Chris, a chartered accountant and tax advisor, set up his own practice, Maslins, in 2009, after working for a few accounting firms, in both audit and corporation tax. In June 2021, Chris transferred the ownership of Maslin to an employee ownership trust, and took a step back from the business.
But what was the journey to this point?
In the beginning, Chris ignored advice he received from a fellow business owner which he later realised was a mistake. It meant he found it difficult to get clients initially, but he had a breakthrough which completely changed this for him. And made him realise he should have listened to the advice he had received! He tells the story in the episode.
He also shares his experience of hiring staff and supporting trainees.
Chris has established two other businesses, MVL Online and Go EO. The services for both of these businesses include tax as an element. For MVL Online, tax is certainly a key driver (but not the only) reason clients utilise the service. In the case of Go EO, tax is a nice added extra.
I know in my first few years of working in tax, I thought that the whole service we as tax advisors provide must be purely tax. And I disliked anything that strayed away from that. But the reality is that we provide much more value to our clients when we can provide a wider service – giving them something that is practical and commercial.
I hope that is something you can take away from this episode – as Chris’s businesses are a great example and reminder of this.
Guest – Chris Maslin
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris–maslin/
Website: https://www.maslins.co.uk/
MVL Online: https://www.mvlonline.co.uk/
Go EO: https://goeo.uk/
You’ll Learn
- An overview of Chris’s career and why he decided to set up his own practice
- (10:15) How Chris went about getting his first clients (and what he learnt)
- (19:00) How to support and help trainees develop, without compromising the work that you need to do
- (26:45) Why he decided to transfer ownership of Maslins to an employee ownership trust
- (41:00) How Chris has created other tax businesses (the word tax being used loosely here!)
- (54:15) Career advice he’d give his younger self and advice to people towards the start of their careers
Resources
All Tax Career Success Secrets episodes: https://www.thetaxprofessionalspodcast.com/TCSS
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