From Epiphany to Entrepreneur: Ken Day Shares His Business Growth Story

Everyone else, Those that are 90% tells me you're working in your business, you're not working in it. And how can you grow a company if you're putting all that energy in working in your business? As far as staffing, I kind of play like a father role in a sense. I wanted any team member to feel that they're in a safe place, a place where they can learn and they're recognized. And I always promoted praising your team. Good things come from working hard and being self employed. You kind of beat to the drum that you create and that is rewarding in itself, but it is, you carry a lot of responsibility.

Good day and welcome to the Wealthy Entrepreneur podcast. I'm your host, Bob Govero. It is a pleasure to have you along on this journey with me today. Listen, I have, I have a guest that's coming in today who is near and dear to my heart and I'll explain to you why in just a second. But someone who's definitely going to share a vast experience of, of building multiple businesses, multiple partnerships, having a lot of success building something that's was bigger than he himself and something that I am now part of. So we'll definitely be sharing that. But I want to remind you that this is the place where we dissect the, the elements that contribute to entrepreneurial success from mindset and leadership to profits and revenue. My special guest today is Kende. Now for those of you who know my story, Kende was the founder of On Business Chartered Professional Accountants. He and Scott Weatherspoon and I had the opportunity and the privilege to come in as part of a succession plan for the two of those gentlemen and to now be a partner and lead with an incredible group including other partners that are in on business that I have the privilege to serve their clients with. And it's, it's part of us continuing to foster our mission which is to empower the world's entrepreneurs with financial confidence. And so Mr. Day has a story about going all the way back to when he was young and made a decision to go out on his own and start his own business, which many of us can relate to now. Ken is a chartered accountant and a certified financial planner. He's been helping business owners and individuals navigate complex financial decisions for more than four decades. With a Bachelor of Commerce, his expertise spans business development, cash flow management, tax planning for corporations, individuals and estates, as well as personal financial planning. Ken combines technical knowledge with a genuine commitment to his client success, taking a hands on approach to help them grow stronger businesses and build Long term financial security. At the same token, on a personal note, Ken is a friend, a colleague, is a leader, is someone who from day one, I can assure you, although I wasn't there for every day of his journey. Founded with a great sense of purpose to support business owners, a great sense of a mission to create an environment for his team and build a team where everyone feels valued, important and has relevant mentorship for everyone to grow. He's a wonderful human and really excited to have him on the show and to share his entrepreneurial story, but also that I have the privilege of working alongside him with the business that he founded, you know, more than four decades ago. Ultimately. So really excited to bring Ken onto the show. And I'll maybe do one more quick intro, but I'll do that after I get Ken in. So excited to welcome Mr. Kende to the Wealthy Entrepreneur podcast today. All right, everybody. So excited to bring my good friends Kende in here. Now, before I actually formally get Ken to start sharing his story, which, you know, I've. I've been part of hearing this story a little bit, but I think it's important that everybody hears it first and foremost. Can is probably one of the most genuinely great humans I've ever met. So. And he tells a good story as well. So I'm gonna. Ken and I have a great relationship, so I'm gonna. We're gonna hold him in a little bit of a timeframe here. Cause I feel like it could be a 14 hour podcast. But I just wanted to share. Ken Day and I have known each other for just over a year, and he's one of those guys where now every time I connect with Ken, it's like we've known each other for 20 years and, you know, we've just got such a. A great connection and a focus on people and the care for the team. And, you know, being a founder of a. Of a business is just different. You know, we talk about that a little bit as well. And so, you know, just briefly, Ken was the founder of On Business. He's going to share his story, but connecting with Ken a year ago, the moment that I connected with him, knew that this was something, this was a partnership that we were going to have to expand beyond, you know, an introductory connection and feel very privileged to share strategic decision making and a vision for what he's built and sort of carrying that on. It's a true honor for me. And so I guess without further ado, I want Ken to share his story of how he got to where he is Today, and we're going to have a little bit of fun with this as well. So, Mr. Day, welcome to the show.

Thank you, Buff. Jeez. So you got me down to 12 hours. Yeah. Instead of 14.

You know what?

I. I brought my pillow. I brought my pillow up.

You know, I knew that the biggest challenge for you and I was going to be at this podcast recorded from start to finish, because I. I know we always have fun together, and. And I know that we always have a great conversation. So we're going to try and keep those conversations to minimum today and really, really share your story and some of the impact you have. So let's kick it off. Ken, take us through. You know, how you got started, what that looked like. Yeah. Share your life story.

Yeah, yeah. Well, I assume all founders or owners have. They have their unique story, and I think reflecting back as I, you know, you were asking me to come on your podcast today, like, kind of reflecting back and think, okay, so what is. What is my story? What's my journey? And it's kind of neat to reflect back, but to be honest, it really starts when I'm a kid. I just. I don't know. There's this thing about business in me, and. And. And I. I wanted to make money. I thought it was a kind of a neat concept. And. And none of my family were business, so I don't know where this came from. And. And so I asked my dad. I said, hey, dad, and I, we got some. We got leftover raspberries. Can I pick them and sell them to your friends? And he says, oh, yeah, perfect. So here I am in the garden picking these raspberries, and I'm thinking, okay, how many baskets can I fill up? And. And the next thing I was, hey, dad, you got any friends need to cut the grass? For sure, I can do that. And so in a way, maybe I was motivated because I didn't have allowance like most kids. I think I got a dime in that. Barely bought a batch of potato chips once a week. So. So I think I was motivated that way. So, anyway, so here I am. I got this business thing in me, and then in. In high school, I started taking some accounting courses, business courses, and, you know, talking to the guidance counselor. He said, you know, you should be a cat. And that's what a CPA is today. And I said, okay. So he says, yeah, just take these courses. You'll be fine. And so off I go. Like, it's pretty simple, right? So I go to university, and, of course, I have lots of Fun. You know, I'm not going to say how much they studied, but it. But eventually, within the four years of university, I did have to settle down and. But I did really appreciate some of those hardcore. Like, a lot of people kind of shied away from, like, there's corporate finance, you know, business policy. I'm just interested in businesses. So anyway, I. I was. I was fortunate enough. I joined a large international firm. I wrote my CA in the first year. And so I got all that work, you know, that detail out of the way and working. I was an auditor, actually. And auditing doesn't give you a lot of entrepreneurial stuff, but I could see big business. And I had a. The opportunity to actually work with Bermuda for a year as part of my term. And so here I am in Bermuda and working my. And actually, it was a Sunday, and I was in church, probably was during the sermon, and I get this epiphany that comes over me, and it's like this thing. It's like a aura. It comes right over you. And it said, hey, Cam. So it's speaking to me, right? It says, do you remember you want to be a business guy? And I said, yeah. He says, well, you better get going because it's a long journey. So here I am in church, going. Kind of forgot that in a way, right? Because I got caught up with working in a large firm. So I got reminded again what maybe what my purpose is. So here I am. I go home. I'm thinking, was that real or what was it? So two hours later, two hours later, I get a phone call from Canada because I was in Bermuda and was a colleague of mine. He says, ken, how would you like to join me in the partnership? I go, you have a partner? Says, yeah, I've been on my own for a year, I says. He says, I got these clients. I would love to have you. I'm thinking, this is actually lining up, like, perfect. Like, is this real? So I said, well, send me some stuff. So he sends it to me, and I tell my wife about it. I'm kind of excited about it.

I said, okay. So not a lot of. I didn't do a lot of due diligence, Bob, like maybe you would have done if you bought a business. And, you know, I'm looking at some seven column because we don't have computers. Then I go, okay, well, sure, I could do it. So here I am. I go into the managing partner's office in Bermuda, and I says, I'm gonna resign. He says, why would you do that? So I'm gonna go on my own. He says, well, where? Says, well, back in Winnipeg. He says, well, do you have any clients? No. Why would you quit a job that you have and start something you don't have? And I said the only answer I could give him was my stomach. I says, my stomach is telling me that this is what I gotta do. He says, good luck. So here I am.

Off we go. I quit. We go to Winnipeg, back to Winnipeg. We get kind of, you know, I, I meet this colleague of mine, Dave, and I said, so, Dave, what do we got for all these jobs, right? And he says, well, they didn't really turn out. I said, what? He says, yeah, they're, they're. It didn't happen, Ken. Sorry. I said, holy shit. He says, don't worry, we'll. We'll. We'll get through it. So here I am, I'm in this new office of mine. I, I got this brand new desk with credenza made out of oak. It came from one of his clients, right? But it wasn't stained, right? So here I am in my first month, believe it or not, trying to grow a company, right? And I'm staining this desk. And so you know that movie, the Karate Kid?

Yeah. Okay, so wax on.

You know that wax on, wax off. Yeah. It's almost the same picture. So what was that kid doing while he's doing that? He was thinking about what he had to do. So here I am, I'm staining this desk and I'm thinking, how the hell am I going to do this, right? So I thought, okay, well, what do clients actually need? So I said, well, they need assistance in their accounting. A lot of them are the. They don't, they don't have a clue what gross profit means. They don't know fixed costs, all that. Maybe I can do something for them. And so I put together a checklist while I was actually standing my desk, what I could give to clients or what they need. So once I got this, I went, okay, so now I have to go. I had to go talk to someone who's. He had a company who's data processing where they would process clients records, and they just did it by simply running checks through and things were quoted. That's how things were done. So I, I made an arrangement with them. So then I was ready to go. So. But I still don't have any clients, right? So here I am, I'm at. Probably it's at the weekend, I'm at the lake. And so someone says, hey, I hear you're, you're, you're going, you're on your own. I said, yeah. He said, I got a guy that's got a problem. Maybe you can look at him. And then. So I got introduced to someone, right? And I actually remember this vividly. The guy goes, he said, how old are you? And I said, I'm 25. He says, you sure you could fix my tax problem? I said, yeah, I could. And. Cause he's, he was like three years in arrears and CRA was all over him. But anyway, I think maybe it was the confidence. And so he took me on and believe it or not, I, I got everything that, you know, that he wanted me to get from cra. So he got all his refunds and then I got another client. So pretty soon, Bob, I got four clients. Well, I started to. Actually, I got, I got nervous. I said, well, I'm gonna have to hire someone, right? So, Bob, this was in the first month of me in practice. So I put an ad in the paper and I get this young lady, her name's Candy, and she applies and Candy worked at a large accounting firm. She did bookkeeping. I said, sure, come on in. So I hired her. And this is, this is a gold star here. But she's still working for me, right? 41 years. Like.

Ah. But anyway, you know, we. I know you're going to come back and say, Ken, what are one of some of your successes? Right? And I'll tell you right now, at the beginning, Candy is, is one of the reasons I was successful, because I was able to trust her and rely in what she did. So it allowed me to do what I had to do, which was to go get another client.

Right on a number five.

Yeah, exactly. And you, you're gonna laugh at me, but a month later I hired two more.

And they're all part time. So this was fun. And so. So we're growing the company, but the partner I was with, it was. It again, you can tell when you get into hardship. This. Does it feel right or doesn't it feel right? And I knew I had to move on and I moved on. So I moved on to a larger firm, more mature, and they just left a large firm too. So they were kind of at their startup and I joined them at that same time and I spent seven years with them. And we grew the thing to about seven partners and lots of staff. And the only negative to that was I didn't. It wasn't mine. Right? And so going back to this revelation back at Church, where, you know, I wanted to be a business owner. I wasn't going to get it there. So I knew I had to go on my own again. So here I go, I quit. So I, I leave that. And actually there's penalty clauses and everything to get out of that. So I, I walked away with debt and I start this other practice and I always like to have someone do practice through. So I, I asked my buddy and he worked at another firm, and he said, I don't know how to do this stuff. I said, don't worry about it, Ron. I'll teach you everything. So anyway, he comes in and we, we start to practice and in short order kind of realized that the, his goals and my goals are different or the way we do business is different. And it wasn't going to be the way I could see that we're going to be able to do anything significantly together. So I just kind of hung in there till I basically, you know, said, hey, I think we've had it right? It's time to our relationship. And so that's what happened there. And. But we were still growing. Growing. Okay, this is the fun thing about when we moved to the urban or the suburbs, when we opened the door, even before I could open the door lock, right, there's someone standing at the front door, a new client. And I'm going, what is, what is this like? We're just laughing and then the afternoon another person walks in, and I said, well, is this what it's like being in the suburbs, in the county fair? And so we, we grew. Okay? So there's no doubt we were growing this company and it felt good. And I want to also say that the, the name of the company was. We had our names on the door. Okay. It was Day, obviously. And my other partner, I won't mention his name, but that was it. And, and I liked it. Someone come in, hey, I want to talk to Day. Ken Day. And so, sure enough, that's what we did, but we carried on. And then I said, that's it. We can't do it anymore, Ron. So he leaves. And here I am with the practice. Right.

And did it just say day? Did it just say Day on.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, Day and Company. Okay. Actually a nice letterhead. You got to see it, Bob. I saved it.

Nice colors in it here. So here we are and just grinding away. And I'm growing. And it's probably now 17 years since I started this venture, and I get to say it comes across my desk and it says, hey, come join this boot camp for accountants. I'm going boot camp for accountants. What would that be? And so I kind of researched it and, and basically it was, it was a group of accountants that get together and it's run by these consultants. And it's a time for you to reflect and compare no's of how's your accounting firm compared to someone else's. What are your successes, what are your failures, all this kind of stuff. And so I signed up for it. I figured I want to know how I'm doing. And I remember Friday, I think we, we left on a Saturday or Sunday, it was in Toronto. And I remember leaving the office on Friday afternoon and I said to my team, right, myself, said, listen guys, I'm going away, I'm going to this boot camp. And I, there's one thing for sure I know, and that is when I come back, we're going to start a different company, we're going to run things differently. And they said, what's that mean? I said, I don't have a clue. But I just, I can feel this. There's something coming down the pike. So it's pretty exciting. So here we are, we get to Toronto, my wife and I get to go. We lost our kids. We got four kids, right? So this is like, we've never been happier in our life, right? Leaving your four kids behind, it's time to get away. We get to Toronto and so the, the, the morning starts, right? The boot camp. And the first question that gets asked by the leaders of the seminar was, okay, let's have a show of hands here. Who here is 90% productive? Oh, let's show hands. Like, you know, again, these are small practices, right? And some are a little bit larger. And then, okay, what about 80%? Those are 80% stand up. Okay, 70% stand up. I'm kind of looking around cause I know I'm doing a lot, right? I'm, I'm out there talking to clients like I'm not all productive, right? But I got a team, right? So the best I could do is maybe 50%. And so that's when I stand up and the guy keeps going, right? So, well, who's 40% or who, who's 10%? And believe it or not, one person stood up and he said, you know what? You're the winner today. Because everyone else, those that are 90%, you know what that tells me? You're working in your business. You're not working on it, you're working in it. And how can you grow a company if you're putting all that energy in working in your business. So that's how it started. But I went, oh shit. Okay, okay. So thank God I wasn't 90. 50. I don't know if that's a. I don't know 50 is good either. But it was the beginning of thinking differently. And the whole, that whole weekend was about working on. Right. And I kind of, I reflect on it now with clients, you know, after that where, you know, I played a significant role in helping clients get to that point of working on their business. And I'd, you know, some of the clients where they go, hey Ken, I got this great idea and when do you think? I says, well, it's awesome. He says, when are you going to start? He says well, I'm just going to do it gradually. And I says, well, what's that mean? He says, well, I'm going to keep working my job and then I'm going to do this and I'll do a few hours. I says, do you really like, do you really want, do you want this dream to be successful? Because if you got one foot on the left in your job and the other foot being an entrepreneur, it's never going to work, I'm telling you. So I've, I've told a few clients that and I, and I actually helped them get across that line. And next time you're in the city, Bob introduced to one of them. But I always found that, that, that was fun. In fact, it was interesting because I actually. This boot camp that I went to, I ended up joining it. It was a consulting network. It was based out of the. Well, it was out of Australia at one time, but it, it came to the US where it's based out. But it's just started me to help clients understand what business was and how you're able to grow your company. And what was interesting is, you know, they, they actually, they encouraged you to go out and get these consulting assignments and, and work with your clients and help them be this. And I just remember going to my first client, right where I'm the consultant. I sold this big contract, right? And I got, oh, this is gonna be scary. So off I go, I go into the, I go to the client that day and believe it or not, Bob, after the first 10 minutes, I'm just rattling it off and I had no idea how much I knew that. I guess things that you picked up over those 17 years. Cause you've been working with businesses all that whole time, right? And what you're able to share and sharing is Key. Cause I love sharing. I won't hold back on anything. My goal in life is to anything I know, I want you to know. And so any client that walks in the door, anything, if I can help them in any way, it's, it's. But so anyway, that was so. So we're doing consulting. We're growing. So anyway, we're growing. I go, okay, I still have a problem. There's something missing. And I needed a manager. So I put an ad in the paper and there's a response. I go, oh, this is great. Scott wothers to my partner or partners to be. So he applies and he says, okay, Ken, yeah, I can give you like two days a week. Yeah, and we'll work on that arrangement. And I said, okay. So within a couple, three months, I said, Scott, you know, I could feel something. We should be partners. Forget about you being the manager part time. Let's be partners. And it actually scared the heck of him because he just left, you know, big corporate accounting firm and he, he just wanted to be an entrepreneur. I says, no, we're going to be entrepreneurs in the accounting field. So, so it took a little bit. But honestly we, I got him or we got to a place where we both agreed that we'd be in a partnership. And once he said yes, oh my God, things changed because we've already. We're now being plugged into this consulting network. We were seeing things different. I took him to. Soon as he plugged in off we went to Chicago and we went to one of our first things together. And like we both just learned so much and, and how we could work with our clients and helping our clients be successful. And by the way, if your clients are successful, guess who else is successful? Yeah, we're successful. So that's what we do. We are together. We're that dynamite. We do have our differences, Scott and I. And you met Scott, so you know that.

Yeah, you wouldn't know by talking to the two of you. You're connected, you know, emotionally connected. For sure.

Yeah.

So.

But there's a little bit of difference. And it was just that Scott is more linear, so he likes to take things in order and I'm more, I, I bounce all over the place and you know, I'm constantly thinking of things. I'm. It's the creative of mine. And, and so here we are, the creative guy with the linear guy. And one thing we learned in our consulting network is you have to work on your business. So what we decided to do is every Monday we did not work on client stuff on Mondays. We just worked on the business. And we started that when we came together, and we never stopped doing that for 20 years. And I think when you talk about growing a company, I know you should work on your business a hundred percent of the time, but, hey, let's start somewhere. And that one week was. Was. I mean, one day a week was enough to get us kind of going. So anyway, so we created that. And the. The other thing, Bob just backing up was I said, scott, we're not putting our names on the door, okay? So we gotta have some kind of name that people are going to. They're going to remember it, and something that we can brand and it could be used in different ways, right? So that was my job. My job was to find the name. And to be honest, I spent nine months constantly trying to figure out what a name would be for our business. And to the point where I was probably going crazy. And here it was on a Saturday morning, here, I opened the paper reading, and I see this. On business, right? Actually, it was in business. The. The paper. This is funny, but you're gonna love this. So the paper had like, in business, in sports, in this, I went in business. That's it. So I phoned the lawyer Monday morning. He says, can you get me in business, you know, protected? And she said, okay, I'll check. So she comes back, she says, no, Kim, but I can get on business. I said, well, that's what I meant on business. I didn't mean in business.

Yeah, that's the one.

So.

So, Bob.

So. So now we got that name reserved right across Canada on business. And isn't it perfect? Because that's what we do. We tell our clients, work on your business, not in your business. And so then with that name, we start branding it. And so we. The. I guess the year after Scott and I got together, we bought another accounting firm. It was actually bigger than us. We bought their building. Like things were just happening. We're just exploding. And when things are right, things happen. You know, it's just. It's like the Beatles. When the Beatles come up with their. Their first song, right? They didn't know it, but the people in the studio knew that everybody else knew. Yeah, they gonna hit. So magic happens. So there was a lot of magic that happened with Scott. So we grew the company and yeah, we spent a lot of money. Like, you know, the things that really can suffocate you as a business person is money, time, people. And so we always coach that you only can Grow as fast as you have money. Because without money, if you, if you can't fuel this shit, then you're, you're going to fall out of the sky, right? And same with people. So it's a, it is a sensitive balance and you got to get it right. So we actually reroll a lot of checks to headhunters to get started. And we were doing that consistently. And finally I said, you know what, there's gotta be a cheaper way to do this. And so we, I said, why don't we just grow our people? Let's just take them as coming out of university, show them how we do things and then if we treat them well and remunerate them well, and they'll stay with us and they'll grow as we grow, because we're growing. So it's not like this is a company that's stagnant. This company's growing, so we got room for everyone, right? And promotions will happen. So we were lucky in that sense. And so we started that program where we trained people. We were training office under our CPA guidelines. So that was a, that was a new thing. So this all started. And, and then as we're doing this, you know, you, you, you had to have different levels of how many years you've been at the firm. So you, you might be a junior, might be a senior, might be a manager. We had to create this, we didn't have this before, so we had to start creating all these positions, right? And then as far as the work is concerned, Bob, like, you know, there's the core business, right? Like we do financial statements and tax returns, but we're always asked other things. And again, at the beginning with Scott and I, like, we had so many hats that we had to wear. It was, it was kind of scary. And so we said, you know what, we got to get these hats off. And so how are we going to do that? Well, I said, well, let's pretend that we're manufacturers, okay? And we got an assembly line going down of clients records. So we just need people on assembly line. And yeah, one might be someone has to do a GST return. Someone have to, someone has to do the year end. Someone's to the tax return. We got all these things that happen. Well, let's put these in groups and create departments, right? So we did that. And so we created departments for, you know, the core business, which is prepared financial statements. We call it financial services and bookkeeping. Bookkeeping, again, that's helping clients with not just reconciling their bank accounts. Gsting that I said let's create a date department for that. So we called it business Small business support. And in a lot of these things that we're doing when we're creating this is. We're, we're taking this stuff off our shoulders and created the. Created someone. Oh gave that responsibility someone else and they gave us time to think back and how this link. So anyway we started creating processes and we also believed 100% in technology and we, I said we are always going to be ahead of technology. Right. We're not going to be a dinosaur company that you buy your software and you think you're good for 30 years. No, you constantly have to be because everything's moving fast and you know you need management tools if there's something that some that computer can do versus someone sitting at a desk because it's hard to find people working for you. You have to do all the things. So we invested heavily in all this kind of stuff and we were very fortunate. We had top notch computer support group when it comes to tax planning and corporate restructuring. We had a tax department for that. But we also lean really heavily on a few law firms and one in particular where we actually we, we both grew our practice at the same time. It was just perfect. So we had all the tools, we had everything working for us and we grew.

Yeah. Maybe bring us up to date like 2025.

Yep.

What does 2025 look like?

Well, 2025 so, so we grew the company. We brought in other partners which were very instrumental to our growth and where we are today. And we even created a new position called income partners who partners that don't have any equity ownership but are a partner. And these things we created because out of necessity, as, as you're aware, Scott had a stroke and, and so that changed the dynamics of the company. But we still had to keep going because we've created a wonderful company and these clients still needed, they needed, they need someone to take care of them. And so. And when I say a magnet. We had many magnet attached to our building where clients just, they flocked in Bob. They haven't stopped. I remember when I brought in our tax partner Mark Single, I said don't worry about clients because they're just going to come naturally. And they both thought I was full of it. And but the, the truth of the matter is there was more work than we had people. So anyway, today 2025, this is before your time is I'm going to talk just before you book. Right. And so 2025 I'm actually, I'm over 65, believe it or not. And we were talking about how I was going to exit from the firm and you know, leading up to age 65 or 62, I was always having those conversations with Scott and Mark and Ariel and they said, are you sure, you sure you're going to be ready for this? Cat65 I said yeah, yeah, I think so. And I tell you when, when you create something, right. A business, it's, it's your child, right. And how do you walk away from it? It's a hard one. So you know, talking with my partners over and over figure well, maybe there's an easy way to do it. And then with Scott being, getting sick, I had to take that off the table. Right. And. Cause we had to keep this company going. But eventually I said to Scott like there's gotta be an exit point.

Yeah, let, let me, let me jump in here with this too. So just the quick version of this part. You know, I had the privilege to meet with some of the senior people at OnBusiness. Obviously we found that there was a lot of commonalities between what the Govro team was building, what the on business team was building. And, and truthfully, just the result was that we felt we would do better together and bringing all those resources together. And it was a huge opportunity for all of us. And you're not going anywhere.

Despite being over 65.

I'm over 65, Bob.

But one of the things I would say with your story as well, one, congratulations for building an incredible company with, with great values, with great people, with incredible clients. That has a huge impact in the community and in those clients, businesses. You know, there's thousands of clients that you've impacted on an annual basis between you and the on business team. And you know, the impact in the small business community, small to medium sized community, has been invaluable. And for me, the idea that I get to be part of carrying that on is a huge honor and something that I'm really excited about. And I know as you continue to get closer to retirement age, whatever that looks like, that our relationship and your involvement in the business will be here for a long time. It's just that role may continue to evolve based on what you're looking for, for and, and just grateful once again for the opportunity to, to collaborate together. Now I want to dissect some of this story.

Okay. Because, but just before you do that, Bob, just want to, I just want to say I am again the, the journey. Life is a Journey. It. There's all these good things that happen in it. And sometimes you, you might think it's meant to be how we got to where we got to today. But you were. You also are you. You were a missing part of the firm. And so this journey, it's not stopping, as he said, right, you're taking on the torch and you're gonna, you're gonna keep it going. And I think that was important for us as owners at own business, that we had to have someone that was like minded and had, and had the bandwidth, right? You got the bandwidth set up in such a way that you could do this and to take, you know, if you want to say, take my dream. But also you had your dream too. But, but take the dream where, you know, we started in 19, 1984, okay, that's when it started.

And, and well, that I'm kind of thinking back, you know, on that. You know, that glimpse that you had down in Brooklyn, Bermuda. Was it me?

Was I who showed up in your dream and said, you gotta be a business owner? You wanted to be a businessman, Bob.

How old were you in 1984?

That's. You know, Ken, we don't talk about age on this show. You mean that true? I was. True, actually.

Oh, my God. No, it's not wonderful, though, that, you know, I feel so.

So complete, so happy that you came into our lives.

And I'm super grateful that I did, too. And, you know, it's interesting, right? Some people you've known forever and you don't feel like you've really known, but like I said earlier, you know, you and I have maybe known each other for a year, and I feel like I've known you my whole life. Forever.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

And, you know, I just think it's, it's very similar values and, and a common purpose of what we're trying to do, which is really help business owners. So back to, back to this, Ken. Why business owners specifically? Like, why did you decide that that was an area you wanted to focus on? You were in audit dealing with big business, and then you went, hey, you know, small business. Why?

I'll tell you why, Bob. In the audits, what you can offer as an accountant in audits is different than what you can offer a client who wants to know how to grow their company and wants to, you know, reduce their tax costs and, and how to, to improve their profit, Profitability. I love people. And as you know, audits can be. You could be on an audit for, for one month or two months that Means you're only seeing that one client, right? Where if you got these entrepreneurs, you could see. You could see several. Seven of them in one day, right? So I think it was. I consider myself a business person. In fact, I had to be like, how. How could we grow a company like we did if we're not business people? We had to learn. We had to experience the pain that all business people experience, and that is how to kind of keep going day after day. And, you know, the struggles that you have, the surprises that you have, how do you kind of maneuver around that so you can move forward the next day, right? Scott and I, we. We live through that. We live through pain. And what is interesting when. When you do get to the point where you got all the cylinders working right in the right order at the same time, people look at you and go, oh, life's pretty easy for you. Lucky guy, right? And. But must be nice. I wished I was an owner, too, but how many times did I have this imagination that I'd have to sell my place, you know, because I didn't have cash? Because you don't have cash, you choke yourself out of business. You really have to be disciplined in a big way. But I love business. I love people, and I love people that are in business because I actually get, believe it or not, an opportunity every day to say my 2 cents in how to help a client. So when you. When I said, hey, Scott's linear, I'm more all over the map. Well, I can come up with these ideas in the boardroom while the client's sitting there. And Scott and I used to have this. It's a game that we used to have. And we go, never let the client out of the boardroom without smiling. If a client leaves without smiling, you didn't do a good job. And it used to be one of our things, right, that we used to have fun at. And. And that kind of meant that we actually. We got to know our clients, right? We had a relationship with every client. They. It wasn't just a number thing. It was about, how are you doing? How's the family? How are we doing? And trying to. To reach those goals. Right? And. And you. You know, you experienced it. There's a lot of things that we're almost like counselors in one sense. We're coaches in another sense. That's why I service this entrepreneur, business guy versus auto.

So part of this. And you. You talked about some of these challenges. But. But when you're talking about growing, and I know, you know, hey, people are just showing up to the office. It's an easy. That's an easy way to grow. But growing from going from one employee, Candy, to growing on business to 60ish people, you know, what were some of those, aside from just getting people showing up the door, which seems super easy for you. And if that's the case, we got to talk a little bit more because, um, I think everybody could use a few more people just showing up at their door. But what were some of the major challenges? You know, you talked about cash and, and having that thought, and I think that's something that entrepreneurs across the board who are listening can relate to. You know, we've all been there where we're going, oh, damn, payroll's coming up and, you know, we need to collect our receivables. We need to have the cash in the bank in order to make the payroll. What are we going to do here? You know, what were some of those challenges for you?

Well, first of all, as far as staffing, I kind of played like a father role in the sense I wanted any team member to feel that they're in a safe place, a place where they can learn and they're recognized. And I always promoted praising your team. I've been in different scenarios, like in boardrooms, for instance, you know, and I have no problem talking or doing this. But if the room is. If the room doesn't feel right, you can feel that tension. Communication doesn't work very well and you don't feel good. So one thing I wanted on this, I want everyone to feel that this is a family and everyone's respected and, yeah, we gotta work overtime, but let's all work together in the overtime and let's all reap the rewards of working hard. So that was my thing. Now, of course there, you know, we're challenged where clients are, where staff, they get other offers and off they go. And those are disappointing days, Believe me. I get really upset. But over time, I went, well, you know what? I quit my job. So when I was 22, it, it happens. It's about the journey, right? And if I stayed in one place in my story, you saw my story, it's a journey. If I just stayed in one place, then these other things wouldn't have happened. So I'm okay if someone wants to leave because it's in them, let them go. And so I don't get that. I don't get angry because I know the next day someone's going to be at the door trying to get it. Like, when it comes to money. And. And how do you. How do you pay payroll? That was scary. But one of the things I did, and I. I didn't know how to do this, but I. I kind of. I stumbled on it one night. I wanted to hire Scott as a manager, right. And I want him full time, but, you know, there's no budget for that. But if I didn't have a manager, I couldn't get the work out the door. So guess what? Like, I went to the bank, and the bank manager's name was Larry. Larry's a nice guy. I said, larry, he says, I want to hire a manager, and his salary's going to be, I don't know, let's just make it, in those days, $60,000. I said, I need to borrow 30,000 because it's going to take me six months before Scott is able. We're able to move that. That soft or that. That piece of work into cash. So he said, yeah, no problem. So that was addressing. So I used. I used debt. Talk about debt. You know, forget about your staff here for a second. Talk about you as an entrepreneur. When I started, Bob, with no clients, guess who paid my wage?

I'm gonna say your wife.

No, the bank.

Yeah, you're right. But. And they. And this. This is a point for all entrepreneurs. I still wanted a regular paycheck coming home because I got a family like you just. It just can't be all the business. You still have a family, and they're important, and you got to make sure the family's okay, because if they're not okay, you're not going to be okay in business. Right. So I had to make sure I got a regular check. It came up twice a month, and if it wasn't in my bank account, I got a line of credit. And that's okay because you got to start somewhere, but you just got to manage it. Yeah.

Which can be challenging. You definitely need good financial insights in order to do that. So for any of you listening, really important. Let's. Let's talk about this side, Ken. So as you approach 65, and you started to think about what the next chapter was for you and thinking of the incredible business that you built and the team that you built, what were some of the thoughts going through? Like, I know obviously we're thinking about how to do this and how to successfully do it, but what were some of the emotional thoughts from a founder that you sort of went through as you were processing this. This next phase?

So, again, as. As I said before, Bob, it's A family. Right. How do you say goodbye to the family? So that's tough. That's really tough. And it's not. It's the family of, of, of the office. It's also the family of your clients because every client's a family member. And for me just to walk out the door and say, okay, Bob, saw yours. I, I'm leaving something behind, which is pretty. And I think if you want to retire out of business, I think if you just keep one finger in, in the business, you know, doesn't have to be much, but something that you're somehow connected. Right. And it might be a different way than what you've been so far connected, like in the type of work, but somehow connected. And just kind of roll with that for a while so that you don't really have to close the door. Right. Because I think closing the door is. Yeah, they say, okay, and what are you going to do when you retire? Okay. Well, I'm fortunate. I have. I got eight grandchildren that are running around. Right. They're all seven and under. Yeah, I, I definitely going to spend a lot of time there traveling. I did, I did some nice traveling there a few weeks in the last few weeks. Never been to Europe before. I can do that too. And I got my music and there's lots of things I can do, but I think I gotta keep the finger. I gotta keep one finger on the business and in some kind of role. And hopefully, Bob, you got something for me. Because eventually you're gonna say, go home, because.

I'll forget what the password is to get into the building. I don't know how to turn the computer on.

Yeah. Oh, you are.

Well, fortunately for me, I like, I will never tell you to go home. So that's, that's great in, you know, I think, I think the idea, though, that you're bringing up as a founder to maintain your involvement. Like some people would look at this and say, you know what? I've done my piece, I'm good. And there's complete separation, but there doesn't have to be. Right. Like for someone like you that has blood, sweat and tears into this and still have a major connection to it, including the clients being able to do. And of course, we've been working on this for a little bit now, but shifting some of the roles to do the things that you want to do. Right. And you bring so much value to this organization that you created a few years ago.

That, you know, it's important for us as a business to continue to harvest that as well. So you know, for those of you founders who are out there, it doesn't mean you have to be cut and dry. And I think part of that is finding the right succession plan as well. That fits you. Right? And you know, I'm again grateful that Ken and I and some of the partners had connected to talk through this, but it could have been a different situation where it was, you know, what can we want you out of here because this is our business now and see you later. And I think that's part of the importance, right, is, is fundamental.

And I've seen that before, Bob, where, you know, clients are selling, right. And, and there's like a six month period where, you know, you need to be available to pass on. And I always find most clients, they, they, they were so happy to get up, get past the six, like to get to that six month thing because I guess they were cut off from the operations, like the new owners cut them off and, and basically they had their own, their own agenda, which is fine, you should have your own agenda, but it doesn't have to be that way. And I think with you and I, if I can be of any, if I can, you know, play some kind of a role of some sort to continue a journey and see on business like go somewhere that is maybe where we dreamt, like Scott and I did dream about the western Canada thing and we got close to almost, you know, setting up a practice in, in Vancouver and talked about Calgary, but we never got there. And it was because, you know, the one day working on your business once a week was not enough to, to get, you know, a wider growth. You, you need two or three days or you need five days, right? But hey, everything has to start right. It's like a tree, right? It starts small and it does grow. And the bigger the tree, the more stuff.

But it needs to be watered. It needs to be watered. It needs to be nurtured and maintained. And being a founder, we and Ken, you and I have talked about this. A founder is, you know, if you are one, you know what it means to be one, right? And there's people who are part of organizations who've been there from, you know, the early days that have grown with an organization, but likely you haven't had the sleepless nights and the worry for the clients, for your own business, for your own team. You know, I can guarantee you as a founder, for anyone who's listening right now who went through Covid and the lockdowns and the shutting of doors, I can guarantee you, Ken and I had a different feeling than most in the CPA world because this was. These are our people, and, you know, we've all grown together. And, you know, for you founders probably felt the same way about your. Your staff, your business, your clients. You know, getting access cut off at those times, it just. It's different than. There's just a different emotional connection to it. So, you know, for those. Those founders out there, listen, we're in this together, right? And. And part of the reason that we created this podcast was to share, right? So, like, when Ken's talking about being in the boardroom and sharing the creative messages and ideas and, like, let's continue to find solutions, part of the reason this podcast exists is for that reason, to share stories of journeys as well, for people along the way who solved problems that might be an existing problem that you have. But we've also created our coaching community, the wealthy entrepreneur coaching community, which is free for all of our clients to be part of where we, as founders can come together and talk about some of these challenges. And, you know, I think it's really important to have that space, to have that connection with people who really understand what you're going through, and also to celebrate, you know, the breakthroughs that you have and the wins and the growth and the challenges that you face and, you know, the imposter syndrome that we have to get through. As someone who builds a business, you're like, oh, who the hell am I to build this business? So, you know, this is why we're here, and this is what Ken and I are joined at the hip for this. And both of us, why we created this was to help people achieve success. And once again, sir, I'm really grateful that we've been able to partner up and see this thing continue beyond both of us and build something that's greater than both of us. And it's a pretty powerful thing. So thank you.

Thank you. This is a pleasure, Bob. And thank you for listening to my story.

Yeah, it's good. I might have to reflect back on this.

Oh, yeah, yeah, exactly.

Share it with the team. Listen, I got another question for you that's off off topic. Tell me a little bit about your. Your passion for music and what you're involved in with music, because I think it's a valuable part of your story, too.

Yeah, well, music actually is funny. You know, I started talking about business when I was a kid. Well, the same thing's true for the music part. I think it was in grade four, when we had an opportunity in our school. That I could, I could sign up and learn to play violin orchestra. And I remember signing the form that I'm not interested. And I told my parents at noon hour and they said, no, no, no, you're going back there and you're putting this. And they go, okay. So anyway, I sign up and I start taking violin lessons and really quickly realized I love music and, and I played in an orchestra in my town where I grew up and the music teacher, conductor was phenomenal, really aspiring. And so I played violin and orchestra and at the same time we had a group of friends that wanted to start a band. And here we are in Great Cannes and I'm in the rock and roll band and we're playing all the school dances in the 100 mile radius. And it was exciting and. But then I had to go to university so I put the violin down, but I, I picked it up again and just in the last 10 or 15 years, I play violin in a Winnipeg pops orchestra. I just, again, I just, I just love, I love music, I love the sound, I love the community. Again, you talk about communities, orchestras is another community. It's the thing to do. And just recently I got asked to play in another orchestra. So I'm double duty Bob. Sir. I can't work, I can't work Wednesday nights or Thursday night. But it's good, I love it, it's. Music's good. Hopefully everyone loves music because, and I'm just fortunate I can actually play in it well.

And I'm still looking forward to coming out and checking out one of these performances as well when I'm in Winnipeg because yeah, I want to see, I want to see the talent in action, you know, I'll tell you in the.

Next concert, so hopefully it doesn't give you the wrong impression.

Listen, Ken, last question for you. If you had to, if you had to start over and you go back to, let's say after the epiphany moment, but you go back to where you started and all of the knowledge and experience that you have now. What's the one thing you would tell yourself back at that starting point that you wish you had have known then, but you know now?

To be honest, Bob, just one thing, right, Bob, to be honest, it was a long journey, right, and.

It wasn't easy. And I think if you kind of knew how difficult it would be, you might had second guesses. But good things come from working hard and, and being self employed. You kind of beat to the drum that you create and that is rewarding in itself. But it is. You carry a lot of responsibility. I, I, I wouldn't want it any other way. I just, I like the idea that something told me, hey, this is what you need to do. And I don't have a clue where the hell I'm going. And I'm, But I step into those shoes and I take the risk and I do it. You need to walk through the journey before you can get to the end. Because he wanted to buy this big business, successful business, he wanted to do it at age of 27 when he really hadn't started business at all. So all I'm saying is there's no shortcut. You have to walk the journey. And that's what I told.

It's a good piece of advice. The journey is long. It, it's not. You don't have to accomplish everything by tomorrow. And if you try and go too quickly without the right process, team knowledge, experience, you know, failure, failure is okay, but there's definitely a way to do it safely and take that risk. So, yeah, I love that. Ken, Mr. Dagg, this has been an absolute pleasure. Thank you for sharing your story with us today.

I enjoyed it.

I couldn't be, again, I couldn't be more grateful to have you in my life and to share some of these experiences with you. So look forward to doing that for many, many years.

Thank you, buddy.

All right, everybody. This has been the Wealthy Entrepreneur podcast. I'm your host, Bob Govreau. Just a reminder that we are here to empower entrepreneurs with the financial confidence we need in order for you guys to make informed decisions so that we can change the world together. That's what we're here to do. And Ken Day, being our guest today, definitely shared a lot of insights about, you know, the experience of business and some of the challenges and how some of those challenges were overcome. If you feel like there's a lesson in here that could be shared out with someone else, let's do that again. We're here to create value for anyone who is going along this entrepreneurial journey. And if we can help support them, we want to do that. So share this out and let's help each other be more successful. Make sure that if there's any comments, questions you have, drop it in the comments. We want to make sure that we address any that you have or even link you back to some resources that we have to, that we would be happy to support you with. Make sure you give this a like and a follow. Every week we release a new podcast episode and it is always a pleasure to have you on this journey with me. But once again, thank you for joining us today. Thank you, Kende, for being a great guest and look forward to seeing you all again next week.