can you at least tell us how they're doing it wrong?
22:23
Or does that give too much away? It gives too much away.
22:27
It does. That is where my expertise comes
22:31
in. And then the light bulb comes on
22:33
with the client and they're like, well, why didn't anybody
22:35
tell me that before? So that's kind of like the
22:37
secret that. OK, fair enough.
22:39
Well, I know right now there's a bunch of listeners who are like,
22:42
I gotta know. So if you gotta know boutique
22:46
Dash tax.com, that's how you find
22:48
katieandhergroupboutique-tax.com and we'll repeat that a little
22:52
bit later on. Give us another one sort of wet
22:56
people's whistle, things that you do that maybe are a little
22:59
bit different. Well, you know, I had a client
23:03
come to me. They've been in business for 15
23:08
years and they were AC Corp. And this is like a great example
23:12
of, like, tax strategies and, you know, sitting down with the
23:16
client for six hours, for example, this client has been
23:20
paying taxes twice and had no idea, you know, tears are
23:25
coming. I love, I don't know if you like
23:28
Vikings, but Ragnar Lothbrock says, don't look back.
23:31
You're not going that way. So I always tell my clients
23:33
that. And plus, he's really cute, too.
23:37
So don't look back. We're not going that way.
23:40
We're going forward and I changed their entity status by
23:44
just changing their entity status.
23:46
At first year, I saved them $22,000.
23:48
Then I implemented my tax plan and that was like another
23:52
$18,000 that I saved them in taxes.
23:55
So that is real tangible money that my client got to keep.
24:00
So it's huge and a lot of people, these are the biggest
24:04
mistakes. They think they're cutting costs
24:08
by themselves, trying to do their own bookkeeping or trying
24:13
to do their own taxes. I I mean, I take 50 hours a year
24:18
and it's constantly changing if you.
24:21
Take 50 hours a year to do what? Continue education just to stay
24:26
up on it. I mean, I think my minimum is
24:28
like what 33 or something like that, but I'm taking like 50
24:31
hours. And there's there is a
24:33
difference between a bookkeeper and accountant account.
24:35
When we come in which that's what we are, we are reconciling.
24:39
We're putting depreciation and we're tying out equity, we're
24:41
tying out payroll. We're doing all these entries in
24:45
most times that come to me. Their books are such a mess that
24:49
we can't fix it, that we have to start fresh.
24:51
But they thought they were saving money by, you know, doing
24:55
it that way. And it's actually costing them
24:57
so much money in taxes. And then, you know, and then
25:02
their financials don't match their tax return.
25:04
And that's a requirement for the IRS.
25:06
So there's a lot that goes on with that.
25:09
So there's a lot of mistakes that I see don't cut your costs
25:14
with accounting. See A True Accountant to tie
25:17
that out. But you guys go beyond sort of
25:20
what a traditional accountant does, right?
25:23
Like, at least my perception is that most accountants are like,
25:26
OK, I'm taking everything that you're giving me and I'm putting
25:29
it to the correct places, and then I'm handing it back to you.
25:32
You know, here are your taxes. Sign them, send them in.
25:35
There's a whole, like, giant chunk of consultancy that's
25:39
going on as well. Is that sort of like putting you
25:43
into a different bucket as like a tax advisor?
25:47
Yes. So when I was in college, they
25:51
taught us to just do transactional, get the taxes
25:55
done, get it done, get it out the door, no tax planning, no
25:59
tax strategies. And I want to say it was
26:01
probably about 15 years ago. I'm going to use the term
26:05
redneck because I was like, there's going to be a better way
26:07
and I'm just going to put this together for tax planning.
26:10
And now I have it down really well.
26:13
But my software company, Thomson Reuters, they asked me to come
26:16
out to Boston and to speak to 56 CPA firms of exactly what I do
26:24
with my advisory services. And it was shocking to me
26:27
because I was thinking, gosh, these firms that are out East,
26:32
they should be like up here, but they're still paper filing.
26:35
They don't have a portal. They do no advisory.
26:38
I was shocked of how they're, you know, they're just not up to
26:44
date. If your firm is not up to date,
26:48
you're going to die. So like for our firm, we're
26:51
completely electronic. We have the highest security.
26:55
Our portal is super easy. Our clients can take their cell
26:59
phone, scan their tax documents right up to the portal.
27:03
They can view their tax return in the portal, download a tax
27:06
return to their computer. I mean, we make it so easy,
27:10
convenient, that is just, it's surprising where people don't do
27:16
this. So in all fairness, we were not
27:19
taught to do the tax training, tax strategies, implementations.
27:24
That was just something that I figured out later.
27:28
And there's only, you know, a handful of CPA firms that do
27:32
that. I it's it's very small that
27:35
actually do the tax strategies. Interesting.
27:38
What does it mean to be an an enrolled agent Katie?
27:42
So, you know, everyone thinks Cpas can do tax and that's not
27:48
true. An enrolled agent means you
27:51
specify in tax. So I specify in tax, but I also
27:55
have my accounting degree for all the financial reporting that
27:58
I do for the balance sheet income statement.
28:01
So that is a difference. So we have ACPA that works for
28:06
us that doesn't do any tax. I have a handful of clients that
28:10
are Cpas that I do their taxes. Because if you don't do it,
28:14
you're not you're not going to know it, right?
28:16
You just. Randomly it doesn't like being
28:18
an accountant doesn't sort of give you the the power to do
28:22
tax. What do you mean?
28:23
Because, like you know, every CPA is sort of giving you the
28:26
forms to file your taxes. Not every CPA can actually file
28:32
a tax return. They don't know how to do it, so
28:35
if you don't practice it, you can't do it.
28:38
OK. So now an EA does tax.
28:42
If you search for an EA you know they can do tax.
28:47
And does that. So when you're sorry, go ahead.
28:48
I want I want to understand this better.
28:50
Yeah. So when people are searching for
28:52
CPA firms, you know, there's a lot of different types of CPA
28:55
firms. There's CPA firms that does
28:57
audit and they don't do tax. There's CPA firms that just do
29:01
financial reporting, they don't do tax.
29:03
So if people are looking for a firm that does taxes, you have
29:07
to actually be requesting and looking for a firm that actually
29:10
does that. OK.
29:12
What's the process of becoming an enrolled agent?
29:15
Is this an additional certification more continuing at
29:18
hours? Yeah, it's I, you have to take a
29:21
test. It's administered by the IRS and
29:25
it's a three-part test. And then I have to have, gosh, I
29:28
forget how many hours off the top of my head.
29:30
I think it's like 76 hours. I forget.
29:34
I'd have to look it up. But yeah, every three years I
29:36
have to renew it. So it's the same process as like
29:40
ACPA. The CPA is governed by the
29:43
state. EA is governed by the the
29:46
federal government, the. Federal level And does that give
29:49
you some kind of special connection or permission to
29:52
communicate with the IRS? No Cpas and EAS and even lawyers
29:58
can all communicate the same with the IRS.
30:00
OK. Talk to me a little bit about
30:05
the community charities that you're a part of and the pro
30:10
bono advisory services. Why is this important to you?
30:14
How do you get involved there? So because people ask me and I'm
30:19
like, OK, that's not kind of how I get involved.
30:23
They just have to ask. Although I'm trying not to do as
30:26
much because it is so time consuming, but I really enjoy
30:30
helping people in the community. There's been so many charities
30:34
that I've done over the years and it's been absolutely
30:38
amazing. I I've met some incredible
30:41
people, but right now, since I just went through the FBI
30:45
civilian Academy, that's kind of where I'm focusing my time out
30:50
now that it, it's coming my way. Yeah, it makes sense.
30:53
And you've done a fair bit of speaking.
30:56
You mentioned going out to Thomas Reuters in the East Coast
31:00
Ohio State University. You've spoken to, you know,
31:03
different financial advisor conferences.
31:06
What's a surprising insight you've gained from these
31:09
speaking engagements? So I think I would rather do
31:15
speaking engagements than actually sitting behind the
31:17
desk. I really enjoy it.
31:20
For OSU and Mount Carmel, a lot of those speaking engagements
31:25
was talking to the physicians and and that was a lot of fun.
31:30
I think the most surprising thing that I see is how much
31:37
people will take advice from non authoritative sources.
31:42
They will be like, you know, my neighbor said I could do this.
31:46
I'm like, oh, what does your neighbor do?
31:47
Oh, he's in sales for something, something and it just shocks me.
31:52
Or they Google it and they think that's that's the source.
31:57
I think that's probably the most shocking thing because I'm
32:00
talking with people that are very extremely educated and
32:03
they're just going to take advice from Google or from their
32:08
neighbor and, and that's a little shocking.
32:11
You know, I'll give a somewhat specific example of why, like
32:15
Googling or using AI can be dangerous in this respect.
32:20
There's some things that I've used ChatGPT to research and I'm
32:25
like, hey, somebody came to me with this strategy.
32:27
Is this legal? And it goes through and it looks
32:30
and it's like, Oh no, this is completely illegal and here's
32:33
why. And then I'll go and I'll sit
32:35
down with an attorney or a tax advisor and I'll get the real
32:39
information. And they'll be like ChatGPT
32:42
there brought up some legislation that was proposed
32:46
but never passed. And that's why it thinks that
32:49
it's illegal. So just like a specific example
32:52
of kind of the danger of relying on, I mean, amazing tools that
32:58
exist, but still they, they're not connecting the dots in the
33:01
right way like an expert like you would.
33:04
So I've already gone through six hours this month so far learning
33:09
about AI and all the new products that are out there.
33:13
And I specifically spoke with a, a tax AI and I with the sales
33:24
gentleman and myself. I had him ask specific
33:26
questions, 6 questions, all of them are wrong.
33:31
Their reply was, oh, we haven't updated the software with the
33:36
one big beautiful bill. And I'm like, well, that past
33:39
July 4th. So if anybody was using the
33:42
software has gotten the wrong answer.
33:47
So the AI is only as good as whoever's programming it now, I
33:53
think I think it may get better, but I still don't think we're
34:00
going to be able to completely rely on it because how is AI
34:03
going to know the exceptions are to even ask what are the
34:07
exceptions? Because of every tax roll,
34:09
there's always an exception and how do you apply it?
34:12
So I don't think AI for the tax world is anywhere close yet, but
34:21
it may be, I'm just not sure. I'm going to have to agree 100%
34:26
because it makes such a convincing argument is the
34:29
problem. And it's like referencing, oh,
34:31
look at this link on the IRS site or look at this link at,
34:34
you know, CM, you know, like, and you're like, oh, wow, that
34:38
that's completely believable. Like I would not even begin to
34:41
question that. And then you dig in with an
34:44
expert and it's wrong. And so we're.
34:47
It's a little scary. You're not going anywhere soon,
34:50
I guess, is what the point the moral of this story is.
34:53
Yes, I think they're always, they're, they're always going to
34:55
need us. There's the tax law is so
34:58
convoluted. The only way I think where we
35:01
wouldn't be needed is if we wouldn't went to a flat tax.
35:04
If we just went to a flat tax, I don't think we'd really be
35:08
needed for anything. So as long as the tax code is
35:12
convoluted as it is, I think I'm pretty safe.
35:17
OK. All right.
35:18
What innovative steps do you see yourself and your firm taking in
35:23
the next few years, either in terms of service offerings or
35:27
just continuing to elevate that client education?
35:31
Yeah. So the AI is really big.
35:34
So that's why I spent a lot of time so far this month just to
35:38
see there's a lot of new products out there for AI.
35:41
But what I'm learning is the AI is supposed to list like tax
35:47
strategies or things that you're missing with your tax return.
35:51
But I already do that automatically.
35:53
So why would I pay for that when we're already doing it?
35:56
So that I find very confusing there.
35:59
There's not a need for that. There is always bigger and
36:05
better things coming out. The tax code is always changing.
36:09
So we implement the tax code changes pretty quickly in our
36:12
firm. We also always send out a mass
36:16
e-mail anytime there's a big tax code change of something and not
36:20
only when, when we send it out, we'll say what it is and we'll
36:24
say how it's applied, you know, if you want to opt out of it or
36:28
if you have to be in it. And then if you have any
36:30
questions, let us know. So it's a very in depth e-mail
36:34
that we send out so our clients understand.
36:36
I don't know any CPA firm or EA firm out there that does what we
36:41
do when we send out those mass emails.
36:44
Our clients love it. We do get a lot of phone calls,
36:48
a lot of emails when we do send it, but I'm expecting that
36:51
because it is a major tax code change.
36:55
So we stay up on that. And right now our technology and
36:59
their security, I can't get any higher.
37:02
We're already at the top. So yeah, we're always looking
37:07
into that better ways. And then with this AI, like I
37:11
said, yeah, I'm sure after tax season I'll be looking into it
37:14
again to see where AI has came in, you know, five months later
37:18
from, you know, December, like May and June, I'm going to pick
37:20
it up again and see where we're at with that.
37:22
Are you guys using it in any way?
37:25
No, I think every now and then I like the ChatGPT.
37:29
That's kind of fun. I actually typed in my name to
37:35
see what would happen and it must have just taken everything
37:41
off my website and compared me to other firms in Dublin and I
37:46
thought that was absolutely fascinating what that did.
37:50
I do like to like if I'm struggling with maybe an e-mail,
37:53
I might go in there for like some different wording.
37:57
So I do have the free version of it, but we don't put anything
38:01
confidential in that or, or anything like that.
38:04
It's just kind of like generic stuff that we might use it here
38:06
and there got. It what's an observation from
38:10
your work that gives you broader insight on the economy?
38:15
Here we are recording this in late 2025.
38:19
Everybody is wanting to know what's 2026 is likely to look
38:22
like. You get to work with a lot of
38:24
different industries. Any insights that you can share?
38:29
So when the market is good, I see business owners hiring more,
38:38
they're expanding their business, they're building more.
38:41
They will contribute to their employees, match for the
38:44
retirement. They'll also contribute to their
38:46
profit sharing. When the economy is low, none of
38:51
that happens. And not to get too political,
38:55
but it seems to be when there is a conservative person in the
39:00
White House, business owners just dramatically just jump up
39:05
with hiring so many new people and building an efficiency.
39:08
It's absolutely amazing. And then when a non conservative
39:11
person is in there, everything comes to a scratching halt.
39:15
It's crazy. And I've been doing this now for
39:18
almost 35 years, and that has been the trend.
39:22
So what have you seen in the entirety of 2025?
39:25
Does it match that trend? So yes, absolutely Trump's tax
39:33
code, you know, he extended the qualified business income
39:37
deduction, He made the tax brackets more favorable.
39:42
He's done a lot. He's increased the standard
39:44
deductions. He's literally saving thousands
39:47
and thousands of dollars for clients when they're filing
39:51
their tax returns. What impact, what impact, if
39:54
any, are you seeing immigration or tariffs or any of that have
39:59
on the client base that you serve?
40:01
Yeah. So I, I have several clients
40:04
that have the tariffs going on and you know, they kind of
40:09
complained a little bit about it, but it hasn't been too bad.
40:14
So hopefully that will be OK with the tariffs.
40:18
OK, what's something surprising you've come to understand about
40:22
human psychology from the work that you do?
40:26
Oh gosh, people want to change. They want to make a difference,
40:34
they want something better, but they can't change.
40:39
They say this is how I've always done it.
40:42
So if a business owner comes to me and they're like, we can't
40:46
change, I can't help them. They're in that hamster wheel,
40:50
they're never going to get off of it.
40:52
So to get to their true calling and purpose and make their life
40:56
better, they have to implement change.
40:58
They have to grow with technology, with everything.
41:05
And the resistance to change that you're typically seeing
41:08
from people is resistance to giving up control and delegating
41:13
its resistance to adopting new technology.
41:17
It's what? It's everything.
41:21
It's you know, you need to those checks and balances.
41:24
You can't have the same person doing AR that's doing AP.
41:30
You know, it's just, oh, we've always done payroll by hand.
41:35
I'm like, no, and don't do payroll by hand.
41:38
You're spending so much time and resources with that when you
41:42
can, you know, use like ADP where it's automated, it's done
41:46
for you. So when we meet with a business
41:51
client, I just lay it all out and like, hey, this is what I
41:55
see works. This is what doesn't work.
41:57
This is what's going to save you money.
41:59
This is what's going to cost you a lot of money.
42:01
So ultimately I let them make that decision and sometimes they
42:05
just can't change. What do you think the difference
42:08
is between those people who do take your advice and do change
42:14
versus those who are unable to or choose not to?
42:17
The people that change are just so happy.
42:22
They refer me clients, they they tell me that, you know, it's
42:28
been a life changing experience for them.
42:31
The people that don't change, they're still doing the same old
42:34
thing and they're just stuck. They're never going to have that
42:38
freedom that they want and that they're craving for.
42:42
What do you think is the personality difference?
42:44
They're like, what allows one group of people to take that
42:48
advice and move forward and make the changes versus the other
42:52
folks that kind of stay stuck in the mud, if you will?
42:56
I think a lot of it is fear, giving up control.
43:01
Control is big. I think it's really those two
43:05
things, fear and control, because they've they've done it
43:09
this way for 50 years. My grandfather has done it this
43:12
way, but yet they're dying. Their sales are decreasing.
43:18
They're they're not offering products that will that people
43:24
will want, right? Like things have to change and
43:28
change is hard. Nobody likes to do it, but we
43:31
just have to. The but the people who do, the
43:34
people who do make that change, I think it's important for
43:37
everybody to hear this and understand.
43:39
It's not that they don't have fear.
43:41
It's not that change isn't hard for them.
43:43
It's that they do it anyways, right?
43:46
Yes, because they realize, Oh my gosh, this is going to save us X
43:50
amount of hours if we hire, for example, a payroll company or,
43:54
Oh my gosh, if we implement this retirement plan, I'm going to be
43:58
able to retire six years sooner. You know, there, there's all
44:01
these other things. And, you know, those are just a
44:03
couple examples, but you know, there's hundreds of them.
44:07
Yeah. Katie, what growth strategy has
44:09
been most effective for you? Praying.
44:13
Anytime we need clients, I pray and they appear.
44:18
It's been amazing. Can you, can you write down the
44:21
prayer for us? Yes.
44:24
This this, this magic prayer or or does does the prayer have to
44:27
come from you? Do you have a a special channel
44:29
open? You know, I so many people tell
44:34
me that I have this connection with God and they will really go
44:39
out of their way to talk to me like hey, will you say this
44:42
specific prayer and and I do so something that I learned part of
44:47
your tongue. It is the most powerful weapon
44:51
you have, and it's mentioned throughout the Bible several
44:53
times. So either you are confessing
44:56
life over yourself, life over your business, or you're
44:59
confessing death. And one of my favorite stories
45:03
in the Bible is when the Angel Gabriel came to Zechariah and
45:10
said, hey, you're going to have a son named John the Baptist.
45:14
And he and Zechariah doubted it because his wife, Sarah, they
45:18
were very old and he didn't understand it.
45:21
And then the Angel sealed his lips so that he wouldn't mess up
45:25
the prophecy. So it is so important to confess
45:32
exactly what you want and specifically what you want.
45:36
If you just say I want to lose weight, well, God doesn't know
45:42
how much weight you want to lose.
45:43
You have to be specific. You know, thank you God that I
45:45
weigh 125 lbs, that I'm losing 4 lbs a month.
45:50
You need to be specific in your prayer request.
45:53
The other thing that I have done where I think my business has
45:58
just exploded in is this might sound a little strange, but I do
46:03
have a vision board and I do a lot of reading.
46:06
And the top 1% earners, you all have either a vision board or a
46:11
vision book and you write down where you want to see yourself
46:17
with whatever it is. Like, thank you, God, my house
46:19
is paid off. Thank you, God for being a $10
46:22
million company. And you literally like, I have
46:26
pictures of myself on the vision board.
46:28
I have our house up on the vision board.
46:30
I'm actually looking at it right now.
46:33
I have everything on there. And every now and then my
46:35
husband will walk by and be like, Kate, you got to pull that
46:38
off. That came true.
46:39
And I'm like, oh, yeah, thank you, God.
46:41
Yeah. I just 'cause I just keep
46:42
praying about it. But God says you have to have
46:46
vision. If you don't have vision, you'll
46:49
perish. So that's one of the things that
46:54
you need to review is your vision, your your goals, what
46:57
you want in your life. And be very specific.
46:59
And so on your vision board, you're already expressing
47:02
gratitude for the thing that you want to have happen.
47:05
Yes, I believe even though it hasn't happened, I act as if it
47:10
has happened and that's showing God your faith.
47:14
OK, so up on your vision board, there's a whole bunch of things,
47:18
maybe some visuals to go along with them, some words.
47:21
Thank you, God, for, you know, turning us from AX $1,000,000
47:25
business into AY $1,000,000 business, something like that.
47:28
Yes. And I have a picture of our
47:30
house on there that, you know, we've paid off.
47:32
I've got my kids on there. I've got my vehicle on there as
47:36
it's paid off. I even have my marriage up there
47:39
for, you know, blessing our marriage.
47:41
And yeah, I have everything on there.
47:44
It's it's pretty fascinating. And so when clients walk in,
47:48
they can see your vision board hanging up.
47:50
Yeah. So I, I had it at the office and
47:53
then we actually moved to a little bit of a smaller office.
47:57
Rent kind of got increased by like 46% and I wasn't able to, I
48:03
didn't feel comfortable raising my rates for my clients.
48:06
So I actually brought my vision board home.
48:09
But I do, I do have this, this is, I also have a vision book,
48:16
Dream Big and I'll go beyond that.
48:18
And I have everything in here that you can imagine of just
48:25
prayers and fitness and our home.
48:28
I don't know if you can see that.
48:31
All right, the lake house I would love to have someday.
48:34
And then I've got my business in here today.
48:36
I'll show you a little bit of that.
48:38
I, I know it's, it's silly, but you do put pictures of yourself
48:43
because you have to see where you're going.
48:45
And this has been, I've been doing this for 10 years now.
48:51
Actually, I had to think about how long I've been doing this.
48:53
So I actually did this at my Old Firm and this is still the same
48:56
book and I just keep adding to it and adding to it.
49:00
And who turned you on to this idea, Katie?
49:02
So her name is Terry Saval Foy. In fact, I highly recommend
49:09
looking at her podcast. She also has this amazing book,
49:14
What 5 People, 5 Successful Things that You Need to Do
49:17
Before 8:00 AM, but it's all about vision and dreaming and it
49:21
all goes back to scriptures. So she is the one that just just
49:27
blew my mind open with that. She also has another book called
49:30
Pep Talk and Organization and so I will buy a lot of those books
49:35
and give those to my clients as well.
49:37
Again, the pep talk is like the the power of of your tongue, so
49:42
that's cute. What advice would you give to
49:44
others looking to achieve their own success?
49:50
Your daily routine, I believe is the key small changes that you
49:55
make. You know, like if you just work
49:59
out for a little bit and you do that every day, I mean, you're
50:03
not going to lose 100 lbs in a week, but if you do that
50:07
consistently for a year, you're going to be a complete,
50:11
unrecognizable different person. So if you, if you read the
50:16
scripture exercise, write down what you're grateful for.
50:20
I even read that when you write down what you're grateful for,
50:24
even though I know this might sound silly to some of your
50:27
listeners, maybe, but it actually changes the chemicals
50:31
in your brain. So if you're feeling a little
50:34
sad and you write down what you're grateful for, it actually
50:37
pulls you out of that sadness. So it's it's pretty amazing.
50:41
Yeah. So we've talked a lot about your
50:45
path, a lot of the successes that you've had along the way.
50:48
But life is hard sometimes, right?
50:51
There are challenges, there are setbacks, there are things that
50:54
really test us. What's a particularly
50:57
challenging experience that you've gone through in your
51:00
life, Katie, and how did you work through that?
51:05
So it actually it, I just thought of this again, the power
51:09
of the tongue. I had this dream that I got shot
51:14
and I told everybody. I even said, hey, December 4th,
51:18
I'm going to get shot and I was supposed to go to this party in
51:22
Cleveland. You even threw out the date.
51:24
I threw out the date. OK, go ahead.
51:26
Again. Like part of the tongue.
51:27
It's such a spiritual thing. I threw out the date and I was
51:31
supposed to go to this party up in Cleveland.
51:33
It was my cousin's 40th birthday party.
51:36
But I was so afraid I was going to get shot.
51:38
I'm like, I'm not going to go. I'm going to go to my dad's
51:40
house instead. So I go to my dad's house
51:43
instead. And he is old school where when
51:48
I say old school, they would practice dry firing.
51:51
Now I've never practiced dry firing at all.
51:54
I don't know if. What is that?
51:55
I don't know if you're much of A shooter.
51:57
Well, when people are practicing like pulling the trigger, they
52:01
just dry fire. They're just practicing like
52:03
pulling back the trash, the trigger, feeling the pressure.
52:07
And so when I say old school, I'm talking about people that
52:12
are like in their 70s, eighties. That's what they used to do.
52:16
They would just, you know, back in the 40s, that's what people
52:18
grew up doing. Now as younger generation, we
52:22
don't do that. We only pull the trigger if
52:24
we're ready to shoot a target. So that's kind of difference
52:27
between old school and us. So my dad decided to drive fire
52:32
in the house for some strange reason and he accidentally shot
52:36
me the the the day that I said I was going to get shot.
52:42
So I was sitting there and it he had a Glock 45 caliber hollow
52:47
point and shot me in my tibia, shattered my tibia.
52:52
It was God's grace that my leg didn't get blown off.
52:55
I don't know if you know much about a hollow tip, but it
52:58
expands like this to shred everything.
53:02
So the cop took his fingernail and was able to pull the bullet
53:06
out of the floor and my jeans melted underneath the the
53:10
casing. And also, you know, I, I grew up
53:16
in the country, so, you know, there's really nothing there.
53:20
So when my father shot me, thankfully he didn't hit like a
53:24
main artery because I would have let out, but it hurt terribly
53:29
bad. It was, it was awful.
53:31
And that, that was definitely the biggest challenge.
53:35
I, I had to learn how to walk again.
53:38
I remember first day of physical therapy, I had to move my big
53:41
toe and I, I fainted The, the pain was so intense, but it was
53:47
very difficult to learn how to walk again.
53:52
I started out in a wheelchair and it was awful because you're
53:57
young, but yet your husband is, you know, taking care of you,
54:00
bathing you. And that was such a horrific
54:03
feeling. I needed that.
54:05
I don't want anybody having to take care of me like that.
54:07
But thankfully he did. He took six months off of our
54:12
not six months. He took off.
54:14
How many months was that? Think it was like 3 months to
54:18
take care of me because our kids were little.
54:20
We had a three-year old and a five year old.
54:22
So we had to take care of that, them and myself.
54:27
And I was in a wheelchair for a long time and then I was in a
54:30
Walker, then I was in crutches, then I was using a cane, and
54:36
then eventually I was back to normal.
54:40
But it was a battle and it was a spiritual battle so much, you
54:45
know, when you get shot like that, they instantly, you know,
54:48
give you morphine because the pain is so horrific, of course.
54:53
So you have to take all these pain pills.
54:56
And then I just remember my husband had to take this needle
55:02
and give me shots in my belly so that wouldn't get a blood clot.
55:06
And I just remember crying because it, I hated that so
55:10
much. But he had to do it morning and
55:13
night and it was just awful. But it was just crazy.
55:18
My husband literally got in my face and said you will not be
55:22
defeated. And I got up and said I will not
55:25
be defeated. And those were my words every
55:28
day of waking up. I will not be defeated.
55:31
I have to work through this. I have to get through this.
55:35
I will not be defeated. Yes.
55:38
Clearly there were moments early on where you thought that this
55:41
might just break you then. Yeah, it was.
55:46
The pain was so horrible. It was like my leg was on fire.
55:52
It was like in a fire pit. I it it's excruciating pain.
55:58
I, I don't even know, just that constant pain.
56:02
You're, you're shaking, you're passing out randomly.
56:06
It's just, it was so intense. And we're not just talking about
56:10
the pain from the initial shotgun wound, but it's it's
56:14
ongoing and the days and the weeks and the months that follow
56:17
that it it's so bad it's causing you to pass out.
56:21
Yes, for for months because the healing process took so long.
56:26
I mean, that bullet just ripped through tendons and nerves and
56:30
shattered my bone. So they had to put a rod in my
56:35
leg and screws in my knee and in my ankle to hold the the rod in
56:39
place. Oh.
56:41
My gosh. And then you have the after
56:45
effects of like any loud noise, I would jump, you know, scream.
56:50
I, I'm not a fan of any loud noises to this day.
56:55
And that was one of the charities that I worked for.
56:57
It was for our military who had PTSD and we would raise money
57:02
for wounded warriors so they could get a dog.
57:05
But what was funny about that charity event is they had all
57:09
these hot rod cars come in and they all backed fire.
57:12
If everyone's like, ducking and panicking because the people
57:16
that put it on didn't realize that people in the military
57:19
can't handle loud noises, and I was right there with So.
57:23
Yeah, But a lot of people have a lot of good, very big hearts.
57:27
They just didn't realize, that's what.
57:29
Happened. Were you questioning your faith
57:34
at all during this time? I did because I felt like God
57:40
was silent there for a little bit because I, I didn't really
57:46
like feel him. But there was a moment.
57:52
And when I say spiritual battle, this might be too crazy to say,
57:56
but when I was in the hospital, there was this thought or voice
58:02
that said, you know, just let go, Just don't take in another
58:06
breath. Just let go.
58:08
And it reminds me of the cartoons when I was little when
58:11
there's like a devil on a shoulder and Angel on the other
58:14
and the other that the Angel was like, just take a deep breath.
58:18
You can do this. Just take a deep breath.
58:19
Just take a deep breath. And the other ones like stop
58:22
breathing. Just stop breathing.
58:24
And it was, it was such a, a fight.
58:28
And my husband was actually sleeping on the couch.
58:31
And I remember yelling, trying to get him to wake up.
58:34
And he never woke up. And I thought that was so
58:37
strange. I was just in this, this weird
58:40
state of that spiritual battle. And my mother was very ill.
58:47
She was a smoker. And she used to tell me about
58:51
the spiritual battle that she would go through.
58:54
And I never understood what she was talking about or what it
58:57
meant. And when that happened to me, I
59:01
fully understood what that meant.
59:03
So hopefully your listeners never had to deal with that
59:06
spiritual battle because it's very scary, but there really is
59:11
such a thing as that. The spiritual battle that you're
59:13
describing, Katie, was this a a battle of choosing to live
59:19
versus choosing to die, or was this a battle of choosing God
59:24
versus not believing anymore? It was to die, you know, the
59:30
devil is there to seek and destroy you.
59:35
And the devil was like, don't fight to breathe, Just stop
59:41
breathing. Just stop.
59:42
It's, it'll be so easy. Just stop.
59:45
And then the other angels like, don't take that deep breath in.
59:48
Just take that deep breath in. So it was just, I don't even
59:52
know how long it was going on for.
59:54
Of course I was on morphine. But I just remember this battle
59:58
of trying to survive. And I didn't want to die.
1:00:02
I, I really didn't. But there was something pulling
1:00:05
me, telling me to like let go and die.
1:00:08
And you know, that makes me think too.
1:00:11
You know, when I talk to clients and you know, people are mad at
1:00:15
someone or, you know, at their business partner and a family
1:00:20
member and you really don't want to be mad at them.
1:00:24
It's really the devil that's causing all this chaos.
1:00:27
So if you know, if you know who you're fighting, which is the
1:00:30
devil, you can be anything. How long ago did this happen?
1:00:37
The shooting. It happened, let's see, 15 years
1:00:44
ago. 15 years ago and what's the state of your leg in its
1:00:47
physical form now? So the bone sticks out of my
1:00:52
leg. The doctor was so nice and said
1:00:55
he could go in and do surgery again to like stand that down.
1:00:59
But I was like, no, that's OK, we'll just let it stick out.
1:01:01
I didn't want to have any more surgeries but I'm able to walk
1:01:06
fine but running or if it's really cold or if I stand for a
1:01:12
long time, I do have quite a bit of pain and I just rest my leg
1:01:16
and I'm OK. As you look back on that time,
1:01:19
Katie, do you find any purpose in going through that?
1:01:26
You know, I, I always wonder like, why does God allow bad
1:01:32
things to happen? I know a lot of people ask those
1:01:34
questions and we have free will. People can do whatever they
1:01:40
want. He didn't want to control us.
1:01:42
He's there when bad things happen, so we can rely on him to
1:01:46
get us through that. And because he got me through
1:01:50
that, I became so much stronger in my personal life, in my
1:01:55
faith, raising my kids, creating my business, helping clients who
1:02:01
do have PTSD, helping charities, knowing what the purpose is,
1:02:07
trying to help heal relationships with people, too.
1:02:13
Being a tax advisor, I have a lot of couples that will, you
1:02:18
know, they're going through a divorce, right?
1:02:21
You know, it's never greener on the other side.
1:02:23
It, it, it's not. They were in love with each
1:02:26
other at one time. They need to fight and go back
1:02:30
to each other and figure it out. But I believe like the devil
1:02:33
comes in and say, oh, it's better over here.
1:02:35
Like he's always whispering in your ear and you have to silence
1:02:39
that and just go back to God And and if the other person's on the
1:02:44
same page as you, you can get through anything.
1:02:48
How do you think your life might be different if you hadn't gone
1:02:52
through that experience? I don't think I'd be as strong
1:02:56
as I am today. I don't think I'd be able to
1:02:58
help so many people I've helped. So I believe there's always a
1:03:02
purpose for something. Even though there's a lot of
1:03:05
suffering that I had to go through, it was for God's
1:03:09
purpose for me to help others. That makes me choke up a little
1:03:14
bit. Actually saying it's saying that
1:03:17
out loud. Yeah, I think I've thought of
1:03:19
that in my head, but actually saying it out loud.
1:03:22
Anything else come up for you now?
1:03:25
Oh, I just wonder what else God has for me.
1:03:29
I feel like right now in my life I'm having all these ideas and
1:03:34
visions and thoughts, so I know there's something big coming and
1:03:37
I'm so excited to see what that what's next for me.
1:03:41
Any of this on your vision board that you want to share?
1:03:46
It is on my vision board but now I don't want to share.
1:03:49
It's a secret. Fair enough, fair enough.
1:03:52
It's good to have some secrets. Yes.
1:03:55
Let's kind of head into the tail end here.
1:03:57
On a little bit of an up note. What's your favorite hobby or or
1:04:01
thing to do outside of work, Katie?
1:04:03
Oh, you might think this is crazy.
1:04:05
I don't know if you can see me doing this or not, but I love to
1:04:08
hunt. I love deer camp.
1:04:11
My husband and I, we go Turkey hunting, deer hunting.
1:04:15
Last year I got to hunt with Ted Nugent on his land in Michigan
1:04:20
and got this gigantic hog. So that was a little little
1:04:24
terrifying because when I got this hog, his buddy came right
1:04:30
at me and the guide was able to like, clap his hand and scream
1:04:34
and yell and the other hog went away.
1:04:36
But that was a little scary. But I love hunting.
1:04:41
I love being in the woods, seeing the sunrise, the sunset,
1:04:46
talking with God, eating Little Debbie's.
1:04:49
It's awesome. Little Debbie's, huh?
1:04:52
That's part of the routine. It is Little Debbie's, maybe
1:04:55
some beef jerky. My husband yells at me when I
1:04:59
eat avocado toast. He says that the deer can smell
1:05:02
that. They can smell.
1:05:04
Maybe they can hear the toast crunching too.
1:05:06
I don't. Know yeah.
1:05:07
So our friends say that we need to have like a camera on us when
1:05:13
we're hunting because we have the funniest, silliest things
1:05:16
that happen when we're hunting. It is so much fun.
1:05:20
It's such a blast. You know, guys, if you are
1:05:23
hunters, take your wives out there.
1:05:25
You will have like the best time.
1:05:27
I mean, it's we have a great time.
1:05:29
What is one thing that a camera would have caught that would
1:05:32
make us laugh? Oh, my gosh.
1:05:36
I went outside to go to the to the bathroom and I got tangled
1:05:41
up on the rope and the whole tent was going crazy.
1:05:47
And my husband's cousin, like, what are you doing?
1:05:49
You're scaring all the animals away.
1:05:52
So yeah, everyone has to go to the bathroom when they hunt.
1:05:55
And so those are always really funny stories.
1:05:59
Maybe not suitable for the cameras, but I'm, I'm glad.
1:06:03
I'm glad that you shared here. That's enough.
1:06:05
That's enough for us today. Just one more question for you,
1:06:08
Katie. But before I ask it, I want to
1:06:09
knock out three quick things. First of all, anybody who wants
1:06:13
to get in touch with Katie Cox. Cox, by the way, you can find
1:06:17
her on LinkedIn, but man, go to her website, boutique-tax.com.
1:06:21
boutique-tax.com. We'll have that in the show
1:06:25
notes for folks. Also as a reminder, if you want
1:06:28
to get more employees access to benefit that carries a financial
1:06:32
upside for the company, reach out to us at Add back
1:06:34
benefits.com. And finally, if you'll take just
1:06:37
a moment to leave us a comment or a review on your favorite
1:06:40
podcast app, you'll hold a special place in my heart
1:06:43
forever. Thank you.
1:06:44
So last question for you, Katie, a year from now, you and I
1:06:48
reconnect and you are celebrating something big.
1:06:51
What's that big thing you're celebrating one year from today?
1:06:58
I'll send it to you in an e-mail because it'll come true, but I
1:07:01
don't want to tell anybody yet. Oh, I love this man.
1:07:04
There's so much mystery in this conversation.
1:07:07
We're going to have to have you back to unreveal to reveal some
1:07:11
of these secrets that we've been alluding to today.
1:07:13
Gosh, my eyes are watering. I'm so sorry to know what's
1:07:16
happening here. I apologize.
1:07:18
There's something that needs to come out that's all right.
1:07:21
It's all healthy and good. Thank you so much for having me.
1:07:24
It was such a joy to speak with you and I can't wait to talk to
1:07:28
you in a year from now so I can tell you everything.
1:07:31
Katie Cox, I want to be the first to thank you for my side
1:07:34
for sharing both your time and story today.
1:07:36
I really appreciate it. Thank you so much.
1:07:40
Folks, that's a wrap on another episode of the Inspired Stories
1:07:43
podcast. Thanks for learning with us
1:07:44
today.