You Don't Need AI to Run a Profitable Firm. Here's What You Do Need. with Brad Wooten

Brad

I was seeing their stuff and then they shared their numbers. Yeah. Financial numbers. And I was like, well, I'm making more than both of these guys.

And I started my firm before them. And I've got a pretty solid process. Why don't I just start talking about it? So not in a negative way, like, they're not special.

There's some people who are like, you've got that figured out. Show me how you're doing it. I've got this figured out. I'll show you how I'm doing it, which is why I like the community thing.

Yehuda

Welcome back to the podcast, everyone. Whichever podcast you're listening to, either mine or Brad's. that this this I'm hoping this comes out in September. This is the perfect time to start working on I call it spring cleaning for accountants, because now is the time.

So the September 15th deadline is about to come up. We're recording this at the end of August. The October 15th deadline is right around the corner, and then that means before we know it. We're back to January, which means tax season round two or round three or round whatever you're up to in your in your firm. what I really want to focus on in this like last sprint of the year is simplicity. the name of my podcast now is is is Tax Tech Simplified, because it's so easy to get complicated.

And and and I'm the the king of complicated, you know, not maybe not in a good way. Because I love nitty-gritty details. I love, you know, trying to like figure things out and and and spend all day doing side quests trying to like solve for something that totally doesn't need a solution. I'd I'd be curious to hear maybe some beginning advice of what would you recommend to a firm owner out there of how they can simplify.

Brad

Yeah. Yeah. So I do want to I want to do a quick intro too, just to put this in there in case people wondering where you're at. Sure.

And you know, they wondering who I am. So, like you said, this will go up on your podcast. I'll probably put it on my YouTube channel as well. So if you're a Yehuda fan, you don't know who I am.

I'm Brad. I live in Orlando. I've been running my firm since 2019. And Yehuda, welcome to Orlando and my living room.

Yehuda

I came all the way here just for Brad today.

Brad

And my my own dog picked Yehuda over me for the podcast recording sitting with Yehuda today. but welcome to the land of humidity. I'm sure it hit you as soon as you got off the plane.

Yehuda

This is Dash Dash. I live on the east coast, so this is true. This is normal.

Brad

I'm running my tax firm. I I have a community. I've been doing some coaching, but it's shifted more to the community now. I I ended up with about seven hundred and twenty five people in the free community and then I pivoted and switched it to paid so that, you know, I could just give the stuff away in the community instead of charging for random little things here and there. and there's two hundred and twenty five people in it now.

Awesome. which is great. It it a lot of people came over more than I anticipated. So And there's a lot of activity in there, which yeah, the community piece to me, I I had two buddies here in Orlando when I started my firm.

And if I didn't have them to call and lean on, like it would have looked so much different. Yeah. And there's so many people out there doing it by themselves. And I don't I don't think that there's any reason to compete with other communities.

I'm in a couple. I know other people that are in a couple. I feel like they're not I mean, I get it if you're new, right? Like yeah, twenty bucks a month or or fifty or a hundred or whatever, right?

You're new.

Yehuda

So many people are in every single.

Brad

but as soon as you can, I think it's beneficial to see what other people are doing, learn from other people and to not do it.

Yehuda

Treat it like a streaming service. Just do one one month.

Brad

Yeah. Answer one join another month and do the next one. Read up on all the stuff. Yeah.

But you're you know, you've kind of pivoted here with the with the podcast. Give give maybe my audience a quick rundown of what you're focused on. Sure. And then we'll jump into that question, which is basically what you're focused on.

Yehuda

Yeah, something I I yeah, something I noticed is that I absolutely love the tech side of running a firm. because I am a details person, I'm a logistics person, and and I've always just been really entrenched in tech. I mean, even in middle school, I remember in sixth grade learning like a visual basic and like I didn't continue with that, but like I sampled a bunch of different things. I went from like coding to like 3D animation and then music production.

And I was always whenever I was doing, I was always like doing something. complex. and then I came to running a firm and I'll go to conferences and talk to people. And I sort of take for granted, you know, like, of course you know the features in this software.

And then people will be like, I had no idea that that was a thing. I'm like, what mean? You don't follow the the minute by minute updates from that software company. And they're like, no, what are you talking about?

I I work. I'm like, yeah, good.

Brad

I think were on the call that I did with Taxedome. so with the workflows for Tax Pros with Jamie with Jamie. Yeah. And you know, I was telling her, like, yeah, I set up Taxed Dome and I never look at any of the emails or join any of the calls.

And so like there's a whole bunch of new features and I just been.

Yehuda

yeah yeah. So much it comes out. Like and I even have notifications on and me myself, like I even have trouble keeping up with it sometimes.

Brad

The only thing makes me nervous is, you know, like I like it because there's new features that are like, this is great. And I hate it because they break things that were perfect before and then they mess up. And I'm like it's.

Yehuda

Tough, right. Yeah. The reality is we live in a world Yeah. We live in a world where there's just constant updates and now.

Brad

But that's gonna be the nature of software from this point forward. I hate that they changed is something you love that they changed. Right. So you know and you can't.

Yehuda

Never gonna be able please everyone. I I'm of the opinion that you should always build the software to be as malleable as possible because I think everyone just does things differently. but any anyway is but back to you know what I started doing is I started coming realized that I I have a lot to talk about, a lot of things that I think about all the time, and I just sort of created a hub with Y Ten Tax Tech where I can the name of my firm is Y Ten Tax Solutions. The Y is for Yehuda, the Ten is for Tenantma.

If.

Brad

I think that might be what it was. I was gonna ask, but so I figured it was the last name.

Yehuda

Yeah. because I always tell people that I spell my name ten ten inbound like the number ten, because otherwise everyone spells it wrong. so that's that's sort of where it came from. But but you know, I I I wanna just put resources out there for people and help people in their firm.

Cause if I can save you, you know, three weeks of figuring out I mean, I have this with with I have one client right now, I'm helping her set up her tax dome, and I was able we were able to get a f on a 45 minute call. And in 45 minutes, I was able to pinpoint exactly what she needed to do, which features to pay attention to, which ones to ignore. Because there were there's a lot of things you should ignore at the beginning. Yeah, yeah.

When you're just trying to get your first pipeline set up. and like because I have a head for that, I'm like, okay, let's talk through your process. How does that translate into the tech? and so I I started a sub stack where periodically we'll write my thoughts about different demos I do, you know, certainly like how to run your firm better and things like that. then also the podcasts and try to focus much more on tech and like do demos and then bring them out and show people that way you don't have to like spend a million years doing your own demos because you could spend you can make it a full time job just doing demos all day of different software in the tech world because now especially with AI, every other day there's another one there's another software.

And and in the past year and a half, two years, we've added like three new, completely new categories of software that never existed before. AI tax research was the first one. Then workflow automation. So think anything that you know creates work papers automatically or put inputs stuff into your software.

And now, and this is more on the accounting side, but like now we have accounting agents. I just wrote about this in my Substack, where it'll do the work and it'll create the journal entries, post them into QuickBooks. I just had this myself where somebody I know from online created desktop bookkeeping software for free that you can download onto your computer. Everything lives there.

I and then you can connect an MCP, like connect Claude. And I had I was working on a complicated tax return where they didn't have books or they did, but it wasn't correct at all. And I had Claude recreate the books from scratch, like in in a few minutes. And now I have it inside an actual bookkeeping software.

So I can run actual reports. I can prepare the return. I can go through each you know, part of the tax return and like, you know, shift things around so that way it matches things correctly as I correct things. Like it's just I mean, there it's crazy what what's going on now.

So that's why I I think, you know, so anybody listening to this is thinking like probably going through constant I think that there is some a constant worry that, maybe I'm not doing enough.

Brad

Maybe.

Yehuda

you know, I'm I'm I should be, you know, I should be switching softwares. Maybe I'm behind. I don't know how to use Chat GPT. I don't know how to use Claude, Claude code, what even is that? you know, codecs, I've never heard of them.

You know, like and and it's so easy to feel like you're behind, but the reality is you're not because it's just going so fast.

Brad

Yeah. So that that's a good jumping point for your question of where do you start with tech? Where do you start when you're launching your firm? What's the essentials, right?

And I think it was about a year ago I did a video and I did a post on here's the essentials that I would start my firm with. but first I'll start with what did I start with my firm. Well, actually first I'll go here. Yeah.

I I think you could I I still am of a minority opinion and a shrinking minority, yeah, that you can run your tax firm profitably. Yeah. With no AI. Now with with with in without like any of these new things, like you're you're not gonna get left behind.

Like you you could start your firm with the tax prep software, a calendar solution, a voiceover IP phone or your cell phone. I wouldn't recommend that. But you know, so you you can start with your email, your cell phone, tax prep, right? Like you could run a profitable business that way.

Yehuda

With no AI.

Brad

And people are gonna be you're gonna be working 70 hours a week during tech. No, you won't. Like, I'm not saying you're gonna make a million dollars a year, but you can run a profitable tax firm without that. And there will be people who, you know, if you get the word out and you get in front of people, they'll hire you.

Right. So that's kind of like I'm still of that opinion that you could a hundred percent run a profitable firm that way. Now, that's not where I would start. I would start with some minimum things because if you don't start with minimum stuff, you're gonna get overwhelmed.

You're already Gotta do the normal stuff that every business has to do, right? You gotta get your tax ID number, you gotta get the bank account, you gotta get you know, your LLC if you want one set up. Like you gotta get your EFIN. Yeah, you'll be that's like technical stuff that you gotta like square away to make sure that you know what you're doing, right?

Yeah. And and you gotta get the EFIN early because if you try to go get it in February, you're not filing any tax returns at taxes because it takes a while. Yep. and so so yeah, there's there's all that stuff that you gotta do.

But from a firm process and running standpoint, and I haven't.

Yehuda

L L C there's so many actors.

Brad

I haven't thought about this for a while. So if I leave one out, let me know. But you know, number one, you gotta have tax prep software, right? So you've gotta prep tax returns.

Yeah. And I started on Drake. Drake was fine. Cost was great.

Value was fine. I wasn't doing overly complex returns. I think you could start with Drake. There's plenty of others you could start with. but in terms of value and cost, that it's it's a great one. so you know, start with tax prep software.

I would get Google business, right? So that you can actually have at ytintax dot com instead of whitein tax at gmail.com. You want to look legitimate.

And other people have too, so it's not gonna kill you. Right? Like again, I'm not one to tell you that you.

Yehuda

Which is what I started with. And that's thing is like there's so many parts of this business thing that are like Does it matter? Does it not matter? Like maybe it does, is it that important?

Brad

Think it helps with legitimacy, right? So, so I would do that. And also along those lines of legitimacy, I would put up a one-page website with very little text on it. Yeah.

Because everyone wants to put their whole, I got a PhD in this and I got a master's. And no one gives a crap. Right. They just want to know: can you can you help me with the taxes?

Whether that's mine is peace of mind, filed, compliant, like. Yeah. That's kind of what I go for in terms of marketing. Other people is, you know, I can save you money.

Other people is I can take this off your plate. Whatever, right? Whatever your angle is, there's a one-page page that says, here's who I am, here's what I not even who I am. Here's here's your problem.

Here's the fact that I can solve it. And you know, here's the next step, right? One next step. Yeah. you know, book an appointment, which connects to your calendarly.

So tax prep, email, website, calendarly. Yeah. You you you can do that. I personally would add Taxedome into that. now, you know, if you want to do firm three sixty or canopy, right?

If you want to do a demo and figure out which one fits best for you, fine. I didn't demo any of them. I had a friend on Tax Dome. I went with Taxedome.

And if there's a better one, there might be. I wouldn't know because I didn't demo any other ones. I just I find that and that would be my main solution. My main recommendation would be if if you want to do the demos, fine.

But stop wasting time. Just find something that works. Yeah. Use just find something.

Yehuda

Just do it. Just it works for today.

Brad

And somebody else is gonna be that's true because you're gonna to I changed my project management system in the middle of tax season twice. Wow. Because it was worth it to me to pick up now, you know, could I have avoided that by doing some demos first, maybe.

Yehuda

Maybe I think also it really depends on which stage you're at and then what your goal is. So like I ran my firm on the side for four years before I went out full time on my own. when I was on the side, like having Y10 Tax Solutions at gmail.com didn't really matter.

Yeah. Nobody cared. Right. What I say about service-based businesses is what's cool about service-based businesses, most of the time has very little to do with like price is a factor and expertise is a factor.

And credentials are a factor, but the biggest factor is usually just vibes. Yeah. Most people are just going off vibes, vibes and price, and that's it. And if the vibe is good enough, price usually doesn't matter.

So if you're starting out like that, then that's one thing. If your goal is to go from zero to 60 in you know, three months, we're gonna have a full service accounting firm with five employees. Well, then it's a very different picture. Right. most of the firms I talk to are either solo firms or solo with a mix of part-time help.

Up to a couple of employees. I'd say like even that transformation requires some serious, you know, attention. But at the end of the day, like it really, it's it's really all about what your goal is and then like figuring out what steps it takes to get.

Brad

Yeah. I mean when I when I started my process was can people find me and can I do the work and can I talk to them? It was like I I had a Google spreadsheet, I had DocuSign, I had email, I had Drake and I had a Google map listing that was like, you know, and then people would reach out and I'd answer the phone back then. and talk to people and give them a quote and then do the tax return.

And it was like, well, where are people at in the process? I don't know, let me look at my Google Sheet and find their name and find a little drop-down next to them. They're you know, and then I hadn't updated it in a week. So it's like, I don't know, let me go look at the file, right?

Yeah. And it's like whatever, like I made it, right? Like so you can start out way better than I did. Yeah.

But you don't have to start out like with like this perfectly optimized thing either. Yeah. So that's where, like I said, I I I personally would recommend find a software that works, get a calendar, get an email, get a website up so people can find you. If you can get on Google Maps, do that, then just Tell everyone, email people, post on whatever social media you're on.

You don't have to learn a new one, just post where you're at. Yeah. And then eventually, you know, you want to be posting where your clients are too. But and and then just just start doing work and then you'll figure out what the pain points are and then you'll find solutions for it.

Because you can't really solve too many problems until you know what they are. Right. and the best way to do that, I I mean honestly the best way to do anything is just start doing it and then improve upon it as you're doing it. But I would I would start with Tax Dome and I would start with a very s you know, just a simple pipeline.

Like no automations necessarily. Yeah.

Yehuda

But I think that jump what you're saying, a pipeline for me, even conceptually understanding what a pipeline was and how it worked and the mechanics of why that multi-dimensional view of how jobs, tasks, stages, and pipelines interconnected with each other. Yeah. That was a huge jump. Like that was a brand new understanding of project management in general.

Brad

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So here's how I thought about it was you you if I sat down and asked you to explain from start to finish, you know, a client, you you would walk through the process that we all go through, right? Like, well, first they gotta find me and they reach out to me.

Then, you know, I gotta give them a quote, then they say yes, then they gotta pay, then they get sign an engagement letter, then I gotta actually do the work, then I got follow up questions, then I gotta review the return, then I gotta deliver the return, then I gotta e file the return, and then I gotta confirm that the return was e-filed, right? Like to some degree. That's the pipeline for anyone who's in tax prep, right? Right.

And so.

Yehuda

But it's a very one dimensional view where it's it's just one line. It's a from start to finish. But that's not actually how work gets done.

Brad

Right. So so that's where you've got that straight start to finish. Yeah. What I did was I just wrote that down on a sheet of paper.

I just thought out and I just put squares and I wrote it all out. Here's the process it goes through. And then, like you said, I was like, well, sometimes it's got to go back. Yeah.

Right. So in my pipeline, I do have some spots where things can loop around. And so that's why not everything is an automated move at the end of a stage because it doesn't flow that way. Right.

Like I might pull one. That goes into well, I mean, I actually added some extra steps so I can still flow that way. Yeah. So, you know, it's like work on the return, send the return to clients for questions, continue working on the return.

Yeah. But then I might send it back to questions and then it might go to continue working on it. Send it back for questions. Now, you know, you you don't want to do that five times.

You want to eliminate all the back.

Yehuda

You hope, but sometimes clients will only answer half a question. Right.

Brad

Well, in that case, I don't move it to continue working on. Well, you know, I mean if they answer five out of five questions and then I find out that they really didn't give me what I needed, then it's got to go back to them again, right? Right. So so there's some stages there where where they'll loop back around. and you just you just gotta understand, like, yeah, it's only gonna show up in a line.

Yeah. But there's some stages where it loops back around. Sometimes they skip a stage, right? Like like waiting on answers.

If I don't have any Follow-up questions is gonna skip that stage and go straight to ready for me to do my second review or something, right? Yeah. And so thinking through that, and that's where, you know, just being able to identify where clients are in the process at a high level, right? So in the tax dome view of the pipeline, I can very quickly see there's 10 people in waiting on answers.

There's five that I need to be working on, there's four that are waiting for the e file to come back, right? And so to me, That's the only way that I can stay sane while managing a firm because if I was sitting there going like, Well, I got 300 people and I don't really know where any of them are at in the process, I'm gonna constantly be going into each one and being like, Okay, where were they at again? Where or scrolling my Google Sheet like I was in year one, which was fine because there wasn't that many. Right.

But I'm scrolling and reading notes that I wrote about where their file is at and looking at the status drop down. And I can sort by status. but but yeah, that view, so And that's why I say too, like don't I mean I don't I personally didn't buy someone's pipeline. I do sell mine in the marketplace and I know that workflows for tax pros have like a pristine one.

I didn't do that. I wanted to know what was going on, so I built it myself because I didn't want something firing off automatically that I wasn't sure about. Right, right. Now, you know, okay, and they've got their process right where you go through and you work on it and you adapt it and then you test it.

So they've got the process down.

Yehuda

There's their set of pipelines.

Brad

and I think that that's a a good route to go if you do want to just fully optimize one from the beginning and they've got the support to actually help you do it. Yeah. but you know, I I do think there's also some benefit and some upside to starting simple and building. And I think about this when I think about tax prep AI.

Yeah. Because ultra tax has been around for decades, right? Like 50 plus years, right? Probably.

And so it's like, well, they they created their software when the tax code was very easy. Very few schedules, very easy tax return.

Yehuda

I don't know because I wasn't around in nineteen eighty six. Right. Sir, I'll take your word.

Brad

But there were very few tax updates back in the day, right? The guy that I started doing my ta the guy that I started doing taxes with started in seventy five or six or something, right? Okay. And it was like it was a paper form.

And you could fill it out. Yep. And you could do that for multiple people. Yeah.

And you know, you you you could do the tax return that way. And then there was software to help. And then, you know, the tax code got a little bit more complicated. They got more complicated.

And now it's just absolutely ridiculous how complicated it is. So, but think about how. Our Ultra Tax had a software that they've been able to add layers to every year. Yeah.

To now it's like, well, nobody could build that from scratch right now. And so now but then you've got new companies that are trying to build it from scratch. I mean that's way harder. Go from zero to a million.

So my my recommendation would be, you know, go from zero to two. Yeah. And then improve to three. And then maybe you can skip a couple of steps and improve to six.

But like you don't have to start out.

Yehuda

It's like.

Brad

You don't have to start out with where I am right now. I'm going into year eight. Like I'd be really impressed if you start out with where I am right now. Not to say that I'm in like an amazing place.

Like there's plenty of improvements out there. But it's like yeah, you're not gonna start out fully optimized.

Yehuda

It just takes time to get Something I I I think about a lot also is whether or not you should have a pipeline for every single dedicated service. Cause I I was recently going through this where I had I just have a miscellaneous pipeline. It's literally called miscellaneous pipeline. And when I have a random one-off job, like I don't know, starting an creating an entity that has like three stages in it.

I just add tasks as needed, just so I can track it. and then I realized like that's not ideal. So.

Brad

Yeah yeah yeah.

Yehuda

I I I had this, I forget who posted about it, but somebody either on X or LinkedIn posted about how they got they got Claude to create a pipeline for them. So I had tried this in the past, but it didn't really work well. Claude's been getting better and better about with working in in the web. most recently they added a browser native inside of Claude.

Brad

I saw that. So haven't played with it.

Yehuda

It it legit worked. It just takes a really long time. Which is why once once very soon, hopefully any day, we're waiting. Taxome, taxome's gonna be out with their own n native AI solution that you could just prompt and it can create things inside of Taxome.

Hopefully they'll be much quicker because it will know exactly what it can do. Problem was Claude, what I really should have had it do is go read all the documentation, create a skill based on that. And then start the work. The problem is it constantly was like not sure of things.

So it had to test it out, see the results. And it just took so long. But I had it create a pipeline for entity creation. Cause I recently had a client who just needed a bunch of new entities and different types of entities.

And I was like, I really need to make this a real process. So we I had Claude create an organizer and it was constantly asking me questions and I was giving it feedback about how to do things, how to change it. But it did a really thorough job of creating like a solid organizer asking all the information I needed about creating a new business that I'm realizing like now for the future I can that will, you know, help me. And then my goal is eventually to create pipelines for every single one of my tasks because otherwise it just becomes things just get lost in the wind.

And it's you know, if I ask the question once, I'm gonna be asking it to the next client the same way. For you, do I maybe you don't do other services.

Brad

I think I think each each each service, each thing that has a different process, should have a pipeline or some sort of way to handle that process that's standardized, right? Because again, if you hire someone, you want them to be able to walk through it. And this is one thing that I haven't done, right? Like I've got my tax prep pipeline, yeah, but I don't have everything documented.

And so it's like if I were to try to grow now in terms of more employees, it'd be like.

Yehuda

Yeah.

Brad

Well Brad, what do we do here? Brad, what do we do here? Like I've got the pipeline. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But I don't have anything else. Like, there's no I don't have any SOPs. Like I don't need right? And it's like, yeah, I know I need because you know, maybe I get hit by a bus tomorrow or whatever, right?

But you know, it's like so so that's one of the things that even from the call of Jamie that kinda came out, like, look, I.

Yehuda

Very it's very sparse. You're like, I know I need to do it. Yeah.

Brad

I don't I don't do a lot of stuff that's not necessary to be honest with you. So Yeah. And so it's like I know it's good. I know it'll be good for me.

It'll be good for my firm. but I don't I don't need it. I can wait, right?

Yehuda

Feels very The good thing is that there are much quicker ways to make SOPs now. yeah. The question is like who's gonna who's gonna read them?

Brad

Hundred percent. Yeah. So, you know, I'll use quad, I'll get them into wiki, into tax dome, I'll have it attach, or I'll get them into tasks and I'll have those may, you know, automatically created as it goes through the pipeline. But I do I had kind of a special projects pipeline where it was, you know, just like start ready to work on, waiting for client answers and finished, right?

Yeah. And so that was just to, you know, if I didn't have that pipeline, it's gonna end up being a sticky note on my which there are still sticky notes on my desktop too. So, you know, it's like the stuff that doesn't like it's a it's Those aren't processes though. Those are just like remember to do this, right? which I know other people are my my email inbox is clean.

There's like probably 10 or less unread emails. Okay. So sometimes my email is a to-do item because I've seen the email, I know what it says, I mark it as unread, and I'll keep seeing it as I check my email, and then I'll get it done when I have the time to do it. Some people like you know, I don't know if people still do, you know, getting things done. the book, G getting things done where like there's a whole system for your whole life.

Yeah. And I tried it for a while and I liked it until the system breaks as soon as you don't get something into the system because then you're like, well, if there's one thing outside of the system, the other thing's outside the system. And so, you know, to me, it it's it's in a pipeline, it's in my email inbox, or it's a sticky note on my desk. Yeah.

Like those are the three places it could be. And I don't have a million sticky notes. I don't have a thousand unread emails. I have two sticky notes and ten unread emails and a bunch of stuff in my pipeline.

Yeah. And so it's like it's fine. Like if it works for me, right? And so, you know, someone else can come in and be like, No, no, no, no, no, no, no, you can't and I'm like, screw you, man.

Like this my life is fine. I have no issues with so that's why I I tell people like, look, if you're looking for some help here, figure out what works for you. But I think that if you have a multi step.

Yehuda

Yeah.

Brad

Process, it should be in the pipeline, especially if you want other people working on it, not just yourself. Yeah. You know, employees or whatever. And if it's a different process, it should have its own pipeline.

Now, that was one of the things I talked with Jamie about on the call because they recommend you run your business and your personal tax returns through the same pipeline. And the same multiple preparers through the same pipeline. Now, some of that I I might incorporate, right? Like I I don't have a disagreement with that.

I have a personal preference not to right. So I think that their pipeline is probably more optimized than mine. Right. So so I would say that that's probably going to work for a lot of people.

But in my mind, yeah I can filter and whatever, but it's also just as easy as clicking a filter. To me it's just as easy to go from the 1040 pipeline to the business pipeline and look at that pipeline. Yeah. Yeah.

As it would be to click a drop down and filter it. And and there's and so I I I don't I.

Yehuda

Yeah.

Brad

Any downside to having a separate pipeline for that? But that's different than what we're talking about because those are basically the same process, but two different.

Yehuda

Version. Yeah.

Brad

Clients, right? but if you've got bookkeeping and tax prep, you're not gonna run those through the same pipeline. That would be really complicated. And you're not gonna run new client startup through the same pipeline.

Yeah. But as you're talking, you know, I don't have a new client startup. you know, I don't even have like I don't even have an SOP or a checklist. I just sit down in the call with people and start talking to them.

Yehuda

Right. Like how often was I even helping people create new LS and now it became more common things.

Brad

Yeah, and it's like I've done it enough times. Right. But but my staff haven't done it enough times. And if I put that into a process they can follow, they could be as good at consulting new clients as I am.

Yeah. If I put those things down in a standard process. And so that could be a pipeline, yeah. That they walk through for, you know, new business consulting.

And it gives them all the stuff for the call and everything, the checklist that they would go through to gather the right information.

Yehuda

And I think also from a business standardizing perspective, something I I talked about at one point, I was saying how like if you build it, they will come. I just put a services page on my website last tax season, or like last year when I was rebuilding my website before tax season, and multiple people came and like just went ahead and and booked a time to talk to me and paid for a consultation. Yeah. I didn't expect anyone to do that. but they did because I put it out there.

And I I think the same thing goes for like, you know, startup entity services. I think the one of the hardest things that us as accountants face is that we we want to help the client. We never want to say no. Yeah. can you help us fill out this random government form for a grant? yeah, yeah, sure, for sure.

But like then we forget, like we So see except for you, everybody else is like, yeah, sure. Right. And and you need to get used to saying no.

Brad

Absolutely say no to that. We're also no to a lot of things now.

Yehuda

I think there comes a point where you need to get used to saying, like, if it's not a pipeline for me, then the answer is no, that's not a service I do. It's almost tax season. What are like, I'd say like your top tips for what people can do to like, so you said obviously, you know, start simple. That's somebody who's starting out.

What if you're already doing this? Imagine a firm, either one to three, you know, employees in that range. Like, what are just some simple basic things they could do before this upcoming tax season to be more ready? To be prepared and then also to not feel like they're behind.

Brad

That's a good question. So I guess we're assuming that they feel like they're behind.

Yehuda

Everybody feels like that. I feel like I'm behind. They're parts of Claude and I'm using Claude heavily. Like I moved to I feel behind on my work also, which is a whole other thing, which I'll tell you about in a minute. no, I think everybody feels a little bit bad.

I mean, I've met very few people out there that I feel like they're like, Yeah, I'm meeting all my deadlines and I have enough cash flow and I have no worries at all. Like that's very rare.

Brad

Behind on the tech. Behind on their work. Behind on the tech. So I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna give you a clip here that if you really wanna throw me under the bus, you can clip it and leave out the context and get me in trouble.

My first tip is stop watching Jason Stat's videos.

Yehuda

I and I and I we say this with all the love for Jason. Stop.

Brad

Now you're gonna get the context in a second.

Yehuda

The context. We love Jason. Jason's the best. Many times.

Wait, now give the context because I I think I know exactly where you're going.

Brad

I will watch a Jason Statz video and feel like I'm going out of business within the next forty eight hours. And then I'll start binging his videos. And then I'll get super stressed out. And I'm like, I'm not gonna have a business a year from now.

And then you know what happens? I stop watching the videos. I go back in my office, yeah, and there's a million people trying to hire me. Yeah.

And I'm like, business is just fine. You're.

Yehuda

You're better than me because business.

Brad

This is just fine. And so then I basically swear off watching Jason Statz videos until another one pops up and I'm like, I gotta watch that one. I need to know what this one says.

Yehuda

You don't understand. I can't even bring myself to click on the video. That's how stressed it makes me feel. He's like, here's how to automate absolutely everything in your.

Brad

Here's what here's what people are doing right now and and realize and how the next sperm owner is gonna and I'm like, I'm so screwed. And I get stressed out and then I can't watch Jason C. And well actually then I'll go play around with Claude for a little bit.

Yehuda

It's it's it's very cheap. And you realize like, there are legitimate things to ask.

Brad

And I realize like, some of the stuff's easy. And then I also realize like I'm never gonna figure this out. So let me just quit and go back to what is paying the bills, right? And I get it, like some people will be like, Yeah, Brad, but that's so that's so like short sighted because pi p you're paying the bills today, but what about I'm only forty two, you know, what about three years from now?

I gotta keep working, right? Like I'm not ready to retire. Yeah. Like so what am I doing to make sure my firm is ten and fifteen year ready?

Well, I I could be wrong. Yeah. And you could be in a.

Yehuda

Maybe.

Brad

cardboard box next to me if you listen to my advice ten years from now. But I I don't see it happening. Like I think ten years from now you could still have a business without the tech. Like now, you know, is it gonna be ideal?

Probably not. But but will you be like, I'm broke, I can't find work, I got no job, I'm in a cardboard box. Like, I don't think so. Again, I could be wrong. you know, but.

Yehuda

I so my theory with like, and that really talks to AI in general, of like where the industries are going. The reason why we're going to continue to have jobs, this is my theory, is that it all has to do with the weakest link. And the weakest link, usually in any accounting firm, is the client. Clients could use their own self-prep options.

They could go to a million other accounting firms. They could do a million other things other than hiring us. Yet they do. And they've always hired us and they'll continue to hire us.

But at the same time, I think there is a certain amount of investment you should everybody should be making into learning AI tools. Yeah. But it's not like you need to.

Brad

It's not to make sure that your firm is viable. I don't think. I think it's to make sure that you actually enjoy working in your firm. Right.

Now, you because let's say, let's go back. I I've got 350 1040s and I've got 50 business returns. Yeah. And I've got myself and another prepare.

And we, you know, we're average. I think she averaged 35 hours a week during tax season. I average 42 hours a week during tax season. Okay.

And you know, we're we weren't using any claw during tax season. We weren't using anything that was helping us prepare tax returns. We were we were meeting with clients live. We were manually prepping our own tax returns and I was reviewing all of them.

Okay. And we extended a third of them and life was fine, right? And so and and income was good. And so at the end of the day, I I could be making as much as I was when I left my other job if I did a third of the returns I'm doing.

And I could do that with almost no tech, right? So I there's still an option there. But if you want to improve, right, okay, you get the tax dome. And now I'm playing with Claude and I'm working on ways that it can help speed up my review process and it can identify things now that I don't have to focus on because it can do it.

Right. Like it can tie out W twos and 1099s like this. Yeah. Whereas, you know, I go and check off every number.

Now currently I also then also go check off every number because I'm not comfortable knowing that it actually but it's really good at that. It's actually really good at that. Yeah. And so I'm getting comfortable where it's like, hey, I may just like gloss glance at these things in the future because I already put them in or my staff put them in.

Yeah. Then we double checked it with Claude. Then I kind of come back and triple check it with a spot check and we're good to go. So So I think that those things are going to help you improve the the revenue and the profitability and the clients that you can serve and the way that you can deliver it.

But I also absolutely think that you could have a hundred to a hundred and fifty clients where you're not working crazy tax seasons, you're delivering the work, and they don't know or care what you're using. Yeah. Because it's going to come back to what you said earlier vibe. It's the trust, right?

If you can sit down with them and you can have a conversation. And you can get the trust level to the point where they pay you. Yeah. And then you can deliver the services.

It doesn't matter if you have AI or not. And you're gonna always be able to do that. Yeah. You're just gonna maybe be able to do it more efficiently and more enjoyably if you implement some stuff that you like to use and know how to use.

Yeah. And don't, you know, get overwhelmed every time you watch Jason Statz video. Yeah. Yeah.

And then, you know, crash out and burn, not because.

Yehuda

Yeah.

Brad

You're behind but because of the stress level of thinking.

Yehuda

You're behind of feeling like, I'm not implementing everything. And the reality is, if you're watching this video, if you're watching or listening to this podcast, if you're watching any of these videos, you're in the smallest possible percentage of accountants in the world doing this type of stuff. We think everyone's doing it. And maybe it's because we're like in our bubbles online, like on LinkedIn or whatever.

But the reality is most accountants, I'm I'm I'm tomorrow, I'm going to the IRS Tax Forum. There's gonna be 4,000 accountants there. I'm gonna speak to people. My guess is most of them are not using.

Brad

Nobody knows twenty five percent of what Jason Stats does, and guess what? He doesn't run a firm. So you're fine. Yeah.

Yeah.

Yehuda

Exact exactly. Most people don't even know. There are thousands and thousands and thousands of accountants. They don't even know what Claude is.

They've never even touched Chat GPT. I was at an event a few months ago where somebody was speaking and they said the word LLM and the person raised their hand and said, Excuse me, what's an LLM? Large language model. Like pe we so if you're doing this, I'd say the encouragement I'm gonna give people is that like you're actually much further ahead.

Brad

This is the thing that I I really want people to understand too is again, someone's been doing it ten years. There's people out there, like, here's how to s I scheduled tax season, right? And I saw some ways that other people schedule tax season, but then I was like, I don't want to do it that way. So I did it my own way.

Yeah. And I haven't seen anyone else do it the way that I did it. Yeah. But it worked really well for me.

Yeah. Right. And so then it's like well, you're sitting there looking like, man, like so and so and Brad and Logan and you who like these guys are like, my gosh, they understand so much and they're running their firm so well. And it's like Yeah.

Like, look, th it's not like like none of those people are lying or a front, right? Like they got some stuff figured out that maybe you haven't figured out yet. Yeah. But also, like you start to pay attention to people like that that are putting themselves out there, and you start to realize they're just putting themselves out there.

There's no dir like yeah. Like your firm is probably better in several ways than the people who are saying, Here's how to run your firm. Yeah. But they're just out there trying to help people.

Exactly. And yours is so so.

Yehuda

I'm just following the terms.

Brad

That was a really long-winded way to say like, don't knock yourself because you're doing way better than you'd think you are. I I don't I don't know how well you're doing and I don't know how bad you think you're doing, but I guarantee yeah, you think you're doing worse than you actually are.

Yehuda

Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

You just aren't going on the internet and sharing 'cause I do.

Brad

Yeah. And that and again that that kind of came back to what probably wasn't gonna make in video, but I was like, man, these people are so far ahead of me. And then as I started like to watch more of their stuff and then like message and like I'm like, actually I'm mad at them. Yeah.

And in certain areas. Yeah. And so it was like, yeah, like stop comparing and just make your firm as good as it can be this year. And then you said, you know, going into this tax season, what should they focus on?

I derailed us again. it would be it would be improving something that drove you crazy last year.

Yehuda

It doesn't really matter.

Brad

Yeah. So what I do is I keep a Google Doc in in my drive. And anytime I run into something that I can't change on the f in on the fly, right? Like, hey, like we forgot to ask this question in the organizer, go throw it into the organizer and move on, right?

Yeah. do that, fix it if you can right away. If it's a you know, a couple minutes, fix it. But if it's a bigger project, throw it into a Google Doc, have one doc.

Me and my staff are on it, and I say, look, anytime you hit something that you think isn't working well. Yeah. Throw it into that dock. And this is the time of year where I go into that dock and I go, Okay, here's the things that during tax season we said we need to fix before next tax season.

Nice. Which ones can I work on now? Which ones can I actually fix? Usually you can fix them all.

Yeah.

Yehuda

Yeah, because people wonder all the time how they're supposed to use AI. And the answer is, like any other tool, it's just a problem solver. First you need to come with your problems. If you don't have any problems, then you're not gonna actually utilize anything in AI.

You're not gonna with this.

Brad

Yeah. I mean, this goes back to the type of I mean, I was just talking to my wife last night. and I was like, I I just, you know, I don't understand when you know, like someone's like, Hey, let me show you how to do this. I'm like, don't show me how to do it.

Just let me get in there and like click around and play with it, you know. So like like, you know, like did did I sign up for a how to do claude, you know? Like, no, I just went in and played with it. Right.

I'm probably missing a lot of stuff that it'll do. Yeah. But I'm also not overwhelmed because I'm only doing the stuff that I figured out myself. Yeah.

Right. Yeah. And so it's like I just you know, here's a new iPhone. Like, okay, I don't want to walk through your demo on how to use it.

Just let me play with it. Here's a new VMix software where, you know, like, yeah, I might have watched a couple of YouTube videos, but I don't want to take a class. I just wanna play with it and figure it out. Yeah.

Not everyone is that way. Yeah. I get that. Not everyone wants to get in and click around and play.

Yehuda

I do both when I started with Taxome I spent two weeks watching every video.

Brad

Okay, yeah. See I just played with it until I figured it out.

Yehuda

No, and I was simultaneously playing around with it and I figured out most of it. Like I'm like I don't going into this, I don't want to miss anything. Yeah. Because there are random settings that are like hidden in different places that you're like, had I not watched the video, I wouldn't have thought about it that way.

I wouldn't.

Brad

So you gotta I mean like that's the too with your firmware like you can't you can't you can't watch one of my videos if I just say play with it and then you know that's gonna stress you out. Yeah. You gotta figure out, you know, like well if you're someone who needs something, suck it up and pay for something like workflows for tax probes. Like you're gonna get yeah.

If if you want someone to walk you through, I don't know what they cost now. Yeah, but I guarantee you it's worth it. Yeah. Because if you need that walkthrough where you're not gonna just play with it.

And you're not gonna deal with the frustr. I mean, I went through a lot of frustrations trying to figure it out. Yeah. And if you want to avoid that, you can't then complain about the pricing because it's gonna save you.

Like, yeah, it's either worth whatever they pay to avoid all that crap or it isn't. Yeah. I I tell people all the time, I am a classic DIYer. Yeah.

Which is why, you know, like I would not be a client of mine because which.

Yehuda

Exactly.

Brad

We don't have DIY clients, right? Because DIY clients are on Turbo I wouldn't be on TurboTax. Right? Like I'd be on.

Yehuda

Yeah, a hundred percent. That's why I became an accountant because I didn't want to pay someone to do my taxes. That's literally.

Brad

I was doing my own taxes before I started doing taxes for a living. Yeah. And you know, it's like I I I that's who I am. So I understand those people.

Yeah. but also you you can't complain about something like a cost of of what are some other ones that workflows for tax pros or the cost of I mean, that's just the one that always comes to mind because I'm I'm always thinking about tax stone. Yeah. You can't complain about that.

Yehuda

Or or like productive solutions.

Brad

And then also go and complain about how your clients complain about your pricing.

Yehuda

Exactly. We're we're like our own worst enemies sometimes.

Brad

It's like I kick I'm not gonna pay that, that's not worth it. Hey.

Yehuda

How come you won't pay me to do your tag? Right, right. Or even sometimes our like software vendors will raise their prices and we'll you'll see a million cons complaining. Like, but we raise our prices also.

Yeah. And like, yeah, it's annoying and it's difficult, but like we all have to figure out how to make our, you know, our firms profitable. So okay, those that's all like the simple stuff. Just to like maybe wrap things up.

What are some cool well maybe we'll both share like what are some cool things you've been doing lately with Claude or AI?

Brad

Trying to if I did anything new with Claude recently because all the cool stuff, I feel like it's not gonna be cool anymore because I'm still only doing the stuff I was doing six months ago. Like like I'm only doing the stuff I was doing six months ago. Yeah. And so it feels like if I don't like share it with people, yeah, it's gonna be old news.

And then they're gonna be like, Well, Brad, we were doing this six months ago and you're still talking about it like it's new. But that's gonna go back to the question of what you the thing you said earlier. I feel that way because I've been doing it for six months. Yeah.

But 90% of the people haven't.

Yehuda

Yeah, right. Exactly.

Brad

And they haven't seen it. So the thing, the thing that I think I like the most right now is the reviewer project. Okay. and I honestly don't think it's saving me a whole lot of time right now.

I think it's saving me some mental bandwidth. and and I'm enjoying it. Yeah. And it gives me a little bit more peace of mind.

Okay. So in a small firm, if you're by yourself, you're preparing to return. And then I hope, I hope you're waiting a while and then coming back. Right.

Right. Like, yeah. So I hope you're doing that. Now I've got, you know, one preparer.

So I'm reviewing her return. So that's great. Well, what I do is I have a project where it's got custom instructions. Well, Brad, how did you use those custom instructions?

Well, one, I'm gonna copy and paste them and share them with the community.

Yehuda

See it with fresh eyes.

Brad

Okay. so they will have those. I'm also gonna use Claude to make them a little more generic and actually have it where when you go to use them, it it prompts you with questions to then customize them to your own process. Yeah.

So so it'll it'll be you know, like here you go, start using it type of thing, and it'll help you start using it, which is the cool thing about it. Yeah. The the thing that I like about it is it's got custom instructions. I drop the stuff in there, it ticks and ties everything. it even brings up things like, hey, what about this?

Right. So usually there's a couple of stages and it'll be done. I'd skim it because it I mean there the thing that I've said to Claude the most this week is, would you stop saying so much? Just Tell me what I need to know. galosh, it's as bad as this stupid podcast right here.

Yehuda

They they so they just came out with a cap size mode because it does Just show me like the final percent.

Brad

and I realized that's what this is. So so anyway, it it I skim through that, right? And then it gives me like the the list. And so sometimes, you know, it's just me like, okay, number one, don't worry about it.

I already figured that out. Number two, yes, I need to follow up with the client on that. I I've already sent them a message. Number three, you might be like, Ooh, I did overlook that.

Yeah. you know, and so because again, you're solo and you're not perfect. Like I have no problem saying I'm so so what is it, right? Like it it.

Yehuda

Yeah.

Brad

It double checks stuff. Is it perfect? No. But I'm not asking it to be.

Right. It's just making me think through things. And some of the things I'm like, no, you're wrong on that. And I did it right.

And it's like, yeah, you're right. Or it's like, yeah, I didn't have the full context, right? Yeah. And so I try to give it as much con I I give it the organizer and the documents and like as much as I can, right?

Yeah. But but it'll it'll flag hey, the name. You transpose the letters in the last name. Yeah.

And it's like, cool. Like.

Yehuda

Right. Yeah, it'll pick up stuff that you would never pick up. Or even I've had it where it's like, y there's two spaces in between those words. You're like, I never would have seen that.

Brad

So it's like like the reviewer project I like because again, with no one above me, and I don't, you know, even if I had 50 people below me, I'm gonna have no one above me as the firm owner. Yeah. It gives you another level of like something checked over this stuff, and my eyeballs didn't just happen to read the last name correctly because I know what the last name is. Right.

It caught the transposed name, which you know, okay, that's not a big deal, right? But a transposed number is. And you could do that all day long. Right.

And so, and it'll catch those too. I've tested it. and and it'll catch stuff like that that again it's not great for like, I don't know how to do this return. Would you tell me how to do it?

Yeah. Because you're not gonna know if it's right or not. Right. But it's awesome for reviewing the work and saving you some time when you know how to do it.

Yehuda

And at the very least, like then you have a starting point where you can go research stuff.

Brad

Yeah, so so reviewer my my ten forty reviewer, it's a project, custom instructions, and and it'll it'll go to the folder and look at the files, right? It it has no access to the internet or anything like that. It's stock two type two compliant on a business plan, blah blah blah.

Yehuda

Go consult your own security.

Brad

Cut a Jason Statz image in here where he says, you know, don't trust a YouTuber for your IT. He goes on to tell you exactly what settings you should set in your quad on to be.

Yehuda

Exactly, yes, yes. Go speak to someone more qualified than us. Yes.

Brad

So that's not that's not who I am. And I'm not gonna tell you, you know, what information I am and aren't putting into Claude and and you know, stuff like that. You know, you you can ask, but I'm not gonna tell you. I I will tell you that I'm taking proper measures to secure client data because that is a serious matter.

And I'm I'm doing what I believe I need to do to secure client data a hundred percent of the time. So yeah. that the so that project's awesome. I do have a tax return research project that again.

Has custom instructions and it's just the project where I start a new chat within to do some research. Yeah. Is that the end of my research? Sometimes. depends on the topic and what I'm actually asking about and what I get back and how I feel about it.

Yeah. sometimes it's the beginning. and then I have a tax strategy one that I like. Think maybe tax strategy IQ or something with a similar name to that, right?

Okay. where, you know, like. It's it's coming up with some strategy that applies to that client. It's summarizing it into a document table that I can then print.

So basically that's an HTML tool paired with a project where I'm chatting in the project with the custom instructions. It's giving me a plan. Yeah. I'm going back and forth with like, no, I don't like that one.

Yes, move this one from section A to B or whatever. Yeah. Yeah. And then give me the JSON file that I then copy and paste into the HTML.

And then the HTML is like a pretty looking, you know, branded.

Yehuda

Next.

Brad

This is the other thing that drives me nuts. Yeah. If you have Claude, build a report or a website. It's gonna look like every Claude report or website that has ever been built.

Yeah.

Yehuda

You know the three the three colors?

Brad

Just go in and say, Here are my brand colours. Yeah.

Yehuda

I see this all the time. And and I'm not necessarily against it, but but like when I whenever I see someone with a a slide deck that is blue, like royal blue, gold, and like beige. Those are odd favorite favorite colors. I don't have a problem with some like all my websites are made by.

Brad

I I get like my my wife was in branding and so she did my website. I've got I've got a vibe, I've got I've got font that's specific to my.

Yehuda

Make sure you're not just using the first thing that comes.

Brad

But but even if you didn't think through what your colors are, keep consistent, whatever they actually happen to be. Right. So you know, just go in and give it the the code for the colors and and your give it your website and say, make it look like my website, right? And wasn't go holy by Claude.

Yehuda

Assuming your website has colours. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah. I think I th the or.

Brad

Or you if you're not even gotten that far, just be like, here's here's the vibe of who I am and what I want my firm to. And then it'll create something. And if you like the way that looks, then use that as your brand. Yeah.

Moving forward. But don't let it just give you the stock. Here's what every clawed thing looks like. Yeah.

Yehuda

Give it some personality. An an overarching principle I've found with using AI tools is that you need to be using in a way where you have ownership over the response. I can ask Claude to make a super complicated taxi report. And let's say I have that, it's ready to go, and then I step into a meeting with the client.

I'll have no idea what's inside of there. 100%. And unless I either spend the time to s to review it or I.

Brad

Yeah.

Yehuda

make a project like you're doing where you're saying, here is exactly how I want you to review it. So I had this with some accounting work where I said, you know, I was using a different product than Claude, but I said like here I need you to go through all these PDF statements, create a an Excel workbook with all the financials. And here are the rows or here are the columns that I want you to use. So that way when I get it back and I go to speak to the client, I know exactly what everything is.

Otherwise it will go off to the races and do like the most ADHD like workbook with like a million tabs that ha n none of them are helpful.

Brad

And it's like it's like, well, Yeah, you created it with Claude. I can do that too. It's like if you knew the hours I spent going back and forth with Claude to get what I wanted, because I had a vision for something that I used it to create, sure. Yeah. but the other one is the other one I really like.

I I've got a reasonable comp project, right? Yeah. So I'd I'd I I like their service. I think it's worth the money, but it for some people, yeah.

But I dropped my RC report subscription. Yeah. Because I ran a couple.

Yehuda

Exactly.

Brad

And I was satisfied with the project that I had. Again, it's got an HTML JSON report that I print out. Nice. And in under an hour, I could actually turn that into a client facing HTML webpage that I put on my website that would have them fill out the information.

Jump dump it into, you know, my inbox or whatever, and then copy and paste it and give them the report. Right now, right? It's just I can I can dump it into the cloud project. Here's the person, here's the situation, here's what they do.

What I like better. And yeah, you know, can you do a reasonable comp project yourself? A hundred percent. Yeah.

But it's gonna come out possibly different than mine because mine has all the stuff that I put in there and told it what I thought about reasonable comp and how I felt like it should determine reasonable comp. Now, you know, the underlying ninety nine percent of it, which is probably the same underlying ninety nine percent that RC Reports uses, yeah, is BLS wage data. Right. So, you know, like And there's there's some other stuff here to it, right?

Like I got proprietary instructions in my Claude project, and the only reason why they're proprietary is because they're unique to whatever I told it when I was talking to it. Yeah. but ninety-nine percent of it is based on BLS wage data, and it just is pulling that information and it's matching what I said to like I don't even have to pick what their job is. Nice.

I just tell it what they do, yeah, and it'll pick. The BLS wage data. And it'll even tell me, like, hey, I thought about these four and I picked this one for this reason. Okay.

And then I could obviously be like, actually you should have picked this one instead, right? Yeah. And so that, you know, like I can now run for free, unlimited RC reports that will stand up in court because they're based on BLS wage data. Yeah.

And the information that we have. So.

Yehuda

Yeah. Software software companies are gonna need to work a lot harder on creating solutions that are unique that cannot be.

Brad

Okay, then that's Now the benefit. And I talked about this with somebody about like tax plan IQ, right? Like you talked to about RC reports. The benefit is we've already discussed we're DIY type people, right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like I spent some time building that RC reports. I spent some time building my tax strategy project. Yeah.

And there's gonna need to be some updating to it, right? That is gonna take more time. So I talked to To this about like Juno with Jack as their head of AI at Juno. If you just want, you're gonna have to pay for it.

Yeah. But RC Reports is always gonna be kept up to date. Tax Plan IQ is gonna be kept up to date. It's also gonna have 30 CPAs who have gone through the strategies and are backing them up.

Juno is gonna go through and make updates based on.

Yehuda

Yep.

Brad

Feedback they get from thousands of users and they've got a team of CPAs who are making sure that it's so if you don't want to do the maintenance, yes, yeah, you can build an RC reports. You could probably build a Juno yourself that's unique to your clients. You could build a tax plan IQ for yourself. Yeah.

But there's value in someone else keeping that maintenance up. And you just have to determine where you wanna put your money and where you don't, and what you're comfortable doing yourself and what you enjoy. I mean mow my grass, but I stopped doing it two years ago. Like I don't wanna it's we already discussed the humidity.

Yeah. I don't want to go out there. I'd rather play with my kids on their Xbox than go outside and mow the grass because it's hot. Yes.

And so it's like, yeah, you can do it, but you gotta decide like, hey, I don't want to keep these strategies up to date. So I'm gonna pay for tax plan IQ. Great. Great.

There's still the same way there's still gonna be people who want to hire me instead of using turbo TurboTax, great. If you want to do it, great. Yeah.

Yehuda

There's a balance with everything and.

Brad

But there's enough people who never been.

Yehuda

Easier to go do your taxes on your own. Yeah. Yeah. So just to wrap things up, people can find me online at y tentaxtech dot com.

That's y one zero t a x t e c dot com. Where can people find you, Brad, and and your and also your community as well.

Brad

But there's enough people who don't want to do that. Yeah, yeah. I mean easiest place is just go to just go to LinkedIn and type Brad Wooten C P A.

Yehuda

Possible has been so much fun. Thank you, Dash, for being our our mascot here.

Brad

Totally stops working once he gets to know you.

Yehuda

Awesome. That's great. Thank you. Yep.

Brad

As always, thanks for watching.