107: Ben Westbrook's coworker connections makes others say "Bravo!" [podcast]

Ben was also fascinated by music and singing while he was growing up. It started with the children's choir in his church and led to piano lessons when he was 8 years old. By the time he was in high school, he was performing in 5 different choirs and still keeping up with the piano. He graduated from Rice University with a degree in Music Performance and went on to sing opera professionally for some time. His favorite performance was singing the male lead at an old opera house in Mazatlan, Mexico, where the crowd was so enthusiastic that they were almost part of the show as well, providing a new level of energy to the performers. In this episode, Ben and I talk about how there is a step by step approach when it comes to both music and taxes. Music is a lot more analytical than many people think and Ben is keen to finding the patterns, which is very similar to doing taxes. He proudly displays his opera performance degree on his office wall as a way for others to see his true passion and for them to see that you can be successful at the firm even if you don't come from an accounting background. When evaluating staff, he feels it's important for firms to realize that billable hours is just one component – and it's definitely not even the most critical one.