I’m proud to dedicate this blog to the 13th anniversary of Miles Consulting Group.  Yes, the company becomes a teenager this month!  It sounds cliché to say that I can’t believe where the years have gone, but it’s true.  It’s exciting to mark the occasion and celebrate for a moment the many successes that we’ve had along the way.  As a company growing up in Silicon Valley, where the entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well (and has been throughout the company’s tenure), we’ve watched many things change over the years – both within the company and around us.

Inspiration

In my association with Vistage (my CEO advisory group) and various networking groups (NAWBO-SV, ProVisors, and AFWA), I sometimes have the opportunity to speak and counsel other business owners, or those thinking about starting a business.  I am often asked the question, “What inspired you to start your business?”  Bill Labhart (my partner) and I decided to start the business in 2002 when we had one too many lunches together while at a Big 4 firm and convinced ourselves we could do it better on our own.  We wanted to provide quality services to companies that valued and respected our services, and do it with people we liked.   While we never officially put it in writing, we had a “No @$$hole” policy with respect to employees, vendors and even clients. It served us well.  Sure, we all want to land that next big engagement, but not if it means working with people that you don’t like. That unwritten policy has stayed intact and I think it’s a key to our success thus far!

Changes & Reflection

In 13 years, we’ve certainly seen our share of change.  We’ve endured changes to tax laws that have impacted our clients and our own business. We’ve been a part of economic highs and lows, and watched our clients acquire and/or become acquired.  We’ve hired several great employees over the years (most while they were still working on their accounting degrees) and many of them have moved on to large firms, which makes me very proud. (They’ll be back!)  We’ve served clients in many industries including technology, banking, construction, utilities, retail (brick and mortar and on-line commerce), and others.  We’ve served Fortune 100 companies and also very small businesses, from California to New York, and many states in between! And we’ve won a whole lot more engagements than we’ve lost.  My partner retired in 2013, and in 2014, I changed our name, logo, branding and website to reflect who we are today.  What hasn’t changed since 2002 is providing good quality state tax services with, and for, people that we like!

Thank you!

For all of you that have been employees, clients and vendors over the years, thank you!  Thank you for helping us launch 13 years ago, to grow and to support us in so many ways.  Thank you also to friends, colleagues and family, without whom much of this wouldn’t have been possible (or fun).

I look forward to the opportunity to continue to provide service to amazing people at amazing companies.  Happy Anniversary Miles Consulting!  Here’s to many more!

Photo credit: imagarcade.com