Long ago, even before I had developed an interest in wine, I graduated from CSUN and began my career as an accountant. Stints in public accounting and in private industry as a controller and CFO for various companies eventually led me to the decision in 1993 to start my own company, MCP Financial (A California Corporation).
MCP Financial provides controller services to businesses that do not have a full-time controller, enabling them to have the benefits this positon provides without a full-time addition to their payroll. What this means in practice is very situational, but the ultimate goal is that business owners have accurate and timely financial information to use to help them make appropriate decisions in running their companies.
Early on in my accounting career, I discovered the pleasure of wine and fortunately had a boss who was very much an oenophile. This interest even carried over to a brief period when my wife Karen and I lived in San Antonio, Texas, were we met a wine broker who kept us supplied with all sorts of goodies. When we ultimately moved back to California, I took advantage of that to expand my wine interests.
For a period of time, MCP Financial actually had a physical office, until I decided that I spent so much time out at clients that an office wasn’t necessary.
But the best part about having an office was that it led to me meeting Eve Bushman of Eve’s Wine 101.
Wine deliveries would show up at my office periodically, but as I said, I was rarely there. So, the boxes would often get delivered to my neighbor’s office in the building. One day, she suggested that since I loved wine so much I should really become acquainted with her good friend, Eve Bushman.
I had read Eve’s articles in The Signal newspaper, but had actually never met her. The rest, as they say, truly was history, and my first appearance on the Eve’s Wine 101 website appeared in May of 2009:
http://evewine101.com/2009/05/31/post-classic-post-new-correspondent-michael-checks-in-too/
Since then, we’ve reported on a lot of wineries, wines, and wine events. We also found that wineries, wine bars, restaurants and other wine oriented businesses and events could use help promoting (and in some cases operating) their endeavors. Demand soon overcame supply, and we found that we could only take on a limited number of charity events per year on a pro bono basis and would have to charge others for our services. Thus, Eve’s Wine 101 Consulting was born.
Eventually, it became evident the Eve’s Wine 101 Consulting was too limiting of a title, as our services are needed by a wide variety of businesses. While wine is always first in our hearts [and palates] we also want to assist other types of organizations with the same kind of skills we bring to the table for wine-oriented ones. And that includes all the marketing and operational skills that Eve has developed over the years along with the financial aspects that I bring from MCP Financial. Eve’s Wine 101 Consulting lives on in spirit, but Eve Bushman Consulting is for all types of businesses.
Note that this has had no effect on Eve’s Wine 101, which continues to report on wine, wineries and wine oriented events for our faithful readers. And that’s really what it is all about for me. Bringing wine information to you while at the same time increasing the exposure of wineries and businesses is a win for all concerned. That is a service we love to provide. And the transition to Eve Bushman Consulting just continues with that service mentality.
Michael Perlis has been pursuing his passion for wine for more than 25 years. He has had the good fortune of having numerous mentors to show him the way, as well as a wonderful wife who encourages him and shares his interest. After a couple of decades of learning about wine, attending events, visiting wineries and vineyards, and tasting as much wine as he possibly could, he had the amazing luck to meet Eve Bushman.
Now, as Contributing Editor for Eve’s Wine 101, he does his best to bring as much information as possible about wine to Eve’s Wine 101 faithful readers. Michael is also Vice President of Eve Bushman Consulting (fka Eve’s Wine 101 Consulting) http://evebushmanconsulting.com/ and President of MCP Financial. Michael can be contacted at michaelthezinfan@aol.com or michael@evebushmanconsulting.com.
