From A Big Four Firm to Entrepreneurship In this special episode of The Accountant’s Flight Plan , Brannon sat down with Raffi Yousefian, a NY/DC-based CPA and entrepreneur, to discuss his journey to building a thriving tax practice. Raffi began his career at EY before launching his own firm in 2016, growing rapidly before making the bold decision in 2022 to niche down into three verticals. By 2023, he doubled down on his fastest-growing and most rewarding segment: restaurants. He dedicated his brand to that niche and sold off the rest with the help of Poe Group Advisors. Timestamps: 00:37 – Intro of Raffi Yousefian his background from EY to launching his own firm and finding his niche 04:00 – Why Raffi left public accounting to become an entrepreneur 06:50 – Doing less to grow more: The power of niching 11:45 – Selling off part of a firm: Risk vs. reward 15:20 – Why focus builds deeper expertise and stronger advisory 20:00 – Benchmarks, AI adoption, and automation in accounting 27:33 – DJ life during tax season: A funny story 31:48 – Book recommendation: Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey Moore 33:00 – Connect with Raffi via LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/raffiyousefian/
