0:00

Welcome to another week of chopping

0:02

with fire . We are so glad that you

0:04

joined us this week . We're

0:06

excited to have Chase

0:09

on in just a moment

0:11

. here He is a CPA in

0:13

Austin , texas . I'm not going to ruin

0:16

his story , as he will tell it , but

0:19

I thought that this would be an important episode , especially

0:22

for you entrepreneurs out there that

0:24

don't have a CPA . We go

0:27

into some good details as to why

0:29

you would want to have a CPA , and

0:31

also into other details

0:34

on picking the right elections for

0:37

when you start your business . So in just

0:39

a moment , we're going to have Chase on , so

0:41

let's chop it up . Welcome

1:08

to your top rated global podcast

1:10

that is your one stop shop specializing

1:13

in entrepreneurship , self

1:15

development , smart investment decisions

1:18

and other relevant topics that

1:20

add value . This podcast

1:22

is hosted by owner , doctor and

1:25

content creator , dustin Steppy

1:27

. We are blessed to have accolades

1:29

that include a 2022 nomination

1:31

by the people's podcast

1:34

awards in the category of

1:36

business , which is voted on

1:38

by the people all of you . Money

1:41

donated to two amazing causes

1:43

Cystic Fibrosis and the

1:45

Boys and Girls Club . Lastly

1:47

, global recognition of being a top

1:49

50 podcast in four

1:51

countries . Without further ado

1:53

, let's chop it

1:56

up . Welcome

2:16

to another episode of Chopping with Fire . You

2:19

are joined with your host today . Dustin

2:21

Steppy , and I have Chase

2:23

on as well . I am going

2:26

to hand over the

2:28

mic to him and let him

2:30

kind of talk about who he

2:32

is and what he does . Chase

2:34

, how are you ? Yeah , great .

2:36

Thanks for having me on today . Thank you for coming

2:39

on . Yeah

2:41

, so , chase and Sonia , cpa

2:44

licensed in Texas . I've

2:47

had my company since 2011,

2:49

. So we're almost 12 years old in a couple months And

2:53

we have a team of 20 people currently

2:55

half accounting , half tax

2:57

, basically anywhere from

2:59

transactional work , from accounting

3:02

, bookkeeping , tax

3:04

prep . We also do monthly forecasting

3:08

, weekly monthly forecasting , budgeting

3:11

with our in-house controller . We

3:14

specialize in more like very tech-based

3:16

and

3:19

pretty agnostic on industries Other

3:21

than we really don't do restaurants , we don't do construction

3:23

companies , but accounting and taxes

3:25

are the same for us anywhere else . So we focus under

3:28

30 , 40 million small business anywhere

3:30

, from your one owner consultant , which

3:32

we were just talking about before we here

3:34

record here to 30

3:37

, 40 million Amazon business , online

3:39

seller business , larger

3:41

clients , maybe one to 10 employees about

3:45

, and

3:48

that's kind of our market . So we started out just

3:50

focusing on small business , kind

3:52

of bringing in house the transactional

3:55

and the advisory and the planning work , because

3:58

at the time , in 2011 , i mean , it doesn't

4:00

seem that way today , but at the time nobody

4:02

was doing it for small business , it was only for

4:04

larger companies And that's how

4:06

we got started . And here we are today

4:08

in an overnight success and

4:11

still going .

4:13

And you all might be wondering why I

4:15

have Chase on , why do I have a CPA on

4:17

, and the answer is going to become

4:19

abundantly clear here as

4:22

we talk through . But the short answer

4:24

is , as you guys know , we

4:26

are entrepreneurship , self-development and

4:29

smart investment podcast , and

4:31

so there are some things that

4:33

I think that we take for granted

4:35

, that some business owners we think no

4:37

, but really do they know . And

4:39

so Chase and I are going to go through

4:41

a journey here where we kind of

4:43

educate and help help

4:46

business owners and entrepreneurs that are

4:48

either starting or seasoned veterans

4:50

understand why and the

4:52

importance of having a CPA

4:54

whether it be Chase or

4:57

anyone for that matter , and where

5:00

and why your investments should kind

5:02

of go through . Like , having a CPA

5:04

Sounds awesome

5:07

, let's go So . With that being said , chase , i'm

5:10

going to just ask the hard question first , what

5:13

are some of the pitfalls that you see with

5:16

businesses in general , or what have you

5:18

seen over the years in your career that

5:21

people should avoid

5:23

, right ? Like ? I'm sure

5:26

you've seen a lot of things , so , like , walk

5:28

me through that .

5:30

It's always on a case by case basis . I

5:33

mean , i think the biggest one is cash flow

5:35

, budgeting your money . A

5:38

lot of people , before they come to us , don't consider

5:41

saving for taxes and

5:43

paying them . I mean , you hear it on podcasts

5:46

and American greed all the time it's just good back

5:48

taxes , and

5:51

so we're always constantly making

5:53

sure we're proactive and making sure saving

5:56

for taxes too . But really

5:58

cash flow and budgeting especially

6:00

here in the e-com space , online

6:03

seller space like cash

6:05

flow is imminent in order to buy inventory

6:07

, to sell it and make a profit Any

6:11

kind of business owner where , if you're just a

6:13

one owner , consultant , i

6:15

mean it's important too to make sure you're saving

6:18

enough for April 15th next

6:20

year and

6:22

saving for retirement again

6:25

case by case , but really just depends

6:27

on how much money you're making

6:29

. What's your personal budget like ? That's

6:33

really what we run into the biggest

6:35

, i would say over the years is

6:38

just kind of cash flow budgeting conversation

6:40

. The second one

6:43

is kind of

6:45

a little bit different but over

6:48

20 plus years of doing this

6:50

myself , people

6:54

get into partnerships and

6:56

don't recognize that you're in the

6:58

honeymoon phase when you partner up with somebody

7:00

, and I've

7:03

been in one and

7:06

I've seen clients go into it . I've seen them

7:08

try to exit . I've seen it get nasty . I've seen

7:10

it become okay like it . So

7:13

I think if you're considering getting into business

7:15

with somebody that's not your

7:17

spouse , you

7:20

wanna make sure you have everything documented

7:22

. You wanna get an attorney ? don't use

7:24

one of the shops to go set up an LLC

7:26

real cheap . You wanna have an operating

7:29

agreement . You wanna identify what each

7:31

of you are doing , what your roles are

7:33

, how you're making money , how you're

7:35

bringing income to the partnership , what's

7:37

the distributions like . All

7:39

of that really never gets written

7:42

down . Generally , when you start out

7:44

you're just kind of in the honeymoon phase and you're like

7:46

, oh , this sounds great , let's do it together . And then you just

7:48

kind of up and run it and then three or

7:50

five years down the road and it

7:52

can get sideways sometimes

7:55

and people move on

7:57

or they wanna exit out and then

7:59

they want more money than they deserve and it's

8:01

just a big fight back and forth

8:03

. So I would say partnerships are

8:06

a big one and budget

8:09

cash flow is probably the number one thing .

8:11

The biggest thing that I took from that

8:13

that came across to my mind

8:15

was that movie about

8:18

Facebook with Mark Zuckerberg

8:20

. I feel like when you were talking

8:22

about partnerships and cash

8:24

flow and kind of having the operating

8:27

agreements and all of that , i think that's

8:29

huge and that's important and I think it's

8:31

overlooked sometimes and I think

8:33

that movie did a really good job of showing

8:35

the legal battle of what happened

8:37

. I mean , i really feel like the

8:40

people that were involved they

8:44

kind of got shafted a little bit . In my opinion

8:46

.

8:47

Well , that's a perfect example , because a lot of times

8:50

, one person's bringing the money and

8:52

the other one's bringing the operation or the expertise

8:55

, and those

8:57

are the ones that I generally have found

8:59

goes sideways quicker because

9:02

the one that put up the money wants the

9:04

money back , but

9:06

the cash flow doesn't justify it . In the same

9:08

token , you're trying to pay yourselves while

9:10

you're both doing some work , or one of you's doing

9:12

more work , and then it's like , well

9:15

, i'm bringing the technology

9:18

or I'm bringing the expertise and I'm

9:20

doing the day to day , and

9:22

it just becomes this contention very quickly

9:25

. So that needs to

9:27

be identified . I mean , i would always just do a

9:29

loan agreement or a payback

9:31

agreement , so it's very stated

9:33

, clear terms of how the

9:35

investor's getting their money back , in addition

9:38

to how each of you are gonna make a

9:40

living as you build the partnership

9:42

together .

9:43

Which leads me to my next question , and

9:46

I feel like this was hard for me electing

9:48

the right tax benefits

9:50

right or the right term

9:54

for your business . So like , for

9:56

example , we have sole proprietors

9:58

, we have partnerships , we have LLCs , we

10:00

have S-corps , we have C-corps , we have a

10:03

million different things . How do you

10:05

determine the right

10:07

election for your business

10:09

? How do you determine the right structure

10:11

to even get started ?

10:13

Yeah , great question . I mean we have a page on our website

10:16

that kinda breaks it down a little

10:18

bit . I mean , effectively there's only

10:20

two structures you have from

10:22

a legal perspective one LLC

10:25

, two Inc . That's

10:27

it . From

10:30

there it becomes a tax election

10:32

. You know , an LLC

10:34

can be a sole prop . So if you're making

10:36

under 50K you wanna be an LLC . That's

10:39

what I would recommend . Llcs

10:42

can be taxed as an S-Corp , partnership

10:45

, c-corp or sole prop . And

10:48

then you've got Inc , which

10:50

is required to file a business filing

10:52

. So if you're a sole proprietor , you

10:55

know making under 50K is kind of a break-even

10:57

and you're not sure , you know , if you're around

10:59

there you're under it for a while . Keep

11:02

your costs down . Just be an LLC , because

11:05

you're not required to file a

11:07

federal business return And

11:09

Inc is required to file a federal

11:12

business return . It's automatically a corporation

11:14

when it sets itself up with the IRS

11:16

EIN number

11:18

And so from there you can make an S-Corp election

11:20

with an Inc , you can file as a partnership

11:23

, as an Inc , and

11:25

. But that's generally the breakdown

11:27

of the setup . So I

11:29

would say you know our general advice , obviously

11:32

case by case , but you

11:34

know , is it just you ? You know

11:36

what is your exit strategy . Is this a lifestyle

11:38

business or you know ? are you looking to

11:40

grow a brand and exit out

11:42

in two or three years ? Are you looking to take

11:45

on investment , private equity

11:47

, you know , any

11:49

kind of loans Like that all has an effect

11:52

on how it should be set up , because

11:54

you know partnerships have two

11:57

columns of profit and loss , and equity . Maybe

11:59

you want to give away equity to employees

12:02

you're hiring , maybe it's an

12:04

Inc . You know , when you want

12:06

a 83B election , which

12:09

is basically if you invest in a

12:11

qualified small business stock

12:13

, you know and you're given shares

12:15

away . If it's 83B , qualified

12:17

, like it becomes tax free within five

12:20

, after five years , if you , you know , hold it

12:22

. So there's all kinds of different nuances

12:24

than caveats , but

12:26

you know , i would say , get a good business attorney

12:28

or at least talk to your CPA

12:31

and have a quick conversation about what

12:33

you're looking to do , cause all of

12:35

that has a tax effect And

12:37

it has a long-term effect with

12:40

you and how your taxes are

12:42

played into it . You

12:44

know what's your tax effect going to be . If you're a corporation

12:47

, i mean , the only way to get money out is W2

12:49

payroll or dividends . But

12:51

if it's necessary because you have investor

12:54

money or private equity money , then I mean

12:56

you don't have a real choice . But you

12:59

know , if you're putting up your own money and you're

13:01

a hundred percent owner , you're not giving

13:03

away equity . I mean that's pretty

13:05

much LLC escort , but you're

13:08

building a brand , so all kinds of different nuances

13:10

, but that kind of hopefully helps

13:12

break it down a little bit .

13:14

It helps our listeners to understand that

13:17

it's important

13:19

to do your own research . One and

13:22

then two , to educate yourself

13:24

on all the different structures

13:26

, cause , yes , you're right , there's only two

13:28

LLC or Inc . But then there's all

13:30

the elections in between , for the tax elections

13:33

, and so , like you stated

13:35

, i think it's important and

13:37

I've always learned this to have a good business

13:40

attorney , and we're about

13:42

to talk about why it's important

13:44

to have a CPA , which leads

13:47

into the next question Why have a CPA for

13:49

a business ? Why is that important ? Why

13:52

can't I be the owner that just does

13:54

it on my own ? Obviously , i mean . The

13:56

short answer is there's so much that

13:58

goes into it And I think we overlook some

14:00

things , but I'm sure you can shed some

14:02

light on this . We will be right

14:05

back after a quick break . Ladies

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Yeah , you know we're always promoting , you

15:32

know , to have a CPA . When you have a business you have rental

15:35

property . I mean I own 15 rules myself . Right

15:37

now I have multiple businesses , so

15:40

I've always been entrepreneurial . We're not not

15:43

the typical CPA and just running a running

15:45

a lifestyle firm . But

15:47

so you know I've

15:49

always , i've always communicated that

15:53

it's important to consult up front

15:55

because even when you're going to register

15:57

for your EIN number , that

15:59

is basically the start of your tax election

16:02

and how you're going to have to proceed going

16:04

forward . So from

16:06

the onset , before you even really

16:08

start the business , so to speak

16:10

, before you even register that EIN

16:13

number , i mean we work with an attorney . You know

16:15

a lot of times he's checking with me hey , is this the

16:17

right thing ? Is this not like what should I ? you know

16:19

, what should they do in this situation ? Because

16:22

when it comes to us , we're either going to have to

16:24

clean it up or it's correct . You know one of the

16:26

two . But a

16:28

licensed CPA you know we're always communicating

16:30

is important Because with

16:32

a licensed CPA you have recourse

16:35

And a lot

16:37

of people don't understand . You know there's a state

16:39

board around licensing , just like doctors

16:42

and attorneys , and

16:44

you know if something goes wrong or something

16:47

goes awry or there's an issue or you can't

16:49

get your information , you

16:51

know , whatever it may be , you at least

16:53

have a resource to go to . You

16:55

have the state board to go to And

16:58

a CPA is required to

17:00

respond to a complaint within 30 days

17:02

back to the board and provide support

17:04

or information . So you know . A

17:06

prime example is if somebody's working

17:09

with just a tax shop , an unlicensed

17:11

tax person you know

17:13

, and they file their returns , and two

17:15

years down the road you lost a copy

17:17

of it and you need it to file a mortgage , apply

17:20

for a mortgage or something . You

17:22

can't get a copy of it because you can't track this person down

17:24

. There's no way to get it . There's no , there's no

17:26

person to call . You can't call the IRS

17:29

, they don't care . There's no , you know tax

17:31

shop forum you can go to

17:33

to find and track this person down . If

17:35

it's a CPA firm , you know you

17:37

can call the board if you can't get a hold of that person

17:39

. Even if it's an individual , cpas

17:43

are not . I mean those that are

17:45

legitimate are not going to not

17:48

respond because it can affect

17:50

their license And it

17:52

takes a lot of work , just like a doctor

17:54

, attorney or any licensed professional

17:57

to get a CPA license

17:59

And I'm not going to give

18:02

up my profession or professional liability

18:04

because I didn't answer you know , somebody's

18:06

request in 30 days .

18:07

What is the average cost

18:09

to like for the for my small

18:11

businesses , like super small , so

18:13

even chop and entertainment me

18:16

. What is the average cost

18:18

of a CPA usually ?

18:21

I mean to be honest , it varies . It varies

18:23

by market , it varies by what you're doing . We

18:26

started off , now we're , i

18:29

would say , mid-range , we're not

18:32

ultra-expensive , but we charge for our

18:34

value and what we deliver

18:36

to our clients . It

18:39

really just depends on what you're needing and what

18:41

you're doing . The

18:44

way we price is more by what

18:46

we're doing for you . So pass through software

18:48

, accounting time , payroll help , sales

18:51

tax , help

18:53

controller help . Are we checking in weekly

18:55

, monthly , quarterly , semi-annually , business

18:58

, personal taxes , cfo

19:00

, fractional

19:04

CFO work all of those little pieces

19:06

we add up together

19:09

and take a determined

19:11

fixed price . But every firm

19:13

is different . A lot of them charge hourly , a lot of

19:15

them charge tax only and then they'll

19:17

charge for bookkeeping hourly or whatever

19:20

. But it really depends on the market

19:22

. I think in general we're

19:24

in Austin , so

19:26

we're not small-town America cheap

19:28

, but I would say the minimum is probably

19:30

around $5,500

19:34

, $5,600 for a one-owner

19:36

S-Corp

19:38

today needing payroll help because they have to payroll

19:41

themselves reasonable salary and

19:43

business and personal taxes . Then

19:47

we check in twice a year on one-owner

19:49

S-Corps and make sure you're on track , being

19:52

progressive with our advice and

19:54

making sure the reasonable salaries

19:56

are there , retirement planning is there if you want to contribute

19:58

, et cetera .

20:00

The way I see it , it may sound

20:02

like a big number , especially for these small businesses

20:04

. The average of $5,600

20:07

. But if I'm avoiding lawsuits

20:10

and fines and fees and other

20:12

things and I have someone professional like

20:14

you that is really

20:17

taking a look at all the tax benefits and making

20:19

sure we get more bang for the buck , it's

20:22

actually worth it in my opinion

20:24

.

20:26

Yeah , It seems like a big number up front

20:28

. But again , if you're

20:30

making let's just call it $100,000

20:32

in contractor income

20:34

or net profit from your business and

20:37

you don't even have an LLC

20:39

set up , or you have an LLC , you're filing

20:42

as a Schedule C sole proprietor on your

20:44

1040 . That

20:46

example , if

20:48

you take that $100,000

20:51

, you're going to be paying versus

20:53

an S-Corp . You're going

20:56

to save about $9,200

20:58

in unnecessary payroll taxes in

21:01

that example because as a Schedule

21:03

C filer , all of that $100,000

21:06

is subject to payroll tax . As

21:08

an S-Corp , only a reasonable portion is subject

21:11

to payroll tax . That difference that

21:13

we would assign is reasonable . Effectively

21:16

that's about $9,200 . Yeah

21:18

, you're paying us . What $5,600,000

21:21

? You're still netting a $3,000 saving . You're

21:25

going to have to pay for the expertise , but

21:27

that's the base minimum that

21:29

you're going to save . Which is why our break even is like $50,000

21:32

, $60,000 for the S-Corp , because just

21:34

to do a basic tax return for an S-Corp

21:37

business , that's

21:39

where the cost effectiveness comes in . That's

21:41

why we don't even recommend

21:43

it below $50,000

21:46

, $60,000 right now . That's a

21:48

prime example of if you're

21:51

a Schedule C sole proprietor

21:54

, there's no reason you shouldn't set up an

21:56

L-O-C-S-Corp because you're just wasting money to

21:58

the government .

21:59

That is why having

22:01

a CPA is important , in my opinion . You

22:03

guys keep up with

22:06

your license and you keep up with all the rules

22:08

and regulations . You

22:11

guys know what it takes to file

22:13

the most appropriate tax return . In my

22:16

opinion .

22:17

Yeah , a lot of people don't understand . A CPA's

22:19

name is on your return

22:22

, a firm like us . We describe ourselves

22:24

, we're not ultra risky , we're not ultra conservative

22:27

, but we play in the gray area . I have businesses

22:29

, like I mentioned too . I'm going to

22:31

maximize the tax code as much as I can

22:35

With that . Our name is on that return too

22:38

. If that comes back and gets questioned

22:40

, obviously we're

22:42

in that conversation with the IRS too , because we

22:44

prepared it and we signed it as well

22:46

. A lot of people don't recognize that

22:49

fact . When a CPA is signing

22:51

their return or any preparer really is signing

22:53

it . If a CPA

22:55

signs it again , you have recourse

22:57

against professional liability

23:00

insurance or the state board

23:02

licensing . Most CPAs

23:05

aren't going to risk

23:07

again . We're not going to risk

23:10

our license for somebody that

23:12

wants to be risky or

23:14

be questionable on their expenses . It's

23:16

just not worth the risk for us so we just won't do

23:18

it . We

23:20

will maximize deductions

23:22

as much as possible . My team

23:25

isn't traditionally

23:27

like just taking your information and spitting it

23:29

back out . We

23:31

take it , prepare it . Questions

23:34

, questions , questions like trying to dig

23:36

out deductions from you based

23:39

off your industry , what you're doing . We

23:42

try to be progressive in that way

23:44

to make sure we're maximizing

23:46

the return . That's why we feel like we

23:48

justify the prices we charge today

23:51

, because we're not

23:53

just send us your P&L

23:56

and we'll knock it out for you and here you go .

23:59

I think it's important to note that

24:01

you really care

24:03

about making sure that each client

24:05

is is getting the best

24:07

bang for the buck right . Like , if

24:10

I'm hiring you to do everything

24:13

for my business , i'm not hiring

24:15

you just because it's the right

24:17

thing to do to have a CPA and

24:20

to have that knowledge . I'm also

24:22

hiring you because I trust you with

24:24

, like , making sure that

24:26

you're doing the right thing by me .

24:28

Yeah , you know I always took the position

24:30

and when I

24:33

was doing taxes with myself , with clients , you

24:35

know I always took

24:38

the position of basically

24:40

owning what I'm preparing as if it

24:42

was my return with their data , and

24:45

so a lot of times , like I would , i

24:47

learned to communicate a little bit

24:50

differently later on , but in the beginning , you

24:52

know , i'd just be like passionate about why aren't

24:54

you doing this ? Are you doing this

24:56

this way ? And you know clients

24:59

or receptive sometimes , sometimes not

25:01

, but and that's how I train

25:03

my team to be , you know , proactive

25:05

to and really taking ownership

25:08

of what they're preparing , not just going through the motions

25:10

, and you know

25:12

, treating as if this is their business . And

25:15

you know , if they don't deduct

25:17

this or find this deduction

25:19

or ask the client about it and

25:21

not care , then you know it's as if they're

25:24

losing hundreds of dollars or thousands

25:26

of dollars to . You know

25:28

, are we perfect ? No , but

25:31

you know we always try to be perfect And

25:34

that's really all I can ask of my team and

25:36

my tax manager reviewing the returns

25:39

.

25:39

And the whole point of this conversation isn't

25:42

like hey , choose Chase to

25:44

be your CPA although

25:46

I would probably choose you and the firm

25:49

over anyone else just based off of

25:51

the conversations . It's more

25:53

or less do the right thing . Right

25:55

, Like , if you you're , you're

25:58

opening a business . That is going to be your life

26:00

, like you're trying to make money and you're trying

26:02

to maximize on as much as possible

26:04

. Do the right thing and have

26:06

someone in your corner to help you maximize on

26:08

that . Yes , it's going to cost you a few bucks

26:11

, But at the end of the

26:13

day , I'd rather pay the few bucks

26:15

than have to pay a whole ton more

26:18

because I

26:20

was uneducated , right

26:22

, And didn't know what to do , And

26:24

then the government had not

26:26

it or something , and I messed

26:28

up .

26:29

Yeah , and you know , i mean most

26:31

of the time . You know , audits are really

26:34

not what's driving the conversation Really

26:37

, it's just the structure and the tax savings

26:39

. You know

26:41

, and for us , you know you're

26:43

paying for the knowledge , you're paying for the expertise . I mean

26:45

, i've been doing this over 20 years . You

26:48

know you're paying for my teams expertise

26:50

and knowledge . You know that's

26:52

what you're getting . It's when you build a house

26:54

. You don't get the cheapest person to buy . Build a house

26:56

. You want the right person that has the right

26:58

knowledge and the right expertise to

27:01

do it . And

27:03

again , yeah , you're going to pay us . Are

27:05

you going to pay any CPA for their expertise

27:07

? But that relationship

27:09

should be saving you money from day one , just

27:11

like the example I gave with the 100,000 . Yeah

27:14

, you're going to pay us five , six grand annually

27:17

, but you would have paid , you

27:20

know , 3,000 more to the IRS

27:22

. So do you want to pay all the money to the

27:24

IRS or you want to pay us and save three grand

27:26

? Like which one ? which

27:28

one's better ? So

27:31

sure , you pay a CPA expertise , but you

27:33

know , from day one , we're making sure

27:35

we save our clients

27:37

and justify our cost And

27:41

that's just how we approach the business . I mean

27:43

, i , you know I'll just tell somebody we're not the right

27:45

fit for you because you

27:47

know it's just not . You know you can

27:49

do it yourself right now . When it comes

27:51

to taxes , sure we'll do , we'll do the taxes

27:53

for you and help with that , but maybe , maybe

27:56

they're not making enough to justify QuickBooks

27:58

online or do their monthly accounting

28:00

yet , but

28:02

or you know , they're kind of scaling into the next

28:05

section . So you know what does that look

28:07

like . Or give us a call down the road . But

28:10

you know we're just open with clients and

28:12

we just take ownership of what we do . And big

28:15

on communication , we use

28:17

multiple channels of communication . Number

28:20

one thing we hear from from our leads is

28:22

poor communication , and so my team

28:24

is always diligent about

28:26

probably overly communicating with people . That

28:29

includes the tax return , you know , scheduling , a Zoom

28:31

call screen , sharing . You

28:34

know a lot of a lot of prepares . Don't

28:37

take it to that next level , and we're

28:39

always trying to make sure

28:42

that we're doing the best job

28:44

we can to deliver the best product

28:46

at the right price .

28:48

And just so I'm clear and I heard you right

28:51

, you said you recommend not

28:53

you recommend doing your own

28:55

until you get to the 50,000

28:58

threshold , correct ?

29:00

I mean you know , if you want to pay us to do it

29:02

, sure we'll take the business , but I mean the

29:05

cost isn't going to justify the means . I

29:08

mean that's kind of a general number . I mean I'm

29:10

talking about 50,000 gross revenue , you

29:13

know . so you know gross revenue it's , you

29:16

know it's probably not a lot of transactions . I mean , if you're a one-hour

29:18

consultant , you know keeping track of your mileage

29:21

, you know mileage IQ is what our

29:23

clients use a lot of to keep

29:25

track of that . You know app on your

29:27

phone , you know use

29:29

one credit card , use a dedicated checking account

29:32

. You can download those into Excel

29:34

annually and then just categorize your

29:36

few transactions from there . So

29:39

it's really not necessary to do QuickBooks online

29:41

when you're you know that small . But you

29:43

know if you're getting those six figures and you

29:45

need to know what your estimated taxes are

29:48

. you know you want us to advise on reasonable

29:50

salary and like maybe you're looking for retirement

29:52

planning . That's kind of next level conversation

29:55

and sure you know we need to

29:57

start keeping track of some data because otherwise

29:59

we just won't know what you have going on .

30:01

And the reason I reinforce that is because

30:03

there are people just starting

30:06

out And so I don't want to sit

30:08

here and say , hey , go out and find a CPA

30:10

today . Right , I want to . I

30:13

want to give them the knowledge that they

30:15

need to make informed

30:17

decisions And that and that's all . And

30:20

just to recap

30:22

, it's important to

30:24

do your homework , It's important to do your own

30:26

research and it's important to understand

30:28

the importance of what

30:31

the CPA's role is , what a business

30:33

lawyer's role is , anybody's role , for

30:35

that matter . I mean , if

30:37

I'm just putting my business into it , so if we're

30:40

just putting shopping into it , right , I mean

30:42

we're not big enough yet for

30:44

me to justify , like you said

30:46

, the cost means , but that doesn't

30:49

mean that I'm not going to get there . So

30:51

it's really having a plan

30:53

.

30:53

Yeah , and also knowing . You know we're always happy

30:56

to have the conversation because we , you know , we

30:58

want you to know what you should be keeping track

31:00

of . You know , like I said , have those

31:02

dedicated credit card or checking account

31:04

So you can keep track of the transactions

31:06

, because when January 24 , 24

31:09

rolls around , you're not going to

31:11

remember what you did in February 2023

31:13

. Like you're not going to remember you had a business

31:16

lunch that you charged on your personal

31:18

credit card most of the time . So

31:21

that's why I say , have those dedicated accounts so

31:24

you can download those transactions and make it easier

31:26

on yourself . And then , keeping

31:28

track of , you know , home office seductions , utilities

31:32

, rent , mortgage

31:34

, etc . Mileage

31:37

, you know , is usually a big one if you're driving around

31:39

a lot A mileage IQ . But

31:42

you know , intuit has a pretty I think

31:44

it's free or it's a cheap

31:46

product The

31:48

quick book , self-employed version . You

31:51

know it doesn't give you a profit and

31:53

loss or balance sheet , so it's not helpful and

31:55

we can't use it to file an escort

31:57

return . You have to upgrade to do that . But you

32:00

know , self-employed again , like kind of

32:02

under 50K basic transactions

32:04

, like that's just a good software to start

32:06

out with . So it keeps

32:08

track of that and you can categorize stuff or

32:12

just download it in Excel . But I

32:15

was , you know , kind of back to the formation

32:17

conversation , since you mentioned starting

32:19

out . You know we

32:21

always recommend at least setting up an LLC

32:23

. And

32:26

you know , especially if you're looking to have

32:29

a brand name or you

32:31

kind of want to lock in a name you

32:33

want to use Just having

32:35

. A lot of people don't understand just having a doing

32:37

business , as with the state , does

32:40

not protect the name . And

32:42

so if you want to protect that name

32:44

that you're operating under , then you

32:46

have to form the LLC . And

32:49

again , if you're 100% owner , or

32:51

it's you and your spouse that own it 100%

32:55

, then you know you can just file a schedule

32:57

C on your 1040 with that that

32:59

owned LLC . So there's not a lot of complexity

33:02

to it other than filing the annual state

33:04

report And

33:08

other than that it's pretty straightforward .

33:11

Yeah , that's what I do , So

33:13

I use into it right

33:15

now to categorize everything

33:17

. In that it's just super

33:19

helpful . Of course , yes , you can use an Excel

33:22

sheet , but I like how into it

33:24

walks you through it . So

33:26

, anyway , sorry . With that being said

33:28

, if

33:30

people want to get a hold of you , chase

33:33

like what's the best means to get a hold of you

33:35

in a world where there's instant gratification

33:37

in a ton of social media .

33:39

Yeah , just sit us up on our website

33:41

insaniacpacom

33:43

. So I N S O G N

33:45

A C P A dot com . fill

33:48

out the contact does form and some

33:50

of I'll be quick to reach out to you . We're here all

33:52

year so we're not like most firms

33:55

that disappear for months at a time in the summer

33:57

. We're working with clients weekly

33:59

, monthly and hundreds of them

34:01

weekly , monthly , so my team's always

34:03

around . I'm always managing the business . You

34:06

know we'll have a in-house person to

34:08

reach out to you . You know , when you call

34:10

us , somebody's always answering the phone during

34:12

business hours and happy

34:16

to have a conversation , just like we're having now , and make

34:18

sure you're on the right track . That's really our biggest

34:20

thing is just trying to help and educate people and

34:24

you know , for the right fit and you want

34:26

to work with us , great . If

34:28

not , hopefully we'll see you down the road and you

34:31

know when you get more successful and we can help

34:33

save you more money .

34:35

Yeah , I appreciate that , Chase . I appreciate having

34:37

you on number one , number two for the

34:40

listeners that are kind

34:42

of in between or don't know what they

34:44

need . Like please reach out to Chase

34:46

. He has the knowledge and his

34:48

firm will guide you guys into

34:51

the right realm and really help

34:53

you guys out . So please take advantage of

34:56

Chase as a knowledge

34:58

resource and a knowledge bank . Chase

35:00

, thank you for being on today . I appreciate

35:02

you .

35:04

Yeah , thank you . Thanks for having me , you

35:40

, you

36:10

.