1 00:00:00,210 --> 00:00:03,330 Glenn Harper: Hello everybody. Welcome to another podcast of Empowering 2 00:00:03,330 --> 00:00:04,800 Entrepreneurs, The Harper Company Way. 3 00:00:04,830 --> 00:00:05,820 I'm Glenn Harper. 4 00:00:05,850 --> 00:00:06,750 Julie Smith: And Julie Smith. 5 00:00:06,990 --> 00:00:09,540 Glenn Harper: Well, welcome. And we've got a special guest today. 6 00:00:09,540 --> 00:00:12,690 We've got Shawn Parikh, a fellow entrepreneur, of course, 7 00:00:12,690 --> 00:00:13,920 has multiple companies. 8 00:00:13,930 --> 00:00:16,560 One is Entigrity, an accounting staffing company 9 00:00:16,560 --> 00:00:18,780 headquartered in Texas that has multiple offices across 10 00:00:18,780 --> 00:00:23,610 India. And in his spare time has MyCPE, which is a global 11 00:00:23,610 --> 00:00:25,140 content education platform. 12 00:00:25,140 --> 00:00:27,150 Thanks, Shawn, for being part of the show today. 13 00:00:28,710 --> 00:00:31,740 Shawn Parikh: Hey, thank you. Thank you, Julie, for inviting me to this 14 00:00:31,740 --> 00:00:34,350 program. I'm really looking forward to this interaction. 15 00:00:34,680 --> 00:00:37,710 Glenn Harper: Well, I think the listeners their first question is, when 16 00:00:37,710 --> 00:00:39,990 you're in India, what's your favorite food to eat? 17 00:00:41,400 --> 00:00:48,840 Shawn Parikh: Well, I have I mean, I have been friends with a lot of U.S. 18 00:00:48,840 --> 00:00:52,260 People and they are really fond of Indian food. 19 00:00:52,260 --> 00:00:55,290 Food, and they like that spicy taste. 20 00:00:55,620 --> 00:00:59,940 So my favorite food in India, I mean, you can say Bhaji, 21 00:01:00,210 --> 00:01:04,920 which is basically a curry and and bread that we typically 22 00:01:04,920 --> 00:01:07,830 make. So that's that's my favorite food. 23 00:01:07,830 --> 00:01:10,170 We often make it in our home. 24 00:01:10,590 --> 00:01:11,880 Glenn Harper: That sounds fantastic. 25 00:01:11,880 --> 00:01:13,860 When you're back in the US, what's your what's your 26 00:01:13,860 --> 00:01:15,480 favorite food that you're jonesing for? 27 00:01:15,510 --> 00:01:19,020 You're like a Taco Bell guy, a KFC, White Castle barbecue. 28 00:01:19,050 --> 00:01:19,930 What do you go for? 29 00:01:19,950 --> 00:01:22,310 Shawn Parikh: Well, I'm a vegetarian, so. 30 00:01:22,320 --> 00:01:25,440 Oh, wow. I'm a vegetarian. 31 00:01:25,680 --> 00:01:33,600 So. Taco Bell and Subway's and Chipotle is these are the 32 00:01:33,600 --> 00:01:38,760 places I typically have to go where I find meat free meal. 33 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:40,560 So I. 34 00:01:40,860 --> 00:01:42,790 I'm very fond of chipotle bowl. 35 00:01:42,870 --> 00:01:46,260 Oh yeah. That when I used to travel in the initial days of 36 00:01:46,260 --> 00:01:52,350 my career in U.S., probably early 2012, 2013, that used to 37 00:01:52,350 --> 00:01:53,700 be my staple meal. 38 00:01:54,570 --> 00:01:59,040 I used to take a stop at Chipotle and make some calls and 39 00:01:59,370 --> 00:02:05,370 it's the best one and then get going, you know, so and so 40 00:02:05,790 --> 00:02:06,330 yeah. 41 00:02:06,330 --> 00:02:09,180 Julie Smith: We should preface with Glenn is talking all about food 42 00:02:09,180 --> 00:02:11,820 because he's done a time difference and he realizes that 43 00:02:11,820 --> 00:02:13,800 it's dinner time for Shawn right now. 44 00:02:13,800 --> 00:02:16,910 So he's very curious about his dinner. 45 00:02:17,150 --> 00:02:20,880 Glenn Harper: All right. Now, the other question we have to know is, are 46 00:02:20,880 --> 00:02:24,420 you a cricket like traditional soccer or an American 47 00:02:24,420 --> 00:02:25,410 football fan? 48 00:02:26,990 --> 00:02:29,720 Shawn Parikh: Well, in India, you should not be asking this question. 49 00:02:29,720 --> 00:02:30,730 Glenn Harper: I know it's all cricket. 50 00:02:30,740 --> 00:02:31,370 That's why I said. 51 00:02:33,080 --> 00:02:34,490 Shawn Parikh: Cricket is the religion in India. 52 00:02:34,880 --> 00:02:42,230 So, you know, with 1.5 billion people, I'm sure there would 53 00:02:42,230 --> 00:02:46,610 be no child or no kid in India who would not be an expert 54 00:02:46,610 --> 00:02:48,210 in analyzing cricket. 55 00:02:48,290 --> 00:02:51,680 So everybody, you know, has an opinion on cricket, whether 56 00:02:51,680 --> 00:02:55,790 they play or they do not play, you know, physically. 57 00:02:56,360 --> 00:02:59,810 But yeah, cricket is perhaps the most followed sport in 58 00:02:59,810 --> 00:03:02,200 India and I am a cricket buff as well. 59 00:03:02,210 --> 00:03:03,950 I still play cricket a lot. 60 00:03:03,980 --> 00:03:08,300 Oh really? I mean, yeah, every week, at least twice I play 61 00:03:08,300 --> 00:03:11,910 cricket. I'm not a gamer. 62 00:03:12,530 --> 00:03:14,330 I'm a little lazy that way. 63 00:03:14,330 --> 00:03:17,720 So I play sport. So I play tennis and cricket almost 64 00:03:17,930 --> 00:03:19,730 weekly, like twice and thrice. 65 00:03:20,360 --> 00:03:24,140 Glenn Harper: How about that? I caught some kabaddi tournaments on ESPN 66 00:03:24,140 --> 00:03:25,430 the show last night. 67 00:03:25,430 --> 00:03:27,530 I didn't know if you if that's a sport that you play at 68 00:03:27,530 --> 00:03:29,060 all. I know that's picking up steam. 69 00:03:29,060 --> 00:03:30,740 I just didn't know if that's something you're into. 70 00:03:31,520 --> 00:03:32,780 Shawn Parikh: When you have done your research. 71 00:03:33,020 --> 00:03:34,970 Yes, that's picking up steam in India. 72 00:03:35,330 --> 00:03:35,920 Glenn Harper: That's the new one. 73 00:03:37,490 --> 00:03:41,720 Shawn Parikh: Yes. I've been following Cup of Tea Sport and of late it has 74 00:03:41,720 --> 00:03:46,010 got kind of commercial attraction as well. 75 00:03:46,010 --> 00:03:49,760 So PE sponsors are coming in, franchisees are coming in to 76 00:03:49,790 --> 00:03:53,480 sponsor players and then it is picking up. 77 00:03:53,480 --> 00:03:57,710 So any new ecosystem building around sport is good for the 78 00:03:57,800 --> 00:03:59,600 nation as a whole. 79 00:03:59,630 --> 00:04:04,430 So yeah, I mean, I follow Kabaddi as well, but I'm not a 80 00:04:04,430 --> 00:04:06,020 company player or I don't play that. 81 00:04:06,500 --> 00:04:08,900 Glenn Harper: Gotcha. Well, you know, it's always fun to have people rally 82 00:04:08,900 --> 00:04:11,720 towards something versus being worried about everything 83 00:04:11,720 --> 00:04:13,250 else. So that's always exciting. 84 00:04:13,490 --> 00:04:16,190 I noticed on, you know, I guess you're a chartered 85 00:04:16,190 --> 00:04:19,180 accountant and as a fellow accountant, we can make fun of 86 00:04:19,190 --> 00:04:21,380 each other a little bit. And I suspect that means you 87 00:04:21,380 --> 00:04:24,500 probably have a green visor and a ten key somewhere in your 88 00:04:24,500 --> 00:04:26,840 office. Right close by, I would suspect. 89 00:04:27,290 --> 00:04:28,130 Is that true? 90 00:04:29,240 --> 00:04:30,110 Shawn Parikh: Sorry. What you said. 91 00:04:30,830 --> 00:04:33,950 Glenn Harper: A ten key adding machine and a green visor that the 92 00:04:33,950 --> 00:04:35,570 accountants usually. Where do you have any of those laying 93 00:04:35,570 --> 00:04:35,960 around. 94 00:04:37,220 --> 00:04:43,670 Shawn Parikh: You can say I'm an odd one out of that accounting community 95 00:04:43,940 --> 00:04:48,170 that reminds me of one of the incidents I have studied in a 96 00:04:48,170 --> 00:04:50,750 college called Indian Institute of Management course. 97 00:04:51,500 --> 00:04:55,970 I did my post-graduation there and my specialization was 98 00:04:55,970 --> 00:05:00,050 marketing management instead of financial management. 99 00:05:00,050 --> 00:05:02,900 If you are a chartered accountant, typically you end up 100 00:05:03,110 --> 00:05:04,400 doing that specialization. 101 00:05:04,400 --> 00:05:06,830 That goes without saying, it's obvious that you'll be 102 00:05:06,860 --> 00:05:09,350 specializing in financial management in your MBA. 103 00:05:09,920 --> 00:05:12,860 Well, when you when I started college, I went there. 104 00:05:13,340 --> 00:05:17,030 It was an inaugural speech you need to give there. 105 00:05:17,030 --> 00:05:20,450 So I went upstairs from the podium and then my words were 106 00:05:20,450 --> 00:05:22,400 like, you know, I am a chartered accountant. 107 00:05:22,400 --> 00:05:24,550 My friends are chartered accountants, my brother is 108 00:05:24,560 --> 00:05:27,500 chartered accountant, my wife is chartered accountant, my 109 00:05:27,500 --> 00:05:29,480 brother wife is chartered accountant and I'm fed up of 110 00:05:29,480 --> 00:05:32,990 chartered accountants. So this is the place I am where I 111 00:05:32,990 --> 00:05:34,910 have no accountants around me. 112 00:05:35,060 --> 00:05:39,230 So, you know, and people started laughing and there were a 113 00:05:39,230 --> 00:05:42,620 couple of accountants there who kind of felt offended a 114 00:05:42,620 --> 00:05:44,120 little bit. But yeah. 115 00:05:44,630 --> 00:05:47,210 Julie Smith: So, Shawn, I have to tell you a story that I don't think 116 00:05:47,210 --> 00:05:50,750 I've shared with you in our conversations last year. 117 00:05:50,780 --> 00:05:53,600 Glenn was so excited that he remembered my birthday. 118 00:05:53,600 --> 00:05:56,210 We've only been working together for, you know, a little 119 00:05:56,210 --> 00:05:57,650 over seven years. 120 00:05:58,010 --> 00:06:01,970 And for my birthday, as you know, I'm not an accountant and 121 00:06:01,970 --> 00:06:03,800 I don't even understand numbers. 122 00:06:03,800 --> 00:06:08,060 Right. He gave me a ten key and it's been almost a year and 123 00:06:08,060 --> 00:06:09,500 it's still in the box. 124 00:06:09,500 --> 00:06:11,540 Glenn Harper: Very disappointing. Very disappointing. 125 00:06:12,740 --> 00:06:15,530 Shawn Parikh: Uh. So, yeah. 126 00:06:16,610 --> 00:06:17,960 Glenn Harper: There's nothing we can say about that. 127 00:06:17,960 --> 00:06:22,460 It's exactly right. Well, Shawn, I just heard some news on 128 00:06:22,460 --> 00:06:25,550 your LinkedIn that you guys just hit your 1,000th employee. 129 00:06:25,580 --> 00:06:27,160 I didn't tell you. That is kind of a big deal. 130 00:06:27,170 --> 00:06:28,160 That is awesome. 131 00:06:29,890 --> 00:06:32,200 Shawn Parikh: Fortunately, the number is bigger than that. 132 00:06:32,530 --> 00:06:36,010 Actually, that number is just for the Gujarat region. 133 00:06:36,430 --> 00:06:38,860 So it is just one state that we are talking about. 134 00:06:38,860 --> 00:06:41,390 We have offices beyond that state as well. 135 00:06:41,410 --> 00:06:46,060 So we have that was a post actually shared by one of our 136 00:06:46,060 --> 00:06:47,340 employees in that state. 137 00:06:47,350 --> 00:06:51,520 So yeah, but yeah, a pretty big feed for all of us. 138 00:06:51,520 --> 00:06:53,380 And congratulations to the team as well. 139 00:06:53,410 --> 00:06:54,040 Julie Smith: So about. 140 00:06:54,060 --> 00:06:54,250 Shawn Parikh: How. 141 00:06:54,910 --> 00:06:57,430 Julie Smith: About how many employees do you have then? 142 00:06:58,390 --> 00:07:00,020 Shawn Parikh: About 1500 plus in total. 143 00:07:00,130 --> 00:07:01,780 Julie Smith: Okay. Wow. Good for you. 144 00:07:02,890 --> 00:07:05,740 Glenn Harper: You want to share a little bit about what you do and what 145 00:07:05,740 --> 00:07:06,190 your business. 146 00:07:07,810 --> 00:07:11,140 Shawn Parikh: Sorry, we are interrupting just to kind of come and come on 147 00:07:11,140 --> 00:07:12,940 that question of ten key. 148 00:07:13,120 --> 00:07:17,680 Well, I never had a ten K in my in my on my table even when 149 00:07:17,680 --> 00:07:18,790 I was practicing. 150 00:07:19,120 --> 00:07:24,220 But, you know, what I've realized is accountants are big 151 00:07:24,220 --> 00:07:27,850 enablers of, you know, in journey of entrepreneurs. 152 00:07:28,750 --> 00:07:32,830 So and globally, you know, I am a big, big believer of 153 00:07:32,830 --> 00:07:35,070 small businesses and entrepreneurship, if you want, you 154 00:07:35,110 --> 00:07:39,130 know, real big, stable world, so to say. 155 00:07:39,310 --> 00:07:41,620 And accountants play a very big role there. 156 00:07:41,890 --> 00:07:45,010 And I'm happy that in some small way I'm helping that 157 00:07:45,010 --> 00:07:47,950 community, although I'm not an accountant myself. 158 00:07:47,950 --> 00:07:52,210 But I consider myself fortunate that I have been an 159 00:07:52,210 --> 00:07:55,300 accountant where I have enabled those entrepreneurs who 160 00:07:55,300 --> 00:07:57,640 have been either starting the business or wanted to grow 161 00:07:57,640 --> 00:08:01,600 the business. So that role is key where you use you act as 162 00:08:01,600 --> 00:08:03,080 a as a booster. 163 00:08:03,100 --> 00:08:03,610 Yeah. 164 00:08:04,270 --> 00:08:07,240 Glenn Harper: I agree. I think the accounting industry is getting more and 165 00:08:07,240 --> 00:08:10,780 more people that are not accountants that are augmenting 166 00:08:10,780 --> 00:08:13,060 and helping the accounting industry, which is fantastic 167 00:08:13,060 --> 00:08:15,430 because accountants, you know, we think just one way and 168 00:08:15,550 --> 00:08:17,320 it's really hard to get out of your own way. 169 00:08:17,320 --> 00:08:20,830 So it's nice to have other perspectives come in and give us 170 00:08:20,830 --> 00:08:22,360 all of these little aha moments. 171 00:08:23,120 --> 00:08:24,500 Shawn Parikh: Yep. Yep, absolutely. 172 00:08:24,530 --> 00:08:27,140 Glenn Harper: Do you want to share a little bit about what your businesses 173 00:08:27,140 --> 00:08:28,440 do just as a little introduction? 174 00:08:28,440 --> 00:08:30,500 You just take a couple of seconds to talk about that and 175 00:08:30,500 --> 00:08:31,910 then we'll get into the meat of the matter. 176 00:08:32,780 --> 00:08:36,350 Shawn Parikh: Yep, sure. So the first business we talked about was the 177 00:08:36,350 --> 00:08:39,080 degree of short staffing we help with. 178 00:08:39,140 --> 00:08:41,870 The challenges of staffing were so high and it has just 179 00:08:41,870 --> 00:08:43,640 aggravated post pandemic. 180 00:08:43,850 --> 00:08:47,450 So we started way back probably seven, eight years back and 181 00:08:47,450 --> 00:08:50,600 we started to address this challenge for midsize and 182 00:08:50,600 --> 00:08:53,420 regional accounting firms, small midsize and regional 183 00:08:53,420 --> 00:08:55,730 accounting firms, and help them building their offshore 184 00:08:55,730 --> 00:08:58,880 team to mitigate this, number one challenge of staffing. 185 00:08:58,880 --> 00:09:01,760 So that's the simple thing that we do, and we have been 186 00:09:01,760 --> 00:09:05,690 successfully doing that so far and helping firms. 187 00:09:06,950 --> 00:09:11,660 Our objective was to empower the firms with by providing 188 00:09:11,660 --> 00:09:15,020 them the right access to global staffing and then and 189 00:09:15,080 --> 00:09:16,130 trying to help them. 190 00:09:17,300 --> 00:09:21,130 The second business kind of came through while we were 191 00:09:21,140 --> 00:09:23,600 doing this, which was continuing education. 192 00:09:24,200 --> 00:09:26,870 What we are trying to do there is there are already a lot 193 00:09:26,870 --> 00:09:28,460 of continuing education platform. 194 00:09:28,460 --> 00:09:32,150 What we are trying to do is we are trying to truly become 195 00:09:32,150 --> 00:09:35,330 one place continuing education platform for all, kind of 196 00:09:35,330 --> 00:09:36,560 continuing education. 197 00:09:37,610 --> 00:09:40,370 You know, with all all avenues of learning. 198 00:09:40,610 --> 00:09:42,110 That's what we are trying to do. 199 00:09:42,140 --> 00:09:44,090 Hopefully we will do it one day. 200 00:09:44,360 --> 00:09:47,440 So so that's the second business we are at. 201 00:09:49,010 --> 00:09:51,170 Glenn Harper: Nice. Which one do you do? 202 00:09:51,200 --> 00:09:54,590 Which one runs better on its own right now versus which one 203 00:09:54,590 --> 00:09:55,970 do you have to spend more time on? 204 00:09:56,940 --> 00:10:00,630 Shawn Parikh: Well, both, you know, you have to be actively involved. 205 00:10:00,630 --> 00:10:01,560 And honestly. 206 00:10:02,250 --> 00:10:02,780 Glenn Harper: That's a trick. 207 00:10:02,790 --> 00:10:08,130 Shawn Parikh: Question. I would like to have somebody who can run it on an 208 00:10:08,130 --> 00:10:11,640 autopilot mode, but I think I think I'm not able to find 209 00:10:11,640 --> 00:10:13,650 the right guy or still it is not ready. 210 00:10:13,650 --> 00:10:15,420 I don't know. I'm still confused. 211 00:10:15,420 --> 00:10:18,300 We can say that a little bit, but yeah, both of them are 212 00:10:18,300 --> 00:10:20,370 very growing businesses. 213 00:10:22,740 --> 00:10:25,830 Both businesses, fortunately, are on the right side of the 214 00:10:25,830 --> 00:10:27,030 post-pandemic world. 215 00:10:27,630 --> 00:10:31,290 Offshoring just kind of skyrocketed because of staffing 216 00:10:31,290 --> 00:10:35,250 challenges and remote working become so normal that 217 00:10:35,250 --> 00:10:38,880 offshoring became a buzzword in accounting world. 218 00:10:39,090 --> 00:10:43,380 So so that's that's kind of where integrity remains on the 219 00:10:43,380 --> 00:10:46,950 right side of the business and and right side of the 220 00:10:46,950 --> 00:10:48,240 post-pandemic world. 221 00:10:48,510 --> 00:10:52,890 And all those in-person webinars, in-person seminars and 222 00:10:52,890 --> 00:10:56,820 chapter meetings and events kind of vanished overnight 223 00:10:56,820 --> 00:10:59,100 because of the COVID. And that's where people migrated 224 00:10:59,100 --> 00:11:00,510 online more and more. 225 00:11:00,750 --> 00:11:04,680 And we kind of where on the where in that space before 226 00:11:04,920 --> 00:11:08,900 pandemic. So fortunately that was also something that that 227 00:11:09,300 --> 00:11:11,160 went in our our favor. 228 00:11:12,450 --> 00:11:15,270 However, one thing which I would like to highlight is CPA 229 00:11:15,690 --> 00:11:19,560 certified public accountancy is truly becoming a global 230 00:11:19,560 --> 00:11:21,630 designation. Yep. 231 00:11:21,870 --> 00:11:24,870 Let me tell you something. Post-pandemic. 232 00:11:24,870 --> 00:11:28,920 There are more than a couple of dozen institute teaching 233 00:11:28,950 --> 00:11:33,240 CPAs, CMS and CIOs that have started in India. 234 00:11:34,010 --> 00:11:39,110 So this is really building a big ecosystem for this 235 00:11:39,110 --> 00:11:44,180 designation. And and a lot I mean, just to give you a 236 00:11:44,180 --> 00:11:47,960 number, probably two years before, there would be 1000 to 237 00:11:47,960 --> 00:11:52,550 1500 people every year in India becoming certified public 238 00:11:52,550 --> 00:11:54,590 accountant and enrolled agents. 239 00:11:54,590 --> 00:11:58,070 That number is going to grow ten times in 2022. 240 00:11:58,250 --> 00:11:58,910 Speaker1: Oh, my. 241 00:11:59,120 --> 00:12:00,290 Speaker3: Wow. Yeah. 242 00:12:00,650 --> 00:12:03,950 So that's the kind of change we are seeing in India and 243 00:12:03,950 --> 00:12:06,950 that's the kind of demand we are seeing in India for, you 244 00:12:06,950 --> 00:12:09,650 know, those global accounting firms, large accounting 245 00:12:09,650 --> 00:12:15,160 firms. So yeah, this is a big game changing transition. 246 00:12:15,170 --> 00:12:19,070 You can say transformation time for for for us. 247 00:12:19,790 --> 00:12:23,360 Speaker1: Do you as an entrepreneur, you know, you obviously didn't 248 00:12:23,360 --> 00:12:25,970 start off as an entrepreneur, but we'll kind of just skip 249 00:12:25,970 --> 00:12:30,290 ahead to being an entrepreneur in India and also being in 250 00:12:30,290 --> 00:12:31,460 the United States. 251 00:12:31,820 --> 00:12:35,570 Is there challenges one way or the other that makes it a 252 00:12:35,570 --> 00:12:38,510 little easier or harder in one country or the other? 253 00:12:38,510 --> 00:12:41,270 Or is it pretty much a universal thing? 254 00:12:42,760 --> 00:12:45,130 Speaker3: Well, one thing. 255 00:12:45,290 --> 00:12:47,450 One, let me tell you one good thing about it. 256 00:12:47,470 --> 00:12:51,670 I can take vacation in the name of work if I want to try 257 00:12:51,670 --> 00:12:55,000 it. So that's a good thing about being in both countries. 258 00:12:56,100 --> 00:12:58,030 Yeah, yeah. That's all jokes apart. 259 00:12:58,030 --> 00:13:03,430 I think it's tough to leave sometimes family back and 260 00:13:03,430 --> 00:13:05,080 travel for months together. 261 00:13:05,950 --> 00:13:07,570 I used to stay in the US. 262 00:13:07,750 --> 00:13:10,390 I stayed there for about 5 to 6 years. 263 00:13:12,010 --> 00:13:16,810 But, you know, leaving family behind and traveling without 264 00:13:16,810 --> 00:13:19,810 them is the tough part personally. 265 00:13:19,900 --> 00:13:22,510 Otherwise, I don't see any challenge. 266 00:13:22,510 --> 00:13:25,270 For me. It's learning both ways. 267 00:13:25,270 --> 00:13:32,920 I have traveled to, let's say between 2014 to 2019. 268 00:13:32,980 --> 00:13:39,550 I have traveled in 28 states in the US with about 150 plus 269 00:13:39,550 --> 00:13:45,700 voting cards and staying in probably 250 plus Airbnb 270 00:13:45,700 --> 00:13:46,930 apartments or homes. 271 00:13:47,080 --> 00:13:49,080 So that's what my memory is with us. 272 00:13:50,320 --> 00:13:51,430 Speaker1: Right in the heartland. 273 00:13:53,530 --> 00:13:59,170 Do you go as far as your how did you decide what was your 274 00:13:59,170 --> 00:14:00,820 journey before you became an entrepreneur? 275 00:14:00,850 --> 00:14:02,860 Did you already know you wanted to be one when you were 276 00:14:02,860 --> 00:14:05,380 just a kid, or is it something you kind of just graduated 277 00:14:05,380 --> 00:14:08,800 into? How did how did that trigger you get a real job and 278 00:14:08,800 --> 00:14:09,940 then decide to be an entrepreneur? 279 00:14:09,940 --> 00:14:12,370 Or did you just use a real job as a stepping stone because 280 00:14:12,370 --> 00:14:13,540 you knew you wanted to be one? 281 00:14:13,540 --> 00:14:14,590 How did that happen? 282 00:14:16,040 --> 00:14:21,550 Speaker3: So I when I started my career, I used to work as a retailer 283 00:14:21,550 --> 00:14:23,710 in a couple of mid-sized companies. 284 00:14:23,950 --> 00:14:27,490 So that gave me an opportunity to fight on the side, start 285 00:14:27,490 --> 00:14:29,110 my entrepreneurial journey as well. 286 00:14:29,320 --> 00:14:33,760 So while I had a fixed income who I call them as my anchor 287 00:14:33,760 --> 00:14:37,390 clients who gave me like a fixed income every month and 288 00:14:37,390 --> 00:14:40,840 kind of consume me every week as well my time. 289 00:14:40,930 --> 00:14:43,600 But at the same time I had a certain time on my plate where 290 00:14:43,600 --> 00:14:46,050 I used to kind of invest it into an entrepreneur 291 00:14:46,330 --> 00:14:50,260 entrepreneurial venture as well to build my own public 292 00:14:50,260 --> 00:14:51,340 practice in India. 293 00:14:51,490 --> 00:14:55,620 So I have built and operated a public practice for about 3 294 00:14:55,620 --> 00:14:59,860 to 4 years in India and eventually I felt that I want to 295 00:14:59,860 --> 00:15:01,090 get jump into corporate. 296 00:15:01,090 --> 00:15:03,430 So my journey is a little reverse. 297 00:15:03,430 --> 00:15:06,370 So it's not coming from corporates and Big Four and getting 298 00:15:06,370 --> 00:15:07,480 into public accounting. 299 00:15:07,480 --> 00:15:11,050 It was first public accounting and then I thought that I 300 00:15:11,050 --> 00:15:14,440 would, I imagine myself building a corporate going forward. 301 00:15:14,440 --> 00:15:18,670 So let me get the big exposure of how large teams are 302 00:15:18,670 --> 00:15:22,390 managed. And fortunately, at that point of time, I get an 303 00:15:22,390 --> 00:15:26,260 opportunity with I get an opportunity to work with one of 304 00:15:26,260 --> 00:15:29,380 the CEOs closely wherein we built a company from for I 305 00:15:29,380 --> 00:15:30,910 mean, I would not say we built it. 306 00:15:30,940 --> 00:15:36,580 He built an I was kind of an enabler there from a for people 307 00:15:36,880 --> 00:15:41,890 you know to about 4000 people that gave me an exposure of 308 00:15:41,890 --> 00:15:47,950 all kind right from man team challenges strategy so so that 309 00:15:47,950 --> 00:15:49,420 kind of mentored me a lot. 310 00:15:49,420 --> 00:15:51,910 I was fortunate enough to be part of that four or five year 311 00:15:51,910 --> 00:15:56,620 journey and, and that kind of gave me kind of courage 312 00:15:56,620 --> 00:15:59,170 strategy to build integrity as well. 313 00:15:59,500 --> 00:16:04,540 So, so before integrity and after, after that, that, that 314 00:16:04,540 --> 00:16:08,560 went to where I was a CFO, by the way, that company I'm 315 00:16:08,710 --> 00:16:11,470 talking about, I actually started as an accountant and I 316 00:16:11,470 --> 00:16:13,480 eventually became a CFO of that company. 317 00:16:13,900 --> 00:16:15,670 And then I left. 318 00:16:15,670 --> 00:16:18,730 I started another venture into pharma space, which failed. 319 00:16:18,820 --> 00:16:22,180 I lost almost 50% of my wealth there before starting 320 00:16:22,180 --> 00:16:25,900 Entegrity. So while I started a degree, it was under 321 00:16:25,900 --> 00:16:29,560 tremendous social pressure because almost 50% of your 322 00:16:29,560 --> 00:16:33,130 saving is gone. And when you come out of a middle class 323 00:16:33,130 --> 00:16:37,240 family, that is a kind of a big shock that you are doing 324 00:16:37,240 --> 00:16:41,170 well. Why you want to take an entrepreneurial journey and 325 00:16:41,170 --> 00:16:46,360 take those risks. So being in entrepreneurship was never 326 00:16:46,360 --> 00:16:47,800 something from the very beginning. 327 00:16:47,830 --> 00:16:49,990 It just came through it. 328 00:16:50,020 --> 00:16:53,200 You can say your dream changes while you be on your 329 00:16:53,200 --> 00:16:57,640 journey. It was like to have a home and to have a car 330 00:16:57,640 --> 00:17:00,520 before and now it's something else. 331 00:17:00,670 --> 00:17:03,160 And it was then to build wealth. 332 00:17:03,160 --> 00:17:06,580 And now it's like today I'm doing this because I have a 333 00:17:06,580 --> 00:17:11,230 team around me which is aspiring to grow and now I am that 334 00:17:11,230 --> 00:17:14,620 medium. You know, just, just want to add one more thing. 335 00:17:14,620 --> 00:17:19,200 Sorry, I'm extending this answer, but today, you know, we 336 00:17:19,210 --> 00:17:23,800 were surveying this and how much this is impacting, how 337 00:17:23,800 --> 00:17:26,980 much our actions are impacting, you know, these people who 338 00:17:26,980 --> 00:17:31,780 are working in integrity or these accounting firms or let 339 00:17:31,780 --> 00:17:33,370 me give you a couple of data points. 340 00:17:33,730 --> 00:17:38,980 About 30% of our people, our team member, bought their 341 00:17:38,980 --> 00:17:40,480 first car with integrity. 342 00:17:41,370 --> 00:17:45,870 About more than 40% of the people bought their first home, 343 00:17:45,900 --> 00:17:48,780 first family home after joining in dignity. 344 00:17:49,230 --> 00:17:52,560 So this is the amount of socioeconomic social impact we are 345 00:17:52,560 --> 00:17:55,110 trying to make collectively as a team. 346 00:17:55,650 --> 00:17:59,670 So that is more satisfying after you have taken care of 347 00:17:59,670 --> 00:18:01,440 your own and family well-being. 348 00:18:01,880 --> 00:18:02,280 Yeah. 349 00:18:03,000 --> 00:18:04,140 Speaker2: That gave me goosebumps. 350 00:18:04,140 --> 00:18:06,830 Like what an impact you've made so quickly. 351 00:18:06,840 --> 00:18:10,350 But one of the words that you use that we believe in and we 352 00:18:10,350 --> 00:18:14,940 believe that entrepreneurs believe in that is that team 353 00:18:14,940 --> 00:18:19,050 concept. How quickly were you able to figure out that it 354 00:18:19,050 --> 00:18:20,700 wasn't about you? 355 00:18:20,730 --> 00:18:24,030 It was about your team and what you were able to build and 356 00:18:24,030 --> 00:18:25,740 aspire around you. 357 00:18:28,180 --> 00:18:32,770 Speaker3: Probably, I would say about two years before I realized. 358 00:18:32,770 --> 00:18:36,130 I mean, it's like you can say that you talked about that 359 00:18:36,130 --> 00:18:37,720 aha moment. Mm hmm. 360 00:18:38,920 --> 00:18:44,620 I went actually into I went into a house of one of our team 361 00:18:44,620 --> 00:18:46,870 members. It was a housewarming party. 362 00:18:47,620 --> 00:18:50,500 And I saw the happiness on the face of the parents of that 363 00:18:50,500 --> 00:18:55,770 child. And I realized that that in some small way we are 364 00:18:55,770 --> 00:19:02,520 trying we are contributing to the social the social 365 00:19:03,090 --> 00:19:06,030 upliftment of people around us. 366 00:19:06,060 --> 00:19:09,960 So that's where I realize that, you know, this is not this 367 00:19:09,960 --> 00:19:14,250 journey is now not just economic prosperity. 368 00:19:14,820 --> 00:19:18,990 It's about making a larger impact that we are making. 369 00:19:19,770 --> 00:19:23,970 And it is going to those people who are economically 370 00:19:24,210 --> 00:19:28,140 deprived. So that is more fulfilling that we are trying to. 371 00:19:29,260 --> 00:19:32,080 Trying to I mean, we are trying to be contributing in a 372 00:19:32,320 --> 00:19:34,600 small way to bring that balance. 373 00:19:36,580 --> 00:19:39,160 So that's that's that's where probably it happened. 374 00:19:39,730 --> 00:19:41,590 Speaker2: Yeah. What what an incredible story. 375 00:19:41,590 --> 00:19:44,020 And then I have one more question to kind of follow up that 376 00:19:44,020 --> 00:19:45,430 you had mentioned before. 377 00:19:45,550 --> 00:19:48,010 So the person that kind of took you under their wing and 378 00:19:48,010 --> 00:19:51,070 you build it from four employees to 4000. 379 00:19:51,100 --> 00:19:53,770 Do you think that that person just had a huge impact in 380 00:19:53,770 --> 00:19:57,460 regards to mentorship as you kind of changed your journey 381 00:19:57,460 --> 00:20:00,580 into, you know, that entrepreneurial? 382 00:20:02,910 --> 00:20:04,040 Speaker3: Julie, you speak my mind. 383 00:20:04,410 --> 00:20:06,960 He has tremendous influence on me today also. 384 00:20:08,070 --> 00:20:11,370 I used to fight with him, but he never used to kind of take 385 00:20:11,370 --> 00:20:14,970 it negatively because he thought that my fight with him was 386 00:20:14,970 --> 00:20:17,500 in the interest of the business, even though I was wrong. 387 00:20:17,910 --> 00:20:20,580 Most of the time you can say always so. 388 00:20:20,820 --> 00:20:27,450 Yeah. So still, probably we may not be in that much connect 389 00:20:27,450 --> 00:20:29,430 with each other right now because of the business 390 00:20:29,430 --> 00:20:33,240 commitments and personal commitments, but that that CEO of 391 00:20:33,240 --> 00:20:37,140 that company had a tremendous amount of impact on my life 392 00:20:37,140 --> 00:20:41,140 as well. My professional learnings and the way I approach 393 00:20:41,160 --> 00:20:42,620 and the way I deal with people. 394 00:20:42,630 --> 00:20:43,840 I never had the vision. 395 00:20:44,130 --> 00:20:46,350 Let me tell you, I never had the vision of building this 396 00:20:46,350 --> 00:20:49,260 kind of company if I would not have been with that company. 397 00:20:49,650 --> 00:20:51,450 You know, my thinking was small. 398 00:20:51,450 --> 00:20:52,860 My exposure was small. 399 00:20:52,890 --> 00:20:55,160 I would have been into this. 400 00:20:55,200 --> 00:20:57,690 I mean, I would have not built this company unless I would 401 00:20:57,690 --> 00:20:59,400 have got that exposure that I had. 402 00:21:00,120 --> 00:21:03,480 Speaker1: Which is definitely one of the things we try to encourage. 403 00:21:03,990 --> 00:21:07,860 All the entrepreneurs out there listening to this is quest 404 00:21:07,860 --> 00:21:08,960 for knowledge. 405 00:21:08,970 --> 00:21:10,140 Quest for knowledge. 406 00:21:10,140 --> 00:21:12,620 You don't know what you might want to do. 407 00:21:12,630 --> 00:21:15,840 You don't know your potential until you go and break those 408 00:21:15,840 --> 00:21:17,520 chains and go out and see what's out there. 409 00:21:17,520 --> 00:21:20,160 And and you'll be surprised and amazed at what you can 410 00:21:20,160 --> 00:21:24,690 accomplish. Do you know this? 411 00:21:24,700 --> 00:21:28,930 This story that you have is absolutely going to ruin the 412 00:21:28,930 --> 00:21:32,350 stereotypes of entrepreneurs who are successful because 413 00:21:32,350 --> 00:21:35,500 you're not supposed to be caring about your teammates. 414 00:21:35,500 --> 00:21:37,360 You're not supposed to be caring about families, caring 415 00:21:37,360 --> 00:21:39,250 about social stuff. You're supposed to be out there just 416 00:21:39,250 --> 00:21:41,920 making money and just, you know, raping and pillaging 417 00:21:41,920 --> 00:21:46,030 everything. You know, how how does that, you know, that 418 00:21:46,030 --> 00:21:49,510 mindset change? I don't think most of us ever want to do 419 00:21:49,510 --> 00:21:51,880 that. I think we always have a greater good in our in our 420 00:21:51,880 --> 00:21:53,110 hearts of what we want to accomplish. 421 00:21:53,110 --> 00:21:55,750 I don't think you ever did it probably for the money. 422 00:21:55,750 --> 00:21:57,580 You probably did it for the challenge because you did it 423 00:21:57,580 --> 00:21:59,830 for the money. You probably wouldn't have started that 424 00:21:59,830 --> 00:22:02,830 started again the second time after you lost the second 425 00:22:02,830 --> 00:22:08,650 piece. Right. So is it just a unbridled just belief in 426 00:22:08,650 --> 00:22:10,780 yourself and your character and who you are? 427 00:22:10,780 --> 00:22:14,380 What what kept you going and saying, no way, nobody's going 428 00:22:14,380 --> 00:22:15,630 to stop me. I'm going to keep going. 429 00:22:15,640 --> 00:22:16,720 How did you decide that? 430 00:22:16,720 --> 00:22:19,000 What was that in you that made that happen? 431 00:22:20,430 --> 00:22:27,510 Speaker3: So most of the entrepreneurial journey are never for I mean, 432 00:22:27,690 --> 00:22:28,950 not just for the money. 433 00:22:29,940 --> 00:22:32,580 It is it is it is something more than that. 434 00:22:33,150 --> 00:22:36,660 In my case, when I mentioned about a business failed. 435 00:22:36,660 --> 00:22:40,230 And and so let me give you a little bit of anecdote. 436 00:22:40,980 --> 00:22:43,370 I start I started a practice. 437 00:22:43,380 --> 00:22:46,140 Then I left the practice and went into corporate. 438 00:22:46,320 --> 00:22:47,820 So it was a good practice. 439 00:22:47,820 --> 00:22:50,030 But I decided, you know, I'm not liking it. 440 00:22:50,040 --> 00:22:51,480 We are making good money. 441 00:22:51,900 --> 00:22:54,690 So understand, you come from a very middle class family. 442 00:22:54,690 --> 00:22:57,270 You started getting economically, you started getting 443 00:22:57,270 --> 00:22:59,520 stronger, you started building up savings. 444 00:22:59,670 --> 00:23:02,250 And suddenly you tell that, you know, I'm not liking it. 445 00:23:02,250 --> 00:23:04,350 Let me just leave. Let me jump onto something else. 446 00:23:04,500 --> 00:23:06,000 So my mother used to scold me. 447 00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:07,620 Like what? What? What are you up to? 448 00:23:07,650 --> 00:23:08,700 Why are you doing this? 449 00:23:09,110 --> 00:23:12,420 That's your career. It has been a difficult time that we we 450 00:23:12,420 --> 00:23:14,340 have come out of. And now you want to play with your 451 00:23:14,340 --> 00:23:19,320 career. Now, I went into corporate stage to spend about 452 00:23:19,320 --> 00:23:22,740 four or five years there and then started from a normal 453 00:23:22,740 --> 00:23:23,750 accountant, the CFO. 454 00:23:23,970 --> 00:23:27,750 Great journey. Well, you started drawing handsome, handsome 455 00:23:27,750 --> 00:23:29,760 salary, position, salary. 456 00:23:29,760 --> 00:23:31,320 All. All perks, everything. 457 00:23:31,980 --> 00:23:35,130 And all of a sudden, in your mind, you started decide to 458 00:23:35,160 --> 00:23:36,840 get into some kind of a venture. 459 00:23:37,290 --> 00:23:40,860 So, again, you know, and and, you know, failures are not 460 00:23:40,860 --> 00:23:42,840 very, very. 461 00:23:43,080 --> 00:23:45,750 Failure is a little taboo here where we stay. 462 00:23:46,320 --> 00:23:49,060 So it's a social pressure that creates. 463 00:23:49,110 --> 00:23:51,480 If you fail, people will start saying something. 464 00:23:51,490 --> 00:23:53,640 Well, I have no problem with it. 465 00:23:53,640 --> 00:23:56,940 But when you live in a joint family, what happens to your 466 00:23:56,940 --> 00:23:58,830 mother and then people around you matter. 467 00:23:58,830 --> 00:24:00,960 So. So I left the job. 468 00:24:00,960 --> 00:24:03,890 And then it was a good job, well-paying job. 469 00:24:03,900 --> 00:24:07,200 You leave that, and then you go and venture into something 470 00:24:07,200 --> 00:24:09,900 and it fails and it does not fail. 471 00:24:10,350 --> 00:24:12,120 It takes away the job from you. 472 00:24:12,810 --> 00:24:15,390 It takes over 50% of your savings that you have built. 473 00:24:15,630 --> 00:24:19,140 And it gives you all kind of disappointment and frustration 474 00:24:19,140 --> 00:24:22,140 and lack of confidence that when are you really good 475 00:24:22,140 --> 00:24:24,840 enough? You know, you start doubting yourself. 476 00:24:25,140 --> 00:24:27,930 So that was a stage when that venture failed. 477 00:24:28,740 --> 00:24:33,420 Thankfully, my wife and my brother kind of still kept that 478 00:24:33,420 --> 00:24:36,860 confidence in me that, you know, this is just one, one and 479 00:24:36,860 --> 00:24:38,730 one half year. Don't worry about it. 480 00:24:39,310 --> 00:24:41,310 You know, you have, you know, seven, seven, eight years. 481 00:24:41,310 --> 00:24:42,690 There have been great success. 482 00:24:43,020 --> 00:24:45,150 Well, you know, this is just one piece of the failure. 483 00:24:45,870 --> 00:24:48,030 Now where Entegrity happened. 484 00:24:48,480 --> 00:24:50,490 Previous motivations to grow. 485 00:24:50,520 --> 00:24:52,410 Where all organic. 486 00:24:53,010 --> 00:24:57,120 Where you you know you are growing from you continuously 487 00:24:57,120 --> 00:25:00,060 growing from your base every year, every month. 488 00:25:00,450 --> 00:25:03,060 Now, this is a dip that that has come to you. 489 00:25:03,300 --> 00:25:04,710 So now it's different. 490 00:25:05,130 --> 00:25:09,570 So now the thing is the journey starts is you have to come 491 00:25:09,570 --> 00:25:10,980 back to place where you were. 492 00:25:11,670 --> 00:25:14,760 So. So that was a little difficult journey. 493 00:25:14,760 --> 00:25:21,300 And the motivation was now that if I don't build this up, I 494 00:25:21,300 --> 00:25:23,400 would be permanently tagged as a failure. 495 00:25:24,700 --> 00:25:25,780 In my community. 496 00:25:25,780 --> 00:25:27,730 Speaker1: That is amazing. 497 00:25:27,730 --> 00:25:30,070 I mean, we we never use the term failure as an 498 00:25:30,070 --> 00:25:33,640 entrepreneur. We always use a setback and a retool and come 499 00:25:33,640 --> 00:25:36,100 back stronger in a different way and pivot. 500 00:25:37,060 --> 00:25:40,750 But I guess the social pressure, you know, back in India, 501 00:25:40,900 --> 00:25:42,280 that is probably a big deal. 502 00:25:42,280 --> 00:25:45,190 Right. And that has that added pressure. 503 00:25:45,190 --> 00:25:47,860 We just I don't know if we feel that here or not in the US. 504 00:25:47,860 --> 00:25:50,680 I mean, people still judge us, but when it's the whole 505 00:25:50,680 --> 00:25:53,470 family coming at you, that has to be pretty hard. 506 00:25:53,950 --> 00:25:59,170 So is the I guess the motivation is that, hey, this was 507 00:25:59,170 --> 00:26:00,460 just has to be a setback. 508 00:26:00,460 --> 00:26:01,810 You can't look at it as a failure. 509 00:26:01,810 --> 00:26:03,280 You have to come back stronger, right? 510 00:26:03,280 --> 00:26:04,330 I mean, you had to do that. 511 00:26:04,600 --> 00:26:06,970 Was there a choice? Did you ever think that you're going to 512 00:26:06,970 --> 00:26:09,250 stop or do you feel like I got to keep going? 513 00:26:10,490 --> 00:26:15,530 Speaker3: Well, Glenn, honestly speaking, we are talking this in 514 00:26:15,530 --> 00:26:17,300 retrospect, in hindsight. 515 00:26:17,750 --> 00:26:18,920 It's it's okay. 516 00:26:19,250 --> 00:26:22,280 It was very agonizing for me and my wife, everyone, you 517 00:26:22,280 --> 00:26:26,090 know, losing 50% of your and then then, you know, starting 518 00:26:26,090 --> 00:26:29,360 all over again. So good that we have made a comeback and we 519 00:26:29,360 --> 00:26:33,260 have done it. Well, when you look in hindsight, I think a 520 00:26:33,260 --> 00:26:36,290 lot of things have happened to me because of destiny. 521 00:26:37,340 --> 00:26:41,150 I mean, I went to another country, started all over again. 522 00:26:41,150 --> 00:26:44,390 All of this is took some good decisions, got some great 523 00:26:44,390 --> 00:26:46,300 people by my side. Everything is okay. 524 00:26:46,460 --> 00:26:48,020 I met some great people in the U.S. 525 00:26:48,020 --> 00:26:50,590 who kind of supported me all of this, you know. 526 00:26:50,690 --> 00:26:53,570 But if I see that, you know, building this company, there 527 00:26:53,570 --> 00:26:56,660 were probably in hindsight, I always reflect and 528 00:26:56,660 --> 00:27:00,470 introspect. And I see there are 250 things that have 529 00:27:00,470 --> 00:27:02,930 happened to me which were beyond my control and there was 530 00:27:02,930 --> 00:27:04,520 no contribution in my in that. 531 00:27:05,360 --> 00:27:09,020 So, you know, this has it was meant to be this way. 532 00:27:09,560 --> 00:27:14,930 So if people often ask that, you know, you know, would you 533 00:27:14,930 --> 00:27:19,040 like to live the life the same way that has come to you? 534 00:27:19,190 --> 00:27:24,290 Well, I always think that it has to I made a lot of 535 00:27:24,290 --> 00:27:27,770 mistakes, but if I wouldn't have made that, this wouldn't 536 00:27:27,770 --> 00:27:30,980 have come through. So in hindsight, I would think that I 537 00:27:30,980 --> 00:27:33,290 would have avoided those mistakes and probably tried to be 538 00:27:33,290 --> 00:27:37,460 more prudent and more sane and more conservative on things. 539 00:27:37,460 --> 00:27:39,340 But it has to be that way. 540 00:27:39,350 --> 00:27:41,450 Coming back to social pressure thing. 541 00:27:41,510 --> 00:27:45,590 But I was not the guy who took that pressure that much. 542 00:27:45,590 --> 00:27:48,350 But my family around, you know, you live in a joint family 543 00:27:48,350 --> 00:27:51,580 in India. So the culture is a little different there here 544 00:27:51,710 --> 00:27:56,100 and. As I said, I would have been easily tagged as a 545 00:27:56,100 --> 00:28:01,710 failure. And, you know, one more thing I would like to 546 00:28:01,710 --> 00:28:05,340 highlight here, and you will see this article coming very 547 00:28:05,340 --> 00:28:09,090 soon in Indian media that we built. 548 00:28:09,870 --> 00:28:11,220 I was a chartered accountant. 549 00:28:11,670 --> 00:28:14,790 But today we have built a company out of out of. 550 00:28:15,630 --> 00:28:18,550 You can see it, dropouts and failed professionals. 551 00:28:18,570 --> 00:28:22,110 80% of the people that we have hired are not chartered 552 00:28:22,110 --> 00:28:24,810 accountants. Because in India. 553 00:28:26,120 --> 00:28:30,410 You know, if 100 people join chartered accountancy, only 554 00:28:30,410 --> 00:28:32,930 five or ten people can actually become chartered 555 00:28:32,930 --> 00:28:34,250 accountant. What? 556 00:28:34,250 --> 00:28:39,470 So in America, the result is about 40 to 50%. 557 00:28:40,460 --> 00:28:42,350 That is in India, it's very competitive. 558 00:28:42,360 --> 00:28:46,020 So although the internship, they have to undergo three 559 00:28:46,020 --> 00:28:48,690 years of internship with the accounting firm and they have 560 00:28:48,690 --> 00:28:51,430 to prep for it. 561 00:28:52,230 --> 00:28:55,740 Those are really quality talent, but they have missed by 562 00:28:55,740 --> 00:28:58,110 five or ten marks and could not become chartered 563 00:28:58,110 --> 00:29:01,570 accountant. So I had a special place in empathy for that 564 00:29:01,570 --> 00:29:04,780 because a lot of my friends could not clear and I have seen 565 00:29:04,780 --> 00:29:06,400 them very working very hard. 566 00:29:06,520 --> 00:29:09,400 And I sometimes thought that they were more deserving than 567 00:29:09,400 --> 00:29:14,530 me. And I was fortunate enough that I could clear that exam 568 00:29:14,530 --> 00:29:18,760 and they could not. In an order of five years, the 569 00:29:18,760 --> 00:29:22,660 compensation gap in that career becomes very high if you 570 00:29:22,660 --> 00:29:25,030 are making like $100. 571 00:29:25,510 --> 00:29:28,480 Being a chartered accountant in five years, that guy who is 572 00:29:28,490 --> 00:29:32,260 C internal C, a dropout with same amount of knowledge, same 573 00:29:32,260 --> 00:29:35,440 amount of internship experience, same amount of prep that 574 00:29:35,440 --> 00:29:38,770 he has done for c final examination would be drawing like 575 00:29:39,130 --> 00:29:40,500 $20. Oh my God. 576 00:29:40,510 --> 00:29:43,280 This is the kind of compensation gap happens. 577 00:29:43,430 --> 00:29:43,710 Yeah. 578 00:29:44,650 --> 00:29:49,270 Speaker1: Well, we always like to say that, you know, you fail forward 579 00:29:49,270 --> 00:29:52,060 and it's not what happens to you, it's how you react to it. 580 00:29:52,060 --> 00:29:55,810 And, you know, entrepreneurs are just, you know, we try to 581 00:29:55,810 --> 00:29:58,420 inspire as many people that listen to this podcast as 582 00:29:58,420 --> 00:30:01,540 possible that, you know, if it was easy, everybody would do 583 00:30:01,540 --> 00:30:06,010 it. And yeah, because it's hard, you really get to get down 584 00:30:06,010 --> 00:30:08,020 and just decide what kind of character do you have? 585 00:30:08,020 --> 00:30:10,030 How hard are you willing to work to do it? 586 00:30:10,030 --> 00:30:13,330 And sometimes you got to you get lucky and you get a 587 00:30:13,330 --> 00:30:16,240 mentor. Sometimes something happens that makes you look at 588 00:30:16,240 --> 00:30:19,630 things in different perspective, and sometimes the hard 589 00:30:19,630 --> 00:30:21,880 work and the planets align and things work out. 590 00:30:21,880 --> 00:30:24,190 And it seems like that's probably what's happened with you, 591 00:30:24,190 --> 00:30:26,140 which is an amazing. But you didn't do it by just sitting 592 00:30:26,140 --> 00:30:28,210 on your laurels. You went out there and made it happen. 593 00:30:29,140 --> 00:30:33,400 Do you think what is your like? 594 00:30:33,400 --> 00:30:35,860 I know that's a trick question, so I'm just going to tell 595 00:30:35,860 --> 00:30:37,330 you so you don't get to feel like you're being tricked, 596 00:30:37,330 --> 00:30:40,630 but, you know, what's the end game for you is you want to 597 00:30:40,630 --> 00:30:44,560 grow your company to 5000 employees, 20,000 employees. 598 00:30:44,560 --> 00:30:45,910 You want to turn around and sell this thing. 599 00:30:45,910 --> 00:30:48,010 You want to buy, do some more businesses. 600 00:30:48,640 --> 00:30:52,270 Once you make $100 Billion, what is what is the end game? 601 00:30:52,270 --> 00:30:54,970 Which I know the answer, but go ahead and try to tell me. 602 00:30:56,080 --> 00:31:03,220 Speaker3: Oh, I actually, you know, I mean, I've tried to ask that 603 00:31:03,220 --> 00:31:06,340 question to myself and actually never gotten that kind of 604 00:31:06,580 --> 00:31:08,290 clear answer that I wanted. 605 00:31:08,620 --> 00:31:11,590 But I have kind of realized what I don't want to do. 606 00:31:13,000 --> 00:31:16,750 I don't want to kind of just pursue any opportunity for the 607 00:31:16,750 --> 00:31:21,100 sake of, you know, let's say I want to continue making 608 00:31:21,100 --> 00:31:24,400 social impact while doing what we are doing. 609 00:31:24,820 --> 00:31:28,030 So definitely we want to do that. 610 00:31:28,930 --> 00:31:31,720 So I just don't want to do something for the sake of 611 00:31:31,720 --> 00:31:36,070 business opportunity and only with my CP, what we are doing 612 00:31:36,070 --> 00:31:40,270 is for every credit you take, we are donating one meal, one 613 00:31:40,270 --> 00:31:41,710 under-served person. 614 00:31:42,130 --> 00:31:43,480 So that's the social objective. 615 00:31:43,480 --> 00:31:46,780 And so far we have distributed more than a million meals in 616 00:31:46,780 --> 00:31:50,530 our short journey of two years, and that has been a 617 00:31:50,530 --> 00:31:52,390 wonderful program that we have. 618 00:31:52,600 --> 00:31:55,900 And in India, you have that problem, which is genuine. 619 00:31:56,200 --> 00:31:59,380 Plus, we are working with a food bank of New York food bank 620 00:31:59,380 --> 00:32:03,040 of South Jersey, and then we are taking help from there as 621 00:32:03,040 --> 00:32:05,440 well. And continuously, month on month, we are donating 622 00:32:05,440 --> 00:32:10,780 funds there. So my objective or my way of looking at I, if 623 00:32:10,780 --> 00:32:14,860 I if I grow my ICP, my object total objective will continue 624 00:32:14,860 --> 00:32:17,560 to grow with it. With with Entegrity what we are doing. 625 00:32:17,560 --> 00:32:21,070 And you know, just it would be great for you as well to 626 00:32:21,070 --> 00:32:22,330 listen with integrity. 627 00:32:22,330 --> 00:32:25,210 What we have we are starting we were planning to start this 628 00:32:25,210 --> 00:32:27,970 two years before school closed and pandemic. 629 00:32:28,630 --> 00:32:31,450 All schools were closed, kind of went online. 630 00:32:31,570 --> 00:32:37,850 So. With every employee or every staff that a firm hire. 631 00:32:37,940 --> 00:32:40,910 We will be taking care of entire education of an 632 00:32:40,910 --> 00:32:41,980 underserved person. 633 00:32:41,990 --> 00:32:46,240 One person. So as we grow a number of staff, let's say we 634 00:32:46,240 --> 00:32:49,430 have 5000 people, we would be supporting 5000 children's. 635 00:32:50,290 --> 00:32:54,280 So this would be part of our objective and it grows as the 636 00:32:54,280 --> 00:32:59,200 business grows. So if you if you if I can highlight this is 637 00:32:59,200 --> 00:33:02,800 what I would like to do with whatever I do from here. 638 00:33:03,250 --> 00:33:05,110 Not really know what I'm doing. 639 00:33:05,110 --> 00:33:08,470 I think whatever I'm doing, if I'm able to justify that 640 00:33:08,470 --> 00:33:10,090 itself, it's great. 641 00:33:10,600 --> 00:33:15,970 But this is a little bit of thought process in executing 642 00:33:15,970 --> 00:33:16,690 what we are doing. 643 00:33:18,060 --> 00:33:22,650 Speaker1: I think the the stereotype, again, of entrepreneurs and 644 00:33:22,650 --> 00:33:26,070 people that run businesses is just so not fair in the media 645 00:33:26,070 --> 00:33:29,760 because I have yet to find entrepreneurs that don't truly 646 00:33:29,760 --> 00:33:32,640 care about their teammates, their employees, employees, 647 00:33:32,640 --> 00:33:37,270 families. It really is about trusting and empowering and 648 00:33:37,410 --> 00:33:39,070 having everybody rise up with you. 649 00:33:39,090 --> 00:33:41,430 Right. I mean, what fun is it doing it by yourself? 650 00:33:41,430 --> 00:33:44,310 And it's great to hear that you believe in the same 651 00:33:44,310 --> 00:33:47,280 concept. And again, a lot of trainers may be their own sole 652 00:33:47,280 --> 00:33:48,810 proprietor, maybe a couple employees. 653 00:33:48,810 --> 00:33:51,150 You've got, you know, quite a few employees. 654 00:33:51,150 --> 00:33:54,270 And you guys basically have grabbed them all in and said, 655 00:33:54,270 --> 00:33:56,880 hey, these are my extended family and you're taking care of 656 00:33:56,880 --> 00:33:59,970 them. But but they're getting rewarded. 657 00:33:59,970 --> 00:34:01,740 They're getting smarter. 658 00:34:01,740 --> 00:34:03,810 They're making an impact. 659 00:34:03,810 --> 00:34:05,130 They're helping their clients out. 660 00:34:05,130 --> 00:34:06,320 They're helping the company out. 661 00:34:06,330 --> 00:34:09,540 I mean, what a great success story to have that happen, 662 00:34:09,930 --> 00:34:13,470 because I would imagine anybody that's a part of your team, 663 00:34:13,470 --> 00:34:15,630 I'd imagine they're not going to want to leave your team 664 00:34:15,630 --> 00:34:16,680 very time soon. 665 00:34:16,680 --> 00:34:18,660 I think I think you probably treat them pretty well. 666 00:34:20,340 --> 00:34:22,530 Speaker3: Well, I'd like to believe that. 667 00:34:22,530 --> 00:34:29,270 But if staffing is a challenge even in India now and but 668 00:34:29,430 --> 00:34:33,570 yes, team is going to be the cornerstone or the backbone of 669 00:34:33,570 --> 00:34:35,520 any businesses that you're building. 670 00:34:36,150 --> 00:34:40,440 And I have realized it hard hard base know sometimes in 671 00:34:40,440 --> 00:34:44,460 your journey growth comes with little bit of you can say 672 00:34:44,460 --> 00:34:47,700 loneliness fast growth in fact. 673 00:34:48,640 --> 00:34:52,890 And if you ask me what are the biggest regrets that 674 00:34:52,890 --> 00:34:57,810 probably I would have is during this journey of this 675 00:34:57,810 --> 00:35:01,650 entrepreneurial journey, probably lost a few colleagues on 676 00:35:01,650 --> 00:35:06,600 its way. And and I would say that if they would have been 677 00:35:06,600 --> 00:35:09,090 by my side, I would be you know, they would be happy as 678 00:35:09,090 --> 00:35:11,520 well and then I would be happier as well. 679 00:35:11,520 --> 00:35:14,430 So those were hard working colleagues of mine. 680 00:35:16,050 --> 00:35:22,080 And then yeah, it's it's unfortunate that, yeah, they are 681 00:35:22,080 --> 00:35:24,660 not together in the success, but yeah, their contribution 682 00:35:24,660 --> 00:35:26,610 to this business have been invaluable. 683 00:35:27,120 --> 00:35:30,450 Speaker1: Yes. Sometimes it just doesn't fit and you can't force it. 684 00:35:31,440 --> 00:35:34,470 One thing we always like to ask our entrepreneurs on the 685 00:35:34,470 --> 00:35:37,830 guests on the show is, you know, is there any you mentioned 686 00:35:37,830 --> 00:35:40,230 regrets about bringing some colleagues along, but is there 687 00:35:40,230 --> 00:35:43,980 anything that you would think back and go, wow, if I knew 688 00:35:43,980 --> 00:35:47,910 what I know today back then, or if somebody would told me 689 00:35:47,910 --> 00:35:52,590 the shortcut I'd have got here a lot quicker is and again, 690 00:35:52,590 --> 00:35:54,630 there's nothing to replace a school of hard knocks, of 691 00:35:54,630 --> 00:35:58,230 course. But is there something that you could point to 692 00:35:58,500 --> 00:36:01,800 sometime in the past that said, Man, if I just knew that 693 00:36:01,800 --> 00:36:03,720 that would have been the key, what would that have been? 694 00:36:05,690 --> 00:36:11,300 Speaker3: Well, one thing that happened operationally on the back and 695 00:36:11,300 --> 00:36:13,490 side of what we are doing is. 696 00:36:16,120 --> 00:36:18,760 Well, one thing let me tell you which probably would be 697 00:36:18,760 --> 00:36:20,170 more relatable to this conversation. 698 00:36:20,170 --> 00:36:24,060 So I thought initially when we started working with and 699 00:36:24,220 --> 00:36:27,160 started integrating, I have to visit every accounting firm 700 00:36:27,700 --> 00:36:33,930 and close them. So I cannot because I my accent is heavy 701 00:36:33,930 --> 00:36:37,650 and I cannot lose accounting firm without meeting them in 702 00:36:37,650 --> 00:36:39,450 person and giving them the trust. 703 00:36:39,900 --> 00:36:43,230 So I used to travel a lot, go to all conferences, etc., 704 00:36:43,230 --> 00:36:51,380 etc.. But but in the year 2015 or 6 to 10, 16 or 17, a guy 705 00:36:51,380 --> 00:36:56,990 named Michael Dell, who is also a CPA, is also in New York. 706 00:36:56,990 --> 00:37:01,100 And then and happened to be he came to my booth. 707 00:37:01,580 --> 00:37:05,150 And he's an entrepreneur, too, apart from being an 708 00:37:05,150 --> 00:37:07,880 accountant and and a great brain. 709 00:37:07,880 --> 00:37:11,270 And I'll tell him he was my guide in America. 710 00:37:11,600 --> 00:37:13,100 I learned a lot from him. 711 00:37:13,520 --> 00:37:16,250 So he told me that I'll be closing clients for you without 712 00:37:16,250 --> 00:37:19,670 visiting them. And just for you, you have to pay me as much 713 00:37:19,670 --> 00:37:22,310 commission. I said, Why not? 714 00:37:22,460 --> 00:37:25,340 If I am not required to pay anything to you without 715 00:37:25,340 --> 00:37:26,960 clients, well, go for it. 716 00:37:27,320 --> 00:37:30,980 And that break the mindset that I was open to that. 717 00:37:30,980 --> 00:37:33,350 But it was a big mindset shift. 718 00:37:33,350 --> 00:37:36,080 So if I would have known that three or four years back, 719 00:37:36,350 --> 00:37:40,550 probably we would have been probably two of what we are in 720 00:37:40,550 --> 00:37:41,060 that crazy. 721 00:37:43,520 --> 00:37:46,400 Speaker1: We we call that getting out of your own way, right? 722 00:37:46,400 --> 00:37:49,460 Recognizing the strengths and and we'll call them 723 00:37:49,460 --> 00:37:51,680 weaknesses that all of us have. 724 00:37:51,800 --> 00:37:52,850 But it's really hard. 725 00:37:52,850 --> 00:37:54,680 It's not true. We're bullheaded, we're stubborn. 726 00:37:54,680 --> 00:37:56,870 We believe we know it all and we want to do it. 727 00:37:56,870 --> 00:38:00,470 And the second we step back and augment that with some 728 00:38:00,470 --> 00:38:03,260 other people on our team, magic can just happen. 729 00:38:04,100 --> 00:38:05,990 Speaker3: Yeah, I was so wrong. 730 00:38:07,490 --> 00:38:10,160 Speaker1: But you know what? If you got it earlier, maybe it wouldn't 731 00:38:10,160 --> 00:38:12,110 have meant as much because you didn't have to work so hard. 732 00:38:12,110 --> 00:38:14,420 You never know, right? You don't know who you're going to 733 00:38:14,420 --> 00:38:17,390 be. But boy, it would be neat to go back and and fix that. 734 00:38:18,770 --> 00:38:22,670 Well, I you know, I think the the end game question is an 735 00:38:22,670 --> 00:38:24,770 open ended question, because I don't think there is one. 736 00:38:24,770 --> 00:38:27,350 I think if you love what you do, it's really not work. 737 00:38:27,350 --> 00:38:28,760 You're probably going to just keep going. 738 00:38:28,760 --> 00:38:29,930 Why would you stop? 739 00:38:31,250 --> 00:38:33,320 Again, the money at this point really doesn't matter 740 00:38:33,320 --> 00:38:35,030 because you have your lifestyle you want. 741 00:38:35,030 --> 00:38:37,490 You're helping people you enjoy, getting up every day, 742 00:38:37,490 --> 00:38:40,640 going to work. That literally to me is the entrepreneurial 743 00:38:40,640 --> 00:38:45,110 dream to have that it's not about you anymore. 744 00:38:45,110 --> 00:38:46,760 It's about everybody you impact. 745 00:38:46,760 --> 00:38:48,260 And I think you've probably achieved it. 746 00:38:48,260 --> 00:38:49,340 So congratulations. 747 00:38:49,340 --> 00:38:51,770 But I feel like you've got so much more to do. 748 00:38:52,490 --> 00:38:57,890 Speaker3: Yeah, well, I mean, we have we are continuing to do what we 749 00:38:57,890 --> 00:38:59,150 are doing right every day. 750 00:38:59,780 --> 00:39:04,800 So that's what the motivation is to get up every day and 751 00:39:04,800 --> 00:39:08,630 then do what you're doing like a job, but with a lot of the 752 00:39:08,630 --> 00:39:10,680 light fun and then results. 753 00:39:10,680 --> 00:39:11,150 So yeah. 754 00:39:11,720 --> 00:39:14,540 Speaker1: There's nothing better. Well, it's, we're going to enjoy 755 00:39:14,570 --> 00:39:17,660 sitting back and, and helping you participate and watching 756 00:39:17,660 --> 00:39:19,910 you participate and watching you build this empire. 757 00:39:19,910 --> 00:39:22,730 And I can't wait to imagine how high it's going to go. 758 00:39:22,730 --> 00:39:25,430 So we're excited for you and appreciate you coming on our 759 00:39:25,430 --> 00:39:27,830 show today. And I hope an entrepreneur is are listening to 760 00:39:27,830 --> 00:39:31,130 this realize that it ain't easy. 761 00:39:31,130 --> 00:39:34,460 And but if you stay with it and you and you keep working, 762 00:39:34,460 --> 00:39:36,680 you acquire that knowledge, it'll happen for you. 763 00:39:36,680 --> 00:39:38,540 So just believe in yourself. 764 00:39:39,050 --> 00:39:41,480 Surround yourself with people that believe in you and who 765 00:39:41,480 --> 00:39:42,920 knows what you can accomplish. 766 00:39:44,150 --> 00:39:48,920 Speaker3: And I'm really thankful to you, Glenn and Julie, first for 767 00:39:48,920 --> 00:39:51,700 inviting me for this wonderful, wonderful interaction. 768 00:39:51,710 --> 00:39:54,650 And second, you are helping small businesses. 769 00:39:54,650 --> 00:39:56,870 You are celebrating entrepreneurship, which is most 770 00:39:56,870 --> 00:40:01,230 important. It's it's very is very, very important. 771 00:40:01,250 --> 00:40:02,510 You guys are doing that. 772 00:40:02,510 --> 00:40:04,340 And I would like to applaud you for that. 773 00:40:04,340 --> 00:40:06,860 So please continue your search efforts. 774 00:40:06,860 --> 00:40:10,760 And and that that really is bringing good, positive results 775 00:40:10,760 --> 00:40:11,240 as a whole. 776 00:40:11,420 --> 00:40:12,980 Speaker1: Well, thank you, Shawn, for those kind words. 777 00:40:12,980 --> 00:40:15,110 We appreciate you. Again, there's nothing better than 778 00:40:15,110 --> 00:40:17,690 watching somebody have that dream in their eye and it makes 779 00:40:17,690 --> 00:40:20,510 it happen. It's it's the best it's the best feeling ever. 780 00:40:21,500 --> 00:40:24,710 Well, get back. Hopefully you have your midnight snack here 781 00:40:24,890 --> 00:40:27,320 back home at your time zone and we're getting ready to 782 00:40:27,320 --> 00:40:30,980 start the day. So again, Sean, thanks for coming in and 783 00:40:30,980 --> 00:40:33,530 we'll have this podcast out there for everybody to listen 784 00:40:33,530 --> 00:40:34,940 to directly. 785 00:40:34,970 --> 00:40:36,650 This is Glenn Harper signing off. 786 00:40:36,650 --> 00:40:37,610 Speaker2: And Julie Smith.