Real vs Fake Service Bureaus: Why Kenyatta Switched to SBA | SBA Podcast EP 38

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

Ross (00:10) All right, so Kenyatta, welcome to the call. Thanks for joining us. How are you doing today?

Kenyatta (00:14) What about you all?

Ross (00:16) Very good, thank you. Very good, awesome. If you want to start off, Kenyatta, maybe just kind of introduce yourself real quick. Share with the audience a little bit about your experience, experience in the tax industry, how you found out about Service Bureau Accelerator and ultimately why you joined, and we’ll kind of take it from there.

Baldeep (00:16) Great.

Kenyatta (00:33) Hey everybody, I’m Kenyatta Walker, owner of Taxmaster Pro. I got started with Service Bureau Accelerator because they offer really great mentorship. I had a couple of test software companies. I even went direct, but they don’t offer the support that Service Bureau Accelerator does. They really trained in this, and that’s what I needed for my team. So how I got started in the tax industry? I used to work for a tax company. Of course I can’t say their name, getting paid by the hour.

Baldeep (01:01) You…

Ross (01:03) You…

Kenyatta (01:04) And pretty much they didn’t, I guess they didn’t want me to know certain things. And I see my bonus check, I love to tell everybody this story. My bonus check was $756 and I was like, wait, I did over 200 tax returns with this company. Something’s not right. So I taped it on my bedroom wall. So when I roll out the bedroom, when I look at that wall, I see that letter and I used it as my stepping stone. Now I went through a couple of software providers, and what made me, I can’t remember how I found out about Service Bureau Accelerator, but what made me…

Ross (01:41) Probably an ad, probably an ad at some point.

Baldeep (01:42) Yeah.

Kenyatta (02:00) Even though I’m able to set my fees and I’m able to make money on the back end, I’m comfortable, my preparer is comfortable, and the fees are transparent. They’re not trying to be greedy. They really trying to show you how to fish.

Baldeep (02:15) Right. I think, I think like touching on that from what it sounds like, I’m going to summarize. You’re with the software company. You had a team of preparers and then everyone’s like, why are these fees so high? And you had no control over it. Now you have control over it. You can still make money, but you don’t need to be greedy about it. Kind of like what we say, like, and I think you, did you come to a convention? I’m pretty sure you came to convention or no, no. Okay. So we talk about this at the convention.

Kenyatta (02:35) Okay.

Kenyatta (02:39) No, I didn’t.

Baldeep (02:43) We brought this up a lot. It’s like, hey, a lot of people, they join us because they’re like, these fees are crazy. How do I not have to pay these fees? And they join us for that reason because their fees are out of whack. And then they turn around and do the same thing to their clients. But it sounds like you’re like, hey, no, I understand. Kind of like what we train on. It’s like, you can make your money. Go ahead and make your money, but also be worth it and be transparent with it and make sure that you’re delivering value for it. Does that sound about right? Cool.

Kenyatta (03:18) Yes.

Ross (03:20) Yeah, that’s awesome. And so I just want to kind of rewind a little bit too, because you kind of mentioned like the fees that I guess you said you were, you said you were with some other software companies, but you weren’t a service bureau yet, right? Until you found our program or had you experienced in that?

Kenyatta (03:37) Okay, so I was a service bureau with another software company, but I kind of like cut out the middleman a little bit.

Ross (03:42) Okay, yeah.

Ross (03:49) Okay, so well, so I’m curious when you’re set up like, you know, you can, we can leave names out of it and everything. But were you set up as a real service bureau, like as you are with us, where you have kind of like a count hub or MO to pay on the software where you can actually go? Okay, so you were like a glorified service bureau. Okay, got it. I was curious to ask that because that’s something we see more and more often now, where people are like, oh, yeah, I’m a service bureau.

Baldeep (03:50) Okay.

Kenyatta (03:58) Mm-hmm.

Kenyatta (04:05) No, I didn’t have control.

Kenyatta (04:14) Bye.

Ross (04:16) But then we kind of asked them, we’re like, well, do you have access to account hub? Can you go and set everything up yourself or do you have to send the information to someone else and they do all the bank enrollment, they kind of set all the base fees that you can then mark up, but they’re already kind of inflating. And so that was kind of the scenario that you had as well. Awesome. Awesome. Okay.

Kenyatta (04:21) You…

Kenyatta (04:32) Yes.

Baldeep (04:33) Yeah. And we’re seeing, we’re seeing that more and more. And we told at the, at our last convention, we’re like, like if we’re going on selling service bureaus, be careful of calling it a service bureau. If you’re not really being transparent here and you’re more, if you’re marking this up, you’re not selling a service bureau. Like essentially is what we told everybody. And we’re seeing that because we’re seeing it more and more. We’re seeing it more. We had somebody that came over and they were a bureau. If you’re listening and not watching, I’m doing the quotes.

Kenyatta (04:49) You…

Kenyatta (04:59) I had…

Ross (05:00) The rabbit ears.

Baldeep (05:03) And basically they’re like, yeah, I had full access to that, but they made me, but they said every time I enroll somebody, I had to put X amount there and then anything above that amount I could get. And we’re like, oh my God. So just, we’re seeing that a lot. So that’s why Ross kind of dug in on that. Cause it’s, it’s commonly happening now.

Ross (05:24) Yeah. And when you, so when you, I don’t know if you can remember back to like joining the webinar, like seeing that first webinar about Service Bureau Accelerator, did that kind of, was that hit on or did you kind of, did you see a little bit of that where you’re like, hang on, it’s a little bit different or was it a little like once you actually, once we actually set you up, was that when that kind of like that the view kind of opened up, we were like, oh, this is what it means to be a real service bureau. With our foundations training, we’re like, here’s a master EFIN. You’re like, wait, what’s all this new stuff?

Kenyatta (05:55) So I think it was more so for me, the pricing for one and me actually being able to have access to the account hub. So if I get a new tax preparer, I can go ahead and enroll them myself. I don’t have to wait on their business hours.

Baldeep (06:13) Right.

Ross (06:13) Yeah, yeah, you’re the real service bureau. You’re actually in full control. Cool, awesome. Okay, so moving forward, I want to kind of learn a little bit about what have you been doing for your service bureau in order to grow? There’s a lot of different models. You joined a couple of years ago. I can’t remember if we still had the paths. That might have actually been when we started to roll out the 70 launch. I’m trying to remember a little bit, but ultimately, there’s a lot of ways to grow the service bureau, right? So what have you found that’s kind of been working for you? Are you going, are you working directly with EROs? Are you bringing in preparers and kind of developing them? What does that kind of look like for yourself?

Ross (06:52) I think your mic, your mic got muted there.

Baldeep (06:53) Your mic got muted. There we go, there we go.

Kenyatta (06:55) I’m sorry, so I’m working with both.

Ross (06:56) Here we go.

Kenyatta (06:59) I bring on new preparers and I train them and I help them grow. As far as working with the EROs, I kind of position it as a package as knowledge because anybody could do taxes but it’s the knowledge behind it. So they get to choose their package if they come on my team. If you want this type of knowledge such as corporate taxes or nonprofit taxes or how to grow your own team, it’s a package that they can choose. So I work with both.

Baldeep (06:59) Okay.

Baldeep (07:29) Nice.

Ross (07:30) Got it. Awesome. And with your preparers, is that like where, if, cause the reason why I’m asking this is someone might be listening and might want to kind of learn a little bit more about working with you. What do you kind of do with preparers to bring them in and kind of educate them, train them and kind of do they kind of work out under you as independents? What does that kind of look like for your preparers you develop?

Kenyatta (07:49) So I used to have PTIN partners, I only have two now. I’m moving away from PTIN partners because it’s too much of a liability now. So now I find it more beneficial, just let them get their EFIN. And you can offer a mentorship for them whether you want to do it for free or if you want to do it as an upsell. So it’s worth it. I could do software only if you don’t need the mentorship then fine. If you need the mentorship I do the weekly coaching with them and I find that when I do a weekly group coaching some people like to learn in a group setting, some people are better because everybody’s business is different, everybody markets different. So the one-on-one strategy calls definitely does help the ERO.

Ross (08:04) Mm-hmm.

Baldeep (08:05) Right.

Ross (08:37) Awesome, okay, got a lot of options available for someone to find the right fit. Love it, cool. So yeah, definitely. So training wise, I’d love to kind of hear your feedback on going through our training platform, right? There’s a lot of information there. We’ve definitely kind of dialed it in a little bit more. I’m trying to think of when like seven day launch actually launched. I think it was…

Baldeep (08:37) Nice.

Kenyatta (08:42) Yeah, trying to be competitive.

Baldeep (08:45) Haha.

Baldeep (09:01) It was last year.

Ross (09:03) Last year, but I feel like there was a variation of it. No, it probably was last year. So you saw before seven day launch and then when we rolled it out last year, the seven day launch program, what’s kind of your feedback or overall experience kind of going through our foundations training, really teaching you up on what it means to be a service bureau, a seven day launch and the core trainings that we have, coaching calls, all that kind of stuff.

Kenyatta (09:23) So I like the diversity of it, the different trainings that you all have. Sometimes I do struggle, especially with this new age generation, the way they’re marketing. They really are killing it with the marketing. So I need some new strategies. So what I like about the program is that I can always go back and I can look at the videos for different ways on how to market and how to try to beat my competition.

Ross (09:52) Yeah, awesome. What do you feel like was, where do you like the most aspect of our training platform? Having that kind of database, like you mentioned, you can always go back. What about some of the coaching calls? I know I’ve definitely seen you on a lot of the coaching calls. What’s kind of your favorite aspect of it overall, would you say?

Kenyatta (10:12) Going back and looking at the videos is there. Yes. I drive school buses, so some of the coaching calls, you know, it’s while I’m on the school bus. So I’m like, yes, I get to go back and watch the replay.

Ross (10:14) Using the archive. Oh yeah, that’s, maybe some people love it. You got a radio voice.

Baldeep (10:16) She just likes hearing your voice, Ross.

Ross (10:29) Yeah, yeah, awesome. Yeah, yeah. So we’re talking with Terrence the other day and he kind of mentioned that like sharpening the tools, right? You can always go back and keep going through it and be like, something I, you know, I saw this video before, but that thing didn’t click or I can see now how I can leverage this and apply it. So it’s awesome.

Kenyatta (10:38) Yeah.

Kenyatta (10:45) And I’m going to say this, I actually had to go back yesterday because I don’t know why I had to put in the EFIN validation code for the desktop software, but I was able to go back through the training because I couldn’t remember how to get to it. So the archive is there, y’all. Y’all just need to open up your mind, listen to the videos. It’s there. They help me.

Baldeep (10:57) Okay.

Baldeep (11:07) And also on the support platform there’s a knowledge base. If you search there it’ll pop up too. That same thing. That same thing.

Ross (11:08) You…

Kenyatta (11:13) Yes. Okay, cool.

Ross (11:17) Yeah, yeah, knowledge base is good too. So on that note too, with the knowledge base, cause it’s in the support portal. What’s been your kind of your feedback? Like how do you feel like our support team is whenever you need assistance, when you need help opening a ticket with our support platform, what’s been your kind of experience with that?

Kenyatta (11:35) Y’all move quick. I love it. I have no complaints. Keep doing a great job because, you know, technology is not, it’s not my thing. So I love that if I just put something in a support ticket, like I could say 30 minutes to an hour, somebody is responding.

Ross (11:39) Good answer, good answer.

Ross (11:57) Yeah, yeah, that’s, so we try to do that. Support’s a big one. That’s another thing we hear all the time as well, right? It’s like I’m not getting support when I need it. I’m trying to reach out even after the tax season, after the rush when it’s kind of in the quiet summer, people still need help every now and then. And the person that they got software from is like non-existent. And they’re like, well, I still need help. Where are you? So…

Baldeep (11:57) Yeah, for sure.

Kenyatta (12:18) Mm-hmm.

Ross (12:20) Yeah, it’s a big, big thing we focus on. So moving forward, looking at kind of like next year, right? We’re recording this, it’s first of October, and we’ve got a couple months left before the tax season kicks off. What are you most excited about next year, like after this tax season, to start working on next year for your service bureau?

Kenyatta (12:22) All right.

Kenyatta (12:29) Mm-hmm.

Kenyatta (12:40) That’s where it goes down. Ready for that one-on-one strategy. Selling software. So that’s what I want to focus on. Selling the software and not focusing so much on trying to train other people. I’m really trying to take myself out the business and still be able to make money without being so accessible.

Ross (13:05) For sure, yeah, that’s a good goal. That’s the scaling model, right? Where it’s like, I’m a bottleneck right now, I need to remove myself from the equation. Yeah, I love it, awesome. So my last question for you here Kenyatta and then Baldeep will have one for you to wrap up the call. But what would you say, if someone’s looking at joining Service Bureau Accelerator, they’re kind of on the fence, what would you say to someone who’s looking at joining our program? What kind of feedback or words of advice would you give them?

Baldeep (13:05) Nice, cool.

Kenyatta (13:12) Can you hear me?

Kenyatta (13:33) I’d say this. If you’re not being treated fairly by whoever you’re with, it’s time to start making some changes. If you don’t have control over your own office, you need to make some changes. If you want to figure out how you can still make money in this industry and have a nice fat check during the summer, then maybe you need to talk to Service Bureau Accelerator.

Baldeep (13:54) Your check was kind of fat. Yeah. Awesome. All right. One final thing for me, Kenyatta. For the millions watching at home, they’re watching this, like, I kind of like Kenyatta. I want to learn more about working with her. How do they get in touch with you?

Ross (13:54) Love it.

Ross (13:58) Not a $700 check. Definitely wasn’t $700.

Kenyatta (13:57) You…

Kenyatta (14:01) No, it wasn’t.

Kenyatta (14:17) Yes, my phone number is 225-239-2399. My website is Taxmasterpros.com and you can always research me on Facebook, Kenyatta Walker.

Baldeep (14:29) All right, Taxmasterpros, P-R-O-S dot com. Cool. All right, we’ll go ahead and wrap it up here. Thanks for being here, Kenyatta, and everyone have a great rest of your day.

Ross (14:34) Smash the pros.