Meet Vanessa Correa | Virtual CFO & Tax Saving Wizard

We had the good fortune of connecting with Vanessa Correa and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Vanessa, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
• I kept seeing the same pattern unfold at every CPA firm I worked at after graduating college, the focus was NOT on helping clients do better – the focus was on reporting what’s already happened, clocking billable hours, and preparing the correct forms, putting the right numbers in the appropriate boxes to chug out an amount at the end of the year that the business owner may or may not have on hand (most often NOT on hand). It was like being a parakeet pecking the keyboard just to ruin a business owner’s day with the bad news every.single.year. • This was strange to me considering all the years of learning I just absorbed that was not being utilized to make any difference, but rather to ensure the partners of the CPA firm didn’t have to worry about any compliance issues – no concern whatsoever for what they had done to actually HELP their clients… it just seemed very selfish to me NOT to utilize my expertise and knowledge to help clients actually do better financially and pay less in tax than they had to. I went to school to learn how to help, and in reality, there really was no helping happening.
• The approach for most accountants is to study really hard to memorize the answers to a test very few pass. If you can memorize the answers, you can become a public accountant and be ranked with the 3 most prestigious and well-known careers (doctor, lawyer, accountant). Then, you can either go work for another CPA as an employee and make a considerable living, or you can start your own firm and hope for the best. Regardless of which route you take; the remainder of your career will be spent putting the right numbers in the right boxes and being the barer of bad news each year for tax season. (calculating, calculating, you owe the government this much money, oh, you don’t have that much money? Well, maybe you should have thought about that while you were making all that money) – that’s just not who I am as a professional, or as a person in general.
• I realized that my skills and abilities positioned me perfectly to be an agent of change for my clients, by telling them what no one else has been, helping them see the numbers in a different light, and giving them a target to aim for meant I could help my clients save more, pay less in tax, and grow their wealth so they could retire sooner, with more money… THAT’s what I was really passionate about, THAT is why I started my own business. I wanted to create a luxury wealth-building solution for entrepreneurs & small business owners that was affordable, I wanted to even the playing field between the multi-billion-dollar corporations and the mom and pop organizations of the world. If the mom and pop businesses could afford the professional guidance the large corporations could, they might be able to do a little better…. My findings were shocking – they did A LOT better; they just didn’t know what they didn’t know and that’s what I’m here for.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Money doesn’t create happiness – but it sure makes it easier to be happy. My background seasoned me with the experiences that I needed to help myself and others break free from the chains of scarcity. My passion for helping others was wholly developed as a young child that loved her siblings and admired her hard-working father’s example of love and integrity. I believe that those early years impacted who I am today in fundamental and profound ways that continue to inspire and propel me toward my mission of eradicating poverty in the world and empowering entrepreneurs to be successful in reaching their goals. My dad’s example is what has been my North Star for much of my life and as I continue to evolve and grow, he’s still one of the major pillars of my success.

The most important factor behind our success and the success of our brand is our client’s success. When they succeed, we succeed, and their results speak to the value we provide. If we can actually improve the financial situation for our clients through growing their businesses, protecting their assets, saving for retirement, and strategically minimizing their tax exposure, then we are successful in accomplishing our mission of helping business owners retire sooner with more money so they can spend more time with the people they love most, doing the things they love. I truly believe that accountants have a duty to share their knowledge, as the gatekeepers to financial freedom – no one else is better equipped with the skills and expertise necessary to break through glass ceilings, inspire upward mobility, and empower communities with financial sustainability.

At CP&A we all have a passion for helping others, that passion comes through in the results we help our clients to achieve. Building lifelong relationships with our clients and seeing them do better financially, mentally, and emotionally is one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve ever had the privilege to enjoy.

Our organizational values are:

Integrity: Our business is built on trust, it’s the cornerstone for everything we do – it’s the catalyst that allows us to help our clients. Without trust (on either side of the table) the engagement is doomed to failure. Money is one of the most sensitive subjects out there, if not the most sensitive. People literally commit suicide because of money. In order for us to help our clients, they need to know they can trust us with their money, and we have to be able to trust that they are being honest with us and giving us all the information that we need to help.

Obsessive thirst for knowledge: Every day is an opportunity to research, optimize, and help our clients by learning new ways to leverage technology and help them understand all the things they don’t know they are missing. Part of the value we provide and that we pride ourselves on is having the most up-to-date, relevant information and knowledge necessary to help our clients do better financially, faster.

Helping others: This is the ultimate purpose that propels us forward, it’s the motivation and inspiration behind all that we do, it’s how we plan to change the world, one business at a time.

Our mission is to help our clients grow their businesses, make more money and pay less in tax so they can retire earlier with more money to spend time with the ones who matter most, doing the things they love.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
We would take them to Andy’s Kitchen – a little kitchen with a big heart in Cypress, there is where you’ll find the best burgers in Texas. The beach is a favorite place of mine, so that would be a must-hitting pleasure pier in Galveston and then going across the street to Joe’s crab shack with King Crab Buckets and hush puppies.
The waterfalls at the Galeria are also a must-see, as a child my dad would take me and my sisters there every year around Christmas time and we’d watch the water falling from hundreds of feet above us with the lights catching the sparkling drops splashing out from the fountain at the bottom. It’s pure magic.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I want to dedicate this shout-out to my father who showed me (and still shows me daily) what it means to be an entrepreneur and lead a life of love and hard work. Without his influence in my life I can say with absolute certainty I wouldn’t be where I am today (or get to where I’m going tomorrow). Since I was a young girl I watched him work tirelessly, selflessly, sometimes more than 16hrs a day. He’s conquered so many obstacles in his life, from recovering from life-threatening burns to starting his own business at 14years old when he dropped out of high school. Back then he was painting houses and doing maintenance work for an apartment complex, always finding a way to forge a path forward, regardless of the odds that were stacked against him. He’s overcome so much that he truly is the inspiration behind all of my accomplishments (personally and professionally). I often admire and look up to his impecable example that he’s set as a role model and really a hero to me and all my siblings, not to mention all the other people’s lives he’s touched. He works harder than any man or woman I’ve ever met, his integrity and compassion is unrivaled and to this day, I’ve yet to meet anyone that holds a candle to his candor. He is a giant amongst men and I’m beyond blessed and so grateful to have felt his gentle but massive influence in my life, supporting and encouraging me to become all that I can be. Some of the best advice I ever received from him was “Don’t tell me, show me” and “When things are tough and nothing’s going right, that’s life’s way of telling you that you’re on the wrong path and that you’re doing something wrong. Work hard, do good and life will reward you”

Website: www.correapearsonandassociates.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vanessacorreapearson/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vanessacorrea1/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Vanessacorreap1

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vanessacorreapearson

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyLkg8y9DWqcQg60YIcWFTA