Most business owners see their CPA once a year, drop off a folder, and hope for good news. Ryan Mink, CPA, explains why that relationship is costing you money, and what a real one looks like.

Bobby Mink sits down with Ryan, a partner at Suttle & Stalnaker in West Virginia and, as it turns out, his own son, for a plain English walk through the questions every owner asks and almost nobody gets a straight answer to. Do you actually need an LLC? Should you elect S corp status because someone on TikTok said so? Why does the money in your bank account tell you almost nothing about whether your business is healthy?

Ryan has spent 19 years in audit and tax, and he makes the case that the most expensive mistakes he sees are not aggressive ones. They are the quiet ones: jumping into a structure too early, spending a hundred thousand dollars to save thirty, and never asking why.

If you have ever nodded along in a meeting about your own money and had no idea what was being said, this one is for you.

"Just because there's cash in the bank doesn't mean you're doing well."

Chapters:

0:00 The surprise $30,000 tax bill

0:20 Welcome and meet Ryan Mink, CPA

0:52 Inside a full service CPA firm

2:14 Why the same questions come up over and over

4:19 Do you need an LLC?

5:01 An LLC is a liability tool, not a tax strategy

5:30 Single member LLC: the disregarded entity

6:01 What changes when you add a second owner

7:00 S corporations and how the tax savings work

7:39 C corporations and the double taxation problem

10:50 The reasonable compensation problem

12:14 Why leverage matters before you elect S corp

13:13 The S corp downsides nobody mentions

14:25 The truck, the son, and the deemed sale

16:40 Do not jump the gun on S corp

17:47 The taxes nobody warns you about

19:44 Estimated taxes and the four checks a year

21:12 The restaurant that closed over a tax bill

21:41 Profit First: pay yourself before you reinvest

22:52 Do not outspend your growth

24:56 Your CPA should be your partner

25:43 Why once a year is not a relationship

29:52 What a real quarterly check in looks like

30:32 Cash in the bank is not profit

35:45 The windfall and the Florida property

37:25 Do not let tax savings drive business decisions

39:18 The truck trap: $100K to save $30K

40:42 The Toyota Highlander phone call

42:27 Red flags: when to find a new CPA

48:47 Get your books in order

51:08 Seek to understand why

54:54 Takeaways and how to reach Ryan

55:37 Close and how to suggest a topic

Guest:

Ryan Mink, CPA, partner at Suttle & Stalnaker, PLLC, a full service West Virginia CPA firm with four offices offering tax, audit, consulting, bookkeeping, payroll, and virtual CFO services. The firm is a member of Allinial Global.

Mentioned in this episode:

Profit First, by Mike Michalowicz

Suggest a topic for a future episode: ChoiceConsultingMan.com/Podcast

Schedule a coaching conversation: ChoiceConsultingMan.com/contact

Bobby's books, Choices and Clarity: ChoiceConsultingMan.com/books

A video version of this episode is on YouTube. Search Choices Create Change.

This episode is for general education only. It is not tax, legal, or financial advice, and tax rules and thresholds change. Talk to your own CPA or attorney about your specific situation before acting on anything discussed here.