We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Robert Garcia. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Robert below.
Hi Robert, thanks for joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?
I’ve always been a person who cares about others, so during the pandemic when our small businesses were suffering due to a failed financial structure, lack of representation, limited resources and the prioritization of large businesses, I decided to do something to help. That’s when I decided to leave my corporate office for my community office as I like to call it.
I knew my skillset as a CPA could be the difference in whether those businesses affected by the pandemic were still around tomorrow and that their families had a future too. We know that having the right legal structure, keeping your books in order and filing your taxes timely is important for the success of a small businesses. We also know that it’s more than just those things nowadays, it’s about visibility, leadership and mentorship. Helping small businesses develop an entrepreneurial mindset and teaching them how to think beyond the day to day is what brings the real success.
We are proud of the work we have done and how intentional we are in serving our small business community these past two years. We do things different, cause something different is needed.
Robert, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I am the #CPAguy. We are a small accounting firm with a BIG vision for small businesses. It’s just my wife (Lily) and I, she does all our Marketing and Community Outreach and I do all the fun accounting/tax work for our clients. We are a small business just like our clients, so we understand the journey they’re on and everything that comes with it.
I graduated from UTSA with both a Bachelors and Masters degree in Accounting and set off to change the world at KPMG, at the time one of the 4 largest CPA firms in the world. It sounded larger than life at the time. I then spent some time in both public and private industry in a variety of roles. Interestingly, at that time not spending enough years in one role didn’t open many doors, fast forward to today and it’s what opens all the doors. Funny how that works sometimes.
Originally I wanted to be a Lawyer, and I would have been a good one too, but after some advice and education from friends close to me I opted to be a CPA. Surprisingly not many know what that is, admittedly I struggle to explain it too sometimes. Today I like to tell people it stands for Community, People and Advocacy, all the things I stand for and believe in.
We are a small accounting firm that provides bookkeeping, tax compliance and consulting services. However, it’s not the services that set us apart, it’s how we show up for our clients and we always start out by congratulating them on being a small business owner because we know it’s a hard journey and we don’t often get recognized for the work we do. We are not a transactional firm, we are an educational one. We help our clients understand the services we provide, we teach them how they should be thinking about their business and we provide them mentorship throughout our interactions.
Our firm stands out because we stand out in the work we do. Today, we can’t donate a lot of money but what we do better than anyone, is SHOW UP. We are VISIBLE where our small businesses are. We advocate for them at City Hall, in Round Tables, Town Halls and with our local Chambers of Commerce and Business Development Organizations. We build bridges and collaborations to help level the playing field for what is the backbone of our city. We have built a community through our brand #IhaveaCPAguy and we look forward to helping shape our city into a true small business city for everyone.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
I always tell people I am one of those statistic we talk about of the Latino community. I’m not supposed to be where I am today, so I am eternally grateful for those few that believed in me when I needed someone to believe in me.
I’ve had to work for everything in my life and I mean everything. I was raised in a single parent household, family of 8 (with my siblings having different dads), my dad died when I was 11. I dropped out of high school in the 10th grade, but returned to graduate a year late. At 18 I was arrested for a 2nd degree felony of theft and was facing 3 years in state prison. Sadly my attorney failed me in my initial representation and my probation officer merely saw me as a number. Fortunately, my sister introduced me to Attorney Ron Rangel (now Judge Rangel), whom she had worked with his late wife. He was able to help convince the judge to give me another chance and the Judge did.
College wasn’t easier, I was 25, which is considered old, so during the annual Firm interviews I wasn’t given much of a chance due to being “rough around the edges” and my age. However, had it not been for Devon Dixon whom I had met at Meet the Firms, I would have never been given the opportunity to meet Linda Doubrava, a new Partner to San Antonio. She gave me a chance in the Tax department as an intern and eventually full time position in the Houston office.
#CPAguy almost didn’t’ become a CPA. You see I had to answer to the TSBPA about my past indiscretion of theft despite my success in College and completing all the terms of my probation. Fortunately all my years of hard work was more than enough for them to believe that I would be a great CPA one day.
Lastly, Corporate America was a roller coaster ride that gave me so much be thankful for, but it also showed me a lot of what I didn’t want to become. When I decided to leave during the Pandemic, sadly there wasn’t a lot of support for me. It’s not that they didn’t care, they just didn’t understand the Entrepreneurial spirit I had.
If you’re still with me, thank you. I share these summarized life moments because they are precisely the moments that have made me who I am today. At each point I could have quit and given up, but I didn’t. Instead I decided I would be different, different in the way I show up in the community, for my clients and in the industry. I wake up everyday wanting to be the person who believes in someone that needs to be believed in and I do so with pride.
Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?
I wanted to answer this question, with a different perspective. We already had a small book of business so we didn’t start with a specific strategy, we simply wanted to serve and not be salesy. In doing so, we were very intentional in being in the spaces where small businesses were seeking guidance or sharing what they do or sell. What we found was an opportunity to connect and contribute with them. We also quickly realized it wasn’t just small businesses needing our CPA skillset, or super power as I like to call it, it was Chambers, Business Development organizations, non profits, accelerators, community leaders, etc so we made ourselves available to them in an effort to collaborate and better serve our small business community. We now show up literally everywhere and try to access spaces traditionally not inclusive of small business representation.
So what does this mean for an effective strategy to grow your business? It means sometimes you have to put in a lot more effort to grow your business, it doesn’t always happen overnight. As a Professional our intentions must be real and authentic because of the work we do and who we serve and that takes time, especially if you want to build relationships and a brand. Today people want to work with us because of who we are and what we do, more so than for price and prestige.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.Ihaveacpaguy.com
- Instagram: Ihaveacpaguy
- Facebook: IhaveaCPAguy12
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertgarciacpa/
- Twitter: IhaveaCPAguy
- Youtube: #IhaveaCPAguy
- Other: Tik Tok: IhaveaCPAguy
Image Credits
Illume Lens – by Marcos Pena (SASW week phot0s)