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If you can see it, and you believe it, you can achieve it!
My journey to becoming a CPA was not a road that is traveled you would expect when you hear that someone is a CPA. Growing up I barely graduated from high school, they were literally holding my diploma to make sure my grade came in. I ended up having to do summer school during my Jr. and Sr. year.
After high school I went into the military because I saw that as a way to get out of the small town I was from. I was in for about a year and the pin through my shoulder started giving me grief and was given the option of training for a new M.O. and sit behind a desk, or receive a medical discharge. I opted for the latter. No self respecting combat person is going to be reassigned to a desk. So back to the small town where I came from. After leaving the military I met back up with some friends that were less than a bad influence. I started smoking weed, snorting coke, popping ex, and eating shrooms like I didn’t have a care in the world. During this time I was in the construction industry as a concrete worker. I threw foundation forms, laid flatwork and poured footings to support my drug habit. I learned in the hot summer days that I needed a change and fast. Getting up at 4 am to pour in the 115 degree heat, and not stopping until 6pm was a constant thing I was use to. My father passed away suddenly and my mom asked that I would move back home to help her. It turns out my father’s passing probably saved my life. Ironic that one live was taken so another could be saved. The day my father passed away I was planning to move in with some friends and we were going to start selling drugs to make extra cash. So I move backed in with my mom and the selling drugs idea didn’t happen. Some other things happened but I won’t go into detail about it because it is pretty personal, but l kicked the drugs and became a religious person after it. I was now back at home I figured I would give education a go because I had free rent.
My first semester of college was taking classes that I should have learned in high school. Math 990, English 990, classes like that. After my first 2 semesters I had a stellar GPA of 1.8. I was placed on academic probation. I decided I needed to stop worrying about girls and partying if I am going to do this whole college thing. So I kicked it up a notch and got myself above a 2.0 to get off academic probation. One thing I learned through the military and construction was hard work. I just had to learn how to work a different “muscle” this time around.
I met my wife during my sophomore year . Marrying her brought clarity into my life. I grades went from the 2.0 – 2.5 range to the 3.0-3.8 range. By the end of graduation I pulled my GPA up to a 3.2 (I did retake some classes to get it there though). Because I choose accounting as my major, I felt like if I didn’t get my Masters and CPA I would be wasting all that education to be a book keeper. So I applied to be accepted into a MAcc program. Surprisingly I was accepted! My wife and I ended up being blessed with a little boy just before I was accepted into the MAcc. Turns out he was going to have some challenges in his life and I was chosen as his caretaker . My little boy was born with Down syndrome and would need heart surgery to close two holes in his heart about halfway into my MAcc. During this time it was extremely stressful, little boy having his difficulties, MAcc work load, job to do, I don’t know how I got through this period of my life. I cruised through my MAcc somehow and graduated with a 3.8! This was in May of 2010 when I graduated and started public accounting shortly after as an Auditor. While I was an auditor I failed both BEC and FAR and was wondering if I had it in me to do this. The whole time I was surrounded by people who were like straight laced people who got great grades and passed the exam with no problem. I got to where I was more focused on doing as much work as possible instead of passing the exam because I thought if they see I am a good worker, they will see the value in me and not get rid of me. Fast forward to January 2012, the firm I worked for closed the doors. We lost our largest client and the firm split into a small audit firm, two tax firms and the remaining 15 audit employees were offered positions at KPMG who picked up the client. A very clear message was sent to me here… the new small audit firm kept a new hire who passed his CPA in his time off between his start date and graduation offered him a job and not me. I was shocked… the person had ZERO personal skills, like 5 months experience, but he was a CPA. What I learned is that a CPA will get the job over a non CPA almost every time.
I decided to accept a position that would give me the free time to take the exam and I turned KPMG down. I got into the grind trying to figure it out… I passed FAR on my first try on the reboot!!! Audit experience really helped me on this one. I figured the rest of the CPA would follow suit and Diablo 3 was just released… I would “study” and play D3. Took REG, FAIL 71… took AUD, FAIL 73…. took REG again, 74.
Three fail’s in a row sent a pretty strong message to me. How bad do I want these credentials… I was ready, It clicked, I got to the point where I wanted to study more than I wanted to sleep. I gave up everything… I quit D3, I stopped going out with friends, my In-laws started asking my wife why I am not coming over anymore. My life was wake up and go to work. Get home and eat with the family for an hour, and then study until 11:30 at night and then back up at 6 am the next morning. Saturday’s and Sunday’s I would study 6-8 hours. I turned into a beast. My friends stopped calling, my family stopped expecting me to come around. I was a zero.
A miraculous thing happened the next time I took REG… I got an 81!!! On to AUD… I took audit at the end of the window. Thought I passed…. 71 fail… what an emotional roller coaster. I was really starting to doubt myself now. I was a freakin auditor and I failed AUD TWICE!!!! So I strapped back in and buckled down even more… Passed 82. By now I am feeling I know what I need to do to pass this exam. I have learned what it takes for me to pass this beast. I had a game plan, I was going to be done with this thing. I had 7 weeks to prepare for BEC. I hit it hard and with determination. I put so much energy into this thing I was ready. Score release came today and I was seriously doubting if I passed. I thought I was going to have a heart attack waiting for the score release… my heart was pounding through my chest. I was stalking the forms, I needed to for sure confirmation that my score would be there when I clicked “get score”. PRAISE the GODS!!! 81!!! I’m done… I did it.
If I can do this, anyone can do it. It comes down to how bad do you want it? You willing to give up you T.V. shows? You willing to give up your video games… uninstall that candy crush! You willing to put your life on hold so you can do this? If you want it you can do it! Come up with a game plan and attack this thing! Life is all about how much you are willing to fight for what you want. Are you willing to fight for it? It is easy to give up, to quit, to say I don’t know if I can do this… the only boundary you have in this life… is yourself. Go out there and make it happen, people that are successful will tell you that it was 90% effort and 10% luck/skill. Don’t give up, don’t back down, get back up, don’t ever let something break you down.
Like my father told me growing up. If you can see it, and you believe it, you can achieve it!!!
FAR - 81
REG - 81
AUD - 82
BEC - 81Ethics - Done
State License Exam - DoneLicense - Licensed CPA in Utah
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