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Kenny Bonus: Failing the CPA Exam Four Times, and Building an Accounting Firm from His Dining Room Table
07/12/2026
Kenny Bonus: Failing the CPA Exam Four Times, and Building an Accounting Firm from His Dining Room Table
Kenny Bonus started his first business at ten years old, delivering newspapers by wagon for ten cents a house. That early taste of being his own boss never left him, and it shaped the drive that carried him through everything that came next. Years later, he left a stable career at a big four accounting firm with zero clients and a savings buffer, betting on himself to build something of his own. In this episode, Kenny and host Jordan Grady talk about growing up in poverty in a divorced household and what that shaped in him, the mother who told him to switch his major to accounting, and the CPA exam he failed four times before passing every part. He explains why he started Bonus Accounting at his dining room table in 2016, how community networking planted the seeds that grew the firm to more than 30 people across four offices in Butler and Erie, and why he calls his staff coworkers instead of employees. He also gets candid about burnout, delayed gratification, the vision boards he credits for hitting revenue goals within a thousand dollars, and why being a dad shapes everything he does. At the end, he shares the single most important thing he would tell any aspiring entrepreneur, see the vision clearly, commit to the destination, and remember that you only fail when you quit. Learn more about Kenny and Bonus Accounting at:
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