Music, Law, and Business Growth: How Creative Collaboration Drives Success

Vince Viruni, tax attorney with Harbor Point Associates, shares his collaborative approach to solving complex business tax problems while working harmoniously with clients' existing advisors and team members.

 Rather than displacing existing advisors, Vince seeks "just an extra seat at the table" where he can contribute specialized tax expertise while respecting established relationships. This refreshing philosophy stands in stark contrast to the territorial, siloed approach many professionals adopt.

The conversation takes a fascinating turn when Vince draws parallels between his background as a classically trained musician and his professional methodology. Like skilled jazz performers who can seamlessly incorporate others' playing styles, Vince strives to work harmoniously with any advisor his clients value. This musical metaphor perfectly captures true collaboration – maintaining expertise while adapting to complement others' strengths.

Design principal Robin Pasley echoes this sentiment, sharing how her previous career in music taught her to "give up your ego to make the better song." She applies this lesson directly to client projects, focusing on telling the client's story rather than imposing her creative preferences. The discussion explores how this mature artistic viewpoint creates design work that authentically serves the business owner's vision.

Business owners facing upcoming tax changes will appreciate Vince's timely advice to stay informed as potential legislation moves through Congress. He recommends maintaining open communication with all advisors – CPAs, financial planners, bankers – to navigate uncertainties successfully.

Whether you're assembling a professional team or seeking to improve collaboration within your existing advisors, this episode delivers practical wisdom on finding professionals who prioritize your outcomes over their ego. Listen now to discover how removing territorial barriers creates superior results and why the most valuable experts are those who, like great musicians, know when to shine and when to support.

For tax assistance, contact Harbor Point Associates at 866-405-1615 or visit harborpointassociates.com.

We welcome your questions! If you would like to learn more about us or connect for a conversation, please visit www.pasleycommercialinteriors.com.

Episode Transcript

Robin Pasley (00:00):
It helps.
I would prefer to be on a teamthat we're driving in our lanes
but we're feeding one anotherthe information that makes the
whole thing work better.

Vince Viruni (00:07):
I think it touches on kind of what we talked about
earlier about music.
You're so good that you canincorporate someone else's
playing style into the tuneyou're playing.

Randi Lynn Johnson (00:17):
Well, everybody, welcome back to
Design to Help your BusinessGrow.
I am your host, randi LynnJohnson, here as always, with
our fabulous owner and designprincipal, robin Pasley.
Hello, and today we have a veryexciting guest, vince Varunni.

(00:42):
Vince, your name.
A reminder about the point ofthis podcast.
It is to help business ownersgrow their business, and so we
have the design and brandingpiece covered from this firm.
But we always like to interviewother professionals in the city

(01:03):
and see what you have to offerbusiness owners, and so you are
an attorney, specifically a taxattorney, with Harbor Point
Associates.
Is that right?
Okay, what is the problem?
How do you help business owners?
What do you solve for them?

Vince Viruni (01:18):
I think there's no one answer I can provide there.
It really depends on what theclient's immediate problem is
and what the ultimate goal is.
My multidisciplinary backgroundif I can use a $6 word is in
tax matters and how to mitigatethe tax impact, whether that's

(01:39):
prospectively for a businessowner looking to grow or in any
sort of succession planning, orretroactively if they have tax
problems and they want to getout of that mess.
So that they could continuegrowing, and I also assist in
situations where it's a closecall between criminal and civil
investigations, so trying tokeep people towards the civil

(02:01):
side and away from criminalinvestigations with federal and
state tax agencies.
So it really depends where theclient wants me.

Randi Lynn Johnson (02:08):
Sure.

Vince Viruni (02:09):
And I usually ask for just an extra seat at the
table and if there is somethingI can see or value I can provide
, I'll comment and if not, I canprovide.
Usually I can provide somebodywho will be able to meet the
business owner's needs.

Robin Pasley (02:21):
Yeah, that's great .
I know that you have been inthis business for quite some
time, but you just transitionedinto the Springs.

Vince Viruni (02:29):
We moved from Maryland and I was back and
forthing it for a little while.
With being on both coasts andin transient cities, you get to
see a lot of different types ofproblems, and so one of the
things I'm looking out for hereare okay, well, what does the
local market here need?
And to assess the localmarket's needs and see how I

(02:50):
could position myself to bevaluable for the local community
.

Randi Lynn Johnson (02:54):
What is one of the things that you see kind
of come up more often than notacross the board here.

Vince Viruni (03:00):
So far, I think it's when dealing with federal
tax issues.
You're dealing with basicallysimilar questions.
I'm running a business.
What can I do to mitigate someof the tax impact?
Am I structured properly as abusiness?
That seems to come upeverywhere.
I think there's a varyinglevels of advice people get,

(03:23):
depending on who they work with,and navigating through those
conversations with theirexisting advisor is sometimes
the challenge that I lookforward to because, you want to
keep the client's team intactwhile trying to be the new guy
on the team.
And well, we've done it this way.

Robin Pasley (03:43):
So I find that to be something else that we kind
of share.
When we come to the table withour client and all the other
advisors they have with them,finding our seat and then
knowing how to best help theclient Cause there are, there
are focus we have to play wellin sandbox, so to speak, with
the other team, but without,like you said, unseating anyone

(04:03):
but being able to assess what'sgoing on and bring the right
kind of advice to them that mayeven sometimes be contradictory
to what they've been receiving,which is really difficult
sometimes.
I can see that's part of whatyou do too is bringing that kind
of fine-tuned perspective forthe tax situation.

Vince Viruni (04:21):
Yeah, and I think it changes You're absolutely
right Case by case.
So sometimes they're sitting onresources that maybe may not be
immediately apparent to thebusiness owner and even guiding
them to ask those questions totheir existing advisors.
And when the client or prospecttells you about their existing
relationships, you'll know it'ssafe enough for the client to to

(04:43):
reach out to them.

Robin Pasley (04:44):
I love that collaborative mindset that you
have, because I find it to be.
What I share with some of myfavorite colleagues is, when
they want to collaborate too.
Too many times, I find that themodality is to silo up so that
we can protect ourselves.
I'm going to know what I knowover here, but I would prefer to
work with people in this waythat you're describing, where

(05:07):
you assess what's happening andthen you go okay, I think he
knows more on this.
Call me back if you need helpon this other thing, you know,
because I think it's the bestfor the client ultimately, but
it it helps.
I would prefer to be on a teamthat we're, um, we're driving in
our lanes, but we're, you know,helping one another, feeding
one another the information thatmakes the whole thing work

(05:28):
better.

Vince Viruni (05:29):
Okay, I think it touches on kind of what we
talked about earlier about music, because if you're so good that
you can incorporate someoneelse's playing style into the
tune you're playing versus andthis goes back to the jazz
versus classical mindset thatthere are performers out there.

(05:50):
I don't claim to be an expertperformer at all.
But just the theory is, youhave expert performers out there
who can play with anybody andthey'll make hits, they'll make
phenomenal music live impromptu.
And one of the things I striveto be is so good at what I do
that part of my personalchallenge is to work with

(06:11):
anybody that the client'sworking with and how to
incorporate that and to be veryopen, even with the client that
this is a tentative thoughtprocess.

(06:32):
You know this is a tentativeposition.
It's subject to review andwe're going to have discussions
with your other team members andif there's a better way, we're
going to find it.

Randi Lynn Johnson (06:40):
So you said that you are a classically
trained musician.
What did you play?
Or do you play?

Vince Viruni (06:45):
I was raised on the piano, okay.
Then I shifted my attention alittle bit and explored a violin
and then guitar, but then Istarted to transition into other
instruments as well Percussion,really.

Randi Lynn Johnson (07:00):
Leave some for the rest of us.

Vince Viruni (07:01):
Good grief.
And then I don't play as oftenas I'd like to nowadays, but
it's something that impacted megrowing up.

Randi Lynn Johnson (07:09):
That's really cool and it's cool that
you've taken your experience andwhat was relevant to you and
you apply it to your work and Ithink that's a very unique
special skill set that you have.
I know Robin has, and it's funto see when that plays out.

Vince Viruni (07:24):
But do you, Robin, do you find outside artistic
talents that get incorporatedinto the business dynamics with
a client or with a team?
A?

Robin Pasley (07:33):
hundred percent.
Matter of fact, in my previouscareer in music, the
collaboration piece was huge forus.
We started out, as you know, aduo writing our own music,
playing our own music, and thenwe folded the next you know
large piece of our own musicplaying our own music, and then
we we folded the next you knowlarge piece of our career into
collaboration efforts, and soall the albums we produced after

(07:55):
that were collaborations, andwhat I learned in that process
was having to give up your egoin order to make the better song
and I think that's the same wayin creating projects with our
clients is giving up the ego ofI want to do this one thing in
order.
You have to lay that down sothat you can go.
What do you need?

(08:15):
What is your heart?
What is what makes, what isgoing to make this project?
Talk about you and not about me, and so I'm able to bring, I
think, what is a more matureartist's viewpoint to design
that can bring that creativitybut really submits it to the
will and the professional futureof the business I'm working in.

Vince Viruni (08:37):
Because, ultimately, the successful
client or the happy client isgoing to be the ultimate success
story for you as an advisor inyour space, absolutely.

Robin Pasley (08:45):
Plus it's why I get out of bed in the morning is
helping them.
That's my favorite stories totell.
We we create these books at theend of our projects that we
share with our clients that showthe project we did together
before and after, and that stackof books.
Some days when I'm having a hardtime I just sit down and look
at it, Cause I think that's astack of happy people.
I got to help all of them andit's why we do what we do.
I got to help all of them andit's why we do what we do so,

(09:09):
Vince.

Randi Lynn Johnson (09:10):
who do you love to work with?
How would you describe yourideal client?

Vince Viruni (09:15):
I think here's what it ends up being.
Most of the time.
They're large transactionsdealing with a complex area of
substantive law with uniquepersonalities, oftentimes in
conflict with one another.
That, to me, is my ideal, so Ihave a transactional and

(09:39):
litigation hybrid practice.
Where I find myself thrivingthe most is where transaction
and litigation typically meet.

Randi Lynn Johnson (09:44):
So I'm curious you were not afraid of a
challenge Like you seem likeyou like a challenge.
You're a good problem solver.

Vince Viruni (09:51):
And so that's basically it.
Like you mentioned getting upin the mornings, to me that's
when, I know I've solved achallenge like that for a client
and they're better off todaythan they were, you know before
they met me.
That, to me, gives me value.
That's awesome.

Randi Lynn Johnson (10:06):
Is there anything federally or from the
state level kind of coming downthe pipeline that business
owners should be aware of,anything tax or what that they
need to make sure they have?

Vince Viruni (10:16):
Absolutely the one thing I think I can say all
business owners should keeptheir ears to the ground at this
moment, because there are somany changes coming our way that
we don't necessarily know of.
There are lots of optionspresented at the congressional
level, tax-wise, that will besubject to change as this one

(10:38):
big, beautiful bill that we keeptalking about makes its way
through the different chambers,so things will be changing.
I would say for all businessowners to get their advisors,
whoever that may be, their CPAs,their financial advisors, or
bankers, whoever they work withand to just really keep their
ears to the ground at this point, Because everything is subject

(10:59):
to change.

Randi Lynn Johnson (11:00):
We already have your contact information,
but if our listeners are lookingfor help, a master problem
solver, how can they find you?

Vince Viruni (11:09):
They can call our main line, which is operating
24-7, 866-405-1615.
And they can also find all ofthis contact information at
harborpointassociatescom.

Randi Lynn Johnson (11:21):
Well, Vince, thank you so much for your time
and your expertise.
And, just honestly, if I neededa lawyer, I would just call it
like.
You just have such a calminglevel head.
I know I was thinking the samething and, just honestly, if I
needed a lawyer, I would justcall it like you just have such
a calming level head.
I was like, wow, awesome, weneed more people like you in
this world.
But yeah, thanks so much, andwe'll see you around the city.

Vince Viruni (11:39):
Thank you, thanks for having me.

Randi Lynn Johnson (11:41):
In an increasingly competitive market,
the merits of using interiordesign as a strategic growth
tool can make all the differencein not just surviving but
thriving .

Robin Pasley (11:51):
Pasley Commercial Interiors Design to help your
business grow.