Sunday

Sorry for the absence of entries at the end of the past week.  There were a couple of business things in the evenings, and Friday was wine night with 2 and 4 over at Bass Street.  Come Saturday night, I kind of refused to admit that my social life was allowing me to blog on the weekend.

To get some meat on this bone, I'm making this an entry on "history".  Specifically, this will be the first effort to discuss my 30 Years in Bid'ness.

1982 was our second year in Davenport.  I was working as a Tax Manager for a local CPA firm located in an office building within walking distance of our home on Scott Street.  The firm was very structured with a primary owner who's style was a combination of greed and self-interest.  There were 3-4 "junior" partners in the practice who shared a small piece of the profits after their basic salaries, but the two major partners called all the shots.  And those junior partners all had non-compete provisions in their employment contracts.  By the end of the 1982 tax season, I had pretty well determined that I was not going to be a long-term employee with that firm.

The owner had given me some flexibility as I attempted to forge a new business in the business retirement plan market.  My experience with Arthur Anderson in Chicago had given me an expertise that was actually in relatively short supply here in the hinterland, and I had the idea that I was the man to get out in front of the game in eastern Iowa and western Illinois.  In the second half of 1981 and the first half of 1982, I made dozens of sales calls on bank trust departments and small law firms in an effort to make the business contacts with people whom I thought might be interesting in sending work to our firm.

I think that it was in the Summer of 1982 that I attended a two-day technical conference in Vail, Colorado presented by a plan documents vendor that targeted bank trust department officers.  The conference materials were designed to assist the professional advisers who used this vendor's documents to set up plans for small companies.  My recollection is that I sat next to a gal who worked for a small bank and who ran her department's plan administration business on her Apple IIE.  If there was a "moment the bell rang" for me, it probably was at that conference when I realized that setting up my own practice to do the things that I was skilled in was a do-able concept.

(Unrelatedly, that trip to Vail is one that I often recall when I consider our family's more recent history with Lake Tahoe.  Summer in the mountains was a new, exhilarating experience.  Cool, crisp evenings.  Beautiful scenery.  And $2 coffee too!)

I started to look harder at the new business idea later that Summer.  I actually put together a 3-4 person advisory group to get outside feedback on my idea.  A couple of bank trust department officers.  A couple of attorneys.  And 3's godmother's spouse.  (3 not being around yet, of course!)  The unknown fact was whether there was a true need, in sufficient volume, for the technical services that I planned to offer to prospective clients.  At that point in time, the technical landscape was in a bit of turmoil as the laws for retirement plans had undergone major changes that were still being digested.

In retrospect, one of the mis-reads in my analysis was the correct portal to end-line customers.  I had this vision that small law firms and small accounting practitioners would welcome a local resource to address their clients needs.  But those contacts never produced much in the way of fee-paying clients, largely due to competitive concerns.  Even though I was not doing accounting work or corporate tax work, other professionals in that business didn't feel comfortable with bringing in a possible competitor to their clients.  Over the years, I've had less than a handful of CPA's call me up with meaningful engagements.

(Finishing that point, I ended up with much better results from my contacts with life insurance agents, brokers, and to a lesser extent, the bank trust officers.  These were the people who held the investment accounts of the small businesses that sponsored plans, and they definitely needed various paperwork completed to keep the plans in compliance with the new rules.  It was a slow process to establish a footprint.  Another reality: if I hadn't eventually picked up meaningful tax work, I would never have made a decent living.)

By September of 1982, I had passed the point of no return and must have given notice to my employer around Labor Day.  In my mind, I've always kind of looked at November 1st as the start date for the new practice.

Looking back at the basic decision to hang up my own shingle, I was incredibly selfish to @srh4.  I mean, we had a 2 year-old, a new baby, and no strong indication by a list of known customers that I was going to have any cash flow in the near future.  My advisory board should have smacked me upside the head a couple of times to get me in-focus.  If I knew then what I know now on how hard getting started really is, I can't imagine making the same decision.



In February of 1983, the law firm in Rock Island that employed my pal Pete had gone through a break-up and the senior partner (Roy VdK) took me under his wing somewhat.  They had the space, Senior Partner Roy was interested in helping me, and I definitely needed the help.  So they had me come into their office as a sub-tenant for essentially piece rate rent.  This gave me access to office and secretarial services, a professional environment, and created several friendships that have lasted through the years (not even including my pal Pete).  This sub-tenant relationship went beneficially on for most of two years (until I met up with my pal Bill).  Senior Partner Roy occupies a high space, just below @srh4, on the list of those allowing me a history to write about.

I think that it is worth stating that I don't remember ever having a goal to own my own business while growing up, in high school, college, the USAF, grad school, or while with AA in C-town.  The thought that keeps coming back is that I was doing all this business development work for the Davenport firm and I just didn't see them as being where I wanted to stay.  And I didn't think that they could do the work (without me) that I was trying to acquire.  The stink that they made when one of the junior partners left in early '82 convinced me that I needed to leave their practice.  The Vail conference must have sealed the deal in my mind.

For many years, certainly up through 2000, I would comment to others that I wasn't sure that, had I had the chance to do it over, if I would have made the leap of faith.  Getting going from the ground up with no clients was just so hard.  In more recent years, particularly with the difficult economics faced by many Boomer's, that tune has changed to "no regrets".
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So that's what I can recall from those first days on my own.  It was a long time ago.

Make Monday a good one.

BCOT