Exploring Life & Business with Tim Petrey of White Glove Payroll

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tim Petrey.  

Hi Tim, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I was born and raised in the Youngstown area. My mother passed away when I was 4 years old, and our father was not involved in our lives. We were lucky to have been raised by my mother’s family. Her sister took us in her home, and spent a lot of time with our grandma on the west side of Youngstown. Although we had a unique childhood, we were raised to be kind and work hard. My brother and I knew that we didn’t have any options to fall back on, which taught us a different level of work ethic than most. I started going to college at Youngstown State University while in high school, thanks to a guidance counselor that cared enough to acknowledged that staying in high school would only make things more difficult for me. I worked full-time throughout college at the Blue Beacon Truck Wash. I learned a ton about myself and what it meant to work hard during that time. During my time at the Blue Beacon, our team received national recognition for production results, and I was asked to travel and train other locations in the country while I was there. College was a unique time in my life. I was in between places often. I stayed with various family members and my girlfriend’s (wife now) families house, and for a semester or two, I worked the midnight shift, “showered” at the truck wash, and slept in my car or on campus so I could take the classes I needed to take while still working to pay for it. 

I enjoyed college at Youngstown State University, but I met professors there that genuinely took an interest in my success and were always willing to spend extra time with me to help me understand concepts. I eventually realized that college was valuable for the education but almost equally as valuable because of the people I would meet and the lifelong friendships I would create with my colleagues. In my final year at YSU, I made the effort to join more groups and work hard at building a network to help me find a job after school. 

I was done with school in the fall of 2008, with the exception of an internship and one class. In 2009 I interned with a local CPA firm but did not get hired for a full-time job afterwards as the job market was pretty ugly at the time. I applied to and/or interviewed with all of the other local firms with no success in finding a job. I finally found a job, BUT I would have had to move away from Youngstown. I was set to start a job in Washington, DC in the Spring of 2010. In the interim, I still needed a job. 

I was introduced to Harold Davis in the summer of 2009. He needed some help at his firm in Liberty Township, and I was willing to do whatever I could do to gain some experience and help. I interviewed and followed up multiple times to secure what originally was to be a temporary job. I started working at HD Davis CPAs in 2009 as the receptionist for $9 an hour. Harold and I hit it off, and we both realized quickly that we had something special together. He spent a tremendous amount of time in developing and mentoring me. In exchange, I worked my tail off to show my gratitude for that. For the first 10 years of my career, I would work from January-April 7 days a week and generally a minimum of 12 hours a day. For the rest of the year, I would work a more normal schedule but still 50+ work weeks at minimum. 

When I started at HD Davis CPAs, there were 4 other employees, and we were doing about $400,000 in annual revenue. By 2012 I had sat for my CPA exam, gaining my credentials in 2013. From that point, Harold and I really started to push forward with a whole new game plan. We knew at that point that the end game would be for me to take over the firm when Harold was ready to retire. In 2015, I was named a partner and, later that year, took over the operations of the firm. In 2018, Harold began phasing out into retirement and was fully retired by 2020. 

Our firm has gone through some tremendous growth during that time. In 2023 we have about 75 employees over our now two companies (HD Davis CPAs and White Glove Payroll) and are projected to do over $7M in revenue this year. Even more importantly, our firm has been recognized nationally for our culture. We were named the number one firm for women to work in the country by Accounting Today in 2022 (top three in 2021). We were named the number 2 small/medium-sized business to work in the state of Ohio by Crains. We were named in the top ten for the last two years of small/medium-sized firms overall to work in country. In addition, I was personally recognized as a 40 under 40 by CPA Practice advisor as well as the Ohio 500 list in 2022. 

In 2022 we purchased and renovated a new facility covering a 30,000-square-foot footprint in Liberty Township and plan to call this facility our home for many years to come. Our firm has quickly become a local leader in succession planning, CFO Services, Payroll and HR Consulting, Tax Services, and Advisory Services. 

Over the last 7 years, I’ve also invested in and incubated various small businesses to get them on solid ground before transitioning them back to their owners full-time. We’ve worked closely to build and scale businesses like Youngstown Clothing Company, Sherman Creative, and Yo Big Bounce. 

I’m a proud father of two boys, Nathan and Nolan, and a lucky husband to my wife Carla. We currently live in Canfield, Ohio. We are very active in our community as my wife volunteers her time to assist our children’s schools, and I currently sit on two local non-profit boards. I’m currently the Treasurer at OH Wow- Roger and Gloria Children’s Science and Technology Center (since 2016) and Brite Energy Innovators in Warren (started in January of 2023). 

We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Nothing about this has been smooth until more recently. It’s gotten smoother over the years as we’ve been able to hire and develop an amazing team of people. 

During COVID, we had some unbelievable challenges. My main business partner retired, and two business partners replaced him. A few months into the pandemic one of those partners left for another opportunity, and six months later another partner we had running one of our satellite offices passed away from complications from COVID. This was the most stressful and busiest time of my career. Every single client needed our help urgently. We earned a tremendous amount of respect from our clients and community during this period because we worked around the clock for the majority of that two-year period to make sure none of our clients were left behind and received the help they needed. 

There were “nos” at every corner of my career. None of the other CPA firms wanted to hire me; many clients were uneasy about hiring us because we were a new name and a very young firm, staff didn’t consider working at our office because we were less established and didn’t have the brand recognition that other firms in our area had. 

At every corner, we found a new wall we needed to run through. Eventually, though, our team saw that tenacity, and it became infectious. Now we have a large group of people that work very hard not only for their clients but they work hard to help each other succeed. 

We’ve been impressed with White Glove Payroll, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
This business is my baby. I founded this business on a very simple concept. Customer Service is our number one priority. We built a unique infrastructure that allows for this entire team to be remote and have very flexible schedules. We built this business to employ stay-at-home parents. We felt that we could trade flexibility for an unbelievable level of customer service. Many of our team members have found a great way to work and live their lives in a very unique harmony. For example, our Director of Operations has spent the last few years traveling the country with her boyfriend who had a job that required a ton of travel. She was able to grow our business, manage her team and ensure the highest level of customer service while never maintaining a consistent office. 

We compete with national payroll providers. We provide Payroll and HR Services. Unlike our competition, we are not a software provider. We are a service provider, and we take that service seriously. 

This business means a lot to me for a few different reasons. We’re taking care of small and medium-sized businesses that really need our level of customer service. We are taking great care of our employees, and we are very involved in supporting our community. This business checks every box for me about something that I am very proud to have been able to be involved in. 

Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
I work hard to ensure that our young staff take care of themselves. In my first few years of an office job, I gained a ton of weight and become unhealthy fast. I’ve since worked hard to become healthier, but it was not a quick or easy journey. I talk often to our team about staying physically active, working out, and eating healthy in the face of stress or challenges. 

Contact Info:

• Website: www.whiteglovepayroll.com
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petreycpa/
• Other: www.hddaviscpas.pro

Image Credits
Jennifer Grace Studios