If the amount of Elvis paraphernalia around her office is any indication, when Debbie Seland says that when “you give a client something they give it back 10 times over” she is telling the truth.
The decor covering one wall in her office, and part of another, was almost entirely given to her by clients, she says.
Dyck is the owner and operator of Qtax, a business she started eight years ago after leaving H&R block.
For her, while doing taxes are her business, it’s about the personal aspect.
“I wanted to help my clients.”
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Seland is originally from Dawson Creek, and moved to Williams Lake when her oldest daughter turned five.
Originally, she took a mail-in course from H&R block on taxes, which is where she got her start.
Working on someone’s taxes with them opens up a lot of barriers, she says, often making her relationships with clients more personal, even if they come by only once a year.
“I think because I know more about them, things we don’t talk to the general public about. Our income is still sort of a taboo subject,” she says.
Sometimes the connection happens instantly.
“They sense the knowledge, we get talking about expenses and it just goes from there and then it ends up not being once a year anymore. They’ll stop in and say hi because I’m here.”
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The Elvis paraphernalia comes from that. It started with two or three pieces, and then a client, whose wife had recently died, offered Seland part of her record collection.
“It ended up she had eight records and he gave them to me and wouldn’t take payment and then a few days later he gave me her whole collection and her record player and wouldn’t take payment. I said ‘you have to take something, this is valuable,’ and he said I’m 74-years-old, do my taxes until I die. So I put the records up here and it’s grown from there.”
Working as a female accountant, she says, occasionally means she has to prove herself to men who come in before they will trust her with their finances.
Otherwise, she says, her clients are her friends.
“I hope when I die I leave my mark that I’ve helped people.”
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