Why People Hire Me and My Firm

When people ask me what I do, I usually pause and think about how I want to answer that question. The answer really depends on the kind of mood I’m in.

It’s kind of like when you’re sitting next to someone on an airplane. You only have a split second to decide if you’re going to be a chatty Kathy and spend the next five hours on a cross country flight sharing pictures of your kids and family pets, or if you’re going to put on your headphones, fire up your laptop and pretend to be working until you eventually doze off and hope not to wake up until the plane has landed.

if I really want to engage with someone, I try to create some alternative way of describing accounting in a desperate attempt to try to make it sound cooler than it is. I’ll say things like Business Manager, CFO, Business Consultant, of Finance Manager. It’s my own personal way of A/B testing job titles to see which one triggers the best response (spoiler alert, there isn’t a cool way to describe accounting).

Usually people see right through my feeble attempt to sound important, but often follow up with “which company?” At this point, I get to say “My own. The business is called Ironclad Accounting & Finance, and I get to collaborate with a bunch of amazing entrepreneurs who are out there every day, hustling and building empires.” This usually piques their interest a bit more.

I go on to describe how my clients operate in many different industries and are highly diverse. Included in my current client roster are bars and restaurants, law firms, a top performing digital agency, a celebrity chef, a reality TV star with a sewing company, and a very high-profile NBA player who is building a world class venture capital firm. Now they are definitely hooked. They always want to ask more questions about either the celebrity clients or the bars. Usually it’s the bars.

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Because of my work, I’ve met people and seen things most people can’t even imagine.

I’ve worked with billionaires, rock stars, models, athletes, and even a prominent member of the British royal family. I’ve bought and sold private jets, exotic cars, and mega mansions in Aspen, and as the accountant, there are no secrets. Someone out there knows for a fact whether or not President Trump only paid $750 in taxes (don’t worry, it’s not me).

The most rewarding clients I get to work with are the everyday entrepreneurs who understand the value in keeping a tight grip on their finances.

They exhibit a real desire to understand the metrics and they entrust me to extract valuable insights to help guide their businesses by studying the finances. It doesn’t matter who they are or where they come from. The common thread is that they care about where they are headed next and are smart enough to analyze the data around them (or hire someone to do it for them).