From left Courtney McKay, Joe Taylor, and Shannon Schumacher.
JTaylor’s New Year’s celebration stretched far into January as the accounting firm celebrated its landmark 25th anniversary with a soiree in the middle of the month at The Ostreum on the South Freeway.
A reel-to-reel would tell quite a story of progress.
“Starting on Jan. 4 of 1999,” Joe Taylor says, “we didn't have an office, we didn't have a file, we didn't necessarily have a client, we had no supplies, we had no computer, we had no phone, we had no phone number, we had no name. So, we were kind of out there.”
In the very beginning three founding partners — Taylor, Courtney McKay, and Shannon Schumacher — patched together a firm. It was spartan-type stuff — a folding table from Sam’s Club and card table chairs from the house, and one of them had a computer.
“And we didn’t have any money,” Taylor continues.
Schumacher jokes now that she and McKay, both then in their late 20s, had ol’ reliable — the confidence that comes with youth.
“I mean, we did go to college, we got these jobs, we did fine,” she says with a tone suggesting she is engaging in humorous commentary rather than reality. “We're like, ‘Yeah, we can do it, and Joe’s real smart. This is gonna be fine.’”
But they did have some clients who followed from the trio’s former firm, where they had specialized in health care consulting. They also had a set of core values: faith, family, fairness, empowerment, mutual respect, quality, and teamwork.
And they had unwavering trust and confidence in one another and were fond adherents to something the wise Harry Truman once uttered: “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you don’t care who gets the credit.”
That’s more than a Hail Mary pass to build on.
Things, in fact, did turn out fine. The firm brought in $1 million in revenue that first year. Among the revenue streams that first year was a large company based in Houston that put the fledgling firm on retainer.
“They said, ‘We want this to succeed,’” Taylor recalls. “And they did that for at least a year, maybe a couple of years.”
The three enjoy a laugh at where the firm came from, but from that foundation of seeds, planting materials, and extremely calloused hands has come something lasting and in full bloom 25 years later.
Today, JTaylor is the largest independently owned firm in Tarrant County, employing 140, including 18 partners, and with a spacious office to do business on Hulen Street. There is likely a folding table, but it’s presumably used as a temporary breakfast buffet on occasion.
The venture has been successful because of the culture instilled by the founding partners.
JTaylor has broken out of the mold of typical firms, which often have a structure — or mindset — in which departments or individuals operate in isolation from one another. One is doing his or her own book of business. They are responsible for this many clients and this much money because you’ve got to achieve a specific goal.
“We've never really operated that way. It's funny what happens when you don't sit in the corner and count your own money all the time,” said Schumacher. “We've been so much more successful, I think, because of that. I can tell you story after story after story of someone having a problem and another partner chipping in and saying, ‘OK, I'm going to help you guys out.’
“I think people even beyond the partner group feel ownership in the firm and want it to succeed for the next generation and want everybody to have a fulfilling career, not just to make a lot of money in my own corner of the world.”
That alone is a reason to celebrate 25 years. But it wasn’t the past alone the firm marked in January. They were toasting to a bright future.
A succession plan is in place.
Mike Malloy was appointed managing partner in 2016, charged with leading the firm into its future.
Succession, Taylor reminds, is the real measure of success in professional services. Did you have somebody to hand it to? Can you maintain the culture?
“We're probably as proud about [succession] as anything,” Taylor says. “This firm has been a gift to us, and now to be able to hand it to them. The young people we have, they are really bright.”
Says McKay: “One of our core values is empowerment. We actively look for ways to take these young, bright people and empower them so that they can grow into providing the same level of service that we've always intended to provide and give them those same opportunities that we had at very young ages. More opportunity than we should have at 28 years old. The values really drive everything that we do, and I think that that shows up in how people perceive us.”