We were lucky to catch up with Katrina Haynes, CPA recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Katrina, thank you so much for agreeing to open up about a sensitive and personal topic like being fired or laid-off. Unfortunately, there has been a rise in layoffs recently and so your insight and experience with overcoming being let go is relevant to so many in the community.
The first job of my career was with Arthur Andersen and the majority of the organization was laid off in 2002. I came out of college expecting to work there for the remainder of my career and was completely thrown off base when I had to rethink my entire career path. However, the upside to all of this was that it allowed me to pivot and take the time to think about what I enjoyed doing and structure my career to work towards that goal. The last corporate job of my career, I requested to be laid off. I’d begun working on my business several years prior and knew how hard it would be for me to leave the comfort and security of a steady paycheck and benefits. I spoke to my supervisor and let him know that if they ever had to reduce headcount, to get rid of me. I didn’t want other people to lose their jobs when I needed the push to go out on my own. The feeling was completely different from that first layoff to the last. The first one I felt like everything was completely out of my control and the last one I felt that I was taking control of my career.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I started Haynes Global Tax Experts (formerly Haynes & Associates) after working in public accounting/global mobility for over 10 years, I found that once you leave the global firms, access to quality education on international tax issues was very hard to find. Having over 25 years of experience providing US citizens, US Green Card Holders, and foreign nationals with tax consulting and compliance services at some of the largest accounting firms in the world, I have plenty of experience with these matters.
In addition to tax return compliance and consulting services, we also offer a series of educational training and consulting services to assist individuals and small business owners with their US expatriate and foreign national tax issues. Overall, our goal is to provide each customer with whatever they need to be successful and give them peace of mind. Our goal is for our clients to relax and let Haynes help!
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
*Being Flexible: Understand that life happens and sometimes people or situations require last-minute changes. This is also why procrastinating can be detrimental because it will limit your ability to pivot (see below) or be flexible as client or personal needs require adjustments. *Knowing when to Pivot: There will be times in your life and career when things or situations just aren’t going to work out or are no longer beneficial. Identiying these situations and either making changes or moving on before things get too bad will save you a lot of pain and heartache. Sometimes people are so stuck on their vision of how things SHOULD be, that they don’t stop to look at the reality of how how things and evaluate their next move from there.
*Be nice: I have worked harder for and with people that I enjoy being around. As a manager, I have had people do the same for me. With your clients, they will give you more grace if you are a nice person and it just makes life easier. Some people are very difficult to be nice to, but giving people the same angry energy that they are giving to you, just makes a bad situation worse. Plus, being nice to mean people tends to confuse them into being nice themselves.
Awesome, really appreciate you opening up with us today and before we close maybe you can share a book recommendation with us. Has there been a book that’s been impactful in your growth and development?
The book that changed my life (besides the Bible) is Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown. As a single mother of three little girls (one of whom has special needs) and a business owner, there are many days when I feel like I have too much to do and not enough time. After reading this book, I was able to realize that I CAN”T get everything done and to focus only on what is essential for that day/time period and the rest can wait. It also taught me how to set realistic goals and expectations for days/weeks/months so that I didn’t constantly feel like I was falling behind. My “To-Do” lists used to have 20+ items per day and some of those single items would consist of 15-20 different steps. There was no way for me to complete these tasks on any given day and I always felt like I was behind. Now, my lists are comprehensive: a general list, a list for the week and then a list of what needs to get done each day. Without this book, I would’ve continued to run myself into the ground creating impossible expectations for myself and consistently feeling like I wasn’t doing enough.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.hayneshelp.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/haynesglobaltaxexperts/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hayneshelp
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katrinacmhaynes/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/HaynesHelpTax
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@haynesglobaltaxexperts
