Latest / The Inspired Stories Podcast / The Go-Giver in Action: How Rich Waigand’s SFW Partners Was Built on Service Before Sales

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The Go-Giver in Action: How Rich Waigand’s SFW Partners Was Built on Service Before Sales · 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
0:11
their successes and be inspired by how they've overcome
0:14
adversity. As you listen today, let one
0:17
idea shape what you do next. My name is Anthony Kotaspodi,
0:21
and Today's Guest Co founded a volunteer delivery service
0:24
staffed entirely by people with developmental disabilities,
0:28
built it from the ground up over 7 years, and runs it alongside A
0:32
demanding career as ACPA. That detail alone tells you
0:37
something about how this person thinks about service.
0:41
He spent over a decade earning his way to partner at his first
0:44
firm, then walked away from that security to start over at a
0:47
smaller shop with a bigger vision. 20 years later, he's
0:51
running the whole thing. His name is Rich Wagon and he is
0:55
the Managing Partner at SFW Partners, a Saint Louis
0:59
accounting firm founded in 1967 with an 8 partner ownership
1:04
structure and a seat in the AGN International Global Network.
1:08
Rich has over 30 years of experience advising closely held
1:12
businesses across construction, real estate, hospitality and
1:16
nonprofit sectors. In 2022, he was named a Saint
1:21
Louis Titan 100, and in 2025, SFW was recognized on the Inside
1:27
Public Accounting Top 500 list. The people who know Rich best
1:32
describe his ethics as something that has never wavered.
1:35
This episode is about what it looks like to build a career on
1:39
that foundation. But before we get into all that
1:42
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back benefits.com. All right, back to our guest
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today, Managing Partner at SFW Partners.
2:43
Rich, thanks for making the time to Share your story today.
2:46
Absolutely. Thanks for having me and.
2:48
I want to make sure I got the pronunciation of your last name
2:50
correct, Wigan. Wigan.
2:52
Yeah, All right, WAIGAND, for those folks who can't wait, need
2:57
to go find him on LinkedIn right now.
2:59
All right, so Rich, you started at Humes and Barrington as a
3:03
staff accountant back in the December of 93.
3:06
You were there over 11 years and had made partner just before you
3:09
left. So like a really great ascension
3:12
story. But walk me back to the moment
3:14
you decided to leave. What was going on for you?
3:18
Yeah, You know, it was a really tough decision.
3:21
It was back in 2005, You know, the firm was, you know, a
3:27
growing firm. I had just become partner.
3:30
So I came into the inner circle of partner meetings and now
3:34
starting to see like how things worked that I was not really
3:38
tribute to before that. And it became evident that that
3:42
firm that the the founders were not planning on really creating
3:47
an internal succession within that firm, that they were going
3:51
to look for a outward sale. And, you know, to me, I chose
3:56
that firm because it allowed me to develop a career path that
4:02
was, you know, pleasing to me. I got to work with who I wanted
4:05
to work with. It wasn't like you're in this
4:08
niche. This is all you're going to work
4:09
on. And, you know, I had a chance to
4:12
work at larger firms, and I just chose not to.
4:14
I wanted to stay in a local firm.
4:16
And when it became evident that that firm was going to sell, I
4:21
decided, you know, maybe I'm going to start my own firm.
4:24
And as I went down that path to kind of look at it like, what
4:29
was it going to take to start my own firm, I ran into some people
4:34
that kind of guided me and made some introductions.
4:37
And at the time, they introduced me to Lance Weiss and we started
4:43
talking. Lance was a partner at the firm
4:45
here. And hey, why don't you come meet
4:49
some of my other partners? And we just did it casually.
4:51
And you know, what I felt was this is going to be a great
4:56
place for me to a true partnership.
4:58
Where in my voice mattered, where you're able to, you know,
5:03
really kind of focus in on, you know, building a practice that
5:08
was built on the foundation of building strong relationships.
5:14
So, you know, that was kind of the impetus of why I look to
5:18
leave about a year and a half after I left.
5:20
They did sell and now they're part of the CLA brand and all
5:25
that. So you got out at the right
5:27
time, right? He did the right thing for you.
5:29
You explored the option of, you know, going off hanging up your
5:33
own shingle, but you found a group that seemed well aligned.
5:37
Personalities seem to mesh. And as I understand it, they
5:40
brought you in as a partner right from the beginning.
5:43
They did. I think that was, you know,
5:47
there's a leap of faith on their part.
5:48
But, you know, as we kind of spent a few months getting to
5:53
know each other, they looked at kind of what I had done at my
5:58
Old Firm and, you know, said, well, let's just do this.
6:01
And, and, you know, brought me in as a partner.
6:03
And I think that was, you know, a bit of, you know, it was a a
6:11
trust factor, but they do. It was important to me that I
6:16
kind of had that seat, you know, where I could be at a partner
6:19
meeting and have my input into the decisions of the firm.
6:24
So at the time we were 12 people, so it was very small.
6:29
And how big are you now? We're 74.
6:32
Oh boy. OK.
6:34
And how many partners overall? There's eight of us.
6:38
And how many were there when you started?
6:41
There was 4 when we started. I was the 4th partner.
6:46
Sorry, sorry. There was four.
6:47
I was the 5th partner. OK, so you're coming into this
6:52
firm, SFW as a partner from the beginning.
6:55
Obviously a very different experience than when you started
6:58
as a staff accountant many years before at Humes and Barrington.
7:02
What did that feel like? Talk me through that difference
7:05
in those first days being there. You know you're still in a new
7:07
firm, but now you're, you know, you're in a different kind of
7:10
seat. Yeah, because it was such a
7:14
small firm for me. It was, I don't know, I felt
7:20
like I was the burden of, you know, trying to come in as a
7:26
partner, those people already there that had been there for
7:29
quite some time before I showed, you know, 1215 years in some
7:34
cases. And so me coming in as a
7:37
partner, I just felt like that obligation to maybe prove myself
7:42
or to, you know, justify why they brought me in as a partner.
7:48
So, but you know, it was a new system, it was transitioning.
7:52
I brought in a lot of clients right on day one.
7:56
And so getting them in a new system, learning kind of how
8:00
they do their stuff, those are all big challenges for me.
8:04
So even though I came in and in May of 2020 or 22,000 and five,
8:11
it was a, that summer was probably one of my busiest
8:18
summers I've ever had because of just onboarding so many clients
8:22
and really kind of learning the process and everything.
8:27
So I think the fact that so many clients came with you says a lot
8:32
about the type of service that you have been providing them
8:35
over the years. Tell me about the relationship
8:38
that you had typically with a client at that point.
8:42
Yeah, it, it was, you know, it was just really built on the the
8:48
concept of how can I help them, right?
8:52
It was always about what can I do to help them and their
8:56
business. And almost all my clients were
8:59
business owners. There's a few, I had a couple of
9:03
nonprofit clients at that time that has since grown a little
9:07
bit bigger. But at the time it was all
9:10
business clients. And so I was just I was the most
9:13
curious person probably that anybody ever had come in their
9:17
business because I was always asking of how they did this and
9:21
learning about their business. And I think that curiosity have
9:26
like a contagiousness to it and and they love the fact that I
9:31
wanted to know about their business.
9:32
And so ultimately, I think behind the, I don't know, like
9:39
without thinking about it or being intentional about it,
9:43
anytime I heard they had a problem of any kind, it was
9:47
like, how do we solve that problem?
9:48
Like it was like I jumped into their shoes of wanting to help
9:51
them. Even if it was something outside
9:53
of accounting related. Yeah, right.
9:59
OK. I thought I'd close all my apps,
10:01
but there's one of them broke it.
10:05
So so yeah. So what happened with that is
10:08
you know, when somebody needed a new bank loan, I'm like, I don't
10:12
make bank loans, but how do we help them find a bank loan?
10:15
And, you know, kind of finding that pathway towards I got to
10:21
build more relationships that have nothing to do with
10:24
accounting. I have to build relationships
10:27
and banking and finding good attorneys and finding great
10:31
insurance people and and then, you know, bringing those
10:36
relationships to my clients to help them have a great
10:39
experience. Why were you so driven to do
10:42
that? I mean, you're trying to support
10:44
your book of business. You're really busy anyways,
10:47
especially, you know, peak tax season and all that.
10:49
Like why volunteer to take on this extra work?
10:58
Ah boy, that's like a psychological question I think.
11:01
But I think, you know, my dad immigrated to this country.
11:07
He came from Yugoslavia. He was in the war, you know, not
11:09
in the he was a young man during World War 2, was actually shot
11:16
and survived that and immigrated here and then found his way and
11:23
started his own business. And, and I saw, you know, my mom
11:28
did the books for my dad's business on the kitchen table on
11:31
these big huge Ledger sheets. And so I saw the, you know, what
11:37
they went through and kind of the resourcefulness that my mom
11:40
had to help my dad be successful and his business.
11:43
And, and so, you know, it was just one of those things where
11:47
I'm like, I want to help people, you know, business owners be
11:50
more successful. And I think that's where it
11:54
started from or where that drive came from.
11:57
And then the appreciation for that advisory side of what we do
12:03
is so much greater than here's your tax return or here's your
12:06
audit or here's your this. And so when you can really make
12:11
a bigger impact and and help people, that appreciation is
12:15
there. And so I don't know, some people
12:17
maybe call it a codependency of like, I want that acceptance or
12:21
that appreciation. But I kind of thought about it a
12:25
long time ago and I said when I end my career, what do I want
12:29
people to say? And I hope that they say Rich
12:32
helped me in my business and guiding me and made a big
12:36
difference and so. I think that's really cool and I
12:41
don't think there's any reason to slack a smack a negative
12:45
label of codependency on and I think that's just somebody, you
12:48
know, he he saw like what what small business owners you saw
12:52
your dad, you know what he was going through to, you know, put
12:55
food on the table and you're like, hey, I can help out.
12:59
I want to do that. It shows you've got a good
13:01
heart. So I had great parents so that
13:04
they, yeah, they help. Yeah, apple doesn't fall far
13:09
from the tree rich. So a lot's happened in the 20
13:12
years since you've been with SFW very recently.
13:16
You know, just a little over a year ago in January of 25, you
13:19
became managing partner. That's a specific kind of
13:24
transition, you know, going from peer to leader inside the same
13:28
firm. What?
13:28
What did that change for you and your day-to-day duties?
13:34
Well, it was a big change, you know, I was.
13:36
So my whole career has been focused on clients and client
13:41
service and, and helping clients and, you know, switching to
13:45
managing partner, my focus had to switch to my biggest and most
13:50
important client is the firm. And you know, I don't know that
13:55
I was ready for it. I actually asked the old
13:59
managing partner to stay on for one more year is that girl,
14:02
because it's a two year elected cycle.
14:05
And he's like, I think it's time, you know, and so, you
14:11
know, we went through a, an election and my partners, you
14:15
know, elected me as that managing partner.
14:17
But I, I think it was like, I, I, I don't know that I was
14:21
really ready for it, right? And but this past year, it's
14:26
been a lot of growing, not just for myself, but the, the, the
14:32
growth has come in, you know, trusting, empowering others to
14:38
do the things that I was doing, taking care of clients and, you
14:44
know, and then really being candid and having open feedback
14:49
when things weren't going as I wanted them to go in that
14:54
transition. So I'm still involved with my
14:57
clients at the higher, you know, more strategic advisory level,
15:03
but not so much on the tax returns and you know, audits and
15:09
different things aspects of it. So that was, it was a big
15:14
change. I'm still adjusting to it.
15:15
I mean it's. Why did you think you weren't
15:17
ready for it? Why was that a story you were
15:20
telling yourself? You know it, I don't know.
15:26
I think it was that I was so ingrained in so many aspects of
15:33
my clients lives that stepping away seemed really scary.
15:37
Like, like I there just wasn't going to be enough hours in the
15:40
day to manage the firm well and still take care of my clients at
15:45
the level that I was involved with them.
15:48
And I think that's where I had to really embed others into the
15:53
relationships and, and I just wasn't good and I just wasn't
15:57
like maybe prepared for it in the beginning.
16:01
You didn't want to pull away from your clients.
16:03
You had such a good relationship with them.
16:04
You've been working with them for so many years, supporting
16:07
them in so many ways. There's a connection there.
16:09
I get it. Yeah.
16:12
So, but now, you know, as I what's helped me mentally get
16:17
over that hump a little bit is that I know I can't be here
16:22
forever anyway, right? And you know, life's short.
16:25
There's only so many years we have left on this planet.
16:28
And so really my focus was how can I really build a sustainable
16:34
model so that our clients, when I do go away, that our clients
16:40
are still taking care of. And so it was really a mental
16:43
shift for me that I have to help empower others in the firm to
16:47
grow into and kind of be that same advisor that I was and, and
16:52
coach them and, and, you know, get to the point where the
16:56
clients, you know, even though it'll hurt me a little bit, the
16:59
clients love them just as much as they love me.
17:02
So have you tried and if you've tried, have you been able to
17:07
instill in the, you know, the folks that you're delegating
17:11
your work to now to carry that same kind of philosophy of how
17:16
else can I help you outside of the accounting realm?
17:19
Oh, you need a banking relationship?
17:22
I've got somebody for you, etcetera.
17:24
Yeah, yeah, we so yes to that and and that as everybody that
17:36
again I mean I almost every single client I know, I know who
17:39
their banker is and who their attorney is most cases who their
17:42
insurance person is, sometimes their financial advisor,
17:45
probably most time and financial advisor.
17:47
So we really do operate as a team.
17:50
So when I do bring another of our team members in, I am
17:54
introducing to all those people and telling them these are
17:58
important relationships. You have to build those
18:01
relationships with those people just as much as you do with the
18:04
client. Something that we are kicking
18:08
off here after busy season is we are having several.
18:14
We've already scheduled out like 4 different mixers with banks
18:19
and law firms and one insurance company that are coming our
18:26
office. We're having basically introduce
18:29
the emerging leaders and their firms to the emerging leaders on
18:33
our farm and to build those relationships and say, like, I
18:38
can't force a relationship on you, but somewhere in this pool
18:41
of people you're going to find some of you connect with.
18:44
Hold on to that. You don't have to have 10
18:47
different relationships. You need to have a one or two
18:51
solid relationships and then help them first go out.
18:56
If you've ever read the book the go giver is one of my favorite
18:59
books. I give it to everybody in the
19:01
front and when they start it's you know you don't worry about
19:06
what's in it for you be open to receiving.
19:10
But when you really focus on helping somebody else be more
19:15
successful, you give them something more value than you
19:18
take in payment and you don't keep score that it just works
19:25
like somehow all those things when they know that you're a
19:28
giver, you're always going to be a giver by heart and people want
19:32
to do work with you. So that is one of the, and it's,
19:37
it's a crazy book. Like I, I somebody said, Hey, I
19:41
think you would like this book. You know, like after meeting me
19:44
and I think you'd like this book.
19:46
I said, well, why? Like, I don't know, you kind of,
19:48
I think you do a lot of these things and I think you'd like
19:51
it. And so I read it.
19:52
I'm like, Oh my God, I love this story.
19:54
It is totally how I see life and how I always try to live.
19:59
And they wrote a book about it and so.
20:03
It's like somebody wrote that book for you.
20:06
It didn't. It did.
20:07
I was like, this is I could never have expressed all those
20:11
things like the way they did, but because I just never took
20:16
the tire and slowed down and say what, why?
20:19
Why am I, why have I had these expenses?
20:23
You know, how have I overcome these things?
20:26
It's just, I don't know. It's just how you know.
20:28
It's just how you move through the world.
20:30
Yeah. So tell us more specifically,
20:37
what does SFW offer today? So we're a full service firm.
20:43
Well, I shouldn't even say full service anymore because it's
20:45
such a wide, wide definition to various people.
20:48
But we, we do the traditional accounting and advisory work.
20:53
So we do the tax returns, we do for businesses, individuals,
20:59
trust nonprofits, we do audits, all the test services, we do
21:06
business evaluations. We what we try to do though, is
21:11
spend time in an advisory capacity.
21:14
We've helped people exit their businesses getting prepared to
21:19
from I don't know if if and when I want to sell or I want to
21:23
transition to a family member. We work in that capacity as
21:28
well. A few years ago we brought on an
21:33
amazing person in our firm called her name is Nancy.
21:36
What we blame she really impact. We, we brought her in selfishly,
21:41
like we need help, like we're we're growing, we have turnover,
21:47
we're spending time on client stuff, we're not spending enough
21:51
time on people internally. And so we really stole her from
21:58
another professional service firm and it was not using all
22:03
her talents the way she wanted them.
22:06
And we gave her a seat at the table.
22:08
And I told her like literally, I got introduced to her, drove
22:12
home, talked to her on the drive home, got to my Home Office, sat
22:16
down. I talked to her for another hour
22:17
and a half and they said you should come in and meet me as my
22:20
partners. And so she said, so she tells
22:23
the story. She's like, yeah, you had me
22:25
like 5 minutes into the conversation.
22:28
And but it's been amazing because what, what we were, you
22:34
know, I was kind of one of those people where I just, I'll watch
22:37
what that successful person is doing and I'll just do what they
22:41
do, right? And I just kind of looked at
22:43
what people did that was successful and I tried to
22:46
emulate their successes. We never, you know, we weren't
22:53
building that foundation of how do you develop people and give
22:57
them a strong foundation of their own personal development.
23:01
And so Nancy was, and I told her, I said, Nancy, you know, we
23:06
need help internally. We want to reduce our turnover.
23:09
We want to hire better. We want to really define who we
23:12
are so that we attract the right people.
23:16
You know, I love Simon Sinek and start with why.
23:18
And you know, people don't buy what you do, they buy why you do
23:21
it. And I, I truly believe that in
23:24
the way of alignment with your people, you know, if you could
23:28
be clear about why you're doing what you're doing, you're going
23:31
to find the right people that come into the firm and join the
23:34
firm. So a number of years ago we came
23:38
back to say, you know, why are we doing this?
23:42
And kind of, as I alluded, I have the job satisfaction of
23:46
knowing that help people. And, you know, kind of going
23:50
into this kind of meeting, I was like, well, if it's anything but
23:54
we help people, I think we're on the wrong track, right?
23:57
And but but we kind of came up with a better term.
24:01
You know, it's to serve and support people achieving more
24:03
together, right? That we're not just there to,
24:07
you know, we're supporting them, but with a goal of really
24:10
helping them get to where they want to go in their careers and
24:13
their lives and their business. And that's where the true
24:18
satisfaction comes from. But going back to Nancy, I did
24:21
tell her, Hey, get us. I mean, get us, you know, going
24:26
great because she wasn't sure if it was even a full time job.
24:29
She's like, it might be fractional.
24:31
I'm like, I don't want a fractional.
24:32
I want all of you to like, I can know how sometimes fractional
24:37
goes. And, and my fear was if you're
24:39
not here all the time, the things you tell us to do, we're
24:42
not going to do because we're going to get busy with other
24:45
stuff. And so I said, but look, I know
24:48
you don't want to give up your consulting and your advisory.
24:51
Get us going in the right direction, get us systems and
24:55
processes, and then we'll, we'll be a shining star of what can
25:00
happen, of where we were to where we are today.
25:03
And we could take this to the world.
25:05
We'll, we'll help others do this.
25:07
And so we're doing exactly that now.
25:09
Nancy's become an advisor. We, it's a segment of our, our
25:14
firm. And so she does everything from
25:21
competencies at every level. So what does this position and
25:25
the firm need from a competency level?
25:28
So really defining if you want to get promoted to this next
25:31
position, what is it going to take from a self development
25:35
standpoint to reach that and to be really clear about it.
25:38
And those have that. That's been a game changer for
25:43
us. But for the clients that she
25:45
serves has been amazing. And because there's never been
25:49
clarity about what does it mean to be, you know, AVP of any sort
25:53
of, you know, senior VP. And so she's helped go into
25:58
their companies, understand their culture, define that and
26:02
really bring a foundation. And it's kind of built on the,
26:06
the principles of forgetting the book name.
26:11
But you know, having if, if you don't know your, what's expected
26:16
out of you, you really can't thrive in your position if you
26:19
really have no clear expectations.
26:20
So. So let me wrap my head around
26:23
this because it occurs to me, Rich, that you've gone from
26:26
taking care of clients to taking care of the firm and the people
26:31
that work there. And Nancy has been instrumental
26:34
in this. And a big part, if I get this
26:37
correct, a big part of what she's been able to help you guys
26:41
do is to establish and identify that culture, like really, you
26:45
know, formulate it, put it into, you know, concrete form and then
26:51
set up training for employees. And so they can understand, OK,
26:57
I'm coming in as a staff accountant, but you know, I want
27:00
to advance my career. I want to grow and I want to
27:02
learn. And she gives them the path to
27:05
do that. And it's worked so well at your
27:07
company and helped you guys attract the right kinds of
27:10
people and then retain them as well that now within SFW, you
27:17
guys are offering this as a service to other clients.
27:21
Yes. And we offer it to other CPA
27:25
firms within our AGN network, which is an association that
27:29
we're engaged in. So she goes there and does big
27:34
conferences and seminars and talks about what that's like.
27:38
Like the line at her desk afterwards is a huge line of
27:43
people wanting to talk to her, largely because, again, we have
27:47
a real life example of what could be.
27:51
And, you know, when you're in aging and you're kind of broken
27:53
into groups of size, like how big is your firm?
27:56
So you're kind of grouped in those sizes.
27:58
And so we've kind of moved up a few groups since we've, you
28:03
know, over the last five to 10 years and people like, what are
28:07
you guys doing this, you know, allowing you to grow and, and do
28:10
this. So, you know, we kind of share
28:13
some of the stories. So the people side is a big part
28:17
of what's been able to support that growth, but where have the
28:21
new clients come from? Well, I think they've come from
28:28
everywhere to be honest. I mean, we've, we've, we see
28:30
clients coming from, they're growing, they're outgrowing an
28:34
existing CPA relationship that maybe was just really focused on
28:39
the compliance aspect of that relationship.
28:42
So we've seen that the referrals come from everywhere, from
28:46
existing clients, from bankers, you know, they're seeing the
28:50
pain, you know, from their clients that hey, how come
28:54
you're not like, like, you know, they're seeing the growing pains
28:57
and saying you might need somebody more than what you're
29:01
getting right now. So it comes from that.
29:04
It also has come, the biggest impact in the last 2-3 years has
29:09
come from much larger firms that have either sold or are not part
29:16
of a private equity group or something that has really
29:20
changed the culture. I've heard this story numerous
29:24
times. I love the the guy that works on
29:27
my account. It's just he's not available
29:29
anymore. His firm has changed.
29:32
Everything has changed about it. So they're leaving the firm, not
29:36
the person. And more than once I've said,
29:38
hey, tell that guy to come over and join us.
29:43
So, so I think that's it too. It's, it's sometimes those
29:48
mergers and, and you know, acquisitions don't go exactly as
29:53
people are hoping they go and they lose their identity.
29:58
And so, yeah, so we've we've seen it from both sides.
30:03
Speaking of mergers and acquisitions, you mentioned
30:06
before this is you know, advisory services is one of the
30:09
things that you guys provide and you're highly regarded in the
30:12
Saint Louis area for the M&A advisory services that you
30:16
provide. When a business owner comes to
30:18
you thinking about an exit, what are they traditionally getting
30:21
wrong about what the process involved?
30:25
Well, I, I think a couple things.
30:27
I mean, I think 1 is a lot of them come with, I have no idea.
30:33
I've never sold the business. I don't know where to start.
30:35
I don't know anything about it. So it's not necessarily wrong.
30:39
It's just they don't know where to go and what the process looks
30:42
like. So I spend time upfront kind of
30:46
walking through the processes that I've seen, you know, and
30:50
they're, I haven't seen them all, obviously, but, but really
30:55
I've kind of explained to him how it typically goes, you know,
31:01
what to look out for, give them all the pitfalls before they
31:04
even agree or want to say, yeah, we want to work with you.
31:08
I I just give them a lot of coaching and advice and say, you
31:12
know, you know, some of this, you know, your attorney might
31:17
want to take the lead, you know, so I leave it open.
31:20
And almost every time they want me involved after having those
31:23
conversations because the confidence that they gain out of
31:27
those conversations. And, you know, even the people
31:31
that get unsolicited offers, they weren't even in the market
31:35
to sell, but now they have somebody that says, Hey, we want
31:38
to buy your business. You know how much you give me
31:41
for it. And then they get a big price
31:42
and then they're like, OK, let's do that.
31:44
And then and then like, maybe I need a somebody to help guide me
31:48
through this process. I didn't know this more than
31:51
more than once. And we've turned out, you know,
31:54
again, if I can get in early enough, they turned out
31:57
significantly better than and when it's kind of late and in
32:01
the game. And now we're just dealing with
32:04
what we have so. Because you can guide them
32:06
through, hey, here are things that you want to make sure that
32:09
are part of the agreement. Here are things that
32:11
traditionally come up in the negotiation process.
32:13
We can kind of help avoid the pitfalls that you don't know
32:17
that are traditionally there. Yeah.
32:20
And how to really position your business with this true value
32:24
drivers, right. I mean, sometimes people like,
32:27
well, I see this is what your EBITDA is now.
32:29
It's what does that mean? OK, you know, we'll give you a
32:34
multiple of this. Well, what if they haven't spent
32:38
the time to really say, and I'm not talking about the ad backs.
32:41
Most people get those simple ad backs back like the yeah, my
32:46
wife's on payroll or something silly that she doesn't really do
32:50
it on for the business, you know, those types of things.
32:55
You know, we don't have clients that have boats and fun things
32:58
in their business. But you know, but but you know,
33:01
those kind of add backs, they generally capture.
33:06
What they don't sometimes capture is, hey, you tried this,
33:11
you know, last year you tried this new expansion plan.
33:15
It just didn't work out. It didn't add any value to the
33:17
bottom line. But you've invested
33:20
significantly in that growth of the business that isn't really
33:24
going to reflect into the future.
33:26
So we should really carve that out.
33:28
That was like an experiment that you spent inside the business
33:32
and that's not really, really representative of what they're
33:36
buying. And so you know, and so that has
33:40
been a huge game changer and being able to go in and look at
33:44
what does a stabilized business look like and what were the
33:47
things. And I have one guy who's
33:49
entrepreneur and I'm like Brett, you have to stop like form other
33:54
enemies to start new businesses because you're he does it inside
33:57
his business. He.
33:58
Was forming new business ideas under the same umbrella, and
34:01
that's making his PNL look worse because there's a lot of these,
34:04
as you call them, experiments that take place that no, they
34:07
don't all pan out. Yeah.
34:09
So, yeah. And so, yeah, he's like, well,
34:12
so no, it's been, those are the things that we do to help
34:15
capture the value, the true value of the business and it
34:19
presented the right way. And and then obviously it's all
34:22
about getting competition in that environment so that not
34:26
just one person wants to buy you, but six people do, you
34:29
know, and that that helps, you know, create a better outcome
34:34
because it's not always about the best sales price anyway.
34:37
It is about, you know, everybody wants to know that the business
34:41
that they built is going to have take care of the people that
34:44
they're leaving behind, that it's going to, you know, have,
34:50
you know, it's not going to change everything about the
34:52
business that. And I said, why would people
34:55
want to do that anyway? Like some of these companies,
34:57
they do that and I'm like, why are you buying the business in
35:01
the 1st place if you're not buying what they built?
35:04
You know, you can make, you know, incremental changes over
35:08
time, but why wholesale change things to say, well, I know how
35:11
to do it better. Just why wouldn't they have just
35:13
started their own business and done it better if they was that
35:16
easy? So yeah, that's kind of the
35:20
going out and getting options and choices I think helps people
35:25
make way better decisions on exiting their business.
35:29
Makes a lot of sense. And again, sometimes it's I have
35:32
a family member that I want to take over this business and how
35:35
do we help groom them? And, and that's where we say
35:38
Nancy can help do. Nancy can really kind of come
35:41
up. You know, Nancy said to me one
35:45
day, she's like, we have to get what's in your head down in a
35:48
manual and in a pamphlet so that there's a blueprint for what
35:53
helps people be successful. And I'm like, like, you don't
35:56
want to go there. But but yeah, so but that that's
36:02
a truism, I think. And and people coming in and
36:05
buying businesses that help people buy businesses as well.
36:09
And there's always an underestimation of that personal
36:13
goodwill, that intellectual knowledge that, you know, that
36:18
that goes away when the owner and founder goes with it.
36:21
And because nothing's surely and completely documented in the way
36:26
of processes and relationships. And what don't I know?
36:31
So that's a, that's an important thing to, again, if we have the
36:36
time, the three to five years, those are the things that we do
36:39
to help people really get ready to exit.
36:43
And again, one of the things so many people on the hour are
36:46
looking at, how can we do an ESOP?
36:48
You know, what does an ESOP look like?
36:50
And I wish the regulatory aspects of Esops were not as
36:55
great as they are because I think they're a great vehicle,
36:59
but it's just hard for a smaller business to achieve a successful
37:03
outcome in ESOP. Because of the costs that are
37:05
involved and structuring it correctly.
37:08
Yeah. I'm curious, you know, you're
37:10
talking about, you know what, getting the business kind of
37:14
ready for sale. Yeah, three to five years.
37:16
You know, how do you not take the owner out of it, but make
37:21
them less critical to the day-to-day operations,
37:24
Systematize and add processes for as many things as you can.
37:27
Knowing that you're not going to get 100% there.
37:30
And thinking about the owners making a transition out of their
37:36
baby, the business that they've built, you know, with blood,
37:39
sweat and tears over the years, What are some of the most
37:41
surprising things you see for them and trying to make that
37:44
transition out. Yeah, it's, I mean, there's a
37:48
lot of fear, you know, again, if they're not there every day,
37:53
what happens to the business? And so if they were one, and
37:57
again, I'm guilty of this myself inside my business, but if, if
38:02
they were the one involved and everything, like they can't
38:05
imagine stepping away. So that's why sometimes people
38:09
like, I just want to check and walk away and never look back
38:13
because their fear is that it won't survive without them.
38:20
So when we have that runway and we can help build that next here
38:25
I said, look, it's nothing bad can come of this.
38:29
If, if you, if you build this next team of, of leaders in your
38:34
business, they might be the buyers.
38:37
Like you might have just created your own succession plan without
38:40
having to go to market. And now you have internal people
38:43
that can do it. And so it, it's, it's a win win
38:48
from the standpoint of not only are you helping people
38:51
potentially become entrepreneurs themselves or business owners
38:54
themselves, but you know, you're establishing and, and creating a
39:00
higher value for your own business that you can walk away
39:03
from it. A buyer would look at it and
39:05
say, yeah, these guys are solid. Don't need to worry about the
39:09
owner leading because there's a whole team of people doing this.
39:12
So, so that's been the coaching aspect of it.
39:18
Now again, sometimes things happen a lot quicker than that
39:22
and there's not that time to prepare but.
39:26
When you've got it, it's better. And you like to have it.
39:28
Yeah. Let's transition into something
39:31
else that you built Wagon wheels.
39:34
What is this? So Wagon Wheels is, you know, I
39:40
guess I got to almost start at the beginning because it's hard
39:43
to understand without that foundation.
39:46
But so I have a son, Lance, who is now 26, will be 27 real soon.
39:55
And he's non verbal. He was born with something
39:58
called Trisomy 4. Q And, you know, it's been, you
40:05
know, one of those things where never expected it to happen.
40:09
Like, you know, you don't plan for these types of things, but
40:13
when they're. When they happen, you're like,
40:15
OK, you got a couple choices here.
40:17
And and so you either adapt and grow with it or, you know, a lot
40:22
of people divorce and they go separate ways.
40:24
And so my wife that one of the things like came to me and she
40:28
said when when he was born, hey, the divorce rate for people with
40:32
special needs children is so high.
40:34
Like it's higher than that. It's like, we're not going to
40:36
get a divorce. I'm like, oh, we're not going to
40:37
get a divorce. Like perhaps we're good, but but
40:40
I understand those challenges and I see that does happen and I
40:44
think it we use it as a growth to come together.
40:47
Right. So, so Lance was not going to
40:50
have a traditional job when he got out of school.
40:53
He's non verbal today. He needs support around the
40:58
clock. You know, so we have great
41:00
family. We have a team of people that
41:02
help support them. But one of the things that we
41:06
saw as people were getting growing up is that a lot of
41:13
times they were just at home with a family member and they
41:16
weren't out engaged in the community.
41:18
And there's a high level of, of depression in the population
41:22
because they aren't doing anything meaningful.
41:25
They're sitting in front of ATV, you know, 8-9 hours a day or
41:29
they're just not engaged. And, and we didn't want that for
41:33
our son, so we wanted something more.
41:35
What really triggered it and why we started it?
41:37
When we started it was because Lance, he was having a back
41:41
surgery. He had scoliosis really bad.
41:44
And the doctor's like, OK, he's at that age.
41:48
His growth plates are closed. We should probably do this now
41:52
because it'll just get worse. It's not going to get better on
41:54
its own. So we put 2 rods in his bag and
41:58
surgery went great. Doctors came in afterwards and
42:00
said it was a great surgery, He's going to be great.
42:03
He's going to be two inches taller and all these things and
42:07
they're like, OK, great. And then as he kind of came
42:10
through recovery, things weren't so great.
42:13
He had a lot of complications. He ended up developing a huge
42:19
amount of fluid on his lungs. Your X-rays are terrible.
42:24
We didn't even know how bad it was.
42:26
You know, I think the doctors knew how bad it was.
42:29
We were like, OK, what do we do next?
42:31
You know, we're trying to figure it out.
42:32
And, and, you know, they had to put tubes in them and drain it.
42:37
They're just filling up, you know, big, huge things of fluid
42:40
off his lungs. And it was terrible.
42:43
And, you know, it was, it did get scary.
42:45
We had, you know, the priest come in and give him, give him
42:53
his last rites and stuff. But we, we didn't want to, we
42:59
knew this, this was not going to be the end.
43:02
And so we, we focused on, sorry, I haven't said that story in a
43:09
while, but we, we focused on what was going to happen when we
43:14
got out of this hospital and we kind of always joked about it.
43:18
We knew Lance's favorite thing to do in the world is go for car
43:21
rides. He could be in a car 8 hours a
43:24
day. It's not enough for him.
43:25
I just want to get back in. We've taken vacations.
43:28
Everybody's like exhausted. We got to go out the car.
43:30
Lance is like, let's get back in, let's do some more driving.
43:34
So we're like, you know, wouldn't it be great if he could
43:36
be like a ride along person with a U PS: driver or something
43:39
along those lines? He would be a happy kid and we
43:45
didn't think that that was possible.
43:46
So we say, well, why don't we just start our own delivery
43:48
business? Why don't we create a something
43:52
that he loves to do and let's just make deliveries.
43:56
Prior to surgery, he was working at the farmers market in
43:58
Kirkwood. It's an awesome little thing.
44:02
It's kind of a fine story because my daughter had worked
44:04
there first and they loved her. So we went up and approached the
44:08
owners and said, hey, can Lance just have a volunteer job up
44:11
here? He doesn't pay him.
44:14
They were like, well, you know what's going to do?
44:16
Like he doesn't. And I'm like, no, we'll bring
44:18
staff up with them. He'll be supported.
44:20
You don't, you know, it's just we want him out engaged in the
44:23
community. So after a few weeks of
44:28
convincing, they said yes. And, and So what I did, I didn't
44:34
want them to ever regret that decision.
44:37
So the week before he started up there and it's going to be on a
44:40
Saturday, we emailed everybody we knew and we said, hey, go
44:47
visit Lance of the farmers market.
44:48
He's up there working today. Just say hi.
44:52
That day there was hundreds of people coming into the farmers
44:56
market and asking for Lance and the owners of the farmers market
45:02
were like, what is going on here?
45:04
And so it, it was one of those things where it became an
45:07
amazing relationship between the owners of that farmer's market
45:11
and, and wagon wheels. So when we knew we were in the
45:15
hospital and we just had to focus on what are we going to do
45:18
when we come out of this? We said, we're going to start
45:23
wagging wheels. We're just going to do it now.
45:24
And we didn't have a blueprint. We didn't know what we were
45:27
doing. We, it's kind of like building
45:29
the plane as you're flying it, right?
45:30
It was, we'll just figure it out as we go.
45:34
When we went back to Chris and Danny, who we love and they're
45:37
awesome. They gave one of us the
45:38
opportunity there the first time we said, Hey, we want to be your
45:41
delivery business. They're like, Oh my God, that's,
45:44
that's, that's more than just volunteering, right?
45:47
And, and we said, no, we want to do it.
45:50
We'll do it great. And then customers will love it
45:53
and, and we're going to figure it out.
45:56
It's, it's something that's meaningful to us.
45:57
And so, you know, and I love them to this day.
46:01
They said no, and they said no multiple times.
46:04
And just like they said no the first time when we asked them to
46:07
volunteer up there. But so we said we had already
46:12
said we're doing this. We told people we're doing this
46:15
and then kept saying no. I told my wife.
46:17
She said, how'd the meeting go with Chris?
46:18
Me, Because she didn't leave the hospital the six weeks that
46:20
Lance was in there, she never left.
46:23
So she's like, hey, what did Chris and Danny say?
46:25
And I said, Oh yeah, they said we're in.
46:26
We're going to do it and and you were.
46:30
Telling her a lie. A lie.
46:32
Like I, I couldn't not let her think that this was going to
46:35
happen. And so, so when we kind of got
46:38
down to it and then we said about how are we going to start
46:40
this? And she's, this is like, you
46:42
know, coming up with all these reservations still.
46:44
And my wife Teresa is looking at everything.
46:46
I thought you had this worked out.
46:48
I think I'm going to say yes. And So what we ultimately did,
46:52
we had already told somebody friends about what we're going
46:55
to do. They're like, hey, when's land
46:56
starting? And they're like, well, it's not
46:58
working exactly the way we wanted it to.
47:02
But they said, well, can he just run up and get us a few things?
47:06
And we're like, yeah, he can do that.
47:07
And so we went up and we just started shopping for people.
47:11
And we weren't their delivery business.
47:13
We were just helping people. We we shopped, we brought it
47:16
back to them. Shopped at the farmers market.
47:18
Shopped at the farmers market picked up the fresh produce and
47:21
brought it to their home and and we did that over and over again
47:25
and eventually by word of mouth this grew into five days a week,
47:32
5 deliveries a day we're making deliveries we're shopping all
47:36
these 25 to $35 orders that we're buying from the farmers
47:40
market at retail. Chris and Danny, like, what are
47:44
you guys doing? Like buy you up here some every
47:47
day of the week shopping and you know, like you're not eating all
47:51
this food, Like, Oh no, just some neighbors needed some help
47:53
and we were just going to pick it up for them and they're like,
47:57
OK. And so then they made it an
47:59
official and we became part of their, we became their delivery
48:02
business. You wore them down again.
48:06
So we wore them down again or. Charmed them again, I should
48:08
say, and. It, it became, and then so that,
48:11
that the first year was just lanes and it was just one of
48:15
those things. We, we formed a little LLC to do
48:18
this. And then we had so many other
48:22
families with children with disabilities said, Hey, can my
48:26
kid do this? And we said, well, I don't know,
48:31
like it's just a little business that we're doing.
48:33
And, and the, the, the outpouring was huge.
48:38
And I was like, you know, 1520 people saying my kid would love
48:41
to do this. And so we had a couple meetings
48:45
over the winter and said, are you guys serious?
48:47
Like are you really in? Because it's not just you can't
48:50
just drop your kid off with us. Like we don't have the
48:52
horsepower. You got to be part of it and
48:55
you're going to have to bring resources to it.
48:57
And we had enough of a commitment to say, let's do it.
49:01
And so we changed. We formed a nonprofit
49:04
corporation and basically started it over with that as a
49:08
nonprofit. And then yeah.
49:11
And now today, the first year we have like 20 people
49:14
participating in the programs and today we're up to like 70
49:18
people and it's way more than delivery.
49:20
And we're not actually doing the farmers market anymore.
49:23
We now have grown into partnering with a whole bunch of
49:27
mission driven businesses that we partner with.
49:32
So and it's not only about delivery anymore.
49:35
We are growing tower gardens, hydroponic plants where
49:40
wagoneers come and plant seeds and do everything.
49:43
So, so the bigger mission is you've got folks with special
49:47
needs that traditionally are not getting out and, you know,
49:50
active in the community, like you said, sitting on a couch in
49:53
front of a TV, high rates of depression.
49:56
So how can we get them engaged in meaningful activities outside
50:00
the home? What a great origin story.
50:04
And there's so much to unpack there.
50:06
And we'll we'll try to come back to.
50:08
But what it is in its current form is not necessarily about
50:13
deliveries. It's again, like partnering with
50:16
these different groups that say, hey, you know, we've got
50:19
capacity. We've got, you know, a way to
50:21
get them involved, get them something meaningful to do.
50:25
Give us examples of some of these partners.
50:27
So Oh my gosh, Brad. So well, I'll start with
50:34
Pioneer, Pioneer Cafe, great organization inside Kirkwood, MO
50:40
and they partnered with another organization called Lafayette
50:47
Industries, which had its foundations and roots in the
50:50
shelter workshop world. But they recognize that there's
50:54
this gap in transit, you know, people that maybe could be in
50:58
competitive employment, but just don't have the, the job skills
51:02
training that will get them there, that independence and
51:05
everything else. So, so I actually was on the
51:09
board. Well, I still am on the board
51:11
that I'm a retired president of that board.
51:13
But you know, we started a program called Step Up and we
51:18
were looking for a partner company to have our real world
51:22
experience and their stores and their shops.
51:25
And so Pioneer stepped up and said, I want to be that partner.
51:29
And so that's a great story. And there's a lot of media on
51:32
that. But but ultimately coming out of
51:35
COVID, they did this and and so there's a partnership.
51:39
So Step Up program brings their people into the Pioneer Cafe.
51:44
They're learning in front of the house, service to customers,
51:48
they're working in the back of the house, getting training on
51:51
how to, you know, make parts of the meals and everything and
51:56
getting everything ready. So a lot of our graduates now
52:00
have, you know, close to full time, if not full time jobs
52:05
working in different hospitality areas.
52:09
So it's it that's a great story. So what we do is we, we created
52:14
a box lunch program and so we go to businesses all around Saint
52:18
Louis and we set up what we call the community cart.
52:22
So we'll set up in the lobby of the business and say, hey, you
52:25
know, we're going to be delivering lunches throughout
52:27
the week. You know, this week everybody
52:28
wants to take orders. And so we have our Wagoneers,
52:31
they're helping take borders on iPads, you know, and you know,
52:35
serve some refreshments. And then then throughout the
52:40
week they're making the deliveries back to those
52:42
businesses. But these box launch programs.
52:44
And then a lot of times businesses will just say, hey,
52:47
we have a meeting, can you bring in 20 box lunches?
52:50
We do that. And so for each of the people
52:54
that are participating, do they require support?
52:59
Are they are they bringing their own support team or or support
53:03
members with them? But but in some cases we have a
53:09
support team that will be supporting the that person
53:13
there. So the parent is dropping off
53:15
and they're not staying and then they're doing programs with us.
53:21
But in most cases, the people that are coming are coming with
53:26
a support person. Now that might be a four to one
53:29
relationship, you know, depending on the the amount of
53:33
support the person needs. It really depends on the
53:35
individual. But one of the things that we
53:38
did that we didn't want to call it like we didn't want it to be
53:41
a daycare, babysitting or anything like that.
53:44
We wanted it to be something that people can grow from.
53:48
So we created a whole similar to what we've done in the firm.
53:57
We've set goals of like where is your baseline today?
54:01
What are you doing independently or not independently today?
54:04
Or where can we get you over the next 6 to 12 months and having
54:09
more independence in your life. And this is one of the, I mean,
54:15
luckily they love doing what we're doing.
54:18
And so it's such a motivator that they come to wagon wheels
54:24
with the an excitement about that they get to do this, that
54:27
they work really hard and they know what their goals are.
54:31
They're checking them off. So I skipped this part of it,
54:35
but my daughter now runs it and I so like we, it was too much
54:39
for my wife and I, it grew too much.
54:41
So it's like I got a full time job, you know, so my daughter
54:45
stepped in and she's like, I want to run this.
54:46
I want to be, I love it. And so, so she has taken me to
54:52
the next level, but I want to mess this part up and I feel
54:56
terrible about it. But they they've written on
55:00
these index cards. I am, I will something, maybe I
55:07
can, I can't remember. But all of them have their own
55:11
goals in there, like I am somebody and I will do
55:17
something. And that's their goals.
55:19
They have them all pinned up. It's, it's very like, I got to
55:25
do this in my office. You know, it is, it's such a
55:27
thing that is tells you who you are and what you're really
55:31
wanting to do. And so she tracks it.
55:35
She has a, we bought a really expensive software to help
55:39
monitor those. So every time somebody comes and
55:42
does a program, either Wagon Wheel staff or one of the
55:47
volunteers will log, you know, here's what they've done in
55:50
tracking those matrix. And and that was important for
55:55
us to say, is what we're doing meaningful?
55:57
Like is there noticeable or measurable outcomes and what
56:01
we're doing? And so far it, this started back
56:04
in August, September time frame that we started tracking and so
56:10
far we're seeing really positive outcomes.
56:13
So that's so cool. And where does the funding come
56:16
from, Rich? So some of it is from, you know,
56:19
we are businesses that are worse, you know, bringing the
56:22
meals to their funding. So, so, so some of it is real
56:26
revenue, but we do a big fundraiser every year called
56:30
Speedway Spectacular. You know, again, I'm blessed
56:35
with amazing clients and amazing networks of bankers and
56:39
attorneys that they have all stepped up to be sponsors of
56:42
this event. It's, it's not only going to be
56:44
a big fundraiser, but it's going to be like a, a business
56:47
networking event. There's going to be so many
56:50
bankers and attorneys there. But it, it is cool.
56:56
What we did is the Speedway is because we're so involved in
57:01
bars and delivery, we wanted to have a unique fundraiser.
57:06
So we, we didn't match back or no, sorry, Hot Wheels racing.
57:10
So we have race tracks that we everybody gets a car and they
57:13
race the cars. And so instead of mouse races or
57:16
trivia or something like that, we do hot wheel races and it's,
57:21
it's tons of fun. I mean, people would just
57:23
totally get into it and we didn't know.
57:25
This is our third year. We're coming up in April will be
57:29
our third year doing this event. And the first year we're like,
57:32
like I told my daughter, hey, just having an event is success.
57:37
If even if it breaks even the fact of going through the
57:40
process of having an event, you're going to learn immense
57:44
amounts of. So just having it will be good.
57:47
Don't worry about it. She's like, what's my goal?
57:48
I'm like, don't worry. Your goal is to have the event.
57:51
So she did it. She pulled off the first event
57:53
and it was great and then raised like $25,000.
57:56
And, and so, you know, last year was our second year and you
58:02
know, again, incremental changes, different things.
58:05
So we can do make it better, make it grow smoother.
58:08
Year 2 it raised $120,000. So we don't know what's in store
58:13
for year three, but the the sponsorships and everything have
58:17
been good. So I think we're going to
58:18
surpass that. How is Lance today?
58:22
Lance is great. He is living his best life.
58:24
He really is. He part of, I said like Wagon
58:28
Wheels is now doing a whole bunch of things.
58:30
One of the things that they do is we have found businesses, SFW
58:35
cleared it, where Wagoneers will come and deliver meal.
58:40
So we are delivery business. So delivery mail throughout the
58:43
office is a big thing. And so he comes to my office
58:47
every day. I get to see him, he looks
58:49
through my drawers to see if I have snacks in there.
58:53
But it is awesome that I get to spend some of those, you know,
58:57
minutes with. It's not a huge amount of time,
58:59
but throughout the day and I just see, you know how he's
59:03
doing at that point in time and it's awesome.
59:06
I mean, wow, what a story. We should have led with this,
59:10
but it's a great, it's an absolutely just heartwarming way
59:14
to, you know, as we kind of get to the end of this interview,
59:17
it's just and to think that you're you're working on this
59:23
idea as Lance is in the hospital.
59:28
There's a period where you're having the the priest read last
59:33
rites and you're still pushing forward with this.
59:36
The I don't know where that that mindset or that strength comes
59:40
from. We we couldn't, we couldn't
59:44
focus on the negative. I we couldn't focus on that he
59:46
was not going to be with us. And it just it, it was too
59:53
taking us too dark of a place that to think about life without
59:56
him that we just said it's not going to happen.
59:59
And we had faith that God was, you know, that's something big
1:00:03
for him. So.
1:00:06
Wagandwheels.com folks. So it's Rich's last name, kind
1:00:11
of a play on wagon, right? But it's spelled WAIGANDWAIGAND
1:00:18
wheels wagandwheels.com and there's a donate button on the
1:00:22
upper right corner. So what a what a great 'cause to
1:00:26
give to. Wow.
1:00:29
I think I've just got one more question for you today, Rich.
1:00:32
But, but before I ask you, I want to do 3 quick things for
1:00:35
the audience here. First of all, to get in touch
1:00:38
with Rich, the corporate website SFW.
1:00:42
We've been talking about SFW dot CPA.
1:00:45
So a little bit of a different domain should be even easier to
1:00:49
remember, SFW dot CPA. And of course, don't forget
1:00:52
about Wagon wheels.com, another great one.
1:00:55
And if you're enjoying the show today, please take a moment and
1:00:59
subscribe wherever you're listening.
1:01:02
It also sends a signal that helps others discover the show.
1:01:05
So thanks for taking a quick moment to do that right now.
1:01:08
And as a reminder, you could be the hero advisor that helps
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benefits.com. All right.
1:01:27
So last question for you, Rich. A year from now, what is 1 very
1:01:31
specific thing that you hope to be celebrating?
1:01:37
One thing, you know, I think if, if this sounds weird, but I
1:01:49
think it is a measurable outcome.
1:01:54
If I could be taken off every Friday outside after April 15th
1:02:00
through December 31st. If I could do that, I think I
1:02:04
would know that I've done my job in helping others, that next
1:02:09
year of leadership in this firm step up into the roles that they
1:02:13
need to be at and that we, the firm needs them at.
1:02:17
And that I'm building something that, that the culture and the
1:02:23
firm that that is, is doing it. And it and my assistant,
1:02:26
Shannon, who is awesome and she holds me accountable to things
1:02:30
that I say I'm going to do. And she's like, Hey, are you
1:02:33
like, you're not taking this Friday off?
1:02:34
Like why you scheduling a meeting?
1:02:36
And and so, you know, I think that would be the big goal that
1:02:41
I could celebrate is that maybe not 100% of the Fridays, but
1:02:45
like 70% of them in that time frame.
1:02:50
Because again, I think one, I've put a lot into my career and you
1:02:56
know, and I don't think my family today says dad was never
1:03:01
around. I was, I mean, I was around.
1:03:02
I found ways to be there with my family, but I want to spend more
1:03:07
time with my family. You know, we want the firm to be
1:03:12
not dependent upon the managing partner to be functioning,
1:03:18
running every day. They it needs to be a culture
1:03:20
thing in the firm. So that meant like, I don't know
1:03:25
how to measure it otherwise, but to say I'm going to do something
1:03:29
that's measurable, right? But that takes a lot of work in
1:03:34
preparing people and and other things.
1:03:36
So. By next tax season, 70% of
1:03:40
Fridays are taking off. That's right.
1:03:42
All right, well. We're going to check with
1:03:44
Shannon a year from now to see if you're holding up to that.
1:03:48
Rich Wyglin from SFW Partners, I want to be the first to thank
1:03:51
you for sharing both your time and your story with us today.
1:03:54
I really. Appreciate you for having me on,
1:03:56
this is amazing. Folks, that's a wrap on another
1:03:59
episode of the Inspired Stories podcast.
1:04:01
Thanks for learning with us. And if one thing stood out, put
1:04:04
that into action today.