Starting a Firm & Putting Yourself Out There with Harris Felton

Speaker A: Are you exhausted from juggling a dozen different software logins every day? Firms don't have the time or budget, or if you're anything like me, the context switching, you know, the mental bandwidth will kind of get you, um. But firms don't have the time or budget to manage 14 different tools. And that's why you need to check out Canopy Canop is this episode's sponsor. And they can bring your document management, CRM, tax flow, close, automation, and more all into one software with one single login. Instead of duct taping integrations together, you can now get access to one platform, one bill and one support team. Plus, your clients will love their 4.9 star rated mobile app. Visit getcanopy.com to unclunk your workflow today. Now back to the episode. Hello, and welcome to the Big 4 Transparency podcast. I'm joined today by Harris Felton, founder of Forte Financial Group, a very young firm focused on tax support for short term rental operators. Welcome to the pod, Harris.

Speaker B: Thanks for having me.

Speaker A: Yeah, my pleasure. So, yeah, you recently really caught my attention on LinkedIn. Some of my favorite episodes to do are when I catch someone in that kind of pivotal moment. Right. Like, I think, I think that's so cool to be able to talk to someone as they're taking the plunge into starting their own firm. And uh, and yeah, that's, that's the case with you. Um, talk to us a little bit about Forte Financial and I mean, early days, but how are things looking so far?

Speaker B: Dude, so far they're looking great. So I'm only in my first couple weeks of building it, and it's a really fun spot because you get to, through all these like, software demos, you get to figure out how you want to do your processes, you know, and I've been receiving a lot of warm and very warm leads. So it's been really fun to be talking to people about what I'm doing. People are asking questions, hey, can you help with this? Can you help with that? And so I get to kind of tell them, you know, what I'm interested in and kind of build this from this ground up from scratch. So it's really an exciting place to be.

Speaker A: Yeah. And I mean, hats off to you for putting yourself out there. Like, you never know what's going to hit or what's not. Uh, but yeah, you made a great post about starting things off and it got. What are we at here, like 600 likes, like hundreds of comments. Um, and you know, when you're pursuing a niche like being able to drive early demand and early leads, um, early on, like, really allows you to respect that niche a lot more. Right. Like a lot of people, ah, they choose an area and then they kind of pick up a lot more work of just sort of whatever they can get. Which I'm sure is probably the case to a certain degree for you. But, um, when you're able to kind of start with like a little surge of demand, you're able to be a little bit more, you know, respectful of the own, of the uh, of the path that you yourself wanted to follow.

Speaker B: This is true. You kind of have an ability to hone in on your niche. And you know, the number one thing that you face when you're starting off a, uh, practice or a business of any kind is just that visibility to people. There's, you know, it's, you're, you're fighting. People don't know that you do this. And in accounting there's such a demand that if you can just get people to know what you're doing and that you're doing it, you will get a flood of leads. And it's, you know, wonderful.

Speaker A: Yeah. And how many of those leads are coming through other accountants? Because I think that's like a very underrated channel in a very, uh, supply constrained channel industry. Right. Like, there's a lot of excess demand. I mean, I'm not doing tax or accounting work currently, um, but I still have a ton of people coming to me and I'm just sending them all to my buddy's firm and I sort of like look back at that and I'm like, damn. Like, that's actually, that was a lot of revenue. Like, um, without. I mean, again, I'm consistently putting myself out there, but like, not in a way that says I'm doing your accounting. So, um, yeah, yeah. Are a lot of those leads coming from other accountants?

Speaker B: You bring up a good question. Because I have received a lot of leads from other accountants and other professionals, but particularly accountants. And the thing that I've heard a lot is that they're busy. Like they're already at capacity. And so even some of the clients and warm leads that I've gotten have been from people saying, I can't find an accountant that will do what I need because they're too busy. They just say, no, I am not accepting new clients. And so I've gotten some cold DMs on, um, LinkedIn from people literally asking, even though I just started my practice, I've gotten a couple questions like, are you accepting new clients? So apparently People are getting turned down because other accountants are not accepting new clients. And so, you know, from that point of view, getting a lot of people coming in. And then another thing is a lot of bookkeepers and stuff go, oh, you do tax. I want you to do a bunch of tax work for, you know, my bookkeeping clients. And then even tax people that are too busy, they're like, hey, I'm too busy to, you know, do this other client, or I'm not in that specialty. And so they're referring them out. And so in these, you know, first few weeks, I've really been working on two things. Getting people to know that I'm doing this, you know, by posting on LinkedIn, posting on Facebook, whatever it is, and then also trying to meet other accountants and professionals. So just networking, you know, I don't have a flood of, you know, I'm not working 60 hours over here on client work. I have the time to go out and network and meet these people. So while I have it, I got to make hey while the sun shines. So I'm trying to meet as many people and it has been a wonderful pursuit because. Because of the referrals and everything.

Speaker A: Yeah. Speaking of the networking piece, actually, at the time that we're speaking, it is the perfect time to pitch this to you. I don't know if it's, uh, if it's going to be still the right time by the time this is aired, but you should definitely check out Bridging the Gap, honestly, as a. It's, uh, a Controvers conference with a lot of other sort of small firm operators. Um, there's some bigger firms there too, but it's one of my favorite conferences and it, um, I think it really caters to maybe what you're doing. I think you might get a lot out of that. But what drove you to like, make the jump? Like, you know, you. You were working at a good firm. Um, um, you know, I'm sure comp. You know, starting to get more interesting. You were starting to get close to the manager level. A lot of opportunities. Um, um. But you decide you wanted to go out on your own, which is a thing a lot of people dream about and think about, but like, very few people actually action and. And jump on it. So, um, I guess two part question. One is what inspired you and made you decide it was time to take the leap? And then the other question is, what did you do to prepare yourself to actually make that move?

Speaker B: M. Yeah. So, you know, there's always. There's push and Pull factors. And so some of my things that I felt. I grew up in a family of people who are just entrepreneurs. You know, my dad was a consultant as well. He wasn't in accounting, but he was a consultant and he owned his own practice. And, you know, my grandfather, they always just did whatever. And so I grew up in that environment where you just, you know, worked and you figured it out and you're an entrepreneur. And growing up homeschooled as well, I think that also kind of pushed me into that. That mindset of being an entrepreneur. Because when you grow up homeschooled, that's kind of how you go through school as well, you know, and then you get into the professional world and, ah, you're fit within this box. And so I think there was a desire for me to go out and create and to provide value. And I also wanted to have a whole lot more client interaction and to help people directly. I really like the business advisory side of everything. I like talking to people. I, uh, like answering their questions and asking good questions. And so that was a lot of the push factors. And, you know, when I started looking at the people above me, what they were doing, the partners, the life that they were living, you know, it just didn't lend itself to the type of family life that I want to be able to do. And don't get me wrong, I love working hard. Like, I like working. But there are just some things in your family life that you go, I have to be able to do this. And, you know, there can't be a question about it. You just have to go out and do it. And so when you have your own practice, you have a whole lot more flexibility. I know it's a whole lot more work in one sense, but you have a whole lot more flexibility. And so, you know, there's nothing wrong with the partner track. If that's the life that you want, if that's what you decide you want to go for, go for it. I decided I wanted other values. I like the flexibility. I like being able to work, you know, really late if I want to, because that's when I work best. Sometimes. Sometimes I work best in the morning. And so when you build your own thing, you get to do whatever you want. And it's kind of cool, actually. So it's a wonderful opportunity.

Speaker A: Um, yeah.

Speaker B: So go ahead.

Speaker A: Oh, yeah. I was just gonna say, yeah, there's something to be said about the term partner, like, depending on firm sizing. And, you know, the firm you were at, I think, is like, starting to get into that size territory where, like, as a partner, like, you're kind of a business owner, but, like, in a lot of these places, you're still very much kind of an employee to a sense, um, particularly when there's, like, levels to it. Like, like when there's national partners and then local partners and this and that. And you're still, you know, you're still very, um, very much kind of like an employee, even though you do have an ownership stake in the company. And, um, I think that that comes with kind of a level of dynamics that not everyone's necessarily ready for. And yeah, it's. It is a bit of a testament where, like, for some people, where like, business ownership in the truest sense of the. The word is really important. I think either being at, like, a very small practice where that maybe means more, or being out on your own, like, is going to allow for more of that flexibility. But, you know, pretty widespread across most firms. Like, hours are still a huge area of dissatisfaction, even at the partner level. Like the data that we Collect At Big4Transparency, we collect hours worked in job satisfaction, and the hours worked only keep going up. And like, sure, financially it becomes very worthwhile once you are a partner. Like, you're making great money for your time, but, like, the, the utility of that next dollar starts to decrease beyond a certain point. And I think a lot of people would probably trade off a little bit less money for a little bit more time as well at that point.

Speaker B: Yeah. And when you are running your own practice, you get to really decide. Like, I know someone who says, you know, my wife, uh, like, I want to be able to help her a ton. I want to be able to be there for my kids. And, you know, he doesn't make a ton of money. He makes a good amount of money, but it's not a ton. But. But he's very happy in life because that's what he wants to do. And I think he only works like 30 hours at most throughout the year. And so we're in a profession that that's an option. If that's what you want to build, that's an option for you. And so I think you have to look, you know, five, 10, 15 years down the road and think, where do I want to be? What do I want to build? And when you're at a big firm, you're learning those skills and you're learning that skill set, and that's good, you know, but sometimes you have to reevaluate. What do you actually want in life? Because, you know, money is everything. When you're working, you should be trying to make good money, but money is, uh, everything in life. And so you have to balance that. So that's, that's my personal opinion.

Speaker A: Hard to do and hard to like, make the choice sometimes. But you can, um, you can also flex things up and down for yourself. Right. Like, I've, I've spoken to Erica Goody on here, who she could probably be making six or seven hundred thousand dollars a year if she works the way people are. But like, she has this thing, she's like, I want to work 15 hours a week and she makes like 200 grand at her firm. She's pretty pumped about that as, ah, she should be. Um, but like, and then maybe, who knows, one day the kids move out or something, or, you know, you really want a lake house or whatever it is, and then you can make the choice to flex that up if you wanted to. Um, obviously more goes into that. Um, I think that that's like really, really fascinating and the lifestyle people can get for themselves that way is, is fantastic. Um, so let's talk a little bit about choosing a niche as well. So you chose that you wanted to focus on short term rentals. I think if I were to start a practice, I, I've spoken about this here and there, but like, not too in depth. But I think I would probably go into real estate, which sort of resembles this. Um, let's talk about niche selection, like, why short term rentals? Um, and then, yeah, let's, let's start there.

Speaker B: Yeah. So I, I guess the best way would be for me to like walk you through kind of my, my thought process and the advice that I had received. So a lot of people told me, harris, you need to start out with a niche. And there's, you know, there's a huge fear around picking a niche and then going with it is that, um, oh, you're going to exclude other people. Not really. You're, you're not going to limit yourself at the beginning. If you pick a niche at the beginning, because there's such a need and a demand for accountants that if someone hears that you're an accountant, you're an ea, you're a cpa, whatever it is, they're going to ask, can you do this work for me? Or hey, you know, uh, a lot of it is built off of trust. And so, you know, the one aspect is that you're not excluding other people, you're not excluding other industries. However, what you're really doing is opening your door to find something that you can become a specialist in and then get really good at that. And then everybody who makes really good money in that specialty knows to come to you. And so that's what the door is opening. That's the door that's opening for you if you start off with choosing a niche. So that was some of the advice that I had received. And so I said, okay, cool. That's why my website is marketed towards it. Uh, you know, that's what I'm telling people that I'm specializing in because, you know, I still get other people asking, hey, can you do this? Can you do that? And so it doesn't shut off other things. So which is, which is really good. And you can even change it later on down the road. People have told me, like, if this doesn't work, if you're, you're not interested in this. So it's almost like you pick something that you think you'll be interested in, you try it, and you do something else. And that's kind of what an entrepreneurial life is all about, is that you can pick something, try it, and then if it doesn't work, you pivot. You know, if you're like, oh man, I wanted to try bookkeeping and that bookkeeping is just not for you. You can pivot and do something else. There's a million ways to make, uh, a dollar. So you gotta get in there, try it, figure it out. Figure out what works for you and what doesn't work for you. And, you know, what worked for someone else isn't what will work for you. And so to answer your question about why I chose short term rentals, you know, when I said my family's, they've always been entrepreneurs. What they've really like, most of them have done is real estate. And so I grew up around people that knew how to manage real estate, who knew how to, you know, invest in it, and both commercial and residential. And so I just really like the real estate, particularly investing side of things. And I did a ton of research on the possible niches within just the broader category of real estate. And one that kind of stood out to me as far as a good one to focus in because of the pain points that the clients have. The money that the clients have was short term rental. And I know that the market shifts for short term rental all the time, but there are still people that make a lot of money and have specific pain points. How do we categorize, you know, income for the different properties? How do we know how much one property is making versus another. How do we do, you know, the seven day, you know, short term rules like cost, segs, all of those things. Those are specific pain points to this industry that I'm, you know, familiar with. And so that makes it so that I'll be able to provide value. And where I live too, there's you know, a lot of lakes and a lot of really expensive um, short term rental homes on the lake. You know, $2 million plus homes on this lake. And so I thought, okay, I'm in an area that has that uh, and I'm interested in it. So that's, that's what I'm going to start out with.

Speaker A: Nice. Well, and there's like some pretty distinct lead sources that can come from that that I think are very interesting. Right? Like yeah, when you talked about short term rentals I was like, okay, cool. Like yeah, you can get in touch with every mortgage broker, get in touch with real estate agents, you know, and, and just make yourself known in those communities. And then when someone's buying a home for a rental, you know, maybe there's a little bit of a kickback for that person if they say, oh, by the way, since, since you mentioned this is going to be a short term rental, if you're looking to get set up with a guy who can handle the financials of that and the tax implications and all of that, you know, here's, here's a card just like a business card at the right moment is just absolute gold. So I think that that's like a good selection. One of the things you mentioned too, I think that's important is like these are m, more or less by definition people who have a little bit more disposable income and, or money that they are getting involved in this game and you know, they have the capital so that can make them an attractive user base as well. So I think that that's, that's for sure interesting. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker B: Like a lot of these people are really high um, income like W2 earners and they're looking to like offset their W2 income or get into a side hust something that their spouse does. Like there's a lot of ways that someone gets into this or like they just have a ton of money and they want to invest it in something hard like real estate. And so that's what a lot of people do is they take the W income, W2 income and you know, turn it into real estate, which is a fantastic long term strategy. And that's something that like I want to do. So it's something that I'm interested in. I have, you know, some experience in. And so, you know, if you're interested in it, you know it, that's probably something that you should start with.

Speaker A: Yeah, well, your personal interest in that to me, we spoke about this a little bit offline. Um, I think is like, is creates a real win win scenario where I think one of the best content plays you could possibly do to raise awareness of what you're doing is doing like a short content series about, you know, down the line when the firm's doing, doing well and things like. Yeah, uh, you can do a short content series about your short term rental. Right. Like you're talking about. This is something I want to get into. Well, like you could buy and operate a short term rental and whether or not it's like a smash hit, like even if it did just sort of, so, so it would probably be hugely value creating for yourself because now you have more credibility with the clients. Maybe you learn a couple things here and there, maybe you identify opportunities in your own journey. Um, you know, like for me, for the real estate thing, like I, I have one rental property and I, I recently went through the kind of scenario of like, oh, I can do an early payment on this one property up until, uh, you know, the point where there's no penalties and just pull out more money from, from my actual primary residence mortgage or vice versa, uh, to optimize for tax deductibility and pay down and like optimize on mortgages. And like that could for, for example, like that could be a huge advisory opportunity right across people doing that. And it's just by having literally just this one rental property where I was kind of like, oh, huh, uh, like I can save 5000 bucks like just by doing that little thing, just by pushing some papers around. Right. And so I think when the people you serve are something that you want to get into, I mean that creates a lot more opportunity around your getting involved in that space and how that can actually be like a driver in both sides of the business.

Speaker B: Yeah. And something that I was talking about earlier for like, you know, you see where the money is and you see how you can help people and advise people. And that's what I'm more interested in is the business advisory side. And so like you're saying if you get into it, you can figure out those things that you know, will just stand out to you since you're like, you know, you're an accountant, you know what you're Doing and you get into it, you learn the business really well. Then what happens when you see someone's, you know, P and L say for example, and you look and like the cleaning fee, you're like, man, that is way too high. Like, well, I know a guy. If they're in your area, you can say, I know this person or this company that will clean it for a better fee. Why don't you go and renegotiate for it? Or I think it's too high. Why don't you get some, you know, proposals about, you know, regular cleaning fees? And so you get to kind of have a granular idea of their business because you are running in their business. Like you're saying, even if it's poorly, you're, you're figuring it out, you're learning, then you have a lot more advisory opportunity because people pay more for advisory type work where you're helping them than they do. Just something that's compliant. It's like, oh, I need the books for the bank. Like that's good. But where we all should be focusing on is how do we actually help people in the ways that they need help. And as you know, business advisors, that's kind of what we are as accountants. We're business advisors. That needs to be our mindset. How do we help people in the way that they need help?

Speaker A: Mhm. What do you think was one of the biggest like barriers to entry to you being able to like start doing this full time? Like for example, like I'm looking at your website looks fantastic and we talked about this. You're like, oh, I built this like using Claude code and there's all these sort of tools and, and new capabilities that are unlocked by today's technology. So what, yeah, what did you find was one of the biggest kind of hurdles to being able to start this thing?

Speaker B: You know, I don't want to sound cheesy, but I think it's, you know, you're your own worst enemy. I think that mental blockage of starting ah and doing that is probably the biggest hurdle that I saw in myself and I saw in other people. Basically, if you can get over the headspace of it and you know, you can live frugally and save money enough for it, you can do this like it's, it's not some gate kept thing that no one else can do. So in my own experience it just was that mental blockage of oh, I have this prestigious role at, you know, the, one of the biggest firms in my state. You know, I have this really Cool role that I'm doing. It's a steady income, it's you know, guaranteed. You know, I'm using air quotes here, guaranteed. And I'm just going to leave that behind. And so that mental shift of I'm leaving a title, I'm leaving a place, I'm leaving a structure and I'm going to something that I don't have a title, I don't have a place to be, I don't have, you know, times that someone's expecting me to show up and you know, I don't have that perfectly steady income. I think that that was a big mind shift for me.

Speaker A: Yeah, well, and you did something really interesting to help get over that hump, um, of like the mental thing of like ah, ah, leaving this steady income. So I've spoken to a lot of people, well, a couple of people anyways at this stage in their business who've like really just made the jump and either you know, they knew someone who had basically told them, hey, if you go out on your own, I'm gonna come work with you. And that for them was like big liberator to feel like, okay, well I have this backstop of like I'm at least going to be making $40,000 right out of the gate now I need to make up a delta of $80,000 if I want to be on par. Not the full $120,000. Right. Like just these like little things to be able to seed that or um, some people were actually able to leave with like a set of clients at their firm. Was like, you know, if they're at a firm that was trying to move up market and they were like, oh, you know, this basket of clients, we're going to have to fire them next year. And they were able talk into like, hey, why don't I maybe take them on. I think I might be headed out. You um, got a part time job, uh, which I think is cool, and you didn't get any part time job. You're working with Jason Stats as a community support specialist, which I think is a little bit of a two for one where yeah, I'm sure you got to bridge some of that minimum level of income that you would feel kind of okay with in a worst case scenario. But then you also got to probably surround yourself with, with a lot of people doing the exact same, you know, journey that you're about to go on at that point when you started. Right.

Speaker B: Oh yeah, it's been a wonderful opportunity actually. So I'll give you the background. I Had when I was wanting to go off and do my own thing, I thought, how do I, you know, make that financial gap? How do I bridge that? And so I thought, okay, what about a part time job? You know, but it has to be a part time job that I can easily get clients and there's not like a non compete, there's nothing like that. And so I have to find that space where I can do that. And um, you know, there's. It seems that there are not enough part time jobs for accountants that kind of give me that space and that were like within my wheelhouse and all that sort of stuff. So I was looking around and I'd been subscribed to Jason's um, like newsletter for a long time and I'd been listening to like every single one of his podcasts as it came out.

Speaker A: That's a lot of podcasts. Yeah. Ah, yeah.

Speaker B: You know, and what's funny is he came to my city like a month or two before I discovered him. And then, so I discovered him, started listening. I was like, wait, he just came to my city? That's crazy. So I was listening to him, I was figuring all this stuff out. I was thinking, how do I get a part time job maybe you know, to go from my original salary to, you know, something that's less, but still not something that's nothing. Um, and that I can get clients and grow from there. Um, so while I was thinking that I saw in his newsletter, he was like, hey, I'm hiring a community support specialist. And I was already considering joining Realize at the time. And when I saw that come through, I was like, that's perfect. I can join, realize, talk to all these accountants every single day, be able to post, ask questions, talk to them and also help facilitate something that I was interested in joining in already. So it was kind of a double dip, wonderful situation. And as an accountant myself, they were very excited to have me help facilitate those conversations and, you know, moderate the community and all those sorts of things. So it was a wonderful blessing and a perfect timing really because I've just been able to, you know, slowly, you know, finish all my work at my old job, ramp up this part time job and ramp up my new practice. So it's been a wonderful kind of transition period.

Speaker A: Yeah, well, and these communities, like I'm a very, very strong believer in that. And I talk about this a little bit, but like, I think that I owe a lot of like my own entrepreneurial drive, or maybe the drive was always there, but actually willingness to go after and pursue big fortun. Transparency. Um, I wasn't surrounded by entrepreneurs. I didn't really, like, have a lot of access to that. And I actually give a lot of credit to podcasts. Like, I was super into indie hackers. I was super into my first million things like that, where it just kind of like being surrounded by those people. Um, I'll call it like a third best. Like, ideal is you actually have that in your circle, but, like, that's just not going to be real for everyone. Um, I think second best is being part of a community such as realize, and there's some other ones as well. But, like, being part of one of those communities I think is great. I didn't really know of any that I particularly liked at the time, so I resorted to podcasts where it still feels like you're surrounded by people who are, like, doing the things you want to do. Uh, and it helps normalize some of those ideas for you. Like, I think it helps. It helps it feel less crazy to make a bet because you exposed to all these people who've actually done it, and you can see it really paying off to varying degrees. But, uh, like, most of them are really happy they did it. And even hearing the story of people who did it and then failed and then like, that unlocked some other opportunity for them and still propelled them forward in some way. I think that that's like, so, so, so deeply underrated. And even though there's like, all of these communities, I still think we don't, like, give enough attention to those. So how has being, you know, even as an employee, but like, how has being in that community helped kind of shape a. The decision to leave and be like, I, I assume you were probably able to kind of hit the ground running with some of this.

Speaker B: Yeah. So, you know, when you're wanting to go off and do your own family always is another barrier. They, especially family who hasn't done this type of a thing. You know, it's a very, you know, it's accounting. It's a, uh, very niche thing. And even if you grew up in a family of entrepreneurs like I did, I still got people going, yeah, but do you want to leave your good job? You know, I still got that type of questions, and I love my family to death, but they still ask some of those questions. And other people did too. Not just my family and people at the firm, uh, I worked for and those sorts of things. So you have to find a space where the people are doing what you want to do so that you can become more like them and find those opportunities and normalize what you're doing. And podcasts are a great space. I mean, I started listening to Jason Stats, and he helped normalize that, um, some for me. And then, you know, I just kept hearing more and more about it. And then being in Jason's community of realize helps normalize that so much more. It helps, you know, you're seeing people that have walked in every stage of life. Like, there are people that literally just, uh, started at the same time that I did, you know, at the beginning of this month. There are people that started two years ago, five years ago. There's people that started 10 years ago and now run enormous practices, you know, and there are also people that started out as an employee and made their way all the way up to partners. So it's kind of a wonderful opportunity to get to know people that are doing the walk of life that you want to do at various different stages. And so it helps normalize it. And then instead of worrying about, oh, is this the right fit for me? Is this, you know, what I want to be doing? You don't have those questions. Once you decide that that's what you want to do, you're like, oh, this is a normal thing. This is something that I can trust and do and make happen. So the more that you can normalize what you're doing between your family and your friends and yourself mentally, the easier it will be to do that. And there's just a lot of questions that you're going to have when you make that jump. No one knows everything. And so that's the biggest life lesson, is that no one knows everything. And when you start out, you think, oh, I got to know everything. No, you don't. You have to jump in. You have to figure it out. You're going to learn, you're probably going to fail like you're talking about, and then you can pivot and you keep moving on. I think, like, Alex Hirmozi is a fantastic example of that. I listen to a lot of his content, and he basically had, like, what, nine failed businesses. Don't quote me on that. But, like, nine failed businesses. And he just kept learning and learning and learning until it stuck. And there's, like, that perseverance aspect to it. You get into this space where you think that, oh, I must succeed from the beginning, otherwise I'm just a failure. Like, no, failure is part of living. I heard about this, um, ah, parent, like, these parents who always would ask their kids, like, hey, what did you fail on today. And so the kids had an opportunity to talk about what they, they tried and they failed at. And so you get to have that learning process, and being an entrepreneur really stresses that a lot. And so it's scary if you don't have other people going through that with you.

Speaker A: That's awesome, man. I, um. Yeah, I, I, I, uh, think that it's really cool that you took the plunge, and I'm, I'm so happy that, like, community job worked out for you, because I think, yeah, me too. Like, what a, what a find, right? Because it's like, again, yeah, you can bridge a little bit of that income gap, but then at the same time, you're gaining so much exposure to so many great people. Um, but, yeah, I'm rooting for your success, man. You talk about how, you know, listening to some people's journeys was important to you, and the same for me. And so hopefully you can be, uh, you know, hopefully in a year or two, we can check in and you can be one of those voices that helps inspire people to make the move.

Speaker B: That'd be great. If I can inspire people to do what they love to do and to find something that they love to do, that'd be a huge blessing.

Speaker A: Yeah. Well, thank you so much for joining me today, Harris, and I'm, um, wishing you a, a lot of great success with the firm.

Speaker B: Thank you so much. I appreciate it.