Happy Birthday, Young CPA Success Show!

The Young CPA Success Show: Episode 29

The Young CPA Success Show’s hosts (Hannah Hood and Joey Kinney) and producers (Rob Semos and Roxanne Raynor) discuss the first year of the show’s success and reflect on the journey. Hannah celebrates the podcast's first anniversary by reflecting on the impact it’s had on her personal growth. Joey emphasizes the need for a platform tailored to young CPAs, while Hannah shares her journey overcoming imposter syndrome and the positive feedback from listeners. The hosts highlight recurring themes like the skills gap in middle management and the prevalence of imposter syndrome, encouraging young professionals to embrace their ambitions and seek mentorship.

Intro 00:00:00 Welcome to the young CPA Success Show. If you're a young accounting professional, this podcast is your ultimate guide to navigating your early career. Join us as we share valuable insights, expert advice, and practical tips to help you kickstart your path to success and excel in the accounting industry. Let's embark on this exciting accounting journey together.

Joey 00:00:22 And this is where we're going to start the show. Not to, you know, talk about the thing that isn't being talked about, but rocks. We've been trying to get you on camera for no joke a year. And you keep saying this thing where you're like, well, I'm just behind the scenes, I'm not on camera. And Hannah and I kept being like, that's garbage. You are. You are talent.

Roxanne 00:00:46 Well, I don't know about that, Joey. I just.

Joey 00:00:49 I do.

Roxanne 00:00:50 I have no filter. There's no idea what you might get from me. And, you know, sometimes that shouldn't be on camera, but I'm not wrong on that.

Roxanne 00:00:58 My best.

Joey 00:00:59 I completely disagree. That's the stuff I want on camera. And that's why I'm glad that we're all here together. This is the young CPA Success Show team. We've got some faces you're familiar with. We've got a couple faces you're not familiar with. But we wanted to get together today to talk about it. I mean, has it been a year already? It's been a year. And this is kind of our Year in Review show. And we just want to do something a little bit different and, not just talk about where we've been and where we're going, but also highlight the two very talented professionals on the screen with Hannah and I, who without their support and guidance and excellence and knowledge and wonderful people that they are, the show wouldn't exist. So, can the two of you please introduce yourselves so the audience can see who you are and hear you and meet you?

Rob 00:01:48 Go ahead. Rocks.

Roxanne 00:01:50 Well, I'm Roxanne Rayner, I am behind the scenes on all the Summit virtual CFO benders podcast.

Roxanne 00:01:57 I will probably not be here by the time this episode airs. So, it has been a privilege working with you all and I will throw the ball to Rob now.

Rob 00:02:10 Hi, I'm Rob Simmons, longtime agency, video editor, starting, you know, broadcast commercial work with, like, Ford and Zaxby's and Florida Lottery. And I was blessed to get with the Andrews Summit team a long time ago. And this evolving into helping the podcast grow has been quite a blessing. So, I'm the guy behind it, hitting record, editing, taking it out, making everybody look smooth, which I don't really have to do anything with these two.

Joey 00:02:38 Well, I'm sorry Rob, I couldn't hear you over the names you were dropping there. Well done. Rob, your superpower is reminding me to sit up straight at all times. So, thank you for. Yeah, my wife. Appreciate your efforts.

Rob 00:02:51 Exactly. Well, it's all about. Yeah. It's like. Hey.

Hannah 00:02:54 He also makes sure that I don't blend in with my wall in the background Sometimes

Hannah 00:02:58 Y'all don't know this. I've had to go change shirts late before we actually record an episode like they, Roxann and Rob. Like we literally could not do the show without them. They are not just behind the scenes, there is hair and makeup. They are quite literally tailoring the show to make sure that it is in the best package for our audience. And like Roxann mentioned, this will probably be her one and only episode because she has another opportunity that we are just so excited for her for. So, I'm just so glad that we get to capture this as this monumental anniversary of the podcast. So, I'm so glad that y'all agreed to it, and I'm going to stop talking about it. Or I might start crying.

Joey 00:03:41 Oh, I mean, Hannah, you're nothing. I mean, the Rolling Stones are still doing reunion tours. The fact that you think rocks aren't coming back for a reunion episode is good point. I'm just going to good point, manifest it and speak it into existence that it's going to happen.

Roxanne 00:03:55 Yeah, maybe, the new coordinator can book me on the show, I don't know, we'll see if I pass the litmus test for your audience. speaking of audience. So, Joey, I want to kind of take us back, I don't know, a year and a half ago, maybe, maybe not quite that long. But, as I mentioned earlier, I coordinate for the other shows, and I wanted to bring you on as a rotating host for the Creative Agency Success show. And you were like, no, I want my own show. So, tell me a little bit about how your idea for this show kind of manifested and, what was your initial thought and desire for that?

Joey 00:04:35 Well, obviously, I'm a diva and I had to have my own show. That's the natural question is what is it called, like main character syndrome?

Roxanne 00:04:46 I mean, and when you're on a show with Jodie Grondin, like, you can never be the main character, right?

Joey 00:04:51  No, that’s true.

Joey 00:04:52 And I was like, I need to I need to step into the spotlight that nodded at all. I think that the biggest thing for me was when I was listening to our suite of podcasts, that it was pretty clear to me that we had two distinct audiences. We were speaking to our clients, and we were speaking to our peers, two very big audiences that you want to speak to, but we didn't have anything that was speaking to the employees. We didn't have anything that was speaking to the people. That will someday be the future of the firm. And it was important to me and obviously to everybody in this room as well, that we have good people coming to work for us. And I think we identified pretty quickly that there wasn't a ton of content out there speaking to young CPAs. There wasn't a ton of content trying to do the types of things that we're wanting to do. And I'm so grateful that Hannah jumped in because it was very important to all of us in the room, too, that we, you know, had, you know, a good balance and bring as many perspectives into the room.

Joey 00:05:55 And I think it's very important that we have a woman's perspective on the show that's, you know, been a recurring theme is this industry hasn't always been great to women, and I don't think we're going to serve ourselves in the future by not talking about this. I think that's the most important thing is even if it's uncomfortable, we have to start having those conversations. We have to show the rest of the generations and the world that just because this is the way it's been doesn't mean it's the way it has to be. So I think it's really important to start having the conversations, and that's why I was so passionate about doing the show.

Hannah 00:06:34 I vividly remember the conversation that Joey had pitching this idea to me, that I didn't really realize at the time he was pitching the idea to me, I.

Joey 00:06:44 Was totally I was totally trying to inception this into your brain.

Hannah 00:06:47 Yeah, like you added, I then like looking back, I'm like, was I just manipulated.

Hannah 00:06:53 Into.

Hannah 00:06:53 Being a.

Hannah 00:06:53 Podcast co-host, I don't.

Hannah 00:06:55 Know.

Rob 00:06:56 The answer is yes. The answer is yes.

Roxanne 00:06:59 Well, I remember the day.

Roxanne 00:07:00 You chatted to me, and you were like, hey, I hear you're looking for a co-host. I'd like to do it. And I was like, yes, like, we need you are the only woman host in all our shows, Hannah. And quite frankly, I think that you are the best. Sorry, Joey. I mean, just.

Roxanne 00:07:18 Don't do that. You bring. She's great.

Roxanne 00:07:20 And, you know, people need to hear your voice. And you know what? What you're saying, what you're feeling. And in this industry, and, you know, mom of three full time job like those are I know from experience that's a hard that's a hard role.

Hannah 00:07:38  what.

Rob 00:07:38  I like about them, though is, you know, Joey starting it out and then bringing it in. Hannah, is that you both bring some great balance to the conversation. Joey is a lifelong Multi-generation accountant And Hannah is just brings in a whole experience of family and growing up and coming into this industry that is definitely a lot of male, strong industry and that how you both just work with each other like nobody else.

Rob 00:08:09 On working with our, you know, guests. It's just amazing.

Joey 00:08:14 Well, there.

Roxanne 00:08:14 Was you.

Joey 00:08:15 Know, there was there was a reason that, you know, when rocks was, was asking like, who would be someone to do it like Hannah was the name like it was. It was. It was you. because of everything Rob just said and also just, you know, having worked with you, like your presence, you do all the you do all the things. Well, that's, that's that is an intangible piece of all of this that also factors into. But I still remember the first episode. You were like, I'm not sure I could do this. And I was like, you can do this. And now you host all of our webinars, do all of the things, things that you know, you are very uniquely set up to do in ways that I'm not. You know, from a personality perspective. We've tried throwing me out on webinars. I, I it does not fit well with me and my anxiety.

Joey 00:09:03 So, you know, I'm so thrilled to see you kind of step in and embrace that thought leader role because you are one. And I think that's an important thing too. Rocks is, is showing that we've got really good, really smart, innovative, well thought people working with us. That's what I'm so excited to highlight is our peers and coworkers who just have brilliant ideas. And it's our job to just get out of the way and let them cook.

Hannah 00:09:34 Yeah, it's been such a blast. I appreciate all of y'all's kind words. because y'all believed in me when I didn't believe in me in terms of doing this. I had a ton of imposter syndrome coming into this like it was. It was severe. In fact, we've had conversations about it on the podcast, but it's really it's been such a pleasure. Like, I couldn't have done it, like without y'all at all. And so, I just I thank you so much for that. I feel like it was really amazing coming into this, understanding the concept, like feeling really passionate about it, getting really on board with the mission of the podcast.

Hannah 00:10:12  But then pretty quickly on, whenever we started releasing episodes, like I started having people reach out to me on LinkedIn, like I started having people reach out to me just via email about the podcast, and it was like, oh my gosh, like, we really are reaching the people that we intended to reach. Like, it felt really encouraging and really good to know that we were getting to connect with the audience and really encouraging to know that we were talking about relevant topics. And, you know, we are always I always tried to ask anybody, reach out, reach out to me like, hey, like, is there something we're not talking about that you want to hear? Like we want to know because we want to talk about it. And I invite anybody who's listening to this. If you haven't already done that, for sure, do that. But that's been a really fun thing to tangibly like, feel and see. And it's been so rewarding. Like, obviously we talk about in the industry in and of itself.

Hannah 00:11:03  Like there's a lot of things that we do that aren't very rewarding, that don't feel really good, but this has been something that is just filled my cup because it's just truly been such a bright light in, in in fact, I had a really hard year prior to coming into this, and so it's been such a bright light just in my life from that perspective. But just in my career of getting to like turn off the, like, client issues and, you know, accounting stuff that's going on in the background and just show up and just have some really cool, honest conversations with folks.

Roxanne 00:11:35 And you guys have been invited on other podcasts, just organically, because people have seen your show and, you know, wanted you to be on the yours. And I know you guys have an upcoming webinar or two that you're doing. so people are really taking note of the show and, you know, the charisma that you guys have and, and quite frankly, like the honesty, you know, I've worked in the accounting industry now from a marketing perspective for two years.

Roxanne 00:12:04 And just the honesty that you guys bring to the industry and want to bring and the change that you all bring, I think is important, especially for young CPAs who are just trying to get their feet wet, like navigating this industry when they're young.

Roxanne 00:12:21 Yeah.

Rob 00:12:22 Before we go on to a lot of questions and stuff that I would say is, where Hannah is grown and Joey's just a natural at this is I want to tell a story about Hannah being a guest, host on one of our other podcasts with Jamie. It was about a month and a half ago, and it's going smooth, you know? And, as we all know that Jamie, on the creative agency, success show has still for some reason must be using dial up for his internet and those the podcast goes the first question he gives out the first question it's going. And then all of a sudden Jamie disappears and I'm like panicking because not only did he just go black, he just, like, disappeared from the whole thing. And I saw Hannah eyes just kind of like for one second and then smoothly just took over the whole show.

Rob 00:13:10 Just carried it out. I'm seeing it later. I'll find out he lost power. but that's where you guys have both come to now is like, Joey's just bringing these, starting these things off nice and smoothly, like it's, you know, a professional has been doing this for 20 years. Hannah is like, you can throw her. You know, these things with people just dropping off and she takes the show runs with it.

Roxanne 00:13:32 Yeah.

Roxanne 00:13:33 Is airing I think next week it's with Julie from the Creative agency Success Show. So, I'm excited to see.

Rob 00:13:39 So when people watch that show, watch when Joey or Jamie, pops off Hannah's eyes there for two seconds is just like light.

Roxanne 00:13:50 And I was like, I'd messaging.

Hannah 00:13:52 Jamie like, you are good. Like, where are you at on.

Roxanne 00:13:56 My favorite thing.

Roxanne 00:13:57 To say to Jamie is you make too much money to have crappy internet. Like, what is going on? Like, do you live in the middle of Alaska?

Joey 00:14:06 There was a funny thing too.

Joey 00:14:07 I can't remember if it was this episode with the other one where he was like, I think his father-in-law like, turned off his turned off his internet router. Was that that episode? Yes, that was it.

Rob 00:14:16 Okay.

Roxanne 00:14:18 Yes. His father is in.

Hannah 00:14:19 Law was there working at the house.

Roxanne 00:14:21 But he hates his power, bless his heart.

Roxanne 00:14:24 No, Joey, you are not my diva. Jamie is my diva. Between the internet and his allergies and, you know, his hair, that has to be. I'm gonna.

Roxanne 00:14:34  Say. Have you seen.

Joey 00:14:35 His hair, though? Is he?

Roxanne 00:14:36 Here is my.

Roxanne 00:14:36 Host, diva.

Rob 00:14:39 So I've got a question.

Joey 00:14:40 For you about what you're gonna say. Jodi Grandin was your host. Diva.

Roxanne 00:14:43 I mean.

Rob 00:14:44 Well, you got a pencil in the schedule sometime. my first question for you guys is there's been so many conversations. How many shows have we done out rocks? This is ours.

Roxanne 00:14:58 We have done. Hold on. Sorry. I'm looking.

Joey 00:15:02 I'm gonna guess and say 25, 25.

Rob 00:15:06 28. That's a lot of guests. That's a lot of conversation. Yeah, but we've got way more than. Have you seen, a specific recurring theme from guests, problems in the industry or solutions that people are not really thinking about. What's that recurring theme that you both has stood out to you?

Hannah 00:15:28 So the one that came to mind first for me, that we've seen that I think is important, I don't know that it's been like a through line through all conversations, but I think it's one that we need to have more conversations about. Is the skills gap that lives within middle management. yeah. Like that's just one that's big that we've identified. But like, I think we need to have more conversations around, okay. Like we've identified that, like, how do we how do we solve for that? Like how we start to work towards making that better and just, providing some solutions for the industry or just even like brainstorming, just having more conversations like that's been that was the first thing I thought of whenever you ask that question just now.

Joey 00:16:10 Yeah. And the question on that too is, you know, who's going to provide the resources to fix the skills gap. You know, I think that's if you're an owner or a manager and you're hearing this, do you recognize the call to action saying like, oh, my middle managers are probably really struggling. It is my responsibility to provide some resources and guidance here. Or are you just going to sit around and wait for them to figure it out on their own? Because one of those situations leads to a good outcome, the other one just doesn't.

Rob 00:16:45 So this is a that's a situation that has to be fixed. That's not something you can kick down the can down the road forever. It's sooner or later in this industry middle management. Gotta have some skills you know sharpening.

Hannah 00:17:01 There's gotta be some development there for sure Joey is there anything any others that you've thought of that we've seen.

Joey 00:17:07  Well the first one that came to mind, well it's a callback to what you were just talking about with yourself too, is, you know, when I remember we had multiple episodes that talked about the imposter syndrome and just how prevalent that is, not just in this industry, but it cost professionals.

Joey 00:17:22 Like, any time you're in a position like that, like it is. So it is so common, it is so prevalent in everything that, you know, it's a good thing to recognize and understand that you're not alone and be here. Some resources that you can do to kind of try to help do that So that was. That's important. The other one too, that I think is really interesting is just how many people we've talked to who have kind of just gone and done the thing right, like, hey, I was feeling this. I was feeling that. What do you do? Oh, I just went and did the thing. I went and fixed it. I went and changed it. I went and did the thing that I wanted to do, and that takes a lot of courage. And that's something that I think is, you know, Adam, Adam Hale talks a lot about resiliency and a thing that is important to with resiliency is also the courage to put yourself in that position, to need to be resilient.

Joey 00:18:25 that's been a through line from all of our guests is there's a lot of courage out there, and I admire it.

Rob 00:18:31 That's great. If I remember, there's been a lot of young guests. I mean, to me, being an old guy, some very young guests who you know what, at an early age, earlier than I would have guessed, just gone out and did it and started their own thing. And it was hugely successful.

Joey 00:18:48 I was thinking of Mackenzie Patel with the, you know, the I. That was the one where Roxy would ask a question earlier about like, and I'll just ask the question for you because it serves my needs. So, I'm going to take I'm going to take the two of you here. Yeah. You had asked a question of like, what's something that, like, you admire or that you learn that you wish you knew, like back when you were getting started? Like, I wish that I had had the courage to do what she did ten years ago because she just said, look, there's a need.

Joey 00:19:15 I want to I want to fill it. This is good for me. This is good for my future and what I want to do. Pardon me. Robbie might have to bleep this out. I'm just going to go do the damn thing. Like I admire that so much and wish that I had that courage and tenacity to get after that from a young age.

Rob 00:19:34 Yeah. Well to then that is, is if people have the courage to do that. Now, that kind of segways a little answers, a little bit of what we're talking about. The last one is the recurring themes. If there is a if there is a skill, it may be time to just get that courage to just do the damn thing. Let's get that going. Yeah, but.

Roxanne 00:19:54 Do you think it's more of a soft skill need or a analytical or technical skill need or just courage like I, I am almost middle aged. I mean, I'm not quite as old as Rob, but like, the thought of just doing something different, like, terrifies me to my bones.

Roxanne 00:20:13 Like, do you think it's almost easier to do that and have those skills when you're like in your 20s?

Joey 00:20:21 I have some radical thoughts on this. But Hannah, if you want to, if you have something.

Roxanne 00:20:25 More, I'd love to hear him. Go for it. Okay.

Joey 00:20:28 There is. Okay, I'm going to put on my prognosticator hat because, you know, it rocks. Your personality is 25, and may you always stay 25.

Roxanne 00:20:40 I pay a lot of money to try to still look. 25. Thank you for noticing.

Joey 00:20:46 Your energy is that energy? And I think the challenge with this is I think we're on the eve of a great shakeup. And here's why. Historically, there has always been an economics. We call it a barrier to entry with firm ownership. There were many, many restrictions. Think about it like a factory, right? If you're an entrepreneur and your business model is I want to build cars, the barrier to entry to that is I have to have enough capital to go buy a factory to build cars, or I have to have enough capital to go to a bank and get them to lend me money, to build a factory, to build cars.

Joey 00:21:35 Right now You don't have the same barriers to entry in your mid 20s. You want to start a firm, an accounting firm, in your mid 20s. And our friends Chetan and Caden are proof of this right. These guys are I mean, Caden is a couple years out of college and still in college, and they are already starting to do the damn thing. And right now, there aren't the same levels of barrier to entry. You can start an accounting firm with a QuickBooks online subscription and an internet connection. You don't have to sit there and have enough capital to go convince a landlord to lease your space. So, you could go start your accounting practice. You can start accounting practice from right here. You can start a consulting analogy. It's technology, but it's also, you know, the inevitable. There was a great book that was written in 2006 called The World Is Flat. that was talking about how. traditional power structures in the world were flattening. Right? We started seeing a lot more offshoring.

Joey 00:22:44 We started seeing a lot more competition from areas of the world that historically could not compete with the US from a resources perspective. But now that we've created interconnectivity, there are more and more opportunities for people and a that should be terrifying to the existing class of business owners, and b it should be empowering to that younger generation. Not to say that every person who's coming out of college right away wants to be a firm owner. There's a role for everybody. I think the throughput from all of this in my thesis about all of this is if this is something that you want to do and you're in your early 20s, or you're thinking about what you want to do and you're like, man, I just don't know that I want to go live in this traditional hierarchy. I see things differently or I want to take a bit more control over my future. Like the ability to do that now in 2024 is so much easier than it was in 2012 when I graduated, and it's only going to get easier, like AI is going to find us the first trillionaire.

Joey 00:23:54 We just don't know who that's going to be yet. But someone's going to be a trillionaire of AI. there are all kinds of opportunity out there, and I think that's the call to action for, for younger folks is, man, if you're it's never going to be easier to do that than when you're in your 20s. You know, I think back to my first year right out of college, sorry, this is a long soliloquy, but I'm just going to keep going.

Roxanne 00:24:20 Let's roll with it.

Joey 00:24:21 My first year in public accounting, when I was, I was still kind of finishing up school, but like I was living in Manhattan, Kansas, I was living with my 4 or 3 college roommates, like we all shared a house together. I think my living expenses were like 300 bucks a month like life was never cheaper than it was for me at that time. And then you start layering in, I think. Rocks. Maybe this is why it's challenging for you and I in our late 30s to think about this is like, you know, we've got kids, we've got families, we've got mortgages, we've got savings obligations.

Joey 00:24:57 It is only going to get harder for you to do that as your life grows and your responsibilities expand. So, if that is something that you're interested in, do the damn thing. If not for yourself, do it for me.

Hannah 00:25:13 Well, yeah, absolutely. And doing the damn thing doesn't necessarily have to look like starting your own firm. It can look like starting your own podcast in whatever you're passionate about, because I feel like that's exactly what we did. So, like, you know, maybe Joey, you didn't get to do that in your early 20s, but like, you did that in your late 30s, like you prove yourself that, like, we could do it and like, we've literally gone and done it. And, you know, we I think we started out thinking like we might reach I don't know, at least I did. I was like, if we reach like 15, 20 people, like, that's at least 15 or 20 people that like will hear the things that are really important to us, like make sure that they know they're not alone in the industry.

Hannah 00:25:51 They're not on an island like we are feeling the same things that they are feeling. We've been there, we've done that. Like that was that was a success to me. So, to hear like I remember there was one point, like Roxanne, like telling me like how many downloads or like listens or streams or some, some statistic about one of the episodes. And like, my jaw was on the floor, I was like, it was what? It was insane. Like, how many people, like, we've actually reached? So, I say that to say as well, like, you may think that, you know, oh, like, I don't have what it takes. Like I won't have enough reach, I won't like you don't know until you try. You don't know until you put yourself out there and see what happens like that. That does take courage and bravery and lean on people for encouragement because, there's a whole network of people that want to cheer you on. So lean into that.

Roxanne 00:26:41 Starting speaking of downloads, you want you guys want to hear, how many downloads we've gotten in a year?

Roxanne 00:26:48 Yeah. Yeah.

Hannah 00:26:50 We not heard this number, by the way. Audience. Like, we don't know.

Roxanne 00:26:54 I don't know.

Roxanne 00:26:55 Anybody want to guess?

Joey 00:26:58 I'm gonna say 2500.

Hannah 00:27:00 Oh, I was thinking I was gonna say like 350.

Rob 00:27:03 Maybe I'm gonna go price and right rules and go one 2499.

Roxanne 00:27:09 Okay, so we have had 28 episodes over the past year. 5000.

Rob 00:27:17 Really?

Roxanne 00:27:18 That's top. Yes.

Rob 00:27:20 That's a that's really, really impressive.

Roxanne 00:27:25 and we do audio and video. So here are a few more fun facts for you. So, the most viewed on YouTube was with Keenan Cook with 168 views. And directly underneath that was Dave Hartley with 162 views. You guys are listened to around the world US, Canada, Hong Kong, Philippines, hey, India and Singapore and Monday are the favorite day for people to listen to the young CPA Success Show between the hours of 8 to 9 a.m. Eastern Standard Time.

Roxanne 00:28:02 People are commuting to work. We are so glad we get.

Hannah 00:28:05 To join you on your morning commute. Well.

Roxanne 00:28:07 Even if it looks like from your living room to your office

Roxanne 00:28:10 Rob and I well, when I took over the existing shows, for whatever reason, the publish time was 12 p.m. eastern. and Rob was like, hey, why don't we bump that up so we can catch people on our commute? And so, I started publishing your show immediately when it started at 5:30 a.m. eastern time. So, I think you're right. I think people listened to you first thing on Monday morning. Hey. And number one download most downloads. Audio is Dave Hartley. No surprise there. number two.

Rob 00:28:41 Good show.

Roxanne 00:28:42 That was such a good show. Such a good.

Hannah 00:28:43 Show. It really was.

Roxanne 00:28:45 number two is Christine Keates, and number three is Dave Danske. Because taxes are fun, right?

Hannah 00:28:53 According to him.

Roxanne 00:28:54 According to manic, they are.

Roxanne 00:28:56 And somebody listened to the show right when he because he was, he recorded because he had an opening on his team and the person, he ended up hiring found us through the show, through the episode.

Roxanne 00:29:10 So, I'm hearing.

Rob 00:29:11 Win win win win.

Roxanne 00:29:13 Yeah that's.

Hannah 00:29:15 Amazing.

Joey 00:29:16 We're not going to let Dave know that he's got the number three downloaded episode, because I was talking about college football over the weekend. And he basically said Michigan's trophy's so loud he can't hear any of the smack that I'm talking. So, we just need to not let his ego get out of control here. Otherwise, we're all in trouble.

Roxanne 00:29:35 Oh, I think it's cute when you guys talk about sports. Football. It's cute.

Roxanne 00:29:38 Sports. Kickball.

Joey 00:29:39 Sporting.

Rob 00:29:40 Is that the white one you hit with a stick or the brown thing you throw?

Joey 00:29:43 Brown thing you throw.

Roxanne 00:29:45 Okay, okay. Are we. So, wait, what season is it? It's. It's tennis.

Rob 00:29:50 Season.

Roxanne 00:29:51 Hockey. It's a ball.

Rob 00:29:52 Season. It's always pickleball season.

Roxanne 00:29:54 It's your leading season. It's what?

Joey 00:29:57 So everybody, thanks for listening to the show.

Roxanne 00:30:00 Exactly.

Rob 00:30:01 So where you guys were, were you talking before the, all the stats, which were quite impressive.

Rob 00:30:07 Why do you both think this show is so important to our target audience, young professionals looking to get in this industry? And I'm going to start with you.

Hannah 00:30:15 Yeah. I think it's kind of what I spoke to earlier is just the fact that we're able to speak to our peers in a way that lets them know that we're going through the same things, too. We're experiencing the same things they have. And maybe we're speaking to people who are just maybe a season behind us in terms of life and in their career. And so I think it's a unique perspective. I know I'm thinking if I'd have had a podcast, if podcast were a thing when I was in my early 20s, to listen to like this, I would absolutely done it. I would have liked to soak it in and just tried to, like, get as much as I could from it that I could apply to my career just for me. I always tend to look for things like, what are the things that are within my control? What are the things that I can do from a personal development, professional development perspective? And, and this is one of those types of things.

Hannah 00:31:05 And so I think it's really cool that we get to be that for people. But I think it just really resonates for, for that reason.

Roxanne 00:31:14 So, what would you tell your younger self, like now that you have this podcast and you've done these interviews and that experience, like what would you go tell your like 24-year-old Hannah?

Hannah 00:31:27 I think you know, I've been thinking about this, and I think there's obviously a lot of things that I would tell 24-year-old Hannah, that is for sure. but one thing that I didn't do a lot earlier, early in my career was lean into mentorship as much as I've wanted to. That's been a recurring theme on the podcast, and just like so, enjoyed hearing the relationships that have been built, like early on in people's careers that just, like, totally impacted their life and trajectory of their career. And I really just didn't have that. And I think it's cool that I get to be that for people now. And like, I really try to be very mindful of that and take good care of that relationship because I know it means so much to so many.

Hannah 00:32:13 but I didn't have that a lot. But I think there were plenty of opportunities. It's just that was not where my focus was at the time. And I do wish that I had focused a little bit more on that, because I think for a lot of reasons, from a personal development perspective, but even from professional like just networking perspective, like I think it could have made a difference. But you know, that's okay. Like the journey has been part of what I've been able to share here too. That's unique. So as much as I say like I wish I had known it, I don't know, maybe I wouldn't have had the same perspective that I'm able to have for the show had had I known it.

Joey 00:32:52 I think we're all here for we're here in this moment for a reason. You know, I whether you're super spiritual or not, like I do, kind of think that there is not to steal from Chevy Chase, but a force in the world that sort of lets things happen.

Joey 00:33:06 So be the ball, Danny. That was for my cousin Kenneth. You're welcome, buddy. I got that in the show. and I think your point there is, is fantastic, which is saying, like, I don't think I'd change anything about myself, but I there are a lot of experiences that I had that I wish were different. And Rob, to answer your question about why I think this is important. What? I want someone to listen to this show. If you feel lost, I want you to hear that there's someone there who cares. If you feel like the promise of this industry far outweighs the reality of what it looks like, I want you to hear from us that we agree with you and we want to change it. I'm sure you've seen these things on social media where it's like, if there's a thousand people doing this, like I'm part of it, there's 500 people, I'm still there. There's one person cheerleading for this. It's because I'm still here. If there's none, it's because I'm gone.

Joey 00:33:58 Like, that's how I feel about this. Like it's too important to not to not do. And it's, you know, I've had some great experiences in public accounting. I've had some horrible experiences in public accounting. Right. and I think there's, there's a lot of, of promise for as Dave, Dave Hartley gave ten really good reasons why today is the most exciting time in the world to be an accountant. I just want to make sure that the reality of this industry matches up to the promise. If we do that, we're going to go a long way.

Joe 00:34:37 Right

Hannah 00:34:38  There's a really big opportunity in front of all of us, all of us listening to this, all of us speaking in this room like we have a huge opportunity in front of us to make an impact, change, truly change the way people think about accounting and accountants, to make this more appealing, but also be just really honest. So that way people know, like they can come into this with eyes wide open, that they don't get here and feel like they were sold something that is a lemon and they need to go return it and do something different.

Hannah 00:35:08 Like we really want to be sure that we provide some transparency, have the hard conversations, but also start to make a difference. So that way we don't have to have as many hard conversations in the future.

Rob 00:35:21 Yeah, I love this. You guys are leaning right into the questions I've had for you. Oh, good. So, I mean, this works out great. So not including the Dave Hartley episode, because we have if our listeners out there, that's a one that you guys must listen to. What other episodes that we've done in the past that you think the young professionals who are either looking to get into this industry or having those hard times, you know, man, sticking this out, what episodes have we done that you would recommend them to go back and watch?

Joey 00:35:55 I would say for me, anything with Blake Oliver, the one we did on his show was really good too. But when he was at our show, it was fantastic. I'd be remiss if I didn't shout out at my buddy Victor O'Reilly.

Joey 00:36:06 I thought that was a really fun one about mentorship and kind of finding people who can help you be successful, and what it takes to also be an active partner in your own success. I think that's an important one. also, our them, our episode with our friends from Finish Lyrics. Tom and Jesse. That was probably the most fun from our perspective. We had the most fun doing that one. So. Hannah, did I steal any of yours?

Hannah 00:36:33 No, I was gonna say the only one I would probably add to that would be the Kristin Keates episode. Just talking about finding joy just within our industry and, our conversation around that. So, yeah, you totally hit the nail on the head with the episodes I'd point somebody to.

Roxanne 00:36:49 Great. And what's interesting is when I first started to book this show, I was kind of nervous because I thought that everybody had to be in the accounting industry. Like on the CPA. Most of the ones, most of our guests on that show have to be in accounting.

Roxanne 00:37:07 So I was really nervous about, you know, pitching for your show because I was thinking like, oh, they all have to be in the industry. They have to be season. They have to be leaders and be teachers. And that's really not true. I mean yes, we have had some big names on your show that are within the industry, but I think some of the best ones have just been, you know, from different industries, coaches and just completely different takes that I would not have thought when we started.

Hannah 00:37:40 We were talking before we started recording that. I really think that Joey and I's superpower might be that we could quite literally have anybody on the show, and we can find a way to find something that is relevant to our audience, that we can direct the conversation in that way. So, if you're listening to this and you know, somebody like, send them our way, they can. Yeah, y'all can come to the show. Like, we will just have a good time.

Hannah 00:38:03 But, that I'm just I'm really, honestly like, proud of us for that in terms of, like, we've just diversified in terms of, like who we've spoken to and from the perspectives and the topics and, and all the things. So just I'm proud of this. I'm it feels like it's my little baby This show is.

Roxanne 00:38:22 And it's just it's.

Hannah 00:38:23 Turning one year.

Roxanne 00:38:24 One year old. I was just disappointed.

Hannah 00:38:25 Too, that we didn't have a cake on this episode. Like, we should have totally.

Roxanne 00:38:30 Gotten some cake.

Roxanne 00:38:31 White cake for breakfast. Does that count? It's pumpkin spice.

Joey 00:38:35 Speak for yourself like I always have cake.

Roxanne 00:38:38 Exactly.

Joey 00:38:39 Or in this case, pumpkin. Pumpkin spice bread that my wife made last night. That's the same thing.

Rob 00:38:44 Same thing?

Joey 00:38:45 Yeah, it's all the same.

Roxanne 00:38:46 So do y'all feel like, mentors? I know you talked about mentorship, but, like, do you personally feel like if somebody came to you and said, Will you be my personal or professional mentor? Like, how does that make you feel?

Hannah 00:39:04 I mean, I had like from an imposter syndrome perspective, I don't know that I will ever feel that way.

Hannah 00:39:09 Like, but whenever I take a step back and look at it, I think I've grown a lot in this because a year ago I would have said, like, not like that. It's not me. yeah, I think so. In some ways. I think we both have been given opportunities, even within our roles here, to provide that for our staff in this perspective, for people that we've come in contact with since the start of the show. And, so, yeah, I think we have, but I think that, like, this show is also like helped equip me for that, you know, and help prepare me for being able to be the best that I can be in that.

Joey 00:39:45 Yeah. Even if even if not a mentor specifically. Just like I think the role that I really want to play just in life is the cool older cousin or older brother who, like, shows you the cool records, you know, like when you're a kid and it's like, oh, I thought music was cool.

Joey 00:40:00 And then I listened to, you know, Pink Floyd because my older cousin gave me a Pink Floyd record, or in my case, it was my cousin Kevin Kenneth giving me Bob Dylan. Right. That's the kind of role that I think I was born to play is, you know, I'm probably not going to be the person who's. And we talk about coaching a lot, like, I'm not going to be the type of coach who's like, you know, screaming at you on the sidelines. I'm more of the coach who's like, you know, the first one off the bench to give you a high five. You know, when you're doing something that's the role that I want to play. So, if anybody is looking for that you know I'm around I'm here.

Rob 00:40:42 Sentiment coach.

Roxanne 00:40:43 Coming out in.

Joey 00:40:45 The fall. It's wonderful.

Roxanne 00:40:46 That's like a cheerleader. So, I send you some pompoms. You do it. I like it, yeah.

Rob 00:40:52 Well, congratulations on your first year. Everyone. That's.

Rob 00:40:55 It's great it's great to see this. Where it's come from, where it's come started to where we've come to today. It's amazing.

Roxanne 00:41:04 And it's been an honor from, you know, taking this to just a thought. And Joey's mine and you know, now a year and it's been really fun guys.

Joey 00:41:14 Well, thank you for helping it happen. And Rox, I'm so glad we, you know, we had to wait until you were like, you know, going to do something really cool for you to actually come on the show. But I'm glad that you were able to make it and let us introduce the world to the two, two brilliant people behind the scenes who kind of helped this thing happen because, you know, again, without either of you, this doesn't happen without either of you. We don't have a show, we don't have guests, we don't have bumper music, we don't have anything. It's just us screaming out into the ether. So, the bottom of my heart cheers.

Hannah 00:41:52 Cheers to another good year. The first one was amazing, but raising my. Oh, I guess I could raise my coffee glass. There we.

Roxanne 00:42:00 Go. Raising my coffee. Yeah.

Rob 00:42:03 It's always time for coffee.

Outro 00:42:04 If you're a young CPA looking to develop in their careers, we're always looking for great people. Visit our website for remote work opportunities with Summit Virtual CFO or find all our open positions at Anders CPAs and advisors.