To my WellthCo clients & friends,
I’m wrapping up this year with a big update to share with you – I have just signed the final paperwork to transfer the tax portion of my business to Braden Calligan and Neil Patel (Calligan & Patel), two incredibly smart and thoughtful CPAs who will be your tax accountants for this upcoming tax season. I want you to know I will be personally involved in the transition process, and have intentionally designed our plan to minimize the impact on and effort required by you.
I understand that transitions like this can be difficult or confusing, and this news may come as a surprise to you. I’m sure you have so many questions about this change so I’ve prepared this question and answer style letter where I explain it all.
If you have any questions please email or call me (647) 213-2911. I’m with my kids from 2pm onward on weekdays and may not be able to answer right away, so please leave a message and I will get back to you as soon as I can.
Q:Why is Lisa no longer providing tax services herself?
A: Becoming a parent has been a life changing experience, and as you might expect, has had a significant effect on how I spend my time. After much reflection, I have decided to scale back my service offering to focus on the work I love most (CFO consulting), in order to spend more time with my family while the kids are still young.
This was a really difficult decision to make as I value you and our working relationship, but if I’ve learned anything from becoming a parent it’s this: “the days are long and the years are short”. In order to fully experience this time while Ella and Luca are young, I need to focus my energy and efforts on fewer things in my business.
Q: Why Braden & Neil?
A: My priority in finding the right CPAs to take over the practice was first and foremost ensuring they shared my values and approach to how I work with clients. I know that you chose to work with me because you were looking for something different in your accountant, and I believe Braden and Neil share the same values that initially inspired your connection with me.
In many initial consultation calls, I heard a variation of this story:
“I’ve been working with an account, it’s my Dad’s accountant, and I just don’t feel like they understand me and my business. I have to follow up over and over again when I have questions. I never feel clear about what I need to do, when things are due, what they need from me or how my business is doing. And when I talk to them I feel talked down to – like I’m asking silly questions or like my business is just too small and unimportant to them.”
What I hear in this story is – you want to feel understood, respected, and supported. And these were the values I looked for when interviewing potential candidates to refer my clients to.
When I asked Braden and Neil “How would your current clients describe their experience working with you”, they said (I will paraphrase from my notes from that call):
We know from listening to client’s feedback about experiences with former accountants, and from the things we saw in our experience working in firms – folks want to feel that they’re being looked after, paid attention to; they want you to reply to their emails and when you reply, know that you’ve actually read and understood their questions. We aim to be accessible, good communicators, friendly and easy to talk to.
I can tell you from my experience collaborating with them these last few months on our transition plan that they value relationships, are respectful in communications and are emotionally intelligent professionals. They embody these shared values and I am confident that you will find the same.
Q: Who are Braden & Neil? What’s their story?
A: I’ve prepared an interview-style write up with them which you can find here.
A few highlights:
- Braden leads financial statement preparation. He obtained his CPA designation while working at a mid-sized firm in Hamilton, and then worked as finance manager in a real estate company.
- Neil leads the tax specialty; he worked in tax for public accounting for the last 10 years, completed the InDepth tax program with CPA Canada, and worked as senior manager at a mid-sized firm.
- They started their firm in 2020 as a side business, and took it full time this year.
My favorite tidbit from our initial conversation…
After sharing that I decided to start The Wellth Company while on a hike with my husband on our honeymoon, Neil shared that he decided to go full time with their firm while on his honeymoon last fall. There’s something about life milestones and travel that fuels our ability to dream big and have the courage to go for it!
Q: How does this affect me – what exactly is changing?
A: The big change is the name and face of your tax accountant – well, accountants, plural! Braden and Neil, and their firm Calligan & Patel, are taking ownership of the tax process from start to finish. We’ll guide you through the transition plan step by step and, once you’re onboarded with their firm, your experience through tax season will be just as you remember it from last year.
I will be closely involved in the transition, facilitating introductory meetings, moving over your files behind the scene, and bringing Braden and Neil up to speed on what they need to know about you and your business.
We know you’re busy and your time is valuable, so we have been intentional and thoughtful in creating a transition plan that minimizes the impact on and effort required by you.
Q: What’s not changing?
A: For starters – your fees. This past year has given rise to anxiety-inducing inflation rates, but Braden and Neil have agreed to honor your 2022 fees with The Wellth Company as a thank you for the opportunity to work with you.
Another constant – our client portal / app, Tax Dome. Finding out Braden and Neil run their firm in TaxDome was like icing on the cake of the already incredible fit. And, their firm is also 100% virtual.
Q: What are the benefits of this change for me?
A: I believe there is opportunity in every change, and here are a few benefits that I see for you:
- A fresh set of eyes on your business financials and tax planning strategies.
- Access to TWO bright minds focussed on your success and looking for ways for you to do better.
- Access to expanded experience with other industries like real estate, and specialized tax knowledge.
Q: What about Sarah?
A: Sarah Kassam has been an integral part of The Wellth Company for the last four and a half years, and I couldn’t have accomplished the growth and success I’ve experienced without her. You know her as our go-to person for tax and bookkeeping problems, but you might not know that she is also a medical aesthetician! Between filing your returns and tidying up your books, she’s been quietly building Skin By Sarah K for the last two years, and has moved on from The Wellth Co to focus on growing her skin studio to a full-time business.
While she does that, she is also available for bookkeeping coaching, clean-ups, and monthly bookkeeping services. If you’d like to work with her, please reach out via email (sarah.kassam05@gmail.com).
And I hope you will join me in cheering her on through her Instagram account @skinbysarah.k.
Q: What’s next – what do I need to do?
A: Right now you have just one task – click the button below to book your introductory call with me, Braden and Neil . Our agenda is simple: introductions, answering your questions, and walking you through the transition plan.
To lock in your fees for this upcoming tax season, you’ll need to do the following by December 15th:
- Book your introductory call
- Sign your engagement letter
- Submit a deposit payment and select your payment plan
We’ve chosen Dec 15th as the cut off date as we know that you want to hit the ground running next tax season. The first step to achieving that is getting the initial transition paperwork out of the way, so that when January comes around you can focus on tidying up your bookkeeping and completing your tax season to do list.
Once you are onboarded with Calligan & Patel, the tax season process will run just as it did with The Wellth Company – but led by Braden and Neil.
Final thoughts from Lisa
I want to reiterate how much I have loved working with you, getting to know you and your business these last few years. We have walked through some incredible adventures in life and business together – from the early days at Make Lemonade, to growing my family (welcoming Ella in 2019, then Luca in 2020), and getting through the craziness of the pandemic – all the while learning just how resilient and creative we can be. It’s been a journey, and it’s not over.
While I will no longer be popping into your inbox with friendly tax-related reminders and check-ins, I’d like to keep in touch with conversation about cash flow planning, business financial health, and life optimizing skills I have been developing through my work as an entrepreneur and with my CFO coaching clients. I’m reviving my newsletter next year, and you can sign up to receive it here.
Last, if you are feeling curious or inspired by this change I am making at The Wellth Company and looking to make a change in your own business – I’m here to help 🙂
With appreciation, always,
Lisa Zamparo, CPA-CA
