Listen and subscribe to Money Making Conversations on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, www.moneymakingconversations.com/subscribe/ or wherever you listen to podcasts. New Money Making Conversations episodes drop daily. I want to alert you, so you don’t miss out on expert analysis and insider perspectives from my guests who provide tips that can help you uplift the community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Keep winning!
Listen and subscribe to Money Making Conversations on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, www.moneymakingconversations.com/subscribe/ or wherever you listen to podcasts. New Money Making Conversations episodes drop daily. I want to alert you, so you don’t miss out on expert analysis and insider perspectives from my guests who provide tips that can help you uplift the community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Keep winning!
Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Cherina & Mowbray Rowand.
🔷 Interview Summary
Cherina and Mowbray Rowand—co-founders of the Rowand Group and creators of One Stop Taxes—share how they built the largest Black-owned tax preparation service in the U.S., scaling to 1,000+ virtual locations.
They discuss:
- Their entrepreneurial philosophy
- Their complementary roles as partners
- The transition from brick-and-mortar to a virtual franchise model
- Scaling strategies, team building, and infrastructure
- Wealth-building through diversification (restaurants, real estate, hospitality)
- Their creation of the Black Tax Festival to educate and unify entrepreneurs
The conversation blends practical business strategy, mindset, and community impact.
🎯 Purpose of the Interview
The interview serves several key purposes:
1. Educate aspiring entrepreneurs
- Demonstrates how to start, scale, and systematize a service business
- Highlights real-world lessons in scaling, hiring, and structuring companies
2. Promote economic empowerment
- Focuses on helping underserved communities access:
- Entrepreneurship
- Tax knowledge
- Financial systems
3. Showcase a scalable business model
- Emphasizes low-barrier entry franchising and virtual platforms
4. Inspire through lived experience
- Shows how vision, persistence, and partnership can create generational wealth
🔑 Key Takeaways 1. Entrepreneurship = Service + Ownership
- Entrepreneurship is framed as serving people first, then building a business around that service
2. Complementary partnership is critical
- Mowbray = visionary (ideas)
- Cherina = implementer (execution systems)
- Their success comes from balancing vision with structure
3. Scaling requires evolving your team
- What works at $1M won’t work at $10M+
- Businesses must upgrade:
- Attorneys
- CPAs
- Systems
4. Systems > hustle
- They scaled by creating a repeatable system and training others
- Their franchise model enables others to replicate success
5. Virtual model unlocked gro
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
My gas or gas are The co founders are the
Rowing group. They used to be in LC now there
it's called I'm gonna ask them about that and division
areas behind. One Stop Tax is the largest black owned
tax preparation service in America. Were more than one thousand
virtual locations nationwide and the creators.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Of the Black Tax Festival.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
They have expanded their business portfolio into restaurants, real estate,
and hospitality.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Wow, we got a lot to talk about.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
This is a money making conversation for real Please work
in the Money Making Conversation Masterclass.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Sharina and Muwbray Rowing. Thank you so much. We're glad
to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
So you guys are entrepreneurs, Yes, sir, I'm gonna start
with you.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
What does entrepreneurship mean to you?
Speaker 4 (00:44):
And so it means to me entrepreneurship being able to
set your own path. It means being a servant to
other people. And that's what I define entrepreneurship as finding
a service, finding how you can serve people, and then
you can ultimately build a business around around their service.
And so I just try to be better at that
than most people.
Speaker 5 (01:02):
Now.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Seraina, when he says that building a business, yes, you
guys are partners.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Let's talk about that business first.
Speaker 6 (01:13):
He's definitely.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
I always feel that you gotta have a business to
expand the business, right, that's all scaling. So you guys
are scaling now, but in the early stage, what was
your vision for the business?
Speaker 5 (01:26):
Well, Mowbray is our visionary. Mowbray is the big idea guy.
He always is coming up with the way. He's a
big idea guy. Right, He's always like, Babe, I got it.
And for me, I'm the implementation person. I'm going, Okay,
if we're going to go from A to Z, this
is the way we have to get there. And so
that's kind of how our dynamic dynamic has always somehow, somehow.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
She complimented herself in that and that, like you, you
always got these ideas, but she got to come in
and clean up.
Speaker 6 (01:55):
What it was.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
I'm glad you said it. Say that, but.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
That's a good thing because my wife does that to me.
And I would tell you, I don't want to listen
to her. She'll talk about Rachelle, you're just slearning your words.
You're talking too fast. I go whatever, but whatever, whatever,
And I'm taking notes. I'm taking notes I'm taking notes,
you know, not on here, but I'm taking notes.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
How do you know?
Speaker 4 (02:19):
I always tell the look, I know you're going to
figure out how to do it, but let me get
the vision out first, right, and then once I get you,
then start asking me questions.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
But how you gonna do it? How is it gonna work?
I ain't thought about all their parts here.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
I'm just trying to see if I want to do
it first, and so yeah, I kind of cast the vision,
make sure that there's something that I know we want
to do, and then we start figuring out the pieces
of it. She want to figure the pieces out before
we get the idea out first.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
You know.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
I agree with her, you know, because a lot of
people jump out there on faith. But I would say
that's cool, but please jump with a plane. That's right,
Please jump with a budget, because I would tell people
that when you start a business, there are three things.
You should have an accountant, lawyer, and if you have
employees HR those are and people want to cut corners
(03:06):
on all three of those. Now, being a person, Marlberick,
you know you're you're expanding along with SHARENA outside of taxes,
which means that you're picking up employees, real estate, restaurants.
We're gonna get into individuals and also gonna get to
the Black Tax Festival, which is another contractors and all
(03:26):
those things. And I know that I'm not looking at
just two people, y'all, not the two main operations. So
when I say the word accountant, I say the word
our CPA, our bookkeeper, I say the word legal, I
say the word HR.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
What do you say back to me? You know, I say,
it's got to have it all.
Speaker 4 (03:45):
And you know, you talk about scaling what we have
when we first started the business ms McDonald and what
we have to have now we have. Now we have
to have a new attorney. Now we need a new CPA.
Like the same thing that works at one million dollars,
it's not the same thing they work at ten million, fifteenth.
And every stage I didn't realize either. At every stage
we needed to kind of up the team a little bit.
(04:06):
And so yeah, and so we had to allow people
that you know, to even know more about certain things
that us to can kind of help us with some
in some of those arenas. We needed a big time attorney.
We had to get a different CPA as we grew
the business and stuff. So those have been key key things.
It's surrounding with a real quality team as a business
begins to scale, because it's hard to scale without it.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
He's pretty calm and cool. He sharna talk to me
about your.
Speaker 6 (04:31):
Oh my goodness.
Speaker 5 (04:32):
So originally I was the HR, the attorney, right, it
was all me.
Speaker 6 (04:39):
In the beginning.
Speaker 5 (04:41):
Like you said, Esentially, you get to the point where
you realize, hey, we need professionals in here. And I
got to fire myself from some of these jobs, and
so that's what I started to do. It's like, hey,
you know, we need a team. And you know, over
the years that team.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
He said years, talk about years.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Oh yeah, but when you really started being you know,
you all started with a party in too.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
You got to start this the roots.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Yeah, when you start bringing people out.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
What was that year that it clicked kicked in?
Speaker 5 (05:08):
So we started doing taxes in twenty ten, okay, just
mom and pop motory and I. We had an office
in Memphis, Tennessee, and we were just you know, learning
how to do this industry. We didn't have a ton
of support, we didn't have a ton of training, but
we had a lot of drive, right, and so we
got to work put our heads down for a few years,
and the business was growing, but.
Speaker 6 (05:27):
Not at the rate we wanted to.
Speaker 5 (05:29):
We knew we wanted to scale, but we knew that
that wasn't going to be just us going out and
getting more customers.
Speaker 6 (05:34):
So by twenty fifteen, we had the idea.
Speaker 5 (05:37):
Of saying, hey, listen, it's not just us that want
to make a lot of money during the first part
of the year. Taxes is a different industry from a
lot of things we've been able to see, right, And
so when we found that concept, we said, what if
we put a system in place to show other people
how to do this, And so we started one Stop Taxes,
the franchise model. We started teaching people how to do taxes,
(05:59):
how to structure their companies so that they could be profitable,
how to find customers in their marketplace.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
And it grew from there because we said a thousand
virtual locations. Yes, now now we're talking about you said
twenty ten, you said twenty fifteen. Were those were those
brick and mortar stores at the time. Yeah, okay, talk
about the brick and mortar financial model versus the virtual
financial model.
Speaker 6 (06:24):
Oh, it's night and day.
Speaker 5 (06:25):
Right Starting out, it was you know, paying all the
money out upfront, trying to figure out if the tax
season was going to be able to sustain you for
the rest of the year.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
Right, right, Yeah, So those were things that's kind of difficult,
you know, trying to you know, you got a virtual
a brick and mortar business, right where you got three
months you got to make money, but you got to
pay these bills for the rest of the year.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
So it's just.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Like that.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
So it's hard to scale with that type of model,
and it's hard to teach someone else how to start
their model when it costs so much money out of pocket. Right,
And so that's where we came what a franchise franchiser?
Speaker 3 (07:01):
Right?
Speaker 4 (07:01):
But what if we can remove the doors and windows
and make it to where you can do everything online,
do it all from an app.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Now we're talking visionary talk now, right.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
Right, because I'm thinking I'm talking about this before you
got apps, before people.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Got smart phones. This visionary talk.
Speaker 4 (07:13):
Before people even trust taking pictures of their documents on
a cell phone.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Right, visionary talk come with are you crazy?
Speaker 3 (07:20):
Right? What are you talking about? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (07:22):
Ball, anybody nobody gonna take youay documents and sending stuff
in you andybody, I ain't sending my ID on them
stell phone anybody and nobody going.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
You know what I mean? Posing no money right exactly.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Right the phone.
Speaker 6 (07:34):
Nobody's gonna trust you right.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
Before everybody started doing it. This sounds crazy.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Let's go to faith now's faith comes because because you know,
when you're a visionary, people tear it down. So where
did y'all go where they were tearing down when it
was called you crazy? When they would call it but
still borrow money for.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Somebody.
Speaker 7 (07:56):
You don't want to miss an episode of Money Making
Conversations Masterclass, So right now follow a subscribe to Money
Making Conversations.
Speaker 8 (08:03):
It's free and you can find it on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
Please don't go anywhere.
Speaker 8 (08:13):
We'll be right back with more Money Making Conversations Masterclass.
Welcome back to Money Making Conversations Master Class with me
for Sean McDonald.
Speaker 4 (08:24):
Process one stop, one stop Texas went from brick and
mortar to virtual. Right, ok, mom and pop, let's talk
about twenty fifteen. You expanded, when did the virtual aspect?
Speaker 1 (08:35):
Was that before more covid because COVID has been a
landmark of all conversations I've had with small entrepreneurs or
any business. Did you do it before COVID or after COVID.
Speaker 4 (08:46):
So we started in twenty ten wanting to be virtual.
So even when we had the brick and mortar stores,
we always had a virtual component, okay, right, we always
had people other places singing. So it was kind of
slowly transitioning to a from twenty ten had the brick
and mortar locations, and then we realized we opened up
brick and later locations and people weren't coming in them.
(09:07):
This when I realized too about marketing just opening up
a store. People don't just come into a store because
you open it. And so we opened up brick and
mortar stores, no customers came in, right, And so we
was like, that ain't the way to go, babe. All
this costs, you know, customers, it's not it you know
what I mean, Son, that.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Was your clientele or minorities or so they have that
block mentality, you know, first quarter, don't worry about the
rest of the year, you know, especially, So that's a
problem too, right, So you have to deal with your
income being shuttered maybe eight months out of the year, right.
Speaker 5 (09:43):
Right et absolutely really so again, tax season is a
very seasonal business. But again for us, as we started
to grow the franchises twenty fifteen, we started with a
few stores. By the time we got to twenty nineteen,
there were one thousand franchises in the system, and pre COVID,
you know, the world shuts down and we're already in place.
(10:06):
We already have all these stores that are primed and
ready everything, And so that just kind of changed the
game for us, and it helped so many families within
our ecosystem not have to have the same struggles as.
Speaker 6 (10:18):
That everywhere experiencing virtual Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
Virtual own became virtual right world became zoom world became
I don't mind looking at you talking about my business
over a small over a phone or or monitor. Now
you're talking about you have one thousand virtual locations.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
How does that work?
Speaker 4 (10:38):
So from the very beginning, we wanted to make it
to where people could be at home. I can sit
at home on my couch, get my taxes done, and
if Mr McDonald's my tax person, I can send him
my documents.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
He can prepare them from the house. I can sign
from my house.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
And neither one of us have to go anywhere, and
so we built out a platform that does just that.
I can take the pictures on my phone. I can
selecture aim in an app. The documents are going to
come to you. You can prepare them right there, send
it back for signature.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
I can sign it.
Speaker 4 (11:06):
My files is in my in my inbox, in the cloud,
and neither one of us has left home.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
I got my cash advance in my pocket.
Speaker 6 (11:15):
My stuff is done, tax refund deposit.
Speaker 4 (11:19):
No waiting in line, no no driving in traffic, and
the const.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Oppressive because accounting is neither of your background, correct, right,
Not really?
Speaker 4 (11:32):
I got a business degree. I took some accounting classes,
but I was terrible.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
Okay, So we talked about a business model.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Exactly did you guys create it?
Speaker 1 (11:43):
But from an advanced standpoint and it's from a standpoint of,
like they said, from personal experience, how could I make
it easier for me and then share it through a
business model? And that's why I, you know, I have
to commend that because that takes a.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Lot of goods. Yeah, talk to me.
Speaker 4 (12:04):
Yeah, it took a lot of goods to be able
to give people something they never heard of before. Because
when you tell a person we own a virtual tax company.
They're like, what is a virtual tax book? Like, what
is it? Yes?
Speaker 3 (12:14):
You know what I mean. People still, like I said, right,
heard it all, and I'm aware.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
I'm kind of aware of it because you know, AI
apps and stuff like that. But especially when you two
guys would start, you know, they were just you know, hey,
social media was kind of still ramping.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
Up, wrapping up.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Right.
Speaker 4 (12:32):
Yeah, we started before social media, right, we started, So
we started where which is good though, because we know
belly to belly. These kids they don't know billy to
belly anymore. Right, even in the app world, even in
the AI world, you still got to go talk to people.
You still got to understand some belly to belly billy
relationships with people. And so we can teach people the
old school side of it, and we know all the
(12:54):
new school stuff and AI to tech and all this
stuff as well too, But in order to make it
really successful, you really got to be do all of it.
And so that's kind of how we hedged our bit.
We win and show people how the old school way
and the new school way, and then you put it
all into an app and a platform, and they just
took off COVID happen.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
I'm speaking to the co founders of the Rowing Group,
the visionaries behind the one stop the largest black owned
tax preparation service in America with more than one thousand
virtual location These are franchises, Yes, sir, How does one
get involved?
Speaker 2 (13:25):
How do they contact you?
Speaker 5 (13:27):
We used to come from a network marketing background, you know,
when we were in our twenties. That was one of
the first businesses that we were in. So there were
a lot of things that we loved about that industry.
So when we created the platform, we created it with
that model in mind, and so we don't have any
startup costs to get going. We train for free, we
provide all of the tax software. We put people in
(13:49):
the system because we believe that if you truly take
what we're teaching you, you'll go out and you'll make
money and then we can split up on the back
end and you know, it's no problem. And so that
has really been one of the reasons that we've grown
so fast, is that we've lowered that barrier, that point
of entry barrier for most people so that they can say, hey,
if I have a lot of drive, but I haven't
(14:09):
found the thing that will work for me.
Speaker 6 (14:11):
Maybe this is it.
Speaker 5 (14:12):
And so once op taxes has been there for a
lot of people over the years.
Speaker 4 (14:16):
Well, you know the websites absolutely one Stop Taxes dot com.
It's one to.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
Stop Taxes dot com. Yes.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
And when you go to that screen or go to
that website, what's the process what.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
Do they click?
Speaker 4 (14:28):
It's going to right in the middle of stage. It's
going to say build my business online. It's right as
soon as you go in the middle of the page,
right there, and you can get clicking on the about
if you want to just get more information. Our direct
phone numbers and everything is on there as well. Our
phone numbers are our Instagram and if you want to
just go in there and just sign up and get started,
you can do that as well too.
Speaker 7 (14:45):
And it's like if you don't want to miss an
episode of Money Making Conversations Masterclass, So right now, follow
a subscribe to Money Making Conversations.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
It's free and you can find.
Speaker 8 (14:55):
It on the iHeartRadio app, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
you get your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
Please don't go anywhere.
Speaker 8 (15:03):
We'd be right back with more Money Making Conversations Masterclass.
Welcome back to Money Making Conversations master class with me
for Sean McDonald.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Now, when you started, you're an LLC, Yes, sir, now
you're an S group it's Court.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
I apologize.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
That's cool. Why did you shift? Well? Initially, yeah, well
initially it was just her and I.
Speaker 4 (15:25):
So we didn't have any employees, we didn't have any
k on's, we didn't have anything that needed to flow
up to us or anything like that. And so as
we begin one business, you know, you know, just two
of us entrepreneurs. But as we began to have all
these other entities, Black Tax, Fitts, Marti Garard and Memphis,
the restaurants, multiple restaurant groups, and.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
So then we have to start having k one.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (15:46):
Yeah, we got all these entities that we have, and
so the case we needed something where all this could
flow back up, and we had to change the whole structure.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
And so there's all types of tax advantages when you
when you switch to es Court.
Speaker 4 (15:58):
But when it was just us too, you know, we
know is just LLC in the beginning, right, and so
a lot of people, most.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
People, let me give me a business.
Speaker 4 (16:04):
LLC is better than nothing, right, But as a business group,
we have to also again have to change with.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
It, you know, So how does one market a virtual.
Speaker 6 (16:13):
Tax company virtually?
Speaker 5 (16:16):
And so we teach people how to one tap into
their warm market, because we believe that, again, your customer
base should start out at least a little bit warm,
familiar people that want to support your business. So we
teach them how to approach that warm market. But then
we start teaching them how to go out and align
strategically with other people that.
Speaker 6 (16:35):
Can send you more customers.
Speaker 5 (16:36):
If you're in the tax industry, you have a lot
of different industries that can funnel and feed into that
customer base. And you can also help those customers or
those businesses.
Speaker 6 (16:47):
As well with your customer base.
Speaker 5 (16:48):
And so we teach people how to go strike up
partnerships with a dealership, a car dealership, or daycare or
an apartment complex and different places where people often come
at a certain time of year and say, hey, I
need a lump sum of money.
Speaker 6 (17:03):
I need to be able to have a down payment for.
Speaker 5 (17:05):
A car or moving expenses, and now we have a
resource to be able to get that to them.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
So is there an onboarding process to get a virtual
one stop?
Speaker 4 (17:15):
Yeah, So we built in this platform a whole learning
management system, so you actually go through all the different
steps from how to prepare taxes, how to get customers,
what do you do, how do you work the system?
So yeah, once you go through this complete training, then
it's all online at your own pace. Then we go
ahead to issue you out all the email addresses and
give you access to the software and we kind of
(17:36):
finish your your onboarding process.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Once you complete the training and orientation.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Let's go to something big. Like I said, we're not
gonna talk about the morticle. That's first time I hurt bart. Okay,
but Black Tax Vest Yeah, how many years?
Speaker 6 (17:50):
So this is our tenth annual event.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Okay, why did it start?
Speaker 1 (17:54):
And why was their need for the Black Tax Festival
which is in Atlanta, Georgia.
Speaker 4 (17:59):
Collect right, So that we started it because we all
of our stories are virtual for the most part, and
so a lot of them, you know, they would sign
up virtually all across the country. We never met them before,
and so it was we needed something to bring everybody
together where we could be able to meet. We can
we can put our arms around and we can give
them recognition for what they've done and we get to
hear their stories.
Speaker 3 (18:19):
And I'm telling you, well, you.
Speaker 4 (18:20):
Hear some of these stories of where these people were
when they heard about this business and what has happened
in their life because of it. I mean, it just
melt you down. I mean, is it is an amazing thing.
And so once we started doing that, it just became
important for us to do it every year and it
just kept getting bigger. But now people push and work
hard because they want the recognition in Black taxes.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
Right. You know, people don't get recognition on their jobs. Right.
Speaker 4 (18:42):
You don't get home a lot of times right now
with the words recognition, how are you recognizing people?
Speaker 3 (18:47):
So there's a whole award show that we do, right.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
So it's a Black Tax Festival and there's an award show.
Speaker 6 (18:55):
Yes, So two days is all conference content. We have
the Iris coming out to give updates.
Speaker 5 (19:01):
We have so many different speakers coming to share business opportunities,
to share their secret sauce on how they've been able
to grow and scale their businesses. And so we curate
this room so that it can be a resource to
everyone that attends, whether you're in the tax industry or not.
If you're just an entrepreneur, this is a great room
for you to be in to just soak in the knowledge,
(19:21):
network with people on a high level and hopefully leave
with better than we found you. And so that's always
our goal at Black Taxs.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
Okay, so if I'm looking for a tax person, I'm
looking for entrepreneurship, I'm looking for a bank law, I'm
looking for anybody that can help me at scale. Those
are the type people that's going to be at the
Black Tax verst. I was assuming that, but I think
that's the purpose.
Speaker 4 (19:41):
Coreer sir, absolutely, yeah, and so yeah, we definitely want
to attract all those types of people, and like we're
bringing you out our bankers from Chase to be able
to talk to people about actually, how do.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
You kind of banking you need?
Speaker 4 (19:52):
Because one of the problems with us, and it just
pays me so much, but we are left out of
the rooms because we don't have the proper paperwork, we
don't have the proper financials, and so we're underserved, we're
under insured. And so we're going to bring out people
within these different alliances so we can start kind of
helping bridge some of this wealth gap. And so that's
a big part of Black Tax Fest because us, as
(20:12):
tax professionals, we're the ones that help bridge the gap.
Why because we're the ones do the tax returns for everybody.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
What does that opening day look like? Walk me through
each day.
Speaker 5 (20:22):
On Thursday, we'll start with what we call Breakfast with Bosses.
It's a networking breakfast with some of the amazing business
leaders that we've been able to meet here in the
Atlanta area. So Thursday and Friday is full of content
like that, activations, things that people can can go to,
breakout sessions, get workshops in how to.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
Use AI and business these types of things.
Speaker 4 (20:45):
So to your point of just all types of different
business owners, Like we talkt we go through how do
you really use AI in your business? How do you
regardless of the industry, Like how do you take it
and help you scale your business? Like how are you
using SEO to become an expert in your market right
and to come to the top for Google searches? And
so it's a lot of things. How you use in
business funding? What kind of bank accounts that you have
(21:05):
business financials? Like how do you really go get business
credit as an entrepreneur, Because there's a lot of things
floating around of what business credit looks like, which is
we access to funding which all of.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
Our business owners need. But what do you really need? Right?
Speaker 4 (21:18):
Do we know what a personal financial statement is? You
know the tax returns is needed, profit law statements that
you got to have. Like we start teaching us really
what's needed to go into these banks and go be bankable.
I think we start moving the needle. So that's what
we kind of do those first two days. Last day
we bring it off with the gala and we have
a little fun. We're gonna bring Rick Ross is gonna
(21:38):
be our keynote that day. Q Parker is gonna come
in and you gonna come in and do some QQ
did our wedding for us, one of my good one
of my good buddies, and he's gonna come you know,
bless us, you know, with some music, you know what
I mean. But yeah, yeah, So the last day is
the awards. We get recognition to all types of people.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
You know, categories are there. How many awards are distributed
in one of the.
Speaker 5 (22:03):
Eight categories of the Tax tight and Awards. So everything
from top Revenue extream to Marketing Guru and everything in between.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
There's a thing I like about interviewing people who are
have a visionary approach to what you guys are doing
is that you're scaling outside the original plan.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
You're also into real estate, you're also into restaurant.
Speaker 4 (22:27):
Why right, So after the tax business got to a
place like we felt like it was time that where
we could start beginning to diversify, right, And then so
we started looking at different restaurants because we you know,
we love to travel, we love to you know, service
people provide great experiences with people. And so we bought
the fat Tuesdays they went off ready bring and well
that us you where. So we bought one and we
(22:48):
took it to Memphis, Tennessee. But we we purchased the
last franchise before they stopped franchising. Okay, so we bought
the rights to the Tennessee market. Shortly after that, two
chains in his group and Snoop started franchising Esco here lunchally.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
Yeah, yeah, you bringing up so many days, Snoop, Snoop
be there, She's gonna be there.
Speaker 4 (23:08):
And so yeah, Snoopy, two chain start franchising Esco. So boom,
we bought one of those, and then we took that
to Memphis as well too, and so again just kind
of going back there, giving back to our hometown. Even
though we live in Atlanta now, we still go back
there and we give back.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
Well, the beauty of going back to a community customer
service business they don't normally have, knowing your market share,
being a big fish in a small pond.
Speaker 3 (23:34):
All those things, all those things.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
Marketing is cheaper, right.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
The brandish cheaper Snoop couln't believe the right that we
was playing at right next to the fed exploring.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Right, because yeah, I know, right across the street is
like the hotels right across the street exactly where you
really all.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
This is what you're paying.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
And fed Ex's right there are constant floor of traffic
and you're right there.
Speaker 3 (23:58):
And Atlanta you'll be five times Oh.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Yeah, absolutely, and let alone trying to advertise, let alone
insurance and all that good stuff.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
So with that being said, what is the future for
your brand?
Speaker 5 (24:10):
Oh goodness, so many things coming down the pipeline. We
have a few restaurants over in the Dominican Republic and
so we love being over there.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
Yeah that's thing.
Speaker 5 (24:25):
But yeah, we we have some restaurants over there, and
we bought a yacht over there to be able to
rent out for experiences to people as well. And so
you know, as we look at the next few years,
you know, we're trying to convince the kids.
Speaker 6 (24:40):
Now, hey, you know, what do you.
Speaker 5 (24:41):
Guys think about going and hanging over at the beach
for a little while for a few years.
Speaker 6 (24:46):
But you know, who knows, who knows? Always moving on.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
I've been I've been doing money by conversation match classes.
Twenty seventeen, first black couple ever came on Shall said
the word yacht. It just blew right past it like
they said it like because they've said it a lot.
They've said it, ball brids Sarena have said the word
yacht so much they just like saying pento, Okay, continue
(25:12):
with the stoat.
Speaker 4 (25:13):
And so like now we're a place where we really
want to drill down into the restaurant scale. And so
as we scale, we want to kind of dig into
because their first restaurant, Esco Restaurant, I mean, I mean it,
we did a million dollars the first six weeks.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
Congratulation opened up.
Speaker 4 (25:28):
And so now I want to be able to see
how do we take these restaurants, what's when new concepts
can we get We're gonna finish developing all the restaurants
in front of the FedEx Form and so we'll own
that entire strip there of restaurants in funding fed ex Form.
There's three three total restaurants that we're gonna open there
in the next twelve months.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Before we go one stop taxes. How we reach out
on that, How we reach out for one stop taxes?
Speaker 5 (25:53):
Start your own virtual franchise with one stop taxes at
one Stop Taxes dot com. You can give us a
call at eighty five two one to eight ninety three
if you have any questions. We have a great team
there to answer anything. Yet.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
Congratulations and thank you for a lot of we to
have a great honist conversation and you're talk about your
business and realize that hey man, hard work, planning.
Speaker 3 (26:16):
And love and.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
Faith it's right can get you there.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
Well, we thank you for having us. It's been awesome.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
Thank you for coming on Money Making Conversations Masterclass.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
Awesome. Thank you so much. It's a pleasure. Now.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
If you want to be a guest on my show,
Money Making Conversation Masterclass, please visit our website Moneymakingconversations dot
com and click to be a guest button. If you're
a small business owner, entrepreneur, motivational speaker, influencer, a nonprofit.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
I want you on my show.
My gas or gas are The co founders are the
Rowing group. They used to be in LC now there
it's called I'm gonna ask them about that and division
areas behind. One Stop Tax is the largest black owned
tax preparation service in America. Were more than one thousand
virtual locations nationwide and the creators.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Of the Black Tax Festival.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
They have expanded their business portfolio into restaurants, real estate,
and hospitality.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Wow, we got a lot to talk about.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
This is a money making conversation for real Please work
in the Money Making Conversation Masterclass.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Sharina and Muwbray Rowing. Thank you so much. We're glad
to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
So you guys are entrepreneurs, Yes, sir, I'm gonna start
with you.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
What does entrepreneurship mean to you?
Speaker 4 (00:44):
And so it means to me entrepreneurship being able to
set your own path. It means being a servant to
other people. And that's what I define entrepreneurship as finding
a service, finding how you can serve people, and then
you can ultimately build a business around around their service.
And so I just try to be better at that
than most people.
Speaker 5 (01:02):
Now.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Seraina, when he says that building a business, yes, you
guys are partners.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Let's talk about that business first.
Speaker 6 (01:13):
He's definitely.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
I always feel that you gotta have a business to
expand the business, right, that's all scaling. So you guys
are scaling now, but in the early stage, what was
your vision for the business?
Speaker 5 (01:26):
Well, Mowbray is our visionary. Mowbray is the big idea guy.
He always is coming up with the way. He's a
big idea guy. Right, He's always like, Babe, I got it.
And for me, I'm the implementation person. I'm going, Okay,
if we're going to go from A to Z, this
is the way we have to get there. And so
that's kind of how our dynamic dynamic has always somehow, somehow.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
She complimented herself in that and that, like you, you
always got these ideas, but she got to come in
and clean up.
Speaker 6 (01:55):
What it was.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
I'm glad you said it. Say that, but.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
That's a good thing because my wife does that to me.
And I would tell you, I don't want to listen
to her. She'll talk about Rachelle, you're just slearning your words.
You're talking too fast. I go whatever, but whatever, whatever,
And I'm taking notes. I'm taking notes I'm taking notes,
you know, not on here, but I'm taking notes.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
How do you know?
Speaker 4 (02:19):
I always tell the look, I know you're going to
figure out how to do it, but let me get
the vision out first, right, and then once I get you,
then start asking me questions.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
But how you gonna do it? How is it gonna work?
I ain't thought about all their parts here.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
I'm just trying to see if I want to do
it first, and so yeah, I kind of cast the vision,
make sure that there's something that I know we want
to do, and then we start figuring out the pieces
of it. She want to figure the pieces out before
we get the idea out first.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
You know.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
I agree with her, you know, because a lot of
people jump out there on faith. But I would say
that's cool, but please jump with a plane. That's right,
Please jump with a budget, because I would tell people
that when you start a business, there are three things.
You should have an accountant, lawyer, and if you have
employees HR those are and people want to cut corners
(03:06):
on all three of those. Now, being a person, Marlberick,
you know you're you're expanding along with SHARENA outside of taxes,
which means that you're picking up employees, real estate, restaurants.
We're gonna get into individuals and also gonna get to
the Black Tax Festival, which is another contractors and all
(03:26):
those things. And I know that I'm not looking at
just two people, y'all, not the two main operations. So
when I say the word accountant, I say the word
our CPA, our bookkeeper, I say the word legal, I
say the word HR.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
What do you say back to me? You know, I say,
it's got to have it all.
Speaker 4 (03:45):
And you know, you talk about scaling what we have
when we first started the business ms McDonald and what
we have to have now we have. Now we have
to have a new attorney. Now we need a new CPA.
Like the same thing that works at one million dollars,
it's not the same thing they work at ten million, fifteenth.
And every stage I didn't realize either. At every stage
we needed to kind of up the team a little bit.
(04:06):
And so yeah, and so we had to allow people
that you know, to even know more about certain things
that us to can kind of help us with some
in some of those arenas. We needed a big time attorney.
We had to get a different CPA as we grew
the business and stuff. So those have been key key things.
It's surrounding with a real quality team as a business
begins to scale, because it's hard to scale without it.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
He's pretty calm and cool. He sharna talk to me
about your.
Speaker 6 (04:31):
Oh my goodness.
Speaker 5 (04:32):
So originally I was the HR, the attorney, right, it
was all me.
Speaker 6 (04:39):
In the beginning.
Speaker 5 (04:41):
Like you said, Esentially, you get to the point where
you realize, hey, we need professionals in here. And I
got to fire myself from some of these jobs, and
so that's what I started to do. It's like, hey,
you know, we need a team. And you know, over
the years that team.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
He said years, talk about years.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Oh yeah, but when you really started being you know,
you all started with a party in too.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
You got to start this the roots.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Yeah, when you start bringing people out.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
What was that year that it clicked kicked in?
Speaker 5 (05:08):
So we started doing taxes in twenty ten, okay, just
mom and pop motory and I. We had an office
in Memphis, Tennessee, and we were just you know, learning
how to do this industry. We didn't have a ton
of support, we didn't have a ton of training, but
we had a lot of drive, right, and so we
got to work put our heads down for a few years,
and the business was growing, but.
Speaker 6 (05:27):
Not at the rate we wanted to.
Speaker 5 (05:29):
We knew we wanted to scale, but we knew that
that wasn't going to be just us going out and
getting more customers.
Speaker 6 (05:34):
So by twenty fifteen, we had the idea.
Speaker 5 (05:37):
Of saying, hey, listen, it's not just us that want
to make a lot of money during the first part
of the year. Taxes is a different industry from a
lot of things we've been able to see, right, And
so when we found that concept, we said, what if
we put a system in place to show other people
how to do this, And so we started one Stop Taxes,
the franchise model. We started teaching people how to do taxes,
(05:59):
how to structure their companies so that they could be profitable,
how to find customers in their marketplace.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
And it grew from there because we said a thousand
virtual locations. Yes, now now we're talking about you said
twenty ten, you said twenty fifteen. Were those were those
brick and mortar stores at the time. Yeah, okay, talk
about the brick and mortar financial model versus the virtual
financial model.
Speaker 6 (06:24):
Oh, it's night and day.
Speaker 5 (06:25):
Right Starting out, it was you know, paying all the
money out upfront, trying to figure out if the tax
season was going to be able to sustain you for
the rest of the year.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
Right, right, Yeah, So those were things that's kind of difficult,
you know, trying to you know, you got a virtual
a brick and mortar business, right where you got three
months you got to make money, but you got to
pay these bills for the rest of the year.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
So it's just.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Like that.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
So it's hard to scale with that type of model,
and it's hard to teach someone else how to start
their model when it costs so much money out of pocket. Right,
And so that's where we came what a franchise franchiser?
Speaker 3 (07:01):
Right?
Speaker 4 (07:01):
But what if we can remove the doors and windows
and make it to where you can do everything online,
do it all from an app.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Now we're talking visionary talk now, right.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
Right, because I'm thinking I'm talking about this before you
got apps, before people.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Got smart phones. This visionary talk.
Speaker 4 (07:13):
Before people even trust taking pictures of their documents on
a cell phone.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Right, visionary talk come with are you crazy?
Speaker 3 (07:20):
Right? What are you talking about? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (07:22):
Ball, anybody nobody gonna take youay documents and sending stuff
in you andybody, I ain't sending my ID on them
stell phone anybody and nobody going.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
You know what I mean? Posing no money right exactly.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Right the phone.
Speaker 6 (07:34):
Nobody's gonna trust you right.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
Before everybody started doing it. This sounds crazy.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Let's go to faith now's faith comes because because you know,
when you're a visionary, people tear it down. So where
did y'all go where they were tearing down when it
was called you crazy? When they would call it but
still borrow money for.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Somebody.
Speaker 7 (07:56):
You don't want to miss an episode of Money Making
Conversations Masterclass, So right now follow a subscribe to Money
Making Conversations.
Speaker 8 (08:03):
It's free and you can find it on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
Please don't go anywhere.
Speaker 8 (08:13):
We'll be right back with more Money Making Conversations Masterclass.
Welcome back to Money Making Conversations Master Class with me
for Sean McDonald.
Speaker 4 (08:24):
Process one stop, one stop Texas went from brick and
mortar to virtual. Right, ok, mom and pop, let's talk
about twenty fifteen. You expanded, when did the virtual aspect?
Speaker 1 (08:35):
Was that before more covid because COVID has been a
landmark of all conversations I've had with small entrepreneurs or
any business. Did you do it before COVID or after COVID.
Speaker 4 (08:46):
So we started in twenty ten wanting to be virtual.
So even when we had the brick and mortar stores,
we always had a virtual component, okay, right, we always
had people other places singing. So it was kind of
slowly transitioning to a from twenty ten had the brick
and mortar locations, and then we realized we opened up
brick and later locations and people weren't coming in them.
(09:07):
This when I realized too about marketing just opening up
a store. People don't just come into a store because
you open it. And so we opened up brick and
mortar stores, no customers came in, right, And so we
was like, that ain't the way to go, babe. All
this costs, you know, customers, it's not it you know
what I mean, Son, that.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Was your clientele or minorities or so they have that
block mentality, you know, first quarter, don't worry about the
rest of the year, you know, especially, So that's a
problem too, right, So you have to deal with your
income being shuttered maybe eight months out of the year, right.
Speaker 5 (09:43):
Right et absolutely really so again, tax season is a
very seasonal business. But again for us, as we started
to grow the franchises twenty fifteen, we started with a
few stores. By the time we got to twenty nineteen,
there were one thousand franchises in the system, and pre COVID,
you know, the world shuts down and we're already in place.
(10:06):
We already have all these stores that are primed and
ready everything, And so that just kind of changed the
game for us, and it helped so many families within
our ecosystem not have to have the same struggles as.
Speaker 6 (10:18):
That everywhere experiencing virtual Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
Virtual own became virtual right world became zoom world became
I don't mind looking at you talking about my business
over a small over a phone or or monitor. Now
you're talking about you have one thousand virtual locations.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
How does that work?
Speaker 4 (10:38):
So from the very beginning, we wanted to make it
to where people could be at home. I can sit
at home on my couch, get my taxes done, and
if Mr McDonald's my tax person, I can send him
my documents.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
He can prepare them from the house. I can sign
from my house.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
And neither one of us have to go anywhere, and
so we built out a platform that does just that.
I can take the pictures on my phone. I can
selecture aim in an app. The documents are going to
come to you. You can prepare them right there, send
it back for signature.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
I can sign it.
Speaker 4 (11:06):
My files is in my in my inbox, in the cloud,
and neither one of us has left home.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
I got my cash advance in my pocket.
Speaker 6 (11:15):
My stuff is done, tax refund deposit.
Speaker 4 (11:19):
No waiting in line, no no driving in traffic, and
the const.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Oppressive because accounting is neither of your background, correct, right,
Not really?
Speaker 4 (11:32):
I got a business degree. I took some accounting classes,
but I was terrible.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
Okay, So we talked about a business model.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Exactly did you guys create it?
Speaker 1 (11:43):
But from an advanced standpoint and it's from a standpoint of,
like they said, from personal experience, how could I make
it easier for me and then share it through a
business model? And that's why I, you know, I have
to commend that because that takes a.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Lot of goods. Yeah, talk to me.
Speaker 4 (12:04):
Yeah, it took a lot of goods to be able
to give people something they never heard of before. Because
when you tell a person we own a virtual tax company.
They're like, what is a virtual tax book? Like, what
is it? Yes?
Speaker 3 (12:14):
You know what I mean. People still, like I said, right,
heard it all, and I'm aware.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
I'm kind of aware of it because you know, AI
apps and stuff like that. But especially when you two
guys would start, you know, they were just you know, hey,
social media was kind of still ramping.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
Up, wrapping up.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Right.
Speaker 4 (12:32):
Yeah, we started before social media, right, we started, So
we started where which is good though, because we know
belly to belly. These kids they don't know billy to
belly anymore. Right, even in the app world, even in
the AI world, you still got to go talk to people.
You still got to understand some belly to belly billy
relationships with people. And so we can teach people the
old school side of it, and we know all the
(12:54):
new school stuff and AI to tech and all this
stuff as well too, But in order to make it
really successful, you really got to be do all of it.
And so that's kind of how we hedged our bit.
We win and show people how the old school way
and the new school way, and then you put it
all into an app and a platform, and they just
took off COVID happen.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
I'm speaking to the co founders of the Rowing Group,
the visionaries behind the one stop the largest black owned
tax preparation service in America with more than one thousand
virtual location These are franchises, Yes, sir, How does one
get involved?
Speaker 2 (13:25):
How do they contact you?
Speaker 5 (13:27):
We used to come from a network marketing background, you know,
when we were in our twenties. That was one of
the first businesses that we were in. So there were
a lot of things that we loved about that industry.
So when we created the platform, we created it with
that model in mind, and so we don't have any
startup costs to get going. We train for free, we
provide all of the tax software. We put people in
(13:49):
the system because we believe that if you truly take
what we're teaching you, you'll go out and you'll make
money and then we can split up on the back
end and you know, it's no problem. And so that
has really been one of the reasons that we've grown
so fast, is that we've lowered that barrier, that point
of entry barrier for most people so that they can say, hey,
if I have a lot of drive, but I haven't
(14:09):
found the thing that will work for me.
Speaker 6 (14:11):
Maybe this is it.
Speaker 5 (14:12):
And so once op taxes has been there for a
lot of people over the years.
Speaker 4 (14:16):
Well, you know the websites absolutely one Stop Taxes dot com.
It's one to.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
Stop Taxes dot com. Yes.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
And when you go to that screen or go to
that website, what's the process what.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
Do they click?
Speaker 4 (14:28):
It's going to right in the middle of stage. It's
going to say build my business online. It's right as
soon as you go in the middle of the page,
right there, and you can get clicking on the about
if you want to just get more information. Our direct
phone numbers and everything is on there as well. Our
phone numbers are our Instagram and if you want to
just go in there and just sign up and get started,
you can do that as well too.
Speaker 7 (14:45):
And it's like if you don't want to miss an
episode of Money Making Conversations Masterclass, So right now, follow
a subscribe to Money Making Conversations.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
It's free and you can find.
Speaker 8 (14:55):
It on the iHeartRadio app, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
you get your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
Please don't go anywhere.
Speaker 8 (15:03):
We'd be right back with more Money Making Conversations Masterclass.
Welcome back to Money Making Conversations master class with me
for Sean McDonald.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Now, when you started, you're an LLC, Yes, sir, now
you're an S group it's Court.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
I apologize.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
That's cool. Why did you shift? Well? Initially, yeah, well
initially it was just her and I.
Speaker 4 (15:25):
So we didn't have any employees, we didn't have any
k on's, we didn't have anything that needed to flow
up to us or anything like that. And so as
we begin one business, you know, you know, just two
of us entrepreneurs. But as we began to have all
these other entities, Black Tax, Fitts, Marti Garard and Memphis,
the restaurants, multiple restaurant groups, and.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
So then we have to start having k one.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (15:46):
Yeah, we got all these entities that we have, and
so the case we needed something where all this could
flow back up, and we had to change the whole structure.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
And so there's all types of tax advantages when you
when you switch to es Court.
Speaker 4 (15:58):
But when it was just us too, you know, we
know is just LLC in the beginning, right, and so
a lot of people, most.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
People, let me give me a business.
Speaker 4 (16:04):
LLC is better than nothing, right, But as a business group,
we have to also again have to change with.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
It, you know, So how does one market a virtual.
Speaker 6 (16:13):
Tax company virtually?
Speaker 5 (16:16):
And so we teach people how to one tap into
their warm market, because we believe that, again, your customer
base should start out at least a little bit warm,
familiar people that want to support your business. So we
teach them how to approach that warm market. But then
we start teaching them how to go out and align
strategically with other people that.
Speaker 6 (16:35):
Can send you more customers.
Speaker 5 (16:36):
If you're in the tax industry, you have a lot
of different industries that can funnel and feed into that
customer base. And you can also help those customers or
those businesses.
Speaker 6 (16:47):
As well with your customer base.
Speaker 5 (16:48):
And so we teach people how to go strike up
partnerships with a dealership, a car dealership, or daycare or
an apartment complex and different places where people often come
at a certain time of year and say, hey, I
need a lump sum of money.
Speaker 6 (17:03):
I need to be able to have a down payment for.
Speaker 5 (17:05):
A car or moving expenses, and now we have a
resource to be able to get that to them.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
So is there an onboarding process to get a virtual
one stop?
Speaker 4 (17:15):
Yeah, So we built in this platform a whole learning
management system, so you actually go through all the different
steps from how to prepare taxes, how to get customers,
what do you do, how do you work the system?
So yeah, once you go through this complete training, then
it's all online at your own pace. Then we go
ahead to issue you out all the email addresses and
give you access to the software and we kind of
(17:36):
finish your your onboarding process.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Once you complete the training and orientation.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Let's go to something big. Like I said, we're not
gonna talk about the morticle. That's first time I hurt bart. Okay,
but Black Tax Vest Yeah, how many years?
Speaker 6 (17:50):
So this is our tenth annual event.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Okay, why did it start?
Speaker 1 (17:54):
And why was their need for the Black Tax Festival
which is in Atlanta, Georgia.
Speaker 4 (17:59):
Collect right, So that we started it because we all
of our stories are virtual for the most part, and
so a lot of them, you know, they would sign
up virtually all across the country. We never met them before,
and so it was we needed something to bring everybody
together where we could be able to meet. We can
we can put our arms around and we can give
them recognition for what they've done and we get to
hear their stories.
Speaker 3 (18:19):
And I'm telling you, well, you.
Speaker 4 (18:20):
Hear some of these stories of where these people were
when they heard about this business and what has happened
in their life because of it. I mean, it just
melt you down. I mean, is it is an amazing thing.
And so once we started doing that, it just became
important for us to do it every year and it
just kept getting bigger. But now people push and work
hard because they want the recognition in Black taxes.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
Right. You know, people don't get recognition on their jobs. Right.
Speaker 4 (18:42):
You don't get home a lot of times right now
with the words recognition, how are you recognizing people?
Speaker 3 (18:47):
So there's a whole award show that we do, right.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
So it's a Black Tax Festival and there's an award show.
Speaker 6 (18:55):
Yes, So two days is all conference content. We have
the Iris coming out to give updates.
Speaker 5 (19:01):
We have so many different speakers coming to share business opportunities,
to share their secret sauce on how they've been able
to grow and scale their businesses. And so we curate
this room so that it can be a resource to
everyone that attends, whether you're in the tax industry or not.
If you're just an entrepreneur, this is a great room
for you to be in to just soak in the knowledge,
(19:21):
network with people on a high level and hopefully leave
with better than we found you. And so that's always
our goal at Black Taxs.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
Okay, so if I'm looking for a tax person, I'm
looking for entrepreneurship, I'm looking for a bank law, I'm
looking for anybody that can help me at scale. Those
are the type people that's going to be at the
Black Tax verst. I was assuming that, but I think
that's the purpose.
Speaker 4 (19:41):
Coreer sir, absolutely, yeah, and so yeah, we definitely want
to attract all those types of people, and like we're
bringing you out our bankers from Chase to be able
to talk to people about actually, how do.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
You kind of banking you need?
Speaker 4 (19:52):
Because one of the problems with us, and it just
pays me so much, but we are left out of
the rooms because we don't have the proper paperwork, we
don't have the proper financials, and so we're underserved, we're
under insured. And so we're going to bring out people
within these different alliances so we can start kind of
helping bridge some of this wealth gap. And so that's
a big part of Black Tax Fest because us, as
(20:12):
tax professionals, we're the ones that help bridge the gap.
Why because we're the ones do the tax returns for everybody.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
What does that opening day look like? Walk me through
each day.
Speaker 5 (20:22):
On Thursday, we'll start with what we call Breakfast with Bosses.
It's a networking breakfast with some of the amazing business
leaders that we've been able to meet here in the
Atlanta area. So Thursday and Friday is full of content
like that, activations, things that people can can go to,
breakout sessions, get workshops in how to.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
Use AI and business these types of things.
Speaker 4 (20:45):
So to your point of just all types of different
business owners, Like we talkt we go through how do
you really use AI in your business? How do you
regardless of the industry, Like how do you take it
and help you scale your business? Like how are you
using SEO to become an expert in your market right
and to come to the top for Google searches? And
so it's a lot of things. How you use in
business funding? What kind of bank accounts that you have
(21:05):
business financials? Like how do you really go get business
credit as an entrepreneur, Because there's a lot of things
floating around of what business credit looks like, which is
we access to funding which all of.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
Our business owners need. But what do you really need? Right?
Speaker 4 (21:18):
Do we know what a personal financial statement is? You
know the tax returns is needed, profit law statements that
you got to have. Like we start teaching us really
what's needed to go into these banks and go be bankable.
I think we start moving the needle. So that's what
we kind of do those first two days. Last day
we bring it off with the gala and we have
a little fun. We're gonna bring Rick Ross is gonna
(21:38):
be our keynote that day. Q Parker is gonna come
in and you gonna come in and do some QQ
did our wedding for us, one of my good one
of my good buddies, and he's gonna come you know,
bless us, you know, with some music, you know what
I mean. But yeah, yeah, So the last day is
the awards. We get recognition to all types of people.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
You know, categories are there. How many awards are distributed
in one of the.
Speaker 5 (22:03):
Eight categories of the Tax tight and Awards. So everything
from top Revenue extream to Marketing Guru and everything in between.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
There's a thing I like about interviewing people who are
have a visionary approach to what you guys are doing
is that you're scaling outside the original plan.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
You're also into real estate, you're also into restaurant.
Speaker 4 (22:27):
Why right, So after the tax business got to a
place like we felt like it was time that where
we could start beginning to diversify, right, And then so
we started looking at different restaurants because we you know,
we love to travel, we love to you know, service
people provide great experiences with people. And so we bought
the fat Tuesdays they went off ready bring and well
that us you where. So we bought one and we
(22:48):
took it to Memphis, Tennessee. But we we purchased the
last franchise before they stopped franchising. Okay, so we bought
the rights to the Tennessee market. Shortly after that, two
chains in his group and Snoop started franchising Esco here lunchally.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
Yeah, yeah, you bringing up so many days, Snoop, Snoop
be there, She's gonna be there.
Speaker 4 (23:08):
And so yeah, Snoopy, two chain start franchising Esco. So boom,
we bought one of those, and then we took that
to Memphis as well too, and so again just kind
of going back there, giving back to our hometown. Even
though we live in Atlanta now, we still go back
there and we give back.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
Well, the beauty of going back to a community customer
service business they don't normally have, knowing your market share,
being a big fish in a small pond.
Speaker 3 (23:34):
All those things, all those things.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
Marketing is cheaper, right.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
The brandish cheaper Snoop couln't believe the right that we
was playing at right next to the fed exploring.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Right, because yeah, I know, right across the street is
like the hotels right across the street exactly where you
really all.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
This is what you're paying.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
And fed Ex's right there are constant floor of traffic
and you're right there.
Speaker 3 (23:58):
And Atlanta you'll be five times Oh.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Yeah, absolutely, and let alone trying to advertise, let alone
insurance and all that good stuff.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
So with that being said, what is the future for
your brand?
Speaker 5 (24:10):
Oh goodness, so many things coming down the pipeline. We
have a few restaurants over in the Dominican Republic and
so we love being over there.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
Yeah that's thing.
Speaker 5 (24:25):
But yeah, we we have some restaurants over there, and
we bought a yacht over there to be able to
rent out for experiences to people as well. And so
you know, as we look at the next few years,
you know, we're trying to convince the kids.
Speaker 6 (24:40):
Now, hey, you know, what do you.
Speaker 5 (24:41):
Guys think about going and hanging over at the beach
for a little while for a few years.
Speaker 6 (24:46):
But you know, who knows, who knows? Always moving on.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
I've been I've been doing money by conversation match classes.
Twenty seventeen, first black couple ever came on Shall said
the word yacht. It just blew right past it like
they said it like because they've said it a lot.
They've said it, ball brids Sarena have said the word
yacht so much they just like saying pento, Okay, continue
(25:12):
with the stoat.
Speaker 4 (25:13):
And so like now we're a place where we really
want to drill down into the restaurant scale. And so
as we scale, we want to kind of dig into
because their first restaurant, Esco Restaurant, I mean, I mean it,
we did a million dollars the first six weeks.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
Congratulation opened up.
Speaker 4 (25:28):
And so now I want to be able to see
how do we take these restaurants, what's when new concepts
can we get We're gonna finish developing all the restaurants
in front of the FedEx Form and so we'll own
that entire strip there of restaurants in funding fed ex Form.
There's three three total restaurants that we're gonna open there
in the next twelve months.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Before we go one stop taxes. How we reach out
on that, How we reach out for one stop taxes?
Speaker 5 (25:53):
Start your own virtual franchise with one stop taxes at
one Stop Taxes dot com. You can give us a
call at eighty five two one to eight ninety three
if you have any questions. We have a great team
there to answer anything. Yet.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
Congratulations and thank you for a lot of we to
have a great honist conversation and you're talk about your
business and realize that hey man, hard work, planning.
Speaker 3 (26:16):
And love and.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
Faith it's right can get you there.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
Well, we thank you for having us. It's been awesome.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
Thank you for coming on Money Making Conversations Masterclass.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
Awesome. Thank you so much. It's a pleasure. Now.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
If you want to be a guest on my show,
Money Making Conversation Masterclass, please visit our website Moneymakingconversations dot
com and click to be a guest button. If you're
a small business owner, entrepreneur, motivational speaker, influencer, a nonprofit.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
I want you on my show.
Host
Rushion McDonald
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by Audiochuck Media Company.
NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal
Gregg Rosenthal and a rotating crew of NFL Media hosts including Jourdan Rodrigue, Colleen Wolfe, and Nick Shook provide all the NFL news, previews, recaps and analysis you need to be smarter and funnier than your friends.