How I Quit My CPA Firm Job and Tripled My Income in Less than Four Years
Hey there fellow accountants! Thank you for checking out my site! I wanted to introduce myself and tell you a little bit about my accounting journey.
My name is Marina Kovalev and I reside in beautiful, sunny, amazing Northern California. I am a CPA and currently own and operate my own accounting business.
I work PART TIME, from home, and make insanely more money now than I did while slaving away working at a National CPA firm.
How did I get to where I am at today? Check out my timeline below!
June 2005
Graduated Foothill High School right before turning 18, and headed straight to college. I knew right away that Business and Accounting was going to be my major.
How did I know right away? Well my main criteria was that I wanted job security and to work business hours. Accounting checked off both of those boxes!
October 2007
I’ve always had an entrepreneurial drive. There is something about creating success out of nothing that really really excites me.
In October 2007 I started a successful eBay business selling jewelry while going to college! It was a ton of fun and great side income. Well everything was fun besides having to go to the post office twice a week!
The business lasted about 1.5 years and I was extremely proud of the negotiating, selling and marketing skills I learned. Unfortunately eBay changed some policies which reduced my sales, so I shut the business down. It was a great 1 ½ year run!
December 2009
I graduated from CSU Sacramento with Bachelor’s degree in Business and Accounting. Ahhhh the day that all that suffering was worth it!
And just in case you’re wondering, yes the little boy in the picture is my son! I gave birth to him on November 15, 2008 during Thanksgiving Break and had to finish up a couple of weeks of school right after! Definitely one of the craziest times in my life!
January 2010
Just a month after graduation I went on to work for CohnReznick. They are a national CPA firm. I specialized in nonprofits and low income housing.
I spent three years there (yes working the long busy season hours and all) and got promoted to Senior Auditor and received my CPA license. Once I received my license, I decided it was time for me to head out and be able to have a life the full year, not just May through December!
My time there was so priceless. I don’t think I would have been able to build up my practice so quickly if it was not for the firm experience. First of all, you learn accounting in a boot camp style fashion. After 3 years I knew so much and felt so comfortable in myself as an accountant. You learn how to figure things out, communicate with the client and manage deadlines. And so much more!
February 2013
After 3 busy seasons and achieving my two goals, which were to get my CPA license and get promoted to Senior, it was time to leave. I knew I wasn’t a “lifer” and I could not imagine another busy season. Looking back I am glad I didn’t wait to make Manager to leave. The salary at Manager might have been too much to take the risk of starting my own practice and I might have internally thought I deserved a higher paying corporate job.
I went to work for an Accounting and HR firm called BackOps. It was an amazing experience. First of all, the job was fully remote which felt like a breath of fresh air after having to commute and work such long hours. I saw that I can make a full time living working primarily from home, and serving amazing and interesting clients all over the US.
No longer was I tied to a desk. No longer did I have to wake up my kids at 6:45 am every day because I had an office to be at at 8 am. No longer did I have to tell the whole office what is going on in my personal life and feel the need to justify things if I needed to leave a couple hours early.
What working at a virtual accounting firm also taught me was HOW to work remote and what the best TOOLS are for working remote. Then of course it taught me internal accounting.
When you are auditing you learn so much. But you don’t learn Quick Books. You don’t learn Xero. You don’t learn the best tools out there to process AR and AP. That is what working at BackOps taught me. Managing accounting clients for BackOps made me feel comfortable that I can manage my own.
January 2014
About a year into working at Backops, I realized I feel comfortable taking on my own clients! So I opened up my own accounting practice. My first 2 clients were non-profits and I got them by just good old networking.
This was really before I mastered online sales. Remember, I was great in accounting but I have never been involved in sales in any of my previous jobs. Once I had these 2 clients, and felt how amazing it is to keep the FULL client fee, I knew it was time to master sales to grow.
September 2014
My daughter and 2nd child was born. I was just so thankful to be able to work from home. She did not have to go to daycare until about 6 months old which was such a blessing.
March 2016
This was a landmark month for me. This is when BackOps and I officially parted ways and I was no longer an employee of anyone! I remember being a bit nervous but also super happy and confident in knowing I could dedicate that much more time to growing my own business! Using the ONLINE methods I learned to find clients, I was able to replace my BackOps income within 4 months!!!
Today, I continue to work from home, serving primarily start-ups and nonprofits. Looking back at my journey, I feel truly blessed and truly living the dream. The risks I took were all well worth it.
It has been since 2013 that I haven’t had to commute and drop off my kids EARLY at school. These things and more make me extremely happy. The crazy part is, I did not have to take a pay cut to make this happen, in fact I am currently making 3x MORE than I did as a Senior Auditor at National CPA firm. I am able to live in an amazing neighborhood in California doing what I love!