A Culture Built to Prosper: Holly Breuer | She Lift Project Podcast #79

🎙️ She Lift Project Podcast | Episode 79 | Holly Breuer | Prosper CPAs Holly Breuer had a hypothesis. After 20 years in public accounting, she believed you could build a firm that delivered elite service to business owners and was a genuinely great place to work. Most people told her those two things don't go together. Prosper CPAs launched January 1, 2023. The results are making a strong case that she was right. Before the firm, there was a harder story. One that Holly didn't have to share, but did. It starts at 29 and it ends with her owning one of the fastest growing CPA firms in St. Louis. What happened in between is worth every minute of this episode. 🔑 IN THIS EPISODE: • What proactive tax planning actually looks like and why April should never be a surprise • How Holly built a referral engine by setting a goal that two strangers would talk about her • Why she named the firm Prosper instead of Breuer, and what that says about how she leads • What flexible hours actually mean at Prosper, not just in theory • Why the 25-hour employee deserves the same respect as the one who worked 60 last week • What happened when a boss told her to tone it down, and what she did with that • The leadership lesson that surprised her most: her team actually wants to know what she is thinking • What she would say to any woman wrestling with mom guilt and the pressure to be someone she is not 🏆 ABOUT HOLLY BREUER: Founder and managing partner of Prosper CPAs | 2026 St. Louis Business Journal Women of Influence honoree | Top Accountant, Small Business Monthly | CPA, MBA 📌 CONNECT WITH HOLLY AND PROSPER CPAs: 🔗 Website: https://www.prospercpas.com 🔗 LinkedIn:   / holly-breuer-cpa-abv   🔗 LinkedIn Company:   / prosper-cpas   📌 CONNECT WITH CYNTHIA KIRKPATRICK: 🔗 Website: https://www.sheliftproject.com 🔗 Host Cynthia Kirkpatrick:   / cynthia-kirkpatrick-cpa-cfp   🔗 Moneta Group: https://monetagroup.com/professional/... 🎧 ENJOY THE SHOW? Subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with a woman who needs to hear it. ⏱️ CHAPTERS: 0:00 Welcome 0:47 What Prosper CPAs does 1:51 Launching with 10 people and no clients 3:35 Nobody has to fail so I can succeed 4:17 Building a referral engine from scratch 9:41 Introverts at networking events 14:02 Tax planning, M and A, and outsourced accounting 15:05 Why April should never be a surprise 20:24 What made her leave and start her own firm 21:34 The hypothesis that became Prosper 23:53 Why she named it Prosper not Breuer 24:51 Built for the next generation from day one 26:25 What flexible hours actually means here 27:54 The 25-hour employee is not less than 28:56 Why she overstaffs on purpose 31:53 Stop making people fit the mold 33:37 The boss who told her to tone it down 35:29 When she knew it was time to go 43:54 The leadership surprise: they want to know what you think 47:40 35 clients in three weeks 49:24 Single mom at 29: where it all started 50:28 The Dear Holly letter on the kitchen table 51:19 WIC, food stamps, labeled envelopes 54:43 Selling the ring to buy the books 55:24 Pulling over on the side of the road 56:57 Why accounting saved her 58:31 The professor who stopped class for her 1:01:16 Getting the internship after being passed over 1:03:04 From intern to firm owner 1:07:43 She missed things she does not want her team to miss 1:09:25 What she would tell women about mom guilt 1:14:43 Who Prosper works with 1:17:30 The new office at Maryville Center Drive #SheLiftProject #HollyBreuer #ProsperCPAs #WomenInBusiness #CPA #Accounting #TaxPlanning #SmallBusiness #BusinessOwner #StLouis #WorkplaceCulture #WomenInLeadership #Entrepreneurship #BusinessPodcast #CompanyCulture #Leadership #MomGuilt #WomenEntrepreneurs #BuildingABusiness #CynthiaKirkpatrick