How Jakaylon Built a $300K Service Bureau in Just 2 Years | SBA Podcast EP 47

Baldeep (00:00) All right, welcome to another episode of the Service Bureau Accelerator Interview Series. I’m here with Ross and Jakaylon. Go ahead, Ross, and kick it off.

Ross (00:10) Sure. So Jakaylon, thanks for jumping in. Welcome to the call. How are you doing today?

Jakaylon (00:15) Good, how are you?

Ross (00:16) Very good, thanks, very good. So, if you wanna kick things off real quick, just kind of introduce yourself really quickly, maybe give us a little background of your experience in the industry, where were you at prior to joining the Service Bureau Accelerator, and ultimately, what made you wanna become a Service Bureau with us here at Service Bureau Accelerator?

Jakaylon (00:36) First off, my name is Jakaylon White. I originally started in the tax industry as a lead tax preparer working for Jackson Hewitt. About 12 years or so, I actually took my internship when I received my associate’s degree in business administration and management. From there, I decided to go back to school and I realized, okay, well, I have this degree. I don’t know how to implement it into my life and actually start an actual business that I actually feel that would actually be successful. And I already had the background with that type of business and what to actually do. So from there, I started preparing taxes. I received my EFIN and different things like that. And from there, I started realizing different things about the back end fees and how those different things work. And by me using the software that I was able to actually receive incentives or generate income on the back end as well. And I felt like I was already doing most of the work anyway, so why not, you know, figure it out and, you know, also allow other people to, you know, go through the same thing that I went through and use that as a stepping stone to actually get you where you want to be in being able to operate, you know, your business the right way.

Ross (02:20) Yeah. Was that just kind of like, you in a scenario where like those fees were like kind of creeping up pretty high whenever you’re using a bank product and you’re like, what’s going on here?

Jakaylon (02:31) Yes, and then it was crazy because I was logging into the software as a Service Bureau and I was told that, okay, well you build your team, you get all these people, when you receive this, this, that, and I realized, okay, I’m investing more money into getting all these people and providing them with the training and different things like that, but the money that I was supposed to get turned out to not be the actual amount that I was supposed to be actually getting originally. And I was like, once they all joined, I had them all set up in my system, then that’s when I got hit with this bogus contract. So I was just like, oh no, I can’t do this anymore.

Ross (03:19) So you were with someone previously before joining our program, you were with someone else. They kind of set you up as a Service Bureau, but they kind of had their hands a little bit too deep in your Service Bureau pockets, kind of a, okay.

Jakaylon (03:23) Yes, yes.

Jakaylon (03:30) Yes, yes. Well, they never told me I was an actual Service Bureau, but they basically told me that, you’ll get this fee, you’ll get this fee. And the percentage of each preparer that I had that was operating under my EFIN, I will get the whole percentage. But then later on, they end up changing it. And then that’s when I realized, okay, about all the other fees and how they was able to change it and set it. And I’m like, okay, so why don’t I know about this? Like I was told that it was going to the IRS. So, yeah.

Ross (03:59) Hmm.

Ross (04:14) Right. There you go. So, so then how’d you end up finding SBA? Like, was it just kind of that scenario where it’s like you had that problem that you were looking for and then like an ad popped up on your feed and you’re like, let me take a look at this. Did you hear about us or how’d you end up joining our program?

Jakaylon (04:26) Well, I actually called tech support, the tech support number one day and they was like, you need to speak with, I will say Rightway Tax, Rightway Taxes, and then I was like, huh? I don’t even know. I don’t even know that exists. Then later on down the line, I had end up speaking with someone else and it was like Service Bureau Accelerator. I wrote the name down and started researching.

Ross (04:59) Hahaha.

Jakaylon (05:01) Yeah.

Ross (05:01) Fair enough, there you go. That’s how it can happen sometimes. Awesome. So what ultimately made you want to join SBA? Like was it just kind of a combination of that, like what you were dealing with and then getting on a call with us and us just being like, hey, yeah, we set you up as a Service Bureau, you get those fees and it just kind of clicked. It just made sense. Like what was that experience like for you to make you ultimately want to join?

Jakaylon (05:21) Yes.

Well, I felt like I was already, you know, doing the work. I already had, you know, everything set up. My platform was pretty much already set up. And I knew that I had room for improvement, but I just didn’t have the guidance to actually, you know, improve in the, you know, different areas that I needed help with. And once I spoke with you guys and you explained everything, you showed me, okay, we have this, this. Okay, you need help with this, okay we have this here. And once I realized that that’s all that I really needed to be successful, that’s the route that I felt like would be the most, you know, sufficient way to actually be more successful.

Ross (06:10) Awesome. Yeah. I mean, you came out swinging pretty hard, right? I mean, like two seasons ago, you know, first year you hit the volume rebate tier, which is, that’s like goal number one, right? Like it’s get into those rebate tiers and then continue to grow from there. And then even this past tax season, you almost got into the second tier, like very, very close, but like, which is like, darn, cause there’s some extra extra dollars there, but…

Jakaylon (06:30) Yeah.

Yeah, I actually been whiffing up about that for a little time. I’m like, thinking of all the things I could’ve did different. But I have confidence. I feel like it’s gonna be good.

Ross (06:42) So close. Yeah, for sure, for sure. But yeah, but I mean, your results so far, they’re solid, right? I mean, and even this past season, even though you didn’t get to the next tier, there was like 40% growth, right? Year over year in your products, which is huge. So I’d love to kind of talk about like, what have you been doing? Because like you kind of mentioned earlier, like you already had…

Jakaylon (06:56) Yes.

Ross (07:05) You were already kind of building the team. You were already doing a lot of that stuff. Is there anything that like really shifted once you joined our program, like learning our strategies? Like what did you end up doing to grow your Service Bureau?

Jakaylon (07:07) Okay.

Jakaylon (07:16) Just listening more to you guys and actually following everything that you’ve actually showed me and taught me. I can’t say I did try the ad, but only ran like three ads and I was like, no, this not for me, because I would call the people and they’re like, they were confused. They didn’t know what I was talking about. I was like, no, I don’t think this is a good idea. But I did get into like those different groups and make posts and I would get like random messages from people or I’ve been watching your page, I’ve been seeing you promote this. At first I was not promoting it. I would just promote a little bit and it’ll be like just like a few posts and I would just get a lot of people. But now it’s like every time you see me on social media, not to say that I post it every day, I do try to post, you know, different things, but I do try to some type of way, you know, let other people see, okay, there is a way to be able to generate income that you’re looking for if you just try. And I have the blueprint, I have the proof. So…

Ross (08:25) Thanks.

Baldeep (08:25) One of the things I noticed that you’re doing is you’re spread out, meaning that you don’t have all your volume tied to like one or two clients. Like your volume is spread out pretty evenly across multiple clients, which actually is beneficial for the long term, right? Like we talked about at the convention, right? Don’t have 30 or 40% of your business on one client. So that’s a good start for sure.

Jakaylon (08:39) Mm-hmm.

Ross (08:51) And so, Jakaylon, what have you been doing for, as far as your target customers, right? You as a Service Bureau, are you going after preparers? Are you really just focused on EROs only? Are you doing business in a box? What’s kind of your model that you’ve been implementing for your Service Bureau growth?

Jakaylon (09:11) Well, I’ve been just trying to focus on now allowing the EROs to actually grow their actual offices. So I’ve just been, you know, helping them with more training, more extensive training, more hands-on, different ways to allow them to see, okay, yeah, you have these clients here that you’re generating income from, but also if you, you know, just steam your business out a little more and bring in more people, then you’ll be able to generate more income. So that’s what I’ve been mostly focusing on. And for the newcomers, they’ve been just pretty much just coming to me on their own.

Ross (09:59) Right. Awesome. So, are you, I was just kind of curious. I do have a question about this. Some people like are open to share. It’s totally up to you, but are you open with kind of sharing a little bit of like the revenue numbers that you were able to generate last year with your Service Bureau? We don’t have to, if we can just talk like numbers, your growth numbers, which you mentioned before, but it’s up to you. Some people are like, hell yeah, I want to share, but you don’t have to if you don’t want to.

Jakaylon (10:15) Bye.

Jakaylon (10:22) Well, for like the Service Bureau on its own is right at 300,000. So…

Ross (10:34) 300,000. Yeah, that’s huge. And that’s that second year, right? Second year in our program, hitting multiple solid six figures. So that’s huge. Yeah, big congrats. Those are solid numbers. There you go.

Jakaylon (10:35) Mm-hmm.

Not including my tax office stuff, but yeah, I’m trying to get away from it.

Ross (10:52) Yeah, that’s the next part, right? It’s like, okay, now the Service Bureau is covering the balance and then some. It’s like now you can start kind of making that adjustment. Yeah, awesome, awesome. That’s huge. I mean, big congratulations on that. That’s a really impressive number to put on the board. So awesome. So let’s kind of shift now. I always like to ask a little bit more about kind of your experience going through our platform, going through our training. If you’d want to like share a little bit of your experience, I know you mentioned before, like, you know, just kind of taking what we teach and really applying it.

Jakaylon (10:54) Yes.

So I don’t have to worry about that.

Jakaylon (11:04) Thank you.

Baldeep (11:11) Yeah.

Ross (11:22) But has there was there any kind of like big aha moments or like big takeaways that you got from going through our training or coaching, anything you want to share?

Jakaylon (11:22) Mm-hmm.

Jakaylon (11:32) Pretty much everything, pretty much everything. Like all the classes, everything. It was like, okay, well okay, we’re about to have another training, let me make sure I can at least listen to almost to the end. I normally try to stay on there to the end unless I’m just extremely busy, but yeah, pretty much everything, yeah.

Ross (11:34) Okay. It’s all aha moments.

Baldeep (11:35) Yeah.

Ross (11:54) Awesome. Okay, so you’ve been able to just like just be a sponge and just like absorb as much as you can. Cool.

Jakaylon (11:57) Yeah, yeah, yeah, cuz it’s like, it’s like a no-brainer. Okay, everything that I’m already doing that, pretty much I’m pretty much doing it on my own, but then I have, you know, these two guys that I meet with and everything that I’ve been trying to figure out, they pretty much mastered it already. So, yeah.

Ross (12:22) Let me just let me just plug in. Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. What would you say, what would you for yourself? I’m curious. Like what do you feel like is the most valuable part of it? The training platform or is it like kind of the coaching calls that we’ve been running as well? Like where would you kind of… the coaching calls? Yeah. Cool. Just getting that like live…

Jakaylon (12:38) The coaching calls, the coaching calls, yeah. Because the training part, it’s just like, yeah. Like the training part, I went through it, but I didn’t go through it as thoroughly as I probably should have. But it was like, I understood the different ways to be able to make my company better, do better, offer, you know, better packages and different things like that. But it was like the coaching calls kind of like put the icing on top of the cake. So…

Ross (13:17) Awesome, nice, yeah, love it. So last kind of section of questions here for you and then we can, we’ll wrap up the interview, but I always like to ask about support. I know that’s always a big thing. You know, a lot of people complain about their current support prior to joining our program as EROs, you know, just not getting the help or even like the mentorship and growth as well. But if you want to share a little bit about your experience with support, how do you…

Jakaylon (13:39) Mm-hmm.

Ross (13:43) How did you feel using it? You know, getting your questions answered. Just kind of share a little bit of feedback on our support platform like when you open a ticket with us.

Jakaylon (13:52) Well, normally anytime I open a ticket, I always get some type of response within 24 hours, but I try not to be that, you know, nagging person that’s always putting in the ticket for everything. I’m more of a person that’s going to try to at least figure it out on my own or try to see if I can at least try to figure it out. It may take me like two weeks or so, but then once I start to realize, okay, wait, I have to go ahead and put in the ticket because I don’t think I’m going to be able to resolve this issue or I don’t think that, you know, it’s clicking to me, so then I open up a ticket. But I always get a pretty fast response.

Ross (14:33) Awesome. Good to hear. And it’s been good responses, like been good results so far working with our support team.

Jakaylon (14:37) Yeah. Yeah, it’s amazing.

Baldeep (14:38) I think you gave her one of your video reviews at one point on her packages.

Ross (14:46) Did you do an offer review with me? I do so many of them. I just, I forget all the time now.

Jakaylon (14:49) Oh yeah. Yeah, right. I think around October of last year or November or somewhere like that. Yes.

Ross (14:56) Okay. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. So that’s good to hear. So let’s talk about some upcoming things, right? Like obviously right now is the time of recording this. We’re in early September, almost midway through September now. What are you most excited about for next year? Like we’re kind of getting towards the last quarter of this year. So I wanna talk about like your future goals for your Service Bureau. What’s kind of like your biggest goal or what are you most excited about for your Service Bureau for next year?

Jakaylon (15:26) I wrote it down. My goal, I believe I put my goal at 3,000 bank products. I believe for, cause, 3,000, no, I think I said 2,000 because I said I was gonna try to double it, but if I could get to 3,000, that would be perfect for me. But yeah, I’ll say about 2,000 is my goal for next year. I feel like I can do it.

Ross (15:38) Yeah.

Ross (15:49) Awesome.

Ross (15:53) Yeah, I think you can do it. Yeah. Your numbers, your growth is there and especially the momentum off the convention, right? Like that’s kind of why we put it on for like, especially when we have members like yourself who are, you’re already growing.

Jakaylon (16:04) I definitely thought that I wasn’t going to be able to make it. I was like, oh my God, I’m so worn out. I don’t know what I’m doing. Then it was like, okay, bro, okay, I can keep going. Okay, yes, this is important. This is important, okay, so.

Ross (16:17) Awesome, glad you made it. So my final question for you, and then Baldeep has a very last question to wrap it up. But my very last question for you is, if someone’s looking at joining Service Bureau Accelerator, they wanna become a Service Bureau, they’re looking at joining our program, what kind of feedback, comments, or kind of words of advice would you share with someone looking at joining our program?

Jakaylon (16:27) Mm-hmm.

Jakaylon (16:41) Don’t miss the opportunity. It’s a no brainer. Just do it. Don’t hesitate. Don’t think about it. If you got the money to do it, just do it. Don’t wait. So yeah.

Ross (16:53) Awesome. Love it. That was a very fast response. Usually people are like, let me think. You’re like, just go, go, go.

Jakaylon (16:55) No, no, no. There’s nothing to think about that and when you start thinking about it and that’s when you get too hesitant and then you start second-guessing yourself. Like once I got on the call, spoke with you guys, I believe I spoke with you guys the same day, I was like, okay, where do I send my money to? Okay, go ahead and send it now. Don’t even worry about it.

Ross (17:17) Yeah.

Ross (17:21) Yeah, sometimes in life you just got to make that decision, right? You just got to jump all in, like you just got to cannonball into that pool. Like don’t even…

Jakaylon (17:24) Yeah, if not, you’re forever holding yourself back.

Ross (17:30) Love it, love it, cool. Well thank you very much for those, the words of advice to our viewers or listeners.

Baldeep (17:37) All right, so my last question for you, for the millions watching at home, if somebody’s watching this and they’re like, hey, I kind of want to work with her, how do they find you?

Jakaylon (17:49) Facebook. I’m normally on Facebook.

Baldeep (17:54) Facebook, you wanna get more details? There you go. So type in what in Facebook, your name.

Ross (17:55) Handles, website, anything?

Jakaylon (17:56) Yeah.

Jakaylon (18:02) Phil and Jakaylon White. Me and my husband, we share a Facebook page. PHIL with a capital N. J-A-K-A-Y-L-O-N. White. Yep. It’s me. No, just me by myself.

Baldeep (18:06) You share an account, okay. So spell that out so people can find it.

Mm-hmm.

Okay.

And then White. And then what’s the picture on it? Is it you and your husband? Or it’s just you. Okay. Awesome. All right. We’ll go ahead and wrap it up. Thanks everyone for joining. We’ll see you on the next one.

Ross (18:25) Haha.

Perfect.

Jakaylon (18:34) Thank you.