In this episode, the host Bhumika Shah interviews Hardik Shah, a licensed certified public accountant from the state of Colorado, on the topic of how to make tax season less taxing.
Hardik Shah shares his experience of managing a thousand-plus tax returns during tax season, and he provides advice on how to manage stress during this time. He differentiates between good stress, which can be a motivator, and bad stress, which can lead to burnout.
He emphasizes the importance of empathy in managing a team and understanding team members’ priorities to help them make the right decisions for themselves.
Read entire transcript below:
Bhumika Shah: Hello and welcome back to the podcast Public Accountant on Purpose. I’m your host Bhumika Shah. This is the 2023 and we are here with the first podcast of 2023. You know, it’s great to see you all after a while today.
We are going to have a very interesting topic today, but to give you a background, you know, tax season is going on, obviously, right? And because recession is also overpowering the economy, that’s why we are kind of having a stressed up, angst up. Maybe we are overthinking about it.
So today we are here to present you with the topic, which is titled as How to Make Tax Season Less Taxing. And we have with us Hardik Shah, he’s a strategy and development head at Unison Globus. And Mr. Hardik Shah is a licensed certified public accountant from the state of Colorado USA. He’s also a chartered accountant. He has more than two decades of experience into the world of outsourcing. He has been a great contributor in establishing US divisions for three start-ups. And now he’s leading the vision of Mr. Vijesh Zinzuwadia at Unison Globus. His technical specialty, if we talk about is all about US taxation. He has done all kinds of complex and basic returns, right from 1040 to complex 790 and what not. I don’t even know how to pronounce that. So let’s start and welcome. Hello Hardik Sir, how are you?
Hardik Shah: Hi Bhumika, Thank you for inviting me.
Bhumika Shah: Yeah, finally we’ve made up. You know, it has been long to and through.
Hardik Shah: Yes.
Bhumika Shah: Okay. So sir, that now that you are here today, we would like to talk about the tax season and you know, the hoopla with it, the mental stress or the kind of mess we go through. So, the topic is how to make tax season less taxing. And we would like you to shed light that how we can manage our stress or recover from that, you know, daily exertion and gain mental peace.
Hardik Shah: Correct. Correct. So as a preparer, I was managing a thousand plus return every tax season.
Bhumika Shah: Right.
Hardik Shah: And that I had done for more than 10 years.
Bhumika Shah: Oh my God.
Hardik Shah: And then, I come to a role of reviewer where reviewing was more than again 500 plus tax returns..
Bhumika Shah: okay.
Hardik Shah: Every tax season. And then I was in managerial role where I was managing a team. So my team was facing the same situation.
Bhumika Shah: Right.
Hardik Shah: So every year the same question comes up.
Bhumika Shah: Okay. So you mentioned that you have been a individual contributor, right? And now that, that you are leading team.
Hardik Shah: Yes.
Bhumika Shah: So leading team must be very different because you know, when you are an individual contributor, it’s like my way or highway, you work anytime, all of that. And when you are in the, like leading a team, especially of like more than 120+ employees at Unison Globus, you have to motivate people and you know, you have to like keep them engaging and feed them with the fuel mentally. So how it is different, what is your experience?
Hardik Shah: Correct. So in that sense, first of all, uh, you have to have that empathy in you.
Bhumika shah: Right.
Hardik Shah: That is very important. As an individual contributor, it doesn’t matter because you are a solo performer.
Bhumika Shah: Correct.
Hardik Shah: Whatever you are going to do that is for yourself. When you are managing a team, you have to have that empathy and understand what the team member wants.
Bhumika Shah: Right.
Hardik Shah: What is their priorities? And on that basis, you have to make sure that the right decision has been made for themselves. So you have to help them getting the right decision for them. So that’s how you stop, uh, stress being, uh, converted into uh, what we can say any other situation which converts you to bad stress.
Bhumika Shah: Okay. Okay. You know, we have been using the term stress so many times during this conversation as well as we use it daily. But please help us shed some light from a scientific point of view.
Hardik Shah: Yeah. So if you ask me, I’ll, uh, differentiate stress into two parts.
Bhumika Shah: Okay.
Hardik Shah: One will be the good stress,
Bhumika Shah: right?
Hardik Shah: And the other one will be the bad stress. The good stress is like the competition, which is very necessary. The healthy competition.
Bhumika Shah: right.
Hardik Shah: You have to treat it as a motivator then, and then only you’ll excel in life then, and then only you’ll reach somewhere. So it’s very important to understand the basic difference between good stress and bad stress. So good stress is always helpful in building your career, but at the same point of time you have to just make sure that your stress doesn’t convert into exertion or burnout. So once that converts into that, then it’ll become a bad stress.
Bhumika Shah: right.
Hardik Shah: So there is a very thin line between good stress and the bad stress. It is very important for a individual or a manager to know where that line is.
Bhumika Shah: Sure.
Hardik Shah: For yourself and for your team. Got it. Once you know that particular difference, definitely you’ll be able to manage yourself as well as your team in a better way.
Bhumika Shah: Right? Let’s say if you have to give few advices from your past experiences to our CPA business owner, because you know, there are many young entrepreneurs out there who have just started their practice and they have lot of clientele work and juggling with many things like increasing sales, et cetera. So what would be your advice to them?
Hardik Shah: Perfect. So as I mentioned, first is the acceptance. You yourself has choose this line. So you have to make sure that you understand the pros and cons of it. Sure. Then only you are able to excel in your life and career on that front. So unless and until that is not achieved, then you are not going to go anywhere True. So please accept whatever you are and what you are doing on that side of it.
Bhumika Shah: Right. That’s very straightforward. I like that.
Hardik Shah: Yes. And then comes training your mind. You have to make sure that you train your mind in such a way that it take care of the deadline by itself. Okay? You don’t have to push yourself every day in and out of your bed. So every day morning, it, it doesn’t make sense that to repent in your bed that, oh, I one more days here and I’m pushing myself, I’m dragging out of my bed and doing the things. No, it’s not going to help. You have to train your mind Sure. To deal with the deadlines on that side of it. So it’s very important. So from Jan itself, you have to make sure that you train your mind that now that season will begin. So you have to plan things in such a way. So next point is strength training yourself. So instead of intaking caffeine or for that matter cigarettes, it’s better to go for some walk or some push up so that your blood, uh, circulation goes better on that side of it and you’ll have a positive vibes for yourself. So it’s important to stay train yourself on that side of
Bhumika Shah: It. I must say, you know, this is a very nice advice to the young people out there that you know, you want to get a kick, but it is very important that you get a nice kick Eder in rush or a dopamine rush would anyway begin from pushups as well and from a few puffs as well. But it is very important to have that good rush.
Hardik Shah: Exactly. So that’s the difference between good stress and the bad stress.
Bhumika Shah: Yes. Thank you very much, sir, for this very nice advice.
Hardik Shah: And the most important finally is delegation. You have to make sure that you have the right team and the team is properly trained on that side of it. And if not, then you have to get a good outsourcing partner like Unison Globus. Sure. So it’s very important to have some outsourcing partner, which will help you, which are like-minded people who understand you as a partner. Sure. And not just an outsourcer. So if you have that kind of people, then your stress will be much, much better managed.
Bhumika Shah: True. Sir, this has been really nice advice for the all people out there. For our listeners especially, we really thank you for taking your time out and being here.
Hardik Shah: It was my pleasure. And I’m always available if anybody wants me.
Bhumika Shah: Sure. Okay. This has been such a nice, and you know, in a very subtle form, Mr. Hardik, rightly shed light on the important points and some of our probably concerns or triggers. So please take this advice, everyone and anyone no matter what the age is. And as he said that if you are looking for an outsourcing partner, if you are looking for somebody who you can delegate, confide in, and you know, forget and have a good night’s slip, unison Globus is the answer. So for more information, visit www.ud.web-stage.in. Thank you very much and have a great day. Thank you.