We Bought A Franchise!
Join Jack and Jill Johnson on their rollercoaster ride as the fresh faced new franchise owners of Pink's Window services in sunny Palm Beach, Florida! Peek behind the curtain at the real deal of launching and expanding a franchise – the good, the bad, and the downright chaotic!
The Johnsons are set to reveal the highs and lows, the freedom, and the fortune that come with being your own boss. Tune in to the "We bought a franchise" podcast today! 🎙️🏝️
We Bought A Franchise!
Money Moves: Strategic Tax Planning for Franchisees
Ever wondered how successful franchisees minimize their tax burden while maximizing profits? In this eye-opening episode, we're joined by Michael Reeder, a financial strategist who specializes in helping franchise owners keep more money in their pockets through clever, legitimate tax planning.
Michael reveals his powerful "purchase and heavily finance" strategy for business vehicles instead of leasing, explaining how this approach allows franchisees to capture substantial tax benefits through depreciation while preserving precious working capital. This isn't just theoretical advice—it's exactly what Jack and Jill implemented in their own business with impressive results.
The conversation takes a fascinating turn as Michael unpacks his "three bucket methodology" for determining the optimal entity structure for your franchise business. From LLC partnerships to S-Corps and C-Corps, he demonstrates why cookie-cutter advice fails franchisees and how personalized strategies based on investment level, asset allocation, and household income can save you thousands. Through a compelling example, he shows how the right structure could save a franchisee with $200,000 in profits approximately $17,000 in self-employment taxes alone.
We also demystify franchise fee amortization, clarifying how these significant upfront costs must be treated for tax purposes and what happens to your tax benefits if you sell your business before the amortization period ends. Michael's guidance on balancing owner salaries with distributions in an S-Corp structure reveals yet another avenue for substantial tax savings.
Whether you're currently exploring franchise ownership or already running a successful franchise, this conversation will transform how you think about the financial structure of your business. Connect with Michael on LinkedIn or through his website at readercpagroup.com to discover how these strategies might apply to your specific situation.
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Send us your questions for an upcoming episode at 305-710-0050.
From your pals in franchise ownership, Jack and Jill Johnson.
Hi everyone, Welcome back to the we Bought a Franchise podcast. I'm Jack Johnson.
Speaker 2:I'm Jill Johnson.
Speaker 1:And we're here today. You guys, we have got such an exciting guest for you today and for those of us. Did you ever think growing up we'd say this about talking numbers and accounting?
Speaker 2:Maybe you did, I definitely did.
Speaker 1:Not until I became a business owner. But I'm going to tell you guys, we have a financial powerhouse with us on the podcast today. His name is Michael Reeder. He owns a firm called Reeder. Is it Reeder? Financial CPA?
Speaker 3:Help me out here, yeah, reeder CPA Group.
Speaker 1:Reeder CPA Group, and what's exciting about this, you guys, is that he focuses on helping franchisees keep more money in their pocket. Michael, let's get into it here. There's so many things I want to talk to you about, I don't even know where to begin, but here's where I think we can, and I want you to tell the folks who you are and what you do. But this is just an example. So I was having a chat with my friend, chat GPT, yesterday.
Speaker 3:I call him chatty. I call him chatty I love it.
Speaker 1:Okay, so, uh, we acquired a new vehicle this year that we use for business. It's not one of our pinks trucks, it's a. It's a, it's a uh, it's an SUV that we use to go to client meetings and things like that. I would say that over 50% of its use is is for our company. Um, so chatPT and I were talking about all the ways that we might be able to use that to help knock down some of our tax burden. I also asked ChatGPT and this is where I'm going to bring you in hey, there's a 20-year-old car that I'm looking at that I like. Can I also write that off if I use it for business? So, Michael, why don't we use this as a point to come in here and tell the folks how leasing company vehicles, whether they be vans, like we have for PINX, or even just a personal car that we use for business, can help us knock down some of our tax burden?
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely. This is one of the most common questions that I get as a CPA that works with a lot of small business owners how to approach writing off the vehicle, how to approach automobile expenses. And this is one of the subject matters where you could talk to 10 different CPAs and get 10 different answers. And so I like to approach how I was raised. I'm from Chicago, I cut my teeth in this industry, learning from some creative, strategic CPAs from Chicago, and so I like to approach write-offs from the angle of not hey, can I deduct this, yes or no, but how do I deduct this? And so, at the end of the day, the tax code is written for the self-employed, and so if you have vehicles and you're using them in the context of your business, then how can we write them off? And for the two of you, you have your franchise consulting business and your pinks window cleaning business, so you have multiple businesses, right, and so you know. So I'm a big. So my default when it comes to auto my, my default is I'm a big fan of purchase and heavily finance. Now there are times when leasing may make sense. But I'm a big fan of purchase and heavily finance. Now there are times when leasing may make sense.
Speaker 3:But I'm a big fan of purchasing and heavily financing for the following four reasons, right. So I always start out with my default and then if I go to you know, if the lease terms are, like you know, crazy good, then okay, but purchase and heavily finance. For one, because you purchase it by owning the asset, you get to benefit from the depreciation expense. Right, section 179 or bonus depreciation. You get to benefit from the depreciation expense because you own the asset, as opposed to leasing it. But heavily finance it because I'm a big fan of strategic use of good debt, and so I am very comfortable with a leverage strategy. When it comes to growing my business, we do it for real estate, why not do it for our business? And so when it comes to purchasing, heavily financed, heavily financed then that way I can get all of that depreciation with zero or very minimal down. So then that way I can preserve my liquidity for other working capital purposes.
Speaker 1:That's what I thought you meant. So let me see if I'm understanding this, because this is exactly what we did. So let me see if I'm understanding this, because this is exactly what we did. We paid nothing down on that vehicle and we absolutely we financed it, we own it, we didn't lease it, but we put nothing down because we ran the numbers and it was like the monthly it's minuscule. If you put five grand down, it does nothing. And I've seen franchisees, michael, make this mistake where the SBA told them go buy three vans outright, take 150 grand of your working capital and put it into vans. You don't even have jobs. For I'm like no, no, no, no, never do that. So it sounds like we're on the same page.
Speaker 3:We're definitely on the same page. So take full advantage of the depreciation write-off while preserving your liquidity for other working capital purposes. And then it's a loan. So the interest on the loan you can write the interest off as well as a business expense, and so that's reason number three. And then reason number four is you have an asset that has trade-in value for down the road, when you need to trade it in for the new vehicle. So my default for those four reasons I have a blog post on it on my website purchase and heavily finance for those reasons.
Speaker 1:Michael, what's your website? Readercpagroupcom R-E-E-D-E-R-C-P-A groupcom. Okay, that's awesome. And so ChatGPT told me that I could capture, and this is where I need like a real person to tell me that, let's say, the car costs 50 grand, that I could write off that entire amount in year one. Is chat GPT wrong?
Speaker 3:So there's when there are nuances, right. So is it bonus depreciation or is it section 179 depreciation? Is it an SUV or is it a heavy duty truck? What's the weight? You know there's lots of zigging and zagging that can go into all of it.
Speaker 3:And so ChatGBT always says they always preface the tax advice questions in it with you should talk to a tax advisor and all that type of stuff, just because there are lots of different except, yes, but in this situation, et cetera, et cetera. And so I would say, for the most part again getting back to what I was saying we will always find a way to maximize the write-off and if there's any limitation, if you're not able to write off the entire amount, then you're going to be able to write off the majority of the amount and then the remaining undepreciated amount in year one will be written off in years two through five, but it's still, whether it's all of the 50k or it's the majority of it, it's still a massive amount. And then that brings up what we're all kind of keeping our finger on the pulse right now, waiting on is what's going to happen with tax reform, because this is like it's like the difference between bonus depreciation and section 179 depreciation is really important to understand. Section 179 depreciation allows you to write off the entire amount of the fixed asset, of the qualifying fixed asset, in the year of incurrence.
Speaker 3:There's some limitations with the vehicles but it's only to the extent of profit or other self-employed non-passive income on your tax return. So if you have a profit of $100,000 and you purchase a qualifying fixed asset for $70,000, then you can write it off the full $70,000 in year one. But if you have a $20,000 profit or you're at a loss already before the depreciation, then the Section 179, you can't write it all off because it's only to the extent of profit and you either have a $20,000 profit or you're already at a break even or negative before taking depreciation. But if you have another business that flows through to your personal tax return and that one's profitable, then the section 179 can offset that. But if you don't, then it carries forward.
Speaker 1:Let me ask you another one. Michael, you've got me so excited I got to jump in time. Yeah, michael, you've got me so excited I got to jump in. Yep, let's say that I'm a first year franchisee and I didn't yet I'm not profitable, right? And so I don't necessarily need that big write off this year. I can amortize it over the course of a few years, right? So if I don't want to take the full thing this year, I don't have to.
Speaker 3:You don't have to Correct and so. But then there's another important type of accelerated depreciation called bonus depreciation. Now, bonus depreciation is not Section 179. And here's, and so, as I'm sure the two of you know, maybe the maybe some people in the audience do and some don't Bonus depreciation has been getting phased out over the last few years.
Speaker 3:So, bonus depreciation you used to be able to write off 100% of the qualifying fixed asset in the year of purchase, regardless of where your bottom line is before the write off, right. So it's like if you're already at a break even or a loss and you just have your one startup business and you have no other self employed business, it's just your one startup business and it's at a loss, then the bonus appreciation would further the loss, right and so. But it's been getting phased out. It was, you know, in 2023, it was 80%, 24, it was 60%. Now in 25, it's 40%.
Speaker 3:But the rumblings are, you know Congress and you know, president are going to, you know, as part of the big, beautiful bill that we're all waiting on, you know, with tax legislation, they're going to bring bonus back to 100%, which would be amazing. All the more reasons to you know, like another reason the tax code is written for the self-employed. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act back in 2017, 2018, was pro small business, primarily with the qualified business income 20% deduction and but now with this, if bonus comes back to 100, it's going to be huge because you have a startup business right and you can't really qualify for section 179 because you're already at a loss. It's expected that a startup business is going to be at a tax loss, but bonus coming back to 100% is going to be huge and so hopefully that happens effective 2025.
Speaker 1:That big, beautiful bill.
Speaker 2:Okay, I gotta pop in here because, like this feels like a foreign language to me and I'm so, michael, can you tell us, like obviously, your wealth of knowledge? Can you tell us a little about your background and what you do, because I know we kind of jumped right into the exciting?
Speaker 2:stuff but clearly you know what you're talking about. So, um, can you tell everyone sort of you know how you got to this place, to know everything and your background and what you're doing now? Um, cause it's very impressive to me as someone that really feels like you guys are speaking a foreign language.
Speaker 1:And before he goes there one sec, I have to just tell you what set us off, hold on before and she's is that I saw this. We're working with a client and Michael sent her this email how she should structure her corporation in like two different ways. Like she's in one state, but then we're going to have an S over here and we're going to have this over in this state and I'm like Holy smokes, this guy is so smart, this is brilliant. So, michael, with that, yes, please tell us about you.
Speaker 3:Brilliant. So, michael, with that, yes, please tell us about you. Absolutely, absolutely so, jill and Jack and the audience. So I'm 38 years old. I own the firm now that hired me out of college. I've been in public practice as a CPA for about 14 and a half years. I'm originally from Chicago. We still have an office in the Chicago suburbs. I've been living in the Portland Maine area as my primary residence for the last two and a half years with my family. We have a couple offices in Portland as well and we're a virtual national CPA firm with clients all across the country and team members all across the country. Our team is all stateside, no offshore, and over the last 11 years I've developed a niche working with franchisee businesses.
Speaker 3:It's a fun story. When I was the minority partner of the firm that I now own outright back in 2014, we acquired a small book of business in the Chicago suburbs and we merged it into our practice. It was only like $150,000 book of business, but one of the clients in that book of business was a franchise consultant and he's retired today, but I consider him one of my mentors. He was in franchising for over 50 years, either on the XOR side, the Z side or as a consultant, and so I'm doing his taxes and it's 2015 at the time and I'm doing his taxes for 2014. And I'm like, hey, and so he has an S-corp for his franchise consultancy and I've never heard of him. What's a franchise consultant? And so he tells me what he does and how he makes money and I thought it was really interesting and I'm just like, hey, you know, just, I'm here for your candidates, you know, as you're working with your candidates and they have any questions about entity structure strategy, funding strategy, tax strategy for small business ownership, I'll talk to them for free and and and. So you know, know, and I'll dive into these topics.
Speaker 3:And so he took me up on on my offer. He sent me a few candidates uh, it was, you know, it proved constant, that value was provided. And then you know, then those and I told this candidate like, hey, like you know, if you want to work with me moving forward, you know we can always have that conversation. So the candidate got value because they got, you know, valuable advice during this crucial phase. You know, looking to buy a business, um, uh, the consultant got value because I got, you know that, valuable advice during this crucial phase, you know, looking to buy a business, the consultant got value because I got, you know, that consultation got the candidate that much more fired up and clarity provided on entity structure, funding, tax, blah, blah, blah than they had before. Right, thus increasing the you know, making it that you know, reducing any sort of wet and cold feet or whatever when it comes to signing the franchise agreement. Right, commission gets paid to consultant and then it's a win for me because I get to get in front of a client who I have potential of a prospect you know to. You know I have the potential to get a lifetime client, year over year over year, and so proved concept with that.
Speaker 3:Did that a few times with some of his candidates and then I was like, hmm, okay, now let me just go hit the LinkedIn circuit and just start finding other franchise consultants. And so I'm essentially doing the same thing today, at a bigger scale that as I was back then. So I have a nationwide network of franchise consultants. I am, I am a vendor, cpa member of France, serve as well, as, you know, some of the other franchise referral networks, and so I've built up a nationwide network of franchise consultants over the last 11 years and over the last few years now there's franchisors that are starting to see the value and so I'm leaning more into the franchisor side as well, and so it's so much fun. I work with a ton of military vets. I work with a lot of corporate refugees.
Speaker 3:I'm not the franchise consultant right, jack and Jill are the franchise consultants but when it comes to hey, entity structure strategy, funding strategy, diving into that stuff, what my process has proven is it's a better hey talk to reader about this stuff is a better alternative than go talk to a reader about this stuff is a better alternative than go talk to your CPA.
Speaker 3:Because, one, a lot of people don't have a CPA. And, number two, people that do have a CPA, they're just a tax prepared. They just prepare taxes like a personal tax return. They don't really dive into strategy. They have no idea what the Rob C Corporation is and all the nuances that go into the Rob C Corporation. They don't approach entity structure and funding strategy from the angle of strategic tax planning. So my industry like to bring it in for a landing. My industry is very deadline heavy. Right, there's busy season, there's not. You know, we just got through April 15th, so you know and so, but what I'm doing 12 months out of the year, regardless of deadline or not deadline is I'm talking to prospective franchise buyers, diving into everything that we're talking about right now.
Speaker 1:I mean, it's such a valuable service and to have someone as knowledgeable as you, especially when it comes to franchising, is key. So, Michael, let's get into this. S-corp versus C-Corp versus LLC versus LLC taxed as an S.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So I've developed what I like to call my three bucket approach, my three bucket methodology, to entity structure and funding strategy, coming at it from the angle of strategic tax planning. I know that's a mouthful and I have to figure out how to tighten that up, but essentially over the last 11 years I've developed a process right when I'm talking to a prospective franchise buyer and they've got questions about entity structure and funding. Right and everything you just said, jack, right, llc, s Corp, llc, texas and S Corp, just a pure S Corp, rob C Corporation, blah, blah, blah. Before we even like, I can't advise anyone on any of that stuff until I get context on the following three things right, the following three buckets Bucket one what's the investment level, initial plus the first 12 months? I want to know the initial plus the first 12 months. I know that item seven is really just initial, but initial plus the first 12 months, all in ballpark total of that amount, how much is the franchise fee? I like to know the franchise fee because I have to explain to them how the franchise fee gets treated for tax purposes. But investment level number one. Bucket two what's the allocation of assets on the personal financial statement? I'm looking for cash, other liquidity, retirement and real estate. And then bucket three what's the household income situation looking like? Once I have all those three things on a piece of paper and I always take my own notes and I got the AI always listening tax as a partnership, to start with an sba loan, um, and then, once all of the losses are are used up for tax. But you know, in year three, take that llc and elected for s corp, because now we can save money in social security, medicare taxes, because it's profitable, right, like and I like. So you know, once I get context on those three buckets, I might talk to candidate one right, go, llc, partnership with an SBA loan, and here's why, right. And then I might go Rob C corporation for candidate. I might advise, you know, candidate number two to go Rob C corporation, and here's why the why is always going to be behind what I'm advising. And so there is no, you know. You know there is no. Like painting everything with one broad brushstroke. You know, like it's all, like everyone has their own unique set of circumstances, like everyone's answers to their three buckets respectively and how they're all attached at the hip. That's unique for candidate A, it's unique for candidate B and candidate C, and so that's why Rob Secord might make sense. So much sense for some person but not for another. And it's all based off those three buckets.
Speaker 3:And then you have to acknowledge the human aspect of it, right? I personally am very comfortable with what I like to refer to as strategic use of good debt and also using other people's money instead of my own, preserving my nest egg other people in the context of bank and SBA, and also I'm a big fan of leveraging my nest egg assets before liquidating them. For me, I'm very comfortable with that stuff, and so are lots of entrepreneurs. There are some people that are just maybe it was like a traumatic they witnessed their parents file, get know, like you know, for get their house foreclosed on or whatever it is. But some people just hate, hate, the D word, right, they hate debt, they hate debt.
Speaker 3:And so I might talk to someone and for reasons x, y or z, based off of what they put on their three, but you know what you know assets, income, investment I would say, oh my God, llc, texas and SBA loan I'm sorry, texas, and S Corp with an SBA, blah, blah, blah. It makes so much sense for you, candidate A, I just don't want to take on debt. I'd rather put my cash at risk or my retirement rollover. It's like okay, but at least they know, at least they. You don't have to agree with me when I advise you, but, like um, most people tend to because they they learn a lot of things. But every now and then someone will be like mike, I hear you and I appreciate all of it, but I'm still gonna go this route because I just I don't want to take on debt and that's fine, but what's going to no matter what they're gonna get an education, no matter what it's a personal decision and I get that.
Speaker 1:I mean I'm inclined as a sort of long time entrepreneur grow up with entrepreneur both Jill and I did. There's different seasons of debt. You know there are seasons of your business where you're going to bring in a lot of cash and you can knock out that debt in two seconds. If you have the opportunity, like so many people did a few years ago to get an SBA loan for like a 1% rate, you get it. Just like with the mortgages a few years ago. If you could refinance to 1%, you take it, you grab it. Now, all of a sudden, your home has become a massive part of your retirement strategy and you can leverage that. Now you can take a home equity line of credit that you might've never been able to get before because your house is increased in value so much. So you're right and I agree with what you're saying, um, a hundred percent. Let's give the folks something that that they can take away. Here let's talk about cause.
Speaker 1:I think there's a lot of confusion when it comes to paying a franchise fee. I think most people, when they start this journey, are under the impression that they can write that off. And it's not. You can't. You can, yes, but on all defer to the expert. It has to be amortized over time. So, michael, two questions. Let's talk about the total amortization structure of how we do that with a franchise fee, and also throw in what if we sell our business. Let's say our average franchise agreement is 10 years right, because that's going to determine the amortization schedule. But let's also talk about about I sell my business in year six, then what happens to that amortization? Maybe tell us about that?
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely so. A franchise fee is what's known as a section 197 intangible asset. So what that means in English is it's an asset, so you can't write it off in full in the year of incurrence like you can other expenses like training, marketing, labor etc. And it also doesn't qualify for the Section 179 depreciation and bonus depreciation like vehicle furniture, fixtures, build out, blah, blah, blah. It's a Section 197 intangible asset, which means that you have to capitalize it as an asset and for income tax purposes you have to amortize it over 15 years, even if the life of the territory is only 10 years.
Speaker 3:Now maybe your bookkeeper will do book amortization you know like, for amortization for book purposes might be 10 years, but amortization for income tax purposes is 15 years. Be 10 years, but amortization for income tax purposes is 15 years, even if the life of the term is of the franchise agreement is less than 15 years. And so you will get the tax benefit of the of the franchise fee through amortization over an extended period of time. And then if you sell the business in year seven, right, and you have an asset sale, then the unamortized amount of the franchise fee at the time of sale is going to count towards your cost basis in the assets that get sold, thus decreasing your capital gain or increasing your capital loss, depending on the situation when you sell. But you're going to get the tax benefit of the unamortized amount at time of sale.
Speaker 1:So you can claim the whole. If you sold even in, let's say, year four and you've still got 11 years left on an amortization schedule but you sell, you then can capture the rest of that depreciation in the year you sell. Correct, exactly, perfect. You see, these are things it's. It's interesting there's all these little nuances, Michael, that people don't understand. I mean, um, when it comes to the ability to keep more money in your pocket, like another one that we get is, is people wanting to understand if they have an S corp, if they can draw, what type of salary they draw and how they can also live off off they can use. They can also pay themselves through distributions. Do you mind diving into that a little bit?
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely, and I have a great fact sheet on S-Corp shareholder, how you pay yourself between salary and distribution. And so what I tell S-Corp owners, especially new ones, is when people hear the word salary, they go back into like you know, like salary is this thing that you get once every two weeks. You get a check stub and, like all the taxes, you know you're doing all the work, government gets paid first, you get paid last and then so people think salary now that you're a business owner you have your own S-corp or LLC taxes and S-corp or just pure S-corp and you LLC taxes and escrow for just pure escrow and you're the owner and you have to um, you have to pay yourself.
Speaker 3:It's like no, throw all that out the window, all of it out the window.
Speaker 3:So owner's salary for an S-corp it's just this thing that we do to readjust a portion of the profit as owner's salary in order to control, to mitigate how much that you pay in Social Security and Medicare taxes each year.
Speaker 3:So Social Security and Medicare taxes for self-employed they're what's known as self-employment taxes and self-employment tax if your entity is taxed either as a sole proprietorship, like a single-member LLC taxed as a sole proprietorship, or a multi-member LLC taxed as a partnership. In those two tax classifications right, sole proprietorship and partnership that net business income is subject to both income tax federal and state, depending on what state you're in and also 15.3% self-employment tax. That's the employee and the employer portion of Social Security and Medicare tax 15.3%. The entire amount is subject to self-employment tax if you're a sole proper partnership structure. But if you elect S-Corp, then you take a portion of that profit and you reclassify it as owner's salary and you pay the 15.3% on the owner's salary only, and the remaining S-corp profit is still subject to income tax but not subject to 15.3%. There's different again. Another classic ask 10 different CPAs and 10 different answers.
Speaker 1:Yeah, with the S-corp. Let's say a company had a net of 200 grand and the owner draws a salary of $60,000. What percentage is the company taxed on the profit so the bracket of the profit, $200,000, or the owner's salary? Is that owner paying tax on what he or she made in income or is it on the profit of the company?
Speaker 3:Great question. So the $200,000 in this context, everyone that Jack laid out that $200,000 is going to flow through to the personal tax return of the owner in two pieces there's going to be a $60,000 W-2 from the S-Corp and there's going to be a $140,000 K-1 from the S-Corp. And so both of the 60 and the 140, $60,000 W-2 and $140,000 K-1 still equals $200,000. And it's going to go to the personal return and be subject to income tax, depending on all the different factors that are on the personal return filing status, deductions, number of kids, blah, blah, blah, how much goes into the 401k, blah, blah, blah. So that's income tax.
Speaker 3:But the savings in that hypothetical that Jack laid out is of that $200,000, the self-employment tax was only paid on $60,000. So only the self-employment tax was only paid on 60,000. The other 140 was there was a 15.3% tax savings and self-employment taxes on that 140. So there's a little limitation on it because that 15.3% consists of Social Security taxes and Medicare taxes and there's a wage limit on Social Security. It's about 170. It adjusts each year for inflation. So let's just say that of that 140, you just saved 15.3%, which is $21,420. And then, just because you're already over the Social Security wage base. Maybe chop off $4,000, because not all of that. 140 is subject to 15.3%. A chunk of it's only subject to 2.9. Medicare Bottom line is in that hypothetical that Jack laid out because you're an S Corp at $200,000, taking a $60,000 salary instead of like a partnership LLC for the full 200,000, you saved about $17,000 in self-employment taxes just by being an S Corp.
Speaker 1:God bless America.
Speaker 3:God bless America.
Speaker 1:I mean as we lay this out for people to understand, because, you're right, people come from corporate America. It's like, well, I have to make $500,000. I get it. It's nice to say, but as you're building a business, these little things are going to help you keep so much more money in your pocket. And as you grow, you will have opportunities to have to have conversations with professionals like Michael. How do we need to adjust as we grow? Cause if you might want to buy a house one year, you know. So that's why having a professional like Michael is so important for you business owners, or future business owners, because and, by the way, don't try and do it yourself. In the beginning, I made that mistake and, believe me, I paid for it. Hire a professional from day one to help you do all of this.
Speaker 2:Agreed Amen.
Speaker 1:Amen to that, Michael. Give us your contact information one more time for the folks that might want to reach out to you.
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely so. Visit my website. It's readercpagroupcom, that's R-E-E-D-E-R-C-P-A-G-R-O-U-Pcom. You can go there. There's a contact us page that you can fill out and our team will reach out to you ASAP. My email is michael at readercpagroupcom. Shoot me an email. We'd be happy to schedule a call with you. And also, my biggest social media platform that I'm most active on is LinkedIn, so you can just search me on LinkedIn. That's my first, middle and last name. My middle name is Ian I-A-N. So, michael Ian Reeder, cpa, find me on LinkedIn, connect with me on LinkedIn and let's schedule a time to talk and you just had a new baby didn't?
Speaker 3:you Just had a new baby? Yes, A little baby boy. So his name is Arthur. He just got home a couple of days ago, and his older sister, Raylee, our four-year-old.
Speaker 2:she's thrilled to be a big sister. So yeah, so exciting times at the Reader household.
Speaker 1:So cute Congrats, congratulations, that's so exciting. Thank you, so much.
Speaker 1:Michael, thank you for spending time and he's right. By the way, he is an animal on LinkedIn. He's constantly on there sharing content, sharing information, linkedin, really. And actually, michael, before you go, this is something. As you know, we're growing our team and adding franchise consultants, which we're so excited about. We're sharing with them. It is so important to be on LinkedIn. You gotta be out there telling people and I think today more than ever, I feel like back in the day, we all kind of held back on stuff. Right, we give you a little bit, but then we want you to contact us. Now it's all about, nope, share, share what you do, share how you help people. Any any uh quick tips for for LinkedIn strategy for the folks out there.
Speaker 3:Um, so, uh, I would say I would say um, and I, I, you know, I, I, I stole this from Alex Ramosi. He probably stole it from somewhere else. But if you're making less than a million dollars, then just spend four hours a day on doing warm outreach, which is just outreach to your warm network, on LinkedIn, in your CRM, and posting your own content. You know, or you know your own content, you know creating posts, you know your own creative. Just do that right and then it's just one of those things that and then also engage on other people's posts. You know engaging in other people's posts before you. You know you know, message them in the DMs for the direct ask. That's another, that's another way of kind of like you know softening up the direct ask and and direct messaging.
Speaker 3:But just, um, you know time block and and put into work, um, you know it's. You know just setting up your profile and but oh, I'm on linkedin or I'm on other fill in the blank, social media platform is not good enough. You have to put in the work. And like you have to put in the work, you know just like, don't, don't solely rely on ai to like send automated, like you know people like can can smell ai messages from a mile away and not saying they do have their purpose if used strategically and stuff like that.
Speaker 3:But, um, you know you have to put in the time to do warm outreach on, you know, warm emails, warm linkedin messaging and create content common in other people's posts. Put in the time to do that for four hours a day, five to seven days a week for a year, and see what happens. It's not going to happen overnight, but you got to put the time in and it just seems like a lot of people, a lot of people these days just are impatient and they want immediate results. Like put the work in and next thing you know, a year goes by and it's like wow, like a lot, a lot will happen, A lot can happen in a year if you put in the work.
Speaker 1:You know, it's so, so weird about LinkedIn and even social media in general, and Jill and I have always laughed about this because we've always been big proponents of a lot of social media posts. Laughed about this because we've always been big proponents of a lot of social media posts. Some of our posts that have received the least amount of engagement meaning likes and comments have resulted in in messages on the backend. So from the outside and I know people get discouraged it's like oh man, I'm only getting like two likes and this dude's getting like 5 zillion. Keep pumping out the content because someone will see it, it will resonate with them. But it has to be like Michael said. You can't just go into chat, gpt and say create a post and, by the way, we can see it, because when those cute little emojis and check marks are all over your post.
Speaker 3:We know who wrote it Exactly. Yeah, and you bring up a good point, jack. Like the lurkers. The lurker you know where it says like, likes and comments on it. Likes and comments on it. That's one thing. But then like the impressions is another metric. And like the lurkers are the ones that are like. They see it. They may have not liked it or commented, but they see it, and they are the ones that are reaching out to you on the back end.
Speaker 2:Sometimes it's just time and place. You know you get them at the right time. But if you're putting it out there consistently, at some point it will reach someone. And we all go back. We all go back and check people out. So you know there's that too, but you never know. It might hit someone that day, but they're not ready to pull the trigger.
Speaker 1:And then, well, and you, I'm sorry, go ahead.
Speaker 2:No, no, no, it's just eventually they will if it sticks with them, and then ultimately they continue.
Speaker 1:You know it makes no and you get to grow your brand like we all have, like our, our style of content, whether you're a franchise brand or you're a franchise consultant. I think it enables people to see this is who this person is. I, I identify with them, I know their story and so that's the great thing. I think it's a really valuable place to be. So, michael, thank you for your time. Great information, uh, I know a lot of our clients will appreciate you so much, and definitely you've got Michael's contact information. Reach out. If any of you would like a free franchise consultation from Jill or I, please feel free to text us 305-710-0050. We also have a team page on our Franchise Insiders website, thefranchiseinsiderscom. Feel free. If you don't want to work with us, work with Brian. Work with David. Work with Jennifer. If you don't want to work with us, work with Brian. Work with David. Work with Jennifer. Give us a call 800-445-6382. Michael, thank you. It's been great having you on the podcast today.
Speaker 3:Jack and Jill, thank you so much for having me A real pleasure. Take care Bye, you too.