practiceprofile
fairly short period of time if he wanted to be
up and running for the 2011 tax season.
Among the many items on his to-do list:
Incorporation. An attorney had offered
to help with incorporating the new firm, but
Levy declined. “I’d been advising clients to
form their own corporations for so long,
I wanted to do it myself,” he said. It turned
out to be relatively easy, and he was able to
incorporate online through the Web site of
the Georgia Secretary of State. He also got
a required business license from the city of
Dunwoody, the Atlanta suburb where he
planned to practice, as well as registering
with the American Institute of CPAs.
Financing. Levy was able to arrange a
line of credit through a banker he has known
for years. While his business plan and the
consistency of his revenue base impressed
his banker, what most interested them was
the possibility of access to his clients. “They
said, ‘Please refer us your business clients,’”
he noted.
Office space. “It was really important to
me not to be portrayed as a ‘single-shingle’
practitioner working out of the house,” Levy
said, so he hired a broker to help him find an
appropriate space in Dunwoody. The short
time frame and the size of office he wanted
— 1,800-2,300 square feet — constrained his
choices, but after looking at 10 buildings, he
found a space he loved right down the street
from the firm he was leaving. Commercial
real estate conditions worked in his favor, as
he received the first five months free, as well
as a full build-out with new carpet and paint.
The build-out was completed on December 1
of last year, but as he had wanted to open for
business on November 1, the building gave
him temporary space right next door, so he
could check on construction every day. “It’s a
friendly market, but I still had to act quickly,”
he said.
Software. Levy’s old firm had used Thom-
son Reuters’ CS suite of tax and accounting
products. “I knew the software, and all my
client files were already set up,” he said, “so
I called the rep, and he said, ‘ You may want
to try SaaS.’” Levy wasn’t familiar with Thom-
son’s Software-as-a-Service monthly leasing
offerings, but the representative sold him on
the benefits. “The biggest appeal was the ear-
ly-on lack of start-up financing — not having
to stroke a check for $20,000, and not having
to purchase a server, which ultimately saved
me between $3,000 and $5,000,” he said. And
while he experienced a few challenges in get-
ting used to the cloud-based solutions, he
also discovered benefits beyond low cost,
like being able to hire staff from as far away
as Birmingham, Ala. “Two of my part-time
tax preparers were able to work 100 percent
remotely,” he said. “They never came in to
the office, and were able to access everything
remotely from the cloud.”
GETTING THE WORD OUT
On Oct. 21, 2010, Levy Tax & Consulting went
from plan to reality, when Levy officially notified his clients via his e-mail newsletter that
he was starting a new firm.
That was the easy part; the hard part was
telling his old firm that he was leaving, which
had worried him from the moment he con-
sidered setting out on his own. “One of my
biggest fears was starting this and being at
war with my old firm,” he said. “But they were
great. They handled things so well.” It helped
that he told them he wanted to refer audit
business to them, as he wouldn’t be offering
audit services. “The day I notified my part-
ners, they offered me full access to my client
files. That was huge for me — it was their way
of saying they trusted me, and were willing to
part amicably. I remain grateful to them for
how they handled the situation.”
In the meantime, Levy was also working on
letting the rest of the world know about the
firm, too. He had hired a design firm to de-
velop a logo. “I lost a lot of sleep with the logo
— the image that I was a legitimate firm was
so important to me,” he said. At first he wasn’t
happy with any of the looks that came back,
but after several iterations, and a consulta-
tion with a client in the promotional products
business, he settled on one that supported
the branding he was looking for.
THE BEST-LAID PLANS
No business plan survives contact with reality, and the firm’s first six months and its first
tax season threw Levy plenty of curveballs.
His first admin left, and another early hire
— a part-time bookkeeper — didn’t work out.
The Internal Revenue Service didn’t allow e-
filing until February 14, and the delay made it
feel as if the firm wasn’t making progress. Due
to the compressed tax season and unexpect-
edly high workloads, he had to hire twice as
much tax season help as he’d planned, and
had to negotiate to add more space to his ex-
isting office. Getting his printing, scanning
and copying systems to work properly took
two months and “drove me nuts.”
Not all the surprises were negative, though
they all required him to be quick on his feet.
While he had planned on bringing along
most of his clients, even more came than he
expected — and they referred others. And be-
fore tax season even started, he found himself
acquiring the practice of a local CPA who was
ill and wanted to make sure his clients had a
solid successor: “The acquisition added more
chaos to our mix, but given the situation his
health was in, we were humbled and honored
to take over and work with his clients.”
Tax season is always a struggle, but with a
new firm to establish and the influx of new
clients, Levy said, “I was killing myself. I was
here every Saturday and Sunday, until mid-
night every weekday. Even when I was some-
what caught up, I still was doing everything
I could to navigate the firm to the finish line.
I’ve worked my tail off during tax season in
the past, but this was different. It’s your show
and reputation on the line. There was defi-
nitely a lot of adrenaline flowing.”
In the end, though, he was “thrilled with
the way it went,” in terms of both revenue
and maintaining the quality of work he was
aiming for. “Our clients were serviced with
extremely timely and high-quality work. I’m
proud of how well we did,” he noted.
THE NEXT CHALLENGES
With a successful first tax season behind him,
Levy isn’t resting on his laurels.
“I want to continue servicing my growth,
and to add new clients,” he said. “I’d like to be
less seasonal; I wish my work was spread out
a little more throughout the whole year. One
of my goals is to ensure that our staff are kept
busy over the whole twelve months.”
The firm currently has approximately 700
individual clients and 325 business clients,
with the former representing 40 percent of his
revenues, and the latter 60 percent. Levy in-
tends to grow those numbers, and expressed
interest in acquiring more practices, to boost
both his book of business and his staff — as
long as they don’t come with partners.
For the moment, he’s savoring the perks of
being the boss, like being able to set the firm’s
dress code — business casual, with jeans on
Fridays — and to change it when he chooses:
Between April 18 and April 30, he allowed his
staff to wear t-shirts and shorts to work (
unless, of course, they expected to see clients).
He also chose to give his staff an advance
bonus on April 15, and relished giving them
their first reviews before May 1.
“I’ve enjoyed this,” Levy said. “My dad has
owned his own business since he was 27, and
it’s been exciting to share things with him and
compare notes and get his advice on being a
business owner.”
“It was exciting to start the business in a
bad economy,” he added. “It had seemed
like so long since a new business had started.
Most companies are shrinking and struggling,
and I’m growing and excited about the firm’s
bright future.” AT
