Episode 24: Making Tax Strategy Work for You. The Top Five Things to do.

Join me on a solo journey as I navigate the whirlwind of tax preparation during the busy season. I'll share my personal experiences with the challenges of hiring new tax preparers, drawing parallels to the unpredictability of home renovations. As we prepare to welcome new team members later in the year, I'll also discuss our recent speaking engagements and the surprising joy I find in breakout sessions over keynotes. A hot topic often arises: can new business owners rely on off-the-shelf tax software instead of professional tax preparers? I'll break down the limitations of these software solutions and the traditional tax preparers, contrasting them with the comprehensive support a tax strategist can offer.

Listen in as I unravel the complexities of the U.S. tax system, especially the challenges it poses for small business owners. With over 6,500 pages of tax code, navigating it without professional help can be daunting. I emphasize the value of a knowledgeable tax professional who can interpret these laws and identify opportunities, reducing the anxiety around audits. By understanding that the tax system is self-reported, I highlight the importance of informed decision-making to ensure you're not leaving money on the table.

Explore the benefits of proactive tax strategies and personalized advice in optimizing your small business tax obligations. Discover the advantages of becoming a corporation and how it can aid in business growth, especially when income thresholds are met. We'll discuss the significance of outsourcing and delegation to avoid the "key man problem" and achieve a semblance of work-life balance. With a focus on tailored tax guidance, I'll invite you to engage with us for insights and strategies that suit your unique circumstances, promising a more efficient and personalized tax planning experience.

Chapter Summaries

(00:00) Tax Preparation and Software Comparison
Solo journey through tax preparation challenges, hiring new team members, speaking engagements, and benefits of personalized tax planning.
(07:36) Navigating the Complex Tax Code
Nature's complex tax system requires professional help, leads to over-caution in reporting, and demands informed decision-making.
(17:23) Strategies for Small Business Tax Benefits
Nature's toolkit for small business owners includes a proactive tax strategist and smarter tax planning.
(27:24) Benefits of Becoming a Corporation
Benefits of incorporating for small businesses, outsourcing to avoid key man problem, and strategies for growth and work-life balance.
(40:25) Personalized Tax Guidance and Consultation
Personalized advice, situation-specific strategies, and the importance of individual needs in our industry.

To learn more about Busy Bee accounting and services, or to simply connect with Eric or Melissa, find them at Busy Bee Advisors.

Transcript

00:00 - Melissa Broughton (Host)
Hey listeners, welcome to this episode of the Real Buzz. I am here solo today, without the bearded man, and I have to tell you. You know, when we first met, he did not have the Viking beard, nor did he have long hair. He had a very groomed goatee and the agreement was that he was supposedly going to pick one either his hair or his beard. And yet somehow I now have a husband of 20 years who has long hair and a beard and, lucky me, there's always treats to find in the beard, right. Okay, so welcome to the show. 

00:38
It is going to be a little bit different because you get to just hear me without his insight and interjections, but I hope you find the information and what we're talking about today helpful. And we are, of course, knee deep in the beginnings of tax season. It's an interesting choice we made this year because at our firm we started talking about back in October, november, the prospect of hiring on some additional tax preparers, and of course, the hiring process always takes quite a bit longer than expected. It's kind of like remodeling a bathroom it takes longer than expected. We're finally getting applicants in that look to be promising, but as we start the process we'll be in the middle of tax season March is when things really start to heat up and doing interviews, so we will see how it goes. I have a feeling that we will probably be bringing them on for the later half of this year the October tax boom as I like to refer to it as. But the one thing that's become apparent to me from the different calls and appointments that I've had with either current clients or prospective clients, or from the few speaking opportunities that we've had. And on the topic of speaking opportunities, we really thought that our goal was to hit keynote status and you know we understood that we had to speak at some events where we were taking the. You know the breakout sessions and things like that. And I'll have to say, or I have to say, I really like the breakout sessions more than I think I would enjoy being a keynote. So for those of you that have been event organizers that have been gracious enough to have us, we appreciate it. Keep those offers coming. 

02:27
It has been fun not only to travel to some interesting locales, but fun to share our knowledge and really get to see the aha moments from the audience. And at the end of all of our talks we always try to leave room for a Q&A session. Sometimes it's easier when Eric is not there, because he does tend to go on and I don't want to say that there's not useful information, but he can talk. So you can imagine that sometimes that talking can lead to us not having much time in the Q&A session, but when we're perfectly timed and we have those questions coming to us, one of the questions that seems to be really common for the last I'm going to say the last four groups that we've talked in front of is you know, they've started a business. Usually it's there within their first year of business, and is it still okay to use a product like an off the box Gosh? I don't want to get in trouble, although I don't think we have enough of a following yet to really get on anybody's radar, but who knows? So I don't want to get in trouble, so we'll just call it off the shelf software. So the software programs that you see advertised on TV, the you know something and are something, or the fast tax one although fast would, it would be a different word, right? The wordplay is not working for me today. You guys are following me. 

03:55
The question, though, is can they use those if they're a new business owner, and won't they get the same results as they would if they were using a professional tax preparer or a tax strategist? So here's my answer to that If you are using a traditional tax preparer, yeah, chances are you may get the same results, and I do hate to say it because I don't like to talk bad about others in my industry. But if you are using a traditional tax preparer or somebody who just doesn't really want to put the work in for you, yeah, you most likely will have the same results that you would expect from those off-the-shelf softwares. I say that because I think there are a lot of tax preparers that are incredibly. They play it safe and they don't really want to do the digging. And one of the reasons is that if you work for a big tax shop or a larger tax firm is that there are so many clients that they get dumped on their desk and the work has to be completed in such a short amount of time that if the client hasn't done the work, then they don't really have the information to go from and they don't have the time. They being the tax preparer doesn't have the time to do the digging right. 

05:18
If you have 300 clients that you have taxes to file for and you have to do it without, you know, any dedicated support in a, let's say, two-month period, because that's really what it comes down to then the you know the level of work or how deep you're able to go on that work is pretty limited. So there is that the software you know kind of acts in the same capacity. The software is going to be written specifically to be very conservative. All of those software programs are written so that you can't do anything or misrepresent yourself in any way that would do something, that would trigger an audit or something like that. So they put, you know, they put these kind of safeties in place and there are certain things that you, you know you can't necessarily do. I know there's one particular product that is geared towards it's an off the shelf product and it's geared specifically towards, you know, new corporations. 

06:20
And we ran a comparison because we were curious, because sometimes we will price quote someone on what it would take to do their taxes or what a tax strategy package would look like for them. And they, you know, I don't want to say it's sticker shock, but they kind of say, well, there's all these different things I need to spend money on in my business, this becomes another thing. So maybe I don't really need this thing being tax strategy and we are, you know, always gracious and appreciate that they took their time to talk to us and wish them the best. But we were truly curious so we actually took our own return and we were preparing it. It was kind of a fun exercise and we used it with our professional tax software and then we did the same preparation through an off-the-shelf software and it was about a 40% difference. So that's kind of crazy when you think about it and you really can't replace the power of working with a tax professional that wants to kind of dig for you and wants to educate you and is really committed to that. 

07:36
So I say that, which leads me to my favorite soapbox to get onto, and I have quite a few people that are excited to hear me kind of rant about this longer than the short snippets that they get to hear me rant about this. But I truly believe the tax system, the way that it is currently set up, is absolutely, totally, without question, completely rigged. And I say that because you know the current tax code is in excess of 6,500 pages. Now that's actual active tax law. If we were to take all of the redacted stuff, I think I had someone tell me it was close to 21,000 pages pages. You know, of course we don't care about things that have been taken off as tax law unless we're going back to those tax years. But in most cases those years have fallen off for a lot of the stuff that's been redacted. So you've got 6,500 pages. 

08:33
Now I'm not saying that we as tax professionals or that any tax professional out there is going through and reading those 6,500 pages from cover to cover. I think it would be a small group of us that would actually find it interesting. I think even the most passionate tax professional would probably be put to sleep by some of the drudgery that's included in the tax code. But the way that we at least in our firm view, tax code especially when new tax laws come out, as we kind of see it as an opportunity for you know, we strategize in our minds. We think about do we have a client that this particular situation could apply to? Do we have a client that we could make some suggestions for them to take XYZ actions so that this particular situation could apply to them, and that's just how our thinking goes. I certainly cannot speak to other tax professionals and kind of their thought process, but at 6,500 plus and if you want the exact total, it's 6,871 pages. 

09:42
But at 6,500 plus pages, that's some dry, freaking reading. And let's add to that that it's specifically written to be incredibly vague in most cases and quite ambiguous. So there is room that is purposefully written in there. You know those loopholes that you hear those rumors about. Right, there's room that's in there so that it can be left open to interpretation. And then what will happen is that somebody will, you know, you'll have somebody who, let's say, goes through an audit, something gets questioned, and then you have some very amazing minds as tax attorneys that go through and they essentially will fight to add some clarity to certain tax laws and things like that. But as the end user, you are not going to, nor would it be at all reasonable, gosh, it would be more than a full-time job to read all of that. 

10:38
Even if you do an internet search in your what we call Google educated or, as Eric likes to say, duckduckgo educated. Even if you go through and you ask a question that's specifically related to you. The information that comes back may not always be correct or may not tell you the full story, and that's where we really feel strongly that you need to be able to have that relationship, especially if you are a business owner. You need to be able to have that relationship with your tax professional. So what we accept is that most individuals are not out to break the law. They're not out to be deceitful. In fact, most individuals want to, and by individuals, I'm always speaking to small business owners. But what most individuals want to do is they are willing to and happy to pay their fair share in taxes, but they simply don't know what they don't know. 

11:38
If you're someone who has never looked at financials or has never taken, you know, any kind of a finance class or really done anything to educate yourself on finance and you have to then be self-reporting as far as your taxes go, because that's how the system is. It's a self-reported system, so you have to self-report your numbers. The average person is going to I guess I should say the average business owner, the average small business owner, who hopefully their books are in order, right, but they're going to have in most cases this, you know, college cram session of two weekends, of a mad dash or all of their, you know, extra time for a couple late nights as this mad dash, to gather all of their receipts, to gather all of their expenses, and then they'll see some things where they're like well, maybe I shouldn't count this, or maybe I shouldn't count that, or, you know, if there's a question, I have found that most people will err on the side of caution because they're terrified of this audit. Right, don't even really understand what that means, but they're terrified of this audit that could possibly happen, and so they don't want to push the envelope. And so the good news and bad news about that is, in truth, if you've never been audited, you, as a business owner, have the same chance of being audited as the person next to you, right? There's no secret target on your back because you operate in a certain area. Now, there are certain industries that are watched more carefully than others. The cannabis space, of course, is highly, highly regulated. 

13:22
But, truthfully, aside from that, if you've never been audited, you have the same chance of being audited as the person next to you who is, you know, being a little bit more aggressive with their taxes. So you are leaving money on the table. The IRS and the state is never going to come back and say oh you know, we think you are filing and you are paying too much in taxes. It really becomes up to you. So you're self-reporting to your tax professional in the same way that you are self-reporting in that off-the-shelf software, and you just kind of cross your fingers, close your eyes and wish for the best and see what number comes out and what if your tax professional is doing the same thing. Because I don't think there's any tax professional out there that likes delivering the news of, hey, you have this huge balance that you owe, right? That is not something that excites us. It's not like there's some weird tax preparer kickback that we get from you having a higher tax bill. In fact, it makes us feel somewhat sad. We feel bad when we have to deliver that news, but we can only go off of, as tax professionals, the information that's provided to us. So we accept that the way the current tax situation I don't know is set up or the platform that taxes are currently set up, the system, if you will, is a self-reporting system, and it's a self-reporting system whether you are using an off-the-box software or whether you're using a tax professional. 

14:59
It is up to you, as the small business owner, to not only do well in your business but to keep yourself educated on current tax laws. And that's a lot. That's a lot to expect of a small business owner. There are so many different things, especially when you're new in business. There are so many different things that are pulling your attention and it's funny. 

15:24
I talked to a client of mine who is an auto mechanic. He's probably one of my oldest clients and you know payroll that needed to be taken care of. There was interviewing that needed to be taken care of. He needed to let one of his team members go, he needed to order parts, there was a part that had broken, and the list goes on and on. And he really started his business with the thought that he would just be able to be a guy in a shop and work on cars and that he would make good money doing that. And now his business, as it has grown, has taken on a completely different life of its own, and that, as any of you who are listening, who are business owners, understands, is just what happens. So our businesses will start as being something and our role in that business really changes as the business grows. 

16:32
So, to add, having to keep up with something that you're not even interested in or not even passionate about being tax codes or changing tax codes is, I feel, like almost the nail in the coffin. Right, that's the piece where you're like I'm going to throw the towel in. This is not worth it. I want to go work for the man and there is hope out there. So I guess that's the piece that I want to want you to take away from this. You know the system is rigged the way it's currently set up, but what if we view it as more of a game instead of it being all doom and gloom? And if we view it as being more of a game instead of it being all doom and gloom? And if we view it as being more of a game, I don't mean that we don't take it seriously. We take it incredibly seriously. But if we view it as more of a game, then we can look at different strategies to be able to win that game and to be able to master that game. 

17:23
And if you think about that, your business is kind of the cards that you are dealt. You are running your own race. You are not looking at what Joe down the street who maybe seems to have the same type of business as you do. You're not looking at what they're doing. You're not thinking about what they're doing. You're running your own race and in some cases that does, of course, mean you need to have some blinders on. But you're running your own race and there's a time when you need to build that toolkit and you need to look at what professionals can be the best tools in that toolkit. And I always get funny faces from the audience when I talk about building that toolkit, but really that's the best analogy I've found that I can come up with. So if somebody else out there listening has a better analogy, I'd love to hear it, because I don't like calling my fellow professionals tools. 

18:19
But the things that should be, as a small business owner, in your toolkit, things that you should be considering, are having, of course, a good accountant, and by accountant that can be multi-purpose. An accountant can be somebody who is taking care of your bookkeeping, but in most cases I'm talking about a good tax professional, so somebody that you feel will talk to you before the event, so before the year has come to a close, somebody who's running the race, so to speak, along with you. So, as things are happening, or before things are happening in your life, they're talking to you about how they could be structured, legitimately structured, to be as advantageous tax-wise as possible. And no, we have never gotten on the phone and told somebody that they need to have more children. However, we have told people and guided people towards ways to turn vacations into write-offs, or rather talk to them about how they can turn educational trips that they may be going on, or things that truly are legitimately for their business, into a family vacations that you know, a large portion of it can be written off. 

19:38
I mean, there's all kinds of different, different strategies that we take for our clients. It's really, it's really kind of magical. We, you know, we have the first year that we're working them which is all about them, I don't know. I feel like they're they're kicking the tires, they're kind of testing to see how it's going to go. Then they do see that that the return is better than what they were expecting, and then the relationship changes. 

20:04
So initially, when we had first started doing tax strategies in addition to just, you know, just preparing taxes, we really thought that our tax strategy clients would be kind of one and done, and what we're seeing happen is that those clients come back to us year after year because the relationship changes. So the first year it was us lining out the strategies of what they could do with what had already happened. Right, because we're talking to them after the event or after the tax year has come to a close, or, in sometimes the best cases, we're talking to them right at the end of the year. So there's a little bit that can be done in real time, but probably not enough to make a huge difference. So we're working with what's already happened. But then, the second year of the relationship, we're able to do the pre-planning, we're able to do the okay, you know, let's talk about what's going on in your business. Let's talk about, you know, your business's needs, what your plans are kind of for the future, and we're able to work alongside you for the most. You know, the most that can possibly happen in tax and tax benefits and advantages. So we really strongly, strongly, strongly believe in working with our clients prior to the tax filing deadline. We believe in educating our clients on key strategies that they can use for their unique situation and we believe in empowering our clients to apply the knowledge that they've gained. 

21:36
So one of the things that I've seen with other tax preparers is that they will, as you're walking out the door, kind of say, oh, you know, for this year you should do this. As you're walking out the door kind of say, oh, you know, for this year you should do this, this and this, but then there's no follow up. Right, and the advice is, most of the time is a spend more, buy more situation. So it's buy more stuff so you have more as write offs. Or, you know, spend more money in a certain area so that you have more as as potential write offs. And that, my friends, is the, that's the low hanging fruit and that's the stuff that we. 

22:10
I don't think I've ever heard either of us make a recommendation that somebody spend more. The exception would be if you were, let's say, in a position where you needed to and wanted to purchase a vehicle. Of course, a vehicle is a large expense, so I've seen that happen where there's suggestions on that. But in most cases we are not going to urge you to. You know, buy more, spend more, because that's just a. I say that's a lazy man's tactic. So we do believe in working alongside with our clients. 

22:40
Now, I love leaving you guys with an action list or some ideas to kind of get your thoughts going, and so I made up a top five list. So the top five things you can do to make the tax system work for you and I really feel like there should be some dramatic music here, but maybe my editors and my producers will throw that in but you know, number one is work with a tax professional who meets with you prior to the tax filing deadline and understands your unique situation. They don't necessarily need to be an expert in your field. We see a lot of professionals in different fields that they have worked with. You know different fields that they have worked with. You know proclaimed tax professionals who are experts in whatever their field is, and they're not necessarily being well taken care of, but you do want to. I would say, work with a tax professional who, at the very least, has experience working with businesses. I wouldn't say that I want to go to my neighborhood, you know, let's say CPA, because he's Joe's uncle, but all that this neighborhood CPA has experience in doing is personal tax returns. That probably wouldn't be a good fit for me as a business owner. So find a tax professional that really does understand your unique situation, and the way that they get to understand that unique situation is by having conversations with you. So if they're not willing to do a you know an initial consultation and you don't feel like you can shoot them an email and get a response, then they may not be a good fit for what you're looking for. If there's not the time for you to give them information that's relevant to your business, then I would almost be inclined to say maybe you want to move on to somebody that you feel you can have some more conversations with, to where they really understand your business. 

24:41
Number two keep accurate records and books throughout the year. Do not and this is coming from somebody who runs the bookkeeping side or the accounting side of our firm. So Eric is all about running the tax side, I'm all about running the bookkeeping slash, accounting side of our firm. There is some overlap, of course, for both of us. We will have the ability to fill in for one another if one of us is not available for an appointment. I will be honest and tell you I try to stay as far away from tax, with the exception of taking my continuing education and staying up to date on tax laws as much as possible. I just feel that there is a benefit to us both staying in our own lanes. But we are both kind of cross-educated so we both understand the importance. But by keeping your books throughout the year and not doing a mad dash at the end of the year you will just get so much more. We find that there's probably about a 30% difference, so at least 30% more in deductions that our clients find when they are keeping their books throughout the year. 

25:55
And this does not mean I'm not saying you need to go out and hire a bookkeeper, but just staying on top of your finances throughout the year so that you're not missing any potential deductions. You know, throughout the year, so that you're not missing any potential deductions. You know it's really easy to miss mileage if you're not tracking your mileage throughout the year. It's really easy to, you know, to miss office supplies if you're not tracking your finances throughout the year. It's really easy and this will be the last one, I promise it's really easy to miss out on you, you know, depreciated if you're not tracking your furniture and fixture purchases throughout the year. I have seen people make huge equipment purchases for computers and for, you know, office equipment and there's it's nowhere on what they turn over to us as tax professionals because they they did the mad dash at the end of the year and you just kind of hit a point where you're exhausted and you've been looking at this stuff for two weekends straight and you are sick of it. So do not wait until the last minute. Keep track of your books throughout the year. I wrote what I believe is a pretty awesome book on it and if you're curious, jump onto Amazon, check out the 4-Hour Bookkeeper. It will walk you through how to keep your own books and how to have it be broken up into four one hour blocks of time per month and it keeps you on track throughout the year. 

27:24
So number three is consider becoming a corporation. So, depending on your business's income levels and this is definitely something where I really feel you should talk to a tax professional You're welcome to reach out to us and have a consultation. They're always free but we can kind of walk you through the different requirements of having a corporation and help you to determine if a corporation is a good fit for you. But in most cases, if your income level hits the threshold to make the filing fees. Because the filing fees are higher with a corporation. It will also most likely cost you a bit more to have your taxes prepared. So there's just, there's little things that become more expensive just for having a corporation. 

28:18
But if your income requirements have that make sense and it's usually about 80,000 of income, so your bottom line of 80,000 or more that a corporation may make sense for you becoming a corporation, you know there's there's so many benefits. The first is that you as the owner of the corporation can actually put yourself on payroll so that rather than having to pay self-employment taxes from Schedule C income, if you're a sole proprietor you are able to have taxes, state and federal taxes and all of those other lovely taxes and deductions. You're able to have those taken out on a paycheck by paycheck basis and you don't have to wait until the end of the year to calculate self-employment taxes. You also don't have that self-employment tax because you're an employee of the corporation. So right there, it saves you just over 15% on self-employment tax. So that's kind of super cool. 

29:23
There's just beyond so many things that you can do when you have a corporation and if you're in a position where you think you'll be looking for a loan, whether it's personal or a business loan. Think you'll be looking for a loan, whether it's personal or a business loan. You know, we've been in the position of purchasing a home and owning a company that was run as a sole proprietorship. And we've been in the position of purchasing a home and looking for loans in both cases, or shopping for loans in both cases as a corporation. And I will tell you, the process as a corporation was so much easier because you're really treated just like a W-2 employee of another business and not treated as a sole proprietor, where your earnings are completely tied to the viability of a business and if you've ever gone through the loan process, you probably understand what I mean. So funding becomes much easier, meaning future plans become much easier. You're able to be on payroll, so you're able to have some consistency with your own income. That I think a lot of sole proprietors do not do. They do draws. They kind of pull money out of their business as it's needed, and so they run this financial roller coaster in their personal lives that's completely tied to their business, and that is, in my opinion, the quickest way, the quickest way to have burnout. 

30:50
And the next thing I would say is investigate tax credits. So tax credits change from year to year. You can do research on it. You can look up DuckDuckGo, google, whatever search engine you prefer you can look up tax credits. So I would say, look up tax credits or talk to your tax professional about potential tax credits. But then number five is look for ways to outsource, hire or delegate. 

31:18
We were at a continuing education conference last week two weeks ago, I think it was two weeks ago now in Las Vegas. It was absolutely amazing and of course you tell people you're going to Vegas for three days. Nobody believes you that it's for work. But it was an intense three days. Yes, we still had a lovely time in Las Vegas, but the one night that we were able to go out and kind of have some free time was our last night there and we were greeted with torrential rain, which was really entertaining more than anything else. 

31:53
But the key point that we took away from the conference that we went to was that in most small businesses, the number one thing that is keeping them from growth is what they referred to as a key man problem. So you as the owner operator, everythinger, chief lion wrestler. You, as the everything, are the one that is standing in the way of your business's growth. If you were to be out of commission for any amount of time, your business and your income from your business would essentially come to a screeching halt. So there were a lot of breakout sessions about that. 

32:34
There were a lot of conversations about that. We know that it was something for us in our own business that was really standing in our way of growth. I've been incredibly hesitant for a lot of different positions to hire, and what I found was that I really, when I started this company and when Eric and I decided to come to work together in this company, that it was all about, you know, a desire to have kind of a work-life balance. I don't think you. I think it's always a struggle to have a work-life balance, especially when you really love what you do and especially when you get to work in that business with your you know, favorite person in the world, of course, besides my children, but when, when they are your partner, this becomes your business, kind of becomes your whole life. There's nothing wrong with that. Make sure you're taking the time, though, to enjoy the fruits of your labor. 

33:28
But we we understood or we came to learn our our biggest takeaway from that event was that this key man problem was something that really does affect every single business owner we talked to, and there were some strategies, some things that we learned, some tricks, I guess you could say or not really tricks, but some things that we learned to work through the process to identify where the bottlenecks were happening and to identify if there were essentially enough of those bottlenecks that it could be enough to make up, you know, a full-time or a part-time position to hire another person. Say, what I liked about how they presented the information to us and what I felt was really valuable was that they didn't just say go out and hire more people, but they were very honest and said anytime you make a change to your business, accept that in the next reporting period. So whether you look at your finances on a monthly basis or I always recommend on a monthly basis, so let's use monthly basis for an example so you can expect to receive a dip of 20% on average in the next reporting period. So if I decide to hire someone this month, then my numbers for next month are probably going to take about a 20% dip. There's nothing wrong with that. It's just understanding that you're going to have a dip when you bring on an additional person. If you have the ability to hire multiple people at the same time, if it makes sense for your business to do that, you're still taking the same 20% dip, which I thought was very, very interesting. 

35:15
But when we looked at the numbers it actually really proved out to be true. Essentially, what that looks like is your time is taken away from temporarily from your duties and responsibilities, and we all accept that we only have so many hours in the day, right. So your time is taken away from some duties that you were doing to train other people, because it does take time to train people, to get people up to speed. In most cases, if you kind of follow a step-by-step process, it can be a relatively short amount of time, and one of the pieces that they talked about in that process that I believe is true is really documenting before you even make the decision to hire. Document your onboarding process, document your training process so that it can be very easily followed, makes the whole process go faster If you can record some of it ahead of time, if you can have it where it's like a training system that they go through, where it doesn't take away your time. That's something that we do when we hire. 

36:23
So in the case of bookkeepers, we will generally hire our bookkeepers in groups of three. It maximizes my time because I'm bringing on three people. One is essentially going to guaranteed fall off within the first 30 days and I don't have to then start that process again, as I would if I were to just hire one person. So whether you hire one person or whether you hire five people, what you need to expect is the next period. So the next month here your business is going to take a dip of about 20%. But then the month after is really where you see that short term sacrifice payoff, because if the plans for the new hires are carried out correctly, to where you know that their training time unless of course, you have a very you know something where a training program would take longer If there's a longer training program it may not work A very technical field but limit the training time to be, you know, maybe three weeks. So you have that cushion and be willing to cut off people who you know maybe aren't performing. But benchmarks are important. So there were just different things that were really kind of mind-blowing to us how they laid it out and it became very clear but that 20% dip is to be expected the next month following. So you hire them. Month one is the month where you're going to see the dip. Month two is where you're going to start to see the fruits of your labor pay off. 

37:58
Don't keep yourself in the place of being what is stopping your business from growing. If business growth is what you want, and if business growth isn't what you want, that is absolutely fine. It is your business, it is your journey, it is your choice. But if your journey, it is your choice. But if you do want growth, don't put it all on your own shoulders and start looking at ways to delegate and kind of share that responsibility. 

38:29
Now, one final thought that I had when the bearded man and I were talking a few nights ago was the you know the goal that we hear a lot from small business owners, especially those who are new in their business. You know when can I walk away from my business? How do I build a business so that I can walk away for? You know, two weeks or a month or even a year. And what we found first of all for us is we really can't walk away from our business for longer than 10 days without both of us kind of going a little stir crazy. We just really love what we do. Most entrepreneurs are the same way. In fact, when we were on our last vacation which was our last long vacation really was a cruise that we went on for 10 days and and it's funny because we have another one coming up this summer but when we were on our last vacation, that was when I I penned and did outlines for two books and a whole bunch of other stuff that you know. Any of the downtime I found I was filling with things about my business. So I don't I don't know, as entrepreneurs, that we're necessarily wired to do what we think we want to do, which is be able to walk away from our business. But if, if that truly is something where you want to have a business that runs without you, we can kind of talk about how that looks too. 

39:53
So let's recap on the top five things you can do to make the rigged system work for you. Number one work with a tax pro who meets with you prior to the tax filing and understands your unique tax situation. Number two keep accurate records and books throughout the year. Don't do a cram like you did in college. Number three consider becoming a corporation. Number four investigate tax credits. And number five outsource, hire and delegate. 

40:25
Lots of thoughts, lots of ideas, lots of things that we would love to share with you. In our industry, everything is so situationally specific that there are things that we can talk about in broad strokes, but really there are things that we want to break it down and we want to have a conversation with you to give you information and tricks that apply to your specific situation. Questions about anything that I've talked about, or even just want to say yes, I agree, the tax system is rigged. Feel free to reach out to us at busybeadvisorscom. Book a consultation. Eric orI would be thrilled to talk to you. And with that that's a wrap. Thanks for listening and I will talk to you next time.