Between 2 Firms

Melissa Harman joins Nick to break down how she went from public accounting and BDO to building Mission First Advisory while still working full time as a corporate assistant controller. They dig into how her first client in 2023 turned into a six-figure firm by 2025, all while navigating pregnancy, a new baby, and intentionally hiring help early instead of trying to do everything herself. Melissa...

David Tunstall joins Nick to break down how a layoff from public company financial reporting pushed him into firm ownership, starting with door knocking, nonprofit contract work, and early small business clients before formally building The Tunstall Organization. He shares how his practice has evolved from QuickBooks Desktop, PCs, and early cloud accounting into a modern mix of QBO, Xero, TaxDome,...

James Heyward joins Nick to break down how he grew up around accounting through his father’s practice, took a detour through Duke, DJing, record promotion, and owning a vinyl-only retail store, then eventually returned to accounting and launched Heyward CPA in 2010. He shares how early business ownership taught him how to survive as a firm owner, why corporate accounting felt too siloed after publ...

Nick and Matt sit down for another Firm Deep Dive episode to break down Saga’s first full tax season systems review, including how the firm went from 16 returns the prior year to 72 returns and counting. They walk through the tech stack that carried the season, including StanfordTax for organizers and workpapers, Financial Cents for practice management, Drake for tax prep, Ignition for proposals a...

Bryce Morrison joins Nick to unpack how he went from a public accounting path at a growing Boise-area firm to launching Blacksmith CPA, a niche practice focused exclusively on nonprofit tax and compliance work. He shares how his early exposure to nonprofit returns showed him a gap in the market, why he left his prior firm without taking clients, and what it was like starting from scratch in May 20...

Crystal Wambeke joins Nick to break down how she went from a government accounting role to building a bookkeeping firm from the ground up, including a 9-year side hustle phase that eventually turned into a full-time practice. She shares how early client acquisition came from platforms like Craigslist and Elance, why being selective with clients paid off long term, and how hitting capacity and burn...

Nick and Matt use this episode to unpack the firm’s current bookkeeping process from end to end, framed by the reality that tax season pushed the podcast onto a three-week hiatus and exposed a few operational weak points along the way. They talk through the lessons from launching an accounting podcast during busy season, why they are shifting to an every-other-week cadence for now, and how a growi...

Perry Mayer joins Nick to break down how he went from corporate internal audit and public accounting into building Vital Accounting Services on the side, then making the leap full-time after realizing there was never going to be a “perfect” moment. They get into what changed once Perry left corporate, including rebuilding his network from scratch, leaning hard into tax-accountant referral partners...

Darren King joins Nick to unpack how he went from a small-firm public accounting career to launching Darren King CPA in Sandpoint, Idaho, after watching multiple firm buyouts reshape client experience, pricing, and internal culture. He shares why the last private-equity buyout became the “now or never” moment to go solo, what it felt like to start with zero true side-practice clients, and how he b...

Nick and Matt kick off a “special episode” format that pulls back the curtain on how they’re building Saga Accounting Solutions, starting with a quick firm update before zooming into their top-down growth plan: an org chart vision for what a mature 20 to 25 person firm should look like, how responsibilities shift as the team grows, and how they reduce “additional duties” by clarifying true ownersh...

Jeremy Roman of R Tax Services joins Nick to unpack how he inherited a 40 year family tax practice in Evansville, Indiana and rebuilt it from the ground up. Jeremy shares the shock of discovering the firm was a 2,500 return 1040 mill averaging about $55 per return, why he standardized pricing immediately, and how he used policies and systems to stop discounting, fire the wrong clients, and protect...

Jonathan Tiralosi of Bullseye Bookkeeping joins Nick to share how he went from KPMG and a pharma month-end close role to going full-time with only six months of runway and about $2,000 per month in recurring revenue. They break down the turning point that unlocked growth, which was cold-calling CPAs across five counties and turning those conversations into a tax pro referral flywheel through white...

Josh Schneider joins Nick to break down how a rough early CPA-firm experience and a later “breakthrough year” as an entrepreneur pushed him to launch Multiply Advisors with a bigger goal in mind: building toward 1,000 monthly clients . They dig into what he learned from interviewing 100 business owners, including the insight that 88% weren’t happy with their current accounting support and why swit...

Kim Kelleher and Heather Deibele join Nick to break down how they each found their way into accounting, from Kim’s “accidental accountant” path that started with volunteering as a treasurer to Heather’s jump from engineering and startup ops into a fully remote, QuickBooks Online only firm. They walk through how a few years of coffee chats turned into a deliberate merger, the branding process that...

Hector Cantu joins Nick to break down how he’s built and refined his firm’s service model, including the shift from taking any client to packaging the right work for the right audience. They dig into Hector’s three-tier offering, how he structures proposals and sets expectations, and what he’s learned about pricing as the scope moves from basic compliance to higher-touch advisory. Hector also shar...

Ryan Elblein joins Nick to break down how he went from big-firm tax to running a solo practice built from scratch, including the early side-hustle phase that turned into a full-time firm. They dig into what’s made the Tax Pros Discord such a high-value, real-time resource, plus how Ryan used BNI networking and subcontract work to create runway while his client base grew. Ryan shares why he now bun...

In this episode, Nick talks with Lauren Dozier, founder of Dozier Financial Services, about going from a corporate finance background to building a bookkeeping firm that evolved into controllership style work and full back-office support. Lauren walks through how her service offering expanded as clients needed more than clean books, what “decision-ready” reporting looks like in practice, and how s...

In this episode, Nick talks with Don Leavitt, founder of ArrowCPA, about building a solo firm that’s tax-first, subscription-based, and intentionally small. Don walks through his winding path into accounting, what finally pushed him to go out on his own, and how he structured monthly tax advisory so he can deliver real planning without living in the “billable hour” hamster wheel. They also get int...

On this episode, Nick chats with Katrina Kowalski, a New Hampshire-based CPA and owner of OnPoint Tax & Consulting. Katrina shares her path from traditional public accounting, starting at Arthur Andersen to eventually launching a practice that gives her (and her team) real flexibility. Katrina and her partner run a seven-person, all-women team of working moms, largely virtual, with clear bound...

Welcome to the Between 2 Firms podcast, a show centered around conversations between business owners in the accounting industry. In this first episode, we give an introduction to ourselves and have a great conversation with Mourgan Reed-Cintron, a CPA, Registered Yoga Teacher, and owner of Tranquil Transactions CPA PLLC. We hope you enjoy listening and feel free to get in touch with us if there is...