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Published on:

25th Jul 2019

67: Building a Consulting Firm with Carey Rome (Part 1)

While still in high school, Carey Rome decided that he wanted to own his own business. Seeing that, his Dad told him to go and speak to his uncle who told him the following: It doesn’t matter if you’re doing really well or you’re doing really poorly. If you have to have someone tell you, your business is at risk.

From there, Carey ended up working at the largest CPA and advisory firm in the world at the time before opening up his own firm in 2005. In this episode, Carey shares the ups and downs of going out on his own, plus his struggle of developing an MVP which ended up being his biggest business success- and biggest headache.

 

My Guest: Carey Rome

Carey Rome is a self-declared recovering CPA who somehow can manage both left and right brain activities. Admittedly, right-brain activities are where he thrives.

Carey is a constant admirer of smart ideas and an avid (or maybe addicted) Podcast and audiobook listener. But that is for a reason. It wasn’t until audible and podcasts that he discovered that he was an auditory learner. For years he struggled with reading comprehension. Ever since this discovery, it is like a whole new world has opened up.

 

Episode Highlights:

[3:52]: It doesn’t matter if you’re doing really well or you’re doing really poorly. If you have to have someone tell you, your business is at risk.

[8:08]: I decided to go to Starbucks to celebrate my launching of my business. I’m walking up the steps because I couldn’t find the elevator. And I’m walking up the steps. And I trip and I spill coffee all over the place.

[10:46]: Estie: What do you do first? What do you do?
Carey: Um, I did what I do not recommend others do. I bought everyone I know that would go, a bottom lunch or coffee.

[16:03]: And now I’ve got a cash flow problem, because I have to have to pay real people, 13 people, starting all at once, traveling every week, which gets expensive. And then I had to float that for 65 or 70 days until I got paid.

[29:56]: Yeah, I would say, find a way to document your expertise in a product of some sort. And don’t sell it based on time. Sell it based on the value that you deliver from that product or service.

[35:16]: Then one day that client looks up and says, I can’t believe we’re paying Estie this much money! We can hire someone full time for that. And then they say, “Hey Estie, it’s been great. You know what, probably at the end of the next two weeks, we probably need to end this.”

[44:33]: I went to larger companies saying. “Surely you do this, well, give me a little guidance on what I’m developing.” And as it turns out, they said, “Actually, we do that very, very poorly. We need that.” So now I’ve got a struggle as it were. I have developed a minimal viable product, and what I need to develop is an enterprise solution.

[50:34]: Because the goal is to get up to that peak, and then start another one, and then start another one. I look at it almost like mountain climbing. You go, you hit a little plateau, you’re like, ahhhh, and then you start climbing again.

 

Quote: 

Water the seed.

 

Resources & Links:

 

For Part 2 of this episode, where you can hear Carey’s struggle and breakthrough, go to estierand.com/67-2. 


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About the Podcast

Create Your Own Salary (previously Business Breakthrough)
Humanizing business and businessifying humans.
We're humanizing business, and businessifying humans.

Join us as successful business owners talk about the PIVOTAL MOMENTS that got them to where they are AND what they still CURRENTLY STRUGGLE WITH.



My dream always was, and still is, to help small business owners live their dreams. I've noticed that ALL BUSINESS OWNERS STRUGGLE SOMEWHERE. Even those that look so shiny and perfect on the outside are hurting somewhere on the inside.

Many of the podcasts out there feature rags-to-riches success stories with the promise that you can do it too! Ever felt that you really can't?

That's why I've started the Business Breakthrough Podcast, FEATURING STORIES YOU CAN RELATE TO, SHARING STRUGGLES YOU CAN LEARN FROM. The show features business owners- from those just starting out to the super successful - and in addition to exploring previous TRANSFORMATIONAL BUSINESS MOMENTS, together we reach a Business Breakthrough live on air.

About your host

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Estie Starr

Estie Starr is an award-winning business consultant, exceptional marketing strategist, avid speaker, and founder of Strand Consulting, a multinational business consultancy that’s focused on helping small business owners scale their businesses to make big profits. She believes very strongly that people can build professional and profitable businesses doing what they love, and she’s here to guide them so they can bring their vision to life with a lot more ease.