Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Karen Johnson. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Karen, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
Just the mention of the word resilience and a flurry of emotions and experience comes to the fore: hardship, disappoints, setbacks, betrayals and just sheer hunger to survive to thrive. Hello, I am Karen Johnson, and I am Resilient!
What does resilience mean to me or how was it birthed? I believe its origin is in my lived experiences, Ophra Winfrey said it best in the movie; The Color Purple, “‘all my life I had to fight”, it was in the fight that the initiate desire to stand in spite of and despite of, to overcome and to recover from setbacks was developed. I am truly amazed of how from the bowels of pain, the blessing of growth and believing in yourself and raising beyond the odds becomes a reality.
While the fight was the trigger, the source is my community, my faith and my passion. I am fortunate to have had people in my life whose guiding principles and belief in me, created belief in myself. I remember being cultured that “there is no such thing as can’t” so whenever I encountered a situation that tells me I can’t, I am reminded “there is no such thing”. My faith in God “emunah” is a key component of my resilience, it is the roots that are so deeply grounded, that keeps me centered. We often underestimate the power of community, I have had the honor of being a part of a great supportive community; Black Female Accountants Network (BFAN), it has been the source of guidance, professional development, sisterhood and support. I have built resilience from watching the success of the women in our network, this gives me a glimpse of possibility. Finally, my passion, I love my work as accountant, as an entrepreneur and working in different capacity to give back.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
As a Chartered Accountant, I have had a decade of dedicated service in financial leadership roles. My career spanned diverse sectors, both publicly traded and privately held multinational corporations. My career journey in Canada was both humbling and rewarding; having exited my home country as a CFO for a company listed on the stock exchange, my first job was as an accounting clerk. I remained resilient and focused on the task of rebuilding my career and was able to move up to a finance manager role and ultimately to a corporate controller.
Despite the success over the years, I had a strong entrepreneurial spirit and a desire to create an environment that was conducive for myself and other immigrant women to thrive. With that mindset I founded Karen Johnson CPA Professional Corporation, a boutique CPA accounting firm specializing in providing comprehensive accounting and tax services tailored to the needs of small to medium-sized businesses.
On the surface it’s just another accounting firm but it’s much more than that, its a culmination of passion; for the profession, for people. Its an organization that provides a safe space but also provides quality service to our entrepreneurs. Success for me today is providing big firm experience with a small-town feel.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
The three qualities that have been most impactful in my journey are: self-awareness, passion and accountability. Admittingly it is a strange combination, but they have worked well for me.
Passion is such a strange thing to call a quality or skill after all everybody is passionate about something. In recent times I have heard it described as the “why”, it is what keeps the fire going, even when everything around you is pointing to darkness. It is what powers your desire to go on beyond what you see and dares you to dream for the impossibly. Its fuel for the fight.
Self-awareness: being mindful of how you show-up, your thoughts, your emotions, having a clear and unbiased view of my strengths and weakness, have helped me to be the best version of myself. Does not mean I show-up well all the time or that I make not mistakes, absolutely not, being self-aware helps me to balance my weakness with my strengths, navigate my mistakes with a commitment towards continuous improvement.
Accountability, I firmly believe that for one to be truly successful they must be take responsibility for your actions and your decisions, you must display integrity in everything you do and or say. The accounting profession demands it and it has become a way of life for me personally. Just recently I made a decision that had huge financial impact and in my quite time, I resolved with myself that all decisions have a price, be prepared to accept the price but be wise to measure the impact and mitigate the risk if possible
All the wisdom you’ve shared today is sincerely appreciated. Before we go, can you tell us about the main challenge you are currently facing?
My number one challenge is growing a viable CPA firm. I have found that technical knowledge while critical to growth in my field, I have come to understand that the way to profitability is wrapped up in the VCP model. A concept I learned from business Networking (BNI). The VCP model speaks to visibility, credibility and profitability.
To build a successful practice I have to be visible in my community, and different spheres of influence, which will overtime build credibility and ultimately profitability. To achieve this, I am involved in numerous networking activities. I also invest in social media and different marketing initiatives.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://kjohnsoncpaprofcorp.ca
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kjohnsoncpaprofcorp/
- Facebook: Karen Johnson CPA Professional Corp | Barrie ON | Facebook
- Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/karen-johnson-cpa-professional-corporation
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