Meet Yuri Kapilovich

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Yuri Kapilovich a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Yuri, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?
That is a great question. I think that resilience is extremely important in the entrepreneurship journey because there will be lots of ups and downs and it is easy to get caught up in both.

When I think about where my resilience comes from I attribute it primarily to my parents. I was born in Minsk, Belarus and my parents were 23 years old at the time. Due to the tensions in the Soviet Union they fled to Israel a year later to start a new life. Not knowing the country, language, culture or anything else they persevered and thrived. They obtained masters degrees in computer engineering/programming. 11 years later we immigrated to the US (this time with my 5 year old brother in tow) and they, once again, had to start over with language, education transfer, new jobs, new way of life.

Now that I am older with my own kids, I look at their journey and all I can think is resilience because a double immigration to a new country each time is no joke. That is where my resilience comes from. Seeing my parents make a great living for my brother and I after two immigrations is nothing compared to starting a business.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I am thefunCPA (Trademark pending). I have spent 12 years in public accounting across 7 firms ranging in sizes searching for the perfect place to call home and make the coveted title of “partner.” Unfortunately that place did not exist for me and I set out on the journey to create my own space. To launch my own firm with the culture, approach and dynamics of exactly what I wanted.

I do the traditional CPA things (bookkeeping, taxes, consulting, etc) but I, myself, am not your traditional boring CPA. I hang out with my clients, we have parties, networking events on boats, lunches, and occasionally chat about the business aspect too. I pride myself in being highly approachable and fun, which is why thefunCPA is my brand and often gets a surprised reaction.

I addition to the regular CPA functions, I am also extremely passionate about changing the perception of the accounting industry profession of accounting by speaking to firm leaders and pushing the fun to be brought back to accounting.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
oooo love the question. Makes me dig deep and get a little introspective on you but here I go:

Being approachable – I think that my personality of wanting to chat with pretty much anyone before I even talk about work stuff has helped me tremendously in my journey.

Technical knowledge – Look, you can be approachable, fun, charismatic but you also got to walk the walk. My 12 years with some of the largest firms in the country has allowed me to work with folks making north of $10M a year. Learning what makes them tick, tax strategies that have helped save them millions, and taking that to my clients now is a large ingredient to my journey.

Desire to learn – My desire to learn about people and help them drives my entire business motto. I get to talking to a new client and I learn what their pain points are, how I can help them and whether we would be a good fit within 5-10 minutes of chatting.

My advice to those early in their journey would be to keep trying things you think you enjoy until you find what you truly enjoy

Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?
This question right here is so important to any entrepreneur because we all experience times of doubt, feeling overwhelmed, and having anxiety.

I am by no means an expert on dealing with feeling overwhelmed but what works for me is walking away for a while. Go workout, take a walk, hang out with my kids and basically do anything but stare at the work. You see what happens in the accounting industry is that when you feel overwhelmed you tend to try to solve the immediate issue. While you are trying to solve that issue, your inbox keeps buzzing and stresses you out more.

Walk away for 30-45 minutes. Come back refreshed, prioritize and crank through it. That is what works for me but it is not an ease feat.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Evan German – ETG Photos

Suggest a Story: BoldJourney is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
Increasing Your Capacity for Risk-Taking

The capacity to take risk is one of the biggest enablers of reaching your full

Champion Mindset: Building Confidence & Self-Esteem

Every day, our team is focused on how to help our audience and community reach

From Self-Doubt to Self-Assurance: Saying Goodbye to Imposter Syndrome

Self-doubt and imposter syndrome have stopped far too many talented folks from going for their