Every CPA has a story – we all have a journey we’ve taken to get us to where we are. Every entrepreneur also has a story and journey as well.
This week I had the pleasure of interviewing Charlotte Ruemke, CPA. Charlotte is a mom of three and lives in Texas.
Charlotte has over ten years of experience in public accounting providing tax services to clients in a wide variety of industries. She is experienced in federal and state tax compliance and planning for individual, corporate, partnership, and trust entities.
Throughout her career, Charlotte has brought value to her clients through forward thinking tax advice and planning. She specializes in closely-held small and medium sized businesses. Charlotte prides herself in assisting clients taking complex tax situations and breaking them down in a way business owners can easily understand, empowering entrepreneurs to make decisions that best fit their business.
During the interview we discuss:
- She took an accounting class in her Junior year of High School and realized she was good at accounting.
- She was in the Airforce for 4 years and once she got out, she began her plan of becoming an accountant.
- She had an infant while she was finishing her Bachelor’s Degree.
- She had a helpful friend who watched her daughter so that she could study.
- She was working for a local large firm in Houston when she passed the CPA exam.
- Her first busy season after having her second child, she was still putting in the crazy hours.
- She asked to work 6 am to 6 pm and the firm still made an extremely big deal about her dedication, even though her newborn was 5 months old.
- She really enjoyed the people which makes it easier to deal with the workload in public accounting.
- After she had her first child, she moved to be closer to family.
- She did not like working at the new firm, describing it as a toxic work environment.
- She went back to her old firm, but then Covid hit.
- Homeschooling 3 children and working took a toll on her.
- She eventually reached out to her former coworker, CPA MOMS Franchisee, Lauren Hale, to find out more about being a franchisee.
- She had considered opening her own firm for years but there were certain aspects that made her nervous like having someone to bounce ideas off of and doing the admin work.
- She loved the franchise model because she could open her own firm, have her own clients, create her own schedule, but not have to deal with the admin aspect.
- She loves the support she has with the sisterhood of other CPA MOMS franchisees.
- She opened her own firm while also working for her former firm, but it was incredibly challenging.
- She’s now running her own firm 100% of the time.
- She shares that having the admin tasks off her plate has been incredibly helpful.
- She also shares that having the sales training and leads has been vital to help her boost her confidence.
- Her vision for her firm for the next year is to grow the firm to the point where she can take on more of a managerial role and hire a team.
- She says for anyone considering becoming a franchisee, make sure you follow the program and do your homework because it’s incredibly beneficial to follow the framework that’s laid out for you.
- If you are interested, you can find out more at https://cpa-moms.com/franchise/