Joseph Proffitt

Joe tends to extend patience to the degree that some (including his wife) would deem a bit excessive. It is through this patience, however, that he's discovered a genuine love for helping people. Born and raised in Southeast Arkansas, Joe grew up in what is colloquially termed "The Delta." It is in this land that he attained his BBA in Accounting from the University of Arkansas at Monticello. After college, Joe cut his teeth in professional accounting at a multi-state home décor operation, working officially as a staff accountant and unofficially as a utility man that assisted any fires that needed tending. Describing this time as trial by chaos, Joe got a healthy dose of daily accounting tasks (sales reports, journal entries, monotony…you get it). It was also during this time that he began co-parenting a rescue dog that turned up outside his office with a co-worker whom he'd eventually marry. Although the adventures at this home décor company were never boring, they also afforded limitations in further growth in the accounting field. With puppy and partner in tow, Joe decided it was time for a new challenge.

Thus, at the end of December 2015, he left and jumped straight into his first tax season at The Montgomery Firm, a local accounting office in McGehee, AR. It was here that his skills were truly refined, working under two of the finest CPAs he's known to date. From helping retail clients start from scratch to assisting with generational farmers' year-end planning, Joe realized he truly enjoyed the relationships formed with small business clients and realized they were more than reports and numbers. Despite the ideal nature of this period, Joe's long-term vision for his family included relocation to a more metropolitan area. After numerous heartfelt goodbyes to his colleagues, clients and friends, the Proffitt crew headed north.

Many would think that uprooting one's stable life during a once-in-a-lifetime (hopefully) pandemic is ill-advised. But to paraphrase John Heywood, "nothing ventured, nothing gained." After arriving in Little Rock, Joe soon found employment with the largest cultivator of medicinal cannabis in Arkansas. Rising quickly to the rank of Controller, the daily roller-coaster of meetings, software implementations and inter-departmental communications felt less like accounting and more like a corporate rat race, for which he'd never had much taste. Furthermore, work-life balance was constantly becoming more elusive at a time when he and his partner had decided to expand their family. Once again, Joe found himself at an inconvenient crossroads.

Upon reflection, both professionally and personally, Joe realized he missed the connections he'd once felt working in public accounting with small business clients. With this vision in mind, he came across Dark Horse. With this new endeavor, Joe's goal and passion are to assist clients by advancing their understanding of their financials, plan for the most advantageous tax positions available, and move toward lifestyles more conducive to holistic living. Essentially, he believes work should support life, not the other way around.

In his spare time (when he's not writing wordy bio's), Joe enjoys meandering around downtown Little Rock with his furry companion, reading a spectrum of non-accounting related works, cooking, and plotting trips in the perpetual hope that the pandemic will permit their fruition.