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Meet Nikki Winston, CPA

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Meet Nikki Winston, CPA

September 19, 2022
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Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Nikki Winston, CPA . We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Nikki , appreciate you joining us today. One of the things we most admire about small businesses is their ability to diverge from the corporate/industry standard. Is there something that you or your brand do that differs from the industry standard? We’d love to hear about it as well as any stories you might have that illustrate how or why this difference matters.

As a CPA exam coach, I have personally experienced the same struggles as the CPA candidates who join my program. When I was studying, I realized that sifting through phone-book style textbooks and monotone videos (that repeated the same things from those books) isn’t the way to pass the CPA exam. I needed to see real-world applications of accounting concepts, understand how studying would translate in my job, and it was important to have access to CPAs who looked like me for guidance and support. Realizing there was an opportunity to meet CPA candidates where they are, I built my CPA exam coaching program around being present for CPA candidates to ask me questions, break down accounting concepts for them, and share my exam experiences, including how I kept myself motivated to keep studying when I wanted to quit.

I like doing things differently. My podcast is called The WERKin’ Mommas™️ and it’s my audio journal of all things MomLife, accounting, and career advice.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I discovered my love for accounting after my first accounting class. Growing up I wanted to be an obstetrician but when I got to college and saw all of the sciences I’d have to take, I let that dream go! I stayed close to medicine & maternal health through volunteering. I knew I wanted to pivot to something business-related but wasn’t sure what that looked like yet. After I walked out of Professor Pelfrey’s Accounting 101 class, my brain was fried and twisted in a way that I’d never experienced – and I couldn’t wait to go back for more!

I initially started The Winston CPA Group (WCG) to offer accounting, tax, and consulting services for business owners. My firm has evolved to include preparing candidates for the CPA exam, executive career coaching, and tax strategy for NCAA athletes securing NIL deals. I also combined my love for accounting and writing to land partnerships with T-Mobile, Bloomberg, and Coursera.

I’m most proud of having built a brand and firm the way I wanted to and imagined. I’m proud that WCG is rooted in education – whether my client is a future CPA, a major brand looking for fresh perspectives on tax and entrepreneurship, or a football player who has NIL deals pouring in. When clients work with me, they’re getting someone who cares about their success and who operates with integrity and excellence at all times.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I built my audience organically on social media. The sales-y tactics of telling people to “Buy Now” or “Book a Consultation” didn’t feel good to me. Why should they buy now? What problem are they solving by booking a consultation with you? My approach was to be myself and share content that resonated with my audience and include resources I’d created. If they find value in my content they’ll reach out. I know everything I put out isn’t going to get a million likes but the emails, DMs, and sales that come in as a result lets me know I’m on the right path. My content has to feel good and genuine to me so I create it myself. I tried to hire a team to manage it but I need to talk to my audience the way I WANT to, a paid service can’t articulate my authenticity. Be YOU – your audience and potential clients buy into you and your why, not a gimmick.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

The CPA exam consists of passing four exam sections, and you must pass all four sections within an 18-month window. If you don’t pass all four sections within that 18-month window, the sections that you have credit for expire and you have to start over. So because I passed all four sections but did not pass them within the 18-month window, I had to keep starting over from square one. Imagine a cycle of passing, failing, and losing credit for 3+ years. That’s the situation that I was in that almost made me quit the CPA EXAM and conclude being a CPA was not meant for me. I had to pass FAR again and doing so meant that I would finally have credit for all four sections at the same time and then I could apply for my CPA license. What instead happened was I failed that section (even though I had already passed it twice before), and me failing that section meant that two other section credits expired. So here I am 3+ years into studying for the CPA exam to get my license and I had to start over. I reflected on what I had been going through for all of these years on top of working full-time running an accounting department, building my business, on top of being a mother to two babies, on top of being me and wanting to have a life. I gave myself six months to get my head back in the game because I had been so defeated from being knocked down after being so close to the finish line, and I said I’m going to give this one last try and if this doesn’t work I am done. I gave those three remaining sections everything I had and I managed to get all three of those credits back within six months and finally get my license! That happened because I felt like I wasn’t going to let this exam beat me. I didn’t know the exact day that I was going to pass the CPA exam but I knew that day was out there somewhere so even when I told myself if this doesn’t work out I’m gonna quit, I probably would’ve taken a break from it and then got right back to it because the CPA exam was not going to defeat me. Having that experience with the CPA exam drives a lot of what I do in my coaching programs because I’ve been there, and I know what it feels like to want that license so bad but to feel like where do I go, who can I talk to who understands what I’m going through, and who can help me understand these complex accounting concepts? Who can help me during these moments when I’m ready to throw in the towel and say that it’s not meant for me to be a CPA ? That experience has changed the way I look at this industry; it’s changed the way I look at CPA exam prep courses, and it has changed the way I look at accounting curriculums in terms of how they prepare students to be ready to tackle this exam. So even though The CPA exam is comprised of four sections when it was all said and done I had taken 13 exams when you add up all of the fails and lost credits. When I finally got my license I had 13 exams and 1,373 days under my belt. When you have it in your mind that something is for you and you double down on you that’s the result you get.

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Headshots by Nicole Tyler Photography

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