Episode 3: Back to Business with Sarah Annas featuring Michael Howell

Hey everyone and welcome to Back to Business, I'm  Sarah Patieo, your host and on this episode we're hearing from one of our internal employees and  how far he's come with Wing Lake Capital Partners. Today, we have Michael Howell!  Mike, how are you doing today?

I'm great Sarah, how are you? I am good  just another gloomy day here in Michigan, which all of our viewers will be able  to see through your window behind you. It's gloomy, but at least it's warmer now than it  was last week.

Yes, thank goodness. Yeah last week we had 75 and gloomy over snow any day. Oh yeah,  any day.

Last week was all four seasons in one, so that was fun. So I know you've been doing some  travel recently for work how's that been going? Really racking up the miles over the last couple  of weeks.

I've been to New Jersey and Vegas in the last seven days or so. Amazing, around the  world and back. Yeah.

Will you be hitting diamond status this year then with delta? Not unless  we get a couple more clients in California. We can work on that for you.

I think we've  seen a higher concentration in California recently than we have in a while, so we'll try to  get you to that diamond status one way or another. Okay, so we've got some questions for you today  just to get our viewers a little bit more familiar with you because you're a very integral part here  at Wing Lake. So we're gonna go back to basics, where did you go to college and what did you  major in?

I graduated from Grand Valley State University; I've got a double major in finance and  accounting. Oh okay, I actually didn't know that, so that's a fun thing for me to learn. So you're  very much well qualified for the job that you do.

It's not like you majored in one thing and now  you're doing something completely different, which I think happens kind of often. I do not  have a degree in underwater basket weaving. But if you did, we would just totally talk  about that this entire podcast because that would be pretty cool.

Absolutely,  completely applicable. Oh yeah. So after graduating college did you hop into a  role in accounting and finance or what did you do for your first role out of college?

I was actually  doing purchasing for a food co-manufacturer out in Grand Rapids. It was really interesting, not  quite applicable to finance and accounting but a good first position kind of in the  business world. Yeah absolutely, you have to start somewhere.

You just kind of have to dive  in. You learn good business practices, emailing, just that general etiquette and then you find what  you like and hopefully head in that direction. Definitely.

So you worked there, were there any  other career path changes leading up to Wing Lake? I mean maybe something that surprised you  or something you didn't really plan for. Kind of initially when I was getting my  degree, I was thinking I was going to be going the CPA route and ended up kind of following  sort of internal analysts working closely with CFO finance side of the business  over the course of my career.

Okay, very cool. I'm sure you're happy that you  made that decision, we work with a lot of CPAs, we talk to different ones. I think this is a very  maybe a little bit more exciting of a career path I'm not sure.

Journal entries it turns out  are not that interesting. No, not at all, but as long as you're happy with what you're doing  that's all that matters. Take us, I know this is probably a difficult question because I think  every day here is vastly different from the next, but what's a typical day for you at Wing  Lake?

This is the worst question on your list. So there is no typical day at Wing Lake right,  like we could say ideally this is what doing the work is going to be like or what we want a typical  day to be like, but the reality is we're dealing at this point 21 small businesses scattered across  the country. They all have different issues and crises that they're facing and you every day we're  prioritizing what's important to deal with today and handling that situation.

Our client  in New Jersey lost his bookkeeper recently and we've been spending a lot of time helping him  and get sort of his financial situation back under control and have the ability to plan for the  future and what his needs are going to be like got it yeah. I figured that wouldn't be your  favorite question for today because I know it's a tough one. I think there's not an answer to that  there's not a typical day every day is different.

Especially with all your travel and whatnot and  I know that comes up spur in the moment it's not like for months leading up to it that you'll  be flying to Las Vegas or New Jersey--whatever it just happens. I feel like I usually get at  least a week's notice that it's gonna happen. At least a week yes, which I'm happy that that's  that's enough lead time for you to say all right, packing my bags we're going here and just  ready ready to go and happy to do it.

So I guess another question that would be  interesting for people to hear and without naming the name of the person or the business, but  what's maybe the craziest thing that's happened with one of your clients if there's something  that you know quickly comes to mind that just came out of nowhere you maybe weren't prepared  to deal with it right away but you had to hop on board and help them the best way that  you could? I mean I think that the biggest unexpected item that we've had to deal with is  definitely going to be COVID19 and its impacts. Most of our clients have  weathered that storm fairly well, but we do have a Las Vegas food manufacturer  who has just been devastated by it.

Her business was primarily driven supplying  the conventions that occur out in Las Vegas and there have been no conventions for over a year  now and that was more than half of her revenue and it's been extremely difficult for her to maintain  operations and keep the business going. To her credit she is one of the most amazing scrappers,  fighters, cash managers we've got in the portfolio and she's still there and she's still at it  and it looks like there's going to be some government programs becoming available for her  in the really near future that are kind of going to set things right and give her a good footing  going forward in the next couple of years. That's great to hear and knowing the little bit that I  do about this specific business and this client if anyone could weather that storm I would say it's  absolutely her.

But I know COVID has touched on so many different businesses good and bad, I mean  I know that we both talk to different companies every day, different business owners every  day, and for some it's done you know a world of difference for them and and grown their business  and been a great change, which is crazy to say. It was either really really good or really really  bad somewhere right there in the middle somewhere, but you know as long as we're there fighting with  them and they're still ready to do the work and try their best then that's all we can really ask  for. Yeah it's really been okay for most people.

Everybody has done a great job I  think of getting through what is a completely unprecedented challenge.  Truly, absolutely, yeah. It's been a very different world the last 12 months but we're  still here, still doing what we do.

Absolutely. So what do you enjoy most about the  work that you do here at Wing Lake. I find a lot of value in solving problems or  finding the solution to a difficult situation and kind of you know things that we've  already touched on as we've been talking.

Every day is different, every day is  a different challenge to overcome, helping our clients get through and  find success in difficult situations brings a lot of value to me. That's awesome  to hear and yeah I would guess that you would never call a day here at Wing Lake boring based  on our conversation. No, I start to get really uncomfortable if things get boring that means  that you know I'm missing something or something's gone wrong somewhere.

Yeah, there's a storm  brewing somewhere you just haven't seen it yet. Well that's good I'd say I'd always rather be  busy than bored and I think that's definitely what you get here at Wing Lake especially  in the world that you're in. Yeah.

So what would you say the most important skills are for  someone who's interested in a job like yours? I think that the most important skills are going  to be communication and organization. There is a lot of parties to interact with and there is  a lot going on and a lot to keep track of.

Yes for sure. I'm going to go on on a limb and  say thick skin, because sometimes you have people ignoring you and not behaving the way that you  want them to or whatever the case may be. All of that you got to just let roll off your back and  keep moving forward and I'm going to send another email, I'm going to call again, I'm going to ask a  different way, I'm going to phrase it differently, you know you got to get the message across you got  to get the information that you need.

Really it's about helping people understand why what we're  doing, what we're asking for we're here to help. My success is when our clients are successful.  Anything that we're doing is to get them to be successful and you know sometimes crafting  that message so that it's heard can be trying.

I believe it. It can be an uphill battle sometimes  but what you've said is so true, always having our clients best interest in mind and once they  see that and that light bulb goes off like why am i fighting this or why am i not being more  communicative or whatever the case may be and then they you know they appreciate you. Even if they're  not saying it, I think they all appreciate you.

One last question just to round it out a little  bit so it's not all work, but what are some things that you like to do in your free time? I make it  a point to kind of be active in my kids lives so you know when i'm not here, I'm out at a soccer  game with my son or kind of at the horse table with my daughter they're both pretty active  in their sort of extracurricular activities and being there for them being involved with that  is really important to me. That's awesome to hear, I'm sure that's a lot of fun.

I know it's  busy running the kids here and there, but it sounds like you enjoy it when you get  there and you get to watch them do what they like to do and just spend that time with them.  Yeah, watching them and sort of their dedication to growing their skills is wonderful. Watching  them grow and become better people is fantastic.

Yeah absolutely and all this hard work that  you put in every day is so that they can do the things that they love and you can be there  to support them while they do it. That's right. I love it.

Awesome, well thank you so much for  your time today Mike. It's been great chatting with you and we'll get you some more clients  out in California so you can earn diamond status very soon. Fantastic thanks Sarah it's  been great talking to you.

Likewise, bye.