Franchisee: Sandra Cutting
H&R Block | 24 Salt Pond Road, Unit D5, South Kingstown
The pitch: H&R Block offers professional help to individuals and business owners with understanding their tax situations and preparing taxes every year.
Years in business: 32
Employees: 16
Cost to obtain franchise: $31,505-$149,200 total approximate investment
Before opening franchise: Cutting, after earning an arts degree from the University of Rhode Island, was a practicing teacher and an artist.
Reason for opening: Cutting decided to change her career path after having a child at age 30. She found an ad in the local newspaper about tax accounting classes in the area, and later earned a master’s degree in accounting at URI. When she was working for H&R Block at the time, her location came up for sale and she subsequently purchased it.
“I’ve had to learn to love new tax laws, because you have to learn it all over again. For many people, their lives don’t really change. But when you are doing taxes, your life is changing every year as the laws change every year.”
“It’s really fulfilling to help people. For me, it’s all about building long-term relationships.”
“Here in [Washington] County, there are no large employers. If you take out URI and [South County] Hospital, everybody is self-employed down here. We help a wide variety of people and you want somebody to really help you see that process [of understanding taxes].”
“H&R Block has a national presence. In addition to having Rhode Island clients, I also have clients in Florida and … [clients] internationally.”
“With my children, I usually tell them that I’m a bad mom for four months of the year during tax season and a good mom for eight months. I’m proud to say both of my children are [Massachusetts Institute of Technology] graduates.”
Franchise owners interested in being included in an upcoming Franchisee feature can contact PBN Researcher James Bessette at (401) 680-4838 or Research@PBN.com.