Having started the firm, initially it was named Baker & Company, but internally, we referred to ourselves as BaCo, the name kind of stuck and we moved to the BaCo Group because the identifiable word there is “group” – we developed a team approach to client service, it isn’t just my firm but their career and their job is an integral part of everyone’s life that works here. That team approach sends the message to our clients and each other, that this is a group and we work together.

Recently, I had an opportunity to meet with a CPA who had sold his practice and stayed on after the sale to help with the transition. I mentioned in that conversation that in 2014 I had taken off in July and rode my bicycle from Canada to Mexico, I was out all month long. He asked how I could take off that much time and I replied our goal is that the group will cover for me while I am out, just like I will cover for them when they are out. He said something that really hit home, he said “I can’t take off that long and I sold my practice.”

Adapting that culture was not an automatic process but over time it formed based on what our firm vauled. Helping you be all you were created to be is really limiting that if it is just work, we were created to be a son, a daughter, a spouse, a parent, a friend, an advocate that does more than put debits on the left and credits on the right. It’s important that we provide excellent service to our clients when we are here so they appreciate and understand the need for us to take off when we aren’t. Once our clients become part of this culture, they are really excited about our trips, they know we plan for this to happen and they enjoy being part of a culture that thinks ahead and protects everyone’s downtime.

The world has adapted a 24x7 mentality, and I have had clients state they kind of expect that from us and I simply respond, no matter the size or the consequence, “that will never happen.” Our cell phone numbers are not on our business cards. We are not a call center, we also are a business where every single person and most businesses have the same deadlines, so there are times where we work a lot more, especially around those deadlines. The nice thing about that is that everyone in the world and most every business also has times where we don’t have to meet those deadlines, so we can plan ahead and take advantage of those down times but only if we plan ahead.

Work as a team, disconnect, reconnect and come back refreshed, that’s why BaCo. It not only works for me; it works for the Group.