Why This Tax Pro Went All-In On Being A Service Bureau | SBA Podcast EP 45

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

Ross (00:09) For sure. So, Shaniqua, thanks for joining us. How you doing?

Shaniqua (00:12) Doing fine, yourself.

Ross (00:17) Not too bad. It’s been a long time since we saw each other. Like six days, five days.

Shaniqua (00:17) Yes, yes. Exactly.

Ross (00:20) Awesome, awesome. So, if you want to kick things off, Shaniqua, just real quick, maybe just kind of introduce yourself really quickly, share a little bit about how you got started in the tax industry and where you are today and kind of ultimately what made you kind of become a Service Bureau with our program and we’ll take it from there.

Shaniqua (00:38) All right, so my name is Shaniqua. I started off in the tax industry, I’m gonna say around 2012. I have a funny story, but we’re not even gonna get into that because it’s gonna make us long.

Ross (00:48) We can get into the funny story. That’s fine if you want.

Shaniqua (00:51) So I started off in 2012 at Liberty Tax. I had a friend that was like, hey, Liberty Tax is teaching taxes. You want to learn? I’m like, sure. OK. So we go train literally for two weeks. This lady never put us on the schedule. And I’m like beating their phone down trying to get on a schedule. And she just doesn’t. And when I think back on it, I believe tax season has started. So maybe that’s why I know what I know now is the reason why. So at this point I’m like okay whatever.

I’ma say about a week or two later that same friend was like, hey, this girl is doing taxes. She’s charging $100. She just needs your last pay stub. So I’m like, OK. So she’s like 50 now, 50 later. So we go to this lady house. I’m talking about we’re lined up on the couch with our last pay stub. And she has this computer. It’s like literally on a TV dinner stand, if you know what that is, because it’s back in the day. And I’m sitting in front of her, and I know.

Baldeep (01:49) Yeah.

Shaniqua (01:54) I’m smarter than a fifth grader, but I had a kid at the time and my friend didn’t. So she got me back like 2,500, but she got my friend back like 3,500. So I’m like, how is that so, and my friend didn’t have a kid nor did she have a job. So I’m just like, we didn’t learn that at Liberty. So she used Free Tax USA. I go home. She gives me the login. The lady texts me, hey, did your return get accepted? I’m like, yeah, it did. And she’s like, OK, cool. So me just looking at my return, I go back in it and notice that she put me as single and she put my child as my stepchild. So I’m like, I didn’t learn that. But if I’m correct, I’m head of household and my child should be my child. So I literally go in Free Tax USA, amend my own taxes, and I only got $1900 and from there I took off so I started doing taxes I literally was only charging people $60 and it was booking on a $60 I’m talking about $60 so I never went back to that Liberty I end up moving to Richmond, Virginia, and I ended up working under a lady at another Liberty here. And what she would do is she would do a 12 week training course. And if you took her 12 week training course, you can work for her. So you didn’t have to pay for the course. So I was like, I’m going take this 12 week training course and I’m going to work for her. And I might have had maybe like 20, 30 clients. That was it. So I worked for her like three seasons back to back. And then I just went on my own. But it wasn’t until like 2019 I literally so I went from charging $60 to charging $200. It’s a flat rate and then I literally hit rock bottom in 2019. I’m talking about I lost everything but my car and I was like, my business partner, that’s my business partner now. She was my business partner there. I would drive to her office, sit on the floor crying, talking about, don’t know what I’m going to do with my life. Like, my life is just in shambles. And she was like, you need to take taxes more serious. Like, you already do them. You need to get your EIN. You need to get your, you need to find out what your PTIN is. So I’m just like, how do I do that? So literally, I got up, she helped me get my business.

She helped me get my EIN, she helped me come up with my business name. We finally was able to log in and find out what my PTIN was because the lady I worked under, if you pass the test at Liberty, she paid for your PTIN. So I never knew how to log in or how to do any of that. 2019, I ended up working under Ms. Talley. She used Drake and I hated it. I hated it because it was so hard and I did not know tax forms. And she would tax me, well not tax me, she was like, after I train you, every time you have a question, I’m going to charge you $25. And I got tired of her deducting my pay. So that season went really, really well. So that was like 2020, but you know, we was filing for taxes in 2019. And after that season, I was on social media. I came across somebody that was using Slayer and I was like, what software is that? She was like Slayer, oh, I know somebody that can get you the software. And I’m like, okay, cool. I didn’t know nothing about an EFIN. I didn’t know how to get an EFIN. How do you apply for one? So I reached out to this young lady. I’m like, I just need software And she’s like, oh, that’s not a problem. And I was like, well, I don’t know if I could even and I I don’t know how she did it, but she was able to let me use the software I was able to transfer on my own I went from 60 clients to 150 clients that year then.

Ross (05:32) Nice.

Shaniqua (05:35) I ran into another young lady who introduced me to the Airbnb industry and then we ended up becoming friends and we used to share stories about the tax industry. And then that’s when I learned the back end of the tax industry about how you apply for software, professional software, not that TurboTax, not that FreeTax USA, but the back end, how you can apply for a bank product, how you can also get advances from the bank product. Like I knew absolutely nothing, nothing about any of that. So at that point, I was running the office. And then me and her had a conversation about being a Service Bureau. And the crazy part is, I still didn’t even know what a Service Bureau is. I went to the NATP with my friend and somebody that is currently in the industry as a Service Bureau back then before he became who he is now. I was like, why don’t you guys be a Service Bureau? They’re not making no noise in Virginia. And I’m like, what is a Service Bureau? He didn’t explain it to us. And I just left it alone. So after I worked under this one particular individual and we talked about being a Service Bureau and we have reached out to Slayer and talked to Cody he was like you just need five thousand to become a Service Bureau so I’m like okay so I saved up the five k now I’m in these Facebook groups because I don’t call Slayer and I’m like hey I’m ready to purchase and they’re like you’re under a Service Bureau your your EFIN is locked but they’re not explaining to me the non-compete between the Service Bureau and them. So I get in a Facebook group and I’m like, my EFIN is locked and I don’t understand. And somebody that was with SBA said, hey, I have software for you, 997. I said, no, I don’t want to be under nobody anymore. I want to be the head honcho. And she said, all right, well, just worry about getting software from them. Just use my link.

So once she gave me the link, I was already sold after talking to her. And I don’t know if I talked to you, Ross, at this time, because that was what, 2023 when I signed up.

Ross (07:46) Probably Rick, I think maybe.

Shaniqua (07:47) Yeah, when I got on the call, I said send the invoice. Y’all didn’t have to explain anything. And I think that’s what I loved about you guys too, because it was like, it’s not a sales call. You got this link because you know for sure you want to purchase software. There’s no convincing you. And you didn’t have to convince me. I wanted the software. So I might have had a couple of questions. And after that, it was all she wrote. And I’ve been with SBA ever since. And can’t nobody beat it.

Baldeep (08:12) Yeah.

Ross (08:16) It’s also, yeah, it’s funny you mentioned that, because I think a lot of people kind of like, I’m going to get on a sales call and it’s going to be like, it’s going to be a whole pitch. It’s like, no, no, just go watch the webinar. If it makes sense, if you’re interested, just have a call with us and just like, we’ll just answer some questions that you have. Because everyone always has like a couple of questions like, well, how does it work? with this offer currently, blah, blah, blah. They’re worried about their office, which we get because like pretty much everyone is in the ERO as well. But now they’re getting into becoming a Service Bureau. And it’s really just a like, let’s just answer your questions, make sure this makes sense and it’s something you want to do. If it is, cool. Here’s the document. Let’s get you set up. Let’s get you moving forward.

Shaniqua (08:35) Right.

Shaniqua (08:51) I think the only question that I had, I was like, I wanted to buy more than one software. And he was like, look, hold on, hold yours. One software at a time. And I was like, okay, you right. So I just picked Slayer because I didn’t know OLT at the time.

Ross (08:56) Hahaha

Ross (09:03) Yeah, that’s a very common one. It was like, can I get all of them at once? We’re like, do it like one at a time? Let’s baby steps is learn this thing first, because the whole back end is completely different story right from? Yeah, yeah. Awesome. Cool. So was there like, was there anything had you looked at anything else before was like this? What like I know you mentioned you looked with Slayer? Was there anything else like in those groups? Or did you have any other conversations? Or is it literally like, going from Slayer to not qualifying for it? And then getting a link, was that pretty much it? And your Service Bureau journey, looking for it? And wow, yeah. You got lucky then, you got lucky.

Shaniqua (09:07) Right, exactly.

Shaniqua (09:13) Right, exactly.

Shaniqua (09:34) Literally, so the individual that. Yeah, so the individual that slid in my inbox. That’s my dog. That’s my homegirl like so she basically she could she could be a Rick because I already knew what Rick was gonna say. I was just like I just want the software. And she basically gave me the backing like, this is what you’re going to get in Simmons for. This is what you get. This is your backing. And I’m like, wait, so the lady I was under is getting, that’s what she’s getting paid? And she was like, yeah. But.

Ross (10:05) Do you remember what those fees were that you had before? Do you remember what those numbers were?

Shaniqua (10:10) Yeah, her fees wasn’t that high though. I think her Service Bureau fee was like $79. And I don’t even remember what her transfer was, but the back end wasn’t high at all. It wasn’t no outrageous numbers. And it really went from, hey, I got software and I said no. And then she was just like, I will just use my link so I can get my referral fee. And I said, so it was. And that was, I had never heard about you guys know nothing. She sold me.

Ross (10:16) I mean.

Ross (10:30) Right.

Ross (10:36) Yeah.

Baldeep (10:36) I just looked up who it was that sold you. She was at the convention too.

Shaniqua (10:38) Mm-hmm.

Ross (10:41) Awesome. And what’s been so that and that was 2023 you said that you that you signed up? Yeah, awesome. So what’s been I mean, what’s been like the what’s the journey been like so far being with SBA like the experience the training all that kind of stuff being in the community? Go ahead, go ahead.

Shaniqua (10:58) So…

Baldeep (11:01) Yeah, go ahead, Shaniqua. No holes barred, no filter.

Shaniqua (11:03) No, so the issue with me is I think people need to understand when they become a Service Bureau and y’all keep saying it, take the tax professional hat off. And that’s what I was confused with. So I’m still trying to train people and set up software and it’s just not working. And it didn’t click until literally now.

Ross (11:28) Last week.

Shaniqua (11:29) Exactly. So what I did do because of that year I had a big team my heavy hitters I turned them into EROs So I had a meeting with like six or seven of them and said hey you guys make a lot of money I don’t want to be in charge of your money no more. This is how you can make your own money. This is how you can make money on the back end during the summertime yada yada yada boom. Help them get their EFINs, put them in the software and let them rock out but I was still thinking as a tax professional and just not as a Service Bureau and that is the issue so now it’s like just sell the damn software like forget all that extra training so now my model is sell only to EROs and train them to how to how to run their business not tax law not tax education because you should know that as an ERO.

Ross (12:21) Should. Yeah. Yeah.

Shaniqua (12:21) Why should I be teaching you taxes? You should already know that. At this point, I need to train you on how to properly run your business, because clearly, I know how to do that, because I’ve been there, done that. So yeah, the community, I love it. I just like a big family. And that’s why I was telling my business partner after we left, I had texted us, I’m so happy you joined SBA because it’s different. It’s like we go where any other tax groups, we go to the IRS form, we go to NATP and it’s a lot of cattiness. It’s a lot of shadiness. But when you come to SBA, we’re all on the same level. So at this point, we’re learning from each other. So for example, Shantay just ran to ask Shambrika what does she do she actually has an academy and different things work for different people so to get together and talk to them and pick their brains without it being no competition is what I love and everybody gets along and then we have a good time yes.

Ross (13:17) Yeah, and then we have a really good time. Yeah, it’s a kind of cool thing. I was thinking about that last week when we were at the convention. I was like, it’s kind of crazy how this community has grown over the years where we’ve somehow been able to foster that. And it’s kind of like, I don’t know if it’s because the way that we kind of run this program where it’s like, we’re all, yeah, we’re all competition, but we can still learn and grow together. We can always help each other out. Even people selling Service Bureaus, it’s like, we sell Service Bureaus where you’re technically competing with us, but that’s all good, right? There’s plenty of food on the table for everyone to eat. Like doesn’t matter. We can still support each other to grow. And it’s just been really cool seeing that, right? Coming out of the convention where everyone is just like hanging out and talking business and strategizing and sharing ideas. And it’s like, we’re all working through this together. We’re all kind of coming up with the game plan together. So it’s really, really cool to see that. I’m really happy with the community.

Shaniqua (13:41) Exactly.

Shaniqua (13:50) Exactly.

Shaniqua (14:12) Yes, that’s what I was excited about. And then I got to meet people. I met the guy from New York and I said, hey, I never see you guys on the Zooms. Like, where did you guys come from? And he’s like, we don’t have time today. We’re running tax offices. OK, my bad. Let me mind my business. But I got to meet other people that I would have never met. And they’re doing numbers. Everybody’s doing numbers. That’s what I love about it. It’s like, you really can learn. And nobody’s gatekeeping. But you got to find what works for you.

Ross (14:22) Yeah.

Ross (14:26) Yeah.

Ross (14:37) Yeah, for sure. So talking about like your strategy now, especially coming out of convention, right? Obviously, like everyone comes out and it’s like, it’s kind of cool we get to do this. We did a lot of these interviews before the convention, and now we’re gonna have a bunch more after the convention. So it’s gonna be interesting, like the different conversations and stuff that we’re having. And so like your game plan now, you’re like, all right, fuck it, I’m just going after EROs, like I’m just selling the damn software. Are you gonna do, like you mentioned kind of like, you’re going to help the EROs kind of run their business a little bit better. You want to get like, we want to break that down a little bit more. Like are you doing, are you showing them how to like recruit preparers? Are you kind of doing the preparer development strategy we talked about? Or like, what is that going to kind of look like?

Shaniqua (14:50) Mm-hmm.

Shaniqua (15:14) Yes, so at first I was, remember he was on that call and I told you I had to resell a program. He was like, that’s not a reseller program. But I had to realize, I’ve been chasing, trying to find out what it is that works for me. I had a blueprint and it’s like, I don’t want that. I do a lot of hand holding and then I get frustrated because I got to hold your hand. And I’m the type, it’s two types of people in this world. It’s people that are doers and people that need to be told what to do. And I’m a doer, so I need doers around me.

Ross (15:30) Mm-hmm.

Shaniqua (15:45) So with that being said, EROs, they’re doers. I don’t have no, I don’t get no slack from my EROs. My preparer people have question after question after question after question. It’s just like, would you not pay attention in class? And I feel like we over deliver in the training and you still not getting it. So what I’m going to offer now is to make sure that their business is properly structured. And I’m going to give you an example. One of my EROs, she had time. I’m trying to pay her. And I’m like, I’m trying to wire you the money. I said, you got to, what is it called? The ABA routing number. I said, can you please provide me with that? And she was like, what is that? And that’s when I knew. Now it’s time to educate them on the business aspect of their business. Because there’s no reason why you don’t know what that is and why are you still using Chime. Bye.

Baldeep (16:38) We ran into we ran into failed payments for payouts to our Service Bureaus a few like three people use Chime and it just failed because they put their they don’t have a company account at Chime they have a personal account and then it just rejects the ACH.

Shaniqua (16:53) So, and with me and my business model, y’all have to have a paper trail, y’all have to file business taxes. So it’s like, I have to have a paper trail and I can’t keep telling you or going to the bank to take the cash out and put it in your bank account. Like nobody has time to do that. That’s, that’s just suicidal to me. That’s just going to run you crazy. So I’m like, let me just help my EROs make sure that their business is properly structured, that they know how to recruit preparers as well. Because at first, the model I had was they was resellers and they was bringing the people to me. So I made all the money and then I gave them commission. So it looks like I’m making all this money on paper when it’s really not about that for me. It’s really about helping my EROs. So why not change up my model, just help EROs. And then if they do want tax training, I can offer either a white label course that they’re going to train their own people. I’m not going to train them. I don’t have time to.

Baldeep (17:51) Right.

Shaniqua (17:54) Because the amount of EROs I want, I’m not going to have time to train any tax training. No, and I’m kind of tired of it. I did it three years in a row. I’m tired.

Ross (18:01) Yeah.

Baldeep (18:05) Yeah

Ross (18:05) Yeah, yeah, make it. I mean, I mean, and that’s a lot of that’s a lot of value as well that you offer to to your EROs, right? Where it’s like, hey, here’s a software plus if you need tax law training, if you want to grow your team, grow your preparers and yeah, that’s it. I think that’s a good focus, right? It’s like, that’s the whole thing, right? With the Service Bureau when it when it really finally clicks, you’re like, oh, this is how I can just really grow and scale without having to pour as much. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. No, that’s awesome. Cool. So a couple other questions I always like to ask. The training, right? You’ve been in SBA for a few years, so you’ve seen kind of like the new iterations, like over the last couple years, we had like the seven day launch and everything that we rolled out. What’s, you wanted to share kind of your experience with our training platform, going through our training, jumping on our coaching calls and things like that.

Shaniqua (18:25) Right and then showing them how to make the money as well.

Shaniqua (18:52) Um, I’m gonna be honest with you until it just clicked. I didn’t get it. So now I’m rewatching the videos. Like this is what they’ve been talking about. If I can show you my book of notes, um, I’m done with foundations. I’m on the seven day launch now and it’s like, bro, this is all they’ve been trying to tell us to sell the damn software. So now it’s making sense.

Ross (19:16) So it’s now you’re going through it all over again. Yeah.

Shaniqua (19:19) Exactly because I still had the tax professional hat on. So I’m in it.

Baldeep (19:23) Yeah, we should actually add a training video about removing the tax preparer hat, because we talk about that concept all the time.

Ross (19:28) I was just thinking, yeah.

Shaniqua (19:29) You would have to because for the ones who come in as tax professionals, it’s going to be, it’s a hard transition.

Ross (19:39) It’s yeah, yeah. I had that conversation with like so many people at the convention as well last week. Where they’re just like, just like, where so many people exactly like you, where they’re just like, it just finally clicked. Like I finally get it. Like I need to think as a Service Bureau. I need to sell software to EROs. I need to stop trying to like think that being a Service Bureau is growing my tax business because it’s not, it’s completely different. So yeah, that was, I heard that many, many times at convention, which is awesome to hear.

Shaniqua (20:02) Really nice.

Baldeep (20:06) Yeah, don’t come up to us with tax software questions and ERO problems.

Ross (20:09) Yeah, yeah, there was there. was your what was your comment? I think it was like at the first the first convention or something Baldeep where you made that comment. You’re like stop coming to us with your ERO problems like you’re a Service Bureau. Be a Service Bureau. We got we got different problems.

Baldeep (20:16) Oh yeah.

Baldeep (20:22) I should have brought that back. I should have brought that one back.

Shaniqua (20:22) Right.

Shaniqua (20:25) So now that I started this seven day launch my business partner she’s still watching foundations and I had to tell her too I said I get that we’re business partners I said it didn’t make any sense to go in our Nitro together and start watching the videos when I have actually my own videos for my own Nitro when you actually have to watch the videos so I was like where you at in foundations cause then we could start the seven day launch together and she was like it’s like isn’t it like 3 parts of foundation I said hell yeah what part you on. She said the second part, I said, I’m about to finish this seven day launch. I’ll see you in a week or two. But I’m ready to execute. Y’all lit the fire under my behind. And it just also hearing it from the other young ladies and men that’s a part of SBA and what worked for them and I’ve always wanted to run ads I just didn’t know how to and the whole time. We have it I mean when you you gave us the blueprint so it’s like and I’m gonna tight give me the blueprint if it’s not broke don’t fix it. So give me the blueprint I follow it step by step and let me and let me tweak a little bit that’s pertaining to me and I’ll be good. So I’m just waiting on that email back to tell me.

Baldeep (20:57) Yeah.

Ross (21:33) Yeah.

Baldeep (21:39) They’ve been sitting there.

Ross (21:39) Awesome. Yeah, it’s cool. It’s cool hearing from other members too, right? Like that’s what I always love doing the top producer panel. This actually happened, I think it was the first year that we did our convention and like everything that we talked about on like the first day, we then had like the top producer panel go up and they were literally like repeating verbatim like exact same words basically that I had just said the previous day. They’re like repeating the exact same things I remember just standing on stage just like, like look like this is that they’re doing it they’re doing it right? This is the this is the proof in the pudding right and and I think sometimes it’s just it’s just that people just need to hear it from their peers and hear from people who are in the at the same level as them like I’m going through the same program and then it just kind of clicks they hear it differently or whatever it is. So yeah, that’s always cool. Yeah

Shaniqua (21:54) Is there?

Shaniqua (22:15) Okay.

Shaniqua (22:25) Okay.

Baldeep (22:34) People get tired of hearing us say the same shit. So we just gotta have other people.

Shaniqua (22:37) No, but now that it’s clicking, it just makes more sense. Because even when we was on a call a week ago, and I was trying to explain to you the program I was doing, and you was like, well, that’s not a reseller. And I’m like, well, my mentor at the time, that’s what he was calling it. And you was just like, no, that’s not a reseller. And I’m just like, and then I had to take a step back. And I’m like, well, am I really helping them? Because they’re still just bringing people to me when the goal is to help them grow so I can get more bank products. Why not help me grow help them grow and then I’m gonna get more funded bank products. The goal is to sell the damn software and what should I say one bank product equals one bank product?

Ross (22:45) The resellers. Yeah, I remember. Yeah.

Ross (23:16) Yeah. Hey, that was our top secret formula for the. Yeah. But no, it’s funny how like I when I was ready when I was making that slide to I’m just like I knew it was going to hit well because it’s just like it’s it’s that different. It’s like one bank product. I was like, let’s just focus on bank. That’s like that’s it. We just need to focus on that. Right. It’s so simple and just so clear where it’s like, OK, I get it. You brought that up, too.

Baldeep (23:19) Top Secret, now it’s public, for the millions watching at home.

Shaniqua (23:19) Right. So is.

Shaniqua (23:43) Because you said that, I came up with four packages and one of them is software with no bank products and just software with a bank product. Because that does make a difference. Because you got some people, like I have one ERO, she doesn’t use bank products. I think she might have used fin. But other than that, her clients pay her upfront. So now this is to be a renewal. Yes. And then it’s going to be a renewal.

Ross (24:01) Mm-hmm.

Ross (24:06) So you’re just charging more for that? You could do that. At a certain point in time, that’s nice to have. At a certain point in time though, you’re gonna start to realize where that person’s like, that ERO is not even worth it for your business honestly. Unless you’re charging a lot for the license, realistically at the end of the day. And this is gonna happen in a year or two from now when your numbers really start to grow over the next couple of years. The people that you talk to, I don’t know if you remember that on the stage, but we’re talking about that, oh how many bank products do you, I don’t do any bank products. Click, like cool. So right now I get it if you’re like, hey, I can make a sale, I can get some money in the bank. It helps, right? It helps you reinvest in your business, marketing, running ads, hiring team members. But at certain point in time, it’s like you’re gonna start to kind of filter those people out because at the end of the day, it’s just not gonna be worth the time.

Baldeep (24:47) Run ads, yeah, all that stuff.

Baldeep (24:57) Your lifetime value when we get to that stuff in the elite, like your actual lifetime value on that client versus somebody else and time spent with that client versus what you could spend on other things, it’ll start to not make sense. But that’s a problem for another year.

Shaniqua (25:09) Right.

Ross (25:10) Yeah. Yeah.

Shaniqua (25:12) Mm-hmm. So I talked to my EROs. I was like Meg, this don’t got nothing to do with you. You don’t use bank products.

Ross (25:13) Exactly.

Ross (25:20) Or show them how to get them to use more bank products.

Baldeep (25:21) Yeah.

Shaniqua (25:24) Right, but a lot of her clients, you know, everybody has their clientele base and I know for a fact certain clients, I have one client. When I broke, he was like, so what’s the additional fees? And I broke it down. He said, oh, I can pay you right now. I said, oh, I can send an invoice. And every year he come in my office and he pays the invoice. But some people just like that.

Ross (25:29) Yeah. Yeah, exactly.

Ross (25:47) Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Shaniqua (25:51) They rather they don’t want to have them additional fees. But my personal office, I make my back end low because I don’t want my clients to be paying all that. So. But my goal is to go full blown selling the software, I only want to do taxes no more. And if I do, I kind of stepped into I don’t know if I signed up to do government contracting, so. I don’t I don’t deal with the people more, I just rather help people figure out their business and get it started up.

Ross (25:59) Yeah. Yeah.

Baldeep (26:11) Right.

Ross (26:12) Yeah, that’s good.

Ross (26:20) Yep, that’s the game plan. That’s the game plan. Shift away from that, right? Then you can kind of like relax a little bit in the tax season. I mean, I say that, but then the bigger your Service Bureau is, the more support you have right at the beginning of the tax season. So you still have to support them.

Shaniqua (26:26) Because what I did to know this.

Shaniqua (26:32) So when I did the numbers and I just did it on a low scale, I’m like, I could be a millionaire in four months every tax season or so just selling the software. Just selling the software and making sure that they’re using the bank products and not have to deal with a tax client.

Ross (26:53) Sign me up and you’re like, wait a minute, I’m already here.

Shaniqua (26:55) I’ve been doing this all wrong.

Ross (26:59) Yeah, well, I’m glad it gave you the clarity, right? Where you’re just like, okay, this makes sense.

Baldeep (27:03) Is this your first convention, Shaniqua? It’s the second, right? Okay. You see…

Shaniqua (27:04) Now it’s my second. So when I joined SBA, y’all just had the first convention. I had just missed out. I think I joined in like June of 2023. Yep. And then when you guys did the, yes, last year’s, I came and you know, we had a figure that out. But I can’t.

Ross (27:15) Yeah. Yeah.

Baldeep (27:15) You mean Michelle missed it?

Ross (27:19) Yeah.

Baldeep (27:23) Yeah.

Baldeep (27:27) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Shaniqua (27:27) To that and I loved it and I was just like I have grown my boy I was like yes you can come see me get my award and then I went back and read that we couldn’t bring no family or friends or significant others or spouses I said dang.

Baldeep (27:42) Yeah, that’s something we’re looking at for next year because we’ll have a bigger venue.

Shaniqua (27:46) Mm-hmm. Oh, and the food was good too. That macaroni and cheese was real good. Y’all think I’m kidding you?

Ross (27:46) Yeah.

Ross (27:50) At this last one last week? Really? I thought it was okay, but I compared it to the macaroni and cheese last year’s convention. I remember like the awards, the cheese pull on that thing was insane. I don’t thought we had the best food. Bread pudding was good, yeah.

Shaniqua (28:01) Mm.

Baldeep (28:05) I don’t know, that bread pudding though? No, the bread pudding though?

Shaniqua (28:08) Y’all didn’t even get the bread pudding because we came down so late we were sitting in the back with the staff.

Ross (28:14) We I had I had a my dessert plate I had the bread pudding they had the red velvet I was just going like bite for bite back and forth it was too good.

Shaniqua (28:21) So do y’all get catered from the hotel?

Ross (28:26) Yeah. Yeah.

Baldeep (28:26) Yeah, we have to. When you rent spaces like that, have to use the hotels.

Shaniqua (28:28) Oh hold that.

Ross (28:30) Yeah, that’s where they make the money, like on the food and beverages. That’s where they generate revenue. The room booking is not even that much. It’s the food and beverage. That’s where they, yeah.

Shaniqua (28:31) And it was pretty good.

Shaniqua (28:40) Got you. Well, if I choose hotels, Marriott’s food is always good, especially their breakfast.

Ross (28:46) Yeah, it was good. Like I honestly thought it was like it was was solid for like for all the extra stuff and like the happy hour.

Baldeep (28:46) Yeah.

Shaniqua (28:49) The finger foods at the last convention was better. We had like the little barbecue sliders, little burgers. So one thing I changed it up and have only funded after party. Last year I had like a mix and mingle and we didn’t get rowdy like we did this year.

Baldeep (28:56) Yeah, they have the stations. Yeah, they have the stations.

Ross (28:57) Yeah, we had the full stations.

Ross (29:09) I think it was the order of it, right? The first night is when we did like the… It wasn’t only funded after party, but it was kind of like more of like a mix and mingle. It wasn’t like a party, like a rowdy party. I think also the venue spacing was a little different, right?

Shaniqua (29:21) Mm-hmm.

Shaniqua (29:25) Amen.

Baldeep (29:25) Well, also keep in mind that last year we had a three day, the third day was a workshop for everybody. So we knew that there was, that’s why we did the awards the second night because we knew everyone was still gonna be there for the award, for the next day. Because we had the third day being elite only day, we were like, all right, well, let’s move the awards to the first day in case people wanna end up leave the second night. We’ll still do the party for people who are still here, but not everyone will stay here, right? They may leave Wednesday night instead of Thursday morning, right?

Ross (29:31) Yeah.

Ross (29:34) Yeah.

Shaniqua (29:38) Right.

Ross (29:49) Yeah.

Baldeep (29:53) But it turns out a lot of people did stay anyway. Yeah, no, a lot of people did.

Ross (29:53) Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Shaniqua (29:55) I stayed til Friday.

Ross (29:59) Yeah, a lot of people did. Yeah, we’re even thinking, yeah, third day. Yeah, well, anyways, well, we just had our convention wrap up earlier today. So there’s a lot of ideas for next year. But yeah, no, it was good. Yeah, yeah. Was that your idea, Shaniqua? Yeah, it was, yeah, there’s gonna be lots of, yeah, I don’t know, the only funny part, like that just like…

Baldeep (30:10) Yeah, like a Letterman jacket. A Letterman jacket was an idea that came up. That was her idea.

Shaniqua (30:14) Yes! For the elite! For the elite!

Baldeep (30:26) We just made it up and put it together, yeah.

Ross (30:27) That was huge. I don’t know why it hit different last year. Maybe it was just the order, right? It’s like the award ceremony first. Everyone does that. And then it’s like, all right, we wrapped the main thing. Now we can kind of let loose and everyone just had a lot of fun.

Shaniqua (30:32) So bad!

Shaniqua (30:39) I think everybody was getting a feel for each other last year. Because we went out to the club, but it was like eight of us that went out last year. This year, we had like five of us that rolled up. Like we was deep in the club, and we went to the same club.

Ross (30:43) Right.

Ross (30:49) Right. Yeah, you guys had like 30. The SBA forever. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, it looked like a good party.

Shaniqua (31:03) And then remember last year, a lot of people who were there, the original dates, remember the hurricane. So the New York guy, Greg, I don’t know, I keep calling them the New York guys because they’re from New York. I said, you wasn’t here last year. He said, man, I came the first time. But when they changed the dates, I didn’t come back. So I’m like, wow, I probably would have met those individuals last year, but they didn’t come back.

Ross (31:11) Yep. Yeah.

Baldeep (31:11) Yeah.

Ross (31:24) Yeah.

Baldeep (31:28) Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, there’s a lot of people. There was a lot of people that didn’t come for the second dates.

Ross (31:29) Because of the hurricane, yeah. It put a, put a, yeah, sorry, go ahead, Baldeep.

Shaniqua (31:37) Right.

Ross (31:37) Yeah, yeah, we had like, we had like, like 60 65 % of people actually show up the second date. So it was yeah, it was it was, yeah, it was unfortunate. But I mean, I’m glad we didn’t have a hurricane this year. And hopefully knock on wood, no more. No more hurricanes in the future. So so so wrap it up. Shaniqua I got a couple more questions on like on the program and everything. And then we can Baldeep will have a question for you at the very end. But one thing we always like to ask everyone too is like support with SBA. Like if you want to talk about like what’s been your experience with support when maybe you need an EFIN unlocked or there’s somebody with banking that you need to kind of reach out to us like our support ticketing platform that we have right. What’s been your experience with that using the support platform?

Shaniqua (32:21) Oh I love it. I’m talking about pronto. I put a ticket in. The only thing I don’t like is if I don’t respond back to this, let’s just say, y’all answer my question. And Rick will respond back and say, all right, we fixed X, Y, and Z. And if I don’t say, OK, thank you, or just respond, it’s hey, you have to respond to this.

Ross (32:44) Hey, did you get this message? Did you, did you receive? Yeah.

Shaniqua (32:49) Apparently y’all play no games. I love like I know I put a ticket in over the weekend so I didn’t expect to hear back but top of the morning Monday morning. Hey, we got your ticket. We’re in the process of upgrading your Nitro. Here’s the link. Please fill this link out. So that was like I already filled the link out over the weekend. It was like, okay we received it. Be on a lookout for an email saying that we have upgraded your Nitro. You guys y’all have that down to a T. That’s why I keep asking y’all for your ticket system or or can y’all offer a build out for a fee like whoever built you guys is out.

Ross (33:19) Ha.

Ross (33:27) Mm-hmm.

Shaniqua (33:30) And I’m not trying to be an SBA. Like, I’m just trying to get my little coins. And I know y’all have to think like, they could potentially be bigger than me and they’re going to be my competition. But in all actuality, we’re all each other’s competition, to be honest. But I’m not trying to be an SBA. I’m just trying to be GFS Tax Pro for my little bit of EROs. And, I just know that a ticket system works. You need that, especially when you’re grown because I do everything myself. So imagine if I have a hundred EROs, that means a hundred people asking me a question or asking me all of having all these issues and I have to fix them. No, I can’t do it. So I’m like, a ticket system is a one, like they have certain individuals assigned different tickets so therefore if the ball is dropped they know who to blame it’s not well why didn’t this get answered no that was your job you were supposed to be on top of it so I just love the ticket system and i really want it.

Ross (33:57) Yeah.

Ross (34:16) Yeah.

Ross (34:29) Yeah. it’s, sorry, go ahead, Baldeep, you can answer.

Baldeep (34:29) Yeah, that will, there is something coming down from OLT to announce that they’re finally, that we’ve been asking for them to develop a bare minimum one for us, based on like the one that they have in OLT, I’m like, hey, can you pull all this other shit out? We don’t need it. This is what our Service Bureaus need. And it will be open. I don’t know the pricing yet, but it is something that will launch hopefully this year to everybody in SBA, not just people with OLT.

Shaniqua (34:41) Mm-hmm.

Ross (34:54) Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Shaniqua (34:56) You’re welcome.

Baldeep (34:56) Yeah, and the version two of that would be, hey, this ticket came in from my ERO and you need to escalate it to us, push a button to escalate it to us, right? That’d be version two of it. So that way it’s integrated with ours. The reason why we can’t build you ours is it’s an enterprise solution, right? Most people aren’t gonna spend a couple of thousand bucks a year on it. You know what I mean? Yeah, a lot of development.

Shaniqua (35:18) Gotcha.

Ross (35:19) And it’s a lot of development work. Like it’s not like it’s always there were always like tweaking like Ryan and Sebastian are always always working on it. So like it’s a it’s a yes, it’s amazing. It’s amazing platform. But it’s like there’s a there’s a cost to it. Like it’s it’s a lot. It’s a lot of work. So

Shaniqua (35:28) Mmmm.

Baldeep (35:30) It’s a lot of work.

Shaniqua (35:35) Another thing I want to add is what I love that you guys do as well is you put the ball back in our court. So if we’re in the group, I don’t know who’s in charge of the Facebook group, but they always approve a message and I’m asking a question. You get on that post and say, well, Shaniqua, well, it looks like you didn’t watch the video. Go back and watch the video. And it’s not like you’re saying it in a nasty way, but that put the ball back in my court because if I watched the video, guess what? I would not be asking a question because if I watched the video, my question would be answered. So I love that you guys stand on business with that and y’all are stern. Like, just go watch the video.

Baldeep (36:16) Yeah.

Ross (36:16) Well, it’s it’s it’s the reason. Well, just like you said, like when you have 100 EROs, there’s only so much you can do. Well, when we have a thousand SBA members, it’s like I can’t like as much as I want to. Right. That’s the thing. Like as much as we want to. And you know how much we pour into everyone. We’re willing to give our time to anyone who’s doing the work. But when there’s a certain question that comes up, it’s like, we got this video like we the reason why we recorded this video is that I don’t have to tell you a thousand times. I can just like just go watch this. It’s right there. Right. So that’s why. And obviously, as with as our training keeps growing and growing, there’s like more and more shit in there. You know, it’s for sure there’s going to be stuff that you miss every now and then. But that’s why we’ve got it was like, yeah, it’s right here. Boom. Go watch it. Open it. If you got any questions on it, open a ticket, reach out, right? We’ll clear it up. So yeah, it’s great. It’s great to have that and just having that library of information that just kind of like keeps growing over the years where whatever you need, it’s like, we got a video for that. Here’s the link. Go check out the video.

Shaniqua (36:33) I hope you.

Shaniqua (36:58) Right.

Shaniqua (37:11) And I’m really big on that too, because it’s like the videos, you know how many times I have OLT tab video open, then I mean OLT. I know Slayer like the back of my hand. OLT is a struggle. Like I asked the question the other day about, because somebody, I did what you guys said. So somebody was in one of the groups asking a question about software.

Ross (37:20) And then training. Yeah.

Shaniqua (37:38) All them people asking her questions, I hit the friend request button. That lady was in my inbox saying, hey, what’s your software? So I just started asking questions like, hey, what are you used to? What software do you currently use? She couldn’t tell me that. So I said, look, I offer OLT. I offer Slayer for this price. Would you like a demo? Now the only thing that confuses, I thought we had to literally set them up in OLT before we give the demo. So I asked that question and Jasmine was like, girl, just send them the link. They set up their own stuff. And then somebody else followed up and said, and if they decide to move forward, you take that same information and turn them into an active office. And I said, okay, OLT, okay.

Baldeep (38:25) Yeah, you don’t have to go make another one.

Ross (38:27) That process is like, yeah, it’s good how they do that. One thing, I’m just throw it out there though, it’s a little strategy though. Instead of, this is what I highly recommend, right? Instead of sending someone the link, you can always do that, right? You can send them the link, but get on a call with them and demo it with them. Walk them through the software. Think of it like this, right? Think of the first time you logged in to Tax Nitro.

Shaniqua (38:40) Mm-hmm.

Shaniqua (38:46) All right.

Ross (38:50) You’re like, what the shit am I looking at? You know, like, what are all these things? You just you don’t know what what you’re looking at. So you’re clicking through and like you don’t know where to start. You don’t you know, it’s the user experience is not great. But if you get on the phone with them and you do a demo or even better, you can even like record a video of you doing a like first time log in. How do you navigate the software demo? Right. You could send them that like, hey, here’s a log in. Watch this video. It’s going to walk you through the software or do it on the phone with them to begin with.

Shaniqua (39:11) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Ross (39:20) And then you can learn more about like how are they like what software they used to what how are they used to using the software and then you can showcase it so that they see how to use the software as they would typically use it and it’s just a better experience. There’s something like it gives them more ownership of the software immediately when you’re kind of walking them through it. I learned that in like in the gym. Yeah when I when I was working I worked at a gym like years ago and this one the new a new owner came in they bought he bought out the gym.

Shaniqua (39:36) Mm-hmm. I like that.

Ross (39:46) And he was like just drilling us on sales stuff. He’s like, get them on a piece of equipment. It gives them ownership of it. It’s like they’re in there using it. If you send it to them and just like good luck on your own, and they don’t know how to use it, they’re not gonna play around with it, right?

Shaniqua (39:56) So I need to follow up with her and say, hey, did you demo the software? Or do you need it? OK. So when you say demo with them, am I going to send her a Zoom link or is?

Ross (39:59) Did you do it? Did you demo it? Let’s jump on a call. Let me walk you through it.

Ross (40:08) Yeah, just do a Zoom, just do a Zoom, just do a screen. So, hey, let’s jump on Zoom. Let me demo the software for you. You share your screen and you walk them through it. How would you do this? And this is how you go through there. And just do a little five, 10 minutes, just kind of show them the software. Because then that gives you the opportunity to not only get them exactly, you can do a discovery. You can offer so much more value on that conversation where now it’s like, instead of just like, hey, do you want to buy my stuff? It’s like, hey, let me provide you value. Let me actually show you.

Baldeep (40:10) Do a Zoom.

Shaniqua (40:16) Okay.

Baldeep (40:23) Ask the other discovery questions too.

Ross (40:37) That the water over here is warm, you know, like, this is where you want to be, this can help you out. And then now it’s no longer really like a purchase thing. It’s just like, hey, how do I get it? They’re going to be asking you like, hey, how do I get this from you? Like, that was great. Like, I learned so much. You’re demonstrating value, right? So it’s a totally different conversation versus like DMs and like, here, go get a link. And then, hey, do you want to buy? Right.

Shaniqua (40:41) Right.

Shaniqua (40:51) Okay.

Shaniqua (41:00) Well, that was like the first time that had happened to me. And I was like, oh, this is how it works. But so many people ask anonymously, and that blows me in those groups. So I try to stay out of them, because it’s just so messy.

Ross (41:11) They are, those are arenas.

Baldeep (41:12) Ugh.

Shaniqua (41:14) What question? Or maybe I can ask this after. Ever since I left the convention, all I see is SBA ads. And the way y’all act, I see them every day now.

Ross (41:22) You’ve seen our ads?

Ross (41:26) Well, don’t click them. That costs us money. No, you can click them. It doesn’t matter. Yeah, what’s this? What’s this? I don’t know.

Shaniqua (41:29) Really? OK. So no, I did click on one because the way your ad pops up and then it asks the person questions and then it leads them. We have that too?

Baldeep (41:31) She clicks up, she clicks up.

Ross (41:43) Yep, yeah, so that’s where we’re running lead ads. Yeah, depending what you’re looking at, but if it’s a lead ad, yeah.

Baldeep (41:45) Well, which ad are you talking about? Oh yeah, the leaders. What do you look, yeah.

Shaniqua (41:49) So it’s a lead ad and then it says, are you an ERO or you a tax professional? Like it’s asking the questions and then it leads them to another set of questions and then it says, well hop on a webinar and it has them put their information in. That is dope.

Baldeep (42:01) Yeah, you can do all that.

Ross (42:02) Yeah, the qualifying, I think Jamie added those in on like the lead ad, right? I think you can add questions on it and stuff, but yeah. Yeah.

Baldeep (42:07) Yeah, you can do whatever you want, yeah. But that’s literally the same setup we show you guys how to do. The only difference in ours is a bit more advanced is the webinar stuff and a lot more integration, but you don’t need to do that right now.

Shaniqua (42:10) I’m excited!

Shaniqua (42:19) Yeah, I was doing webinars and I was, I just felt like.

Ross (42:25) Do the two call like we talked about at the convention, right? Just get on the phone call first and just have a normal conversation. It just completely removes that sales anticipation or nervousness. Just get on a call with them and just have a conversation and see if there’s something there. From there, it’s like, okay, cool. Now I see there’s something there. There’s all these problems. This is what they’re struggling with. Here’s all my solutions that I can show you. Yeah, exactly, exactly. And that’s what sales is. It’s like just helping someone like make the right decision, whether it’s your product or something else. If it’s your product, cool. Now you just gotta help them overcome any objections that they might have. That’s it. Yeah, straightforward. So last question for you, Shaniqua. If someone is looking at joining Service Bureau Accelerator, right, they’re seeing all of our, all the posts in the groups, they’re seeing all the awards ceremonies and everything, they’re seeing our ads like you are, what would you say to someone who’s looking at joining the SBA program?

Baldeep (42:27) Just do the two call it like a.

Shaniqua (42:30) Mm.

Shaniqua (42:47) It makes it a lot more personable.

Baldeep (43:09) We’ve seen all our ads.

Shaniqua (43:19) Mmm.

Shaniqua (43:23) I guess depending on the situation, but I would be like girl come on over here. It’s fun over here girl. You gonna have a time. And I’m just going to probably put emphasis on the support because a lot of people don’t get that. They don’t get that support. And the fact that you guys really pour into us every day, well every week with trainings. Nobody else is really doing that.

Baldeep (43:29) Yeah.

Shaniqua (43:49) The only thing I don’t like is the call is in the middle of the day at 4 o’clock.

Ross (43:56) Yeah, well, that’s what I’m working so.

Baldeep (43:58) Yeah.

Shaniqua (44:01) I love SBA. Like I keep saying can’t nobody ever make me hate y’all or leave y’all so I love what I really love about you guys is the support. Y’all are down to earth. It’s you two and y’all have a team and it’s like you guys I really relate before I really started talking to you Ross I relate to Baldeep cuz I talk like Baldeep because this is just what you gonna get so I feel like.

Ross (44:08) Awesome. Appreciate it. Love it.

Baldeep (44:08) Yeah.

Ross (44:25) I swear, I swear more you saw me on the elite day. I swear a lot more.

Shaniqua (44:30) Barely, but no, I’m not. I’m just saying some people who can’t switch characters and this is just who they are I relate to Baldeep like I’m the type of person to don’t sugarcoat nothing for me. Like tell me that I’m fucking up tell me what it is like when the whole situation when they were y’all was trying to figure out Baldeep in my inbox like what is your number as soon as he got on the phone he’s like what the hell is going on, and I was like well just get straight to the point. But I could just relate to him because he cusses and he’s just straightforward. And it’s just like, sell the fucking software. I think that’s what he really wants to say, but he can’t say it. But other than that, I just, it’s a family over here. Like you’re going to meet your cousin and we’re going to have a time and we’re going to network and we’re not going to gatekeep.

Baldeep (45:00) Yeah.

Ross (45:22) Yeah, and we’re gonna party.

Shaniqua (45:25) Well, y’all don’t party with us. Y’all need to party with us.

Baldeep (45:25) Huh.

Ross (45:28) We have plans. We have plans for that, too. There’s a lot of good feedback at the convention. There’s a lot of good ideas. We’re like, yeah, we should do that. We should do more of that stuff. So that’s the other thing, too, right? Like as much time and energy it takes for us to put on these conventions, right? Like, it’s a lot. It’s a lot of work. But the benefit that it gives you guys is like why we do it. It’s like we don’t do it for ourselves. Like, we do it for you guys. Yeah, we’re not making money on it.

Shaniqua (45:36) Yeah, okay.

Shaniqua (45:44) Y’all need to enjoy it too!

Baldeep (45:54) We don’t make money on, I’ll tell you that.

Ross (45:57) We’re doing it for you guys. And it’s like, that’s that’s the reason why, like, honestly, coming into the convention this year, like I was honestly I was like, fuck, I really don’t want to do another one next. Like I was like not wanting to do one. And then afterwards being there, I’m like, OK, yeah, we got to. Like, it’s not a question anymore. You know, it’s like it’s like 100 percent we’re doing another one. So yeah. Yeah. So so again, we’ve got we’ve got plans to mitigate that. But and we’ve got plans. Yeah. Yeah.

Shaniqua (46:03) Mm.

Shaniqua (46:13) So y’all be stretched out behind the scenes.

Baldeep (46:17) Yeah.

Shaniqua (46:21) Good.

Shaniqua (46:28) And y’all do everything yourselves. So y’all don’t have like an event planner. That’s what y’all should’ve.

Ross (46:28) Yeah, we put it on.

Ross (46:33) No, then we’d really fucking lose money out of it. We would lose a lot more money if we had an event planner. We do it all ourselves.

Shaniqua (46:39) Well that’s dope. Y’all do an awesome job. Because who does the balloons? Because that is top tier. Oh that’s what Nancy does. Shout out to Nancy. I love Nancy.

Ross (46:44) That’s Nancy. Nancy does all that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. She kills it. She kills it. Cool. So that’s all the questions that I have for you. I think, Baldeep, you got one last question. Then we’ll wrap up this call.

Baldeep (46:45) My wife.

Baldeep (46:57) Got one more. Got one, one more. So, Shaniqua, for the millions watching at home, somebody’s watching this and they’re like, you know what? I like Shaniqua. I want to work with her. How do they get in touch with you?

Shaniqua (47:12) On Facebook, GFS Tax Pro or Instagram at GFS underscore Tax Pro dot com. Well, no GFS underscore Tax Pro.

Baldeep (47:22) Awesome. Cool. All right. Well, thanks for being here. We’ll go ahead and wrap it up. Have a great rest of your day.

Ross (47:22) GFS underscore tax pro. Perfect. Thank you.

Shaniqua (47:27) You too.