Yuko Tsuchida: 10:13
Yeah. So whenever I went to partnership with him, like, you know, he was my fiance at the time and like, you know, he was much more senior and we had a great relationship. And like, you know, along the way we decided we are better like, you know, being a business partner than like, you know, romantic partner and then like, you know, after like 4 or 5 years after our breakup, like, we are still, like, really good friends and like, you know, I think, like, you know, highly still highly of him. But we never talked about how we wanted to grow the firm or like, you know, what culture or what core value, like, you know, two of us have and like, you know, after like seven years, like it was evident that how he wanted to grow the firm, to like what I wanted from the firm. Right.
So the fundamental was not there. And like, we just never talked about it. So I always say to like, you know, my friends like who are thinking about going to partnership, like, you know, having that hard conversation first, like, you know, what is your core value, what do you want to get out from the work? And like, you know, is this lifestyle business or like, you know, is this like, you know, do you want to grow? If you want to grow how fast, like you want to grow.
And those are like such critical like, you know, discussion, which I didn’t know at the time. Like, you know, whenever I started my company, I was still like, you know, in the early 20s and I didn’t know. But now I look back like, you know, that was something like, you know, we missed.
John Corcoran: 11:45
Yeah. I mean, that just the fact that you had a romantic relationship and a business relationship broke off the romantic relationship and continued for 4 or 5 years in the professional relationship and business partnership, that’s got to be unusual. You don’t hear that type of story very often.
Yuko Tsuchida: 12:02
Yeah. I think, like, you know, for us it worked because we are very good at compartmentalizing, like, you know, our life and like I think we have like such a mutual respect in the workplace. Like, you know, I still talk to him like, you know, whenever I have some struggle and like, he recently called me and like, you know, asked for my like, you know, hey, how do you do that or whatnot. So like, you know, I think like fundamentally we have like, you know, high level respect to each other comes to work.
John Corcoran: 12:31
So you go off to get your MBA in Madrid, Spain. And then that took you then later to a consulting project in South Africa. So at this point, you’ve basically worked all over the globe. Talk a little bit about those experiences working in Spain and then South Africa.
Yuko Tsuchida: 12:50
Yeah, Spain. Like I went to business school called like a business school. It was fabulous. Like, you know, experience like, if anybody’s looking for executive like MBA, which can be done in a year, I would highly recommend it. Like, you know, the people are from, like, you know, all over the world, like in Latin America to like Saudi Arabia.
One of the classmates was like, you know, prince of like, you know, Saudi Arabia. So the the people we met was like, you know, just like I wouldn’t meet in like, America or Japan, right? So that was like fantastic. And we it took me to like, you know, South Africa where I did the nonprofit consulting work and which was like, you know, it it came from like, my curiosity again, right? How is it like, you know, appetite.
Like, you know, affected. Like, you know, people in South Africa and how that how does that, like, still live out? And it was fulfilling for me like, you know, soul fulfilling to like, you know, go and like serve the people there and like, you know, help out one of the things like, you know, I had discussion with my classmates like, you know, father who was who is from like South Africa was like, you know, whenever we met over like coffee or like happy hours and like, you know, I am Japanese. My colleague was like Chinese. And he asked us, like, you know, where we are from.
And like, you know, we just said like, you know, hey, we are from like China and like Japan. And that changed our, like, you know, tone of the voice from him. And I felt like, you know, hey, like, you know, why are you talking to her that way? And he didn’t realize, right? Like I was like, just curious, like, you know, Why he changed how he was talking to her.
And he said, like, you know, although I don’t like, you know, I don’t want to and I don’t realize it, I still like, you know, I was like, you know, born and raised in, like, apartheid and like, you know, he’s still talking to people like us, right? Like, you know, there’s always class system because Japan was like, you know, white collar in apartheid and the Chinese was like colored people. So it was very, very interesting to see.
John Corcoran: 15:05
For South Africans, that’s how they viewed Japanese and Chinese. So they like they were he was more respectful to you and less respectful to your friend, who was Chinese.
Yuko Tsuchida: 15:16
Correct.
John Corcoran: 15:17
Wow.
Yuko Tsuchida: 15:17
So that was very interesting. And like, you know, it was such a great, like conversation like that, like happened all over the place because like, I was curious and, like, probably naive enough to ask those questions to People.
John Corcoran: 15:31
Yeah. You mentioned a moment ago that the prince from Saudi Arabia was in your MBA class. What was that like for you? You grew up, you grew up, you know, helping to clean your parents’ cars for your dad’s painting business, and you’re in class with a prince. I can’t imagine what that was like.
Yuko Tsuchida: 15:50
Yeah. It was, I don’t know, like, how to describe it, but, like, you know, it was just, like, amazing to see, like, how other people live, like, you know, their pop-up being like, you know, Dom Pérignon, like, every single night at the club. And like, we were like, wow. Even I had a business and I exited from business, like, I want, like, you know, do that every night, you know?
John Corcoran: 16:11
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Another level. So you come back to the US and then you form this business Hito LLC, which has a very specific focus specialized on tax credits. Now you decided not to do something that was generic, that was, you know, helping businesses with their tax returns or something like that. Talk to me a little bit about the decision process that went into forming that specific business with that specific focus.
Yuko Tsuchida: 16:44
Yeah. So KPMG to like you know, previous firm like, you know, I went from tax preparer to like you know, more focusing like tax credit tax incentive work. And I just love like tax credit tax incentive work because like, you know I can actually see how I’m helping clients, right. Whenever like, you know I was preparing tax return. Like, you know, I was just a cost to them.
And like, you know, looking at their type of like activities and like, you know, identify opportunity, like, you know, clients are like very gracious towards us. So and like, you know, there is not that many people a firm specializing in this area. So I wanted to create the firm which focuses on tax credit, tax incentives, and like, you know, really serving the small to midsize, like, you know, companies where they typically do not have access to Big Four accounting firm.
John Corcoran: 17:43
And that’s interesting because, you know, you work for these big KPMG is one of the largest accounting firms in, you know, in the world. You decide to start something that is kind of like would be doing similar types of work. Did you find that it was hard to get clients early on? You know, because KPMG has a long history, has an international reputation, you know, oftentimes targeting similar types of clients, or did you target smaller companies that were easier to get as a client?
Yuko Tsuchida: 18:14
Yeah, I targeted like, you know, much smaller company, like, you know, startup companies like at the beginning and like, you know, as our business, like, you know, season like, you know, our clients are seasonal as well And like, you know, now we see more and more like competition with like big four accounting firms. But I think what our differentiator now is like, you know, we are really hands-on with our clients and like, you know, really listening to like, you know, what they say and like, you know, try to integrate us into like their accounting or like, you know, C-level executives. So like we can identify like, you know, future opportunity not just look back opportunities.
John Corcoran: 18:55
And did you find did anything like did did Covid change the attitude towards clients. And and you know, whereas a lot of a lot of businesses say that before Covid, companies expected to hire law firms and accounting firms that had primo offices and the primo, you know, skyscrapers and best addresses and things like that, and then eventually companies were more open to working with smaller companies and companies that weren’t located in, you know, the biggest, tallest skyscraper out there or didn’t have the biggest name. Did you notice a difference after COVID?
Yuko Tsuchida: 19:33
I’m not sure about that because, like, you know, majority of my clients come from like, you know, word of mouth referrals. So even like, first clients, like, you know, like my old client actually called me and like, you know, hired me. So my firm, like, grew from there. So, like, you know, we typically don’t do, like, you know, cold outreach until, like, you know, recently. So.
Yeah, I can’t say either one one way or another.
John Corcoran: 20:02
Yeah. Talk about that cold outreach for a firm for a, you know, a tax strategy firm. Seems kind of cutting edge. Did it take and I know I interviewed Paul before who’s an advocate of doing cold outreach. So maybe he helped you baby step into it.
But did it take a while for you to warm up to the idea of, you know, doing cold outreach?
Yuko Tsuchida: 20:26
Yeah, definitely. Like, you know, we didn’t want to view it as like, you know, we are selling like, you know, product, right? We are like, I think we are professional service. So like even like, you know, we say like cold outreach like typically we call like, you know, CPA firm that doesn’t specialize in this area. Right.
Because when a referral partners. Yeah. They can like, you know, influence like their clients and like, you know, if we can like bring like, like, you know, additional skill set like, you know that might be beneficial for like, you know, both of them.
John Corcoran: 20:58
Yeah. Yeah. All right. Let’s get to talking about Kazuki. Kazuki is your son.
Yeah. At what point did you decide that you wanted to become, in your words, a solo mom by choice?
Yuko Tsuchida: 21:11
My journey actually started when I was 34, and originally I was thinking about, like, adopting kid, and that’s what I wanted to do if I didn’t have a partner. But no, I’m not an American citizen. So it was very, very difficult.
John Corcoran: 21:26
So it’s harder to adopt if you’re not an American citizen and living in the United States. Interesting. So what was the reason for that? The adoption agencies don’t want to place with a non-citizen out of fear.
Yuko Tsuchida: 21:38
I think like non-citizen, no single mother that was like more risky. Right. So I think like I have two double negative. So it was very hard. And like after that I looked into like, you know, foster parents too.
And like, you know, it was difficult to like it was going to take like longer. So one of my friend like, introduced me to like, you know, her colleague who had her son or her daughter through sperm donor. So I got to talk to her and like, you know, around the time, like, you know, I talked to her, like, you know, I was starting to make decisions like, you know, hey, this might be like, you know, best way for me to go about having a kid.
John Corcoran: 22:20
And so. And you said you were 34.
Yuko Tsuchida: 22:23
- Yeah, but it took me about two years to like, you know, get to the point. Like, you know, adoption was a little bit like, difficult and like, you know, another couple years and I got Katsuki. He was born, like, on my, like, close to my 40th birthday.
John Corcoran: 22:41
Okay. So it took a while to get to that point, then. Six years. Yes. I want to know what what was the reaction of family, friends, people you told that you were going to go have a baby on your own?
Yuko Tsuchida: 22:57
Yeah. My family was actually very supportive, which was surprising to me. They live in Japan, which is very traditional, like, you know, culture and like, I do not think like, you know, what I did is like, you know, common, right?
John Corcoran: 23:12
Or were you.
Yuko Tsuchida: 23:13
Having a hard.
John Corcoran: 23:14
Were you nervous to tell them.
Yuko Tsuchida: 23:16
Oh, super. Like, I went to, like, couple therapy session and like, I talked talk it out. So it was very difficult. But like, my father was like, you know, like, you know, ecstatic and like, you know, my godmother was like, you know, on board as well. And majority of my friends were very, very supportive.
There were a few who were like, you know, are you crazy? Like, you know, who are you to have kids like, you know, bring the kids, like, into this world without like, you know, father. So there was a couple like hurtful comments. However, like, I think like majority of my friends and family were very, very supportive.
John Corcoran: 23:54
And so do you use a sperm donor, sperm donor, sperm donor and you get pregnant. And what was the pregnancy like?
Yuko Tsuchida: 24:05
Pregnancy was easy. I was like, you know, running. I used to do Orange Theory, and like, you know, I was running till like eight months pregnant last four weeks was like a little bit heavy and like tough, but it was super easy. And like, it was very happy moments.
John Corcoran: 24:22
And did you have to get the company ready for you to take a break, take some time away?
Yuko Tsuchida: 24:29
Yeah. So I started planning about two years ahead to like, say, okay, if I were to take maternity leave, like, what does it look like? And I had to, of course, like, replace me at the moment. I was the head of like, technical head. So I actually hired somebody who kind of like, you know, interim, like, took over the company.
I actually had to cut my maternity leave short because we found that. I found that, like he was doing something shady. So although, like, you know, we did like, a lot of interview and like, you know, a lot of due diligence. It was unfortunate, but the company was like, you know, pretty stable and like, they were the one like, you know, brought up, like, issues and like, I was able to, like, quickly come back and like, you know, fix the issue and let him go.
John Corcoran: 25:22
I think back. So that must have been just so difficult to to deal with while you’re having your baby and everything. But yeah, I wanted to ask you about like, just the birth process and everything because, you know, I think back and I have four kids now, and I have said this to other people that if I knew what I knew, if I knew how much I love my kids, each of them individually, that if I were in your shoes, if I had not found a partner, I would have made this. I would make the same choice. It’s hard to say, you know, that.
That, you know, I would have that courage, you know, if, if, if push came to shove. But if you were able to feel the love that you feel for your kids, I’d like to think that I would make that decision. Now. I can’t imagine how hard it is, how much harder it is without a partner. Especially considering, like every step of the way, you must have faced doctors and things like that who are who are like, oh, where’s the dad?
Or stuff like that? Did you have awkward moments like that going through the process or in the delivery room or, you know, with checkup appointments and things like that?
Yuko Tsuchida: 26:30
Yeah, doctors and stuff are like, you know, I was very, very open from the get go. So like, you know, I didn’t face that. However, like, you know, whenever people like, look at me like pregnant, like they’re like, oh, it’s like your husband even now, right? Like whenever I go to soccer class, Wakatsuki, everybody is like, where’s your dad? Like and like how to address that is like, you know, a little bit difficult because he doesn’t understand yet and like, you know, their kids doesn’t understand.
And like, you know, how am I gonna, like, bring up the issue that’s like, you know, I need to still work on.
John Corcoran: 27:03
Yeah, yeah. I’ve heard people say that, you know, you just surround them with love and let them know that you, you know, I brought you into this world because I loved you more than anything. Or I’ve, you know, I’ve my kids, we’ve read children’s books and things like that that talk about like, you know, foster or adoption or, you know, things like that. And it seems like those are kind of the things that the ways that they address those sorts of issues. Yeah.
Yeah. And then so talk to me a little bit about after he’s born. So he’s born and then you take maternity leave and you have to come back in because you have to terminate this person who didn’t work out. And then he’s to now you’re in terrible twos. So it’s been nothing but a breeze since then, right?
Yuko Tsuchida: 27:45
Yeah. Yeah. I feel like, you know, until like he was walking. Like he was in jail and like, after he started walking, like, you know, he’s being like a little monster. But I have, like, you know, incredible support, although, like, I don’t have a family here in us, like, you know, my friends are family.
And, like, you know, they will always watch out for him. So. That that side like, you know, I being like really like pleased and like, you know. Lucky to have like my friends and like, you know, his nanny and like, you know, his daycare teachers. As far as business goes, like, you know, just looking back just two years, like, you know, the.
I feel like I’m still figuring out how to balance motherhood and then, like, you know, my business. And I will admit that, like, you know, I feel like, you know, last two years, like my business. Got hit because I’m not present 100% of the time. I feel like now, like, you know, we have. A really good team.
And, like, you know, they can take it to, like, next level. However, like. You know, I still need to be here and like, I need to still like, you know, lead the company. So. Right now my focus is how to like, you know, develop next leaders.
Yeah. And really take this company to the next level with me and like, you know, without me, right? Yeah.
John Corcoran: 29:08
Yeah, that’s the challenge, right? Yeah. And you decided to share your story publicly. From founder to family is a website, the platform that you set up to share your story. What motivated that?
Yuko Tsuchida: 29:22
So I like, you know, one of the reasons I wanted to share was like, you know, somebody helped me and I wanted to give back. And like, you know, whenever I think about giving back, like I was like thinking, oh, I want to fly to, like, South Africa or like Cambodia to do, like volunteer work. But with Kazuki, it’s like a little bit difficult right now. So I was thinking about.
John Corcoran: 29:43
Yeah.
Yuko Tsuchida: 29:44
Thinking about like, you know, how to give back, maybe like, you know, telling my story may help somebody to like, you know, make that decision or, like, I can talk them through like, you know, what I went through. So that’s why, like, I started that blog and, like, you know, hopefully somebody reading it and like, you know, making the decision for themselves.
John Corcoran: 30:05
Have you been have you had people reach out yet?
Yuko Tsuchida: 30:08
Not yet.
John Corcoran: 30:11
But hopefully after this podcast goes live. Yeah, yeah. Someone will reach out and say thank you for sharing your story. And yeah, I have a question. Something like that.
Yeah, that’s great because that’s just putting good, you know, goodwill out into the world. And that’s really exciting. And I’m sure that Kazuki is going to be a man of the world. Considering your background from Japan to to Oklahoma to Los Angeles to Spain to South Africa to back to Southern California. That’s going to be one international kid.
Yuko Tsuchida: 30:44
Yes. He being traveling to Japan like couple times now and he gonna go to like Costa Rica and Hawaii. So he’ll be like you know world traveler by three.
John Corcoran: 30:55
That’s really impressive considering my nine-year-old a few days ago said to me, dad, I don’t think I’ve ever been on an airplane. Not true. He’s been on an airplane. He just doesn’t go very often. He says it was long ago, so I guess he doesn’t remember.
Well, Yuko. This was such a cool story. Thank you for sharing your story. Where can people go to learn more about you and connect with you if you have any questions? Sure.
Either on the tax side or on the personal side.
Yuko Tsuchida: 31:21
Yeah. You can email us at info@hitollc.com so it’s H-I-T-O LLC dot com, and you’ll get that to me.
John Corcoran: 31:31
And fromfoundertofamily.com is that website.
Yuko Tsuchida: 31:35
Yes fromfoundertofamily.com. Okay. And there’s a link to, like you know, my email.
John Corcoran: 31:41
Awesome. Yuko. Thank you so much.
Yuko Tsuchida: 31:44
Thank you so much, John.
Outro: 31:48
Thanks for listening to the Smart Business Revolution Podcast. We’ll see you again next time and be sure to click subscribe to get future episodes.