E216 - Lessons from Justin Warren: Trust Beats Technical Skill

Rob Tracz: What's going on guys and welcome back to another Friday recap edition of Surviving the Side Hustle. Now I want to start it off here. A little different than usual. I'm going to start with a quote. And it is, I'm not just their accountant, I'm their business partner. See, that is what Justin Warren said near the end of our conversation this week. And honestly, it kind of reframed the whole thing for me. Justin is a partner at PF. or PKF O'Connor Davies, one of the top accounting and advisory firms in the country. And he co-leads their Stanford, Connecticut tax practice alongside about 18 people on the team. Now, if you've ever been around public accounting, you know that making partner is not something that just happens. It is earned over years of long days, hard pivots, and a lot of proving yourself. And Justin did exactly that. What I really want you to hear today is not just the credential, it is the cost, the character, and that it took to get there. So a little background on Justin. Justin kind of stumbled into accounting, which I love because I think a lot of us stumble into the thing that we end up being really good at. His high school guidance counselor pointed him toward this field because his dad owned a business. He was math focused. He liked seeing the numbers connect to something real and from there it just was kind of built. He went into college thinking he might want to be a math teacher and coach football. He lasted about three days in college calculus with a professor that did not click with and pivoted back into accounting almost immediately. He got an internship through his uncle at an insurance company in Westchester, got his first real taste of tax work. and landed an offer at a big four firm in New York City. He put it in he put in five years there. And when he says long days, he means it. He talked about leaving the office and the sun already coming up for the next day. And that is not a hyperbole, that's legit. He made manager, then he got out of the city, took a chance on PKF in Stanford, and two months later, boom COVID hit. He was brand new, learning a totally different side of tax work, and fully expected to be the first cut on the list. But instead, his boss told him that he had long-term vision for him, and that Justin was essentially part of his retirement plan. So he stayed. He grounded it out and brought over a close friend from a former colleague, and a couple years ago, both of them made partner and now co-lead the practice together. Here's the part that nobody puts on the resume though. Justin talked about tax season running 12, 13, sometimes 15 hour days for three and a half months straight, basically shutting down from everything else in his life. His wife holds the house together during that stretch and helps raise their kids while he is buried in the returns and client work and deadlines. That is the real cost. And it is not just the hours. He also talked about the emotional weight of starting over at a new firm right before the world completely shut down. Genuinely not knowing if he was going to have a job. See, he was new and he was still learning, and COVID gave his firm every reason to cut him loose. That kind of uncertainty when you've already made a big career bet and the rug might be pulled out underneath you, that is a test of something deeper than technical skill. And Then there is the ongoing pressure of staying visible, having to write articles, staying current on tax law that shifts with every new administration, doing the business development side of the job while also doing the actual work. That is a lot of hats. And I imagine many of you listening can also relate to wearing multiple hats. So what is his secret to high performance? Well What actually lets Justin operate at that level consistently under that kind of pressure, I think it comes down to two things that are really connected. The first is his athletic background. He wrestled, played football, played lacrosse, and he said it directly. The work ethic and the competitiveness came from sports. He told me that even today, if his firm loses a proposal to another firm, he is genuinely annoyed by it. That competitive edge. never shuts off if it just found a new field to play on. The second thing, and this is the one that I keep thinking about, is his ability to connect with people as people. He talks about texting clients who run million dollar businesses, asking them if they saw the next game. He said the thing he wants people to remember about him when his career is over is not his technical skill. It is that they could connect with him on a personal level. That relational skill, that humanity, that is what separates a good accountant from a trusted partner. And I think that's a real secret. So here is where I connected this to the prime performance process. And specifically two principles I see running through Justin's whole story. The first is resilience. Hey, what's up? Sorry for the interruption. ⁓ It's Rob. One quick thing before we keep going. If you're feeling stuck or like you've lost the momentum that you used to have, here's a simple free first step. Take the assessment at GetThePrime.com In just a few minutes, it'll show you exactly where you're leaking momentum so you can get that ball rolling again with the Prime app. It's completely free. So if you're new here, this is the best place to start. Go ahead to GetThePrime.com and take the free assessment. All right, let's get back into it. Starting over mid-career, surviving COVID's uncertainty as a new hire. Grinding through months of fifteen hour days while your family holds things together without you, that is not grit for grit's sake. That is the kind of resilience that has to be built on purpose. And Justin built it on the athletic fields before he ever stepped into a big four office. The second principle is influence. And I want to be clear here because influence is not about being loud or salesy. It's about being someone people actually want in their corner. Justin figured out that the technical knowledge is the baseline. That's what gets you in the room. But the relationship is what keeps the clients coming back, what earns referrals, what makes someone text you after the next win. And I think what ties those two principles together is something I always come back to, which is that you have to know yourself before you can show up for anyone else. You have to understand what you're made of and how you are fueled. What your edges are before any of the performance stuff clicks into place. Justin knowing he was a competitor, knowing that sports wired him a certain way, and knowing that connection was his actual edge, and that self awareness, what made the strategy work. That is looking good, feeling good, and doing great things. Not as separate goals, but as one system. So if you are a business owner, an entrepreneur, or honestly, anyone who has been piecing together your tax strategy from TikTok videos and Instagram reels, Justin is exactly the kind of professional that you want to have a real conversation with. He's not going to oversell you. He literally told me on the guest interview that if you call him and he thinks you can handle it yourself, he'll tell you that. That kind of honesty is rare. And you can find Justin on LinkedIn. And also drop his contact information in the show notes so you can reach out directly. Even if you're not ready to work with a firm yet, start following his content. He puts out timely, readable takes on tax law changes. And in today's le landscape, where the rules continue to shift, that kind of awareness is genuinely really valuable. So Justin Mann, I really appreciate you coming on and being so open about the grind, the cost, and the long seasons, and what it actually took to get you to where you are now. You did not sugarcoat it, and that is the kind of honesty of what makes this show really worth doing. For everyone listening, here's the one thing I want you to sit with today. Justin said he wants to be remembered not for what he knew, but for how he made people feel. And I think that applies way beyond just accounting. Whatever it is that you're building or whatever role you're climbing towards, the technical skill will get you in the door. The relationship is what keeps it open. So think about that. And if you got something out of today, hit follow on the show, leave us a review if you're feeling generous and catch the full conversation with Justin over at surviving the side hustle dot com. Peace, peace, peace, guys.