Consulting on the Side
The Web helped a CPA meet the right people and change his career. John Butler is attracting clients through a Web site that cost nearly nothing to set up. In fact, he's turning away potential clients because he isn't particularly interested in doing straight tax preparation work and his time is limited. After all, his practice isn't even his "main gig," as his home page says. Butler, a CPA in business and industry, uses his site to moonlight as a consultant; nearly all of his current 12 clients found him through the Internet. His Web activity also helps him network--which led him to the company that became his current employer, a business technology consulting company. WIDE BACKGROUND, SMALL NICHE Although Butler has been out of college for only 10 years, he has an eclectic background that he can put to good use for his consulting clients. From 1994 to mid-1997 he was manager of tax services at the University of Utah. He advised faculty and students on accounting and tax matters, took responsibility for tax compliance and designed and implemented a program for reporting and withholding taxes on payments to nonresident alien scholars at the school. Before that, he performed tax, consulting and audit engagements first with a Big 6 firm and then with two small firms. While working at the university, Butler prepared some 1040s on the side but did not find the work professionally satisfying. "I didn't like just pounding the numbers." Because of his interest in the Internet and information technology, he taught himself a lot about IT. He wanted to meet technology-oriented businesspeople--entrepreneurs with high-tech start-up companies--for his own professional development: "People complement each other's strengths and weaknesses. I knew if I could get together with the right people we could solve a lot of business problems." He thought a Web site would help him network with the right people, noting that the technologically savvy were turning increasingly to the Internet instead of the Yellow Pages when looking for services and suppliers. He went online in January 1997 and registered himself with the major search engines. From the beginning he got local queries; he continues to get about six a week. "My site has changed the types of engagements I had been getting. Instead of traditional tax preparation, I've been handling yearend planning work and compensation consultations with closely held companies. These are areas where I can make a long-term difference and really provide value." Butler is able to keep his fees low because he does not maintain an office for his tax and consulting work. One of his first consulting clients was his ISP--Butler bartered his services for free space on the ISP's server for his Web site. Because of his extensive knowledge of technology and the Internet, he was able to help the company. "I knew ISPs usually offer steep discounts to customers who sign up for 6 or 12 months in advance. So the first thing I asked my new client was, `If you closed your doors today, how much would you owe to people in prepaid, unearned revenue?' The answer helped me create a tax plan." While at the university, he had kept his 9-to-5 job and consulting work separate, and his employer had no problem with his sideline business. …