Today, my guest is Terrell Turner. Terrell has been, I think this is at least, the third time on The Unique CPA Podcast. We’re going to be doing something a little bit different today. Terrell and I are having more of a conversation about our upcoming conference that’s July 22nd, 23rd and 24th in Denver, Colorado, this year. We’re going to talk about a little bit of the history of the conference—Terrell’s been part of every year—and some unique things we’re going to be doing this year, which we’ll dig into for a second. So Terrell, before we get into that, welcome back for, like I said, at least the third time on The Unique CPA Podcast?

Hey, thanks for having me back. 

Yep. And do you know, is it the third time? I think it is.

I think it is the third time. 

Alright. Well, we should have a club, the three-timers club. I don’t know. Dawn Brolin’s on that. You’re on that. I think John Garrett’s only twice. We’re going to have to get John back on. I’m trying to think if there’s anybody else. That might be it—ou and Dawn.

Man, I feel special, you know. If I’m in company with Dawn, I’m in a special category. 

You definitely are, but you’re both in special categories in my heart. So I teased the fact that you and I are going to talk about the conference today, Bridging the Gap, it’s, I’m just in awe of what this has become, I like pinch myself, I don’t know how we got here, but it seems to be a conference people love. You were here from day one, you were on the first year Advisory Council as well, why don’t you give me your thoughts on the past conferences, and I kind of want to do a little recap of your sessions for those first two years.

Yeah, so I mean, I think from my perspective, when you go to a lot of conferences, which I mean, you and I, we see each other at several conferences, there’s a certain personality to each of the events that you go to. And so the first year we weren’t quite sure, like, what is the personality of Bridging the Gap going to be? And I think when we showed up, we realized like, it wasn’t so much of, hey, conference, running from session to session. It really felt like, alright, this is the time I actually get to sit and spend time with these people I usually see, you know, passing in the hallway, or maybe we get about five minutes to sit and talk, but I really felt like, man, I feel like we can actually sit and have, you know, a good conversation to where you really got to know other people that you’ve seen either on social media or people you’ve seen at a distance, but this was a time I think we really had a chance to spend time with people, and I think that’s the personality for this conference, it’s become known for that, it’s like, people are like, hey, this is a conference where I actually get to go and hang out with, you know, people that I look up to or people that I want to connect with, and so I think a lot of people look forward to the conference because of that reason.

Yeah, I agree completely. It has kind of taken on a personality of its own, but I guess that’s just based on the people there, the people that are, what they’re looking to get out of it. But every single year, which has only been two so far, but year three, I’ll say the same thing, at the beginning of the conference, I say, you know, hey, these sessions are going to be great, you’re going to learn a lot in them, we have great speakers, but you’re going to learn as much just talking and meeting new people. And I want you to leave this conference with five new best friends. Creating community and building collaboration is important to me. And that’s why, a lot of conferences, you know, like you just said, I mean, some of them are just so big. It’s just, hey, you pass people, you know, once during the conference and you wave and you say, hi, maybe stop a minute. And a lot of these conferences, everybody goes and does their own thing in the evening. 

For me personally, when I, you know, somehow came up with this idea, I can actually remember when I came up with the idea, which is weird. I mean, our marketing team has really built this thing out. But when I came up with the idea, it’s like, no, I want to keep everybody together, because that’s how you’re going to solidify these relationships. And so we schedule everything. You know, from morning till night, we keep everybody together. We have a lot of fun. We have the gala event, which I’m already getting many people asking me, “What’s the theme of the gala event this year? I need to get my outfit. I need to know now!” So we should be announcing that on social media. In fact, I should be prepared to say what it is right now. Before we finish, I will actually say what the theme is so people know. But we will be sending an email out on that. And so, yes, I agree completely. It’s different from, that’s the personality of the conference, like you’re saying. It’s something where you can go build relationships. 

But in addition, that doesn’t happen when there’s 3,000 people at a conference either. So we also want to make sure it doesn’t get too large. I don’t know what too large is. I originally thought 250 people would be, you know, a good cutoff point. We were 214 last year, we’re going to hit 250 this year. It’s going to happen. We’re getting close already. And so I’m kind of pushing the boundaries a little, I’m thinking, okay, if we get there, 300 might be the number this year. But I don’t want to get—I was just at a conference last week with 400 people and it was good. I felt it was starting to get big, it was a conference I love, it’s a great conference, but at 400 I was starting to lose a little bit of the collaboration and community-building aspect to it, but it still was good. Alright, so I just went on a rant there. I didn’t want to, in case you had anything else to throw in, otherwise, I’m going to pivot.

Well, I will say, I mean, I do think the location played a really good role, because I think you and the team did a really good job of picking a location where people aren’t too distracted by everything else that’s going on. Like whenever I go to conferences, I mean, in Las Vegas, they’re great conferences, but there’s so much going on that the people you want to connect with, we’re spread out all over the place, or people are going here, people are going there. I do think the location that we’ve had the first two years, that location was great, because you guys picked a place where people could still get access to things that they wanted to do, but it didn’t seem so overwhelming that it took away from the time we had to kind of really hang out together. And I could imagine you guys have done the same thing for the conference this year that’s going to be in Denver.

Oh, we have. The hotel’s pretty cool. There’s a really nice atrium area where all the exhibitors will be, which basically backs up to the bar, which for me is a craft beer bar, which I’m a big craft beer fan, so that’ll be fun. And there’s a lot of space to do really interesting educational things. We’ve got a classroom-type setting, we’ve got small rooms, we’ve got large rooms, we’ve got a lot of really cool things like that. And before I go on—I do know the theme. I just looked it up while you were going over, but the theme is “Enchanted Forest.”

Oh, wow.

So I’m guessing we will expand on that theme, but then Enchanted Forest is the theme I’m being told right now. So if that changes, when we release this podcast, we’ll put it in the show notes—or Justin will edit that part out. We shall see. But yeah, it’ll be interesting. It’s actually we’re leaning into the whole, you know, mountains, hiking, camping, Western-type thing. Rumor has it, I don’t know if I should even say this, but rumor has it as they want me to dress up in a camp counselor outfit to do my opening remarks this year. We shall see if that happens or not because I actually go straight from the opening remarks into my keynote, and I don’t think I want to be doing my keynote in a camp counselor outfit, so we’ll see. 

Speaking of presentations, I remember yours from last year. I’m going to need to jog my memory from the first year, but do you recall what you did the first year?

Yeah, so the first year, actually that was a very special one because I think that’s what gave you the credit to be able to say that you made me.

Inside joke here. Well, inside, but I’ve told people. I like to take credit for all your success in which I know I have nothing to do with it, but it makes me feel good. So thanks for letting me do that.

I will say it was one of the early times where I think more people heard me speak on like, they had seen me on videos and podcasts, but to see me speak. Because I spoke on marketing and I spoke on, you know, defining your niche. And it was one of the earlier times that I spoke at a conference and event, and I think that’s where I started getting more feedback from people, they were just like, “Hey, you need to speak at this event. That was really good.” Like, I got so much out of it. So, “picking your niche” was the very first conference—well, that was the topic of the first conference.

Yep. So, one thing you just said. One thing I like to do is I like to bring in speakers. Now, going back to what you were saying before, I feel like I’m discovering speakers, which I know I’m not, but people that I’ve talked to, because you and I had talked, I think the first time we talked was in 2021—I know it was in 2021. And I was super impressed just talking to you then, and then the conference was 2023, so it was over two years later, but I just was like, “This guy has to be speaking, he has to be on our event,” and I think that same year I introduced you to another conference that had you out, and I think you talked about the Fosbury flop in that one—which is, that’s the thing you do. I’ve said this to you before, and I’ve said this to plenty of people, that you can take any subject and turn it into a business presentation. And that is what you did last year at Bridging the Gap. Why don’t you go into that real quick?

Yeah. So, I mean, last year we talked about, you know, a topic that it started off as a joke, because I remember we were in San Diego and we were out and you were like, “How do you come up with these topics?” I think you remembered that Fosbury flop, you know, talk that I did at a conference and you were like, “How do you come up with these topics?” I was like, “Sometimes, you know, it’s whatever I’m watching, or it’s, someone challenges me.” And you were just like, “Oh, well, you need to do one on Captain Underpants.” So I was like, “How am I going to turn Captain Underpants into a talk at an accounting conference?” I was like, alright, I’ve got to figure this out. So I, you know, I’m glad you challenged me because to be honest with you, I had never really watched Captain Underpants before. 

So I went home and I’m like, I’m watching some of the cartoons and I’m like, this seems like a very catchy cartoon. And I’m like, I see why people liked it. It was interesting. And then when I started doing some more research, I’m like, oh, wow, this Captain Underpants was a really big deal. 

Yes, it was!

So I was like, you know, this is going to go great for a marketing talk. So I talked about, you know, the Captain Underpants marketing strategy and just kind of what they did and the unique ways that they became such a big deal. When I was doing the research and I saw like, okay, this guy has an arena that was absolutely full with kids and their parents to where I’m like, if you can get that big of an audience for a book series, I’m like, you’re doing something special. So I was like, this is going to be a good talk on marketing.

Yeah, well, it was, and I honestly remembered talking about that, and I didn’t expect you to do it. And I can’t remember when I heard the name of your presentation had Captain Underpants in it, and I’m like, holy cow, he actually did it, this is crazy! It was funny, too, because Nancy McClelland had a session that was at the same time as yours. And they were talking about, Hector Garcia was on it, Dawn Brolin, oh boy, I think there was one other person, it’ll come to me, but they were talking about basically “accounting superheroes unmasked,” and they were talking about vulnerability and all that. But they gave me a superhero cape and mask, so I went into your session, I put that on, I walked into your session with the, you know, kind of quasi-Captain Underpants outfit, so I was cracking myself up, whether anybody else was or not.

I will say when I saw you walk in, like, I was already on stage, like, maybe 10 minutes into my presentation. And so when I saw you walk in, I’m like, I’m trying to keep a straight face and keep going.

Well, I guess if anything from our discussion so far, I think people are understanding this is a fun conference. 

Yes, I would agree. 

It’s definitely a good time. There’s dancing at the gala event. There’s an award show at the gala event, which I expect we’re doing again this year—we have not confirmed that as a fact, although I will always give out, and we may change the name this year, but the Josh Lance Lifetime Achievement Award, which we gave out to Jennifer Wilson for the first time last year, this year, I think we will keep it, I’m just wondering if there’s a better name than “Lifetime Achievement.” I basically just stole that from the Oscars, I guess, or some other show. But I don’t know if that really epitomizes what Josh really meant to the profession, so I want to see if there’s a different name. Anybody listening, if you can come up with a name, which I’m sure Terrell can because he is very good at that, we may do that. 

Alright, so let’s go into this year’s conference a little more, because I was thrilled a few months back, you reached out to me and the marketing team, and one thing that I always do at the conference, just because, you know, marketing says to, and I do everything they say, is interview a bunch of people on camera at the conference, where we just, you know, we’ll talk about what they’re doing, we’ll talk about the conference, we’ll talk about, you know, their session. And you were one of those people last year, and then you reached out a couple months ago and said, “Hey Randy, can I help out and take a little bit of that off your plate, because that was like 10 to 12 interviews, and that takes me away from the conference,” and so I was like, oh yeah, for sure, and you’re such a great interviewer, that made a lot of sense, so, just curious, did you just like, look at me and say, oh, I feel bad for Randy, he doesn’t have time, or how did you come up with this idea, because I love it.

I mean, I think it was a combination of things, I think last year, when I got a look at, like I said, the interview process. And there were a couple of times that I looked up and I looked around, I was like, where’s Randy? And then that’s where I later learned like, oh, you were doing interviews. And I mean, I think for this awesome event, I mean, a lot of the people who show up were there because,hHey, we know, and we like Randy and I’m like, okay, alright, how do we help free up Randy’s time? Cause I think it’s a great idea to do the interviews, and I think they should happen. I was just like, well, if I can help free up some of Randy’s time so that he can actually enjoy, you know, the hard work his team is putting in and really continue building those relationships, it would be great. And then, plus, I get a lot of value from listening to The Unique CPA Podcast, so I was like, you know what, it would be a big, you know, win for me to be able to find a way to give back to the podcast. How do I give back to a podcast that I get a lot from? 

And so, when I thought about it, I was like, you know, I could speak and I could tell more people about The Unique CPA Podcast. Especially, like I said, when I wear my Unique CPA podcast sweatshirt or the t-shirt, like I’ve been stopped by many people. Like I remember Lola and I, my wife Lola and I, we were in Africa, we were going to Tanzania. And we’re there at the counter checking in and this guy stops me. He is like, “Oh, I like the shirt. Are you a CPA?” I was like, yeah, I am. He was like, “Is that your podcast?” I was like, no, I’ve been a guest. He was like, “Oh, I’m a CPA too!” And I’m just like, you know, the shirt is a conversation starter no matter where I am in the world. And so I was just like, you know, what’s the cool way that I could help free up Randy’s time, and then also I think help add value to some of the awesome conversations that already happen. And I was like, well, I don’t know if Randy will go for this idea. Maybe Randy will be like, no, I don’t think that’s a good idea, but I was like, I’ll pitch it and see where it goes.

I think it’s a great idea. In fact, I think at one point I said, let’s have Terrell do all of them. I think marketing pulled me back a little bit and said, no, Randy, you’ve got to do some of them. So, although now my mind is like, okay, at some point in time, I will retire. Who’s going to take over The Unique CPA Podcast? I think we got an heir apparent in line right now. We’ll have to figure this out. Or maybe it just, maybe nobody wants to hear it again. So, even you couldn’t salvage it, but I assume you could.

Alright. So you and I, two weeks ago, went through a list of all the speakers and, you know, we’re trying to decide who would make sense to interview and who, I mean, obviously we’d love to talk to all of them, but we have such great speakers. That’s one thing I pinch myself is that, wow, I mean, like, what do we have? Maybe 25 sessions this year? And we had like 180+ submissions for that. So just whittling down to the 25 sessions ended up being about 50 people because we had panels for some of them, but how do you whittle that down? And then you and I had to even not, I guess, whittle it down, but at least pick who would make sense to have a conversation with. So I don’t know if you want to go into any of those. I don’t even know if we’ve confirmed these people yet, if they know they’re being interviewed or not. If they listen to the podcast, they may be here for the first time right now that we’re planning on interviewing them, but that’s part of it. You want me to go through my list? You want to go through yours?

So I’ll say, since we haven’t confirmed it with them already, I think what would probably be good is I’ll talk about like, some of the topics that we plan to cover. And then I think we’ll just leave it for people to, hey, the anticipation is there. Like you want to come back and hear who we actually got on to talk about.

There you go. Alright. I’ll let you go then with this.

Yeah. So I would say one of the things that we really looked at when we were going through that process is, you know, what topics are not only relevant for the conference, but what topics are relevant for our industry? Because I think you and I are in a unique place of, we talk to a lot of people within the accounting industry, and we hear about some of the challenges, some of the obstacles, and some of the victories that people are experiencing. But I realize, like, not everybody gets a chance to hear all those stories. So part of us was, like, how do we narrow it down to topics that really help bring that to light? And I think, you know, one of the topics we wanted to talk about was “safe to fail, but built to scale.” Because I think a lot of firms are trying to figure out scalability but not really knowing like, hey, there will be some failure that comes within that journey. And so we got a great, you know, guest identified to talk about that topic,. someone who’s living it and experiencing it and helping the organization that they’re a part of, and I think it’s going to be a really good conversation.

Yeah, I’m looking forward to that. I know who this is, and I know this person is speaking immediately after my keynote, so it’s the second session of the day. In my keynote, just to give a sneak peek, vulnerability is going to be a huge aspect—leading with vulnerability, not just vulnerability but leading, you know, being a vulnerable leader. And if you’re not a vulnerable leader, you can’t have safety to fail. I mean, because if a leader is out there just saying, “Oh, I know everything. Look to me. I’m going to lead us. I have all the answers,” then who’s going to want to be innovative? Who’s going to want to be creative? Because, you know, this person has all the answers. You know, I can’t make a mistake because then, you know, it’s going to look bad on me. And so I love the title that is on that session because there’s a study out there that shows that companies that promote vulnerability within their organization, are, I think the number is 30 percent more innovative and creative. And you can’t be innovative and creative if you’re not feeling safe to fail because with innovation, there’s going to be failure. That’s part of what it is when you’re innovating. But man, if you’re not innovative, if you’re not creative, you’re a stagnant company. And the stagnant company is going to get passed by. So I can rant on this for a while, but really, I think this is, I love the title of this session.

I think, you know, you kind of gave it away a little bit, one of my other guests is going to be you that I get to interview. And, you know, I think about, it was a conversation that, that we had in Vegas. It was between you, Jody, and I. 

I remember that. Dinner. 

We went out to dinner, and I was just blown away just hearing you and Jody share like your stories of just the honesty about like, hey, here’s how things went. And I got so much value from just hearing, you know, you guys share your story to where I’m just like, hey, Randy, we got to bring you on The Unique CPA as a guest to talk about your story because I think, you know, you get to share some of your story, like, as parts of the interviews, but I don’t think there’s been an episode where your story, and even as you talk about that, like, you know, the vulnerability and what it’s like even being a leader in the organization. I think, with all the work that your team is doing with this conference, and I’m just like, hey, somebody or somebodies have created an environment for the amazing team at your company to be able to work and put on an event like this. Because when you’re putting on a conference, there’s no guarantee that it’s going to be successful. So somebody had to create an environment that made it safe enough for your marketing team to say, hey, we’re going to step out and we’re going to create a new conference, and hey, we’re going to take a big swing, And I think it’s been very successful, you know, so far. So I definitely want to talk about, you know, your leadership approach and your journey. So you’ll be one of the guests that I get to interview as well.

Have we confirmed that I’m available yet? Alright, I will confirm right now—I will be sitting in the opposite chair that I normally sit in to be interviewed by you which will be a lot of fun. 

I actually was on a podcast, your podcast, years ago, but I don’t remember what we talked about, I have no clue. In fact, that was back when you were concentrating on the restaurant industry—which you are now concentrating on the legal industry, which you are like the guru with that. So yes, I will be one of your guests, oh man, that means I have six times now instead of five, but you have six as well, so I guess that evens it out for both of us. You want to, want me to jump into a couple of mine real quick? And I’m going to name names. I’m going to name names, even though they haven’t been confirmed. 

Yeah! Go ahead!

In fact, I talked to this person yesterday: John Sensiba. John’s a managing partner of a firm out of Pleasanton, California, ironically called Sensiba. Actually, it was Sensiba San Filippo, but a lot of firms just going with the one name now, which I think makes sense. Just, you know, people are probably calling it that anyways. But John is such an amazing person. John is super into creating a culture where everybody feels valued within the organization, and that’s a key concept with our conference. And so John’s not necessarily going to talk about that in his keynote—he’s one of the keynote speakers—but I’m going to talk about that with John when we do the interview. There’s the culture he created. He actually, it’s written on their website, they want to “create a culture where people and their families can thrive.” That’s the whole point of their firm. They want to create a firm where people and their families can thrive. 

You know, it’s not like, okay, where we service every client, where we do this. It’s like, it’s about the people. They’re a certified B corporation. When John took—oh man, I’m going to, I didn’t tell too much here of what I’m going to talk to John about. But when John took over the organization, he basically completely restructured it. This was 2008. And now they’re a top 100 firm. So he’s got quite a story and really a great guy, and somebody who just became a grandfather a month or so ago too. So he and I have things to share because I don’t know if I’m supposed to say it on this podcast yet, but the word is out that my wife and I have become grandparents this year. So we’re pretty excited about that. So I’m going to have to learn from John. He’s got a head start on me.

Yeah, I mean, you told me about that interview, I was like, you know, I’m looking forward to that one, because I think, you know, a lot of people struggle with this, hey, I want to create a great environment. But do I have to do it at the expense of creating a successful, growing firm? And I think as you started to tell me more about what he did and, you know, it was a risk what he did. 

Huge. 

Making that decision of, you know, we’re going to revamp everything that we’re doing. And I can imagine when he decided to do it, there weren’t many other firms who had done it. So it was like he was really a trailblazer in what he was doing. And so I think it’ll be very interesting to hear, you know, you guys talk about, you know, his story as he shares just, you know, what were some of the things going through his mind, whether they were doubts, faith, optimism, pessimism, like those real things that go through your mind as you’re charting and you’re being a trailblazer, so I’m looking forward to that one.

Yep! You got other ones you want to highlight?

Yeah, so I will say there are a couple ones that I’m looking forward to adding, I think, for a lot of people that are thinking about it, one is redefining the image of, you know, an industry. Because I think that the accounting industry is going through a pretty big change and whether we intend it to, whether we like it or not, it is changing. And I think when you think about, you know, what’s going on with AI, when you think about what’s going on with private equity, I mean, when you think about just the interest level of people going into accounting, and I think the globalization of the U.S. accounting skill set and workforce, I mean, there’s so much that’s changing and I think, you know, that’s a conversation that’s worth having. 

And then also, I was really excited about talking about, you know, someone who’s working in the nonprofit space. Because I don’t think we hear enough about the value that accountants and accounting firms play in the nonprofit space, because I think we often hear about, you know, the mission of the nonprofits that we may agree with, and we may love the impact, but we don’t get a chance to really see like, who are some of those people behind the scenes that are helping, you know, those organizations thrive. So I’m really looking forward to that one, and I think the idea we came up with a rough draft of a title for that one is, you know, “serving with your soul but not sacrificing.” And so, I’m looking forward to that conversation.

Yeah, and we actually have another session at the conference about servant leadership too, so that’ll be pretty interesting to see how that interview goes along with that one as well. Because it’s my conference, I’m going to name names, even if they haven’t been confirmed yet. Nancy McClelland is going to be somebody I interview. Nancy—I met her for the first time at the conference two years ago, and she’s just an amazing person. The Dancing Accountant, for those of you who don’t know. But Nancy is on our advisory council this year. She’s just such a big proponent of this conference, promoter of this conference. She does so much for us, and just has such energy for the profession too. She started her own community this year, Ask a CPA. I think I got the title right there. Where it’s an organization that gives bookkeepers—hopefully I’m explaining this right, Nancy—gives bookkeepers the ability to have a safe space where they can ask questions of a CPA that they might not normally feel comfortable asking. You know, they just don’t, “Oh, I should know this, I don’t want to ask it.” That kind of goes to that vulnerable leadership part that I was talking about earlier. So looking forward to that.

Can I say one thing about Nancy?

Yeah!

I will say, I mean, I think Nancy is, I think that’s going to be a great conversation because I would say Nancy is one of those people that when you meet, it’s like, you can tell like this person genuinely cares about other people. And I think by my respect for Nancy, I know with her community, there have been some people that have asked questions about law firms and they were like, “Hey, they’re thinking about that niche,” and Nancy would, you know, send me a message and I’m like, Nancy, if it’s coming from you, I’ll hop on a phone call with them and I’ll answer whatever questions they need. Nice. Just because she’s that type of person that like, you know, a good person that you can really enjoy talking to, and I think a wealth of knowledge in what she’s doing. And she really cares, not only just to keep the information to herself, but how can she actually help and be a benefit to other people? So I think, yeah, you’re going to have a lot of fun having a conversation with Nancy.

Yep. And Nancy and I and my wife Kathy and her husband Mark went out to dinner a few weeks ago together in Chicago—we both live in the Chicago area—and man, we just had a fun conversation all night. So I got a, in fact, when I had her on this podcast, I think we recorded for two hours and I think we talked for an hour and a half before we recorded, so we’re going to have to make sure she and I both understand that this is like a 10-minute segment, not an hour segment, so we’re going to have to work on that. But it’s like you said, such a wealth of knowledge and so passionate about people and helping that it’s so easy to talk to her.

Absolutely. Yeah, so one other topic that I’m interested in and I’m looking forward to, you know, bringing to the podcast is talking about the ROI of relationships, because, you know, personally, that’s one of those ones that we’re living through even in our firm as I’ve been, you know, working with my marketing team and client success team of like, hey, how do we really build the relationships we have, whether it’s through our vendors, our customers, you know, our referral partners. Because when we really looked at our business, we realized that a lot of our business came through referrals. And we’d said that, you know, just purely from an entrepreneurial standpoint, if you know there’s one method or source where it’s driving a lot of your business, you would want to invest in that thing. And what we realized is like the quality of the relationships we were developing—although there wasn’t like an immediate ROI—but when we looked at the span of, we’ve only been in business for five years, but when we look at the relationships, we’re like, you know, investing, genuinely investing in those relationships was probably the best investment that we have made. I mean, and I think that the entire conference allows you to do that is to invest in the relationships with people there. And so we’re going to have a guest on to talk about that. Like, I have an idea of who are the guests I want on? I haven’t told him yet. I don’t think we’ve confirmed, but I don’t think he’s going to say no.

You just narrowed it down to 50 percent of the population. Yes, I don’t think he’ll say no either. So, looking forward to that one. And honestly, I completely agree with you on relationships. It is, you know, pretty much that’s my job now is I just go out and not, you know, it’s not, hey, I got to build this relationship. It’s just you go do it because everybody’s so amazing in this profession and getting to know them and then when you do that, it pays dividends. You know, we get a lot of work from just meeting people when I’m out speaking about mental health awareness, not taxes or anything like that. It’s just out there and building those relationships. 

Yeah.

One other thing I want to point out, this is not somebody we’re interviewing, but maybe I’ll change this: I always say his name wrong… Elliott Bastien Morin. Elliot is the Narrative Archaeologist. Elliott is going to be doing a workshop at the conference, but the reason I’m bringing Elliott up is I mentioned my keynote a couple times already. Elliot has been working with me on pulling the stories out of me and putting them into a very cool story arc that we’re going to be able to share at the conference. So I just want to give him a shoutout for all the work he’s doing—and the patience he’s shown with me, because sometimes it’s not the easiest to get on my calendar just cause I’m traveling so much. But I’m looking forward to him being there, and I’m looking forward to the final version of what he’s helping me put together for this conference.

I think that’s going to be really cool. It’ll be really cool to hear that because I think storytelling and how we communicate is a skill set across the entire accounting industry that I think we definitely have some room for improvement, so that’s going to be a good workshop.

Yep, for some reason I’ve accumulated a wealth of stories over the years and somehow I can always pick one out that makes sense to put into a certain spot. Alright, so obviously we just talked about a lot: cool things happening at the conference, people that we want to talk to. Anything else you wanted to add before we start wrapping up here?

Yeah, so I would say I mean this conference is one that I look forward to even though the time of year is, or the time of month is not ideal for me.

Yeah. What birthday is this going to be for you on July 23rd?

This will be 40!

That’s what I thought. I actually thought 40 was happening. We’ve got to have a party. Everybody has to come to the conference just for that, to celebrate your 40th birthday. And actually, I’m pretty sure not to take anything away from you, but I think Chase Birky’s birthday is the same day and Chase will be there as well. 

Yep. 

So we’ll have to have a double birthday party.

Yeah, and I think that the community and the relationships make it worth it. And I will say, the day before my birthday is my wedding anniversary. And I think for my wife, when I originally told her, she said, “You know what, for Randy, I’ll say okay.” And I think it just goes back to the relationship skills. So like my wife and I, we’re going to be traveling in Italy a couple of weeks before the conference. So we’re going to celebrate early, and then I will come back, I’ll be at the conference. And I think, like I said, I’m willing to invest the time because I think the relationships are such a good time. And not only do I see the value in the relationships, like my wife sees the value in the relationships as well. So, I mean, I highly recommend this conference for people.

Yep. And we’re going to miss your wife this year. She was there last year, but she’s not going to be this year, correct?

Yeah, that is the plan. I think we’re in-between—this year has been a lot of traveling between Asia, she’s going to London and India this week, and then we’ll be in Italy, and then she’s going back to Kenya for a family wedding in early August, so she might not make it to Denver this year for the conference.

Alright, well we will miss her. But I’ll have to fly out to North Carolina and go out to dinner with you guys or something sometime later this year. I was just actually mentioning I need to get out that way, so let’s figure that out.

Absolutely. You’re more than welcome.

Alright, did I just give away your home state? Now everybody’s going to be driving there to find you. 

Ah, it’s all good.

Alright. Well, Terrell, this was a lot of fun. This is just a sneak peek of all the fun we will have at the conference. Anytime I get to hang out with you for three days, it’s a great time, so, looking forward to seeing you there in July.

Absolutely, I’m looking forward to it.