The IC-DISC Show

In today's episode of the IC-DISC show, I have a captivating discussion with Carolyn Turner from the Alabama International Trade Center. We uncover fascinating details about Alabama's economic progress and the pivotal role of the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) in boosting job growth and new businesses. Carolyn shares inspiring success stories of SBDC clients who utilized free services to...

In today's episode of the IC-DISC show, I chat with Mark Wade, founder and president of Echelon Virtual Family Office. Mark shares insights into virtual family office services, tailored for those with substantial wealth not needing a standalone family office. We also discuss premium-financed life insurance structures and how they serve individuals with several million dollars in assets. Mark outli...

In today's illuminating episode, listen in as I chat with Kirk McLaren, founder of Foresight CFO, about thriving in finance and business. Kirk lifts the veil on the strategic growth CFO role beyond tasks. Discover pivotal client habits and Kirk's innovative fractional model. An intriguing question prompts Kirk's life-shaping reflections. Dive into Kirk's book exploring transformational practices....

Today on the IC-DISC Podcast, I spoke with Mike Silverman and Matt Clark, two attorneys specializing in exit planning and succession planning for business owners. They explained that exit planning is all about planning when an owner wants to leave the company, while succession planning identifies future leaders within the business. Both are crucial since you need a strategy for expected and unexpe...

In today’s episode of the IC-DISC podcast, we sit down with Jackie Campbell, a savvy CPA, founding partner of a thriving firm in Tampa, and the engaging host of her own radio show and podcast, Beyond the Money. Jackie generously shares her firm's unique 360-degree approach to financial planning, propelling clients towards a secure future. We dig deep into the importance of believing in oneself, th...

In today’s episode of the IC-Disc podcast, I have a great guest today, Hayden Kelly from Chicago. He is with Chicago Atlantic and they have a really interesting cannabis fund for accredited investors. They've identified a market inefficiency because endowments, institutions, and non-profits are usually prohibited from investing in cannabis. Additionally, these cannabis companies are typically not...

In today’s episode of the IC-DISC podcast, I had the pleasure of speaking with Marvin Blum, one of the top estate-planning attorneys in the country. Marvin shares his unique approach to estate-planning that focuses on the head and the heart of the matter. Listen in as Marvin and I discuss the current state of estate planning and the unique opportunity presented by today's (historically) large esta...

In today's episode of the IC-DISC podcast, I am talking to Greg O'Brien from Boston. Greg has one of the most interesting CPA practices I've ever seen. Not only is it a virtual firm with employees and clients located all over the country, but they serve clients on a subscription basis only. We talked about how he ended up with this model and how it has evolved over time, based on both client and e...

In this episode of the IC-DISC podcast we’re talking to John H. Walker, a mergers & acquisitions attorney in Houston. In the past, John has done hundreds of transactions, on both the buy-side and the sell-side for a number of different public and private companies. But he really loves representing sellers who are selling to much larger, more sophisticated buyers, in which he is able to level t...

Today on the IC-DISC show we are talking to Bob Emery, founder of Metals Recycling Magazine. We have known each other for more than a decade. He's very active in the scrap metal business and has a great story about why he started Metals Recycling Magazine after a long tenure in the scrap trade industry. We talked about why he started it as his first entrepreneurial venture, concerns, and lessons l...

On the podcast today we are joined by Michael Till, a senior partner at the CPA firm Mohle Adams. Mohle Adams has a unique background in that it is 75 years old but has only six partners and about 45 total people on the team. That is quite unusual compared to most CPA firms. However, this slow growth rate has been very deliberate and has helped them to be highly focused on accepting only clients w...

Today on the IC-DISC Show, we're talking with Brian Schwam, National Managing Director of International Tax at WTP Advisors. WTP Advisors and Export Advisors are the two founding members of the IC-DISC Alliance, and in this episode, we talk about the work we do with CPA firms to support their clients who have, or would benefit from having, an IC-DISC. Removing any concern about 'losing' clients to...

My guest today is Heidi Henderson. She serves as the Executive Vice President for Engineered Tax Services and oversees the marketing and advertising efforts along with business development. Although ETS is based in Southern Florida, Heidi is actually located in Utah. Doing cost segregation work, mostly on real estate projects, we talk about some of the differentiators for Engineered Tax Services,...

In today's episode, we meet Al Deaver, an intellectual property lawyer and Principal at the Houston-based law firm of McAughan Deaver. Al's undergraduate degree is actually in mechanical engineering and he then paired that with a law degree, making him incredibly proficient with the more technical aspects of intellectual property. In this episode we talked about some things for exporters to be awa...

Today's guest is Laura Stees, a CPA, business strategist, and partner at Stees, Walker & Company LLP in San Diego, California. Laura has a really unique tax practice where she really focuses more on planning and implementation rather than compliance. Her firm does the compliance, but in her experience, it's the planning and maybe even more importantly, the implementation of the planning in whi...

In today's episode of the IC-DISC Show, we have the pleasure of talking to Lucy Petry, an accomplished tax professional and attorney who recently received her LLM in taxation. She has also been a professor for accounting classes at the University of St. Thomas and law classes at the South Texas College of Law. In this show, we talk about a significant upcoming tax law change that will have substan...

Today on the IC-DISC Show, we're speaking with Brett Ekart, CEO of United Metals Recycling, a metals recycling and processing company based in Boise, Idaho, and host of the podcast A Scrap Life. Brett grew up in the recycling industry. He loves its potential, and this life-long engagement has given him a different perspective on the business. Instead of considering it a commodity business, he view...

In today's IC-DISC Show, I am joined by Brian Schwam & Jim Fyhrie of WTP Advisors, for a special episode as we announce the formation of the IC-DISC Alliance. The Alliance is a collaboration between the premiere IC-DISC consulting firms in the country with the goal of being the most comprehensive IC-DISC resource available anywhere. The founding members of the Alliance are Export Advisors and...

Today on the IC-DISC Show, we have the pleasure of talking to Ben Lehrer, the founder and CEO of First Water, an advisory firm here in Houston. First Water connects teams with data to companies with capital through a concept Ben calls "Relational Finance" and in this episode, we talk about Ben's background, what inspired him to start First Water, the type of companies they help, and his book, "Rel...

Today on the IC-DISC Show, we're talking with Chris Dooley, CEO of Dooley Tackaberry, a fourth-generation firm founded 97 years ago in Beaumont, Texas. The company is one of the most reliable suppliers of fire and safety products to oil, gas, and municipal markets, and we had a great conversation about what it's like to be the fourth generation of a family-run business. Chris has an amazing relati...

Ali, you may remember, has a hugely successful wealth management firm based in Houston, but he is back as a guest because he's just released his new book, The Business Owner's Dilemma looking at the 3 dilemmas we face as business owners. It's a great conversation talking about the book, why he wrote it, how he sees it as more of a ROLE (return on life experience) project rather than an ROI project...

Today on the IC-DISC Show, we're talking with Dave Manges, Founder and President of Reinsman Consulting, a specialty consulting firm based in Dallas, Texas, helping small and medium-size businesses navigate the complexities of the Employee Retention Credit and other COVID-19 stimulus programs. Dave has an interesting story. He was on a partnership track at a big four accounting firm, but when the...

Today on the IC-DISC Show, we're talking with Michael Kramer, President of ManageHub, a specialty consulting firm based in Chicago, who use the Malcolm Baldridge principles of total quality management to dramatically improve a company's quality and performance in a relatively short period of time. We had a great conversation about some of the client successes he's had, the history of Baldrige, and...

Today on the IC-DISC Show, we're talking with John McDonough, a Financed Insurance Specialist based in Houston. John works with ultra high-net-worth families and C-suite executives to create innovative insurance solutions, and this is a very interesting episode because we had the opportunity to talk about his services and the challenge of helping people understand these new ideas. He has a detaile...

Today on the IC-DISC Show, we have a little different type of podcast. Rather than speaking with a guest, I'm going to do a short episode in which I answer the most common questions we've received this year about the future of the IC-DISC given the new administration. A change in administration always raises concerns, so I want to share some of the opportunities and challenges of using the program...