Mike Jesowshek can help you learn how to save taxes legally. He is an entrepreneur and CPA who has a podcast and software that teaches you different strategies that will help you pay fewer taxes. It's all legal and waiting for you to implement. Listen to this engaging conversation and then reach out to see how Mike can help you with tax strategies to save you money. Learn more about Mike at his website. And listen to his Small Business Tax Strategies Podcast.
Experts Speak
Tax Strategies That Save You Money with Mike Jesowshek
(upbeat music) - Welcome to the Expert Speak Podcast with Michael Dolan. Each episode features a leading expert who shares helpful insights, practical tips, and memorable stories that will inspire you, educate you, and help you enjoy more success, freedom, and purpose in your life. For the next few minutes, enjoy listening to Expert Speak with Michael Dolan. - And welcome to another episode of Expert Speak I'm Michael Dolan today. I am talking with Mike Jezoshek. And well, first of all, Mike, thank you for being my guest today and spending some time with me. - Yeah, thanks for having me. I'm super excited. - Hey, you are welcome. It's gonna be a fun conversation because Mike helps business owners save money on taxes. And I think that's a really cool thing. He's got a tax savings podcast. And we're gonna talk about that, but really talking about shrinking your tax bill to put more money in your pocket at the end of the day. So there's gonna be a great conversation, Mike. And as we get started, tell me, I mean, how in the world did you get doing what you're doing today? - Yeah, you know, being an accountant was always my backup plan. And so I started my career at a really young age in the online marketing industry and got to experience many different stages in business. So, you know, started working for somebody, then started my own company at the age of 14, ended up selling that company at the age of 18 and I wasn't any kind of crazy sale or anything like that. But it was exciting for me at the time and then got into deeper into online marketing and got into a partnership where there were seven partners that we were all really good at different things in this online marketing space. But because of that, we were trying to pull one company into kind of seven different directions, you know, what each of us was good at. And at that company, I ran the finance side of it. So while all this was going out and I was going to college and I said, well, you know, I think an accounting degree would be something that I've always enjoyed the finance side of business. And hey, if this whole marketing thing doesn't work out, I think that being an accountant is a very good secondary option for me. So went to school, got my CPA and really wasn't using it in any regular purposes. But when I was within this company that we decided that partners wanted to go different ways, I made that a decision back in 2013 to go out and start my own accounting firm. And when I started this accounting firm, the industry that I was in was very younger generation, very kind of forward thinking everybody worked virtually. And so I liked that approach. And so I took that approach to the accounting world. And, you know, back in 2013, everyone started a virtual accounting and working from home and all that nowadays. But back in 2013, that wasn't very common. So, you know, having a virtual accounting firm was something new at that time. And so started out just doing bookkeeping type services and with referring out tax work and started to run into some tax problems of my own. But I also ran into issues where when clients would come to us and ask a tax question, you know, how do I hire my kids in my business? Or what's the strategy around hiring my kids in my business? We would always hit roadblocks or we talked to accounts and they'd say, well, it depends. Or, you know, I need to know this, this and this. And we could never get straight to the answer. And what I saw myself doing and what I also saw other small business owners doing is saying, okay, like this just seems like too much work. I can't get a straight answer. So I'm just not going to do it because it doesn't seem like it's going to be worth it for me. And so it was at that time that kind of got approached saying, okay, I'm going to focus more on this on this tax side and focus more on this tax planning and understanding these strategies and how do I implement it and everything from there? And so ended up bringing kind of tax into my practice. And things were going good. And I was never a podcast person. I didn't listen to podcasts. I was never on podcasts. But I had a team member that said, hey, you know, you're doing these YouTube videos about these tax strategies. Why don't we start a podcast? And again, I was like, I don't know podcasting. So what we ended up doing was taking a couple of YouTube videos that we had and threw it on a podcasting platform and called it the small business tax savings podcast and didn't do anything, let it sit there. And about six months later, had some people reaching out to us and said, hey, I heard your podcast really like what you're doing. How do I work with you? And so that was kind of that light bulb mall of saying, oh, you know, what we're doing or this information that we at least had out that these little two or three episodes out there potentially brought some, there was some need in the industry. And so it was at that point that I went doing a weekly episodes but very consistent with the podcast. And that was about six years ago now. And really kind of fell in love with this idea of teaching small business tax strategies, taking a strategy that I know it depends. And when we talk about taxes, it does depend. But the core root in concept of a strategy is the same for everybody, about 90% of the way. So this idea of hiring your kids is going to be the same for you and me about 90% of the strategy. How do we do it? What do we need to do right? And we're going to tweak it that last 10% to say, oh, you have kids this age and you're in this industry, that part depends. But so that was kind of my mission to get out there and say, OK, how do I get business owners 90% of the way there? And really fell in love with this idea of podcasting and training at a mass level. Ended up selling the majority stake in my accounting firm. And now my 100% focus is podcasting. And we also have a software that we just recently created that teaches training strategies. So roundabout way to get there. But came from an online marketing industry, accounting was my backup plan. And now here I am as a profession of just teaching tax strategies. Yeah, that's really cool. I like that because a lot of times you'll get it just the opposite of way. Somebody's an accountant and they understand that. And then they eventually start their own company and things that you did, which I think is good. So let's dive in and talk because you're right. A lot of these tax strategies are we hear about them, right? And it sounds like this wonderful, amazing thing that the Rockefellers do. And oh my goodness, I should be doing it. But then we hit all these roadblocks, whether it's hiring kids or can I take my office off because I work from home. And all of these questions that as business owners, we should be employing these strategies when it makes sense. They're all legal. It's all in the code, but I don't have the time, the interest. I need a good person like you to guide me and direct me and make it simple because unfortunately, most accounts and CPAs don't either like it. They don't know it and they don't want to deal with it. And so I think there's a friction there. Talk about that and what you've seen in business owners who are struggling with it. And then you work with them and they're like, oh, we can do that, right? Talk about that. Yeah, you know, it's funny because a lot of accounts know these strategies. It's just my theory and why more accounts don't bring these to the table is that they're afraid accounts are tend to be afraid to charge more. And so if I am doing your personal tax return or your business and personal tax return, we have agreed upon price. And in order to do tax planning, it takes time. It takes effort. And so I'm going to have to charge you more, but I'm afraid to charge you more. So I'm just going to do your tax returns and move on to the next person. And so that's kind of my theory. But when business owners come to us, they faced a lot of the problems that I faced is where they can't get straight answers about a strategy. They either hear all just the great things like, oh, hire your kids. Get a business deduction. They pay no taxes on it. It's a great world. And then it's done, which is not good because OK, that's that can be possible. But how you get there is more important than that end result. So either here, just very brief TikTok, 60 second clips about how great these things are, or they get pushed down a rabbit hole where we send that, you know, it depends. Like, OK, how do I hear my kids? Well, I need to know this, this, this, and this. And then once I know that, then I'm going to go down this route. And this whole concept of hiring your kids now to the business owners, like, that seems like a lot of work. Is it even worth it? And, you know, is it even possible? And so then they just say, well, I'm not going to deal with it. And so really kind of when people find our podcast, they find that we take a complex subject and break it down into pieces that are easy to understand it and really understand. OK, if I do want to hire my kids, here are the things I need to know about. Here's how I need to do it correctly in some of the, you know, strategy and how to depth my eyes, cross my teeth. And then I do need to do some research for that 10%, that last little bit that is specific to me. Because if I have an eight-year-old and a 12-year-old, and I'm in a podcasting industry, that hiring them is going to look a lot different than that person that owns a landscaping business with a 15 and a 17-year-old. And so there is that strategy where then we're tweaking it for those little bit of pieces. But how can I get business owners 90% of the way there where they understand the strategy, they understand what they need to do, but now they just need to do put in those last filing touches. And so that's a lot of what we find we talk to business owners is they've been able to finally get over that her honor and say, OK, I know this strategy. I know what I need to do. It's just put in a little bit of time, a little bit of effort now to actually make that work. And one thing that we talk a lot about is this idea of learning and implementing. And a lot of people stop at learning, you know, that they hear a podcast. And I'm guilty of this. I hear a podcast. Oh, that's a great idea. And then I don't do anything with it. And the same thing is the same with taxes that we can learn a tax strategy. And that's that's all great. But learning a strategy doesn't give us any tax savings. It doesn't result in anything until we actually implement it. And that is a key part that I think the business owners need to focus on when it comes to tax strategies is that that implementation piece, not just that implementation piece, but correct implementation, because yeah, you mentioned something like a home office deduction in the tax code specifically laid out. But someone can take the home office deduction, implement it incorrectly and actually make that strategy illegal. And so it's understanding, okay, what is the strategy? And then how do I correctly implement it to ensure that I'm dot my eyes crossing our T's and doing it in a legal way? Yeah. Cause I don't want to go to jail, man. Yeah. I think at one level, that's what scares business owners is because it's not a lot of expertise. And we learn a little bit and it's like, huh, then we get competing voices. And I love how you've talked about on the podcast, you talk about things. So somebody could actually listen to your podcast. I'm envisioning here, right? Around hiring kids. Let's just stay there because that's just easy. And that you might have four or five different episodes on it and just talking about it and go, okay, all right, I got it. I'm going to do a little bit of research. But I think I'm now equipped to take that next step. I've got enough behind me. I'll work with my CPA or whatever. So is that really the impetus here? Because you're not, yeah, you weren't, you're wanting people to, you're trying to educate people and, and help them with implementation. Talk about the software that you've got. What's, what's that about? How does that play in everything? Yeah, exactly. And, you know, ultimately my mission is, is to just bring awareness out there. You know, to, so those people that hit those roadblocks, so if they reach out to their accountant and hit that, it depends roadblock and then just stop and move forward without doing that strategy, my goal is saying, let's, let's get past that. And so our podcast is exactly that. People can take everything that we talk about, implement a strategy and run with it, take it to their accountant, do those last button pieces, button it up, and then they're good to go. But what I oftentimes found out was that people were either self-preparing. So they didn't have that accountant to go through to, to button up those last different pieces, or they were working with an accountant that didn't even understand the strategy. So we talked about hiring the kids, the accounts like, I don't know. I wouldn't do it. That's just a TikTok fad. Don't worry about it. And then they're sitting at that roadblock again. And so we, we, we decided to start a software that kind of allows us and more a software as a service. So it allows us to get people that, that rest of the way, that, that final 10%. And so basically what it does is, you know, we take deep, deep driving into the training. So look at the strategies that we talked about on our podcast, but now we provide templates. We provide workbooks, guides, different things that will help that implementation process. So if we look at hiring our kids, what do we need as part of that process? We need, you know, to track time. We need a job description. We need to know what your kids are doing. There's, there's different steps that we need to follow. And as part of our software, we provide those tools and those resources for them so that they can correctly implement these strategies. And then we're also the, anyone part of our software, it has unlimited access to our team for, um, tax questions, implementation questions, whatever it might be. They have a limited messaging, access to our team and we do an annual one-on-one consultation with them. So the idea behind this, the, the software is to get people that fully step of the way, you know, where we can get them at that, not just that 90%, but let's go to that 100% and how can we help them do that? And also, um, a way that someone can, Hey, I've worked with accountant for 20 years, 30 years, I love them. They know me. They know my family. I trust them. They just don't do tax planning. And so we oftentimes come in as that tax strategy arm to someone's team. So they have a tax repair and I would never say leave your tax repair just because they don't know tax planning. I would say find a tax strategist that can help you implement these and then, you know, work with that someone you know, you'd like and trust and have known for so long, that's totally fine. And so oftentimes we come in as a software piece is that that tax strategist part of the team that just kind of completes that, that, that full savings picture. That's very cool. That's, that's really cool. Because what the picture that was in my mind as you were describing all of that is so many times, I think business owners are at, um, oh, do I say at the mercy of their, of their accountant, their CPA, because, well, you have the CPA, you, you know, and I don't, I just think, whereas what you're doing is you're educating that business owner to go, okay, no, I think I've got enough confidence to understand this one little element here. Let's work together. I'm not going to fire my CPA. I just want to work with them. But if they're not equipped or desirous to do that, then you've got the software that can help and you've got the team there that they can have access to to say, no, I really do want to move down this road because there are great benefits of putting more dollars in my pocket versus Uncle Sam's. And there are a lot of legal strategies. We've talked about one today, really, the hiring of the kids. I mean, there, there are just numerous little strategies out there. I'm sure you cover them on your podcast. That would be a great place for people to start the process. Mm-hmm. Oh, just listen, don't just learn, take action, implement and take that next step so that you can actually generate more revenue for your family, more profit for your family. It's already there. You don't have to go get more clients. It's there. You can just harvest that profit when you properly implement some of these tax strategies. Is that, is that a fair summary? Yeah. You know, and, you know, that last point that you said, there's, I think very important because when we talk to business owners, you know, a lot of times that business owners don't focus on tax savings because they don't think there's enough juice there. You know, that's worth the squeeze or they don't think they, they even qualify. You know, a lot of people think, well, you got to be a millionaire. You have me making a million dollars a year to save taxes. And that's, that's simply not the case. And so a lot of times when we're working and talking with, with small business owners, it's just helping them understand what's available to them. But then the problem that we also see that the businesses find out is that there's so much information out there. And so they don't truly know what strategies are available to them. You know, every week we're talking about a new strategy on our podcast, but it's not every single strategy is relevant to every single person. And so that's another piece of our, of our software where we've been able to come in and say, okay, based on your situation, based on your going on, we're going to build out a tax blueprint for you to say, here are the strategies that you should be implementing today. Here's the strategies. Maybe that we should be thinking about in the future and maybe here are some strategies you already implemented in creating that roadmap of saying, okay, now I have a much more directed area of saying, okay, I need to hire my kids. I need to do the home office. I need to go do this. I need to do whatever it might be is going down that path. But, you know, to that last point that you mentioned, so many business owners don't focus on it and they say, well, you know, I'm going to put an advertising campaign in or I'm going to cut costs or I'm going to do this to help my business grow or to put more money in my pocket and we say, well, that's, that's good. And we should be doing that in our business. But when you put an advertising campaign out or you do start email marketing or whatever it might be, there's no guaranteed results. You know, we can help then and that's good stuff to do in your business. But with tax savings, it's guaranteed results. If I inform you on how to properly and incorrectly hire your kids in your business, you are guaranteed to save on taxes. And so, you know, that's where I try to put some focus on. Let's say, let's spend a little bit of time there. Of course, you got to be making money to be able to save on taxes. So let's, let's work on our business, but just spend a little bit of time on the side to work on those tax savings because you can get guaranteed results when you learn and implement various tax strategies. Yeah. Wow. Dude, we can, I know you and I can talk for a long time because I've got three or four or five other questions in here. But let's talk, talk to our audience. Where's the best step for them to, to take, to start learning more about? Is it the podcast or what's the best step for them to go to, to, to start understanding who you are, your company, how you might be able to help them and educate them and get them to implement some things. Yeah. First step is, is just tune into our podcast. So you can find out any podcasting platform, small business tax savings podcast or our website taxsavingspodcast.com. And, you know, one thing that we've done with, with all of our episodes is that we've tried to meet people wherever they're at or however they like to learn. So whether you like to read, we have a blog post for every episode. If you like to watch, we have a YouTube channel that has every episode on there. And if you want to listen, we have our podcast as well. So there's plenty of resources out there and I'd say go back into future episodes or past episodes, blog posts, videos, whatever it might be, and find topics that are relevant to you to just kind of get a feel for, you know, how we approach this idea of tax savings. And for those people out there that just think that I'm too small for tax savings, you're not, you know, as long as you're a business owner, you're, you can start saving taxes. And so don't, don't believe that you're too small for any of those, those strategies. Um, and those for those off that think like, this is too hard. It's not worth it. You know, the, the amount of effort it takes is not going to equate to enough tax savings, um, again, take, give it a chance because I've seen so many business owners that put a few hours in, save 10, 20, $30,000 in taxes on a few hours of effort. But think what you can do with that. Think of where you can take your business. How can your business grow with that type of savings? Yeah. And with tax savings, it's, it's not a one time savings usually. It's, it's every year. And so this is a really cumulative, you save $20,000 this year. I guess what in 10 years, you saved $200,000 probably. And so it's really worth it to, to, and I love how you said, put a little bit of time, if you carved out a business owner an hour a week to listen to the podcast or to, to take some action to find that last 10% pretty soon in about three months and about 90 days, you probably got enough to go. I think I can try this one thing, reach out. And so it doesn't take a lot of time. It's not where you're going to, you're not going for your CPA exam, dude. You're trying to run your business and put more dollars in your pocket. So I'm going to put that, those, those links in the show notes. So the small business tax strategies podcast and then a link to your website taxsavingspodcast.com are probably the two best places. We'll also connect to you as a LinkedIn as well. Because I want you to connect with Mike and just listen to his podcast. You go to YouTube where, you know, in, in, in watch it, but find out who he is. What, what is he talking about? And how could you actually implement some of this? Because you've, you've heard about it. You've probably thought about it and you probably have tried it maybe even now. It's time to really get some implementation and diligently, systematically start putting some tax savings into your business and your life. Love it. Man, thank you. Thanks for what you're doing for putting this whole thing together. A really cool resource for business owners to help us understand how to put more money in our pocket versus Uncle Sam. So I appreciate you being here. I appreciate your podcast. Can't wait to listen to that myself. And for being my guest on experts speak today. Yeah, thanks for having me on. Thanks for listening to expert speak with Michael DeLon. If what you've heard today was helpful to you, reach out to our expert guest and see how they can serve you to bring you more success, freedom and purpose in your life. (upbeat music)