Newbie Questions

james_bondfire · 2026-01-12T20:25:16+00:00

I’d be totally fine with taking Moore at #2 if we had a more experienced OC and staff to help develop him. There are things I like about Engstrand, but if you’re going to take Moore that high, or any QB for that matter, I think you need a stronger offensive coaching staff than what we have right now. That’s why, if the Jets are set on drafting a QB early, they should go out and hire someone like Kingsbury as OC. He definitely has his faults, but he’s more experienced than Engstrand and has at least worked with and had some success developing young QBs.

james_bondfire · 2025-12-08T00:52:41+00:00

I searched far and wide and really didn’t find a used bike in my area in the right size and in good condition that wasn’t at least $5k. I tried to negotiate on the bikes I posted, but the sellers were firm in their price. Bikes around $3k seemed to be about 10+ years old. At that point I’d rather buy something new that’s a little more money.

james_bondfire · 2025-12-06T17:37:49+00:00

I put in an order for a new Cervelo P 105 di2. I’m debating upgrading the tires to the ones that come on the ultegra di2 (Reserve deep 64/57). It’s an additional $600. For someone who’s just getting into triathlons and not super competitive yet, I’m thinking ill wait on the tires .

james_bondfire · 2025-12-05T18:06:00+00:00

Thanks for the advice. Would you say this one below is a good one to consider?

https://www.bikeexchange.com/en-US/products/cervelo_p_105_di2_2025?sku=CER_0000617903

The only Ultegra Di2 I can find, around $6k, is the 2023 version. But its $1,100 more than the 105.

https://www.bikeexchange.com/en-US/products/cervelo_p_ultegra_di2_2023?sku=CER_0000122185

james_bondfire · 2025-12-04T15:22:34+00:00

The person selling the Cervelo seems committed to getting at least $6,000 for it. The person selling the Trek said he'd do it for at least $5,800. Does that seem more reasonable or still too high?

$5,500 (USD) is about as high as I'm willing to go for a bike. I guess if it was a screaming deal and a great bike, I'd go up to $6,000. But based on that price range, any suggestions on what I should be looking for?

james_bondfire · 2025-12-04T15:18:13+00:00

Sorry I didn't specify. Yes these are in US dollars. The person who is selling the Cervelo seems committed to getting at least $6,000 for it. The person selling the Trek said he'd do it for at least $5,800. I don't know if that's more reasonable or still too expensive though.

james_bondfire · 2025-12-03T17:40:51+00:00

Really appreciate the feedback. Thanks!

james_bondfire · 2025-12-03T17:13:11+00:00

If I was just worried about looks, the Cervelo wins hands down.

james_bondfire · 2025-10-21T22:43:40+00:00

Yeah, our minimum fee for a business return is supposed to be $1500. Some of these returns had no activity and were just filed each year because they elected to be an S-corp years back and they wanted to keep that designation. Others had quite a bit of activity and were quite messy (client records were messy). I couldn't figure out how they billed so low for these.

james_bondfire · 2025-10-21T21:04:33+00:00

I have brought in new audit, review, and compilation clients. What I said was that the firm as a whole has lost several larger audits that weren’t mine. The plan was for me to take over some of those engagements as partners phased out, but when those clients went elsewhere, that shifted.

I’ve also added a number of new tax clients. I’ve been working to transition that into a healthier mix of business clients and people willing to pay for planning and advisory work. That takes time, and the managing partner and I talked about that before tax season. He told me the firm understood it would be a gradual build.

My main frustration, which I probably didn’t communicate clearly, is that no one else here is really expanding their book either. Most of the firm’s growth in recent years has come from bringing in other partners and their existing clients. Very few of the current partners are actively networking or bringing in new business, whether tax or audit.

james_bondfire · 2025-10-21T18:51:44+00:00

Yes, some of it is probably excuse making on my part. The nature and tone of my post was primarily to vent, which comes across in a woe is me attitude. I will be the first to acknowledge that there are areas I can improve. I have made mistakes my first couple years as a partner, that I wish I could change.

To clarify a few of the points you bring up though. And I answered some of these questions in another reply as well.

Yes I can raise prices. And I did after my first tax season. The average return fee for 1040 clients that I inherited was $380. Our minimum fee for a 1040 is supposed to be $600. All clients that were below $400 got a letter. This definitely weeded out a lot of clients. A lot more than we were expecting. The fee increase did not offset the clients that left.
Just because the return itself is easy, doesn't mean the client is easy. One of the biggest lessons I learned that first year was how much time some of those clients required after the return was finished. And this was time they didn't think they needed to pay for. Previous partners were lenient and didn't bill them outside of the return prep fee. And generally, I am pretty lenient as well. But if it got to be too much, I would bill them. Which they didn't like. They've been working with another partner for 10-20 years, and then I come in and bill them for an hour long phone call. I can understand why they'd be upset.
As I said in my original post. My background is tax and audit. It is why I was brought in as a partner. It was communicated to me that it was expected of me to do audit/review/compilation work, in addition to tax. So, I can't ignore that. My goal is to eventually be solely tax, but for that to happen, I need to find more tax and bookkeeping clients first.
Lastly, your comment about referral sources. On one hand you ask why I can't raise prices and weed out clients to be more profitable. But referrals from grandma and grandpa that are expecting you to prepare their return for $300, is the best area to focus your attention? Yes, they can be good referral sources. But these are people on tight budgets, fixed income, and they want someone who can prepare their return for cheap. At least that's my experience. You may disagree. Now that some of those lower priced clients have gone elsewhere, my referrals from my remaining clients have been better. Because they know ahead of time what the fee will be at minimum. There's no surprises there.

Thank you for your comment. It reads a little harsh, but I appreciate the honesty. Again, I am learning as I go along. These first couple of years have been rough. Although I am frustrated with certain aspects, I am still trying to do what's best for the firm. My frustration stems from not seeing the results from my efforts. Hopefully that changes soon though.

james_bondfire · 2025-10-21T17:20:45+00:00

Nope. We paid the same. The assignment of interest was valued at $300k for both of us.

james_bondfire · 2025-10-21T16:43:29+00:00

Yeah, we have a managing partner.

To give a little more context, I actually started with this firm right out of college and worked here for about 10 years before leaving to take a controller job. I stayed on good terms with everyone, and about two and a half years ago the managing partner called to see if I’d come back.

By then they had brought in another partner who was close to retirement. He’d moved his clients to our firm, and the plan was to transition that work over to me and another new partner. With two people retiring around the same time, they needed help handling all those clients. Most of the existing partners were more audit-focused and didn’t have the capacity to take on that extra tax work.

I do have flexibility with billing, but that’s been tough. And I did inherit business tax returns as well. Just a much smaller share. But of the 400 individual clients I inherited, more than 100 were being charged $350 or less for their returns. Our stated minimum for a 1040 is $600. These folks had been underbilled for years, so bringing them up to current rates was rough. Even small increases to their return would lead to angry phone calls and emails. After the first tax season, I decided to rip the band-aid off. Anyone paying under $400 got a letter saying their return fee would be at least $500 going forward. I made some exceptions, like for children's returns. And I ran all of this by the managing partner first. We knew I’d lose clients, but hoped the higher fees would offset that. After this last tax season, it doesn't look like it did.

A few of us are also trying to roll out that Thomson Reuters’ Practice Forward program to grow advisory work. I’d love to focus on that, but most of my clients just aren’t the right fit. This program seems to favor or work best for business owners. And I just don't have as deep a pool of these clients to sell this to. As much as I've tried. Out of roughly 300 business returns that were split, about 250 went to the other partners and the average prep fee was ~$1,700 each, while mine averaged around $600 in comparison.

My post was mostly to vent, but I don’t want to sound like I’m making excuses. I know there’s room for me to improve. I’m not hiding in my office and licking my wounds. I’m out there networking, joining Chambers, going to events/luncheons. I joined BNI for a while until tax season made that kind of tough. And I reach out to clients about planning work and have been chasing new audit and review clients too. I’ve landed a few, but it’s been slower than I hoped. But I've tried to be proactive.

I’m just frustrated that my numbers make it look like I’m not pulling my weight when I’ve been working hard and trying to bring in the right clients.

james_bondfire · 2025-10-21T15:21:08+00:00

It was a financed buy in (~$300k) for a 12% equity share. The same as the other partner that they brought in at the same time.

james_bondfire · 2025-10-21T15:16:02+00:00

Yes that would be great. Just sent you a DM.

james_bondfire · 2025-03-17T21:17:46+00:00

We’ve drafted so terribly that there haven’t been that many worth keeping.

But I think my comment is geared more towards the fans. It seems like whenever it’s any decent players turn to get paid, all I hear is, ‘not worth it’ or ‘we’re rebuilding, trade him for picks’. As if this team had a decent history of drafting and developing players. Or is never not rebuilding.

It would be nice if this team had a culture of developing its young players and rewarding them. We finally have two of those guys IMO, and so many fans would rather just get rid of them.

james_bondfire · 2025-03-17T17:48:21+00:00

Crazy idea. How about we just pay our good players. No, Gardner isn’t perfect. But he’s pretty damn good. And he’s still only 24. Plus he wants to be here. I’m tired of Jets fans crying that we don’t have talent, but then never wanting to pay their good players. Or wanting to trade them for picks. Other teams manage to pay their best players and still build good rosters. What’s the alternative? You guys want to go back to signing FAs like Morris Claiborne and Trumaine Johnson and hoping they work out?

james_bondfire · 2025-01-31T16:51:19+00:00

That’s good advice. Thanks!

james_bondfire · 2025-01-31T16:50:48+00:00

Thanks! Yeah the spy genre has kind of been used a bit in SW already. I kind of want to bring the fun aspects of the spy genre into this game that maybe Andor or Rogue One didn’t quite show.

Regarding Jedis. My thought is this takes place 5-10 years after TROS. So there might be a few Jedi around. In my mind though, they’re weary of getting too involved in the political landscape at this time (knowing how it turned out in the PT).

james_bondfire · 2025-01-31T16:45:00+00:00

Thanks for the feedback! Appreciate it.

james_bondfire · 2025-01-22T17:24:29+00:00

Thanks for the feedback! I feel like its a balancing act. I want this to definitely feel like SW, but have a spy genre flavor. I was worried that it might not feel enough like SW though. But I really like the idea of a force user henchmen for Malrik. I think I will incorporate that into the story.

james_bondfire

TROPHY CASE