Vancouver’s Not-So-Stereotypical Accountant | Alfred Zagloul

Foreign.

Welcome to another episode of Bits and Bytes. Today we have a special guest. And I know I always say this about all of our guests, but this one's a little extra special. We have Alfred Zegleu here with us today. I'll let him kind of handle his introductions because I think, you know, he has a couple different titles, so. Hey, Alfred, why don't you start us off on what you're doing and what you're up to now.

Just casually. A couple. Couple titles, whatever. So, yes, I'm Alfred, first of all, thank you for having me on here. But, yeah, I don't even know. I don't even know how to go about it. So I'm an accountant. I'm a cpa, and I recently started my own company as a global consulting. And, yeah, I don't even know, like, what title I give myself. I think it's like, principal or, like, I don't know, something. Anyways, I'm a guy that works a lot, essentially. And then I also run an Instagram account called Al for Drinking coffee, which is where a lot of people know me from. But, yeah, so I'm accountant, coffee drinker, shoe enthusiast. I don't know. That's really my life.

I think you're segueing me to hijack the conversation about shoes. I'm not going to bite. I want to keep my job here.

I just want to make this entire thing about shoes. Like, let's talk Nikes. Like, that's it.

I feel like we're on the wrong podcast here.

We'll switch it up. We'll switch it. Maybe the next one. Maybe the next one will be good.

Yeah, I mean, honestly, like, I feel you kind of just like, you know, let's, like, let's backtrack a bit here because I think, you know, we kind of just, like, we have all these titles, but come on, we can't. Like, you know, it feels like there should be more hype around it. Like, you're not just, you know, coffee drinker. Like, you're a social media. Alfred Drinks Coffee is now at. I think, last time I checked, like, 11,000 followers, which is insane. Like, and then you run your own consulting firm for, like, okay, how about. Actually, let's start with a consulting firm? So how did that happen? Like, how long have you, you know, started this firm for? Like, was this always kind of in your, you know, in the cards? I guess I wanted to make a pun. Didn't work.

So. Yeah. So look, I'll say this about myself. Like, I'm not I'm not one to, like, brag in any capacity, so if you. If you need me to say something, like, happy to. I just, like, sometimes I forget that part, like, especially because I'm talking about my business. But whatever, it's fine. So with the glue, consulting, like, was definitely not always a part of the plan. It kind of. It grew over time, the idea of, like, running my own company and everything like that. But originally my goal when I first started going to school, like, I was in accounting. I was studying accounting, and I'm like, I'm going to get my CPA and then be the controller of a company or a cfo, right? And that was like, the top tier that I ever thought of, because that was, like, what was instilled in my degree, right? That, like, the top you can be is, like, partner at a firm or. Or a CFO or a controller, whatever. So that was always my thought. So my first job was a junior accountant at Blends Coffee in their head office. And then a year later, I got a random text from Karm Sumal, who's one of the co founders of Daily Hive, who's also the CEO of Daily Hive. Um, and we just talked. We had met each other a couple times beforehand, and he was looking for an accountant at the time, so. So we started working together a little bit. Um, obviously, like, obviously I took the job to work at Daily Hive. Cause I'm like, that's the coolest thing ever. Why not? Uh, and started working as the first accountant in the accounting department over there. And we started, like, working together on, like, building the financial infrastructure of the organization. Throughout my years at Daily Hive, I start to see more and more the whole entrepreneurial spirit. And I start to realize more and more that I'm more than just an accountant. And that that mentality kept being instilled in my head that, like, I don't have to just be an accountant. Like, there's so many things that I want to do. Why can't I do everything? So it kind of hit. And to be honest, it was one of those things where, like, I want to be an entrepreneur, but I don't know what to do, right? So it's weird that my first go to was not accounting to be like, I should just go into accounting as an entrepreneur. But as I start to progress more and more working at Daily Hive, I was learning so many things and learning not just accounting and, like, growing my accounting skill set, but I was also understanding the digital ad space. I was learning about marketing, I was learning about Sales. I was educating myself on just like, the whole rounded aspect of working in a startup, because when you work in a startup, you tend to be a part of every conversation, whether it's in your department or not. Right? So that was something that, like, I got to learn a little bit more, and through the friends that I made over there, I started to understand their departments a lot more as well. Right. So I would say two. Two and a half years ago, I hit a point where I actually met up with a friend of mine who. Who owned his own business. And it's okay if I bring up people's names, right? Companies and stuff like that, as long.

As they're okay with it. We can't afford a lawsuit.

If he. If he yells at me, that's. That's fine. But anyway, so I met with Matt Wu, who's known as the real dumpling king. And he makes, like, bomb dumplings. And I'm not just saying this, but, like, the guy knows his stuff, right? So we were friends. We. We made a friendship. Like, we created a friendship over. Over the last, like, few years. And he wanted my accounting advice because he was working with an accountant at the time. And he. We sat down, we were just talking, and he showed me, like, he showed me what they provided him and the bill that they gave him. And he's like, it's kind of crazy how much they're charging me to do this work. And I'm like, did they give you this? Did they give you this? Did they give you this? Like, he's just like, no, they just filed my taxes. And I'm just like. I'm like, if I did this for you, and I just threw the words out there, like, I didn't even think about it. And I was just like, if I did this for you, I would charge you way less and give you way more. And next thing you know, it turned into a. He's like, if you created an accounting company, I would. I would be your first client. I would sign up for life. And we took it as a joke at first. And the next thing you know, within five days, I had created the name, registered the business, started working with them, right? And. And my biggest focus with that was, like, was that there was just something missing. There was that sense of educating the client, walking them through the accounting side, like, what I'm looking at, why I think you should do this instead of that and this internal understanding that you don't know what you don't know, right? So, like, him as a non accountant, there's no way he's going to understand why his gross profit needs to be X percentage. There's no reason he's going to think my meals and entertainment are a little bit too hot. Like, there's certain things that you just don't think about because most business owners that are outside of business think sales, gross profit, profitability. That's it. They don't think about anything else. Right. Whereas accountants, we analyze everything right in depth. So after about a month, we started to realize that there were certain things that, like, we. That I could actually add value to and educate him on. And that turned to him, like. And I promise, like, I'm not just saying this, I would not be where I'm at right now if it wasn't for the fact that Matt was my first client. And, like, I'm always indebted to him forever. Like, whatever he needs, I will be there because he passed my name on to a bunch of other people. And over the last few years, I realized that there was this, like, niche missing of accountants that actually took the time to educate their clients. Right. And for me, as a. As a core value, I'm always wanting, like, this is, like, outside of accounting, this is just. My personal belief is, like, putting everything I can into helping people. Right? So if I can add value to your life, if I can add value to your education, if I can help you in any capacity, I will, because helping the people around me, and this is, again, my mentality is like, helping the people around me will help me grow as well. So if I do that with my clients, I can help them grow. And as they grow, they'll need more skillset from me, they'll need more work from me, they'll need more work for my team, which means my company and myself will grow as well with them. Right? So there's this constant, like, need and want to help each other out. And that was really it. That was, like, what was missing. And I saw that there was a need for it, so I just kept going. And next thing you know, like, I don't. I don't know how this happened, but next thing you know, I had, like, a bunch of clients where it got to the point where I needed to do this full time. Like, I didn't have the time to. To work at Daily Hive and do my consulting on the side. And at. As terrifying as that day was, where I took this full time, there was a sign that basically told me, like, this is the right way for you to go. And now I'm at a point Where I'm working, like 12, 14 hour days, my life, but whatever, it's fine. Like, I love what I do and I love those calls with clients where, where we'll go through some things. And sometimes it's even like a hard conversation where I'm telling a client, like, hey, like, you're doing this wrong. You need to do this, this, and this. Otherwise your business will. Could go under. Right. And even after that conversation, they could. They could get really mad at me at the time. But after, there'll be that realization that Alfred's literally just saying these things to help me. Right. Because he cares about my help. Because sugar coating at this point doesn't add value. Right. So, yeah, so it was really just like, it felt like instinctive for me to just help him with the skill set that I had. So that's kind of why I went into this field. It was. It was haphazard, but not at the same time. And it just like led to where I am now, which is. Which is crazy.

Yeah, I love that.

Yeah, I feel like, oh, sorry, go ahead now.

You can go first.

No, like, I just. I say, like, I feel like you've touched on, like, so many really good points here. Like, the first being, like, anyone, it's. Entrepreneurship isn't like, you know, you're destined for it. Like, sometimes it's just like a spark, like something like you have a RICO moment for some. Sometimes it's just a gradual realization that, hey, like, you can turn something that you're passionate about into something that you take on as your own. And like, the other thing too, you know, touching on how you're working with Daily Hive, like, it's really like everyone. As the whole point of this podcast is to highlight the building blocks that build up a company. It's not just about, you know, the CEOs or the founders. Like, there's very core, essential people that make these companies run. And I think you elaborate that fact even further when you did go into your, like, consulting firm and you met with Matt and he was like, realized, like, hey, like, you're my, like, missing piece to, like, filling up my business. And like, that's, you know, that's the stuff that we want to talk about. Like, that's what. So I'm all excited. Yeah.

That's amazing.

Yeah.

No, I was just gonna say, like, I want the record to state that, you know, some people, when they start their business, they're fake.