Tax Resolution Academy

Yesterday’s challenge task was all about getting involved with your Chamber of Commerce.

If your local Chamber of Commerce is active, it’s likely the best place for you to “hang out” in order to meet other business owners. You want to do this because business owners are the folks that have 941 problems, or they know people that have 941 problems. By being active in such an organization, you’re able to position yourself as the go-to authority on 941 IRS problems (and state withholding issues, too, of course).

But where else can you find local business owners in addition to the Chamber? Or, what if your local Chamber is just a shell of what it once was?

Fortunately, there are other options.

Your challenge task for today is to do some quick research to find what’s active in your local area, and then hop online or pick up the phone to get involved. We’re just putting ourselves out there and getting involved. Involvement feels good, right? Let’s change the world!

Here are some other organizations besides the Chamber to check out:

• SCORE – The Service Corps of Retired Executives (old name) mentors small businesses across the country. Volunteer or attend events.
• Small Business Development Centers – SBDCs, in partnership with the US Small Business Administration, provide networking events, business development training, and access to all kinds of compliance resources for small business owners. See that? “Compliance resources”. Maybe you know somebody that can be a “compliance resource”? Eh? Eh?
• Young Entrepreneurs Council – This one leans towards the opposite end of the age spectrum from SCORE, and you must be 45 or younger to join. But, essentially, they do a lot of the same things as SCORE. If you want to niche towards a more Gen X and Millennial audience, then this could be a good direction to go.
• Toastmasters – Not a business organization per se, but a public speaking training organization that happens to attract a LOT of business people. The education is good, and reason enough to join. It’s also dirt cheap. I pay under $40 per year to belong to two clubs. Join for the education, and along the way you will meet a ton of local business leaders that can be great referral partners.
• BNI – Really a referral swapping service, but also good for networking. Being active in BNI is almost guaranteed to get you

Growing the B2B side of your tax/accounting practice obviously requires that you surround yourself with business prospects. Good ol’ networking, rubbing elbows, and generally being seen in order to become known is particularly important if you operate a local-oriented practice.

In other words, if you want small business bookkeeping clients, 1120S return clients, advisory clients, and, yes, 941 resolution clients, you need to hang out where other business owners hang out. That will be our central theme for this entire week.

First up: Your Chamber of Commerce.

Chambers of Commerce can be incredibly hit or miss, depending on where you are. Some Chambers provide an incredible value for members, are very active and visible in the local community, run great leads groups and networking events, and serve as a central B2B hub in a local area.

Other Chambers are the complete opposite, and just don’t know they’re dead yet.

If you’re in a location with a zombie Chamber, then today’s tip might not be helpful… OR maybe they need a new president, eh? Eh?

But if you’re in a location with a healthy and active Chamber of Commerce, then it’s a good place for you to be. Even if none of the members have tax problems, they probably know people that do.

1. If you’re not yet a member, go join. Chamber memberships in most cities cost around $400 per year, and it’s a solid investment.
2. As soon as you sign up, scour the membership directory. Are there other tax/accounting professionals? If so, call them and establish relationships, based on the fact that you’re both Chamber members. Bust out the elevator pitch, and ask if they do resolution work. 9 out of 10 will say “no”.
3. Add the next several Chamber mixers, brunches, etc. to your calendar and show up.
4. Some Chambers run leads groups, similar in nature to BNI. Join and attend these.
5. Volunteer on a Chamber committee. If they have a “Welcome Wagon” or “New Member Ambassador” sort of thing that welcomes new members, join that. Those members will meet you first before other accountants that might be Chamber members.

If your Chamber doesn’t have some of the things I just mentioned, then take it upon yourself to start them within the organization. Be proactive. Be the person that makes things happen. Commit to it long-term, and business will come your way from it. Be consistent with your activity, and consistent with … Continue reading

Since today is still the weekend, today’s task will be something you can do asynchronously.

Asynchronous marketing tasks are an important part of your overall marketing mix. What do I mean by “asynchronous”? When I use the word in this context, I’m referring to marketing that you can do out of sync with the rest of the business world, outside of regular business hours. There’s nobody you need to reach on the phone, nobody you need an immediate reply from.

Asynchronous marketing tasks tend to take the form of queueing things to be sent, digital marketing tasks that drive future traffic, setting up paid ad campaigns that run later, reviewing metrics to tweak copy and campaigns, etc. These are all things that can be done evenings, weekends, early mornings, at the beach, or whenever and wherever you want. The ultimate marketing luxury is to generate all your revenue from asynchronous marketing sources.

For today, I want you to start with the simplest of the simple: Start building out the 941-specific content on your website.

I’m making the assumption here that you already have a website, and that it contains a blog section. If you don’t have a blog on your website, call your website provider or local IT nerd and get one set up. I’ve also written a manual about blog setup for tax pros, which you can find here.

So here’s what you do today:

1. Create a new category on your blog. Call it something like “Payroll Tax Issues” or “941 Tax Debts”, and use “941” as the short/stub label.
2. Head on over to Pub. 15 and pick a sub-topic, literally any major heading in the pub.
3. Copy and paste the text from your chosen pub section into a new blog post.
4. With your pasted text as a guide, rewrite the pub section into your own words and post it.

For example, if I jump straight to “Who are employees?”, the pub provides about 1,030 words of text about who is classified as an employee. Condensing that into a rewritten 400-500 word blog post is within anybody’s capabilities, I think. And remember, it doesn’t need to be perfect.

Tomorrow, we will continue with some synchronous marketing tasks that require getting back on the telephone.… Continue reading