Tax Secrets Every Entrepreneur Should Know

Buy Karlton's Book, The Art Of Legal Tax Avoidance: https://theartoflegaltaxavoidance.com/?utm_source=tax_wealthmadesimple_youtube_vincentfischer

Earning $700k or more? Book a FREE Tax assessment with Karlton's team at Tax Alchemy
https://start.taxalchemy.com/consultation/survey-page?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=wealthmadesimple_youtube_vincentfischer

In this episode of Wealth Made Simple, Karlton Dennis sits down with Vincent Fischer, a young entrepreneur who went from high school dropout to multi-six-figure business owner by building his fitness brand and mastering online marketing. Vincent shares how discovering Karlton’s early videos on taxes and wealth strategies helped shape his own journey toward success, and the two dive into the importance of communication, branding, and mindset in building a powerful online presence.

Karlton breaks down essential tax strategies for business owners, emphasizing the distinction between W-2 earners and entrepreneurs in how income is taxed. He offers practical advice on when to consider forming an LLC or S-Corp, the power of leveraging business expenses, and how high-income individuals can use tools like oil and gas investments, real estate, and private family foundations to dramatically reduce their tax liabilities. He also shares insights into legal "loopholes" that are designed to reward entrepreneurship, wealth creation, and reinvestment — offering clarity to listeners who may be overwhelmed or misinformed about what’s possible.

Beyond the financial strategies, the episode focuses heavily on mindset. Vincent and Karlton discuss how belief systems, often inherited from family or societal norms, can chain people to poverty. They advocate for adopting a "rich mindset," where challenges are met with solutions and setbacks become opportunities for growth. Through stories of overcoming doubt, building high-performing teams, and "crowning yourself" as a leader in your industry, this episode is both a masterclass in tax efficiency and an inspiring call to action for young entrepreneurs to own their voice, value, and vision.

#wealthmadesimple #millionairemindset #wealthbuilding

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Let's get it, let's get it. Yo, so Carlton. Yeah. I remember I was like 16 years old. This was before I got into the gym, before anything I was doing. I watched a YouTube video. Like I think I looked up like how to become successful or how to get rich, right? And I saw a video of you, and it was TJ Millionaire Mentor. And it was like, it was you guys in LA or Beverly Hills or something like that, grabbing food, and I'm watching this video, and you're saying all these phrases and quotes, and I was like, what the hell? I was like, that's nuts. Like, where did you learn so much about taxes?

SPEAKER_03 0:32

Bro, my mom, man. My mom had a tax and accounting company since I was born, bro. And when I tell you that my mom speaks super articulate, like people would come to my mom and just listen to her at like football banquets, like, you know, baseball banquets, because my mom just spoke so articulate and she was a wealth teacher and a wealth builder. My mom was a published author by the time I was 18, bro, teaching people just how to invest money into real estate to try to offset their taxes. And then by the time I was like 22, 23, I started seeing her public speeches. And then that's when I started picking up on her lingo and the way in which you used to command an audience of people, bro. So I got a lot from her. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:12

So would you say that's genetic or is something that you learned over time?

SPEAKER_03 1:15

Oh, for sure, something that I learned over time, bro. I mean, you know, there's certain things that you're gonna pick up that's genetic, but at the end of the day, that skill of being able to communicate at a high level and articulate things very well, that came from just practice, bro. Taxes is such a hard, hard thing for somebody to understand. So what I've done is I've pretty much simplified the entire tax space. I bring a lot of complex tax jargon down to a fourth or fifth grade level for people so they actually know what to do and actually how to save money.

SPEAKER_00 1:44

Yeah, yeah. 100%. So, how important would you say, like you being able to articulate so well, how important would you say that is to you getting high profile clients and things like that?

SPEAKER_03 1:53

It's the difference between me making millions and making a couple of six figures, bro. Honestly, because I'm competing with so many other CPAs that have been in this industry for way longer than me. I'm talking about CPAs that have gray hair, that are 50, 60 years old, that have been in the tax and accounting business way longer than I have. But the reason why I'm sometimes getting more business than them is not because they know more than me, it's because I'm able to explain things better than them. I'm able to meet somebody where they're at. I'm not trying to talk above them, I'm trying to talk with them.

SPEAKER_00 2:23

Uh-huh. Yeah. I feel like that's the number one thing for marketing too. I try to have that as well. I'm like, who is my target audience? Like, you think this person doesn't know about all this tax detail and these books and everything like that. Yeah. So I always tell people, I'm like, it's not the ice ages. We don't have spear and we're hunting buffalo. I'm like, now we have a voice. That's right. We have this. That's your weapon. You know what I mean? So you have to master that. But so, like, when I was the skinny kid and I saw your video, I like browsed off for the next few years. Like, I got into the gym on accident. I'm a high school dropout. You know what I mean? I never finished high school. I didn't want to take the traditional education route. Yeah. So I self-educated. That's probably why I stopped by your video. But my brothers got me in the gym to sum it up. I put on like 60 pounds in a year. I had this fitness transformation online. And everybody was asking me, like, hey, Vince, like, how do I work out? How do I get in the gym? And et cetera. And I started getting into fitness programs and made my first six figures. Now I have something called six figure fitness. So now it's a company. We do like five figures a day. We've done like 200,000 this month so far. And I wanted to ask, like, somebody who's new to taxes and everything like that, where would you recommend they start? Like, what are the things that this person needs who's just making money and hasn't set everything up yet correctly?

SPEAKER_03 3:30

First off, you need to understand what type of income you're earning and how does that income get taxed. Most people starting out probably are gonna go work for somebody unless they have that entrepreneurial drive that you had. So they're gonna have what's called earned income. And typically when you're working for somebody else, it's the worst place to be tax-wise. And here's the reason why you're not the one that's taking any risk, and the government knows that. So you earn your money and then you give the government money second, and then you get to spend whatever is left over last. That is how your system works when you're a W-2 taxpayer. It's different than when you're an entrepreneur. When you're an entrepreneur, you get paid first, you spend money second on expenses that you need for your business, then Uncle Sam gets to get the cake right at the end. So you have more opportunities to figure out ways to offset your taxes with how you spend your money, whereas the W-2 taxpayer takes on no risk. The business owner took on the risk hiring the W-2 taxpayer. So the W-2 taxpayer doesn't have any write-offs other than putting money into a 401k. Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 4:26

That's a good way to look at it. Okay. That makes sense. So it's like you have your money expenses first, and then the extra is what gets taxed.

SPEAKER_03 4:33

That's exactly right. And that's what I love about being a business owner, is because if I'm strategic with how I spend my money or how I invest my money on paper, it could look like I don't have any money, even though I was cash flow positive inside of my business. And this is a game I like to play with business owners on the on the tax returns. How can I report as little money as possible while still keeping you cash flow positive inside your business?

SPEAKER_00 4:58

Uh-huh. So have you seen that clip? I think it's of like Jeff Bezos. And it's like, your company has lost money every single year. Do those do those big business owners do that on purpose for tax reasons? Oh, absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 5:08

Because Jeff Bezos is a billionaire. So he gets paid a very, very, very, very little salary. What he has is stock options. And if he wants access to money, he's going to take access to his money tax-free by loaning against his stock portfolio. So if I have a million dollars in stocks, I might want to put that up as collateral and take a loan at 70% of my stock value. Now I have $700,000 that gets wired over to my bank account that I get to utilize tax-free to make additional investments. Okay. And you just pay back that loan over time.

SPEAKER_00 5:38

Yeah, yeah. That makes sense. Okay. So it's kind of like the value of the company, you take out a loan against that and you're not being taxed on the debt.

SPEAKER_03 5:45

That's correct. Okay. Just like how you take out a loan against real estate and you don't pay any taxes on that. The difference is you're just choosing to do it from your own business as opposed to your own investment. Uh-huh. Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 5:54

So I wanted to ask you this, right? Let's say there's a young entrepreneur. He hasn't made any money yet, right? Hasn't made a dollar yet. Should he be focused more on the tax side and learning all this stuff or income?

SPEAKER_03 6:03

No, income first, always. Income should be your first problem to solve, then taxes becomes your second problem to solve. Never the second before the first. What I do see a lot of people trying to do is they try to get caught up in learning all these different LLC to escorp techniques and how to write off all this stuff that they never actually end up making any money. Bro, who's covering your bills, bro? That's what I care about first. Can you make money as a business owner? Show me that you could be a successful business owner. Once you're successful, guess who becomes your partner? Uncle Sam. Now you'll want him to no longer be your partner as much. And then that's when you start inviting in the conversation of tax strategy and hiring a tax professional.

SPEAKER_00 6:37

Oh, that's the funniest thing because I have guys that ask me, like they see me with the Rolls Works and stuff, like Vince, how do I pay taxes? I'm like, bro, you haven't even made money yet. You're trying to give money away. Like, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_03 6:48

They're not there yet, V. I'll be honest with you. A lot of them see what you're doing and they're like, okay, how do I go and do that? Bro, first off, go solve the income problem first. Then we can turn around and figure out how to reinvest some of the income into an asset, like a Rolls Royce that can be depreciated on the tax returns that can offset Vince's money. But before we can even think about a Rolls Royce, we need to have an abundance of cash flow coming in.

SPEAKER_00 7:08

Yeah, yeah. Okay, so what you're saying, like, when should these people though, right? Let's say this guy starts making $10,000 a month, when should these people start focusing on taxes and learning Uncle Sam stuff and everything.

SPEAKER_03 7:19

All right, so for self-employed business owners, a little bit different than for somebody that's W-2. If you're W-2 making over 300K, that's when you need to start figuring things out and hiring a tax strategist. But if you're self-employed, it actually starts a lot earlier. And here's the reason why. When you're self-employed, right when you hit $55,000 net profit, it makes sense to start considering transitioning from a sole proprietorship or your basic LLC over into an S corporation. Why? Because self-employment taxes is 15.3% on all of that business profit. So if you have $55,000 business profit, you're gonna pay $15.3% self-employment tax plus federal taxes. And then if you're in a state that taxes you state taxes. But this is where the business owner can save money on taxes. If he switches over to an S corporation, right around $50,000 profit or more, then he doesn't have to pay self-employment taxes on all of his business profits. He only pays that on whatever he took out of the business as a salary. Let's just say with your $55,000, you only take a $10,000 salary. Well, guess what? Your self-employment taxes just dropped down. Now you're only paying what uh $1,500 or so in self-employment taxes versus paying almost $10,000 in self-employment taxes, all because you switched your entity from an LLC to an S corporation. So I would say, Vince, if you're trying to figure out when does it make sense to start thinking about taxes as a self-employed business owner, is right when you're around $55,000, is when you want to start thinking about it.

SPEAKER_00 8:40

Okay. So one thing I see, Carlton, is like a lot of these guys are moving to Puerto Rico and stuff and et cetera. And I'm like, I feel like 40% is my fee to not live in Puerto Rico. You know what I mean? So is that the only way to get 4% tax, or are there other ways?

SPEAKER_03 8:54

No, bro. I mean, I paid 0% in federal taxes last year.

unknown 8:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 8:58

So I'll tell you right now, I didn't leave the country to do it. What I was doing was I was taking money off of my tax returns. I have an S corporation. If I would have reported the amount of money I was going to report, you wouldn't see me here right now because I mean God would be getting right with each other. But what I did was I was strategically was moving money off of my tax returns into the right type of vehicles that were going to offset my taxes. I run a private family foundation. I know I can roll over 30% of my adjusted gross income into my private family foundation and get a tax deduction for it. But what I'm also doing in combination with a private family foundation is I'm taking some of my business profits out of my S corporation. I'm putting it into oil and gas wells in Texas. I'm taking some of my business profits out of my S corporation. I'm buying multifamily deals here in Florida. And a combination of these strategies together on my tax returns has reduced a seven-figure tax bill down to a zero tax bill, all by me simply making the right type of moves before December 31st.

SPEAKER_00 9:54

So that makes me think, you know what I mean? Like there's all these loopholes to taxes and everything. Do you think that's accidental or the the system, the government has set it up this way to keep entrepreneurs' money moving?

SPEAKER_03 10:04

No, these are these loopholes are 100% legal. The government is aware of them and they want you to utilize them. For example, if you go into a short-term rental, you can manage it for 100 hours in the year and make sure your tenants are staying seven days or less. As long as you're managing that property more than your cleaning people or your handy handy people, you can take losses from depreciation to offset your W-2 or your 1099 income from a self-employed business. That is considered a loophole. Prior to people understanding this, they thought they had to spend 750 hours a year managing their own real estate portfolio or spend more time in real estate than running their operational businesses. No one wants to do that. But now there's a loophole called the short-term rental loophole where you can buy an Airbnb or VRBO property and do the government's rules to be able to offset your active forms of income. I had 176 clients buy their first Airbnb last year and just utilize the strategy to offset their taxes.

SPEAKER_00 10:55

So the Airbnb isn't necessarily for the profit of the Airbnb, it's for the tax write-off.

SPEAKER_03 10:59

Now you're playing the game with me, brother. Because if you cared about the cash flow on the Airbnb, you'd be like, Carlton, what kind of game am I playing here? For this 300, 400 bucks, this isn't worth it for me. I'd rather spend more time focusing on my business. But what if I told you that you buying that property is getting you a $400,000 tax deduction? Your ears start to perk up. You're like, hold on a second. So you mean to me if I put my money in the rental property, I don't lose it. It's just saying there, I can turn around and get this three, $400,000 deduction. The answer is typically yes, depending on your involvement over managing the investment property. Now I'm helping my business owners build wealth in real estate outside of their income-producing businesses that they've had. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:36

I always wondered, I'm like, why the hell would I buy an Airbnb? You know what I mean? Because it's like when you're making six figures a month, I'm like, why do I want that 300 bucks a month about 400,000 makes a lot more sense?

SPEAKER_03 11:44

Yeah, and mentally in your head, you're like, it's a waste of time for me to go and spend money trying to set up an Airbnb, putting all this time, effort, and energy to run a rental operation when my cash flow producing business is making me multiple six figures. But what if I'm able to save six figures plus every single year on my tax bill? Because all I'm doing is taking some of my business profits instead of ripping it back into ads to grow my business. I'm taking some of it and investing it into rental real estate.

SPEAKER_00 12:08

Yeah. That makes sense. Funniest thing, I was telling my girl about you. I was like, this guy named Carlton Dennis, he does taxes, this is that. He's like, I paid no taxes. She's like, Well, how can he say that? Isn't that illegal? I'm like, he's doing it the right way, though. You know what I mean? Yeah. That's that's what not a lot of people understand. So I have a younger guy, he's one of my clients, his name's Flynn. This kid's 17. He was reporting his income in his dad's name. He made six figures and he just had a tax bill. He paid $72,000. You know what I mean? He's a little bit younger, right? But I want to say for like the entrepreneur, let's say he's 18, you know what I mean? What are some things in my field? You know what I mean? Marketing, social media, et cetera. Like, could somebody like me write off cars, maybe the place that I'm at, or things like that to help me with taxes?

SPEAKER_03 12:51

Oh, without a doubt, bro. What I'm seeing now is most entrepreneurs are using their influence in order to be able to grow their businesses. So what they'll do is they'll go on the internet and they'll get in their car and film a video. They'll drive their car to a very cool, exotic location overlooking on the water, and they're gonna sit on top of their car and talk about their business ideas now. So now it's not just me being in a room sharing an idea, it's using a prop, it's using an asset like a vehicle or a watch to be able to market. Now, the IRS does have some rules around what you can deduct and what things you can't deduct. And really, we want to base it around this code section, IRC 162A. If the expense is ordinary to the business owner, necessary to the business owner, reasonable to the business owner in the pursuit of income, it's a deduction under code section 162A. So, what I do is I look at whether or not a business owner can afford to buy a car and is that car something that he can utilize in his business for marketing? And if so, how much of it is he gonna utilize it for marketing? Because if the IRS says that he uses it over 50% for business, I can deduct it inside of his tax returns for that year. So, what we look at is what is gonna be your business use of things that you're gonna be looking to purchase? Because that determines how much it benefits you from a write-off perspective.

SPEAKER_00 14:04

Uh-huh. That's funny because I accidentally did all these things. Any extra dollar I'd make, it'd be back into the business. Like when I first bought a Hurricon, it was a marketing expense. You know what I mean? Not on paper, but like when I first bought a Don, I was like, I notice when I make a CTA, like, hey, listen, guys, if you want to do this, this, that, I may get a certain amount of clicks. But if I make a CTA, like you said, using that as a prop, I get double the amount of link clicks. I get double the amount of credibility, I get double the amount of social presence, and people see me as higher value from a high ticket price.

SPEAKER_03 14:32

Why is that though, V? What is it about being surrounded by wealth, money? What is it that gets that person to just want to act on it? You know this better than I would, being a master at marketing. Yeah. Talk to me. What is it about that?

SPEAKER_00 14:45

So I think the number one thing is social proof, but it only gives you the first five seconds, I say, because people see through it. You know what I mean? If you have a Lambo, but you don't have a good voice, you're not a good marketer, people are like, he's full of shit. Yep. You know what I mean? So people think I could just give them a Lambo and they're gonna make millions of dollars. It's like if you have a voice to back that, if you have real wisdom and life experience to back that, you're gonna crush it online. Yep. So, like, one thing that I always say, even if I had to restart, I'd do the same thing I did. I'd start with fitness programs because I wouldn't have the social proof to have a great life to be able to do consulting. Yep. So, like, number one thing I'd say is perceive value, social proof. People see you, even me doing this podcast with you, people will see me as somebody of a higher caliber. Yeah, you know what I mean? And it's kind of like you are who you hang around. Without a doubt, bro. It's kind of like if you take a water bottle and it's in a gas station, it's 50 cents. If you take a water bottle in an airport, it's $7. Yeah. You know, so same thing with yourself and your brand. That's what I say about marketing.

SPEAKER_02 15:36

I love that right there. And then if you if you buy a water bottle in Dubai, it's $27. Yeah, yeah. I love that, man.

SPEAKER_03 15:44

So talk to me about some of the challenges that you're you're struggling with right now in your business and how are you looking to overcome them? Man, my biggest op's the IRS.

SPEAKER_00 15:51

You know what I mean? Like, I got another op. You know what I mean? But yeah, biggest thing is definitely that's one of them. Yeah. You know what I mean? Because I'm gonna be honest, like off paper, you know what I mean? Deferred taxes. Yeah, you know, so like it's a ticking time bomb. I gotta figure that stuff out. Um, but that that's really the only problem, business-wise, like the tax stuff.

SPEAKER_03 16:10

That's how much does taxes come up in your day-to-day conversation with other entrepreneurs that are around you?

SPEAKER_00 16:15

Never, never, never, no, no, no. So I'll hear stuff like, you know, keep half aside and this is that, and et cetera. But like, it never comes up. You know what I mean? We're all young dudes. I'm 21, my friends are like 21, 22 or so, and et cetera. So I don't, I never heard it talked about much until we ran into you. Yeah. You know what I mean? So that's probably the only problem, I'd say.

SPEAKER_03 16:34

And do you feel like people around you are actually doing what they're hearing other people doing, parking away 25%, 30%? Or do you just feel like most business owners, especially young entrepreneurs, are just reinvesting everything back into their businesses and just kind of waiting until they get that letter from the IRS, or worse, their CPA calls them and says, hey, this is how much we just have to write?

SPEAKER_00 16:51

Everything back into the business, because I've had this playing style too. When I was at $10,000 a month, I wasn't worried about that. I was like, I don't, I don't, I don't know. I think I need my full focus to be income. Yeah. I heard something, I think it was like Tate. He's like, Don't get legal before you get rich. And I heard that one thing, and I was like, okay, if I'm at $5,000 a month, why do I need to be focused on taxes? Then I got to 50, then 100. Now we're about to hit 400,000 this month. And I'm like, well, it should be easier to solve this problem having money, right? Is that how it works? Or is it easier to solve your tax problems if you already have money?

SPEAKER_03 17:21

It is. Okay. Here's the reason why it's easier to solve your tax problems when you have money. Tax problems require you to move money quickly. And if you don't have access to liquidity, you're stuck. I have had so many clients that have spent money from January all the way until October, and then they call their tax guy, aka Carlton. I want to figure out ways to reduce my tax bill. First off, I don't like you calling me in the fourth quarter of a football game with two minutes left and think I'm gonna be Tom Brady to bring it home for you. But then again, I am Tom Brady. That being said, how much time do I have to get you to make a decision? Maybe eight weeks, 12 weeks before the end of the year. And then on top of that, do you have the liquidity to be able to go park it into something, to park it into an oil and gas investment or invest in a movie film that can give you a tax credit or put it into a private family foundation? And some of these clients have reinvested their money to the point where on their PL, it still shows that they have net profit that's gonna be taxable, but in their bank account, it's not showing as much money that's showing on their profit and loss statement. Now we have a situation. Uncle Sam's gonna tax you on this, not what's in your bank account. He's taxing you what's on your profit and loss statement. And what so many business owners get caught up in, V, and I know you know this, is they just check to see what's in their bank account and think they're good. As long as there's money there, I'm good. Right? Bro, that's not what you're being taxed on. You're being taxed on the number that's on your PL. Everything that you spent your money on may or may not be deductible, be deductible. Just because you're ripping your credit card at Poppy Steak doesn't mean that that's a hundred percent write-off. Business meals are only 50% deductible now. So you're only getting 50 cents for every dollar you you spent money on. So if you're just looking at that bank account saying, oh, this is all I'm gonna be taxed on, think again.

SPEAKER_00 19:09

Yeah, so I know one thing I saw when I was younger as somebody who's like new to and outside to taxes, I'd see my mom sit down in her office with all these receipts. You know what I mean? My mom was probably making like a hundred thousand a month this time. She has all these receipts, she's like losing her head, she's pulling her hair, like, you know what I mean? Yeah. With all these receipts and stuff. And I'm like, does it does it take that extreme level of tracking? Do I need to track every single dime that I spend things on? Because I probably have a hundred transactions a day of just stuff that I buy.

SPEAKER_02 19:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:38

So, like, do I need a receipt of everything, or can that be tracked from credit card statements, or how does that kind of work?

SPEAKER_03 19:44

You do need to track things that are in excess of $75. Anything under $75 is considered a de minimis expense. So we don't technically need a receipt for that. But any expense over $75, you do need a receipt. And here's the reason why. Let's just say you go to Home Depot, you spend $1,000 at Home Depot. You might have spent $1,000 at Home Depot for your construction business, but when I get the receipt, I find out that you actually spent $500 on buying some nice fluffy pillows for your mattress at home where you and your girlfriend lay at night. Um, is that deductible? Probably not. How am I actually gonna know that $1,000 was spent solely on business? The receipt tells me that. Who cares about the receipt? The IRS? When do they actually care about it? Only when you're audited. Most audits, V happen three years after the tax year. We're sitting in 2025. So in 2028, if you get an audit for 2025, you're gonna be like, dude, what the hell was I doing in 2025? Who knows where those receipts are? So when you tell me how anal do you need to be with tracking all this stuff, I would say critical. Is it you that has to track everything? Sometimes, but really you want to have a system in place. I travel with my wife everywhere. She is religious when it comes to tracking things. What she does is instead of, you know, jumbling up all these receipts, she uses her iPhone, she'll take photos of the receipts. Digital copies work better than physical copies, and then she's sending it off to our bookkeeper with a description of what we were doing or why we spent that money there. I just went to Poppy Steak with Vincent and Adam, and it was to discuss tax alchemy's future doing marketing. Boom. Bookkeeper got it at the time of the transaction with a description. So that way when Carlton, God forbid, gets audited three down the road, three years down the road, I'm not playing any guessing game with the IRS. Here's all of my transactions, here's all of my receipts. I know that the average business owner is lazy and that's who you come after. You ain't coming after me because I'm not lazy.

SPEAKER_00 21:26

Yeah, that makes sense. So is the bookkeeper a physical person or is that like something committed to?

SPEAKER_03 21:30

Yes, no, you can use AI bookkeepers. I'm not there yet. Personally, I'm all for using AI. I'm not there yet to where I want an AI bookkeeper doing everything for me. We saw Bench, which was one of the top accounting uh artificial accounting companies, come out that they're bankrupt. Uh, 20, 30 million dollar valuation business, all of a sudden gone. All their employees gone. And they were essentially all AI. So you could send your stuff over to them, they would do your bookkeeping, you wouldn't even. Talk to anybody. It was, it was just completely AI. That business is no more. So if you're telling me, you know, I want to be able to be a steward of my finances, I would say absolutely you're going to have a bookkeeper and you're meeting with that bookkeeper every single month. Not quarterly, not once a year, monthly. And they know how you move and they know your transactions you like to take.

SPEAKER_00 22:17

Okay. So how much would that person cost? You know what I mean? Like a bookkeeper. Oh, bro.

SPEAKER_03 22:21

Bookkeepers are are completely affordable. I would say never pay less than $500 for a bookkeeper, and you probably should never pay more than $10,000 a month for a bookkeeper, depending on how many transactions you're doing a month. The average person pays around $1,000 a month for a bookkeeper.

SPEAKER_00 22:35

Yeah. Okay. So I know we talked about audits and you said, you know, it's like three years later, a lot of the time. One fascinating thing you told us, we were by Design District.

SPEAKER_02 22:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:43

I want you to talk about the income level and the percentage that it is you'll get audited.

SPEAKER_03 22:48

Yeah. So, first off, your ability to get audited is so low if you earn less than a million dollars. As a matter of fact, it's less than 0.25% if you make less than a million dollars. As soon as you make uh 1 million up to 10 million, your audit risk jumps up. And then as soon as you cross over 10 million, now your audit risk is between 2 to 5%. So when I hear a lot of people that tell me, oh my gosh, I'm so afraid to take a home office deduction. I don't know if I want to take that. That trip that I did that was actually business, even though it costs a little bit more than all my normal trips, I'm like, brother, your ability to get audited is not even in question right now. You're a part of the 0.25% and you documented everything and did everything correctly. It's really people that are making substantial eight figures that I'm constantly having conversations with them around, hey, let's do a practice audit. Let's do a practice field audit, right? Why would we practice this if you're making 12, 20, 30 million a year? Because your likelihood of getting audited is 30 times higher than people who are making less than you. So I want you to be in a situation where you're already feeling what it looks like to be audited. You know what the routine looks like to provide your documentation over to me as if I'm the IRS auditor.

SPEAKER_00 24:04

Okay, that's crazy. So well, I want to talk to you about the business side. You know what I mean? Because you have a business where you work with high profile people. Yep. Would you say that it's easier to sell an average product to average people or solve big problems for people that just have a lot of money?

SPEAKER_03 24:19

Um, so this is funny because working in my mother's company taught me a lot about this. We were selling tax plans when I started my mother's company for like $3,000. So I was on the phone 24-7, bro, selling tax plans like freaking hot cakes. I was probably selling 30, 40 tax plans a week, bro. But you know what ended up happening? I broke my mother's company, bro. She ended up losing CPAs and tax professionals because they couldn't turn around tax plans fast enough with the amount of customers I was onboarding. Then I had a second problem. Now I was losing my commission because I was on a completely commissioned structure because people were asking for refunds because as soon as they signed up and signed the contract, they weren't gonna get on the phone with a CPA for another 60 or 90 days because Carlton Dennis has been raking in all these tax planning deals. So what I realized, bro, is there is a need for tax strategy, but I was pricing it wrong and I was selling it to the wrong people. I was selling tax plan to anybody that thought tax planning was important. Whether I knew that they were gonna invest in real estate, oil and gas, set up a foundation, whatever, it didn't matter. If you thought tax planning was important, here's a plan that we'll build out for you. It wasn't until uh I started really studying the people that actually pay the least amount of taxes possible. They're the wealthiest people, bro. The wealthiest people pay the least amount of taxes possible. And here's the reason why they're able to get in and out of investments quicker because of how much money they have. And if they have more money, doesn't that mean they're saving more money too? Because they're earning more money. So then I thought about it. Should I charge $3,000 for a tax plan or should I charge $30,000 for a tax plan? Grant Cardone read the 10X book. He says, if you want to 10X things in life, just literally 10X it. I'll try it out. Boom. 10X, it's $30,000 today. Sure, send it over. When I got that first engagement agreement back for $30,000, I took the rest of the week off. I said, okay, I had made what I normally make in like 10 days in one hour. I just need to sit and absorb this and enjoy this. But what I realized is this was the new model for me. I don't need to go talk to, you know, the first person that just got their first six figures and try to get them to believe in real estate and get them to believe in tax strategy. And then they end up taking five, six months to make a decision around what they need to do. I want to talk to the seven figure, eight figure earner. As soon as I get on the phone with them, they understand what this is about. As soon as they wire the money, they're on the phone with me saying, Carlton, when does the next wire go out? I don't want to pay taxes. And they make decisions in days instead of weeks or months, like some of the people that really aren't at that level to do tax planning.

SPEAKER_00 26:47

Yeah, that's so funny. I feel like every entrepreneur has a moment like that. Like even me, you know, I was doing these $20 fitness programs. Yeah. You know what I mean? The first time I sold a $2,000 one, I was like, what the hell? Like I just 100x my thing, you know what I mean? And even consulting, I started selling that at $299 a month. And I had all these people that were making $10,000 a month or so. I was like, you know what? Why don't I just charge $6,000? You know what I mean? I was like, hey, it's $6,000. Look at all these client wins, etc. Same exact thing. I'm taking trips to Hawaii now. I'm I'm like, yo, what the hell? And I'm like, why not $15? And it's like the more and more I raised it, people were still willing to pay. You know what I mean? It was like you build that perceived value. So like I love high ticket, bro. You know what I mean? I love high tickets. It changed my life. Yeah, high ticket is crazy because it's less work, it's less people. The people who do pay, they take it more serious because they paid more as well. Without a doubt. It's not back and forth. So yeah, that's another big business.

SPEAKER_03 27:40

It's allowed for me to scale past other tax strategy firms that have been in the business way longer than I've been in the business. We became a top four tax strategy firm in the United States, like top 400 in three years, simply because we were solving the biggest problems for the biggest people, bro. Uh-huh. I could have chosen to solve the most problems for the most people, but TurboTax already does that. HR Block already does that. I'm not trying to become TurboTax and HR Block. I understand that there's a niche type of people that are making a significant amount of money that already have CPAs, they love their CPAs, but they know their CPAs don't know shit when it comes to tax strategy. So they're willing to pay a strategist to be a part of their team to consult with their CPA and themselves to help formulate the right type of financial decisions to offset their tax bill in real time, versus constantly get the same message from your CPA saying, hey, you're successful. We just have to write this check. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_00 28:26

Yeah. Uh-huh. And you can't fake that too. You know what I mean? Like you resonate with your customers. You can't fake being a high-level person. I even try to tell my sales guys, I'm like, some of these higher level people that have been in this game, I'm like, you have to show them how much you know about the business. Yes. Because it's like, even if you had salespeople, they couldn't be like, well, yeah, when you do your taxes and this, I'm like, you're talking too slow. You know what I mean? I'm like, any high-level person's going away from that. Yep. So yeah, it's it's kind of like the brand has to match as well. I had something on my mind that I wanted to touch on.

SPEAKER_03 28:54

Well, I want to ask you, how have you been able to help your salespeople sound like you in order to get the deals done that need to happen in order for your business to continue to grow? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:04

Number one is I I spend a lot of time around them. Number two is these guys, I've probably spent like at least 200,000 on sales training for them. You know what I mean? Like I have two loyal guys. I took these guys from like door to door and fucking around. One of the guys was in my community, he made $10,000 a month. I upgraded him to a sales rep. And these guys, I just put so much time, I put so much energy into them. I still have the interview video that one of them sent me. And it's an Indian guy. His name's Pranav. He's like, hello, Vincent. Uh, I really want to uh do sales with you. Now he's like, hey Vincent, what's up, man? I really want to do sales with you and this, this, that. And like, I just put him around guys like Andy Elliott, Mike Barron, and I paid for all this training for him. I feel like the more you put into your team, the more you get out of it. Absolutely. It's kind of like even with relationships, like people expect to find the perfect girl. It's like you're gonna find a good blueprint and then you're gonna build from there. You know what I mean? So that's the same way I treated my team.

SPEAKER_03 29:53

Yeah, I like that, man. And I built my team very similar to what you just said. I think there's a ton of CPAs out there that really want to only do tax preparation. Like they are, they are jazz to sit in front of a computer all day and to just take your data and input it. I'll be honest with you, bro. I have not filed a tax return in over four years. Like, I just can't muster sitting in front of a computer doing tax preparation. It's mundane, it's monogamous. I just don't like it. That being said, I've hired a CPA team that just loves doing that 24-7. But on the other side of it is that CPA team can't talk to a Vincent. They're not gonna want to talk to a Vincent. That's not in their personality. So, what I understood about the tax and accounting industry is you need to have tax strategists where all they do with their time is just consult with people and get on Zoom calls and help people like you offset their lifestyle and then consult with the CPA so you don't have to. And that's what I have done to be able to build up my business. Have you ever gotten on the phone with a CPA or a tax professional where you feel like they're just talking over your head is hieroglyphics and you're just like, dude, what's the point of me having this conversation because it's no going nowhere?

SPEAKER_00 31:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 31:00

It happens all the time, right? Yeah. So think about how often that is happening in other CPA offices when you have entrepreneurs that are making a killing like you are, and they're trying to save money on taxes. Then they're just stuck. That's what I feel like 90% of Americans are. They're just stuck in their circumstances versus saying, Well, Donald Trump's paying $750 in taxes. Why couldn't I? Instead of questioning things and being naturally curious, that is what allows for you to go out around your professionals and eventually upgrade your professionals and get to where you want to go.

SPEAKER_00 31:32

Yeah, funniest thing is I grew up very like democratic in my household. And my mom's like, well, he won't report his taxes and he's not making money. I'm sitting there as a kid and I'm like, there's no way this motherfucker's not making money. You know what I mean? There's something that we don't know. So there's two mentalities. One is like, you hate how the world works. And I feel like that's a little bit of like a, you know, more of a feminine perspective. It's like men are problem solvers, you know what I mean? So my mom was allowed to have that mentality. If I wanted to retire her, I couldn't. I had to think in terms of like, okay, he's doing that. I'm not gonna complain about how this works. How can I get in those same shoes to take advantage of the things he's taking advantage of? So yeah, I see a lot of people in modern day time, bro, they just complain about their problems. And I think it was Jeff Bezos that said this complaining is rarely ever a strategy. You know what I mean? Excuses and complaining, no matter how legitimate, don't produce any type of result. So once you have a problem-solving mentality, that's when you conquer life, you know? Yeah. So I like that. But yeah, yeah. I I love it how you have a team, you set up like tax strategists of CPAs, you have like the whole back end four people. Yes. And like I want to ask you, how did you go about, you know, getting your team on the same level that you are?

SPEAKER_03 32:38

What I had to realize is I can't force people to become something that they're not. And you have to be willing to go find what you're looking for. So when I was building my tax and my tax strategy team, what was a focus to me early on was tax strategy, finding people that can consult at the level that I can consult at and are gonna care to the level that I care. And so I spent a lot of time um creating tests to have my um potential CPAs um pass in order to become employees. So I spent probably, I don't know, two months creating like a series of tests to determine do you actually like teaching people tax strategy? Take this quiz and I'll see if you actually like teaching people tax strategy, or you just say you like teaching people tax strategy. So I spent a lot of time in developing like my training programs and my onboarding programs. Outside of that, bro, just like how you spent time with your salespeople and you spent time paying for sales training, I spend time with my tax strategy pros and I take them out of their environment and I bring them to tax conferences. You're gonna go sit at an estate planning tax conference for three days with me, and we're just gonna learn about all these strategies together. We're gonna ask questions together. We're gonna go from, you know, this conference to, you know, the CPA convention and be around other CPAs that are doing things that we're not doing yet. And what it does is it cultivates a tight-knit crew. Now I have like my little army where we all eat, breathe, sleep, and think the same way. And so even though you may not be on the phone with Carlton, you're definitely on the phone with somebody that eats, breathes, sleeps, and thinks the way Carlton does, believes the way Carlton does. And so your tax plan is gonna mimic the way Carlton's tax plan would come out.

SPEAKER_00 34:16

Yeah. Yeah. Uh-huh. So one thing that I've done in the last year, you know what I mean? I got a really dope sales manager. You know what I mean? Because my team was big and I'm like, I can't manage all these setters and these little guys and post content too. So I got a me. You know what I mean? And it took some hiring and firing, and I found a me who had the same energy as me, was about self-improvement, and he leads my team now. Do you have like a middleman like that? Oh, yeah, bro.

SPEAKER_03 34:36

So finding my who. So I read this book, Who Not How, three years ago. And at that point in time, I was the bottleneck of my company. I had to do everything, I had to train everybody. I was even the one still signing off on all the tax plans. It wasn't until I ran into uh my president now, his name is Kyle, at my apartment complex where he was working for another employer. I told Kyle, I was like, hey, bro, look at this lifestyle that I'm living right now, bro. Like, you see me, bro. Like, this is easily something that you can do. And he's like, bro, create a plan for me. And that's what I did. I spent probably two weeks creating an outline plan of how he's gonna come join my company, work for me, work underneath me, study everything that I knew. And then eventually he was gonna be able to take over a lot of those positions. And sure enough, he committed to it, bro. Three years later, bro, I am now working 100% on my company, not in my company. And that's probably the one thing that I'm most proud about.

SPEAKER_00 35:23

No, that's awesome. That's awesome. I was I was the same boat as you. You know what I mean? Like I'm making six figures a month, but I'm working in the business. I started out doing all my sales calls, all my onboarding calls, and everything like that. What you said about on the business, not in the business, is what a mentor told me. He's like, Vince, remove yourself from all repetitive tasks. And I was like, okay, all this repetitive stuff, unless it's a one-on-one with me that's higher ticket, I'm just gonna remove me. Yeah. And it's like a lot of people think they're bosses, they think they're, you know, entrepreneurs, but they're solopreneurs. You know what I mean? It's like they're working by themselves, and it's I mean, it's like nine to five work, but in your business, but you do have to do the unscalable before you can scale. A hundred percent. I feel like that's the beauty of it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 36:03

So I wanna I wanna jump into what you said about um about Donald Trump. Because when some people see that Donald Trump paid $750 in taxes, they look at it and they're like, oh my gosh, she has to be cheating. He has to take some way out. But to me, it's it's a difference of mindset. I have the mindset of, wow, he paid $750 in taxes. How did he figure it out? What does he know that I don't know? And so what I started doing is I started telling people, listen, there is a rich mindset and there's a poor mindset. The poor mindset is always going to play the victim. He's richer, he has more access to resources, I can't do this. Wham, wham, wham, wham, wham. The rich mindset is how do I figure out how to do this? Who does he associate himself with? What is he doing on a daily basis that allows for him to do this? And how can I start mimicking things like this? Talk about the rich mindset versus the poor mindset in your space, bro. You have other people that look up to you that are aspiring to do exactly what you're doing, but they're getting in the way of themselves from finding success.

SPEAKER_00 37:04

Uh-huh. I feel like really excuses and everything like that come from a lack of self-belief. Like they can't see themselves where somebody like me is at or where somebody like you is at. And that's why they have the excuses. It's like they're showing something I can't have. That's their mentality when I broke it down. So, like, if they did have the self-belief to understand that we're no different than them, then they'd start thinking on the same playing field of like, how do I get where they're at? So I had a client calls yesterday, and you know, this guy was struggling with confidence or whatever. He wasn't doing the the work that I told him to do. And he's like, Vince, I believe I'll become somebody successful one day. I'm like, bro, he's like, I believe I'll become somebody important one day. I'm like, bro, you already are somebody important. You know what I mean? You have to believe that you're there now, and that's how you operate on that field. I feel like for them to have that rich mentality, they have to see themselves as already there to some degree. You know what I mean? Like you already knew to some degree you could get where you're at, maybe not to the extent, but that's what allowed you to put the work in. I always say it's like dunking a basketball. If you know you're far as hell from the rim, you may try once and leave the court. But if you know you're rim grazing, you're like, I know I can do this shit. Imagine how much more effort you'd put in. Yeah. So, like, effort-wise, that's one thing. Belief is another thing where most people are chained to poverty through inherited beliefs. It's like I would hear things from my mom or my dad or my grandpa and et cetera. And I just thought that's how the world was. And then I got to a point where I realized no matter how much I love these people, they don't have the end result that I want, so I can't listen to them. Yeah. It was me not listening to my mom and not listening to her mentality and finding real successful mentors that allow me to succeed. Yeah. You know, so that was the biggest thing for me on changing that mentality.

SPEAKER_03 38:38

Bro, I love that. You have to repeat that one more time. Inherited, inherited.

SPEAKER_00 38:42

So most people are chained to poverty through inherited beliefs. That's my favorite saying.

SPEAKER_03 38:47

Most people are chained to poverty through inherited beliefs. You nailed it on the freaking head right there, brother. Yeah. I even saw that, you know, as my mom was stepping out in entrepreneurship and she was afraid to go for things. And I'm like, mom, fucking go for it. She's like, oh, but you know, my mom was here right now. I'm like, bro, she ain't here right now. You gotta go for it. And it's so crazy because when I started doing social media, my mom was the first person to tell me, what are you doing? Don't do this. You shouldn't be sharing your financial information online. You shouldn't be showing people your lifestyle. But I said, Mom, screw that, dude. This is like what makes me happy. It's what like fills me up. And I doubled down on it, even though I got a little bit of the hate from my dad that spilled over from my mom and the little bit of the resent from my mom because she saw her friends seeing what I was doing on social media too. But fast forward to today, bro, my mom has a full social media team and she speaks on KCal9 News, KTLA, NBC, because I told her you need to focus on growing your personal brand. And so it's so funny, bro. Sometimes you it'll be the people you love the most, the people that, you know, are meant to support you the most that'll sometimes be in your ear telling you, Well, why are you doing this? Why are you doing that? And you have to be careful, you know, not giving in all the time to what you're hearing.

SPEAKER_00 40:00

Uh-huh. I feel like it's because the middle class and the lower class mindset is very defensive. You know, it's more like protect, protect, protect. And I'm like, I'm like, what are we protecting? We're broke. You know what I mean? Like, that was my mentality. So we protect you. Yeah. So I tried to do fitness programs at the time. My mom's like, what if you get sued? And what if this and what if that? And I saw this quote and it was funny because it reminded me of my mom at the time. I was like, some people have a solution to every problem. I felt like that was me. And it said, some people have a problem to every solution. I'd be like, mom, I'm gonna do this. Well, what if that? Well, I'm gonna do this. Now, the thing is, that's out of love, though. You know what I mean? Your mom loves you, she wants to protect you, and et cetera. But I feel like if you want to be the black sheep, it's up to you to just take control and say, I'm gonna be the one that changes everything. You know what I mean? My mom sent me a quote like a few months ago, because I retired her last year, you know what I mean? And my mom sent me this quote, and she's like, at first, the world will question you, and then they'll begin to question themselves. And I think that was her mindset seeing me go throughout this entire journey, which was awesome. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 40:57

Bro, I feel like me and you have similar journeys with our moms because I remember when I first stepped out on YouTube and my mom was like, Why are you doing this? Like, why are you sharing this information? I'm like, dude, I gotta get this information out there. From what I'm seeing other people are doing in the industry, YouTube is a place I need to double down on. I don't know why, I don't know when it's gonna happen. I just know that this needs to happen. And even when I started stepping out and started telling people, you know, I'm not paying any taxes, you know, she wanted to protect me. She's like, what if the IRS looks at your videos, all of this? And in the back of my mind, I'm like, shit, well, what's the issue with them knowing about me? Maybe it's a good thing that the IRS knows who Carlton Dennis is just as much as the world does. And so I started flipping the narrative inside of my head. Instead of being afraid around all these things, I want to go forward. Anything that I think she thinks is is something I should be afraid of. And so, fast forward to today, bro. IRS definitely knows who I am. They've called me multiple times. They're like, we we we watch your videos. But more importantly, bro, is there's a movement of people now that have said, Carlton, I went back to my CPA because of your video. I watched your video when you're in Beverly Hills outside of the Ferrari and you said you said taxes were unpatriotic. I sent that to my CPA, and that was what prompted our discussion. That's what prompted me getting into an investment property. And so I look at it as there is always going to be people, bro, that are going to be there in your life to share with you the downsides of things that can end up happening. But who are the people in your life or what are the things that you're latching on to that's allowing for you to run for your dreams? You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 42:24

Yeah, yeah. I don't know if this was a Marcus Aurelius quote or what, because some people are in that same boat. We're like, what if this goes wrong? And it's something along the lines of like, if a problem happens, happens, and you'll deal with it when it comes. Yeah. Like that's my whole life philosophy. Now I'm not sitting worrying about things, I'm mentally aware. You know what I mean? You can't ignore certain things. I'm mentally aware of what might happen, but I'm like, I'm gonna deal with it as it comes, and that allows me to take fearless action. You know what I mean? So I want to talk about personal branding because you said that was huge, doubling down on YouTube. The IRS knows who you were now. That's something I'm just now seeing because I've only posted for like three years and talked for two. I mean, it's crazy now. Like the things a personal brand will do for you outside of business, too. It's like, we just took this damn private jet. A private jet company hits up my girl and she's like, We like you and your girls. Look, if you guys ever want to fly here and do a video, whatever, hotels are like, hey, if you want to stay here and restaurants are like, hey, come here. And the connections you meet too, to some degree, I feel like us bumping past. Adam had seen my videos. He's like, Yo, Vince, you're cool. You know what I mean? So it's almost like a personal brand unlocks a new level to the universe.

SPEAKER_03 43:31

You know what I mean? 100%, bro. Yeah, it is like I don't know, it's like the new business card, it seems like it can open up doors for you, bro. When I was sitting here, you know, watching, and you know, I'm glad he's our president now. But when I saw Donald Trump get shot, I told my social media team we got to post something right away. I instantly posted a video on it. Boom, my video hits two, three million, and I put many men by uh 50 cent over, you know, some clips of Donald Trump. But then I get Donald Trump Jr. that reaches out to me. He's like, Hey, bro, love what you're doing, supporting you, bro. I'm like, bro, my proximity to the White House is like this because of my ability to post quickly. And I had already had a personal brand. I had already been at this shit for the last three years, bro. I am the tax guy in the space. People know me now, right? That being said, bro, being here out in South Florida on a casual Tuesday, I'm having dinner with my wife. Next thing you know, we get a tap on our shoulder from the manager saying, Hey, we would love for you to come back and the chefs would love to meet you. They want to show you the whole kitchen. I come back there, they're like, Carlton, we love watching your videos. Bro, personal brand has been absolutely the most important thing for me, bro. You could take everything away from me. Don't take my personal brand away from me, bro. Because that to me is like what is most valuable.

SPEAKER_00 44:39

Uh-huh. And and especially having one that's built on truth and self-development and good. You know what I mean? Like, I see a lot of guys that are in the maybe the comedy niche, or maybe like they're doing a little bit of shady stuff and et cetera, and they have personal brands. But it's like, if you can build a personal brand where people respect you, yeah, I feel like there's no better quality of life as a man, as a woman, et cetera. But another thing I want to touch on too was um back to personal branding, bro. You said Donald Trump Jr. tapped you on your shoulder. I feel like I've met everybody I used to watch online by having a personal brand. So for the people watching this too, they're gonna fucking meet us. You know what I mean? If they just post right now. And when I first started posting, I was like, who would want to listen to me, man? Yeah. But one thing I like that you said is how I'm the tax dude in the space. I want to talk about that mentality because there's this quote in the 48 Laws of Power that says, very rarely is there ever a coronation. You have to crown yourself. So did you ever get to a point where you crowned yourself and said, you know, I run this shit.

SPEAKER_03 45:34

Yeah, this is me. I did because I felt like my mom had already had the crown, bro. And so I'm coming into an industry. Well, first off, an industry that's typically male-dominated. There's tons of males in the tax and accounting space, but everybody in the tax and accounting space knew who my mother was because before YouTube and Instagram was super popular, which it didn't get popular until 2017, it was radio show and news and live events. And my mom crushed all three of those platforms. So if you were in the tax and accounting niche, you probably heard of Carla Dennis. She was crowned America's tax lady by Oprah Winfrey. Yeah. Okay, so you got the crown already. Then what does that make me? So stepping up into this world as a young, you know, tax professional with very little experience, I had to give myself some type of title to get respect from people. And I didn't want to be called a tax accountant because if I call them a tax accountant, all they're gonna do is compare me to their existing tax account. So I came up with the term tax strategist. No one knew what the hell a tax strategist was until I came up with the term. I even Google searched it. There was no terminology for it. It said nothing on Google. I said, okay, I'm gonna take this term. I'm a tax strategist now. I help people leverage the tax code to the fullest extent. And I wore that slogan like Superman wears the S on his cape. So I crowned myself, bro, as the nation's tax strategist when my mom was the nation's tax lady. Soon enough, you have people getting on sit on the calls with my sales team saying, Oh, yeah, I have an accountant, but I'm looking for a tax strategist. Where did you get that word tax strategist from? Oh, well, you know, I saw this YouTube video, this Instagram video around how I need to be leveraging tax strategies and there's a difference between a tax strategist versus an accountant. Now, if you go on YouTube, bro, and you type in tax accountants, you'll see all these other CPAs calling themselves tax strategists. Why? Because they don't want to be just a CPA anymore. You want to be known to be a tax strategist. You want to be a blue ocean instead of just the ocean or red ocean instead of the ocean everybody else is in. And so I read that book, uh Blue Ocean Strategy, um, in 2020, and that's what coined the tax strategy terminology.

SPEAKER_00 47:41

That's crazy. So did you, because I've heard that term from Russell Brunson. So did Russell Brunson get that from that book you talked about, Blue Ocean Strategy?

SPEAKER_02 47:48

Oh, he had to have, bro. Blue Ocean Strategy.

SPEAKER_00 47:49

I think so, for sure. Have you read that book yet? No, I haven't read Blue Ocean Strategy, but one thing I tried to separate myself to, everybody was saying online coaching. I'm like, I do fitness programs. The same exact thing, you know, but I wanted to separate myself a little bit. Um, so there's this one quote from one of the world's richest men, Bernard Arnold, who owns all the designer brands, Gucci, Louis Vuitton Prada, et cetera. And he pretty much says luxury goods is the only area it's possible to make luxury margins. So would you say you presenting yourself as a luxury brand allowed you to reach those luxury margins too?

SPEAKER_03 48:18

Oh, without a doubt. And what I immediately told people on the phone was, I am not your CPA. I know you already have a CPA. I am not here to replace your CPA. I'm here to help you save money. Let's get started. Instantly, it's a different conversation than 99% of all the other conversations they've ever had with a tax professional because every time they get on the phone with a tax professional, all you're doing is talking about tax and accounting. I am a tax accountant. Here's my years of experience. What can I help you with today? Not, oh, by the way, I'm not a tax accountant. I am a tax strategist. I'm grateful that you have a tax accountant. The conversation you and I are gonna have is how are we saving money today? By the way, how are you saving money right now? And guess what they tell me? Oh, you know, that's part of the reason why I'm on this call. I really feel like there's not enough that I'm doing right now. I don't know. My CPA gives me the runaround. I always feel like he's not creative enough. He seems like he's just a pencil worm. He feels like he works for the IRS. Ah, that's a traditional accountant that wants to help you fill out your documents and make sure that everything is nice and neat and buttoned up so you can go file your tax returns. But when it actually comes to saving money, have you actually saved any money working with that tax professional? Ah, you know, I don't think so. We put money into a 401k. That's not a strategy. And I let them know right away a retirement account is not a strategy. It ain't. Putting money into a 401k is not a strategy, bro. You're gonna get taxed on that when you pull it out later in life. What kind of strategy is that? And you don't even know what the tax rates are gonna be. So if you're telling me that you're doing tax planning and all you're doing is signing on the dotted line where your CPA tells you to sign and paying your fair share and putting money into a 401k, you have no idea what tax strategy is. And I want to invite you into this conversation. Let's get started.

SPEAKER_00 49:45

So, what you're saying is people go get a normal CPA, you know what I mean? And they're like, oh, you know, I want to save money, let me get normal, and et cetera. But them paying the higher ticket price with you will initially save them more money long term.

SPEAKER_03 49:56

Bro, it's literally like showing up to Chase and then just getting all the bank tellers that are in the bank, but then all of a sudden you get a million net worth, and next thing you know, Chase is calling you saying, Hey, welcome to Chase Private Client Group. I'm your pro your official banker now. Don't worry about going into the branch anymore. If you ever need anything, just text me. Matter of fact, do you want me to come to your house? I'll come bring you some money. By the way, you know how you paid for wire transactions last year? We're gonna waive all your wire transactions because you're Chase Private Client Group. Whenever you need a loan, don't worry about trying to figure out who to call. You just call me. That is what my clients want, and that's what they get when they're doing tax planning. It's a completely different experience. You're used to going in the front desk and seeing everybody in Chase. You may not have even known that there's a back office called Chase Private Client Group. When would you actually know that? When you start making real money. When do you know that there's even tax strategists outside of their CPAs when you start making real money? And that's when you start questioning things. Shit, how do I get a Chase Private Client Group card? Who's back there? How much network do I have? Can I get on a phone call with them? And then you find out, wow, I could have been doing this the entire time. I have a CPA and I could have had a tax strategist on my team the entire time. And then boom, that's when the wake-up call happens and we start doing something about it.

SPEAKER_00 51:02

Yeah, and that's huge. And that's what every successful person even watching this pays for is like that status and that convenience. Yeah. Like, why do people play pay $10,000 an hour for a private jet? It's like that convenience, you're elevated, there's luxury. Why do people want that American Express black card? So you're saying you're that person of this entire industry.

SPEAKER_03 51:19

Bro, I'm saying I am going to remain that person of this entire industry. And I'm proud to be that person in this industry. Uh I'm grateful that I've provided enough value to say, yeah, I'm probably one of the most expensive tax strategists on the internet. But I can also say I don't have to work with anybody if I don't want to. I have plenty of clients that I work with. Tax Alchemy will continue to make eight figures a year if we don't onboard another client. That's what I'm grateful to say right now. But the beautiful part about building such a value-based business is now I get to get to say, is this valuable to you, Vincent? I get to work with Vincent now. Is this valuable to you, Ryan Panade? I get to work with Ryan Panade. Whoever I want to go and work with, I can go and work with them because they see me as the source of truth when it comes to tax strategy.

SPEAKER_00 52:02

That's huge, bro. That's huge. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I feel like this was fucking great, bro. Bro, we ripped for that. Yeah, this was fucking great.

SPEAKER_02 52:07

Eight minutes of straight gas, by the way. No breaks. Hell yeah.

SPEAKER_03 52:10

Bro, first off, um, I have a few other questions I want to make sure I hit on. So there's a lot of there's a lot of young guys who I run into that are super passionate about fitness, but they want to grow their online fitness business and they think it starts off with just posting content. What is the first step you need to take if you want to grow an online fitness business to six figures?

SPEAKER_00 52:32

Yeah, I feel like the biggest thing it is posting content to a certain degree because if nobody knows you, I mean, you can't make money. It's kind of like people think best product wins. So they come to the market with this strategy of I'm the best online coach and I know about macros and this, this, that, but the guy who just has more followers is gonna win. I'm not saying you have to have a huge following to get started. You have to be set up the right way. You have to have a higher ticket price, even if you have a smaller following, then you can kill it. It's like if you started how I was doing $20 programs and you don't have a following, you're not gonna make money. Yeah. But the way I've gotten these guys with like under a thousand followers, 500 followers making 10,000 a month, I get them selling higher ticket at 2K. You know what I mean? So it's five people, you've made 10,000 a month. So they need to start their 2K price point, get your five people, and then they're focused on reinvesting that into building their brand. Yes. I always tell my guys, I'm like, perceive value, perceived value. I'm sure there may be some type of strategy to this, but I'm like, bro, when you make your first 2,000, I'm like, put a dress shirt on and go to some nice restaurant where you look good. You know what I mean? Like your page and your presence is going to be elevated. Nowadays, if you present yourself as like a modern day fitness coach in just locker room, posing, et cetera, it's oversaturated. You have to be a personal brand. Now it has to be bigger than just shirtless videos. You have to have actual value to give people. And I always tell them too, one part's going viral, the other part's selling your audience on the journey for us. Yes. If they're not sold on the journey, like same thing with taxes, if they're not sold on the journey to learn this tax game, yeah, they're not going to be sold to join your community either. That's right. So it's like that's the best advice I give to those people. And even in marketing, bro, it's not even about what you do, it's about who you are. So I had to go from an introverted, shy, skinny kid to somebody who was good at speaking, somebody who was very polarizing, somebody who could be controversial and have mixed personalities to blow up online. Yes. It wasn't like I'm gonna do this for the video. It's like this is who the fuck I'm gonna become. Yeah. You put a camera in front of me, I'm going crazy. Yeah. You know, so that's that's my best advice to anyone who's just started out.

SPEAKER_03 54:27

Bro, I love that, bro. And you became somebody over time being in front of the or being in front of the camera, repetitive, you know, stumbling over your words until it all sounded the way you wanted it to sound. So talk to me about some of the struggles early on. Were you kind of a little bit resistant to wanting to make content because you feel like you weren't proud of the way you sounded, like, shoot, I'm only this, this age, and I don't sound like, you know, you know, Michael Hearn or some of these other fitness influencers, you know what I'm saying? So talk through the through the mental part of that, getting over that.

SPEAKER_00 54:57

Yeah, so I knew I had a one-of-one transformation. You know what I mean? Kind of like your story. You knew you you trusted in your knowledge on taxes, bro. I knew I had the craziest before and after, and I knew whether there was a Michael Hearn, whether it was an Arnold or whoever, nobody had the one-year natural transformation I had. You know what I mean? We'll put a pop-up on the screen. But with that, I was like, okay, let me upload this before and after. And when I started speaking, bro, the struggles, right? I was like, I don't like the way I look, you know what I mean? Like the camera looks weird, and this is that. I don't like the way I sound and et cetera. Yep. But the big game changer for me was when I stopped looking for perfection and I started looking for progression. I was like, I'm just gonna do this shit, I'm gonna try it out. I may sound horrible, but I'm gonna get used to it. And it's when you do something for three years, every single day, multiple times a day, it's very hard to not get good at that thing. Yes, you know, so it was just the consistency and like I said, looking for progression instead of perfection.

SPEAKER_03 55:47

When you're doing something for three years over and over again, it's very hard to not get good at that thing. 2021, Carlton Dennis got on YouTube 2025. I think we're gonna cross a million subscribers in the next 15 to 20 days, bro. I have literally been doing the exact same thing over and over again for three years straight. Get up, figure out what are people searching on the internet for tax information? Have I created a video around it? Create a video topic around it, get it out and continue to do this twice a week on YouTube, every single year. And that's how we've almost got to a million uh subscribers. How long have you been at the social media game? And when did you feel like you found your first success? Was it a year in, two years in? When did happen?

SPEAKER_00 56:26

So it was really like it was so I started working out. I was six months into working out. I was halfway through my transformation. I had my first viral video where it was like a before and after of me, and people were like, This dude, that's not natural. There's no way that's possible, and this, this, that. And my first success financially, though, like I had a brand like six months, and it was like that. Yeah. But I don't want people to misconstrue this. It's like before that, I was putting the fucking work in. You know what I mean? Before that, I put the work into the gym, I put the work into building myself so I could come online and just have that all figured out. The only people that crushed it did the work before. But when I first started with fitness programs, when I first dropped a $20 thing, I had too many notifications to fucking count. It's kind of like a clothing brand drop. You know what I mean? I was like, what the fuck? I was like, holy shit, you know what I mean? And I think it goes back to the quote like, the man that does more than he's paid for will eventually be paid for more than he does. That was a moment for me right there. And then I was like, okay, well, I'm only making $5,000 a month. You know what I mean? There's all these $20 notifications. When I switched to high ticket, that was another breakthrough where it was like, holy shit, now the same way I'm seeing $20 notifications, it's $2,000 now. So I mean, for somebody starting out, you can see success. If you've already built your physique, you've already done the work, you can see success like the first damn week. But if you want to see real major success where you're making like $40,000, $50,000 a month or so, I'd say like six months. Yeah, bro. It's gonna take some time for sure.

SPEAKER_03 57:46

When you decided to move here to Florida, what was the reason why you wanted to come here? Like, why not stay where you were and be surrounded by your family?

SPEAKER_00 57:54

Bro, it was just the proximity. I took a vacation out to Miami and I'm big on visualization. Yeah. Even in Arizona, I used to go to the Rolls-Royce dealership, I'd ask to sit in the cars. I'd go on Zillow because I live in Arizona. I'd look at the mansions that were on top of mountains, and I'm like, I gotta see this shit. You know what I mean? They give me full tours, I'd fake a screenshot of income and et cetera, and I'd look at all these mansions. Same thing with Miami. When I came out here, I rented a fucking Lamba. You know what I mean? I went on Zillow, I rent, I looked at penthouses, you know what I mean? And they're showing me Porsche Tower and stuff like that. And I'm like, holy shit, I went back home. I had something called post-Miami Depression. I was like, I just, I was like, I got saw the real world. You know what I mean? I saw the real world. Now I'm back to Arizona, it's a desert, the people aren't the same, and et cetera. Energy's gone. And bro, I literally just went on my phone. I was like, apartments in Brickle, and I didn't even look at it, and I just fucking submitted the documents, and I'm I I just moved there and then I and then I flew in. Like that was that was the thing for me. But a lot of people will hate on Miami. I think wherever you are, you get what you are. You know what I mean? Like if you're a positive, upbeat person, that's who you're gonna meet. Yeah. It's like I don't, I don't really go clubbing or I don't do any dumb shit. I'm just gym home, gym home business, and et cetera. So like Miami has been that place for me where I've met so many young, successful entrepreneurs who are on top of their shit. I've seen so much luxury and lifestyle. And I like to be around that. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_03 59:13

That's what I like to be around. That's why I constantly come out here. Even though I'm surrounded by old money in Orange County, when I'm telling you like real wealth, real wealth in Orange County, but at the end of the day, bro, they're not there to share anything with you. The people in Orange County don't give a shit about the fact that you're new money coming up. They don't want to give you any advice, they don't want to share any information with you. When I come out to Miami, bro, it's like the complete opposite. Everybody's getting together at dinners, sharing advice, talking about marketing tactics, meeting up for podcasts, you know, working out together. The energy is completely different. I go back home now to Orange County to enjoy why I work so hard, but I like spending time here grinding because I'm surrounded by people that are doing some of the same things that I'm doing and care about, leaving a lasting message just like the way you do too.

SPEAKER_00 59:59

Yeah. And I feel like, you know, you got to think when we're like, because I'm 21, you know what I mean? When we're like 70, will we really be have the same passion of like, oh, you know, young and this strategy and that? We'll probably just want to retire and chill in Orange County.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:11

And probably go right back to Orange County and just play golf and drive our Rolls Royces.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:15

Yeah, so I I I get their their mentality too, you know what I mean. I you know the funniest thing, I've had a lot of older sharks come at me, bro. Like just for posting content online and like, this dude doesn't know anything. What real estate does he have? Like, what do you expect from a 21-year-old? But I always saw myself, my goal was a billionaire by 40.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:30

You know what I mean? So I use all that as motivation. I feel like God places your enemies wisely. You know, so whenever I have an enemy who's way more powerful than me talking shit about me, I'm like, that's a blessing from God. You know what I mean? Because I have that fire now and that motivation to push to a level I never would have even thought possible. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:46

How do you feel about all these hater accounts, bro? We we see all these hater accounts popping up. I know that I've seen people who I I've respected be mentioned on, you know, these types of hater accounts. And yeah, it's hard to disseminate what's true and what's not true, bro. I get around people and I I know what's genuine when I'm around people. But from the outside looking in, you can easily watch a video on an account and then have your own perception about somebody. How has that been, you know, something that you've kind of had challenges with, or how would you approach that if you're an entrepreneur?

SPEAKER_00 1:01:18

I really do feel like everything's inwards and then it's outwards. Nothing can affect you unless you let it. You know what I mean? It's like your own mental thought pattern had to let that affect you. So what I've noticed when I focus more on haters, it's what I see more, more people make videos about me, and et cetera. When I say like it doesn't even matter, I'm focused on growing, they just disappear. I don't know what it is, you could call that law of attraction or whatever the case may be, but you know, before I had a personal brand and I'd see somebody being bashed online by a hater account, my mind instantly assumed, fuck that guy. Yeah, you know what I mean? I had no second thought. It was until I started growing a personal brand and people started doing that to me, where I had second guesses. Yep. Like I have to double check when somebody has an exposed video or whatever. Um, but the biggest thing about the hate profile is one of them like Ballerbuster shouts me out all the time and et cetera. Nothing bad. They're just like, oh, his hair or whatever. You know what I mean? There's there's no dirt against me or anything. But the thing is, the thing about those pages is a lot of the guys, I mean, when you when you're calling out Grant Cardone and Andy Elliott and every and Andrew Tate and everybody in the space, it starts to lose some validity. Yeah, you know what I mean? So I would say those are good for promotion, though. Like you can see, you can see right now I'm a pretty sharp person, but online when I see a hater profile, I'm like, oh, Ballerbuster shouted me out. I'm still balling, I haven't busted. Like, I'll put that character on, I'll put that act because I don't know, it's like it's it's publicity. You will have some people that are like, hey, I do resonate with your message after a second look. Yep. So you know, it's part of the game, though. You know what I mean? It's part of the game.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:44

Dude, I totally get that. I have CPA attorneys trying to call me out on tax information, and then they built their personal brands off of just looking at my videos and then reacting to my videos, like thousands and thousands of views off of just reacting to my videos. And then I go to their place and go to their websites and they have no substance. They're not teaching tax strategy, not teaching anything. All it is is just a bunch of reaction videos, bro. And people look at me and they think like, oh shit, is this hurting Carlton's business? Is this hurting Carlton at all? And I'm like, dude, it's doing the exact fucking opposite. I am so grateful for my haters, bro, because one, it shows me that I'm doing the right thing, but even more so, this was the lifestyle that I've always wanted to have, bro. Attention on me 24-7 because I'm helping people. There's gonna be good attention, there's gonna be bad attention, but at the end of the day, attention is fucking good. And I know what to do with attention just like you know what to do with tension. I think there's an absence of entrepreneurs that are willing to be in the limelight in order to help people, and that's what keeps them in their box that they're in and why sometimes they don't get to achieve the success that they are meant to achieve.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:51

Yeah, yeah. That reminds me of a Trump quote good attention is better than bad attention, bad attention is better than no attention. So I've had early exposure to bad attention too, and it's like it's something you get used to. I remember early on when I was just fitness, when people would discredit my fitness journey, it really would get to me at the start. Like I'm sure at the start it got to you way more. I'd be I'd be fuming in my mom's extra room. I'm like, why are they talking bad about me? And this is that. What the hell? And it's like no matter how much I climbed up the ladder, they said I was small, I got a little bit bigger. They said I was broke, I got nice cars. They said that car wasn't nice enough, I got a nicer one, and they always had something new to say. And I got to a point where I realized I'm like, well, there's no proving anything to anyone. They're always gonna have something to say 100% and it's just part of it, you know. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:31

Bro, I love that. And you said something. I focus now on progress over perfection.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:36

And I want to I want that to be the lasting message because for entrepreneurs that are watching this podcast or however they download this information, one of the most important things has been focusing on progress for myself over perfection. I'm now at a point where I can sit back and look at my little YouTube videos and tweak shit and be a perfectionist because I had the time to be a perfectionist. But early on, I would confidently say my biggest thing that I can look back that I'm grateful for is my ability to have that discernment to just stay focused on progress over perfection and putting out more tax content than any other tax professional out there. And you get rewarded over that.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:09

Yeah, that's huge, bro. That's huge. Bro, thank you so much for jumping on this podcast. Where can people follow you at? Vincent Fisher underscore V-I-N-C-E-N T F-I-S-T-H-E-R underscore on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, wherever.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:20

Guys, that's another great episode on Taxes Made Simple. We're out.