Jamie Gruol: Hello and welcome to Diary of a Tax Practice Owner. I am your host Jamie Gruol

Jessica Smith: And I am your co host, Jessica Smith. 

Jamie Gruol: And we are so excited to have you here because this is our inaugural podcast, Jessica. Can you believe it? So what we wanted to do in this podcast is first we wanted to introduce you to our idea around Diary of a Tax Practice Owner and share with you a bit about our story because it’s a pretty fantastic story if I do have to say so.

So Jess, why are we here? What in your words is the reason that we are here sharing these podcasts today?

Jessica Smith: so I’m really excited for what we’re putting out for everyone. Um, both myself and I know you as well, Jamie, have been inspired by some of the stories that we’ve heard from other people in our industry who are embracing automations, scaling their firms without having to add massive amounts of time and energy into their practices. And I’m just really excited that we’re getting the chance to bring these people togetherand share their stories with the world. Okay,

Jamie Gruol: a lot of amazing leaders in this industry. And we want to share their stories with you because oftentimes you’re hearing about how they are working today. And it’s the story of how they got here that we find most inspiring because so many of them.

Had to think bigger, had to get out of their own way. And these stories are what we want to share with you here on Diary of a Tax Practice Owner. So to help you catch up with where Jessica and I are today, we thought it’d be fun to share with you. Our fantastic story of how we actually met in a one in 35, 000 chance.

It’s probably more than that. We looked at statistics, but here’s the cool story. So Jess, why don’t we go back to the beginning and maybe you could share from your perspective of how we bumped into each other on these internet streets. Yeah. 

Jessica Smith: fate, people are supposed to meet, serendipitous chances I guess are, are probably what some people might call it. I truly believe that the way that you and I met, just because of my, you mentioned those odds, like those are probably the more measurable, the more measurable odds.

Um, but it is. It’s kind of strange to think that you and I were both in this Facebook group that has like over 35, 000 members. So that’s where we’re kind of getting this number. And that was 35, 000 members over four years ago. And with a group that large, you know, because it was, it was I believe called Freelancing Females.

It was a Facebook group designed to bring different freelancing women together to share their services and products with each other and just a way to like promote your business. So it was a lot of self promotion was actually allowed within that group. And the interesting thing was, in that large of a group, there were easily hundreds of posts every single day.

And You happened to post that you were looking for some help with some market research. And the funny thing that actually drew me to respond to your post is the method that you chose to try to get the market research was a method that I had been taught to do as well. And I had done that Probably like a couple of months ago.

So I was like, Oh, well, I know that what she’s trying to do is going to help her to potentially gain more clients. And I was like, I would love to help someone else with their market research. I kind of fit the bill for what she’s looking for. And you know, why not help somebody else out? There, there wasn’t any action on that post yet.

So I’m like, Oh, I’ll just respond that I’m interested in it. And, um, so Jamie offered an Amazon gift card in exchange to meet for like 10, 20 minutes and just get some feedback on a couple of things to do some market research. Literally, one out of like the 35, 000 people, I’ve, as far as I know, is the only one who responded. 

Jamie Gruol: You were 

Jessica Smith: works is, you know, with a group that large, like you’re not going to see every single post unless you physically scroll through all the posts. So this just happened to show up on my newsfeed. And again, looking back at to what we’ve grown now and kind of how we randomly met in this group with like so many people with posts that were just like in hundreds a day, I, I know you and I both bleed.

There was a, uh, meant to be kind of fate involvement on that because after that one meeting, that one meeting, mind you, like we were still strangers, which I think is the other thing. Um, I was just starting to like introduce this method for how I learned how to put the tax dome system together. I just, again, I feel like I cracked the code at that point.

I had just figured out What I thought was an easy way to implement this process, and I had been getting more into workflows and automations in general. So I kind of just showed a friend, showed a friend, and then I didn’t expect those actions to turn into, like, 

the interest, right? It, it kind of just, I’m like, wow, there’s a lot of people who really are looking for help on this.

And then again, I reached out to you, a still a literal stranger. And I was like, Hey, 

is this something you might be interested in? I remember when we spoke, your background was in systems and you know, you were looking to do some of this work. This could be like some fun on something you could do on the side.

Right. And, um, it was interesting because I hadn’t even learned that you had an accounting background, which was kind of like interesting for me again, when I think about the whole, like how two people met and how this whole fate element came in to be. Yeah. And yeah, you were still a total stranger, and I was like, here, like, do you want this?

Like, does this sound like something that you would enjoy? And, yeah, and then the rest is just kind of, just what it is. That, that just snowballed, like, what we’ve put together now. And, um, I still think it’s kind of crazy that we didn’t even physically meet in person until, what, a year after we had grown together.

Jamie Gruol: least. At least. Yeah. 

Jessica Smith: yeah, it’s, it’s just, it’s 

interesting. I think sometimes you just meet people like you’re, you meet people in your life that are supposed to do and accomplish different things. And I can definitely say that the way you and I met and the way it all kind of like fell into place, um, was, it was, it was fate.It was, it was meant to be. Yeah. 

Jamie Gruol: you and I met, it was October of 

2020. So it was right after all the chaos of the shutdowns and the crazy tax season that never ended. So that was, that was just a time step for everyone. And so prior to that, you were a tax professional who was working for a law firm, correct?

And you got So do you want to just give a quick story on your back, like your before, before the meet, and then we can square up there so 

people understand where we’re coming from and how destined this was. 

Jessica Smith: Yeah, so I was actually connected with a tax law firm in San Diego, and, um, I was there for close to five years. I ended up leaving that firm in July of 2019, and I went to a CPA firm, um, shortly thereafter. That was not a good fit for me. Um, like, I had gotten pregnant with my youngest daughter, and, um, Let’s just say there was potentially some discrimination against my new medical condition that led me to seek something else.

And again, this is still pre COVID, but things were starting to get a little, little hairy there. Went to another law firm and was kind of responsible for building a tax division because they were primarily business owners. And I was there, um, literally up until April 13th of 2020. Um, because I was supposed to mark the first day of my maternity leave because the baby was going to be due a day, you know, a month later.

And, um, I ended up leaving that firm. There was, um, A lot of drama that ensued afterwards that I found out several years later have finally come to a head but I left there because what was I going to do at that point with This newborn baby. I couldn’t find a daycare. I was like, how am I going to make all this work?

I literally had the baby on um, the baby Brynn. I had Brynn on May 14th So i’m talking literally like 32 days into my maternity leave like she was born You The deadline I believe for that year had been extended from April 15th to July 15th, I think. So we were in like a July due date. So you’re talking, I had planned to go maternity leave with the expectation that was going to be like the original deadline and then I would like come back to work potentially in August and wrap anybody up that was on extension at that point. 

Jamie Gruol: Yeah. 

Jessica Smith: But I, complete wrench with the whole COVID situation. So I left the firm. Kind of like had a panic attack because I had no clue what to expect. Had the baby and I was like, well, I can’t just like sit on my butt and not do anything. Like I had always had a book of business that had been part time. And I was like, how do I bring this into a full time possibly can replace my income kind of endeavor with this new baby?

Like, what was I going to do? And five days after I had Brynn, I was in my home office just. back to work trying to get people ready to go, um, so I could have the income and worked my way through the deadline, but realized really quickly that there was still a huge need for people to get the help with the tax work, but that my super awesome little Excel spreadsheet was not going to cut it anymore.

And that’s when I first kind of learned about just like the world, like systems in general. Um, and it was intriguing to me because it, it allowed me to, to actually do more work without doing all the work on my own. Um, so that was really transformative for me. Um, and I don’t think if it were for the circumstances, um, because, the way that my brain focuses very well is like under intense pressure.

So I work pretty well under pressure, which is why this job, why this job worked so well for me. Um, and I took, I basically took all of that pressure and put it towards like how I was going to grow my practice. And it’s been a wonderful journey, a little scary at times, but, um, I have fully embraced, uh, That kind of like accidental expertise now as a systems expert and an automations expert.So it’s been, it’s been a fun ride. Yeah. 

Jamie Gruol: Yeah. I love that. And so That led you up through October. So where I was 

in 2020 is I was working in healthcare it. So I started dabbling in entrepreneurship back in 2014 as a Beachbody coach . So it was my, you know, introduction to personal development. It was my introduction to really focusing on my health and improving my health.

Uh, had my son in 2015 and was still working in healthcare I. T. So I was implementing software. That’s what I did for a decade before I met Jessica. And we were setting up electronic medical records, which if you go to your doctor and they have the Secure portal. Um, we were focused on Epic, which was this really monstrous beast and there were all these softwares that were connected to it.

So I worked initially on Epic itself and then I learned how to set up all these other softwares as well. And so the implementations that I was doing gave me experience in learning new software, figuring out how it works, figuring out how to set it up. Learning how to communicate it to patients in a very critical situation and also working with, you know, high pressure, large scale projects.

They were six and seven figure projects. So I, you know, software to me was just like, this is software. And I remember it was in 2019. I was driving and I was listening to a podcast and this woman talked about how she was setting up software for small businesses online. And it was Dubsado, HoneyBook, which are practice, not practice management, but, uh, client management systems.

And the client management systems were allowing these entrepreneurs to work smarter and be more efficient. And I had this like, Mind blowing moment where it was like, this can be done. Like I could contract and I could take all this skill that I’ve been learning and I could use it in a much smaller scale, but helping people directly.

And so I started dabbling in that. I started doing, you know, small business setups for photographers, for wedding venues, for small business owners, online coaches. And I got into that space. And so when I met Jessica, I was looking at, Trying to understand what that was for people so that I could start marketing better.

And I started learning the skill of marketing and I started learning the skill of, um, you know, client relations that I started learning how to automate my own business so that I could work efficiently because I’ve been doing the side hustle thing in multi level marketing and several other iterations of businesses that I had had ideas around and nothing had really taken off. And so when I found this using my skills and being able to do the setups of system, it was just a very natural fit for me.

And so I started having great success with that. I was starting to make, you know, multiple five figures a month somewhere, sometimes, you know, able to really impact my family, which was lovely. And I was starting to see traction. And then I met Jessica. And I remember when we met, she was so lovely and we get on the phone together and she is still, you know, has a young child.

So, I mean, Brennan was what like five months old baby at that point and then off to work. was still a very baby. Jessica was breastfeeding her daughter on the phone. And she’s like, We can not do this now. And I was like, no, I’m a mom. 

Like I’ve got two littles at home too. Like let’s just chat. 

Jessica Smith: up. I think all of my meetings for that first like year and a half were like all from here and everyone’s like, Oh, It’s just a head. I’m like, there’s a reason. 

Jamie Gruol: Just trying to protect you. No, but it was just like, we Just connected as two moms and she shared and she of course, you know, was had already had the system that I was setting up set up. And so I just got to like understand from the other side, like what her experience was. And she was just very open and as she always is, right.

Very open and giving. And so we got off the phone and, and then, um, in January, I remember the, there was a platform that took off. I was trying to find the name of it, but as platforms come and go, there was this platform that took off in January during all the shutdowns. And I invited Jessica on as a tax expert to try and, you know, market ourselves into this platform and we get on there.

And I had done several of these and they had been fairly successful, you know, get a few people in the room. Absolutely no one came into this room. So it was just Jessica and I sitting there for like half an hour, just chatting, you know, just doing mom things. And then she threw out this idea. She’s like, Hey, so I figured out how to do this setup of the system. And. 

I showed it to a few friends and they got really interested and I just ran a master class and like a hundred people signed up for it. So people are now coming to me and being like, help me set this up. And she’s like, you do systems, right? And I was like, yeah. And she’s like, well, do you think you’d be interested in learning about this new tool called Textome and checking it out?

It’s very similar to Dubsado. I have Dubsado, but you know, Textome is really cool and I’m starting to figure it out and use it more. Fully in my practice and other people are too. And she’s like, would you, you know, be interested? And I was like, yeah, let me check it out. And I was like, you know, the funny thing is, is I have an accounting degree.

So going way back in the time machine, I sat for the, uh, or didn’t sit for the CPA. I decided not to do that. I was not interested in going and working 80 hours. After they said you can have your accounting degree after four years of undergrad, I was like, thank you. I’m out. And I went into private accounting for several years.

And I worked as a cost accountant and decided that that just wasn’t my journey either. And so I set out on some other, um, career paths, which led me ultimately to healthcare IT. And I also got my MBA in that window of time. So I have like all these backgrounds that were like perfectly aligned with helping tax professionals and so, and accountants and bookkeepers and everybody in the financial space, because I understood, I spoke the language, right?

And so, I was like checking out this tool and I remember getting off the phone and it was like one of those like buzzy feelings. I don’t know if you’ve ever had those where you’re just like, there’s this like bolt that goes through you and like you’re left just like vibrating. It was just, it was the moment of like perfect alignment for me because I was, this was now February or January.

Jessica was going into tax season. So she’s like, can’t really talk until February, but let’s talk in, you know, a few weeks and I got to get my tax season kicked off. And so we got back on the phone and she was like, Hey, so I’ve got this group. There’s like 150 people in it. And she’s like, I’m not really doing much in there, but she’s like, I’ll make you an admin and introduce you.

And she just kind of naturally in her very giving way was like, we’ll just move forward and see what happens. Right. And I was like, yeah, we’ll see what happens. I don’t know. And so she and I just like, it was just like, We started just seeing the opportunities and I started just sharing all the things that I had learned through my software implementations and client experience.

And we just started building momentum and helping people answering their questions, helping them understand what tax don’t couldn’t couldn’t do. And it just grew. And so you got out of tax season and I got out, like that’s when things really picked up. We started doing one on ones. I was learning from Jessica.

She was helping like, fill the gaps for me with like, this is how tax professionals work. Here’s how a practice runs. And I was just picking up all these pieces as we were going along. So this was April, 2021. I did my first done for you set up. And Jessica was on the line with us and we talked through it.

We strategize for this person and we did a few of those. And then I started just doing one on one setups for people as well. Um, after that, and then we were like, There’s more people out there and they can’t afford them for you. So what can we do otherwise? And I started doing workshops. I was like, I now know how to do this.

I set it up four or five times and we started holding workshops. So every month I’d hold a four day workshop with people and we would set up their systems live. I would teach them how tax don’t work. It was a crash course essentially. And then there were people that were like, I don’t want to go to a workshop.

Tell them, you know, can you do a course someday? And Jessica was like, okay.

Jessica Smith: This is so funny to like hear again, like I know we’ve told the story a handful of times But it’s just so funny to like hear it again and like remember Just like all the different steps that, or all these different things that happen like along the way and be like, Oh my gosh, this is such a crazy story looking back on something, you know, from four, three, four years ago. It’s just, it’s insane to hear it again. Yeah. 

Jamie Gruol: her and she shared that with a colleague. And then the colleague was like, Hey, you really need to tell more people about this, Cause it’s really cool. and then that person shared in your business, in your practice, it’s the same thing. When you’re starting in the very beginning, you’re kind of doing anything and everything you can to be successful. You’re going to get scrappy, you’re going to get clients on, you’re going to serve clients in a way that you would never consider serving clients today, right?

Because you’re doing whatever you can to be successful. And I think if there’s one thing that you can take away from this, it’s that if you have a nudge, And you feel that something is pulling you towards vigor, go for it. It could be your practice. It could be stepping into a niche that you know about because of your past experience where you could dramatically help people because you could give them consults in addition to tax prep or tax advice.

Right. Um, but there are so many things that can be learned from your practice. background, your past life, and you can pull forward into this iteration of your life. And I know for me, that was like the big aha was. I was, seven years I was preparing for this moment, right? And 10 years of practice management set up, um, or implementations of software.

And then, you know, Jessica was doing 10 years of side hustle to build her practice at that moment that she needed the information or At that moment that she needed that nudge to take it bigger so that she could provide for her family It always life is always leading us towards this and the stories that we’re going to share in this podcast are very much the same There are all these little Through lines that people have looking back into their lives and telling their story as a practice and telling their story as a practice owner that they can now pull that thread today and be like, if you knew this and you knew to watch for this as a practice owner, you would start seeing your ultimate path layout for you as well.

And so I think like, for me, the reflection brings that, and it’s so powerful to, you know, look back and be like hindsight’s always 20, 20, right? But then we can look at it and be like, Oh, I see now. And then it’s our responsibility once we do see to share that with others. And so that’s what I think we’re doing here today, Jess, is, you know, sharing that story because there’s so much that we want to do in this industry.

So let’s talk a little bit about that before we. In today’s podcast, because I think that there’s, we have a big vision, like our, our little nugget started, our spark started on that October phone call. But over time, we’ve continued to feed that fire and the kindling and hear from the people that we’re impacting.

So let’s talk about what our vision is going forward. Because you and I, we just got back from a trip and we were talking to a lot of tax professionals and a lot of people that we’ve gotten impact directly through our program, but also people that. Learn from us. Just, you know, 

externally, you know, not even in our program that said, I have so much takeaway and so much impact that you’ve given. What do we want to do? We want to do more, right? Yeah, 

Jessica Smith: Obviously, there are some stories we, we can’t share, um, but we, we’ve gotten some really impact, we’ve, we’ve made a pretty significant impact on the lives of many practice owners. Some have been incredibly deep and personal. And I think that just goes to show that if you are going to, my husband always tells me, like, Selling doesn’t help helping selves, right?

we really do come from a place of giving and wanting to share this with people because as you know as someone who’s been in a firm Where the expectation was, you know, 90 percent billable hours, and you had to work, you know, 40 to 45 hours, what would be the off season, and then during the busy season, the expectation was 60 to 80, and like, realizing that I was trading my PTO so I could take my kids to doctor’s appointments, and hoping there was enough PTO that I could trade to go to recital, and there never was, and that was just not, you know, Okay with me and I know there’s a lot of practitioners out there who are in a similar state of like what am I working for like if I’m working to You know make all this money or you know, I’m a business owner.

I should have my own time freedom I should have the ability to go on vacation when I want to I shouldn’t be tied or tethered to my computer You know day in day out like this isn’t serving me Like I am looking forward to more lives that we can impact to teach them that like The tether doesn’t have to be there.

It’s imaginary right now. Like, let’s, let’s, let’s come together and put all of these brains that we’ve kind of dug into over the last like four years and find a solution so that you can have all those things that you want. Because it just doesn’t have to be what the industry has been since, what, the 60s, I think?

That we haven’t had a real change in how, um, how people are running their practices. So I’m really excited about what that looks like here in the future for more people. 

Jamie Gruol: I agree. And, you know, one of the interesting metrics that I’ve heard or data points is 60 percent of tax preparers. and accountants are women. And when you look at that and women are the head of the households, they’re carrying, like if they’re working 60 hour weeks that during busy season, 80 hour weeks, even that means they’re not present.

They’re not there with their mom, but their kids, they’re not there with their partners. They’re not sleeping well, which means they’re even when they are with them, they’re so exhausted that they’re just recovering all the time. That’s a long time in someone’s year. You know, when you look at mid January through mid April, um, and then even like the additional two months in September, October, like that’s a lot, that’s half of someone’s year that they’re not living their optimal life.

And for me, one of the things, as I mentioned earlier, it was personal development and I was always seeking freedom. I always knew that like, that was my word. It didn’t matter how I got to freedom. It was that I was seeking freedom, gaining skills, gaining the experience to someday find my solution. And as.

Tax preparers, accountants, bookkeepers, you are a skill based provider when you first start. And there is a shift that happens as you develop the skills to run your business. Whether it means you’re working more effectively, more efficiently, having the skills to actually provide high value services where you get paid more. And a lot of people struggle with that shift from skill based producer to entrepreneur, business owner, uh, whatever you want to call that hat that you’re going to wear. But that is where you do what you’ve done, Jessica, in your life. And the people that we’re going to talk about on this podcast is that shift over to the business owner and the entrepreneur and how you can gain freedom back through systems and.

And automations, but also how you can do it without having to scale to seven figures or having to bring on a team of 30 people to support your clients because everything’s being done manually. This is this is the opportunity that we have in 2024 to really bring this industry into one where freedom is possible.

And it does not mean working harder. In fact, one of our clients, Edwin shared he wanted to learn how to work smarter, not harder. And that is what systems do. So we’re so excited to get to share more with you Um, thank you for giving us this opportunity to look back on on our journey. Like I love, I love being able to reflect on, on where we’ve been.And, and I hope that, you know, my hope, and I’ll ask Jess for you to share yours in a minute, but my hope is is that you will take the story as, um, The inspiration to follow those nudges and follow those lightning bolt moments where you’re like, that just changed my whole idea of what this is possible for me. So Jess, what is your takeaway that you want to share with everyone today? 

Jessica Smith: I, you know, my takeaway is like sometimes the call from is coming from inside the house, right? And it’s so easy for us to overlook. what I think are signs or to overlook things that maybe are preventing you from taking that leap into the next step of your journey. Um, whether that be imposter syndrome, which I think is a huge one for a lot of people, or even the concern over scarcity in our industry.

And I, I really hope that what a lot of people take away from just all of the stuff that we’re going to be sharing is it’s okay to do scary things. Um, because scary doesn’t always mean we’re going to have a really catastrophic result. Sometimes we have to take risks to really push ourselves to another level, and um, I’m really happy that I took some of the risks that I did, um, early when I adopted, you know, all of these new things, because the payoff for me has been, you know, Completely priceless, and I hope that you know what we’re able to share with people inspires other people again to take that risk and Get make make this your own because that’s one of the wonderful things about Entrepreneurship in general is you should be able to have all of the things in What you want it to be I know I don’t want to scale to seven figures I just don’t.

Like, I don’t want to have a team, I don’t want to have a practice that requires a lot of management on my end. And it’s great because scaling for me is just reaching a certain level of clients and providing amazing service and just keeping those people happy and coming back every year. Um, so really I’m just hoping that people will, the call is coming from inside the house, like it’s time to make a change if you’re ready, If you’re ready, let’s just do it. And even if you’re not ready, just, just jump. Sometimes you just need to jump. 

Jamie Gruol: Yeah. Well, hopefully the stories we’ll be sharing will inspire you to look at what else is possible. That’s our biggest hope. So, uh, thank you Jess for sharing this journey with me and for being a part of my world. And I’m so excited to see what we do next.So we’ll see y’all in the next episode.

Jessica Smith: Bye!

Jamie Gruol: Thank you for tuning in to Diary of a Tax Practice Owner. We hope today’s episode inspired you to take the next step in your entrepreneurial journey. If you enjoyed the show, please subscribe, leave us a five star rating. Your feedback helps us reach more listeners just like you. Don’t forget to follow us on social media or on our website at WorkCloseToTaxPros.

com for more resources and insights. Until next time, remember automation equals freedom and building a business that you love is within your reach. See you soon.