#granted I'm a corporate tax advisor

[stingslikeabee]

Sorry for disappearing (again), guys - I had a hectic week at work that threw off my entire schedule and exhausted me. Luckily the labor day holiday will offer me a break but you wanna know how all over the place I am? I was rushing to finish my taxes because I thought they were due tomorrow. They're due on the last working day of May - and I forgot. And I am a tax advisor for a living and I just...... Forgot.

[topicprinter]

Hi all. Please note I originally posted this on the PF sub, but the moderator recommended to try my luck here.TLDR: Specialized side business increasingly lucrative; want to expand; dangerously ignorant about small business and finance; not sure how to even start getting the help and advice I need.I'm a late-30s guy who left home straight after high school in Melbourne, Australia and spent many years living hand-to-mouth doing a combination of training, an apprenticeship and general hard slog in Germany, England and Switzerland where I eventually qualified as a master watchmaker. During this time I got exposure to a huge range of industry experience (e.g. manufacture, CAD, after-sales service etc) through a fair bit of job-hopping, while also developing some sought-after expertise in micromechanics. As the industry is quite intimate I also built-up a lot of contacts in Switzerland especially (as well as picking-up fluent French!)I moved back to Australia for family reasons and now work 3.5 days a week in a well-paid ($130k+ close to 20% employer pension contribution) salaried position for a global luxury goods company.I also work 20-25 hours a week for my own watch-related consultancy business - this covers a few different things but mostly involves providing advice about calibre/movement development and restoration work on commission for various watch producers in Europe (due to the aforementioned contacts I made), and also some consultancy research work for EPFL, a big university in Lausanne.Given the large amounts of money involved in the luxury watch trade my side hustle is now proving quite lucrative - my last commission was almost six figures and I have a patent bringing revenue in. I'm now planning to devote more time towards the business and also mulling taking on a staff member to help me with the more administrative stuff and allow me to concentrate on maintaining my CAD skills and upskilling in different software.In the meantime my employer is proving quite flexible - I think because my skillset is quite in-demand they generally have no qualms with my other work (unless there is a definite conflict of interest, which I obviously avoid) and grant me plenty of unpaid leave for when I need to travel to Switzerland or France for meetings or specialized atelier work.I live quite a modest lifestyle with no debts. My education was largely paid for through my apprenticeship, I don't need a car, and I live in a small apartment which is great due to my constant work travels so don't pay much for my (almost paid-off) mortgage and bills. Also I'm passionate about watches so really my work is my main hobby (sad I know) and I don't have many outgoings on that side. At the moment I'm just using a run-of-the-mill retail tax professional to help me with my affairs, who seems to be just about managing.This all means I have a pile of cash building-up which is starting to stress me out a bit. Plus I'm dangerously under-qualified on the specifics of running a small business (I currently trade as a proprietary limited company).Basically, I need to go and see someone for both personal finance and business help as a matter of urgency. I am not seeking this advice here, instead what I'm wondering is:How do people choose a decent, non-H&R Block type financial advisor/consultant? I come from a humble background so know no one in real life who I can ask about this, or get recommendations from. If I Google they all look like the same corporate high flyers with nothing to differentiate them. Do I just pick one at random?Should I aim to engage a more expensive finance advisor/tax consultant who can handle my personal and business tax affairs together? Or is it best to split these two things up?If I hire a staff member I would like to get a business manager-type person who can back me up on the finance and accounting stuff while also answer emails, do mundane administration and run errands (e.g. I often need to ship things back and forth to Europe). I don't need someone to source new business – if anything I have too much work to do. Does such a unicorn-type person exist (including one who might be willing to work part time), and if so what do I call this type of job if I want to advertise it?Any other general/vague advice you might have for my situation would be appreciated. Many thanks in advance!