Josh Tells Our Story
While the firm was getting started prior to that date, February 1, 2015 was the day I officially started on the journey of building this firm full time. I just had a few clients that I scraped together and gave myself a timeline of nine months to make the firm viable, otherwise I would go back and get a 9-5 job. Fast forward to the present, and Lance CPA Group is more successful than I would imagine.
I decided to start Lance CPA Group based on an event that happened and a dream that I had. Prior to starting Lance CPA Group I had worked at a family office. The job was wonderful, however, the family decided to move their office from Chicago to San Francisco. With a young family and our support system based here in the Midwest, moving to San Francisco was not an option that made sense for us. It was during that transition time that led to the journey of building Lance CPA Group. I had always wanted to run my own business someday. As a child, I had numerous lemonade stands and even sold lemonade door to door. In college, I started a ride sharing business (this in the pre-Uber days) that would take students from our college to the airport during breaks at school. This drive to start something that was my own was always in the back of my mind. The opportunity to start a CPA firm with the transition of my old job made sense. Starting a CPA firm was not necessarily the business I always wanted to start, but I knew the industry and knew that I could take advantage of running a firm that was virtual and remote when very few firms were embracing this concept.
"This drive to start something that was my own was always in the back of my mind."
Once established, choosing a niche to focus on was the next step. We chose to work with craft breweries because I was a home brewer (and even more so a home winemaker) and I knew about and had a passion for the craft beer industry. Early 2014 was the beginning of the growth in breweries in the greater Chicagoland area, and I knew these brand new breweries would need someone who understood the accounting, finance, and regulatory aspects of their industry. We now work with breweries across the country by helping them grow strategically to reach the goals of their brewery.
We also work with digital agencies, which really began when we started to attract agencies by how we branded our firm and positioned ourselves in the marketplace. While not specifically trying to reach these agencies, they saw how we market ourselves, which was different from most CPA firms. The agencies we get to work with are extremely creative and it’s exciting to see what they come up with and how they serve their client base.
I am excited to continue to grow and build this practice. And I’m excited to continue to work with our team. We have some of the best people in the accounting industry and getting to work with them daily is an exceptional privilege. I am excited to see what the future brings for Lance CPA Group and where we go from here!
Meet the whole team!
