Baldeep (00:00) All right, welcome to another episode of the Service Bureau Accelerator interview series. I’m here with Shanta and Ross. Ross, if you want to go ahead and kick it off.
Ross (00:10) For sure. All right, well Shanta, welcome. How are you doing? Thanks for joining us. Awesome, awesome. So Shanta, to kick things off, maybe if you want to start just, start with just kind of introducing yourself, maybe share your experience in the tax industry and how you ended up finding Service Bureau Accelerator and why you decided to join.
Shanta (00:11) Thank you. I’m doing well. Thank you.
Shanta (00:25) Okay.
Shanta (00:30) Okay, well, I’ve been in the tax industry now for 16 years. And you said, why did I join or my experience? Okay. Okay.
Ross (00:40) Yeah, so yeah, what’s kind of your experience in the industry and how’d you end up kind of finding out about a service bureau and what made you want to join?
Shanta (00:47) OK, well my experience in industry has been doing well. We’ve grown every year from time up, you know, year after year. What I found SBA because you guys popped up on my Facebook feed. Yes, and I was intrigued with the opportunity to be able to save on my back end and have more control of my office.
Ross (01:00) As we do.
Ross (01:10) Got it. Got it. So that was that was kind of like the big thing for you was like getting getting the fees in line with your with your current office. Got it. Got it. Yeah.
Shanta (01:18) Yes, currently at first, yes.
Baldeep (01:21) That’s one of the main reasons people are like, okay, cool, I don’t have to do anything extra and make more money on my own stuff, but you kind of took it to different level, but we’ll talk about that later.
Shanta (01:29) Exactly.
Shanta (01:31) Yes, that was the initial effort.
Baldeep (01:37) Yeah.
Ross (01:38) Yeah. Was there, was there interest there as well? Like, did you, did you kind of start to see as well the, the picture of like being a service bureau as well where it’s like, okay, not only can I kind of eliminate these fees on my office, but maybe I can also then do the same for other people and help them kind of put more money in their pocket or help them with software as well.
Shanta (01:51) Yeah.
Shanta (01:57) Yes, as you guys started training me and we got more and more into the training platform and all the different meetings we were having, then we started realizing, wow, there’s more to this, more than just saving fees for my office. But also, I learned how to host a tax academy where I was able to teach other EROs, tax preparers, and also help them save money as well. We were able to provide to them more than just software. We were able to provide training and support. Things that I wasn’t getting on when I was with another service bureau myself.
Baldeep (02:34) Yeah. And I think actually one thing a little bit out of the ordinary for, for most people is Shanta and her husband, they joined and I think like a week or two later there was the convention and they just like, I want to go. So they ended up like fresh, like not even probably halfway, not even anywhere near done with the training. Like they’re just kind of done finished onboarding. So they were immediately thrown into the convention and just surrounded by all the other service bureaus that were there. Right. So I think that was a bit of.
Shanta (02:46) Yes.
Shanta (02:54) Go. Yes.
Shanta (03:02) that fire.
Baldeep (03:03) It was a little bit unique for sure. Most people that join, they don’t attend the convention right away. It’s usually sold out by the time they join. And then I think we had the delay with the hurricane by the time you joined, it just worked out.
Ross (03:04) You
Shanta (03:07) Yes.
Shanta (03:14) Yes, yes, yep, that’s how we got in because you guys were sold out. We actually joined after that convention and then you guys had another opening then I guess someone decided they couldn’t come but you know we got in.
Baldeep (03:28) Yeah, yeah, no, the hurricane delayed everything so then more openings happened for sure. Yeah.
Shanta (03:35) Awesome.
Ross (03:36) Yeah. So, so you mentioned you’re doing kind of like a like Academy model, right? Like is that it was that kind of like your primary focus last year as like when you’re like, okay, let’s kind of let’s roll this game plan. Let’s do an Academy. How did that kind of end up? Like how did it turn out? Were you able to kind of follow our program, create your offer, do some marketing and what were the kind of results from that? If you want to share a little bit on that.
Shanta (03:41) Mm-hmm.
Shanta (03:59) Absolutely. Yeah, we did the Academy that you guys had just follow along and created, you know our own based off the step-by-step videos that was provided and it did start off that way we got like three I to say three or four people that did join that way but after that we just kept training looking at the videos and learned different marketing strategies and we were able to scale and hire EROs that did not need training. They just not hire, but sell our software. EROs that was pretty good and experienced themselves. They just wanted some affordable software and these. And then we also brought on something I didn’t know I can do until I joined you guys, which PTIN holders that began to work under us and help us scale our personal tax brand as well.
Ross (04:53) Yeah, awesome. you kind of went you did multiple angles going between doing that. Awesome. Awesome. So what’s your like, like moving into into this year? I’m curious just on this topic. Usually I ask this question a little bit later, but what’s your what’s your focus this year? Have you kind of because you’re in a unique scenario where you kind of saw. Which are which is mostly like the three main models, right? It’s like, OK, Academy, like show people how to become prepared, how to get an ERO, how to start the business, kind of like business opportunity.
Baldeep (04:57) Hahaha
Shanta (04:57) Yes.
Shanta (05:05) Mm-hmm.
Shanta (05:16) Okay.
Ross (05:21) You then had EROs where it’s like just as we say, sell the damn software, like, all right, let’s hook them up with software. They’re on they’re on their way. Don’t have to train them up. And then you also worked with preparers where it’s like, OK, let’s show you how to do taxes, be a preparer and then maybe down the road show them how to get an ERO. What’s the what are you kind of looking at this year? Seeing those three different paths. Have you guys decided like, hey, let’s hone in on one thing and just double down on that?
Shanta (05:21) Mm-hmm.
Shanta (05:25) Yes.
Shanta (05:34) Yes.
Shanta (05:43) Yes, absolutely. EROs. I found that they’re the easiest to work with. They don’t need much hand holding. And I have a couple of PTIN holders that were phenomenal that I’m going to help get their EFIN and push them off to be EROs. But yeah, that’s going to be my goal. Software and working with EROs. It was the best.
Ross (06:05) Yeah. Yeah, perfect. That’s where that’s where we would start out if we had to start all over again for sure. You already know how to do taxes. Here’s the software. Good luck. Yeah, awesome. Curious on that too. So like working with EROs what what did you guys because you mentioned like
Baldeep (06:11) haha
Shanta (06:11) Yes. Yes.
Ross (06:23) able to offer more than just software, right? And that’s like, that’s literally that that sentence offer more than just software. I don’t know how many times we we say that in our training, we say that in the coaching calls in our webinar, we talk about that. What what did you guys end up putting it? You don’t have to spill. You don’t have to give the all the tea. But like what was what do you guys end up kind of putting together just on like, you know, top line, like the package as far as for like a software package for EROs? What did that look like?
Shanta (06:25) Yes.
Shanta (06:30) Mm-hmm.
Shanta (06:39) Mm-hmm.
Shanta (06:51) Well, we just followed what you guys had outlined in the training. So we basically taught them how to market because what I learned when I first got into this industry, tax industry with no clients at all, you have to first know how to market yourself. definitely start, I started, start off with teaching marketing, like right now we’re marketing all summer long, preparing for the upcoming tax season. Then we dive deeper into like how to file Schedule C’s properly. Cause a lot of people don’t know that. How to file Schedule E and I take them deeper into how to actually get their clients more money, which make them more, clients more happier and then refer more clients to them. And they all like that. So, cause a lot of them believe it or not, don’t really know how to prepare taxes.
Ross (07:36) I believe it. Yeah.
Baldeep (07:37) we believe it, yeah.
Shanta (07:38) Yeah.
Ross (07:40) Cool, so you’ve got like, so you kind of have like an ERO, for lack of a better word, I’m just gonna use that, an ERO like accelerator program, right? Where it’s like, cool, here you are, you’re like, you’re an ERO already. Let me get you software with a better deal. And let me also show you how to grow the business too, right? Love it.
Shanta (07:48) Yes.
Shanta (07:55) Yes, I can’t count how many times I was on the phone helping someone from ads do a tax return.
Ross (08:02) Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, that’s, that’s awesome. And that, like, that’s a huge thing. Um, we obviously you’ve seen from a lot of our training, right? Where we’re talking about like, what are, what are the struggles of your average ERO, right? Like what are the problems that an every ERO has that they’re looking to solve? And if you can package that with your software, the solution to their problems, and also a better software deal where you’re putting more money in their pocket. It’s like, it’s just a win-win.
Baldeep (08:02) Huh.
Shanta (08:17) huh.
Shanta (08:22) Yes.
Shanta (08:29) Yes.
Ross (08:32) Right. like it makes it makes your life so much easier as a service bureau to get that sale when you’re checking all the boxes. Awesome. So so what’s the what’s the game plan then for this year going after EROs? What are you guys looking at doing for like for marketing? Did you guys play around? Did you launch any ads last year? Was it mostly like organic?
Shanta (08:32) Absolutely.
Shanta (08:37) Yes, yes, yes, absolutely.
Shanta (08:50) Yes. No, no, we ran ads. So I’m going to do that again. It worked very well. I’m just going to increase my daily budget. But yeah, we got a ton. I got over like almost 2,000 leads. And I didn’t start the ad until October. Yeah. So between, I think I was only spending like 15, 20 bucks a day. Not even a lot. Yes.
Baldeep (09:05) Jesus.
Ross (09:06) Nice.
Ross (09:11) damn, how much was your what was your budget? What were you guys spending?
Baldeep (09:17) Jesus.
Ross (09:18) Holy damn. Turn those ads back on right now. Just click go.
Shanta (09:20) Okay, yes, yes. And we’re going to retarget the ones that did not join the last meeting you guys held was saying to go back to the people that we did have meetings with and didn’t join or people, you know, so because a lot of people did. I had a couple of people purchase software and didn’t even process anything. So I’m going to reach back out to them. Yes.
Ross (09:30) Yeah, yep.
Ross (09:39) Yep, that’ll happen. Yep. Awesome. That’s a lot. That’s some of other things we’re going to talk about too, like in elite is a lot of those other systems. We usually talk about it last year. I think, you know, as we get towards the fall, as we get into like October, November, we’ll always kind of shift our coaching calls around that because it’s like, Hey, here’s, here’s where you need to maximize your revenue as a service bureau is make sure the bank enrollments are done. Your EROs have done some practice returns. They’re in the software. They’re attending those live.
Baldeep (09:39) Yep, that happens.
Shanta (10:00) no.
Ross (10:08) training calls right there. They’re ready to transmit come January because too many people leave at last minute and they’re like, shit, I didn’t learn this new software. I’m just going to go over and renew my license with so and so and keep paying those ridiculous fees. Right. So those are huge things that as you guys are growing and scaling, you’re going to start to like really want to dial into that and look at those numbers and be like, who’s not using the software? Let’s reengage them. Let’s reactivate them and make sure we have a system so that everyone when they sign up, we move them through. And especially in the fall, we get them ready to rock and roll for the season. So
Shanta (10:18) Okay, and that.
Shanta (10:30) Okay.
Shanta (10:38) Yeah, I could have done a lot better if I would have done that. We just got unexpectedly busy. I didn’t expect it. I didn’t expect that. So like when we got into the heart of tax season, I didn’t realize these people were not preparing tax. I could have, you know, reached out to them. could have gotten, I know I could have gotten them. It’s just, we got, so we had one assistant and my husband and myself and we just got bombarded.
Ross (10:44) Yeah, 2000 leads is good.
Baldeep (10:45) you
Ross (11:03) Yeah. Yeah, that’s a, that’s a great problem. That’s a great challenge, right? Awesome. So, so question for you, I’d love to hear, like, if you’re open to it, I’d love to hear kind of like some, some like, just kind of top line, like revenue numbers, if you’re open to sharing kind of like what, what you guys were doing last year in your, in your business, and then now joining the service bureau and starting and like selling some software, recruiting, preparers, what did that end up doing for your entire tax empire between office and service bureau?
Baldeep (11:04) Mm-hmm.
Shanta (11:07) Yes.
Shanta (11:19) Mm-hmm.
Shanta (11:31) I’m going to doubled. It doubled. I would say we just being the way we were doing it before, just my husband and I were just on taxes for like what 10 for 15 years. We only we were at six figures like 100 120,000 during the tax season. But yeah, I know we hit 300,000 this year.
Ross (11:36) doubled.
Ross (11:53) Yeah.
Ross (11:58) Nice. Nice.
Baldeep (11:58) Yeah, well, you got a nice little payout not too long ago.
Shanta (12:01) Yes, yes. And that’s the first I was like what my bonus has never been more than 12,000 in the past with our with the companies that we were under. So yeah, we saved on fees. We’ve got a bigger bonus. It just works. It’s a it’s a better way to go. If you’re to be in the tax industry being a service bureau and you know getting EROs and helping them scale and that just helps you scale. It’s just better way to go.
Baldeep (12:13) Yeah.
Ross (12:27) Yeah, yeah, for sure. And especially with you guys with your experience, right? And there’s so many EROs that are in that very similar position that you are in where it’s like you have the experience, you have the knowledge, you have the ability to provide like a tremendous amount of value to other EROs. Like you said, a lot of EROs don’t know how to do pretty standard tax returns. It’s like, yeah, we know, we know. But you have that, but that just presents like the opportunity that you have, right? And you can put together a program or a package and…
Shanta (12:35) Okay.
Shanta (12:46) Yes.
Shanta (12:50) Thank
Shanta (12:54) Love. Yeah.
Ross (12:57) with training and everything to really help people level up. It’s like, yeah, it’s a win-win. Yeah, awesome. Awesome. yeah, yeah, what actually, well, that’s one of our questions about being excited. What are you excited for for this year? Is it just kind of like doubling down and focusing on the ERO strategy?
Shanta (13:01) Yes. Yes. And we’re excited about next year.
Shanta (13:16) Yes, yes, I’m happy we did it the way we did it. That way we’re able to see what we like best and now we could just double down on that and that’s what we’re going to do.
Ross (13:25) Nice, awesome. When you guys planning to roll out to launch those ads or not launch, just turn the ads back on that are that we’re already killing it. There you go. Perfect. That’s the right answer.
Shanta (13:33) Tomorrow. Yes, I’ve already started in text micro emailing the people, the leads we had before. I just got a lot of appointments with them already booked for this week. So I’m going to turn that ad, turn the ads back on so they can come in thereafter.
Baldeep (13:35) Yeah
Baldeep (13:45) Yep.
Ross (13:45) Nice.
Baldeep (13:51) Yeah, that’s something we do. We don’t launch ads until we pretty much exhaust our waiting lists, then we have our emails and then phone calls. We do a lot prior application. There’s a lot of little things that you do before you turn the ad faucet back on. So you could do more of that, but I would still turn on ads, yeah, for sure.
Ross (14:00) prior your applications,
Shanta (14:02) Yes.
Shanta (14:06) Okay.
Shanta (14:08) make fit. That makes it awesome.
Ross (14:11) Yeah, yeah, awesome. So I’d love to hear a little bit, because it’s like, I can definitely hear that you guys have really gone through a lot of our training and implemented on a lot of the training, which is amazing, but
Shanta (14:16) Is it?
Shanta (14:20) Okay.
Shanta (14:24) yet.
Ross (14:24) Do you want to share a little bit of just like your, like some feedback or like your experience going through our training, like the seven day launch, getting through foundations, like, as you said, like you kind of, you first got on in as like, this is going to be a great deal for our office. We don’t have to, you know, we’re to make a lot more money on our business. And then your eyes just kind of like widen the wideness, like, shit, there’s like so much more here. Can you kind of share a little bit about, you know, maybe some of the biggest takeaways that you got out of the training or what you really enjoyed the most?
Shanta (14:37) Yes. Yes. Yes.
Shanta (14:51) The biggest takeaway I got is basically learning how to properly, I would say package our offer. Know what you’re offering to people, make sure it’s a benefit to others. That was the biggest thing. Because like you said something, like if somebody asks you what your offer is, you can’t just shoot it out, then you don’t have an offer. So we really paid attention to that and we really got into that. So yeah, that’s a big thing.
Ross (15:01) Yeah.
Ross (15:15) Yeah. Did I’m having a little flashback was where you on one like on a seven day launch call when we did that last year.
Shanta (15:24) I don’t think so. I know I did the seven day launch. I think I joined after you did the call.
Ross (15:31) Maybe. Because I know I know we always go through that. I’m like, I wonder if we had that conversation. But yeah, that is that is that is one of the biggest things for anyone listening right now. Figuring out your offer and like even even if our existing members are watching this video right now to hear about Shanta and everything, figuring out your offer is like it’s the foundation. It’s like the first thing that you have to do is like, what the hell am I selling? Because if you don’t know what the hell you’re selling, like you said, if someone’s asking you what they’re buying and you can’t articulate it,
Shanta (15:44) We’re good.
Shanta (15:54) Yes.
Ross (16:00) Why the hell would they give you money? Like that’s insane. But then also when it comes to marketing, right? And you’re trying to hit the pain points. If you don’t know what you’re actually selling, how can you actually intrigue people about what you have to offer them if you don’t have full clarity on that, right? So like literally everything just snowballs from dialing in your offer. So I’m so glad you hit on that.
Shanta (16:00) Yes, exactly.
Shanta (16:18) Yes. Yes, absolutely.
Ross (16:23) Awesome, awesome, cool. So one other one other category I always like to ask everyone is support, right? Actually, before we get into support, I have one other question that I want to get to kind of in tandem with your offer. The marketing strategies you mentioned, you kind of ran ads, you want to share a little bit like have you guys run ads in the past? Was this kind of a new thing or have you done it before? And like, how are you guys able to kind of launch your ads and see the results that you did see?
Shanta (16:39) Mm-hmm.
Shanta (16:43) Yes.
Shanta (16:52) I followed the training that you guys had with Tamar on the training portal. But yeah, I run ads all the time. I believe in Facebook ads a lot. And I also do a lot of organic marketing because I also get on there and I do lot of influencing videos, influencer videos as well. And I have a huge following, but a lot of my following wasn’t just for taxes. So I had to learn how to change that so that they can begin to watch me for that. But yeah, the ads was the biggest motivating factor for that. And then a lot of my people, a lot of people that do follow me on social media did join because of my organic post as well. But 90% of the people was from the ads.
Baldeep (17:35) well you know she’s familiar with ads because she used words like retargeting earlier we don’t really talk about retargeting too much
Ross (17:39) True, that’s true. Yes, yes, yes, Yeah, awesome, awesome. Cool, that’s great to hear. So now I’ll jump forward into support now, because another thing that always comes up, and I’m sure as you talk to more more EROs, you’re probably gonna hear this more too, right, about support. It’s always a big question that people have, and I’d love to hear your experience with our supports, more like specifically the ticketing platform that we have, right, where whenever you have a problem or you have a question, you just go open a ticket.
Shanta (17:54) Mm-hmm.
Shanta (18:03) All was awesome. Yes.
Ross (18:08) How did you like our support system? How do you like working with our team? Give us some feedback on that.
Shanta (18:12) I loved it. I loved it. was, was, my God, it was awesome. And then the thing is if I put a ticket in and then if I don’t respond fast enough, someone will call me. So I loved it. It was, it was great. Unlike before when, you know, like I never, I used to do my software under someone else, but I wasn’t never, never a service bureau, but they were a service bureau. And it would take me a couple of days to get ahold of my support person. It was horrible, but yeah, the support is great.
Ross (18:23) Hahaha
Ross (18:45) Awesome. Yeah, that’s a.
Baldeep (18:45) Yeah, I can.
Shanta (18:46) Even with the software, you guys are helping us. You’re like, okay, you try to help us the best you can and then you get a hold of the software company to get with us. And even with the bank products, we have issues with refund, had an issue with Refund Advantage, Baldeep got on that really quickly. It helped. And then, you know, when I was putting my presentation together, Ross, you looked at my video, you told me what to improve on and I did it. you know, it just, it just worked. The training, the support is great.
Ross (19:13) Yeah, it’s.
Baldeep (19:13) She just hit on like multiple different aspects of it like you so because people this is bring it up because people say like who do I call like there’s not one person well, maybe me but you’re not I’m not gonna fucking take it was cool there’s not one person that you can call to get all the things that you just asked like mentioned right in resolve right? So what she just said was to bring it down for the people watching
Ross (19:17) Yeah.
Shanta (19:25) Yeah.
Ross (19:28) Yeah.
Shanta (19:34) I think so.
Shanta (19:38) Yes.
Baldeep (19:40) was, okay, I had this issue with the bank and then, I got involved, right? I had this thing with my presentation and Ross responded, right? I had issue with the software and so and so got such and such involved, right? People ask me, so who do I, like, how come you guys don’t have like a phone number to people call? It’s for situations like that. You call somebody up and all they can say is, okay, cool, let me go find out somebody that can answer the question. It’s not efficient. That’s why we have the ticketing and the platform. So it’s like, hey, the person that can answer that question is gonna get it, right?
Shanta (19:49) Yes.
Shanta (20:03) Mm-mm.
Shanta (20:06) Yes.
Shanta (20:09) Right.
Baldeep (20:09) So it’s interesting because I can attest to you putting in a lot of tickets because I see them come through. I think I’ve multiple times I’ve picked up the phone and just called you on like, all right, cool. This is the situation. This is what’s going to happen. This is what we’re going to do. We’re awesome. Yeah.
Shanta (20:22) Yeah. Yes, yes, and I love that.
Ross (20:28) Yeah, well, then and then it’s all it’s also like the other the other thing too that I think is is a huge part of of what we try to focus on and like what how we try to help our members get success is that as you said as well, it’s like it’s also hey, here’s my sales presentation. Like can you guys give it take a look at this as well and that like?
Shanta (20:46) Yeah.
Ross (20:46) That to my knowledge doesn’t really exist anywhere else in the industry. And that’s what we really try to be able to provide you where it’s like, Hey, we’re to show you all this stuff about being in and operating a service bureau, the software side, the tech side, all that kind of stuff. Like, yeah, you need to know that. But also how the hell do you go and actually grow this business? Right? Like that, the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how great you are at navigating the software. Like that’s not going to, that’s not going to bring in new customers. Right? So that’s a huge part that we really try to focus on. And I’m glad you were able to.
Shanta (20:50) No.
Shanta (20:59) day.
Shanta (21:03) yet.
Shanta (21:10) And
Ross (21:14) leverage the support for that as well because that’s exactly what it’s there for. awesome. So last question that I have for you here today Shanta and then Baldeep will… Earbud flew out.
Shanta (21:18) awesome.
Shanta (21:24) Have fun.
Baldeep (21:24) she dropped something. She dropped a…
Shanta (21:27) Head’s bowled. I hate this. Okay.
Ross (21:30) So my last question I have for you here today and then Baldeep’s got a wrap up question for you. But if someone’s looking at joining SBA, right? They’re looking at becoming a service bureau and they’re looking at our program. What kind of words of wisdom would you want to share with them or what words of advice would you share with someone looking at joining SBA?
Shanta (21:36) Mm-hmm.
Shanta (21:48) Definitely I will join. Don’t even it’s not even a question because I looked at you guys one. I’ve been way richer if I did it the year the first time I saw you guys. So definitely don’t take any thought if you can afford it, do it. It’s definitely worth it and get into the training. Do that seven day launch right away is going to get you fired up. And if you ever can attend any of the conventions.
Ross (21:56) Not the first time we’ve heard that, by the way.
Baldeep (21:57) you
Shanta (22:18) Don’t think twice, do that as well as just going to give you more momentum to go back and just get things rolling. But definitely don’t hesitate getting started with that the seven day launch because that brought in a lot of leads for me. That one, I think it was one video, one post that was recommended. Yeah, I love it. I love it. I still do it today.
Ross (22:35) The fast actions, fast action strategy, the OG fast. Yep. That’s, that’s what it’s, that’s what it’s for. That’s exactly what it’s for.
Baldeep (22:37) the fast action strategy.
Baldeep (22:43) Yes.
Shanta (22:46) Yes, I love that. So yeah, and I like I like the way you guys help us make it simple when it comes to posting and using social media and things like that. If know, don’t really have to think if you’re not good at that, the things that you guys tell us to post and the things that you recommend that’s been working for you, you give it to us and we do it and it works.
Ross (23:07) Awesome. That’s great to hear.
Baldeep (23:08) Awesome. All right, one last thing. One last thing for the millions of people watching and they’re watching this and they’re like, oh, okay, I need to learn how to do taxes better. Any Shanta to help me. How did they get in touch with you?
Shanta (23:11) Yes.
Shanta (23:22) They get in touch with me on Facebook for sure. there on Instagram, Shanta Hiwi. Instagram is going to be, my name is Will and TikTok. That’s the easiest way to get hold of
Baldeep (23:37) Awesome. All right, well, we’ll go ahead and wrap it up. Thanks for being here and have a great rest of your day.
Shanta (23:41) Okay, thank you. Bye.