For This Tax-Resolution Firm, Business Is Personal
FinishLine Tax Solutions approaches tax relief by putting customers first.
Scott Curley remembers his childhood friend-turned-business-partner Brian Gordon as the type of kid who wore a tie and carried a briefcase through middle school and high school. Gordon knew, even at that young age, that he would succeed. Curley didn’t share Gordon’s fashion sense, but he did possess the same drive.
The co-CEOs of FinishLine Tax Solutions, a firm that negotiates resolution agreements for clients who have tax problems, grew up in Crosby, Texas, as friendly rivals. In fact, whenever they found themselves in a game or match together, their peers made them play on opposite teams, no matter the sport. No one else had a chance of winning when Gordon and Curley were on the same side.
“I will tell you, that dude right there,” says Curley, pointing to Gordon, “we fought almost every day because we were so outrageously competitive. We’d fight and we’d play, we’d fight and we’d play. But we never tried to hurt each other. We were just trying to be the best. We were wired that way.”
LEADING WITH HEART
Forty years later, the “boys” became business partners in their own tax-resolution company. Prior to working together at FinishLine, they had each worked in sales at other large tax-resolution firms. Neither felt good about their jobs. Gordon says the business treated people like numbers. Curley recalls one client calling to say she forgave him for the horrible way the firm had treated her. They left their high-paying positions to create a firm that emphasized customer service over sales. Gordon invested $2,000 to kick things off. “When we partnered, we agreed we wouldn’t
chase the money—that if we focused on service, the money would come,” Gordon says.
Within its first week, FinishLine turned $2,000 into $10,000. In a year, the company reached $1 million in revenue. This year, they made the Inc. 5000 list of America’s fastest-growing private companies, with a three-year growth rate of nearly 500 percent. The partners credit success to sheer willpower and putting their hearts and souls into their work. “When we take on a client, whether they owe $5,000 or $500,000 to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), it is very personal to us. We want them to be treated the way we would want to be treated if we were in that situation. The whole saying, ‘It’s strictly business, not personal’? That doesn’t apply to the way we think and operate,” Curley explains.
FAST GROWTH, UNLIMITED POTENTIAL
FinishLine is self-funded and focused on impact, as opposed to cash. “Over these past six years, we have helped thousands and thousands of people get their lives back on track. There is no dollar value you could place on that,” Gordon says.
The partners are confident they have the talented and experienced team in place to achieve continued explosive growth. “We would like to be the best tax-resolution firm we can be,” Gordon explains. “If that equates to becoming the largest, then by all means. But we will never sacrifice the integrity of what we do.”
Curley and Gordon have something special—a partnership based on a shared past as well as shared values. But they want entrepreneurs to know anyone can succeed if they are determined. “The only thing that stands between you and your success is your commitment to that success,” Curley says. “The rest is just details.”