It’s an ill wind that blows no one any good. So, we can thank Uncle…
John Borrowman, CPC
Borrowman Baker, LLC
Gallatin, TN
You can thank Uncle Covid for remote work, which has become a thing for business valuation professionals. How do you know if it’s a smart thing for you?
Smaller BV practices have always used production people who work remotely. Typically, that was under a 1099 pay arrangement. There were scattered instances of full-time, W-2 employees even before the pandemic. Once forced to adapt, practice leaders adopted a “we can do this” attitude, and more jobs went remote.
On the surface, it looks and feels like a no-brainer decision. It was precisely that for a specific subset of BV professionals. All they needed was internet access, and they could live in surprisingly remote areas of the country.
Many decisions look like a no-brainer; however, there can be a hidden downside. That hidden downside is a ceiling on your advancement, which shows up in two interlocking ways: compensation and leadership.
Over the years, you may see regular pay increases in remote work. Eventually, those raises will flatten because your paycheck is a function of what your employer can charge a client for your work, and sooner or later, that amount will reach a ceiling. The only way to break through is to rise to a leadership role and make a material contribution to revenue.
But, rising to a leadership position while working remotely is almost impossible. When you are remote from the “mother ship,” you will not receive the coaching, mentoring, and hand-holding that 90% to 95% of BV professionals need for success.
When you work remotely, you start down a surprisingly different career path in BV. The longer you do it, the more irreversible your choice becomes. Be clear-eyed about what you want before starting down that path.
John Borrowman
