12 - Darren King - Walking Away After a Private-Equity Buyout: Starting Over With Zero Clients скачать в хорошем качестве

12 - Darren King - Walking Away After a Private-Equity Buyout: Starting Over With Zero Clients

Darren King joins Nick to unpack how he went from a small-firm public accounting career to launching Darren King CPA in Sandpoint, Idaho, after watching multiple firm buyouts reshape client experience, pricing, and internal culture. He shares why the last private-equity buyout became the “now or never” moment to go solo, what it felt like to start with zero true side-practice clients, and how he built early momentum through past-client pull, subcontract work to keep the lights on, and a surprisingly effective referral-partner strategy of cold outreach to dozens of local bookkeepers. Darren explains why he’s tax-only by design, how he runs a simple one-call intake process (prior return first, then engagement letter), where his minimum pricing lands, and how he uses TaxDome as the all-in-one backbone alongside CCH Access, QBO, and a lean supporting stack. The conversation also covers capacity planning as a solo, turning down bad-fit work, staying local and relationship-driven, and building a firm around reasonable hours, autonomy, and a long-term vision of staying small. To connect with Darren, visit his firms website: https://www.darrenkingcpa.com/ or follow him on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darrenkingcpa https://www.facebook.com/people/Darren-Kin... If you would like to connect with us visit: https://sagaaccounting.com/ or to appear on the show, fill out a guest application: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLS...