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Roman Kepczyk [00:00:00]:
Hi, I’m Roman Kepczyk. And when I’m not swimming, biking, running, building sandcastles or exploring the world with my wife Sylvie, I’m listening to John Garrett on What’s Your “And”?.

John Garrett [00:00:12]:
Welcome to episode 691 of What’s Your “And”?! This is John Garrett and each Wednesday I interview a professional who, just like me, is known for a hobby or a passion or an interest outside of work. And to put it another way, it’s encouraging people to find their and those things above and beyond your technical skills. It’s the things that actually differentiate you when you’re at work. Think of it as answering the question of who else are you beyond the job title. And if you like what the show’s about, be sure to check out the award-winning book. It’s on Amazon, Indigo, Barnes and Noble Bookshop, a few other websites.

John Garrett [00:00:43]:
All the links are at www.whatsyourand.com the book goes more in depth with the research behind why these outside-of-work passions are so crucial to your corporate culture. And I can’t say how much it means that everyone’s reading it and writing such nice reviews on Amazon. Thank you so much for those and more importantly, changing the cultures where they work because of it. And if you want me to read it to you, that’s right, this voice, reading the book, look for What’s Your “And”? on Audible or wherever you get your audiobooks. And please don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast. You don’t miss any of the future episodes. I love sharing such interesting stories each and every week. And this week is no different with my guest, Roman Kepczyk.

John Garrett [00:01:18]:
He’s the director of firm technology strategy at RightWorks Now. He’s with me here today. Roman, thanks so much for taking time to be with me on What’s Your “And”?.

Roman Kepczyk [00:01:27]:
Oh, absolutely, John. It’s a pleasure to be here. And like I said, it’s always fun to talk to other professionals.

John Garrett [00:01:33]:
It is going to be a blast. So much fun. And yeah, but I have 17 rapid fire questions before we get into the cool stuff. All right, get to know Roman on the next level here. So I’ll start you out. Maybe an easy one. I don’t know. What was your first concert?

Roman Kepczyk [00:01:48]:
My first concert, I’ll have to say was Olivia Newton John. I was probably like 2012 years old and my mom took me, so it’s kind of not. It’s nothing really.

John Garrett [00:01:58]:
That’s awesome.

Roman Kepczyk [00:01:58]:
Not Queen or something, you know, big. It was just my mom.

John Garrett [00:02:03]:
Are you kidding me? That’s legendary, man. That’s. That’s so cool. I love going to concerts, and the first ones are always amazing after that.

Roman Kepczyk [00:02:10]:
I did go see the Rolling Stones at Sun Devil Stadium, which at that time was the largest concert attendance at any show during finals week at asu to go and experience it, which was the other level of scale that you can imagine.

John Garrett [00:02:26]:
So, yeah, graduate and also graduate.

Roman Kepczyk [00:02:31]:
Oh, yeah. Probably not as good that my grades that week weren’t as good as I hoped, but it was a lifetime memory and experience.

John Garrett [00:02:40]:
Yeah. That’s awesome. That’s super awesome. How about puzzles? Sudoku, crossword, jigsaw puzzle?

Roman Kepczyk [00:02:46]:
You know, we are big into jigsaw puzzles, and I’ll say I’m not an expert. I don’t like the really tough ones, like a white ball and all that, but. But we get the annual Costco puzzle, which is completely doable for all of us, which means, you know, there’s clear color sections where you can go through. And so for me, I like doing it with my wife and my kids. And I have one son who’s like a savant who can. He sees a piece and he knows where it goes. And the rest of us, like, we’ve been looking for that for an hour, you know, and all of a sudden he comes in. Exactly.

Roman Kepczyk [00:03:15]:
But that’s something we all enjoy doing.

John Garrett [00:03:17]:
None of the other pieces around it are even in place. Like, you can see that. Like, what? This is crazy. That’s awesome. How about a favorite color?

Roman Kepczyk [00:03:26]:
You know, I’m a blue guy. I always have. My brother and I have both have blue eyes. My mom has blue eyes. And so there you go, everyone. I guess someone probably once told me, you look good in a blue shirt. And so I’m like, okay, that’s good, right?

John Garrett [00:03:41]:
I’ll go with it.

Roman Kepczyk [00:03:42]:
That’s good.

John Garrett [00:03:42]:
More compliments, please. I will take that.

Roman Kepczyk [00:03:44]:
Yeah.

John Garrett [00:03:45]:
How about least favorite? Do you have a least favorite color?

Roman Kepczyk [00:03:49]:
You know, there’s that chartreuse color, not the yellow. That’s really right on, like, bicycle clothes, but it’s like a green color that looks like kind of something out of throw up from one of the Ghostbusters movies. Like, why would you paint anything that color? You know, you notice that greenish, yellowish puke color, but.

John Garrett [00:04:10]:
Right. There’s not enough yellow, not enough green. It’s like, why stop? More of one, you know?

Roman Kepczyk [00:04:16]:
And I don’t even know the color of it, but because someone said, well, that’s not chartreuse I’m like, okay, well, I think chartreuse sounds cool, but I.

John Garrett [00:04:23]:
Can’T even spell chartreuse. Let’s start there, you know, so there you go. How about when you were a kid in gym class? Did you have a favorite activity in gym class?

Roman Kepczyk [00:04:31]:
You know, I would be honest with you. I started running. I was a football player. And then when I started running to help my knees and all that, it became a lifetime passion, you know, So I actually like, you know, I’m a stocky guy. So I was a left guard, believe it or not, in playing football. And because of knee problems, I started running. And within two years I was the city 800 meter champion. Started running, you know, quarter doing different races and basically got into it.

Roman Kepczyk [00:05:01]:
Started me running to where I actually did like three marathons in high school.

John Garrett [00:05:05]:
Holy cow.

Roman Kepczyk [00:05:06]:
Yeah, that’s wild. From being a football player. So just.

John Garrett [00:05:09]:
Yeah, no, that’s impressive. Yeah, I mean, I’m like, you have an offensive lineman running 8 hundreds.

Roman Kepczyk [00:05:13]:
Oh, yeah.

John Garrett [00:05:13]:
That’s crazy.

Roman Kepczyk [00:05:14]:
And that was the first time I did. It was actually. They called the fat man’s relay where they would have the show shot disc guys doing, you know, and he’s like, cap check’s pretty fast. Try this. And I actually converted into becoming a long distance runner and that’s quit football because I was. My ankles were getting stomped, my knees were hurting. And so.

John Garrett [00:05:32]:
Yeah. Yeah, enjoy. That’s awesome. I know we’ll get more into that for sure. How about favorite actor or an actress?

Roman Kepczyk [00:05:40]:
You know, I will say Tom Hanks and Forrest Gump. That movie. You know, I grew up, I went to high school in the late 70s, college in the 80s, you know, so that story of any. The running story. My father was in the military, so all that tied together. So I have probably more links to that movie and it’s the one I’ve watched absolutely the most, you know, so I’d say that would be Tom Hanks.

John Garrett [00:06:07]:
Yeah, no, that’s, that’s perfect. How about toilet paper roll? You go over.

Roman Kepczyk [00:06:11]:
Over. Absolutely over. And it’s proven. If you look at the patent, it’s supposed to be over. Everyone else that does it under is wrong. That’s.

John Garrett [00:06:19]:
That’s just wrong. It’s wrong.

Roman Kepczyk [00:06:22]:
You know, you know, you’re, you’re, you have the right to your own opinion, even if it’s wrong. That kind of stuff.

John Garrett [00:06:27]:
Even if it’s wrong.

Roman Kepczyk [00:06:28]:
Right.

John Garrett [00:06:29]:
I did read somewhere that they made it over because I guess you use more. So it was an incentive. So then you would Use more toilet paper to use it faster to then. So that’s why they made the patent that way. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but I believe it. Either way, it’s still right. You’re right.

Roman Kepczyk [00:06:47]:
We’re both fine. But.

John Garrett [00:06:48]:
Yes, exactly.

Roman Kepczyk [00:06:49]:
We agree to disagree.

John Garrett [00:06:51]:
I’ll spend the extra money on a couple extra squares.

Roman Kepczyk [00:06:53]:
There you go.

John Garrett [00:06:56]:
How about Star wars or Star Trek?

Roman Kepczyk [00:06:58]:
You know, I’m a Star wars guy through and through all the way. Yeah, it’s pretty clear. I mean, I enjoyed watching the early Trek stuff, but growing up with kids who also enjoyed the Star wars stuff. Our family. I actually have one son who works in the theme park industry. So going and doing the rides and Star wars and all that stuff, that’s part of our family heritage and culture and all that stuff. So.

John Garrett [00:07:24]:
Yeah. Okay. All right. There you go. How about brownie or ice cream?

Roman Kepczyk [00:07:29]:
You know, I’m a vanilla ice cream guy, and here I think I told you. I spend my summers in Montreal because Phoenix is too hot in the winter and they have ice cream at a level that is a whole generation above of what? You know, flavor value, creaminess, everything. So in Arizona, we’ll go. And it’s just like, you get so disappointed every time you go for ice cream compared to here, where they just do it. Right. So they must have rules on minimum dairy fat or something, because it’s like. It’s sinful, sinfully loaded up.

John Garrett [00:08:04]:
Yeah, exactly. No, which is great. That’s why we’re here. How about a favorite animated character? It could be a Disney character or any animated character.

Roman Kepczyk [00:08:13]:
Gosh. Animated. I will say, you know, we got hooked on the Minions. I have a couple Minions on my shelf. And then. And actually, I’ll step back. Shrek. I have.

John Garrett [00:08:25]:
Oh, okay.

Roman Kepczyk [00:08:25]:
The very first animated character that I bought stuffed and put it up on my shelf was Shrek.

John Garrett [00:08:31]:
Yeah.

Roman Kepczyk [00:08:32]:
Maybe because he’s kind of like that football guy that’s a little bit stocky, who pulls it off, becomes the hero, and hilarious.

John Garrett [00:08:39]:
I mean, that movie’s so great. That movie’s so great. So good. I love it. How about. Yeah, I guess I was going to ask you balance sheet or income statement?

Roman Kepczyk [00:08:50]:
You know, I. Gosh, that’s a tough one because both are important. You should ask them what the statement of changes in financial position is. The one you should be on.

John Garrett [00:09:02]:
Answer.

Roman Kepczyk [00:09:02]:
Yeah.

John Garrett [00:09:02]:
That’s what you want.

Roman Kepczyk [00:09:03]:
Yeah, I want to be moving forward every day, and if I move backwards, I want to analyze it and figure out how can I move Forward another way. And there you go. The balance sheet and income statement don’t show a complete picture.

John Garrett [00:09:15]:
So, yeah, there you go.

Roman Kepczyk [00:09:17]:
Nerdy auditors who will argue with me, but hey.

John Garrett [00:09:20]:
Yeah, but they’re nerd either.

Roman Kepczyk [00:09:21]:
So I’m not a tax or not a guy. I’m an it. I’m a citp.

John Garrett [00:09:25]:
Right, Exactly. Exactly. And they’re probably Star Trek guys anyway, so don’t worry about it. Yeah. Star Trek people or dc.

Roman Kepczyk [00:09:31]:
We’re. We’re a Marvel family also, I’ll admit to it.

John Garrett [00:09:34]:
Okay. Okay. All right. I know that gets really intense, and I’m not aware of a lot of that, so. So, yeah, that’s.

Roman Kepczyk [00:09:40]:
That’s the DC we all had. Most of us had DC leanings because of Superman a long time ago, but, yeah, nowadays with Wolverine and all them, it’s. We’re definitely a Marvel family.

John Garrett [00:09:49]:
That’s. That’s cool. How about a favorite number four?

Roman Kepczyk [00:09:53]:
That’s my birth date, so.

John Garrett [00:09:55]:
Oh, there you go. Okay. Yeah. How about pens or pencils?

Roman Kepczyk [00:10:00]:
You know, I am a pen guy, and I’m also a 0.5. The smallest, thinnest Pentel Micro.

John Garrett [00:10:08]:
Okay.

Roman Kepczyk [00:10:10]:
Box of blue and a box of black. Because when I’m analyzing stuff, I do it all in blue. And then when I do my interviews and make notes on it, I do it in black to let them know that, to know what I learned after the fact. So the black is more important than blue, but the blue keeps me grounded. How about that?

John Garrett [00:10:27]:
There you go. No, that’s. That’s great. And a favorite color. It makes you happy.

Roman Kepczyk [00:10:33]:
I didn’t realize that made me happy.

John Garrett [00:10:34]:
Yeah, you’re right.

Roman Kepczyk [00:10:35]:
It is blue. Yeah. That’s probably why I picked it as my first.

John Garrett [00:10:39]:
Yeah, right, Exactly. We got three more. How about a favorite cereal? Whether you were a kid or now anything.

Roman Kepczyk [00:10:45]:
You know, we were definitely Captain Crunch kids when we were little.

John Garrett [00:10:50]:
Okay.

Roman Kepczyk [00:10:50]:
As I get older and worry about health and all that, I got to do a lot of the fiber one with protein and that kind of stuff.

John Garrett [00:10:57]:
Okay.

Roman Kepczyk [00:10:57]:
All right.

John Garrett [00:10:57]:
I thought you were gonna say Crunch Berries. You, like, leveled up.

Roman Kepczyk [00:11:02]:
No, we had other. You know, we did them all, though. Fruity Pebbles and Pure sugar and all that.

John Garrett [00:11:09]:
Oh, totally. Absolutely. No, that. That’s great. How about. How about. Are you more shower or bath?

Roman Kepczyk [00:11:15]:
I’m a shower 100.

John Garrett [00:11:17]:
Shower in and out. Here we go.

Roman Kepczyk [00:11:19]:
Yeah. And now my wife’s actually got me shaving in the sink beforehand to save water because water conservation is becoming a bigger thing in Arizona. All that. And so. Oh, yeah, I’m changing my habits where now even when I wash the dishes, I will fill a pot or a bowl and wash everything in there and then rinse it before going out, as opposed to keeping the water running when you shave, when you brush your teeth, or when you.

John Garrett [00:11:41]:
Yeah, yeah.

Roman Kepczyk [00:11:41]:
My wife has got me trained.

John Garrett [00:11:43]:
Well, yeah, I was gonna say it’s almost like an extra.

Roman Kepczyk [00:11:46]:
And water conservation Arizona, we think about it a lot.

John Garrett [00:11:50]:
Yeah, yeah, definitely. And the last one, the favorite thing you have or the favorite thing you own.

Roman Kepczyk [00:11:55]:
You know, that was a really hard thing for me because I look at if my house burned down, what would I run with? You know, would it be the photo albums? And I say, well, no, we have everything in the cloud.

John Garrett [00:12:04]:
Sure you do.

Roman Kepczyk [00:12:05]:
You know, those kind of things. And so it was weird that I could not think of a single thing. Thing.

John Garrett [00:12:12]:
Yeah.

Roman Kepczyk [00:12:13]:
But I think, like I said, the thing I would think value the most was, you know, we have backups of our. All our photo albums, so if they burn, they’re all printed in PDF on a hard drive. But we also, because I’m an IT guy, everything is replicated in the cloud every day. So whenever my wife adds pictures of that, it’s there, because that’s where I think I kind of mentioned we’re big adventure people or we love to travel. My wife and I will plan the next two years of all our trips. You know.

John Garrett [00:12:42]:
Okay.

Roman Kepczyk [00:12:42]:
We literally lay it out and then we find adventures to go along with that while we’re on the.

John Garrett [00:12:46]:
Yeah, yeah, that’s great. So the memories that go with the pictures that are.

Roman Kepczyk [00:12:51]:
Yeah, that’s my. Our favorite. I mean, we have to be the. Yeah, the screens. You know, the. The actual, like, photo. Picture displays where. Oh, that’s our last trip.

Roman Kepczyk [00:12:59]:
So, like, I can be eating dinner night, remember? Oh, look at that. That’s. You know, we were just in London and there’s pictures of that. Or we were just.

John Garrett [00:13:04]:
Yeah.

Roman Kepczyk [00:13:05]:
In bvi. So I would say that’s our first favorite stuff. I mean, I. I like bike riding, but I have, you know, different bikes in different places. I wouldn’t say anyone’s a favorite, but that would be my favorite thing to do. You know, my wife and I, we go. We bike ride to see stuff around there, so.

John Garrett [00:13:23]:
Yeah. Yeah. No, I love it, man. And so let’s. That kind of lends into triathlons a bit, the biking and so. Because, I mean, that’s running, biking, and swimming. Is that right? That’s the three in the tri. And how did you get started? With that?

Roman Kepczyk [00:13:38]:
Well, yeah, pretty much. Like I mentioned, when I was younger, I transitioned to running and I was actually a pretty decent runner. I used to run in a three and a half hour marathon. So that’s like a 7:30 pace.

John Garrett [00:13:49]:
That’s fast. Yeah.

Roman Kepczyk [00:13:50]:
And then, you know, you get into school and I didn’t have a car, I had a bike. And I lived about 10 miles away from school and work. And so I was doing 20 miles biking every day. You know, I did that for four years. So I thought I actually even joined a small team just to get, you know, better at it. And then like I said, I was a lifeguard all through college, so we were required to swim. And so I had all the components of it. And I did a few triathlons when I was like in college.

Roman Kepczyk [00:14:19]:
But I had a buddy who, it was actually a neighbor who I, you know, we met, started talking and he said, you know, I like to run. We’d like to run. And we ran a mar. We ran the Phoenix Rock and Roll inaugural marathon together. And then he said, you know, I always wanted to do these triathlons and stuff. And I said, you know, I used to swim a lot and I used to bike a lot. And we started talking about it and the next thing you knew, we signed up for Half Ironman in California. Actually, it was the Mission Bay, San Diego first.

Roman Kepczyk [00:14:46]:
Then we did the Half Ironman. And we, you know, at that point we decided we’re going to train for a full. And it was great because it. We’re lifelong friends, our wives, we travel together, our kids all know each other. Yeah, we still, to this day, this is probably 25 years later, we go to San Diego with them every fall break just to spend a week or more together and hang out. But that it just started as kind of a challenge. And I said, you know, that’s something I’ve always been very impressed with these people who can, you know, the swim is 4,000 meters, so it’s about a 75 minute. It’s 2.4 miles.

Roman Kepczyk [00:15:24]:
So it’s about 75 minutes swimming, the bike is 112 miles, which is like six hours. And the run’s a marathon. After doing all that.

John Garrett [00:15:33]:
Golly. And that’s at the end.

Roman Kepczyk [00:15:35]:
That’s at the end.

John Garrett [00:15:36]:
Oh, man.

Roman Kepczyk [00:15:36]:
So, yeah, it was 12 and a half hours for me. But I learned a ton of stuff about discipline, about basically organizing stuff about laying, you know.

John Garrett [00:15:49]:
Yeah.

Roman Kepczyk [00:15:49]:
The best part is my friend, he’ll laugh at. This is the exact opposite. He’s the most disorganized person. Whereas I’m the extreme office at the heart.

John Garrett [00:15:58]:
Right.

Roman Kepczyk [00:15:59]:
Like, when we go, I have two of everything to erase together. He forgets stuff. I mean, he’s forgotten shoes, he’s forgotten shorts, he’s broken his goggles. And I have spares of everything. And even, like on my bag, I have a list of. Here’s the 17 things I got to do when I. Before I get on the bike. And it’s sunblock, putting on your socks in order, drying your feet, Vaseline between the toes.

Roman Kepczyk [00:16:22]:
You know, I have everything organized. And he’ll go, dang, I forgot my gels. And I always have spares in my bag and get it to him. But it works for us because he’s much more serendipitous. I mean, he’s just off the cuff. One night we were in San Diego and he goes, let’s go swim La Jolla. And I go, sure. We swim out there.

Roman Kepczyk [00:16:41]:
We’re like having a great time. With the sun sets, it’s dark. We are a half mile offshore.

John Garrett [00:16:46]:
Swimming in the dark.

Roman Kepczyk [00:16:47]:
Yeah.

John Garrett [00:16:47]:
So he’s.

Roman Kepczyk [00:16:48]:
He’s responsible for probably the biggest adventures of my training experiences and all that.

John Garrett [00:16:54]:
Yeah.

Roman Kepczyk [00:16:54]:
And I’m probably responsible for helping him get through those events when he forgot stuff. So it’s just awesome. Little relationship that lifelong.

John Garrett [00:17:05]:
Yeah, no, that’s fantastic. And. And you’ve done more than just that, Iron Man.

Roman Kepczyk [00:17:10]:
Yeah, I’ve done.

John Garrett [00:17:11]:
I mean, you’ve done others.

Roman Kepczyk [00:17:13]:
Seven half Ironmans, including Escape from Alcatraz, which is kind of a unique one. Where the start is, is they. You jump off a giant ferry right off of Alcatraz island. And you have to swim in 51 degree water with heavy current. And. And they have. It’s safe because there’s lots of boats there and paddle boarders that if you get in trouble, they’ll pull you out.

John Garrett [00:17:35]:
You know, you get swept out under the Golden Gate Bridge. Like all the stories, it’s very.

Roman Kepczyk [00:17:40]:
That it’s. But they always do the race when the tide is pushing in so that the current goes a little bit. So, you know, they get 2200 people jumping off this boat.

John Garrett [00:17:50]:
Oh, my gosh.

Roman Kepczyk [00:17:51]:
But as soon as you jump off, you see the person’s already being drifted away. So everyone just.

John Garrett [00:17:56]:
You’re.

Roman Kepczyk [00:17:56]:
You’re long line just jumping, jumping, jumping, and you’re swimming as hard as you can towards the shore.

John Garrett [00:18:01]:
Oh, my goodness.

Roman Kepczyk [00:18:02]:
You know, you get out of the water and your hands and feet are like totally numb. You can’t feel a thing. So it’s like running on stumps. It’s just, It’s.

John Garrett [00:18:10]:
Yeah, but it is.

Roman Kepczyk [00:18:11]:
It’s a cool adventure because you see you ride your bike in the hills of San Francisco. You run along that beach below the Golden Gate. Oh, yeah, yeah. So like I said, our triathlons have always been a way to see cool places to try to motivate you to train, you know, and just share great experiences together.

John Garrett [00:18:31]:
Yeah. No, I love it, man. That’s. That’s so cool. And do you feel like any of that translates to work at all?

Roman Kepczyk [00:18:39]:
Absolutely. You know, it’s being. You have to be uber organized and detailed and at least for my part of it, and because I’m an IT consultant to CPA firms, I’m a lean Six Sigma black belt. I’m a cpa citp. But all that to say is I help accountants implement processes step by step and identifying if there’s a process that doesn’t work, is there a more efficient way of doing things? And so, like, when you’re in a triathlon, the way you get dressed in a specific order, you know, you know that because if you put on, you know, if you don’t dry off first, your shirt’s going to stick and you’re going to fight it.

John Garrett [00:19:14]:
Yeah.

Roman Kepczyk [00:19:15]:
Having, you know, everything organized in the best, most effective, and practicing it becomes more efficient, becomes rote, and minimizes flaws, which, like in the accounting firms, you know, I help them integrate, tax, assign the work to the right person, utilizing the digital tools that work for their specific instance. So it’s all about organization, having standards, knowing how to do it just to minimize errors, you know?

John Garrett [00:19:42]:
Yeah. So it’s almost like exercising this muscle outside of work, and then at work you’re like, oh, yeah. I mean, I got this because this is what I do. I mean, it’s almost in my DNA.

Roman Kepczyk [00:19:53]:
Yeah. And when, you know, I usually, like, visit 20 firms a year, and they’re all different. So it’s the same thing. Every race is different. And so train well for it. You experience it, you’re gonna do good at it, you know?

John Garrett [00:20:02]:
Yeah, no, that’s. That’s awesome, man. And do you share this with clients and co workers? Do they know this side of you?

Roman Kepczyk [00:20:09]:
You know, I will say that they know more the travel side of it than the adventures. But I like, you know, my friends that get to know me, you know, they always ask me, what’s your next race? What’s your next event that you’re finding? We did, like, you know, for me, I’ve gotten just recently into open water swimming where, like, you know, I’m starting to look. As you get older, the running and it gets harder on the knees and the hips.

John Garrett [00:20:33]:
Sure, yeah.

Roman Kepczyk [00:20:34]:
But we were in Cancun with the kids last year, and they have this race that goes from Cancun to Il de Mujeres, which is a 10k swim.

John Garrett [00:20:41]:
So I’m like, yeah, that’s nice.

Roman Kepczyk [00:20:43]:
So, yeah, we talk about just our next adventures and that’s how that those discussions kind of creep in at work. Everyone knows that my wife and I love to travel. So they’re like, where are you going to next? Or where did you just go?

John Garrett [00:20:55]:
Yeah.

Roman Kepczyk [00:20:55]:
And that’s usually.

John Garrett [00:20:57]:
How does that feel when people ask you about your ends?

Roman Kepczyk [00:21:00]:
Oh, it just, you know, they know it’s a personal connection because they know it’s something that I am passionate about. That.

John Garrett [00:21:07]:
Yeah.

Roman Kepczyk [00:21:08]:
That we do together. And we share best practices, best stories. You know, people know because I’m so detailed, they always ask for my vacation maps. You know, we’re going to Portugal. We did Iceland last year, and I have a map on PowerPoint that has every dot where we’re going, how many kilometers or miles it is, what the adventure we’re gonna do there, you know, There you go. You know, Iceland. We did a boat ride on this place where James Bond filmed one of the movies, I think Diamonds Are Forever, and raced Austin Martin into an iceberg. So it was kind of like, that’s the kind of.

Roman Kepczyk [00:21:45]:
I love useless facts. That’s another thing that everyone knows that I remember the thing that’s least important in everyone’s mind, but I can remember it when it’s important. You know that that’s good.

John Garrett [00:21:56]:
You’re like Rick Steves as the watches back. Yeah. Romans coming for you.

Roman Kepczyk [00:22:01]:
Yeah.

John Garrett [00:22:01]:
You know, like the travel guides and everything. That’s so great. Yeah. Because, I mean, it’s. It’s. Wow. People know me, Roman, not me. Cpacitp.

John Garrett [00:22:11]:
You know, work side. You know, it’s. It’s all of me type of thing. And, you know, it just feels, you know, wow. I feel seen and valued and appreciated, you know, type of thing as a human.

Roman Kepczyk [00:22:23]:
It goes beyond the work. Yeah. It’s something about I care about your family and what you’re doing. And, you know, we have commonalities that go beyond just sitting here cranking out tax workflow.

John Garrett [00:22:36]:
Thank goodness. Right. I mean, gosh, you know, it’s wild to me, though, how so many people just go through their lives, so many waking hours at work, and the only commonality they think they have is the cranking out, you know, the work product.

Roman Kepczyk [00:22:53]:
Because in accounting firms, you know.

John Garrett [00:22:57]:
Yeah.

Roman Kepczyk [00:22:58]:
Especially as you get into a firm where you become more compartmentalized, where you become tagged as a tax person or as an assurance person, we tend to even become narrower now that we’re niches. You know, my firm did auto dealerships, we had. Auditors would just do that. So as you said, the higher you go in your career, oftentimes the narrower you get and the more focused you get. And again, it’s all about that work as opposed to, you know, all the other things you do outside of that that most people may not even be aware of.

John Garrett [00:23:26]:
Yeah. And how important do you think it is that people share these a little bit aside of, you know, their outside of work sides or create these connections?

Roman Kepczyk [00:23:36]:
It’s kind of like with my buddy Dave and I, is you make these connections so that you build trust with the other person, you build honesty that, you know. Whereas if a job’s not going well and you’re not sure how to handle it, it opens it up to. I think you’re more apt to say, hey, I need help on this, as opposed to having a boss that only looking at you for doing the work. That’s it. Whereas when you have that trust and that connection, you know, you may not say it in front of a group, but you may pull the partner aside and say, hey, I need help on this, that kind of thing. And, you know, they’re not going to embarrass you because they’re, You’re. They’re beyond just a work employee. They’re a friend.

Roman Kepczyk [00:24:14]:
You know what I mean? Or, yeah, you know, a true colleague, where we’re all trying to work together, you know, moving forward. And it’s not always just about work.

John Garrett [00:24:23]:
Yeah. I mean, through all the work that I’ve done with organizations, it’s wild how this. What’s your and philosophy. It bridges generational differences. It bridges DEI differences. You know, any critical feedback isn’t so critical because it’s almost like, yeah, you pulling your buddy aside and just be like, hey, I know you can do better, as opposed to, the only time I talk to you is to tell you how dumb you are, you know, and how you messed everything up.

Roman Kepczyk [00:24:49]:
And we’ve all seen examples of that in firms. You know, actually, that’s probably why they bring you in.

John Garrett [00:24:54]:
That’s. Yeah, right. Well, usually now they’re the people that are the decision makers. So sometimes we got to dance around that where it’s like, let’s Pretend there was someone here that maybe did. Even though everyone’s pointing at, you know, that one person, it’s like, oh, Lord. But yeah, but I mean, you know, I experienced it early on, you know, and then that’s a manager I don’t want to work for anymore. You know, I’ll get on other projects type of thing. And you know, and it doesn’t have to be that way.

John Garrett [00:25:22]:
It really doesn’t. And it’s just everything comes alive. It’s almost like everything’s in color now, you know, once you just peek into a little bit behind the curtain.

Roman Kepczyk [00:25:33]:
Yeah. Work together as a team and it improves the culture of the firm and it improves the work environment for everyone, you know.

John Garrett [00:25:41]:
Yeah.

Roman Kepczyk [00:25:42]:
When we have connectivity.

John Garrett [00:25:44]:
Yeah, it really does. And I guess. Do you have any words of encouragement to people that are listening where, you know, they have an and or, I mean, one we didn’t touch on, which I think is so. I mean, building sandcastles, like, is a huge passion of yours, like next level, like award winning sand castles. And I mean, was that from when you were. Because there’s not like beaches in Phoenix for that. No.

Roman Kepczyk [00:26:09]:
Well, when we. I was born in Berlin, my dad was in the Special Forces and so we came to the States. Fort Bragg, North Carolina, when he passed away. My mom basically loved beaches and so she would take my brother and I down to Myrtle beach from Fayetteville. That’s where we’re living.

John Garrett [00:26:26]:
Okay. Yeah.

Roman Kepczyk [00:26:27]:
And when we talk about childhood memories, it was always going to the beach. When we moved to Arizona, every summer, she would take us to San Diego or LA for maybe not a week, but for a few days up to a week. And we look at. Those were kind of like the happiest times for me. And so, you know, we play in the water and then, gosh, one of the last vacations we took together all as a family was in Cape Cod. And we saw this video, the store that had this thing, you know, sandcastles, can you dig it? And it was just a video with tools while we started building castles that were, you know, once you understand the process, like anything else, you don’t even have to be good, but you can make it look good. And we just.

John Garrett [00:27:08]:
Yeah.

Roman Kepczyk [00:27:08]:
From that point forward, my family, for the last 25 years, every time we’d go to a beach, we would make a castle and the kids have grown and they don’t go on vacation as much with us. But every time I go to a beach, it’s like my Zen. I’m at one of My favorite places in the world, listening to the water. And while other people may be, like, reading books or something, I’ll start stacking, stand. You know, I can make anything a tool, whether it’s a paper cup, a straw, a butter knife, you know, plastic butter.

John Garrett [00:27:38]:
Yeah.

Roman Kepczyk [00:27:39]:
And it just got to the point where it evolved.

John Garrett [00:27:41]:
Evolved.

Roman Kepczyk [00:27:42]:
Where I will build for three to six hours a day when there’s nothing going on. If there’s time to go. When Sylvia says it’s time to go for a walk, we go for a walk. If it’s time to eat, we eat. But when there’s downtime, I will be in the sand digging and learning how to get better and enjoying it. You know, it’s crazy because, you know, it’s never. It’s not going to be there tomorrow, but it’s one of those things when I’m in the moment, I can get so focused and it’s a total, you know, change from what I do sitting at a desk, typing and, you know.

John Garrett [00:28:13]:
Yes.

Roman Kepczyk [00:28:14]:
Just. My mind just goes free.

John Garrett [00:28:17]:
Yeah. Well, it goes back to childhood. And it’s. It’s that part of you. Deeper piece of you that needs to come out and you’re feeding it, which is great. You know, a lot of people be like, oh, that’s what kids do. And, you know, just, you know, continue. Oh, I invite kids.

Roman Kepczyk [00:28:30]:
Kids will come up and I’ll make them a mound and show them how to do it. And they get excited because it’s fun for them. But that’s, you know, for me, it’s just. It’s wonderful.

John Garrett [00:28:41]:
Yeah, you’re like a sandcastle Yoda. You’re like, just teaching them how to. How to do all this. See what I did? I brought Star wars back in. Look at that. That was awesome.

Roman Kepczyk [00:28:50]:
And once you know the technique, it is amazing. You can build castles like they see on tv. So I’ll share some of those with you.

John Garrett [00:28:56]:
Yeah, no, that’s. That’s awesome, man. Well, do you have any words of encouragement to people listening that maybe they love to build sandcastles or run triathlons or. It has nothing to do with their job, you know, and so maybe they think people don’t care, so why should I talk about it or share it with anyone?

Roman Kepczyk [00:29:11]:
I think for personal growth, we need to have something that we truly are passionate about, because when you get close to retirement, you stop work. You need to continue with some kind of passion and you need to develop or not need, but. And we can develop new passions as you retire and all those things. But yeah, it helps a lot to really identify what you like doing, what you truly like doing. Yeah. And be able to find an environment where you’re happy with it. Like, I used to be a great runner. Now I’m happy if I can just finish a 5K, you know.

John Garrett [00:29:45]:
Right.

Roman Kepczyk [00:29:45]:
It’s being part of the experience and all that. That’s. I was passionate about the experience. I don’t. I’ll never have another per. I mean, I might have a personal best when I’m later, but it never. I’ll never beat the races and stuff I did when I was younger.

John Garrett [00:29:56]:
Yeah.

Roman Kepczyk [00:29:57]:
You know, and finding something you can do with people you like being around.

John Garrett [00:30:02]:
Right.

Roman Kepczyk [00:30:03]:
What I like. I love cooking with my wife. I love doing races with friends like Dave.

John Garrett [00:30:09]:
Yeah.

Roman Kepczyk [00:30:10]:
You know, so it’s finding a passion that’s part of your community, part of your family, you know, that just happens naturally, you know. My bike.

John Garrett [00:30:19]:
Yeah.

Roman Kepczyk [00:30:19]:
My wife and I love bike riding, and we live across from a park. We have bikes here that we’ll go. Just go have ice cream and come back. And so it’s finding.

John Garrett [00:30:26]:
Yeah.

Roman Kepczyk [00:30:26]:
Something. You really enjoy doing it and then raising it a notch, you know?

John Garrett [00:30:31]:
Yeah.

Roman Kepczyk [00:30:32]:
Like I said.

John Garrett [00:30:33]:
Or making time for it. And then. Yeah. If you bring your family along. Well, I’m doing this so, like, you guys can come along if you want, but, you know, this is happening, you know, because it’s important to me, you know, sort of a thing. And then. And then it just. It’s more fun with others, you know, that you care about.

John Garrett [00:30:51]:
So that’s. That’s awesome, man. Well, since I so rudely peppered you at the beginning of the show, it’s only fair I turn this around, make it the Roman Kepczyk podcast, and we. We get going. And please don’t ask me the last time I changed my password, but other than that, like, it’s all good.

Roman Kepczyk [00:31:07]:
Well, you know, like I said, I know you guys, you ask a lot of different questions about what’s, you know, what people do. What is the wildest. Like, what the heck story have you ever had when someone says you ask them about their passion.

John Garrett [00:31:19]:
Oh.

Roman Kepczyk [00:31:20]:
About their “Ands”, the wildest “And”.

John Garrett [00:31:24]:
Yeah. I mean, it’s. It’s kind of like they’re all awesome. Like, they’re all. They’re all. I mean, you know, it’s like, you know, what’s your favorite kid? Or what’s your favorite. It’s like, you know, I love them all. Like, they’re.

John Garrett [00:31:35]:
They’re all. They’re all great because I accidentally created A show where I get you most alive. You know, like we’re talking to, you know, a deeper you. I mean, just a little bit ago I had someone who’s. And that he was a Zen priest, like Buddhist Zen. Like. Yeah. Side of things.

John Garrett [00:31:53]:
And so that was. That got deep in a hurry, which was great. But that was an interesting one. I had someone on who makes stained glass, you know, just for fun. Goes down to the stained glass making shop or whatever. I don’t know. To make stained glass. I didn’t even know.

John Garrett [00:32:09]:
I mean, I see stained glass, but. Oh yeah, I guess people make it. I mean, you know, so I didn’t even think about that part of it, you know, sort of thing. And you know, some of them are, you know, I knew someone that was a. Actually a signed country music artist. Like he actually was money on the side. Like. Yeah.

John Garrett [00:32:27]:
Doing things. And so that, you know, that’s like, oh, okay. But you know, but even the simple ones, you know, like, hey, I do a 5k walk for charity every year. Okay, great. You know, like that’s. That’s two, you know, and it doesn’t have to be record breaking or, you know, professionals. And it’s definitely not side hustle. It’s just this is a part of my soul that needs to come out and sometimes, you know, it gets bigger than it needs to be or.

John Garrett [00:32:54]:
But you know, even little ways is still. Still awesome.

Roman Kepczyk [00:32:57]:
Yeah.

John Garrett [00:32:58]:
So yeah, but those are, those are just some that come to mind. But yeah, but what’s interesting though is if I see the list of all my guests and now, I mean, it’s a lot. I can tell you what every person’s and was. What their job is. I cannot do because it’s like I don’t even know what their job is. And I probably don’t even care what their job is because I know who they are. Their. Their job’s probably changed.

John Garrett [00:33:22]:
I mean, I’ve been doing this for eight or nine years now. So it’s like, you know, they probably have a different job by now, but their aunt’s probably still the same. So. So that’s what’s pretty. Pretty cool about it.

Roman Kepczyk [00:33:31]:
And where’s your favorite like, conference you’ve been to? Like, I know I’ve seen you at two conferences, accounting conferences. But yeah, we talk about. Don’t. Not accounting, but any conference. I know you speak at all these places. What would be your favorite group type to talk to?

John Garrett [00:33:48]:
Oh, wow, that’s a. Interesting question. All of them, in case they’re listening.

Roman Kepczyk [00:33:57]:
Because we always Say it’s like when you’re talking to another accountant and you’re like in an open meeting of everything and they say you’re a CPA unless they have a tax question. We’re saying it’s like date birth control. Oh, that’s nice. I think that my drink is empty. You know that’s it, right?

John Garrett [00:34:12]:
Yeah, exactly. You know, I mean I think tech conferences or maybe even like tech user conferences only because they care about the experience beyond like there’s the content, but they care about the experience around it. What’s it packaged in, what’s all of it around it and where some of these professional conferences and it could be law, it could be accounting, it could be banking, it can be engineering. They’re so worried about the content that they completely miss and forget about what do you want people to feel? Because if they’re feeling nothing or if they’re feeling bored out of their skull, then the content doesn’t matter. They’re not going to get any of it. And so it’s how do you create this? And I think it goes back to. Because I have the cpa, but I also was a professional comedian for years and two Emmy nominated award shows and done some big stuff. So I have both brains and so I really look at it that way and I think that more people need to.

John Garrett [00:35:22]:
And if you don’t have that other brain, whichever side get a partner that does and get their perspective. So those are the conferences that I really enjoy are the ones that just break the mold and just make it what you want it to be instead of pretending to be another conference because there’s enough of those.

Roman Kepczyk [00:35:41]:
Well, I do 20 accounting conferences or webinars a year. Yeah, that’s what I do. And I’m the same with you, the tech. I go to the International CES Consumer Electronics show where it’s all about every product out there. It’s just that is like an eye opener. Like you said, it’s an extreme experience to go and see these things and the way they’re pitching all that, you know, I only know accounting conferences. So that’s like I said, it’s a pleasure to be outside of that. So I can totally agree.

John Garrett [00:36:08]:
Yeah. And I swim a lot outside of. I’m pretty agnostic on industries because I truly think that there’s good ideas all around. Yeah. And you know, your clients have good ideas that you could easily skim and make your own or you know, other industries have ways of doing things that oh wow, we could do our version of that. You know, type of thing. And, you know, I always say, like, you know, just because you’re a CPA firm doesn’t mean you have to act like one. Or, you know, just because you’re an engineer doesn’t mean you have to act like one.

John Garrett [00:36:38]:
You know, like, I mean, you know, it’s act like you. Because we already have enough versions of all of those, you know, like, make your own thing. So. Yeah. Well, thanks so much, Roman, for being a part of this and just being a living example of what’s your. And this was really, really fun.

Roman Kepczyk [00:36:55]:
Well, thank you.

John Garrett [00:36:57]:
Yeah. And everybody listening. If you want to see some pictures of Roman in action or connect with him on social media, be sure to go to whatsyourand.com everything’s there. And while you’re on the page, please click that big button and do the anonymous research survey about corporate culture. And don’t forget to read the book. So thanks again for subscribing on Apple podcasts or whatever app you use and for sharing this with your friends so they get the message that we’re all trying to spread that who you are is so much more than what you do.