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Hunt Demarest is a CPA with Paar, Melis, and Associates. Today, he joins Mike to talk shop financials, tax credits, and private equity. Hunt breaks down why consistent improvement—just 3% better each quarter—is more sustainable than chasing explosive growth. He offers a candid warning about risky investments, sharing his own hard lesson with a too-good-to-be-true real estate scheme. Finally, Hunt dives into the rise of private equity buying up repair shops, explaining how that's driving up valuations and changing the market for owners looking to sell.

Timestamps:
00:00 Incremental improvement beats unrealistic growth—why 3% better every quarter wins
01:10 Teaching personal finance at Vision 2026 (and why accountants don’t read your Social Security statements)
02:07 The truth about R&D tax credits and audit nightmares
03:44 What you must ask before taking any credit—defending yourself at audit time
05:03 Hunt’s background: how he got into auto repair accounting
08:08 Will AI replace your bookkeeper or CPA? Real talk, not hype
10:32 Why shop owners need to understand financial statements & what current ratio means for your cash
12:18 Managing AR, cash flow, and the case for paying vendors weekly
14:43 Shop profitability: 8 months out of 12 is the norm, not the exception
15:43 Trends: The scale and extremes of shop margins have changed MASSIVELY
17:21 Labor rates at $386/hr and what actually drives profit
18:54 The 20% net profit “gold standard”—and who really gets there
19:34 Why comparing owner compensation plus net income tells the real story
21:26 What’s the average net profit for shops? (Spoiler: it’s better than you think)
22:15 Beware public “industry average” surveys—actual profits vs. reported tax returns
23:01 Why working with an industry-specialized CPA beats a generic accountant every time
24:14 The inner circle: who should be on your financial “advisory board”
25:00 The most common (and WRONG) beliefs about shop accounting
29:53 Hunt’s biggest personal mistake: the $25k investment gone wrong (and what to learn from it)
32:10 Private equity: what’s happening, who’s buying, and what it means for YOUR exit
36:10 Should you sell now? How PE offers stack up vs. passing to family
37:06 Why PE doesn’t care about your P&L—sometimes it’s all about your customer count
38:02 Final thoughts, lessons learned, and why even the pros get it wrong sometimes