Episode 202 – Stuart Hack

Welcome to Episode 202 of What’s Your “And”? Follow Up Friday Edition. This is John Garrett and each Friday, I follow up with a guest who’s been on the show several years ago to hear what their new passions are outside of work and hear how those messages impacted them since we last talked.

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This Follow Up Friday is no different with my guest, Stuart Hack. He’s the managing member at Hack Tax and Accounting Services in West Palm Beach, Florida and now, he’s with me here today. Stuart, thanks so much for coming back to be with me on What’s Your “And”?.

Stuart: Thanks, John. Thanks for having me back.

John: Absolutely. You were Episode 13, man. Lucky 13, I guess?

Stuart: Probably. It was definitely lucky for you, and since I’m still around, I guess it wasn’t too bad for me either.

John: Exactly. It was so much fun having you on, talking about standup comedy back then and we’ll follow up with that, but first, doing it a little different now, rapid fire questions upfront. Typically, it’s 17, but for the Follow Up Fridays, we’ll just do five. You know what? We’re going to do seven because seven seems to be the most popular number that everyone says, so we’re doing seven rapid fire questions, so here we go. First one, Harry Potter or Game of Thrones?

Stuart: Can I say neither?

John: You could say neither, absolutely. Neither, alright. That works. You’re like anything make-believe is not good.

Stuart: When they start flying around on the brooms, they lose me.

John: Okay, so you were good for a little bit on Harry, so you lean to Harry Potter. I got it.

Stuart: My daughter made me read the first Harry Potter book and actually, the first half wasn’t bad. You see the story and everything, and then once they start flying around on the brooms or whatever, I was done.

John: Okay, fair enough. How about when you travel, more planes, trains, or automobiles?

Stuart: Automobiles.

John: All right. How about chocolate or vanilla?

Stuart: Chocolate.

John: This one I guess goes in line, but more brownie or ice cream?

Stuart: Brownie.

John: Brownie. Nice! Last one, do you have a favorite sports team?

Stuart: The New York Mets.

John: New York Mets! There you go!

Stuart: I was born in Queens.

John: Born in Queens, absolutely, and I remember we talked about that before, so let’s jump into what’s life been like since 2016 when you were on the show.

Stuart: “Previously on…” I had just finished performing. I had done two standup comedy acts at the Improv down here in West Palm Beach, kind of like a bucket list thing. I have not done any more standup since then. I kind of owe it to George Costanza, “Theory of Life”, leave on a high note.

John: Right.

Stuart: So that’s what I’ve done. However, I haven’t just been sitting back and doing taxes. I’ve had the opportunity about two years ago. I actually started a weekly internet sports talk radio show called Hack Attack on Sports. It is on Monday nights at six on the weinetwork.com and I’ve been able to get some of the best in media, some former ball players, and it’s been a lot of fun. It’s an interview show and we do little wrap-up. We’ll have a guest on. We’ll interview them for 20 to 30 minutes and then we wrap it up and it’s a lot of fun.

John: That’s awesome! How did that get started?

Stuart: One of my tax clients owned the station and there was an opening. I believe someone had passed away. He knew I was a sports fan. He knew I had done radio in college. He said, “Would you be interested?” and I said, “Sure.” I didn’t know how long it would last because I came in and I knew two people that were in the industry that I figured I could ask, but I had no way of knowing they’d even come on, but luckily, they came on and they’ve come on again and again. And then through that, it just snowballed because when I reached out to someone to see if they want to appear — at first, I start off and I tell them, “Look. I’m an accountant.” This way, if they come on, they’re not expecting a heck of a lot.

John: Right. “I’m not going to ask you hard questions.”

Stuart: Right. I never ask biting questions or hard questions because I don’t really want to piss anybody off and I’d like them to come back. I’m not looking to fight while I was here, more of like —

John: Or Jim Rome or somebody like that?

Stuart: No, I definitely don’t want to be that. So I would say that and then I’d give a list of the names of people that I’ve had on and as I got more people, that started to grow and then people just said, “Sure, I’ll come on. I’ll come on.” Actually, last month, I was able to bring back somebody from the dead.

John: Oh, really? Who was that?

Stuart: Last month, the New York Mets had a celebration for their 50th anniversary of the 1969 World Championship team and during the celebration at Citi Field, they played a video tribute to those we have lost, the players and coaches that had passed in the last 50 years. The only problem with that is two of the people on that video were still alive.

John: Oh no! Oh my goodness!

Stuart: So somebody lost their job. I looked up one who had a Facebook page and he was pretty active on it for someone who had passed, so I reached out to him and I was lucky enough — this happened on a Saturday. I was able to get him on for like five to ten minutes on my Monday show a couple of days later and then I had him on for a full interview a week later just to talk about his career. He was a big player. He was really on up on September, but he got his 15 minutes, not just me. We had some articles written about him, had some radio and television interviews, so we bring back people from the dead. We also had Marty Appel who was the former PR guy for the Yankees, and speaking of George Costanza, he was the model for the George Costanza Yankee employee character.

John: Oh, that’s awesome!

Stuart: So we asked him about that and he said he actually had the opportunity to talk to Jason Alexander about that.

John: That’s so fascinating, man. Look at that! All because you had a tax client who knew some of those passions that you had outside of work.

Stuart: Right, and I’ve been lucky enough to — my business has grown. I really can’t complain. I’ve been active. This year, I am both the president and treasurer of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce. I became the president.

John: That sounds like a page out of a Steinbrenner book right there. “I’ve run everything.”

Stuart: Well, basically, I was treasurer because any time an accountant walks into a room or into an organization, they become treasurer. The other day, I walked into the men’s room. There were three people in there. They handed me some money. They said, “Deposit it.”

John: Exactly, right in your pocket. Thank you.

Stuart: It’s been a lot of fun. I think whatever you do in life, as long as you are passionate about it and you show that you love doing what you’re doing, you’ll do well.

John: Great advice. Do you feel like that passion has to always apply to only work or you’re allowed to have passions other than that?

Stuart: Yeah, I definitely think so because I could talk to you about taxes all day especially if you’re having sleep problems.

John: Right.

Stuart: I could also talk about sports and different things and do that with a passion that will make it interesting. I’ve always prided on myself even with the taxes to make that interesting as well. When I’ve spoken in front of people — I’ve talked about the tax deductibility of a sex change operation. Now, I have people’s attention. I once had to speak — I was a business partner at our local high school and they had something where the business partners would go up and speak. I get up there and there are parents, teachers, and students, and they say, “Oh, terrific, the accountant is coming up.” I could tell the kids are already getting on their phones and I’m next to the guy from Buffalo Wild Wings who had samples to give out, so I started talking about the deductibility of a sex change operation. Now, all of a sudden, I have their attention.

John: Yeah. They’re like, “What?”

Stuart: They’re watching. Part of that too is if you get breast enhancements as part of that, that’s actually not deductible as a medical expense because it’s cosmetic, but if you work as an exotic dancer or something, you could actually take that as a business expense because it grows your business.

John: Then it’s a business expense. That’s awesome. That’s really funny, man. That’s really funny. It just shows a little bit of personality and not too many tax accountants are coming in to a high school to talk and then bringing an example to them that makes them want to pay attention, so that’s really great, really great. Do you have any words of encouragement to everyone besides be passionate about things that you’re passionate about?

Stuart: Just work hard. It’s a marathon, not a sprint, so people that are looking for a quick fix — and I see that a lot both in business and in personal — it’s just not going to work. If you work hard and you’re passionate about what you do, you’ll do well.

John: That’s so true. It’s been so fun catching up with you and just hearing what you’re up to now. If everyone wants to listen to the radio show, we’ll have a link on whatsyourand.com, so you can go there and click over and catch it on Monday nights. That’s really cool, Stuart, really cool. It’s only fair that I turn the tables and let you rapid fire question me though since I fired at you right out of the gate.

Stuart: All right. I’ve got three for you.

John: Okay.

Stuart: Breaking Bad or Dexter?

John: Breaking Bad.

Stuart: Okay. You know, I actually just finished binge-watching Breaking Bad.

John: Yeah. Man, what a great show. I love that show. They’re similar, but Breaking Bad for sure.

Stuart: Last summer, we binge-watched Dexter and I guess next up will be Better Call Saul.

John: Oh, yeah, the follow-up. I haven’t seen too many of those, to be honest, but yeah, Breaking Bad is really great.

Stuart: Kardashians or Hiltons?

John: Oh, good Lord. I guess the Hiltons because their great grandfather created the hotels that I stay in mostly.

Stuart: Okay. That’s fair enough.

John: They’ve also been pretty quiet lately, so I’m a big fan of that.

Stuart: Yeah, they have been. I was thinking of throwing 90210 in there especially with the reboot coming up.

John: Right.

Stuart: So what would be your favorite reboot? 90210 or Murphy Brown or Roseanne? I’ll give you three there.

John: Oh, wow! Okay. You know, I guess 90210 just to see what happens just because it’s just fun to watch.

Stuart: And hopefully, Tori Spelling can get her finances in order.

John: Right, right, exactly.

Stuart: To make enough money.

John: It’s almost like which one is the biggest train wreck, which of course would’ve been the Roseanne one.

Stuart: My last one is 13 or 202?

John: 13 or 202? I’ll say 202.

Stuart: Okay, and do you know why I asked you those numbers?

John: No, I don’t.

Stuart: Because originally, I was on Episode 13 and —

John: Ah! Good call! Good call! Yes, that was tricky, man because I was like, wait a minute, 13? Yeah. No, that’s excellent. 202, man!

Stuart: I have to finish with numbers.

John: I see what you did. This was really great. Thanks so much, Stuart, for coming back. Everyone who wants to listen to the first episode, it’s Episode 13, so you can go there. Thanks, Stuart. This was really awesome.

Stuart: It’s great to be back.

John: Yeah. Everybody listening, if you want to see some pictures of Stuart outside of work or maybe connect with him on social media, be sure to go to whatsyourand.com and the radio station link will be there as well for those Monday evening internet sport shows. And while you’re on the page, please click that big button, do the anonymous research survey about corporate culture. Thanks again for subscribing on iTunes or whatever app you use and for sharing this with your friends so they get the message that we’re all trying to spread that who you are is so much more than what you do.