- Welcome, welcome.
As he mentioned, my name is Roger Philipp
of Roger CPA Review.
Little background on myself.
Went to school in L.A., worked at Deloitte and Touche
in downtown Los Angeles where I got my CPA certificate.
Blew out of there about 30 plus years ago when I was six.
Started teaching CPA Review.
Our job is to take all of this fun and exciting accounting
you've been studying in college for the last two,
three, five years, put it in perspective,
help you accomplish your goal
which one day is to sit for and successfully complete
this scary thing called the CPA exam.
And I wanted to talk today about something
that relates not only to all of us in Beta Alpha Psi,
Accounting Society, those that are
just looking for internships, getting ready to graduate.
Some of us have job offers already,
but also something for the professionals, right?
So periodically we can stop, sit back,
reevaluate our lives and say, are we still heading
in that healthy, positive, exciting direction
that we initially started out in?
Because believe it or not, life gets in the way.
You've got these day to day distractors
and all of the sudden you come up for air
and go wow, I'm ending up somewhere
where I didn't even anticipate heading towards.
So it's important to kind of stop periodically,
reevaluate and say, hey, where am I going?
Is this a healthy, positive direction?
Because when you look around you in life,
there's so many choices to make
and so many people that influence these choices.
You got family, friends,
relationships you're in, coworkers.
All these different people.
And you look around and you see
that some people are just barely getting by,
not really heading into healthy, positive directions,
and other people seem happy, healthy, excited about life,
ambitious and so forth, and you stop and you go,
what do these people have that the other people don't have?
What do you think it is?
Boom, goals, right?
So I guess what that means is we need to sit down
and establish some goals.
So I looked it up in the Webster's Dictionary.
Anyone knows what a dictionary is?
Wikipedia.
So I looked up this book thing called...
So I opened it up and what is a goal?
A goal is defined as the end
towards which effort is directed.
So what does that mean?
It means you take all this energy, all this effort,
you direct it towards an end, that is our goal.
So I guess what it means is, it tells us we need to sit down
and establish some goals, figure out where it is
we see ourselves, where we are today,
where we want to be five, 10, 20 years from today,
and how to get from here to that spot.
Now when we look at goals, it says,
and you kind of have to do what we call a self assessment
and it's important to sit down and say,
am I excited about what it is I'm doing?
Because we're all different religions,
we all have different beliefs.
I kind of go by, I assume I got one life and this is it
and there's no trophy at the end.
I'm hoping I'm wrong.
I'm like I cat and I got eight more lives after this.
But you never know.
So I want to make sure that I'm trying to do it
as efficient, effectively, enjoyably as possible.
That's where I kind of sit down and do a self assessment.
But it's important to be excited
and passionate about what it is you do.
We're all heading off into accounting,
whether it's public or private or governmental.
But we should be excited.
And I remember I had this one girlfriend
and ever Sunday night she would stress out.
And it was like Sunday afternoon she's like...
I'm like, let's go party.
No, I have to get ready.
I have to mentally get prepared for the week.
So she'll be like, Sunday afternoon,
the fun stopped, and then from Monday morning
until Friday night it was work, work, work, work, work,
trying to prove myself, trying to prove...
And it was stressful!
And then Friday night was woo, let's party,
Saturday fun, Sunday miserable again.
That's why she's an ex.
(audience laughing)
But the point is you've got to be passionate
about what it is you're doing in life.
It's important to be excited because life is short.
And I learned this, my dad's 90, my mom's 88.
So I'm hoping, hey, I'm a third through my life,
now that I turned 30...
(audience laughing) Plus 20.
Anyway, so the point is, periodically reevaluate,
but in doing so we need to set goals and setting goals means
short term goals and long term goals.
Long term goals that's where will I see myself
down the road, five, 10, 20 years down the road.
The short term goals, those are the baby steps
to accomplishing your long term goals.
So my long term goal, I want to be a partner
at a big accounting firm with a corner office,
a nice view, nice car, house, 2.5 kids
or whatever the average is, that's my goal.
Short term goals, how do I accomplish that?
It's the baby steps, the stepping stones
to accomplishing your long term.
So maybe I want to get into a good school
with a good accounting program,
I want to join Beta Alpha Psi,
I want to get maybe an internship,
but you don't necessarily need to have an internship
to get a full time position,
then I'm going to get a job offer,
I'm going to get a job, I'm going to prove myself,
do well, I'm going to start as a new hire,
semi-senior, senior, manager,
senior manager, partner, and so on.
So the whole purpose of the short term goals
is to reevaluate the long term.
Maybe I'm not enjoying what I'm studying.
Maybe I don't enjoy it.
And so it helps you to kind of reevaluate
and say okay I've got these long term goals,
but are those still the goals that I want to accomplish?
So that's one of the things that we're looking at,
so it's important to sit back periodically
and reassess and make sure you're heading in
that direction that you want to be in.
Now on the benefits again, short term, long term,
looking at your life that way,
but don't fall into the position
of thinking that you only need
to set goals in one area of your life.
One of my friends, for example, had a great career.
He was making lots of money, that's all great, right?
But he was divorced three times,
his kids don't really know him,
he's in terrible physical condition.
So it's important to realize
that we need to set goals in a variety of areas.
So it's not just professional goals,
but it's personal goals as well.
So you need to have a balance between both personal
and professional goals in order to accomplish those goals.
Now, a lot of us look at goals as a pyramid,
and it says, hey, you know what,
I want to make some money, ka-ching, some Benjamins, right?
So if I can make me, $75, $100 grand per year,
woo hoo, then I'm successful, then I'm happy.
Then I'm going, and then $125 and so on.
But life is shallow if you just set it up as a pyramid.
Like I gotta get to the top and that's it.
That's why we want to set goals
in a variety of areas all over your life.
That way you can enjoy your entire life!
And in looking at that, I've broken it down
into these six different areas.
Career, and that's career versus job.
So we have career goals, financial goals,
physical goals, mental goals,
family goals and spiritual goals.
And a lot of us, we're all here for career.
I mean, that's why we joined Beta Alpha Psi,
that's why we're involved.
So that's why we're here, but it's important
to look at that, but also keep some of those others in mind
as you continue through this exciting process called life.
For example, career.
That's me.
I was thin when I started.
You kind of notice you grow into your chair, right?
The more you're ticking, time footing, cross footing...
So with career, and that's versus job,
the job is the thing that you're doing right now
to pay your bills while you're in school.
That's a job, right?
What do you do?
I'm a barista at Starbucks.
Wow, that's great, right?
That's my job.
What is my career?
That's why we're here.
That's what we're heading into.
This career that we're going to be doing
for the next 20, 30 years of our life.
Lot of time.
So you've got to sit down and look at
how am I going to spend those working hours?
What's going to keep me passionate
about what I'm doing for the rest of my life?
How many of you have friends in public accounting?
Alright, the rest of you need some friends.
Good. (audience laughing)
How many hours a week are they working?
35, 38, 45, 50?
She's going like this.
50?
They're working a lot of hours!
So you want to make sure that whatever it is you're doing
for 50, 60 hours a week, it's not just for a paycheck.
If you're just working for a paycheck,
they can never pay you enough.
You need to be excited and passionate
and motivated about what it is you do.
I know for myself, Sunday night comes,
and there was a time when
I wasn't looking forward to Mondays.
Monday, Monday.
Now, I'm excited.
I like it. I'm excited.
I go on vacation, I still work.
Loser, I know, right.
Or did you ever see this?
Anyone know what that is?
A 3D loser.
Anyway you look at it, you're still a loser.
(audience laughing)
You can quote me on that.
So anyway.
But I enjoy what it is i do.
I'm passionate about it because I'm excited with every day
because of the new opportunities that arrive.
So when you look at your career, same kind of thing.
And we're all getting excited, we're all starting out,
but chances are and statistically,
let's say, how many of you have job offers already?
Which is great.
Chances are, 98% of you will not
end up there 25 years from now.
I know when I started, for example, in public accounting,
they said about 2% of the people stay 'til partner,
and that's still pretty acc...
2%.
Now when I started at Deloitte, downtown L.A.,
there were 80 people in my start group
for that one office and of those 80,
three of them are still there that are partners.
So we actually blew away the odds, right?
'Cause eight times (mumbles)...
1.6 people, we had three.
So we doubled it.
But on average, so that means that congratulations
on that great job, but does it mean you're done, that's it?
Back in my parent's day, you got a job,
you stayed 35 years, you retire, you get a gold watch,
woo hoo, and then you go and die, now...
Hopefully not right away.
(audience laughing)
Now, now we're living longer, which is awesome, right?
But the other thing too is a lot of us jump
around from job to job to job.
I was just giving a presentation on how to teach
to millennials and Gen Z I think is the next.
Because they've done studies and they said,
the millennials love their phone.
They love Facebook, they love texting, they love email.
They love that.
What do they hate?
They hate face to face discussions.
They hate that.
What else do they hate?
Picking up a phone.
Phone calls!
I just heard this comedian, he was great.
He was talking about the phone.
He's like, yeah, my mom has that phone 1.0,
the one in the kitchen on the wall with the cord.
For 100 years you're stuck three feet
from the wall and that was our life.
And then early 2000s, all of a sudden this is created
and this thing isn't even used as a phone.
Most of us don't even.
We use it for everything else.
Let me check my stocks, let me do this,
let me find out how many friends
are within three miles of me
that want to have lunch at this special restaurant
that I just did a review on, right?
I mean, that's what these things are used for now.
So it's so different, but then I'll have staff
and I'll say hey did you talk to so and so?
They go oh yeah, I talked to him.
What did he say?
Well, I sent him an email.
Well did he respond?
No.
I go, you didn't talk to him then.
Or then they do 50,000 emails back and forth.
What did you mean by that?
Well here's what I meant.
Just pick up the phone!
So I've got to teach people
how to pick up this thing called a phone.
But that's how times are changing.
So same thing with work.
Things evolve, but you gotta make sure
that you're excited, you're passionate,
you're motivated about what it is you're going to do.
Because again, what you're doing is a career,
something you're going to be doing
for many, many years, but as I said,
just 'cause you have this job offer
doesn't mean you're going to retire there
so don't just go oh I'm done with this.
You still have to maintain all of your networking skills,
your communication skills, your ability to carry on
a conversation, your ability to motivate yourself
and motivate others, the ability to walk up
and say, hi, I'm Roger, nice firm handshake,
good eye contact, right?
All of those are important skill sets
that you don't learn in your accounting classes
but you need to know how to do
because you're going to be interviewing again and again.
You're going to be updating your resume again and again.
Just 'cause you have that job, 2% of you will retire there.
Never have to interview again.
Great.
98% of you will.
So that's career versus job.
Financial, ka-ching.
How rich do I want to be?
Who's that?
Warren Buffett.
You got Warren Buffett.
You got Mark Zuckerberg, all these people.
So some of us go, I want to be rich.
And for some, I want to be in TMZ
or Keeping Up With The Kardashians
or whatever the heck, or the old show
for us old timers, Lifestyles Of The Rich And Famous,
right, from a long time ago.
For some of us, rich means I got up in the morning,
my car started, I get to go to class, woo hoo.
So it's all relative.
But what you have to do is sit down
and figure out what kind of lifestyle
and life do I want to have.
Because as we all learned, cost benefit.
There's a great benefit, but there's a huge cost to that.
So the question is do I want to spend more time
in the office, more time with the family,
more time at the gym, so it's all these different things
that you have to weight these benefits.
The pros and the cons to see what's the best fit for you.
Now, as far as financial, and I love this,
where money shouldn't be the goal.
Money should be a by-product.
If you're good at what you do, generally speaking,
the money will follow,
but if you're doing something only for the money,
they can't pay you enough,
because I'm miserable, I hate my job.
Therefore, you're not passionate about it,
you're not enjoying it.
So even though I have a beautiful car parked in the lot
and I've got a nice office and a gorgeous house
that my family gets to enjoy
and I see every couple of weeks,
so you've got to weight that benefit.
So with financial, and a lot of us, we know that.
I have friends that out of high school
went and started working and they're still just working,
working, working 'cause they wanted
to make money right away,
but they didn't realize the plateau.
We were smart, we went, we said let's go to college,
let's get a degree, let's get a foundation,
let's get a CPA certificate, and then we'll...
Because we realized, long term, it's going to pay off,
it's going to keep a lot more doors open.
So same kind of thing.
That's my philosophy when I was back in career
is I said, I want to stay there, I want to learn,
I want to grow, as long as I'm developing and learning.
But at some point, when you're working
and you're just working for a paycheck,
then it's time to reevaluate and say,
hey, it's time for me to move on.
Physical.
I was in good shape, huh?
Conan.
So back in the day, I was in back, I was working out...
Especially in college, right?
I went to the gym and then I was running
from class to class, so it was great,
but then all of a sudden you start working,
and as I said earlier, sitting in that chair all day,
and all of a sudden you realize I don't have time.
I used to go to the gym and then you do silly,
crazy stuff like fall in love and get married.
Then you have your kids, your 2.25 kids.
I have three.
Then you go and you start a business like I did.
Then all of a sudden you have no time.
So I said, you know what, I need to get back
in good physical condition.
I work late, I travel late, I get home late,
I'm watching infomercials two, three in the morning.
So what do you think,
what product did I buy to say, you know what,
I'm gonna get in better physical condition?
So what do you think I purchased
to help accomplish my goal?
The Foreman Grill right?
So I eat better.
Someone said spray on hair.
Thank you very much.
(audience laughing)
That's Italian.
Actually, there was a guy, remember Jack LaLanne,
I think he died around 150 years old,
but he had this juicer, and I'm like hey,
he can live to 150, I'm gonna buy that darn juicer.
So I bought the juicer.
I bought the carrots.
I bought the apple, ground 'em up, drank it a day or two.
You ever try to clean one of those?
Forget it, right?
So the point is, I didn't keep doing it
but I realized I needed to address that goal because
long term, I needed to get back in physical condition.
Now back in the day when I was young
and pumped like you guys,
I could just go to the gym,
do all this stuff, it was great.
Then every New Year's, you notice all the commercials?
Hey, join the...
'Cause they know the New Year's resolution is
I gotta get rid of this, get rid of this, and...
So then you join a gym.
So all the gyms in January, come join, come join, special.
Because it's like an annuity for them.
You sign up, you're paying your $29 a month.
Or, my daughter lives in New York, $212 a month
that I'm still paying.
(audience laughing)
But anyway, all of a sudden you go for a month
and then you get busy again
but you keep paying your dues.
So the thing is, I did that.
So every New Year's I'm like, I'm gonna go to the gym.
So I start going and then I hurt myself.
Every time.
So I'm like, okay.
How do I address this goal?
Time to hire a trainer.
So I hired a trainer.
And we spend the first half hour stretching.
Dude, how old am I, right?
But when you're your age, you just go workout.
It's awesome.
Let's go run 12 miles.
I played beach volleyball two weeks ago.
My knees are still killing me.
My arm is sore.
My wife's like don't do it anymore
or buy more life insurance in yourself.
(audience laughing)
The point is, you have to make that a goal,
you have to adjust the goal periodically through your life
because your life will change, you will change.
Mental, what areas do you want to grow in?
So with mental goals, for example,
I travel a lot, maybe you want to listen to books on tape
or Sirius FM or Sirius Radio or TED Talks.
TED Talks are great.
You can look for something, you can learn something.
And most of us have the attention span of a gnat,
so they're about 18 minutes long.
I can stay focused for almost 18 minutes,
if I have my fidget spinner in my hand, right?
(audience laughing)
But the point is that you have to then make it a goal
so that you're not just focused
on career, career, career and that's it,
but you have to have that balanced life.
Family, good lookin' family, huh?
We all have mullets, yeah.
So with the family, that has to become a goal as well,
otherwise you pull your head up one day
and you go wow, I got a great career,
I'm making a lot of money, I'm 50 years old, and I'm single.
And my goal was to have a family.
So it's totally up to you.
Do you want a family?
Do you not want to have...
But it's important.
And I have a lot of female friends
in their mid to late 30s
and I was listening to Bonnie Raitt.
♫ I found love, love in the nick of time
So it's like, I want to start a family.
Well it has to become a goal.
Now I did that myself.
My 20s and 30s, I partied, I played,
I traveled to 54 countries,
and then my late 30s I go, wow,
these dates aren't getting old.
I'm getting old!
My window is shutting.
And I knew I wanted to get married, have a family,
and do all that, so I had to make it a goal.
So instead of going out and partying,
'cause I said I know I'm gonna come up one day,
be 55 and I'll be single, and that wasn't my goal,
so I had to make a goal and I wanted to find someone
the same religion so I started going to these singles things
that everyone hates but it worked,
got married at 41, so I've been married for a week, but...
(audience laughing)
But the point is, I had to make it a goal.
And they just did a study as well
and they said that doctors,
one of my brothers is a doctor,
and he's single, we'll talk.
(audience laughing)
But they did a study and they said doctors
are taking more time off to spend time with their family
and their kids because they said, these doctors,
they said, I never had someone on their death bed say,
gee, I wish I would have spent more hours in the office.
They sit and say, I wish I would have settled down,
had a family, traveled, learned other languages,
studied philosophy, things like that.
So it's something that, again,
you have to kind of look at
because otherwise that time ticks by,
you come up for air and you realize oh my gosh,
time's gone by.
So especially a lot of my friends here in L.A.,
that happens a lot.
Spiritual.
Spirituality.
What's important to you.
Volunteerism, giving back.
At our company we started something
like accounting for change or whatever,
where we're giving back and we give our staff a month...
A month off, yeah, they wish.
A day off.
Half a day twice a year to go and volunteer.
To give back to society.
So my one brother's a doctor.
The other brother's a PhD in math education
and he went to, he's a big brother,
and he also went to the Peace Corps in Africa.
And he went there and he set up a library
and taught people to read and all this stuff
and caught Malaria, right fun stuff.
That wasn't part of his plan,
but the point is I think he was making $500 a month.
Now, did it help his career as a PhD?
No.
Did it help him financially at $500 a month?
I don't think so.
It's not even a car payment.
But it helped him spiritually
to kind of grow and to feel more complete in life.
And this is one of the things that we find for ourselves
as we start to grow and mature
and you go, you know, I don't like my parents,
I'm mad at them, they made me go to this and that,
and then you get older and you go, gee,
I want to settle down, I want to have a family,
I guess I gotta give them some foundation
and what's important for me to feel
like I have a balanced life?
'Cause it's not just about ka-ching ka-ching ka-ching.
It's not he who dies with the most toys wins.
No.
It's he who dies or she who dies with a fulfilled life.
Whatever it is, whatever combination of these goals
you put together at different points in your life,
that's what makes a successful, exciting, motivating life.
So when you look at this, it's important to realize,
and we may not want to hear that,
but life is not a beer commercial.
You ever watch the Superbowl
and they run these beer commercials?
And everybody has everything going on.
They're young, they're healthy, they're beautiful,
they have great careers, they have money,
they have family, they have spirituality,
they have blah, blah, blah, it's all beautiful.
It's not like that in reality.
Not for most of us.
If it is, and you married the right family, let me know.
But for most of us, it's like going to a salad bar.
You ever gone...
I remember the commercial Sizzler.
I don't even know if they're still around.
But you go to the salad bar
and you've got all these great choices.
I've got all these great choices,
career, financial, spiritual, family, mental, physical.
And they give you a plate this big.
And you go, okay, I think I'll take some career,
and I'll go to the gym a little.
Oh, my plate is full.
So the point is life really is a balancing act.
You can't necessarily have it all simultaneously.
So in life, you've got to kind of balance it
and say okay, what's important to me now?
What's important to me later.
Let me adjust it accordingly.
So in looking at that, it's important to say, okay,
how do I set these goals now that I understand these goals?
And the first thing, reflection.
Reflection means you kind of sit down and you go, hmm,
where do I see myself one, five, 10, 20 years down the road?
And it's important to do this
because a lot of us will get our job
and we'll start working and we're just so busy
and we get so distracted day to day
that it's hard to focus beyond our day or our week.
Like for myself, I like to book a vacation six months out,
six months out, so I've got something to look forward to.
So while I'm down there in the trenches,
working, working, working,
I can still be planning ahead for this great vacation
that I'm going to have in the future.
So sitting down and reflecting and saying okay,
what does my life look like five,
10, 20 years down the road?
And I had to do that for me
or I knew I was going to end up single.
Because I was having so much fun.
The older I got, the better it got.
I had money and I was in good shape.
It was funny.
But I got to the point where everyone was like,
have you ever been married?
And when I was young, I say no, they go, good.
Then I got to the point where they go,
have you ever been married,
and I go no, they go, why not?
What's wrong with you?
And I'd be like, okay, I think I better check out soon.
So the point is, reflect down the road
and say where do I see myself one,
five, 10 years down the road?
That's a great way to start.
Crystallization means let's identify
what this picture means.
So I'm sitting in the office
and I'm a partner in a corner office.
That's great.
So identify what the picture means and figure out.
And that's a good way to kind of readjust your goals.
My long term goal was to do this,
the short term goals, where you get in the short term,
but periodically keep looking and evaluating those long term
to make sure that they still sound appealing to you,
because life changes.
For me I started out, I want to be a partner,
I want to be a partner, I want to be a partner.
And then I started doing it and I realized, you know what,
I could die as a partner in this firm,
but I'll feel like I wasted my life
because that's not what I was put here to do.
It's not fulfilling.
It doesn't give me passion.
It give me money, it gives me security,
it gives me safety, I can have a family,
but I realized it wasn't for me.
I could maybe make money doing something else
that I'm excited about and I took a risk
and it worked out, thank goodness, but...
And it's true, we're all afraid of failure.
We are.
But that's also limiting all of us
because you're afraid to fail
but if you don't try, you've already failed.
So I'd rather try and fail,
because there's a chance if I try, I might succeed,
but if I don't try at all, who knows.
I may end up, and I may have a great life anyway,
but I want to kind of squeeze out as much as I can.
Formalization means write down these goals.
Write 'em down and then periodically evaluate them.
I have a friend who every New Year's eve,
he and his wife sit down, they pull out their list,
and they look at their list of goals.
And they reevaluate.
And they go, hey, this goal sounded great
at the beginning of the year,
but is it really going to happen?
And then you look and you go let's modify these things
and get rid of certain things that are just wasting my time.
For example, I had a friend who had an old Porsche
or Porsche, I don't know how to say it
'cause I don't have one, so, a Kia I can say, so...
(audience laughing)
He had a Porsche in his garage
and he was going to restore it.
He's going to restore it.
And every day he goes in the garage and walks past it.
It's frustrating 'cause it's this project
that he wanted to do but it all the sudden
became this stressful thing for him.
Finally he got rid of the car and it felt better.
So reevaluate and readjust those goals periodically
because what sounded great a year ago,
two years ago, five years ago,
may not sound as great today.
You know what, having a family sounded great.
I think I'll stay single.
So again, you can adjust it accordingly,
whether it's a career or family, spiritual,
whatever area goal setting it is,
you can readjust that periodically as well.
So, that's how to set them.
How do you achieve these goals?
Develop an action plan.
Now what is that action plan?
I want to be an entrepreneur.
My nephew just graduated from graduate school
studying social entrepreneur,
I'm like what the heck is that?
It's like, I want to be successful
but I want to give back to the world.
That's great.
And he's still unemployed.
And I go, dude, get a job, just start.
You can't start as a CEO of
a company unless you start your own.
You've got to start somewhere, get a foundation.
I love all these people that say I want to be a consultant.
I go, dude, you don't know anything about life yet.
What are you going to consult about?
You gotta go learn.
So the point is, have a plan.
Develop an action plan.
But, I meet these people, they go I want to do this,
and I go that's great, how are you gonna do it?
And they go I don't know.
And that's where the saying comes in.
Goals without a plan are merely wishes.
And I love that, think about that.
My goal is to be rich.
How you gonna do it?
I don't know.
Well then it's not really a goal, it's more of a wish.
I wish I were rich, right?
So it's important to sit down
and make and develop an action plan
and say okay, how can I get to that end goal?
Periodically remind yourself, have a progress report,
evaluate a time table, and as I said,
pick these things up, reread them, reevaluate and say, hey,
I wanted to do this, does that goal still sound achievable?
Does it still excite me?
Am I still passionate about accomplishing that goal?
If not, it's time to readjust it.
Then you got the use of time savers.
Now as I said with a time saver,
what's important about that is
we get distracted in day to day life.
Day to day life you get busy and all of a sudden
you got all these things to do.
All these projects to complete.
So how do I do that?
A calendar.
Like for myself, I have my little phone here
and someone says hey, can you give a speech here,
I go, send me an email, let me check.
I don't commit to anything
without putting it in here first
because otherwise we over commit ourselves.
So you've got to make sure you have some down time,
you have some balance, but live through that calendar.
And I remember my daughter,
and I'd be like hey what happened, well I forgot.
How can you forget?
It means you're just not organized.
How are you gonna be a success in life?
Put it in your calendar.
There's no reason you should forget.
You know, the wife, hey can you go shopping?
I go, yeah, give me two items, I'll remember them.
If it's more than two, send me a text,
'cause I'm gonna forget, and then I'll get yelled at
and sleep in the basement again.
(audience laughing)
Anyway, so a calendar.
Workspace, keep your workspace clean.
What does that mean?
They did studies and they said at the end of the day,
tidy up your desk, tidy up that area
because then when you come in the next day,
mentally, it starts from a healthier mindset.
Because if you walk in the door to clutter,
it can be really overwhelming.
So it's nice.
And it just seems like a simple little thing but it helps.
Technology, as I said, use your smartphone,
live by your smartphone, put all that information in there,
don't over commit to things unless it's put in there.
Assistance.
And this was hard for me 'cause when I was in college,
every penny counted, ka-ching ka-ching.
I changed my own oil, I did my own laundry,
I did all these things.
Then all of a sudden I was making a whopping,
I think when I started in public
I was making $20,000 a year.
(whistles)
So I had a lot of people that wanted me for my money,
but anyway, so $20,000 a year, but I realized,
you know what, I think I need to outsource.
I started paying someone to change my oil for $19.95.
I started dropping off my laundry
and I would pick it up in a really pretty blue bag,
folded and taped together,
and I started doing that when I started working in public.
So I realized, cost benefit, you know what,
there's certain activities
that maybe it's not worth my time anymore
because the more I do this, the less time I have
to accomplish some of those other goals
or spend time with friends or volunteer or give back.
So that's where you've got to kind of make that choice.
Lists.
I'm Mr. List.
Like I've got all these errands to run,
but I got to write them all out
and then I number them to figure out
which way traffic's going so I can go the opposite way,
and my wife hates me about it,
but I'm like c'mon, hurry, we can make that yellow light,
it'll save me two minutes here,
that two minutes gets added up,
all of a sudden I have an extra 30 minutes
at the end of the day, I can watch TMZ
which only takes 22 minutes
if you fast forward the commercials.
Shut up, right?
(audience laughing)
So it seems silly, but those little things add up.
All of the sudden, I got an extra half hour,
45 minutes a day, because of the little time savers
I made throughout the day.
It's a little annoying to hang out with me,
but it's really efficient.
Now, accomplishing these goals,
setting these goals, how do I build that?
Especially today as we're focusing in on our careers,
'cause that's what we're really here to look at.
The first thing is building a network.
I mean, that's what we've all done
by joining Beta Alpha Psi, becoming officers,
getting to meet the right people,
and they've done studies, they said 80%
of the people get their jobs based on connections.
And in life, it's true.
It's not always what you know, but who you know.
And it's really important to remember that.
The other thing I like to let people realize is,
you never get a second chance
to make a good first impression.
Think about that.
You never get a second chance to make...
So when you go to an event like Meet the Firms,
and you're walking up, hey there's the recruiter,
hey, how you doing, yeah I'd love to get a job
and work for you, yeah, dude, you know...
And that picture is in their head forever.
I don't care if you have a 4.2 GPA.
Right, we all know these people.
We all hate these people.
They ruin the curve.
(audience laughing)
That's not enough, but you've got to have a balanced life.
You've got to have...
So it's important to make a good first impression.
It's important to go out of your way
and kind of look at yourself and say,
does this look right?
Is this the impression I want to give?
Because, again, it's not always what you know,
but it's who you know as well.
With networking, what is it?
Making connections as to further your career.
And these are things that you don't learn in class in school
but you learn it by joining Beta Alpha Psi,
by getting out their in the world,
by going on interviews, by going and getting an internship,
by going to tours, firm tours,
all of these are great things that help you.
So how do I stay involved?
One way, even if you graduate, is stay involved
by getting involved with, again,
things like the State Societies.
All the State Societies are there.
They have professional chapters, student chapters.
It's a great way to network.
It's a great way to meet people.
And especially if you're keeping in mind
the fact that 98% of you that start with your first job
will not end up at that job.
98% of you will get a job interview,
be really impressive, and then what?
All of the sudden, you're unemployed again.
Whether it's your choice or their choice.
So realize that I want to start building that network.
Start early, go to the State Society things,
mentoring, giving back while you're in school.
Attending Meet the Firms, set up a mentoring program.
We did that at my school.
Where the new people that were
just joining accounting society or Beta Alpha Psi,
they're like what's Meet the Firms, what should I do?
Am I just supposed to go
and get a bag with a bunch of free junk?
'Cause that's what Meet the Firms is for most of us.
We go, we get a free bag, and then you go trick
or treat and you just start throwing junk in that bag.
I got a squeeze-y ball, I got a cool calculator,
I got some candy that's sticky 'cause it's been sitting
in my room for four months.
I got a highlighter that's dried up.
You're there to mingle.
You're there to learn how to work a room.
You're there to schmooze.
These are skills that are invaluable.
You will need them forever.
But what's great is giving back and saying, hey,
let me mentor someone and take them around at Meet the Firms
so they can understand how to work the event,
plus it looks great for you, plus six months from now,
you may quit that other job you had
and you may be look...
And these are all great people that you've met.
As I said, it's not always what you know, but who you know.
And you're going to meet them in a variety of areas.
Firm tours, banquets, giving presentations.
I'll travel around and talk about careers in accounting.
Public versus private versus government.
All these different.
These are things you can all do, which is giving back.
It feels good, part of that spirituality volunteering,
but it also is great to build that network
of people that you might need.
Teaching, VITA, Volunteer Income Tax Assistance,
I did that when I was in school
and then the next year I was a supervisor
and it was cool, it looked good on a resume,
but it also helped me because I remember mom and dad
are always like, we're paying how much for school?
What are you getting?
Great, can you help me with my taxes?
And you're like, mom, I'm an auditor.
I don't know anything about tax.
I can do an EZ, right, five lines.
Well, this is a great way for me
to learn about taxes by volunteering with VITA.
So it's not only you giving to the society,
to the community, giving back,
but it's you getting some value as well
which looks good on your resume
but also helps you with mom and dad at Thanksgiving.
The increasing career opportunities,
again active involvement in organizations,
cultivating an instructor network.
And I know all of us officers we're close
with the faculty advisors but I would also make sure
I got close with all the different faculty,
because you never know who they know,
which is great, and chances are I'm going to get that job
but I may not end up at that job, so let me find...
So it's not always what you know, but who you know,
so I'm gonna go and I would go
into the faculty advisor's office
or I'm going to the other faculty
and go to their office hours and talk to them
and brown nose, yeah, yeah, and I would learn...
But then they would get to know me,
so that way if I needed help, they were there
to assist me down the road, which was awesome.
Effective networking, making a good first impression
and as I said, how do I make that good first impression?
Hi I'm Roger.
Good firm handshake.
Good eye contact.
Remember it's not a staring contest.
Ooh, you blinked you lose, right?
And you also want a good firm handshake.
Have you ever shaken someone's hand,
it's like, Hi, I'm Roger,
I'm really self confident, and you got that dead fish?
Ew, right?
Or they got that sweaty hand.
Hi, I'm Rog, nice...
Whoa and you slide right off, right?
So when I would go to events,
I would always have a beverage in my hand,
oh hi, nice to meet you,
and then I'd put the beverage down
so it looks like, I sweat,
and then I would wipe it dry,
it's really sweat but they think
it's condensation from my glass, and then I Hi, Rog Phil.
'Cause I want to make a good first impression.
I don't want to be shaking their hand and it's dripping.
But again, it seems minor, but it's huge.
Because I've got a 3.8, you've got a 3.8.
I've got good communication skills,
you got good communication skills.
You have a dry hand, mine is not, hmm.
Because they're looking at who can I send out
to represent my firm.
When you start out, anybody know what billing rates are?
An hour, how much?
- [Student] Billing rates as a number?
- Yeah, like what do they bill you out at?
Like when you graduate college, and you just graduate,
like we're all so excited, I got a job, woo hoo!
And then they go, what do you remember from school?
I don't remember nothing, right?
It's like, wait, let me just think,
debits near the window,
okay that's a good start, right?
(audience laughing)
Which is great news.
I know when I started at Deloitte, I was so stressed out.
I'm like oh my gosh, they're going to figure me out,
because I know how all of us get through college,
we all do the same thing.
We go this semester's gonna be different,
this quarter's different, I'm not gonna fall behind.
Remember the first day of school?
And then you go to class and you get your syllabus
and then you go to the bookstore
and you buy your accounting book, biggest,
thickest, heaviest, most expensive book.
You need a small business loan to pay for it.
And you're walking home, I'm gonna study,
I'm gonna study, I'm gonna...
Hey Rog! Toga party!
Okay! (audience laughing)
And it's the night before your midterm
and you're cramming.
Leases, pensions, bonds, deferred taxes, contingent line...
You're sticking it in here,
hoping it doesn't fall out the other ear.
Revenue, recognition.
And so what we're looking at is, I don't remember it...
And we learn a lot, we have great professors,
we've learned, but I realize there's
a lot of stuff we never even see.
I've yet to find someone who's completed
the entire intermediate accounting book
from cover to cover, but that stuff's still on the exam
and you may see it in the real world.
But what's nice is when I started, it's like,
Hey, Rog, congratulations on joining our firm,
we're here to train you.
I'm like yes!
And I got awesome training
and then they didn't just kick me
on my first job and say here,
go audit this pension plan, no.
Instead, it was kind of like going for a walk with my dad,
and they held my hand and I got to start
with receivables and confirmations.
So the key is, they realize that some of you do,
some of you don't remember a lot, that's fine.
They will train you.
But what they liked about you is you're intelligent,
ambitious, you have energy, you have a decent GPA,
you have good communication, I mean those are the skills...
They can teach you accounting.
But they want to see what they're starting with.
Here's this piece of clay,
how can I mold this to make sure that it's beneficial
for both us and for the company as well.
So that's one of the nice things.
So make a good impression, make eye contact.
Make certain to accomplish your goals.
And I say this like, when you go to a Meet The Firms event.
And I love going to Meet The Firms
because you got the free stuff but also it's a great way
to meet 10, 20, 50 firms at one time.
And you get to practice those skills.
That's why when you go to Meet The Firms,
I say get out there and talk to as many people as you can
and then at the end say, hey,
can I get a business card?
Thank you very much.
So then I would get that business card from them,
thank you, and then I would turn the corner,
pull out one of my free pens that I got at Meet The Firms
and I would write notes on the back of the card.
Because I would forget otherwise who they are.
But I want to write down things so I can follow up.
So I can make a good first impression.
So I can send them a thank you note.
But I need to take notes on there
because otherwise at the end of the event
I'd go hey, how was Meet The Firms?
It was fabulous, look at all the cards I got!
I'm like that's great, who are these people?
I have no idea!
(audience laughing)
You've probably all done that,
where you go to Meet The Firms
and you collect all these cards,
but I don't remember who they are.
So I would sit and turn...
Now, you're not like a police officer,
so, how long you been at the firm?
Mhm, what department are you in?
Why'd you choose that department?
Uhuh, are you happy with the firm?
Do you think you're going to retire at the firm?
Okay great.
Who do I send my resume to?
So you're not just taking dictation
but you're following up, you're communicating
and you're building that network
which you may or may never need again
because maybe you'll end up at that career,
at that firm forever, maybe you won't.
But leave with a positive feeling.
Also be careful with social media.
And I know you keep hearing this,
but you keep seeing all this stuff.
Hey, what did so and so's son say,
the President's son said?
Oh, let's follow up on all those texts and emails
that he tried to delete, let's go find...
So everything you do follows you for the rest of your life.
I'm fortunate, the silly stuff I did 30 years ago is gone.
So that's awesome, but for you, everything.
You step out that door of your house and you're...
Well even some of the freebees here,
I saw one where you could put on your computer
to cover up the camera because who knows who's filming what.
I have a lot of people that do that,
put the tape over that camera 'cause they don't...
So everything, assume everything you're doing
is going to be there forever.
So you should live that way anyway,
but it's time to grow up,
it's time to make sure your resume looks good,
it's time to make sure your Facebook looks good.
It's not like hey, what's Roger doing on the weekend?
Upside down margaritas, right?
Maybe that's great and fun but it's also,
hey, if you do use this thing called a phone still,
maybe it's time to update your message.
Hey you reached Rog, I'm not in.
Baby got back, baby got back.
(audience laughing)
So make it more professional
because that's what you're stepping into,
a very, very professional industry.
So it's important to keep that in mind.
Be careful with social media.
Work on self starting with your exam.
Pass exam, meet the requirements, get your license.
I worked hard to get my CPA certificate.
It is something I'm proud of.
It is something, when I die it goes on my tombstone.
Here likes Rog Philipp, CPA.
Fully depreciated, right?
(audience laughing)
But the point is, I worked hard for this thing
so I want to make...
But the same thing that you need to do
'cause that for you is a goal
which relates to your career.
Now keeping your options open.
And I know for myself, when I was in college,
it's like where do you want to work?
I want to work at a Big Four,
I want to work at a Big Four.
How many want to work at a Big Four?
That's great, right?
And what do you know about a Big Four?
They're big and there's four of 'em!
(audience laughing)
'Cause that's all I knew when I was in your shoes,
but that's why it's important to go out
and do your homework and study
and figure out is it Big Four, is it National,
is it a small firm, is it public, private, governmental?
When I worked at Deloitte, a Big Four,
my job, I was in the audit department,
and then I dropped into a tax pool,
so we're out there, picking up, whose statements are these?
Managements.
Remember in your audit class (gasps)?
Then in auditing you learn that you're out there
and you're ticking and tying and footing and coming up
and testing to their information
and then at the end of the audit we give an audit opinion
which you may have studied in school.
In our opinion this statements (mumbles)...
I was single for a long time.
(audience laughing)
So what is GAAP? Generally?
Accepted Accounting Principles, right?
Or Applicable Financial Reporting Framework.
So GAAP, FIFO, LIFO, weighted average,
moving average, dollar value, so that's what we're doing,
that's what I did in public.
So my job is to go out there, get their information,
and then at the end of the audit give an opinion.
So we're doing audits, reviews, compilations.
We're doing things like,
maybe you're the assurance services, consulting,
maybe you're in the tax department.
So all of these are different options.
Generally if you're in audit, you're traveling a lot.
You go from a client to a client to a client.
If you're in tax, you might be in the office more.
So that's public.
So everyone says, oh, you're an accounting student,
oh you must have a really good personality.
Dude, we do have to be...
We have to have communication skills!
Because part of your job is dealing
with obtaining sufficient, appropriate audit evidence
to corroborate the changes in the balances.
That's called professional skepticism.
Question it out everything.
That's what we do for a living.
The problem is I carry that home with me.
I'm like honey, I'm home.
Honey, I missed you.
How do I know you missed me?
I need sufficient appropriate audit evidence
to corroborate the fact that you love me.
(audience laughing)
That's called professional skepticism.
That's what I used in auditing,
that's what I use in everyday life.
Private accounting, that's when you work within the firm.
I work at Walmart, right?
My friend works at Fox Studios,
another one works at CBS, Entertainment Tonight.
She's a director of finance or something or VP.
And so their job is to go and work in the accountant
and they're the controllers department and so forth,
so they're working internally within the firm,
so they're there at the same place every day,
same people, it's hard to move up
until someone else moves up or out.
What's cool about that?
Stock options.
I have a friend who works at Facebook,
director of tax, right place, right time.
Got a $6 million house in San Francisco,
$8 million house in Tahoe.
Jealous? Yes.
But the point is that that couldn't come out of public
'cause you can't, can you own stock in your client?
No.
Direct financial interest?
No.
Material indirect financial interest?
No, no, no, no.
So that's the thing where you can't have that,
but by going into private, it's great.
And some of the companies survive and do great,
and Snapchat maybe not.
(audience laughing)
And then you've got governmental.
Governmental.
I have students that work at Franchise Tax Board,
DCAA, Defense Contract Audit Agency,
the IRS, the FBI, she does forensic accounting.
So one of my friends at the FBI,
what's cool about it?
Average work week is 38 hours a week.
Any time there's a holiday they get the day off.
They get a great pension plan.
They're not gonna make $1 million a year
like a partner at a big firm,
but they're gonna have a balanced life.
Maybe they're gonna get to go and coach some little league.
So when you think of all those goals,
all of these options give you different choices.
And I met lots of people that were partners at huge firms,
had a great career, and then later in their life,
become professors because they realized
I want to balance that life.
So just 'cause you start with that first job,
you may or may not retire from that company
but keep that balance going.
But what's cool about government as well,
the balanced life, the other thing,
one of my friends, he gets to carry a gun on his ankle.
That's kinda sexy.
Hey, can I buy you a drink?
(audience laughing)
And you got that gun right there.
That's sexy.
When I worked at Deloitte for years,
they never issued me a weapon.
Freeze I need your general ledger now, kill shot.
(audience laughing)
But the point is, all of you starting here
can go in any direction you want.
Is it public, is it private, is it governmental?
Do I want to start in one area, jump to another?
That's fine too.
Do I want to start in one area,
jump and become an entrepreneur like I did?
So it's all up...
The world is your oyster.
It's like a tree with all these branches.
I'm studying accounting, I'm working my way up,
I can go in any direction I want.
And life is long.
So if at some point you're not passionate
about your career, it's time to take a deep breath,
come up for air and say okay,
what changes do I need to make
in order to continue that passion,
that excitement, that enthusiasm?
Because maybe the same job is not going to be exciting,
but maybe that same job also gives you this consistency
so I can do other things and spend more time with the family
and do more in Little League and go to the gym periodically
and volunteer, so it's up to you to decide it,
but this is your life to live
to figure out the best approach for you.
Dead notice to make your mark.
So for all those that said yeah, I got a job offer,
I'm starting in six months, that's great.
When you start your job, bring ideas to the table.
Take initiative.
Present solutions.
Don't just sit there taking orders,
but you've got to be thinking,
okay, eventually, I'm going to move up
and I'm going to be managing people,
so what do I need to learn today
so I can be a better manager?
And maybe I'll get promoted again
and be a director and then a VP and then a President
then a CEO, so what do I need to do?
What skill set?
And that's kind of how I approach my career,
because at the point where I felt like
I was doing the same thing,
and I'm just working for a paycheck,
now it's time for me to move on,
so I can challenge myself and grow more.
It's scary though.
It's scary to take a risk
but the reward is great because you've got that window.
All the sudden you pull up at 60 years old
and look and go wow, where have I been?
How did I get here?
And I've got 30 years of life left, statistically,
'cause we're living longer,
what changes do I need to make
in order to get to that position?
So those are things to think about.
Maximize your potential,
highlight your strengths and your weaknesses.
And I love when they do that in the resume, right?
It's like, your interview, tell me about your strengths.
Oh, I'm great at everything.
Tell me about your weaknesses.
And you're like, how do I make it a positive, right?
You don't want to be honest.
I drink too much and I'm kind of lazy.
That's not good, right?
Well I'm kind of a workaholic
and I like to take charge of things,
I'm a little bit controlling in the sense
that when we have a class project,
I want to make sure it works well and it does.
So I want to make it a positive, but again,
keep in mind, and be a little bit self critical.
What am I good at? What am I not good at?
What areas do I need to learn in?
I remember when computers first came out.
And I was like overwhelmed because
I wasn't using them every day.
So it was kind of an insecure...
And then I had to learn and jump in
and then all of a sudden it became comfortable.
So same kind of thing.
Whatever it is at work, whatever it is in your life,
whatever challenges you feel like I need to improve upon,
that's where you need to challenge yourself as well.
Claim what's yours.
Don't be afraid to ask for raises.
I did that, actually.
I had at the time, I had like three firms,
they were all like we want you, we want you, we want you,
I'm like you know what I like all you guys,
but if we can make it a little more.
And I actually started at 10% higher than the average.
Because I asked for it.
Now it got adjusted over time,
but it was still a way to see,
wow, they really wanted me.
And it made me feel...
But I asked, but if you don't ask, you don't get.
But again I tried.
So it's something that I did to help
to show that hey, I think I'm valuable,
I know I can add value to this firm,
I know I'm going to make this firm a better place
by being here and you're going to hire 80 people.
I'm going to be one of them but I know I'm...
And so that's just believing in yourself.
You don't want to be cocky or arrogant
but you want to be self confident
'cause you know what your great skill set is.
We're all unique individuals.
It's finding what is your uniqueness
and how can I get the most value out of that?
How can I add the most to the firm?
How can I add the most to my family?
How can I add the most to whatever volunteering?
What can I do in order to make sure?
Solicit feedback. This is hard.
Nobody likes criticism.
And there's people out there that are mean.
I watch all these likes, likes, dislike, dislike, dislike.
It's like that's everyone's life now.
I got a little six year old kid
and a nine year old kid and, hey,
they make these little videos, they put hey,
I've got 12 likes, that's great, right?
Wait 'til someone hates you.
Then you feel terrible at yourself
and then I gotta spend $10,000 of therapy to fix it.
(audience laughing)
But the point is solicit feedback.
Because I want to learn and grow.
I'm open to it and I take it with a grain of salt.
I put myself out there.
I've got a YouTube channel and YouTube videos
and all these great things and there's people that love you,
and there's people that are never going to love you.
So you have to take it with a grain of salt
but I want to be open to feedback.
Hey Rog, that's great but maybe you could do this.
Hey Rog, that's great but maybe you could talk slower.
Maybe you could write neater.
Maybe you could incorporate this.
Maybe you want to teach it that way.
So it's hard to hear, but if it's constructive
and it's something that you can grow from
and learn from, that's really important.
If you ever do lose a job, find out why.
If I didn't get that job offer,
I might try to reach out and say, hey,
thanks so much for taking the time to interview me,
if you don't mind, I'd really like to see
was there anything I did wrong
or was there anything I could improve upon?
Because by making those little fine tune adjustments,
will make you better for the next interview,
will make your resume better, and so on.
So when you're doing your resume,
go to the career center.
Ask for help. Go online.
Look up action verbs.
Developed, created, implemented, designed, managed.
Those are the words you want to put in your resume.
You want to sprinkle through.
Those are the words you want to use on your interview.
Just sprinkle through
to show that you're not just a passive person
sitting there collecting a check
but you're ambitious, you're driven, you're focused,
you're excited, you're someone to work with,
you're someone who's going to be at
the top of the chain at the end,
but right now I'm just starting at the bottom,
I'm here to learn.
So use criticism to your advantage.
Continue learning, challenging yourself,
one of the nice things with the firms
is they will give you CPE or CE, continuing education.
And that's one of the nice things.
We need 80 hours of CPE to keep your CPA certificate active.
A minimum of 20 hours a year, at least in my state.
So I need 20 hours a year minimum
and 80 hours every two years.
So that's something that the firms will generally give you.
If they don't give it to you, there's plenty of it,
live CPE or CE, there's online all over and so on,
but it's a way to keep your skill set up to date.
And it's really important
and that's why they do that.
I get a lot for teaching and writing material
and all that, but it's important
for you to keep that up as well.
If you let that CPA certificate lapse for five years,
all of the sudden, you may have to take the exam again
or make up 100 and some odd hours.
So you want to make sure you stay on top of that.
So your future is yours to create.
What it basically says is set goals in a variety of areas
and it's not just about career,
it's not just about money,
it's about a whole combination of areas.
Whether it's career, financial, family, spiritual,
mental, physical, all of these areas
kind of make a complete life.
You can't necessarily have it all simultaneously,
but you've got to work on it step by step by step.
Set up a network, mark your calendar,
believe in yourself and be selfish, too.
Make sure you go for the goals for yourself,
not for somebody else.
Why do you want to be a CPA?
My mom's a CPA, my grandpa's a CPA, my uncle's a CPA.
Well that's not enough reason.
You need to want to do this
or you're never going to pass the exam.
Because it takes a commitment.
So you want to make sure
that whatever the goals are, they're for you.
Also don't be too hyper critical.
I give a speech and some kid comes up and he goes,
God, that was great, I could never do that, I'm shy.
And I go, you're the one labeling yourself as shy.
I go how old are you?
He was 22.
I go, you're 22 years old.
Statistically you're going to live another 60 years.
Now is the time for you to change your mindset
and go I used to be shy, I'm not shy anymore.
I'm going to be outgoing.
I'm going to go up and introduce myself.
I'm going to put myself out there.
Are people gonna dislike you?
Sure.
But are people gonna like you?
Yeah!
So you gotta be willing to get that feedback,
the criticism, but you gotta put yourself out there.
That's the only way you're going to grow.
And I said, you're gonna live 60 plus years.
It's up to you to make that change now
and it'll affect the rest of your life.
So again, make sure you're selfish.
It's all about me.
So again, don't limit yourself.
And finally, enjoy your life.
This is it.
Life is meaningless, even if you set goals
and achieve all that success but you're miserable,
then what good is life?
So it's important to enjoy the process, to enjoy your life.
Or as the singer James Taylor, some of us older people know,
he has a song that says the secret of life
is enjoying the passage of time.
And that's so true.
Time is going to keep ticking by.
Tick-tock, tick-tock.
It's up to you to set some goals.
You too, then, will be a success in life.
Thank you very much.
(audience applauding)
Are there any questions, comments?
Also, really briefly, if any of you want me
or some representative to come out to your campus sometime
and give a presentation like this
or about careers or anything,
networking, resume writing, interviewing,
let us know afterwards and you can put your name on a list
and we will come out or you can collect one of our cards.
But I travel all over the country
and try to motivate the leaders of tomorrow.
Any questions on anything I did or did not talk about?
Anything at all?
Wow, I answered everything, that's awesome.
Yes, ma'am.
- [Student] Could you share what
the number one mistake is that we make when goal setting?
- The number one mistake we make when goal setting?
I would say quite often is not really setting goals
or setting unrealistic goals
or setting, like I said, making a goal without a plan
because hey, my goal is to be a CPA,
that's great, well how are you going to do this.
What are you...
All of a sudden, oh I need all these classes
to sit for the exam, I didn't know that.
I didn't do my homework.
I didn't do my research.
I started up this branch of the tree
but I didn't really research it.
Also not believing in yourself.
We all have limitations and that's great.
So you want to be realistic and go, okay,
I'm never going to be a really good basketball player
'cause I'm 5'3", okay,
although there's people that are 5'6" and awesome,
and there's football players that are, you know...
So you've gotta kind of realize what your limitations are
but then figure out, okay, we all have limitations
but what skill set do I have?
What is my uniqueness?
Because, and that's the scary thing,
with Facebook live now everyone thinks
I could be famous in two seconds if I do the right thing
and then they do crazy stuff and end up dead.
So the point is that it takes time.
You can't, like my nephew,
you can't just become a consultant
when he's 22 with no life experience
and has nothing to consult about.
So I started at the bottom.
You start in the mail room, you work your way up.
But you gotta put in your time.
Part of it too is being patient.
We're all impatient, I want it now,
I want it now, I want it yesterday.
Well it takes some time.
But as I said earlier, when I had a job
and I felt like, you know what,
I'm just working for a paycheck, life's too short.
Like I said, people always ask me,
why did you leave public accounting
and as I said earlier, it wasn't my passion.
I started it, great foundation, good start,
and what I learned there
helps me today to run a better business.
I've got over 60 employees in five countries and all that
and I built that from the knowledge that I learned
by starting and spending a couple
of years in public accounting,
but I stopped every so often and said, is this,
am I passionate about it, is this me?
And again, I have friends that are partners that love it.
It was their passion.
But I was trying to put myself into
a square that wasn't me.
And so it's important to also be realistic.
That was a long answer but anyway.
Yes?
Anything else?
Yes ma'am.
- [Student] What strategies do you use
to knock us back from a set back?
You have a goal and you've wiped out.
- So question is what do I do
to bounce back from a set back?
And these happen.
And that's why I have a great wife
because we think differently.
I see change and I'm like ugh, right?
I'm a CPA, I'm consistent, I want consistency.
Right, PY, GL, same as last year, right?
So I want that and she's more artistic
and goes oh that's fine yeah, blah, blah, this is good.
This is great, we can...
So for me, it's having a good support system
to kind of stop, sit back, mourn it for a minute,
so let yourself feel whatever you need to feel
so I can go, oh, that was a failure,
and then go, okay, let me learn from it.
What can I do, how can I change it,
can I still continue up the branch of the tree
or am I just being unrealistic
and it's time to reconsider a different branch?
But also having a good support system.
Same thing in my business.
I have friends around me that own their own companies,
and we'll talk and I'll say hey,
have you ever had this problem,
have you ever had that problem,
and I get emails all the time from people
that have organizations that want to make money
to get us to join this Board of Directors
and groups where you can all get together.
So especially if you're like an entrepreneur
and you're on your own, it's a great way
to get with people to figure out the things they did right,
where they buy their insurance and what kind
of issues they had so you're not just on your own.
So it's also having a good support system,
whether it's your own business, whether it's family
or friends, whether, so that kind of stuff.
But it's going to happen.
You're going to have failures.
And I said that when my wife and I started this company.
I said, as long as we don't make
a big mistake, we'll be fine.
So we started the company, all great,
a year into the company I'm out doing marketing,
I think it was at San Luis Obispo,
and all of a sudden I get a phone call
and they go, our website's gone.
I go what?
And I didn't know.
We bought the domain name for a year.
And then they sent us renewals
but it went to her email at her old job
and I'm like oh my God.
Luckily they saved it for us.
We got it back up and set it up for the rest of our lives,
but that was setting up domain names 20 years ago
when no one knew what it was,
so I thought, oh my gosh that's a big...
But again, we're all going to make mistakes.
Hopefully we can bounce back
but also take calculated risks.
Don't be unnecessarily too careless
'cause that's important too.
Other questions?
Yes sir.
- [Student] What's something
that motivates you personally on a day to day basis?
- Caffeine. No, just kidding.
(audience laughing)
Mountain Dew, right?
In all my videos, Mountain Dew.
No, what motivates me on a personal basis day to day.
Looking at the big picture.
Like I said, I book a trip,
we're going to Mexico for Thanksgiving, woo hoo.
That keeps me going.
That's November.
We're here months before.
So things like that.
Day to day, there's stuff I love doing,
there's stuff we don't love doing.
And you'll notice this in life,
the stuff you love doing, you jump right in,
and the stuff you don't like doing, you put off
and put off and put off and it stresses you out
and it grows and grows and grows.
You just gotta jump in and do it.
And so I think on a day to day basis,
it's keeping perceptive.
I look and I got little kids and I look forward to this
and then I'll make a plan, okay on Saturday,
I'm going to do this with you.
It's Monday and I know I'm going to be at the office
every night late this week, but you know what,
I'm looking forward to Saturday,
so I've got short term goals and then the long term
is six months, a year, five years down plans.
And then you got the big picture like hey,
one day we'll retire and we'll have all this,
so again that's kind of what keeps me excited
but also enjoying what I'm doing day to day.
I mean for me, the reason I love doing what I'm doing
is I'm helping you accomplish your goal
which makes me feel like my life has value,
like for me it gives me a reason to get up.
That's why teaching is such a great profession
'cause we're giving back,
we're helping people accomplish their goals.
And I come from a family,
my uncle was a PhD, a Harvard professor in psychology,
another one's a PhD in physics.
My brother has a PhD in math education.
So it kind of, in my blood, where I just love...
My genes, my genetic makeup
is I love to give back, I love to teach.
Your job is to find that for you.
It doesn't mean I couldn't have been great at other things,
but I found something that fit well with me
and makes my life feel good and complete
and again, it doesn't happen unless you plan it
because I could have easily
ended up single and having a great time.
But I knew long term that wasn't my goal.
So you've got to readjust it periodically.
Other questions?
Alright, well again, thank you very much for your time.
You've chosen an awesome career.
Good luck and have a great life.
Thank you.
(audience applauding)
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