EDM and Taxes
by Helen Geary
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Josh Norris, Influencer + Tax Season
When I say “fiscal responsibility”, what image does your brain conjure? A bull and a bear? A wrinkly, old dude in a suit shouting things like “pension” and “NASDAQ” and “damn millennials”?
Surprisingly, Josh Norris, Principal at Corkern + Norris (C+N), is none of these things.
Mantle. is teaming up with Josh and C+N to offer Mantle. members a free tax consultation for new businesses filing taxes for the first time, or an established business looking to find a new accountant in the neighborhood. Besides being a charter member of the City Club, Josh’s firms are located right around the corner from Mantle. City Club in Fondren.
You may recognize his name if you have been with us for a while. Josh penned this Death + Taxes blog post two tax seasons ago giving some great off-the-cuff advice about starting a new business. You may have also seen him around the City Club or at Mantle. events.
I sat down with Josh to discuss tax season (😭), filing taxes for new businesses, and to get to know this 30-something who runs his own boutique accounting and financial advisory firms. Quickly, I could tell how calm, cool and collected he is — a little cliche but true. Josh isn’t old or wrinkly, and he didn’t even show up in a suit. He’s young, hip, has great taste in books and music, and has some solid tips to ease the stress swirling around us during tax season.
When he’s not slaving away crunching numbers, you can find Josh at Crossfit Jxn or cruising to Barrelhouse for a drink with friends. When he takes some time to himself, he checks out in books. Malcolm Gladwell and Michael Lewis books are more likely going to be stuck in his backpack, but Selden Edwards’s “The Little Book” is one of Josh’s all-time faves — though he rarely reads fiction. He compares reading Edwards’s novel to watching a TV show full of twists, turns and multiple plot lines that all sporadically come together in unexpected ways — sign me up!
When conversation turned to music, he lit up; we got lost in the music world.
Josh rattled off names across the board — The Avett Brothers, The Band, The Killers, Tegan & Sara, The Kills, Oasis. When I thought his taste couldn’t get more diverse, he hit me with this- his Jlab Epic Air wireless headphones are often pumping EDM (Electronic Dance Music).
Find More Awesome Eats, Beats, and Gear at Local Mantle. City Club Partners.
The way he described it, high energy house music is like a soundtrack to his daily activities. He seemed hesitant in telling me this, but I share it because I think it’s his secret to success. We always want someone’s secret to success to be some crazy big business philosophy. Sometimes it’s as simple as head bobbing to EDM while you take the office trash out.
Josh also shared several techniques with me that he uses to keep organized. After all, he runs his own shop. In his own words, “I lick every stamp and put together every tax return.”
For Josh, his lean office is an advantage not a hindrance. He takes the time to personally get to know each and every client, whether it’s a simple tax return or managing an entire company’s financial plan. He is an intentional listener with a very calm personality.
When I asked him if he is always like that, he laughed and said yes. “I’m not dominating in meetings,” he noted. “Clients like that.” Josh believes in building trust with his clients. “If you continually forget stuff, people will stop being forgiving.”
C+N is a paperless company. Josh relies on technology like his Fujitso scanner that makes being paperless so easy. Combined with his three HP Pavilion 21.5” monitors, he keeps solid organization and communication with clients.
Maintaining a paperless office gives C+N and LeFleur Financial — his financial consulting firm — a step up. Paperless helps Josh remember more and lose less. Josh uses things like Google Calendar and emailing himself a checklist to keep track of all of his appointments and day to day tasks.
While most of his business is done digitally, nothing can beat a good old fashioned to-do list on a legal pad. He keeps several small legal pads at the ready and separates them by daily tasks and weekly to-dos. It’s not quite bullet journaling, but it’s what works for Josh to keep it all straight.
Josh Norris is the Principal of Corkern + Norris & LeFleur Financial.
