398 : Rachel Michaelov – Face forward and get your Amazon taxes right

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I love when a professional exudes confidence from experience. Rachel and her company have produced thousands of tax returns and many of them from Amazon sellers. Best practices come from experience and you should always strive for best practices. If you are in trouble, own it, accept it and face forward. Get some help, give Rachel a call.

 

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Here is transcript- It is automated so it is not perfect but it does seem to get better over time.

Rachel:                                 [00:00]                     Now it’s not the best time to like hire a bookkeeper obviously cause you don’t have that many transactions and you don’t really need a CFO when you don’t, when you’re business makes, I would say less than $15,000 on a monthly basis. So I would think it’s always best to hire somebody to see if it makes sense for them to incorporate their business then for them to go back, start making money and you know, build their business up and once they start making at least 15 to $20,000 a month, that’s when it’s best for them to hire a CFO or a bookkeeper or someone to help them and guide them every step of the way.

Cool voice guy:                  [00:34]                     Welcome to the ecommerce momentum podcast where we focus on the people, the products, and the process of ecommerce selling. Today, here’s your host, Steven Peterson.

Stephen:                             [00:47]                     Hey, wanted to take a second and talk about Gaye Lisby and Gary Ray’s Amazon seller tribe and their daily lists that are put out, um, and incredible stories that you can read if you go out and check out a amazing freedom.com forward slash momentum hyphen arbitrage. I know that’s a lot to put in there. Amazing. freedom.com forward slash momentum dash Arbitron and you’re going to get 14 day free trial, no money risk, no, no challenges. You don’t want it when you’re done, you get out. But imagine getting lists as grateful as like they call it mailbox money. I love that term. Mailbox money. It’s where you can work from your house, buy things online, have them delivered to you and then sell them on various marketplaces. But imagine you can have somebody else do that for you. So you want to buy time, you want to control, uh, what they’re buying.

Stephen:                             [01:44]                     Well, you take these lists and you can join multiple lists if you’re interested and then you can segregate them for the merchandise you want and send them to them. They can make purchases for you on your behalf. Have it delivered to you or delivered to them for prep. Boom, sent into these marketplaces and you could sell. How about that? Wouldn’t it be awesome? I spoke at their conference and there were so many million dollar sellers just using online arbitrage. It’s still available. And again, 14 days. The only way you’re going to get 14 day free trials if you come through my link. Um, it is an affiliate link. Uh, they do pay me. So I don’t want to mislead you in any way. Um, I would appreciate it, but I’d like to see you try the 14 days. I’ve had so many people that have joined, have so much success.

Stephen:                             [02:27]                     It’s very exciting to me and you know, quite humbling to me, um, that they trust me to recommend this group and I 100% recommend this group. I’ve seen the results. These are great people that will also teach you to fish. This isn’t just a, hey, here’s the list. You’re on your own. No, this is, hey, here’s why that wasn’t a good deal. Or here, hey, there’s another opportunity and you get to join their groups. And it’s just a phenomenal group of people. Um, just great, great, uh, leaders in that group and these lists are phenomenal. So again, it’s amazing. freedom.com, forward slash momentum, I e Finn, arbitrage, amazing, freedom.com, forward slash momentum hyphen arbitrage. Use that. Get two weeks free. Try it. You don’t like it, drop out, but give it a shot if you want to add that to your business. Welcome back to the e-commerce momentum podcast.

Stephen:                             [03:16]                     This is episode 398. Rachel Michael. Love a get ready. I mean, it’s a very cool story. Um, it’s gonna be scary for a whole bunch of people because if you have tax issues, this is going to rock your soul. You’re going to sit there and say, oh my God, he’s making me feel worse. He’s making me feel worse. And maybe a little bit in the beginning you will feel worse because you realize that you screwed up. You realized that you made a mistake. You realize you’re not perfect after all. But when Rachel tells her story about midway through the podcast, you’ll understand where her passion comes from cause she’s passionate. You can hear an inner voice. She’s confident. You can hear that in her voice because she knows she’s doing what she’s meant to do. Her life has prepared her for this. Uh, she was brought into this world, uh, this accounting world, this tax specific world, uh, through very difficult circumstances.

Stephen:                             [04:09]                     And she explains it about midway through. But the other thing she talks about is that some of the bigger sellers, uh, she’s had, and she has some, a lot of examples and name them, but a lot of examples of really successful people on the outside that are in real trouble or we’re in real trouble. Um, and so you’re not so different. I think that’s gonna be the key. So you’re going to feel like, crap, I’m gonna make you feel terrible. And then all of a sudden I’m gonna make you realize that you’re not that different. Um, the difference is you haven’t made the call. You haven’t reached out for help. And I’m here to tell you that this is the place to reach out for help right now. She said she’ll do it for free. Um, she’ll give you a perspective. She’ll at least explain to you where you’re at.

Stephen:                             [04:49]                     And so, you know, so please, if you’re in trouble and, or you’re thinking about this stuff and it’s eating your soul and you’re staying up at night and you’re eating away your life or drinking away your life or doing other worse things, consider this, take an opportunity here. She’s offering a free opportunity to talk with her and to help you get some perspective. Um, so a little bit of a somber tone here, but man, just imagine when those handcuffs are free, that, that, that, that jail that you’re in is gone. Just imagine that how much better your life would be. So let’s get into the podcast. Welcome back to the ECOMMERCE and podcast excited today because I get to speak to another nerd who loves to talk more accounting, but for me, I’m not a tax guy, but we did bring on a tax professional and I’m very excited about, uh, the amount of knowledge she has in our industry.

Stephen:                             [05:39]                     And I think it’s so specific in so many ways and it’s just great to have somebody on room. Welcome Rachel. Michaela, welcome Rachel. Thank you. I didn’t put you in the name too bad. I try my best. Um, the, Rachel’s easy. All right. Okay. So you are a, you are in a company called empire tax professionals, um, and you specialize in taxes, right? I mean, yes, when, when you’re an enrolled agent, and we’ll have to explain what that is versus a CPA. Cause people always say, oh, he’s a CPA CPA. But you got to understand that the person who does my taxes is an enrolled agent too. Um, it’s very different, uh, very specialized and you tend to specialize in a specific thing. So let’s talk about that first.

Rachel:                                 [06:18]                     Sure. So I’m, I’m licensed. I’m, I’m an EA and, um, yeah. So we specialize in helping, you know, Amazon sellers, e-commerce sellers with monthly bookkeeping, payroll sales tax, corporate returns, individual returns, IRS notices and all that. And we try to focus on helping ecommerce sellers on a daily basis.

Stephen:                             [06:39]                     Those things are all scary to most people. You know, that IRS note is a payroll taxes, quarterly estimated deposit. I mean, those things are intimidating to most people because it’s not easy to understand when you read a regulation, right. It’s not easy. Correct.

Rachel:                                 [06:55]                     Yes, that’s correct. It’s very confusing and there’s a lot of gray areas in the law, which makes it so much more important to hire a professional to help you know anybody, any business owner, any ecommerce seller so they can under, so they understand what the IRS is really saying.

Stephen:                             [07:10]                     And you know, I mean, you know, everybody thinks they’re out to get ’em. That’s not it at all. They just want you to follow the law. But yeah, again, it’s that lack of clarity. You’re like, I’m not sure. So that’s why you get a professional. Um, you have had, I said hundreds of clients, but you corrected me and said thousands of clients. How many, how many, uh, customers do you process a year? Currently

Rachel:                                 [07:31]                     we process over a thousand returns during tax season. Um, that’s just, you know, January to April. But then I, I’ve been doing this for about 14 years and we prepare, I prepared over, oh, my team prepared over a thousand returns every single year. So I wouldn’t even say I filed over 10,000 returns during my, in my company.

Stephen:                             [07:50]                     Okay. So there’s the credibility. Alright. So people get that all 50 states licensed. And so if you’re looking for somebody, this might be somebody, and we’re going to talk about different places that a lot of companies get in trouble. This is, and when you look at companies that fail, is this the number one reason? I mean maybe capitalization might be another one, but this seems to be where most people get into trouble. Payroll taxes, sales tax, uh, ignoring those nasty notes, right?

Rachel:                                 [08:16]                     Yes. Yes. I mean 100%. I would think like one of the reasons that businesses fail is because they’re not, they’re not compliant. And I think like the biggest issue that we see is business owners relying on, or e-commerce sellers relying on entry level bookkeepers to do their bookkeeping. And then the bookkeeping is not on, right. So that at the end of the year they can’t really buy all the returns and they put it, you know, on the back burner, they don’t get, they don’t get it done. And then IRS comes after them, levies and put liens on their property. And then, I mean, their business businesses just closed just because they’re not compliant, not being compliant with payroll taxes. And the most important that we see is they don’t pay their pay, their estimated tax payments every single quarter. And um, if they don’t, then they owe such a huge bill at the end of the year and it adds up when, you know, as business grows

Stephen:                             [09:08]                     and then you’re stuck with penalties and interest and you can almost, I mean, it’s worse than a credit card. You can almost never get out of some of those things. Right,

Rachel:                                 [09:16]                     right, exactly.

Stephen:                             [09:17]                     Hmm. Oh God. All right. The scary stuff is out there. So I want to take a positive spin on this and start with, okay, I’m a new client of Rachel’s and what’s the process for you onboarding a client? Um, because I think there’s a whole bunch of people that are new to this world and they’re starting to make money. I mean, first off, when do I need to get an expert? When’s, when’s the right time to get an expert?

Rachel:                                 [09:37]                     So I would say, um, it’s always best to speak to an expert even before you even start a business. Because before you even, you know, think or, or when you’re about to open a company, you always want to be incorporated because you want to protect yourself. Now it’s not the best time to like hire a bookkeeper obviously cause you don’t have that many transactions and you don’t really need a CFO when you don’t, when you’re a business makes, I would say less than $15,000 on a monthly basis. So I would think it’s always best to hire somebody to see if it makes sense for them to incorporate their business then for them to go back, start making money in, you know, build their business up and once they start making at least 15 to $20,000 a month, that’s when it’s best for them to hire a CFO or a bookkeeper or someone to help them and guide them every step of the way.

Stephen:                             [10:28]                     Now I’m a preacher on monthly financial statements, um, because it just gives you, you know, a guidepost, right? Cause I like to look forward. I know this is a cash intense business, and so if you run out of money, which most of us run out of money, right? That’s pretty normal. Almost like every person I talked to runs out of money. You need to know what’s going to happen because you still have to make payroll. You have these other obligations, and so for me, that’s been a best practice. How about for you? What do you see?

Rachel:                                 [10:55]                     I 100% I would always say that every single month you need to review your monthly financials and I tell people, if you’re making less than 15 k 50 k a month, you really need to do your monthly financials on your own. Or you know, maybe hire, you know, a bookkeeper to help you understand your numbers on a monthly basis. But it’s truly important to review your monthly finances because if you’re, if you buy something and then you can’t resell it, or if you can’t make payroll or if you don’t have a high profit, then you could just close your business. I actually had an Amazon seller who made a $4 million for the entire year. I’m actually, I’m sorry, it was two years and when she hired us, she realized that she was in the negative and she has to close her business because she actually reviewed her numbers two years later and it was already too late. So she had to close her business because we showed her that she was not making any money.

Stephen:                             [11:49]                     So she was selling 2 million a year, but not profitable. Correct. It’s you assigned

Rachel:                                 [11:54]                     4 million a year?

Stephen:                             [11:56]                     Yes. How many times do you see that? I mean, you know, especially new people coming on. I see that a lot. Oh, that’s not good. Is it? Why, what, what do you think is the reason? Maybe, you know, because is it because, uh, it’s, you know, Hey Rachel, I’m a million dollar seller. Aren’t you impressed? Is that, is that part of it or what, what do you say?

Rachel:                                 [12:16]                     I think it is. I remember this specific person that I’m thinking about. She, she, she made $4 million and then, um, I remember her posting on Facebook saying, oh, everybody, you know, I’m a millionaire. But then I remember looking at her numbers and she was, she was losing money so they could be, you know, the pride, I, I don’t know. But I mean, you really need to be looking at your finances from the beginning of time so you could be profitable because some of these mistakes can cost thousands of dollars. And Amy take years for, for businesses to recover.

Stephen:                             [12:50]                     So, so your advice again is a, when you start cranking out $15,000 in gross sales, you, you need to get some help because now you’re getting to the place. And I always say that in my experience and this, so you can correct me because you’ve done the tens of thousands of returns where I’ve not, um, is a 15 to 20% is a normal operating margin that I’ve seen most businesses. And whether it be just selling stuff out of your garage or being a large private label business, are those numbers reasonable to you that you’ve seen?

Rachel:                                 [13:20]                     Yes, I would say it really varies. So Amazon sellers, we’ve seen, um, you know, profit margins from 20 to 30%. I’ve seen, you know, 25% usually, but you know, dropshippers make a little bit less. They make about, I would say three to 5% and they rely on the cash back. Um, private label I think is a little bit more, I think between, I think maybe 25 to 30% but your, your averages are right about right. Yeah.

Stephen:                             [13:46]                     Yeah. So at that place, you know, so let’s go back to our $15,000 a month seller, right? Assuming they don’t have a big overhead that they might get that 20%. So that’s 3000 hours a month in profit. That’s all of a sudden starting to get, you’re going to have some tax implications there, correct? Yes. Okay. So there’s the magic number. Okay. So I’m interested in a service, you’re saying to start with a, is it a local bookkeeper or a service like yours? I mean, do you take on clients that only do $15,000 a month?

Rachel:                                 [14:14]                     Yeah, actually we do because we see that their growth, um, they’re growing company. So even if somebody made, you know, is making five pounds in a month and then they say, oh, we’re about to launch a very big, uh, you know, we’re about to have a huge launch and we’re expecting to make 20 to $30,000 by the end of the year monthly, then we will take them on because of that. And we want to help them grow and make sure they’re compliant, specifically with sales tax and they’re registered in the state that they need to be in and they’re registered with department of Labor. They have payroll set up, they have everything set up so they could, they are ready for their big launch.

Stephen:                             [14:49]                     You know, it’s interesting to say that. So it’s almost like a checklist, right? That somebody needs to start thinking about. Because when they’re in the launch, they’re not going to have the time to deal with all these other things and they get passed over. Right. I mean, that’s the thing. Yeah.

Rachel:                                 [15:03]                     That’s what happens when businesses get really busy. They’re making millions. Then they’re like, oh my God, how did I, you know, how am I not on top of my books? How did I not file three years worth of tax turns? And they say, I, you know, my head was down. I was, I was, you know, focused on my business the whole entire time. And you know, these, these sellers that come to me, they make over $1 million and they’re behind on their taxes about two, three years. And a lot of them didn’t even file their sales tax or theatre behind on their payroll. And it gets scary. So I always recommend at least starting, you know, hire somebody from the very beginning registered with department of Labor Register with your sales tax and your specific state get incorporated, at least at least, you know, look at to see what’s the best entity in their state. Start making money. And then Elliot have a conversation with an accountant. And so when they start making a minimum of 15 k they have someone that they could speak to and all they need to do is just, just jump on and take over.

Stephen:                             [15:59]                     What do you think is the reason that people don’t do what you’re saying? You know, these are, are these maverick entrepreneurs for the most part, the people that you deal with, the reason, you know, cause I, I agree with you, you know, I think back to my corporate world, you know, there were companies that were as little as 3 million in revenue, but some were, I think the biggest one I worked for was 33 million at our entity. And we had whole teams. Man, I, I, you know, when I was the CFO, the one company, man, I’ve had cheese, I can’t remember 30 some odd people in my department that ran, you know, HR and payroll and finance country. I had a controller. I mean all those different things. And yet you see somebody who is selling $4 million not having any of those positions. What is that?

Rachel:                                 [16:42]                     I mean maybe it could be that, you know, they don’t think that they’re going to grow that big because a lot of businesses that come to me, they, they tell me that it just happened by accident. I don’t know. That’s what they say. You know, the lady that I was telling you about the $4 million, she said, Rachel, I don’t, I started this as a hot side hustle. I did not expect to make $4 million. She started from her garage and you know, it was a side job and then automatically came into a full time, uh, thing. And then she just didn’t know that it was going to be this big. Um, so that could be it. And to be really honest with you, a lot of accountants, they don’t, um, I don’t think they guide business owners are specifically Amazon sellers of what they need to do.

Rachel:                                 [17:21]                     They just say, I’m sorry, I can’t really help you right now because they don’t do the sales tax. They don’t do the payroll. They don’t do all services under one umbrella. And I think entrepreneurs get overwhelmed when they need to speak to more than one person in the finance department and everybody’s telling them something different. So if you speak to a bookkeeper, she says, yeah, I could take care of your bookkeeping. Now you need to go find a sales tax expert. And then you need to find a payroll person. And a lot of them are not communicating with each other. So the business owner is so overwhelmed and he just doesn’t do anything.

Stephen:                             [17:53]                     Hmm. All right. And, and then you even take it when you want to start minimizing taxes. Right. But that’s a whole different conversation than any of those other people can offer. I mean, it’s unreasonable for you to expect a bookkeeper to be able to give you advice on how to reduce your tax liability. That’s unreasonable that they’re not trained for that. It’s very specific. I don’t even know how to, and I have an accounting degree. I don’t even do my own taxes because it’s, it’s, it’s something you, yeah, it’s way complicated and you have to stay up on it and I can’t, you know, and so it’s a real, so, so I’m sitting there thinking about that. Um, that example right there. And so your recommendation is go to a company that offers all these services under one roof because they play into each other, correct?

Rachel:                                 [18:33]                     Yes, that’s correct. I 100% recommend hiring one company to do it all. Where you speak to one person at all times and there is no miscommunication. Because the biggest thing that businesses fail is because of, you know, miscommunication. Businesses are busy, they’re busy, especially e-commerce sellers. They’re extremely busy. And if they need to speak to the bookkeeper, the payroll person, the um, sales tax experts, so they could file their returns on a monthly or quarterly basis. And then at the end of the year, they need to speak to their accountants and gather all the books. And then the accountant says, oh, your bookkeeper didn’t do this right? And then the sales tax person says all your accounts and said, you know, for you to file in three different states, but the sales tax person says no to states. Then the payroll person says, Oh, you know, let’s file your returns.

Rachel:                                 [19:18]                     But the accountant says you need to make sure that you’re paying yourself a reasonable salary. The payroll company does not know what a reasonable salary is. And then I’m telling you, I hear it every single day. These business owners are so confused when you, when you listen to one person, one company, you have a easier communication and just one person handles it all because they see it all. They see the revenue, they know exactly what the payroll should be, they know where the money is coming from so they know where the sales tax has to be filed. They know at the end of the year, you know, how many kids the person has, how many of property or how many houses that the business has. So they’re were able to come up with tax planning loopholes. So the person or the business owner can reduce their liability. It’s so much easier to just have one person do it all.

Stephen:                             [20:04]                     You know, uh, there, there are a couple of points that come up. So we have our taxes done, um, by someone and they also do our personal taxes for exactly that reason because they, you know, you want to make sure, you know, with your reasonable salary and all the rest of that jazz that it’s handled correctly. Number two, when I think about, um, um, when I think about fees, when you’re, if I bring it all under one person, my fees are reduced because right. Is there is an overhead, right? Yes. So let’s, let’s talk about that. Uh, because I think that’s where a lot of people get scared too. Um, how much money would a $15,000 business, um, Steve does mind recommendations monthly payroll. By the way, if you’re gonna do payroll cause it’s done per transaction. So I always do monthly, but how much money would somebody expect to budget? Cause I’m a budget guy too for that business. Right. So what do we say they’re doing $180,000 a year or something like that. I’m in revenue now. They’re making a profit, maybe 30, $40,000. What’s a reasonable number for somebody to expect for all those services?

Rachel:                                 [21:05]                     I would say, um, I would say anywhere between like 400 to $500 on a monthly basis.

Stephen:                             [21:11]                     $1,000 a year?

Rachel:                                 [21:12]                     Yeah. About, yeah.

Stephen:                             [21:13]                     I have just 6,000. Five to 6,000.

Rachel:                                 [21:16]                     Yeah. And it also like, depends. So, I mean that’s what we start out and, and there may be other accountants, you know, that charge a lot more or less, I don’t know. But the way, the way we tell people is we, I mean another thing like, I dunno, you know, we, we don’t offer any cancellation fees or any contracts, which is another thing that I, I want business owners to see. Cause there, there are a lot of like Amazon sellers that their accounts get suspended for a little bit and I don’t want them to, you know, pay, pay that much if their accounts are suspended, these get reduced if they’re, it’s suspended cause they’re not making any money. Um, you know, so it really, it also depends on the activity, but I would say around four to $500 and support and guidance and unlimited notices it or are included plus the tax planning at the end of the year.

Rachel:                                 [22:03]                     So there are other bookkeeping and accounting firms that do the bookkeeping, the payroll and the returns at the end of the year. But they don’t include the estimated payments on a quarterly basis. They don’t include making the payments on behalf of the client. They the and say, Hey, you owe $3,000 to the IRS. Go make a payment on your own. But you could be, you know, in Hawaii that that time or whatever and you can’t make that payment. So they need to be very specific. And I think the more the more accountants do, they charge more. But you know, we don’t,

Stephen:                             [22:34]                     well it interests me to think about what you just said too. Is that, so if I have a payroll problem, do usually there’s a sales tax problem. Usually that makes it an income issue. You can end up, if you use an outside payroll company and then you have somebody else do your tanks, you’re going to have to have two or three different people speaking with the IRS for you. That’s complicated.

Rachel:                                 [22:53]                     Oh that is. And Trust me, I am telling you there are a lot of payroll companies or we had a lot of clients that have hired like the big payroll companies and when they get IRS notices cause we’re doing your returns, they say, Hey Rachel, I got this IRS notice and I go, hey listen, you need to give this to your payroll company. They give it to their payroll company and, and it turns out that they don’t even know how to read these notices because there are sales people entering the numbers, you know, 10 hours a day or $10 an hour, they don’t understand. Or they’re not even authorized to call the IRS and, and help the client with these notices. Or they make the deposits late or they don’t file the returns on time, et Cetera. It’s more of like the payroll services are more of like a robot. I call it a robotic service. They just enter a $10 an hour, you know, $10 whatever, and they don’t really think out of the box and they can help with these notices. So that’s why I highly recommend having one company do it all for them.

Stephen:                             [23:47]                     You know, it’s almost like an insurance policy. We used to call it risk mitigation, right? We always try to mitigate risk, right? Trying to get rid of all the places that you can have pinch points. And you know, what’s hard is in our business, we’re out of control for Amazon. We don’t know what they’re going to do, right? They’re gonna change the rules. They’re going to change the pricing, they’re going to all your models, Bill, and then somebody outside of your control changes things. Well, if that is big uncertainty in your life and that’s the biggest part of your business, why would you take uncertainty in this other part of your life? Um, to save a couple hundred dollars a year. And to me, you know, again, um, we use the same company, does our payroll, he does our year end taxes, our corporate taxes all are basically the same thing you’re describing. Um, let’s talk about, let’s talk about other services that people were thinking about or should be thinking about. Um, are you able to look at trends? Are you guys able to do reviews? I mean, do you have a, a consultation where, hey, Steve, you had a good year or you didn’t have a good year? Are there places that we see opportunity? I mean, is there those kinds of conversations available?

Rachel:                                 [24:52]                     We do. So I have someone on my team that, you know, has over 30 years of experience and if anyone has specific questions like, uh, like you said a review, we’re actually working with an Amazon seller right now who hired Amazon a, you know, a company that deals with Amazon accountants all day. I mean Amazon sellers all day. And um, we did a review on his 2017 return and he overpaid. It’s scary. He overpaid in taxes by $70,000. Yes. It’s, it’s crazy. So we went into his, um, you know, bookkeeping and we did a review cause we want to take on a 20, 19. And that was the only thing that we’re going to, cause he came to us for 2019 and moving forward and he said, you know, I’m not really sure that my accountant did my, you know, my return the right way. And I said, okay, well let’s go into the bookkeeping.

Rachel:                                 [25:40]                     Let’s review and make sure that everything was done right. We go into 2017 yesterday actually, and we see that a lot of the credit cards were not reconciled. A lot of their credit cards were entered since April or they, and they were not entered since January. Um, some of the credit cards were not even reconciled. Some of the bank accounts were not even entered. Inventory was not even entered. Right. A paypal fees were not even entered. There was just so many things. And we had a bunch of accounts, a questions for the account, and then the accountant said, oh, my client gave me a budget. So I, you know, I just work based on that budget. And we, we asked the client, did you know that you had a budget? And he said, I never heard of such a thing. And in this situation, the accountant said I was just hired to do the Amazon adjustments and the bookkeeper just was just hired to reconcile the statements and the bookkeeper.

Rachel:                                 [26:31]                     I said, Oh, you know, the client ever gave me the statements and we said, why didn’t you ever ask for it? And the client was like, oh my God. Cause he had two people working on his books and now he overpaid and you know, in taxes by his $70,000. And obviously we’re going to amend his return, we’re working on it and we’re going to get all that money back. But yeah, we do do reviews just for that reason. Just to make sure that, you know, clients are paying what they’re supposed to pay. And before we even take on a client, we want to make sure that at least two years is, um, it’s just done right. Cause every, it has to carry over the balance sheet and the income statement, it just carries over moving forward. So

Stephen:                             [27:08]                     those problems stay with you. D um, that’s a good example. So that person had two different people that they weren’t minding the store right? They, they push off the responsibility and like, oh, I got a bookkeeper and you’re relying on that person to do the work. But if you’re not reviewing their work, and clearly there’s no way they were reviewing the work they couldn’t write or they would’ve seen that. Right. How hard is it in your experience, how hard is it for clients after their, you know, they get good financials every month and they see it where they start asking smart questions where you notice like the lights went on where there’s like a switch where all of a sudden you could see they get it now. Well what do you mean how hard is that? Well, I mean how, I mean how, I guess how many times have you seen it? Maybe that was the wrong way to ask. I was starting to go a different direction, but I mean how many times have you seen that where you know, they, they came to you, they didn’t understand anything. Then you start kicking off financials to them and then all of a sudden you get start to get smart questions from them where they all of a sudden understand what you’re doing and they’re able to take their business further. You get what I mean there?

Rachel:                                 [28:08]                     Yeah. So, so I think like once they start in the very beginning, obviously they don’t know. They don’t really know what to ask, you know, they say, I ask them, you know, do you have any other questions? They go, really? Honestly, Rachel, I don’t even know what to ask. So I educate them and tell them what you’re supposed to be asking me. Then um, you know, once they start making, I would say at least a hundred thousand dollars or $200,000, then they’re like, oh my God, you know, I’m not making so much money where, where my expenses going, I’m making all this money but I don’t see it. And then they say, what I owe this much in taxes. How could it be? So I think the warm money they make, I have a client right now, you know, making $1 million a month and he starting to ask like really good solid questions based on the, because you know, based on the amount of money that he’s making and how fast he’s growing, I also think, um, you know, Amazon sellers, they have specific coaches that educate them on what they should be asking.

Rachel:                                 [29:00]                     And you know, maybe they listen to podcasts and they know exactly what to ask. So it’s also how much money they’re making. But they’re also like reading and listening to other people and they’re networking with others and, and they know, or they’re getting ideas of what they should be asking. So, and they’re asking us and were able to pinpoint or we create a loom video for them answering their questions. So just in case if they ever go back on it or they have that question, the, that question again, they, they know where to find it.

Stephen:                             [29:26]                     Yeah. It’s interesting you say that because it sounds like once they gained confidence that their books are being done right, they’re able to direct their attention to these other things to really enhance like that e-myth working on their business. Right. Um, eh. How, how, how much, I mean, I know you do a lot of returns in, you’re involved in a lot of different businesses. How much does your team feel like they’re part of other people’s businesses though? Like, do you know what I mean? Like a division, like we used to have a finance division. Right? How much did, I mean, are you able to get to that level of relationship with your clients?

Rachel:                                 [29:58]                     Oh, your staff,

Stephen:                             [29:59]                     motorcycle maybe.

Rachel:                                 [30:00]                     Right. So they’re, they’re part of it a lot. I mean, we’re always there to ask a lot of, you know, answer any of their questions. But I would say, I mean, if I needed to give a percentage, maybe 30%, because we do like their finances, we do their, um, you know, payroll and sales tax. But to be really honest with you, they get their reports on a monthly basis. If they have a question they ask us, but most of them are really busy and they just want to make sure that they have someone that they trust to get it done right. And they’re, they speak to us a lot in the very beginning of our relationship. And then once they, once they trust us, they just allow us to take care of their finances. And, um, you know, I think that’s one of the most important things is the trust and the relationship and just making sure that we’re doing everything right so they could grow in their business. Um, but I would say I would say like 30, 20 to 30%, maybe.

Stephen:                             [30:54]                     You know, you’re a little warm and fuzzy to be an accountant. Uh, why did, why did you think about getting in the accounting world?

Rachel:                                 [31:01]                     That’s a good question. So when I, um, when I was a lot younger, um, when I was 18, actually, um, you know, I don’t know if you heard the story cause I shared it at one of the conferences that we’re in. So we, I became so passionate about, you know, taxes and through a personal experience. So this is really hard for me to say, cause it’s like a personal, you know, experienced. But when I was 18, the FBI, um, came into my door and [inaudible] came into my house and they literally broke down my doors looking for my father. And I said, you know, I, we were just like all going crazy. And we’re like, what in the world is going on? Literally six o’clock in the morning. Um, I think it was like five, six guys, big men looking for ’em my father. And I said, we all woke up.

Rachel:                                 [31:52]                     We’re like, what in the world is going on? What’s happening? And I remember, you know, we’re like, okay, they, they arrested my father and I’m like, what? Don’t you know what’s happening? What’s going on? And my mom is like, you know, we probably didn’t file our taxes. And I’m like, what are you talking about? What do you mean you didn’t file your taxes? So what turned out to be that my father, he used to sell cars in New York City in New York state, actually in Long Island. And he had a, you know, several, he had a use called car dealership and people that would buy cars from him, he would include the sales tax in the, in the cars. Let’s say he sold a Mercedes and the car was like, I don’t know, $65,000 and he was supposed to pay a 0.8% on the, on the car.

Rachel:                                 [32:35]                     But my father would say, you know what, let’s just make it $50,000 and um, and that’s it, let’s just call it. So he would include the sales tax and the price. And his accountant never told him that you’re supposed to re, you know, reduce your, your overall costs by the sales tax. So your, your costs, let’s say it would be $40,000 or $43,000 and the rest would go to New York state sales tax. He never guided him. He never, you know, helped him in any way. And my father got arrested and he went to jail for about, I would say a few months, uh, because he didn’t pay his sales tax in New York. And, um, and he ended up paying, you know, one point $2 million in restitution for several years. And you know, when they did this whole audit, I, you know, I was just becoming an accountant at this time and I’m like, I can’t believe this.

Rachel:                                 [33:27]                     This is like, it’s just, I couldn’t believe it. And um, you know, they, the, the New York state sales tax, they charged my dad 50 more like they, he basically, my dad paid 16% of sales tax because they just look at the numbers and they made it, I don’t know how they calculated it, but it was all wrong and it was just too late for us to, you know, fight for it. It turned out to be criminal and he ended up paying literally one point $2 million in taxes. And then after he paid that, he was deported because, you know, he was illegal here. So I remember, you know, going to 20, 26 federal plaza where my dad was detained and I was literally crying. Everybody was like looking at me like I was some crazy person. And I’m like, how, you know, there has to be other people in this world that are going through the same thing and there has a can be just my dad.

Rachel:                                 [34:20]                     And um, and I told, you know, the the police and I’m like, why did you take my dad? He’s such a good person. He said, you know what, I, it’s not me. I’m just doing my job. And I literally like, it was just the worst day of my life. And I said, you know what, I have to make a change. I was 18, I was the, I would say young. I mean, I, and at that time I was like, thinking, what should I do? Where should I, what should I, what, um, you know, what college should I go to? Those are the thoughts at the time. And I said, you know what, I’m going to be an accountant and I’m going to help everyone, everyone that I possibly can for them to never go through, you know, the same feeling or the same thing that my dad went through.

Rachel:                                 [34:57]                     And I remember, you know, making that statement, it was just crazy. And that’s how I got to where I am. Cause I’m just so passionate. I don’t want people over paying in taxes. I don’t want people, you know, being afraid of, um, of just, you know, the IRS to be honest, are very nice. Like you said, they’re, they are helpful. They are, you know, they just want people to be compliant. I don’t think they’re asking for things that are unreasonable. And if you hire a professional and somebody you know, right for you, they’re able to get it done for you. And you know, I, I just wished that my father had good, proper accountants and he didn’t have anyone licensed. He just found somebody, you know, that was working out of their basement and it was through a referral. It was just, and he just said, you know what, Rachel, I’m a salesperson. I don’t know this. I you just, you know, you just said, I re I relied on the accounting. Do you think I, you think I wouldn’t pay? Why would I follow the rules? Who would, who would want this headache?

Stephen:                             [35:52]                     You know? And, and back then you didn’t have the Internet. You didn’t have all those tools that you were able to just jump in and have all at your fingertips that you do. Now, you know, I sit and I think about it, and this is, this is an awful way to say this, but it’s the truth. When, when politics, which are taxes, they’re, they’re political. They’re not logical accounting. Most of it. When, when, when, that stuff, if you, if you can’t pay that portion in your business, right? If your business can’t support that tax, you really don’t have a business. Correct. I mean, isn’t it the right way to look at it?

Rachel:                                 [36:24]                     Yes. [inaudible]

Stephen:                             [36:26]                     I created this thing. This stinks, but it’s the reality,

Rachel:                                 [36:30]                     right? 100% true. I mean, they have to pay taxes. You don’t have a choice and you, you just need to be smart and proactive to do everything you can to minimize the taxes. And the only way they could do that is by hiring somebody the right, you know, the right time. So I want to say, you know, people hire us in March, let’s say so of 2019 to help them with 2018 taxes. But there’s nothing that we could do. The year is done, you know, it’s so important that people hire accountants in the year, like at least that they kind of came to me in October. I would, you know, do help them do a late s election for them. Or I would do, you know, I would help them file payroll returns or do a bonus for them so they could keep track so they could pay themselves a reasonable salary if they did not do it for the first six months of the year. Or we could do something called the Augusta loophole. I don’t know if you know that, where you could rent your home to yourself or for it for less than 14 days out of the year. And did, you know, deduct that as an expense or there’s just so many legal things hire, you’re hiring your children as another thing that they could do, but it has to be before the year ends and it has to be at least by October. And you know, people, I mean, the timing is so important and I don’t think people really understand that

Stephen:                             [37:47]                     well. I know we’re scaring some people here now. And so this is in July of 2019. That’s when we’re recording this. So you, you, you can fix 2019 right now if you make a choice and you know, and um, I don’t know, uh, Rachel’s company, um, and Steve doesn’t benefit other than you getting your books, right? And so to me, if this connects with, if you connect and you’re listening to Rachel and you’re like, yeah, I like what she’s saying and this and that, then reach out. If, especially if you’re in trouble or, and you know, here’s the thing, this is another thing and I know this is a guy thing, so I don’t know if it’s a lady thing, you’ll have to tell me that. It’s hard for guys to admit. I mean I’m this hero to my kids, right? I’m a hero to my grandkids, but I have to admit I failed Rachel. That’s not easy. I mean, how about for ladies? Is that hard them or

Rachel:                                 [38:36]                     there’s a smarter sex. I mean we all know that. So no, I think it’s easier for a woman to say, you know what, I really messed up. I mean, I don’t know, based on the phone calls that I hear, it’s that they’re just there. They just say, yeah, I messed up and I need help. But I think it is harder for men because the phone calls that I here actually had a client [inaudible] it was such a scary conversation. Years ago. He came to me and he said, Rachel, I really need to speak to you. And I was in an office, I had a much smaller office in Manhattan where I had, you know, multiple people in one room. And he said, I really need to speak to you. And I said, okay, sure. You know, I rented an office. I’m like, it was like a Regis office.

Rachel:                                 [39:12]                     I got to the office next door. And I said, you know, what can I do to help you? So he goes, he started crying to me and it was a man. And I was shocked. And he’s like, you know, my wife does not know that I’m behind on my taxes and you know, and he’s like, he told me, and I was just like, I couldn’t believe it. Like I’m shaking as I’m saying this. He’s like, I really think that the IRS is gonna take me to jail. And if you tell me that they are, I’m going to commit suicide. I’m like, what? I’m like, first of all, your, I said, no, you know, he’s, he literally like, Oh my God. I think his father, um, committed suicide or, or his brothers, somebody in his family and he’s like, you know what? I don’t know. He’s like, this is affecting my marriage.

Rachel:                                 [39:55]                     This is affecting my relationship. My wife thinks everything. You know, I, I, I don’t remember like the exact details, but I remember that he wants it to like commit suicide cause he was behind on his taxes. And um, I promised him that I was going to help him file everything. We filed like four or five years. We got him on a payment plan and he’s free. So I, you know, I think like people come up with these thoughts, Oh my God, the IRS is going to take me to jail or oh my God, you know, I’m going to owe all this money. But it may not even be true. It may not even be true. They just need to hire somebody. And yes, I do see that a lot. Specifically for men. Um, but you know what they, they just tell me how it is and I kind of, I kind of feel them and you know, I mean, I don’t know how to say it but I tell them, you know, don’t worry, I’ll take care of it.

Rachel:                                 [40:42]                     I’ll call the IRS, I’ll get a power of attorney, we’ll get whatever we need and we’ll get them filed. And I don’t want to really embarrass people cause it is kind of embarrassing when you’re behind on your finances. But I think like one of the most, like I give a lot of people credit because they actually called and they said, I had a actually another guy recently that said, I’m really embarrassed but you know what, at least I’m calling you so I could take care of it. And moving forward, I no longer will embarrassed. We’ll be embarrassed. And I know I trust your age because he’s been following me on Facebook for so long because I trust you, Rachel, that you’ll take care of me and I hopefully I could share my story with others that I went through this and I’m going to be compliant because that’s my main focus. And I said, yes, don’t focus on the past. Let’s focus on the future. Give me all of your problems, you know, related to taxes. I will help you get you filed, get paid, you know, on a payment plan at the lowest amount possible with the IRS. And that’s it. It’s just, I think it’s so simple. But yet that phone call is so hard for people to make.

Stephen:                             [41:43]                     Well, especially when you describe a what that guy was considering as the alternative. So anybody in that position, anybody listening to this right now who’s embarrassed, who’s this and that I’m going to give you a Rachel’s contact information and reach out. Do you do, do you charge just to have a conversation with somebody? No, I don’t. Okay. So there’s no, there’s no risk. Okay. So anybody listening who’s in trouble, anybody who’s sitting there saying, I don’t know what to do, I’m at my wit’s end, have a conversation with Rachel or team member or whoever it is and just have a conversation and just get perspective. I cause I think that’s the biggest challenge. It’s all fear driven. Right? They hear these crazy stories but perspective helps. Right. You experiences taught you in this situation with all these circumstances, this is likely to happen, correct?

Rachel:                                 [42:28]                     Right. Yes, exactly. Cause I, I would tell they would tell me a small story or what they’re going through and I would say, okay, we need to do this and this and I’ll explain the whole entire process on the phone and say, okay, we need to call the IRS. This is what we need to do. We’ll get your returns filed. If you don’t have the money, we’ll put you on a payment plan. And I say, you know what, you could, you know whatever else. I explained the fees in advance so there’s no surprises. If we, whatever we do, and listen, if they are happy, they move forward. If not, at least they had a free consultation. I could, you know, it’s not even about the money. I don’t care about the money. I really don’t. I want to help people and I know it may sound stupid but or whatever, but you know, I’m telling you, I always think about my dad’s situation and I wish I had more time in the day to help others. And this is why I get on speaking engagements or, or um, you know, podcasts so I could share my story and tell people whether it’s us or someone else, it doesn’t really matter. Just, just file your returns and be compliant. That’s it.

Stephen:                             [43:29]                     Let me ask you another personal question. Do you then, do you think less of your dad because he messed up that big?

Rachel:                                 [43:35]                     No, not at all.

Stephen:                             [43:36]                     I just think about that. Think about that. Everybody who’s so worried about what their friends and family will think of them. Here’s Rachel’s saying her father was brought away in handcuffs, kicked in the door. And you don’t think any less of him as a DST?

Rachel:                                 [43:52]                     I actually look up to my dad. I mean, my dad is my mentor. I mean, he’s like my king. I love my dad with all my heart and I still look up to him and you know, and I, I look up to him because he was able to face forward and say, you know what, I did mess up but I’m going to do everything I can to clean this up. And he did. He paid it back. He was still strong. He did whatever he can to clean it up and we all mess up. We all, you know, and, and the fact that he was able to hire attorneys and, and pay the tax and move forward and it was just seeing him going through this, it was just such a scary transition. I don’t think of my dad in an any, not in the last way at all.

Stephen:                             [44:35]                     That’s so powerful. You know, we, we have a bunch of clients in our warehouse that are private label and every, I don’t want to say every single one, almost every single one we’ve had to do rework on. That means that something that they planned, they did all the research, they did everything they thought was right and something still went wrong. For whatever reason, you know, wasn’t up to specs, there was a defect or whatever, and yet they move forward, least RSL and we’re doing rework to help them get forward. That means that they’re not perfect. I think the same thing goes what you said is that everybody messes up everybody. I mean, you’re not surprised when really successful sellers come to you and say, Ooh, I didn’t do this right. Or can you look at this right? I mean,

Rachel:                                 [45:18]                     right. It’s kind of normal, right? It is normal. I mean, I’m telling you, I had a client, um, I think two weeks ago, actually, no, no, this week. I’m sorry. He paid last a at last year. Um, I think it was like, I mean, for last year’s taxes he paid $140,000 in taxes. So it, and, and I think he made, he said one point $9 million. So, yeah. And, and he was not current, so we’re about to sign him up this week. He was not current with the sales tax. And you know, it’s, it’s totally okay. There are millionaires, they’ll come to me all the time and they just say, do you mind if I look at this? I actually, I’m speaking at a very big event very soon. And the person that I was speaking to said, oh, I do this and this and this. And I’m like, I’m sorry, but what you’re doing is, is not right. And he’s like, okay, tell me, you know how you do things. And I, I told him how it should be done because I really didn’t want to know more about, you know what he’s telling me? And he’s like, Oh my God, I’m an eight figure seller, but yet, you know, I need not doing,

Stephen:                             [46:19]                     he’s exposed.

Rachel:                                 [46:21]                     Right. And I’m like, oh, he’s like, oh my God, I think I need your help. And I’m like, okay, let’s talk about this leader. But you know, I see it all the time. So whether they’re making, you know, 5,000 a month or, or I’m helping another eight figure seller this week. I mean, I’ve been helping him for a long time though, for about two years. And um, you know, he also hired a online bookkeeping company where they did everything wrong. They didn’t reconcile the statements. I wish I could mention, look at the online bookkeeping need. Please. I’m not, I’m not, don’t worry. I would never, um, you know, but they did a reconcile the accounts and thankfully he was able to get the full refund. And this guy makes I think 10 to $14 million a year and he’s going through the same financial struggles. So if people think, you know, oh, I’m going to make more money, I’m going to have less, uh, less problems. Or I just think it really, you know, every, I think everybody in every stage of life has these issues and it’s just best for them to hire the right people from the very beginning. And it’s really important.

Stephen:                             [47:21]                     And as Rachel said, it’s not too late and she will not think less of you, nor will your family. The fact that you addressed it and you move forward, you said you looked up to him stronger. So I think that’s very, very powerful. Okay. So let’s, we’re getting close to the end. I want to make sure that we give valuable advice for people. So again, you’d say that, you know, when somebody gets to that level, they should a get some help, right? They should definitely get some help. They get to start dealing with real issues that are coming and these are the shoes that you’re not going to be able to avoid. Let’s, uh, let’s give some more advice. Other things if you see that are big red flags that people should be looking for big. The number one reason people grow out of businesses, capitalization or um, not paying taxes. Correct?

Rachel:                                 [48:06]                     I would say so, yes. And not filing sales tax yet. Not Filing or not filing, right? Not Filing, not paying, not being current, not knowing what their obligations are as to having a conversation with someone you know, is, is really important. And incorporating it from the very beginning is also really important. Incorporating their company

Stephen:                             [48:27]                     now and again, that that incorporation creates a whole bunch of different tax rules. Does it create more complicated bookkeeping rules also?

Rachel:                                 [48:37]                     Um, I mean I, it doesn’t really create any additional complicated work. The only thing, like at the end of the year, you would need to file two separate returns. So if they’re a sole proprietor, you know, let’s say their individual name, um, you know, they would file only one return, but if they’re incorporated, they would file two returns. But as far as bookkeeping, you’re still required, whether you’re a sole proprietor or a corporation, you’re still required to know how much money you’re making and what your expenses are in detail regardless of the entity that you’re in. And as a business owner, you would want to know that cause you want it to duct every single expense. And the only way that you’re deducting the right amount is by doing your monthly bookie bangs and knowing what’s deductible and not.

Stephen:                             [49:21]                     And that five to 6,000, that is a rough estimate. Does that include the year end taxes?

Rachel:                                 [49:27]                     Uh, yes. That does. Yes.

Stephen:                             [49:28]                     All right. So, so there’s perspective for people. Okay. So if your business is doing that 180,000, which was the example we used, a 15,000 a month, you could expect to pay about $6,000. How much would a CFO, like, I don’t know if you’ve ever worked in corporate America, a good CFO is well over six figures, well over six figures and, and the perks, Oh God, I missed those perks. They used to be, oh we used to get some great perks. They are, uh, those are above and beyond. And then they don’t usually do the work. They have team members that do the work. So for $6,000 to get that service. Um, you know, how about this, let me ask this question cause you, you probably do other companies besides ecommerce or maybe you don’t, um, how different is ecommerce, uh, than other, uh, other inventory based businesses out there?

Rachel:                                 [50:18]                     I mean they’re not, unless they, I mean are you referring to like a retail like [inaudible]

Stephen:                             [50:23]                     yeah, I guess you know, in especially on tax, cause I think that’s where a bookkeeping is bookkeeping. But, but for tax purposes

Rachel:                                 [50:29]                     I would say like the sales tax is the biggest thing is, you know, they um, ecommerce sellers have more sales tax issues because they have nexus in different states. But if a real estate, retail ’em if they’re only shipping, you know, one good are or that they don’t have or they’re not shipping to an Amazon FBA, then they may not have nexus in those. So I think sales tax is one of the biggest differentiators between, uh, those, you know, e-commerce and other retail shops. But a, a payroll would be really similar. It depends on the gross revenue and you want to issue yourself payroll or reasonable compensation. The tax returns are slightly different cause you know, you need to calculate inventory. And when we do, um, the, the, the returns for ecommerce sellers, we log into the Amazon sellers account, we log into Shopify, we log into stripe, we login to paypal. And by the way, a lot of accountants don’t do that. And we see that’s where the miscommunication is. Cause they don’t log it. They don’t know how to read, you know, inventory lab, tax jar. They don’t know how to read these, the reports. And um, that’s why their returns are wrong at the end of the year. But um, yeah,

Stephen:                             [51:39]                     yeah. That’s, that makes them unique. I agree with it. Yeah. Because it is, it is unusual the way it’s done. And if you look at consistency, if you’ve looked at more than one virgin, you get to understand it. I agree with you. Yeah.

Rachel:                                 [51:49]                     Right. Exactly. Yeah. Cause cause we know if I, if somebody on my team, we’ll go log into tax jar, they would say, Oh crap, your settings are wrong. Or the log into inventory lab and they’ll say, hmm, this is wrong. This is not the way it should be. Cause we’ve seen so many. Yeah.

Stephen:                             [52:02]                     Oh it’s unusual. You’re looking and you see this and this is unusual. That’s not usually good. It’s like, Huh, why would that be different? And then you can ask that question. Ooh. That’s okay.

Rachel:                                 [52:11]                     Exactly. Cause we see so many. And by the way, right now we’re actually like, I started offering this two weeks ago. There’s so many coaches out there that are selling, you know, Amazon stores and they’re registering these Amazon sellers in like 20 different states when they don’t even need to be. Um, I don’t know what I, I don’t, I work, you know. So now we’re like offering a sales tax consultation where they’re not even ready for a CFO service on a monthly basis because they’re not even making so much. So we offer like a one time sales tax consultation and we log into tax jar, we log into inventory loud, we make sure all the settings are done right. We guide them and tell them this is what you need to do. And then when you start making 15 canned a monthly basis, you reach out to us and we’ll help you. Cause I don’t want to, you know, charge someone if they’re not ready for the service. Their profit margins are so low

Stephen:                             [52:58]                     and you don’t want to see somebody kicking their door ever. Okay. All right. So again, Steve doesn’t benefit. Uh, however, if somebody is in trouble, somebody sitting out there and they’re in trouble and they’re listening to this and they’re, you know, thinking through worst case scenarios, please contact Rachel, uh, uh, her information beyond this episode. But I’m going to give it right now. So it’s rachel@empoweryourusa.com. Rachel at Empire Tax Dot. Oh No. Empire Tax usa.com. So I don’t have my glasses on. That’s the best way to get in touch with you, rich.

Rachel:                                 [53:36]                     Yes, that’s correct. Or they could always call my office. I have a full time admin. I’m [9:00] PM eastern t I’m [9:00] AM eastern to [5:00] PM Eastern. Whatever works for them or email as best as well. Whatever works for them.

Stephen:                             [53:48]                     All right, I’m going to give that number two. It’s a two one two number, right. That’s the number two (230) 057-7621 two three zero zero five seven, seven, six. If you’re exposed, if you’re in trouble, if you’re sitting out there and you’re like, I don’t know what to do, my world’s imploding. Your relationships cause this stuff will suck the life out of you. It’ll take the hope from your soul, please call and just get perspective. Just get perspective to know where you’re at. So then you can start from there because is it ever that bad Rachel? Now you can always get out of it one way or another. You can work your way out of it, right?

Rachel:                                 [54:24]                     Yeah. A hundred percent a hundred percent

Stephen:                             [54:27]                     not 99 100%

Rachel:                                 [54:30]                     yes. If they come, you know, on time and they, you know, it’s within three days, like if we call the IRS and ask for an extension or, or something, it’s, it’s not that bad as people think. And we could easily within, within, I would say a week or so because we’re very fast and we could easily help them and, and um, I’m very careful about what I say and if I promise something, I always do it. That’s how I maintain my reputation. I say it’s going to take two weeks or a week or whatever. We commit to our deadlines and, and try our best to help our clients.

Stephen:                             [55:02]                     Okay. So, uh, the contact information again, it’ll be on this episode. Um, they had, the goal of the podcast is to always help people who get stuck and you can make it specific to tax if you’d like, or business or life. Give us the best advice that you can to get people past the point of stuck.

Rachel:                                 [55:24]                     Um, I would say, I mean when I was doc, I just, you know, don’t look at the moment or don’t think about the current situation. Think about what it could be like or think about you know, the future and then see what you could do to hire someone to help you get there. Whether it would be a coach or, or, um, you know, a tax person or a marketing person. I think what gets people stuck is the thoughts and their minds and them, you know, like living in that current moment. So they have to stop thinking about that focus, stop focus, focusing on the negative thoughts in their mind and focus on the positivity. Be Positive, move forward. Think about what could happen if you do take massive action and hire whoever you need to to get to where you want to be.

Stephen:                             [56:14]                     Love it. Oh, Rachel, I wish you nothing but success. Thank you so much.

Rachel:                                 [56:19]                     You’re welcome. Thank you so much. I appreciate you. Thank you so much for your, for, you know, interviewing me and if you need anything, I would always be there to help you. Thank you very much for this

Stephen:                             [56:29]                     man. What a cool story. I mean, it was terrible that her dad, I mean, it’s awful, but I mean, what a cool story to come out on the other end to be able to make this kind of a life mission. How cool was that? How do you have your life figured out? Do you know where you can make a difference for other people? Um, very cool that she’s doing this and very cool. The Passion behind it. Again, you hear that inner confidence when you have somebody who’s done thousands of returns, that’s where you can gain confidence. I love that. The end. When we start talking about when they’re seeing anomalies, when they start seeing, you know, they’re looking at inventory lab and all of a sudden they’re like, Huh, that’s different than everybody else. That’s usually a bad sign. Generally, that doesn’t mean you’re like the best.

Stephen:                             [57:07]                     That means you got a problem and maybe there’s an opportunity there and that can help you fix it. That’s valuable for $6,000 a year, right? You got to think about that. Build that cost. It’s just like insurance by insurance. That I think is $3,000 a year. Build that into your business. If your business can’t sustain that, then you might not have a business. You might want to rethink the strategy you’re working on. Adjust and then move forward. Please again, you know I’m her contact information. Is rachel@empiretaxusa.com reach out, especially if you’re in that bad place. Please and just send me a note. If you need me to help introduce you, just send me an, of course I’ll do it instantly. Okay. E-Commerce, momentum.com ECOMMERCE, momentum.com take care.

Cool voice guy:                  [57:46]                     Thanks for listening to the e-commerce momentum podcast. All the links mentioned today can be found@incomersmomentum.com under this episode number, please remember to subscribe and the lake us on iTunes.

 

Stephen-Peterson

About the author, Stephen

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