The Ironman of Tax Strategy - Dave Lukas of TaxPlanIQ - Slash Tax

Episode Transcript
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Heidi (00:08):
Welcome back to
the Slash Tax Podcast. This is the podcast where we
decode legal tax strategies,powerful incentives, and smart
investing rooms to help youslash your tax bill and build
lasting wealth. I am your host,Heidi Henderson, and I am on a
mission to empower high incomeearners, business owners,
investors, and financialprofessionals with the tools

(00:30):
they need to make tax strategieswork for them, not the other way
around. And today's guest issomeone who really embodies this
mission, Dave Lucas. Dave is aserial entrepreneur, investor,
strategic advisor, and the cofounder of TaxPlanIQ.
TaxPlanIQ is a cutting edgeplatform that's revolutionizing

(00:54):
how tax planning and savings areapproached in business. His
entrepreneurial journey hasearned him recognition as an
Inc. Five thousand honoree fivetimes and an entrepreneurial
three sixty honoree three times.He's the creator of twelve
minute trading, a daily tradingstrategy that empowers people to

(01:15):
achieve financial independencein just twelve minutes a day.
But Dave's influence extendsbeyond his business ventures.
He is also the host of MisfitEntrepreneur, which is an
amazing top rated podcast heardin over a hundred countries, and
he interviews globalentrepreneurs about their
unconventional path to success.He's also an Amazon bestselling

(01:36):
author, of course. He wrote abook called The Ten Year Career,
which is a fast track guide toretiring young, wealthy, and
fulfilled. With a deepbackground in SaaS, ecommerce,
real estate, and advisory, Davebrings an unmatched perspective
on how strategic tax planning,growth systems, and financial

(01:58):
literacy all come together tocreate a pathway to true wealth
and freedom.
And so in this episode, we're
gonna explore how you can align your business strategy and
tax planning for maximum impactwhile keeping more of what you
earn. And so with that, let'swelcome Dave to the show.

(02:21):
Dave, I'm so excited to dive into all of these
achievements. I think you arethe epitome of an overachiever.
You're probably gonna make usall feel like like unbelievable
underachievers, but it'sfascinating what you've managed
to accomplish. You have been aserial entrepreneur, an author,

(02:42):
an investor, an adviser. You'rean athlete, top ranked in many
of these areas, among many otherthings.
So let's start with yourentrepreneurial journey. You've
been recognized many times inInc. 5,000, Entrepreneur three
60. I've seen all thesedifferent rankings that you
have. Can you start with justsharing how did you get started?

(03:04):
What, like, fueled your passionto build successful ventures?

Dave (03:08):
Oh, jeez. So thank you again for having me on. It's
great to be on with all of youguys in the audience. Thanks for
watching, listening today. If myvoice sounds a little raspy, I
we're just recording this afterthe, national championship game
where my buckeyes went and wonthe national championship, and I
was there just screaming.
So just, yeah. So sorry aboutthat, but, we'll get through it.

(03:32):
Honestly, it all goes back towhen I was five years old. So
believe it or not. So I'll tellthe story real quick, and then
we'll jump into, you know, fastforward.
Yeah. So when I was five yearsold, I do have a kind of a
unique blend in family. So Ihave one family that were all
very successful entrepreneurs onmy mom's side, and I actually

(03:54):
had another the other side of myfamily, my dad's side of family
literally grew up dirt poor, oneroom house, all that stuff, you
know, and everything, but all ofthem made it out and and were
successful. So I was fortunateto have some good role models
growing up, but I've always kindof had an entrepreneur spirit

(04:16):
all the way back when I was akid. So when I was five, looked
at my mom and, I said, hey, Iwanna make some money.
And she's like, okay, well, youcan what are you gonna do to
make money? So I got myconstruction paper and I started
making American flags. And I putthem in my red wagon and I went
up and down the block, sellingflags for 5 and 10¢. Right? Wow.

(04:37):
And of course, you have a littlefive year old that shows up your
door. Hey. You wanna buy anAmerican flag for me? I made it
for you. $5.10 cents.
Like, I had, like, a % closerate. I was killing it. It was,
the best business ever. Right?And I got to, like, the last
home on our our block.
And this is the home where,like, all the shades are always
down. You don't see the peoplevery often. You know? It's like,

(04:58):
you know, it it's just kind ofthat scary house. And I mustered
up my courage to go, you know,up the driveway and and all that
stuff.
And I get all the way up there.Nice lady answers the door. I do
my pitch. Cute little smile, allthat stuff. And it seemed like
an eternity, but it was probablyjust a few seconds.
But just deadpan, she goes, no,thank you, honey. We're

(05:19):
Canadian. And she shut the doorin my face.

Heidi (05:21):
Oh.

Dave (05:22):
That was my first that was my first rejection. So I I I
didn't wanna take no for ananswer. I went back and made a
Canadian flag and brought itback. I went and researched, got
a Canadian flag, figured it out,did that in construction paper,
went back, sold it to her. Andever since then, I've just
always been involved in someenterprise or another and had a
lot of successes along the way,but had a lot of failures as

(05:45):
well too.
I think we learned the most fromfailure more than the successes.
But had stuff even in highschool, went to college, came
out with a business degree andall that stuff and went into a
business that did actually Ifailed miserably and after a
year, I didn't have a dime toshare for it. I was working
three jobs to make ends meet andeverything else just sleep on a

(06:08):
floor with a couple other peoplein an apartment and ended up at
that point saying, okay, there'ssome things I gotta learn here
if I wanna do this on a granderscale. And so I ended up in the
Fortune 500 world, was withPaychex for about seven years.
So all of those in theaccounting world watching and
stuff, you guys are veryfamiliar with Paychex.
Yeah. I was very fortunate to toget in there and get trained

(06:29):
and, kind of learn how, thestructure of business and how it
really works. Had some initialsuccess, and then worked my way
up to work with the C suite someand then, ultimately went back
out on my own and, you know,built several companies since
then and, was able to kind ofretire, semi retire by '39,
which was the goal was to do itbefore 40. And, within eight

(06:52):
months, I was bored beyondbelief. So I started being asked
to kind of consult with othersoftware companies because that
was kind of where I landed inthe software space and kind of
help them with scaling andgrowing and stuff.
I did some board work and thingslike that. But then ultimately,
it was introduced to JackieMeyer with Tax Plan IQ a couple

(07:12):
of years ago and really hit itoff, really loved what the
company was doing. So started towork with her some helping on
the business and then ultimatelytook over as CEO last year. So
that's kinda my quick and dirtystory of how I got to where I'm
at.

Heidi (07:26):
That's that's pretty amazing. I have a lot of
questions, and I definitely wantyou to share about Tax Plan IQ.
I'm gonna ask you that shortly,and your book and your podcast.
I I love and very impressiveyour Misfit Entrepreneur
podcast. I mean, you've donesuch a great job.
You've had some amazing guests.So I think you refer to yourself

(07:47):
also as a misfit entrepreneur.So what is what does that mean
to you? And how does that shapeyour approach to business and to
investing?

Dave (07:55):
Sure. That's the dirty secret. Everybody's a misfit.
Otherwise, we'd all be the same.It'd be boring.
Right? So it's what what is it?And and when I when I when I
look at, you know, leaders, youknow, business owners,
entrepreneurs, that's the pointis like, is their misfit side?
Like, what are the uniquehabits? What are the unique
traits that not only got them tobe successful, but kept them
there?
Right? And that's this all,actually, I'll tie it together

(08:19):
because it kinda goes along withthe book a little bit, and why I
do the podcast. Right? So thisactually all started the whole
idea for the podcast startedwhen my wife and I adopted our
daughter from China almosteleven years ago.

Heidi (08:32):
Wow.

Dave (08:35):
Prior to that, I was fortunate when I had some of
that early success, when it waswith Paychex, it bought me some
freedom and I had the ability togo and learn from the best that
I could find. So during about afive year period, I got to go
sit down across the table fromZig Ziglar and ask him questions
to learn more about what madehim tick and what made him

(08:57):
successful. I've now been ableto interview Tom, his son, and
spend some time with Tom overthe years to glean even more.
But Brian Tracy's of the world,people like that. A lot of
people that you've never heardof, but they built hundred
million dollar businesses,$2.03, 4, even half a billion
and then a couple billionaires.
And then the whole goal was tolook for like, okay, what is it

(09:21):
that got these people to wherethey are but kept them there?
What are those, I want to saysecrets, what are those things
that they do that are just alittle bit different? What's
their misfit side? As I startedto learn those things and put
them into practice andeventually going into my
businesses with them andimplementing a lot of those
things, I started to have moresuccess. And people started
asking me, Where did you learnthat from?

(09:42):
That sort of thing. And that'swhat, after enough prodding
prompted me to write the book,The Ten Year Career,
encompassing that stuff. But themost important chapter in that
book, I think is on ourconditioning. You see, we all
come out of the womb with aclean slate. It's not like you
were born and they're like, manHeidi such a beautiful baby, too
bad she'll never make more than35,000.

(10:02):
That's what she said, right? Itdoesn't work like that, right?
So what is it that like, wheredo our thoughts come from? What
shapes the way we react andeverything in our lives? And it
all comes from that conditioningthat we get from the time we're
born.
So family, parents, friends,culture, media, religion,
school, all these things shapehow we think and react to all

(10:26):
these different things of ourlife. Think of a subconscious
like a giant filing cabinet thatbasically has the automatic
reaction to everything that canhappen in your life. Right? You
don't think to do a lot ofthings in your life. Right?
What's that Heidi? Okay. Itrecords locally. So if it's on

(10:51):
Riverside, so we can just keepgoing. It'll pick it up and, put
it together when we're done.
But as long as you can hear me,it should be all right. Cause it
says recording on my side. Yeah.So good. I see the upload

(11:37):
happening.
K. Stop it. I know where I'm at,I can just pick up from there.

(12:07):
Oh, that could be it. Okay.
Do you have a do you have abackup like Zoom you wanna throw
over top of it? That's a goodquestion. I don't know. You're

(12:35):
right. Yeah.

(12:57):
If you wanna we if we wanna do arefresh on it, we can do a
refresh on it, and then we canjust pick up, and then you can
splice them together with yourediting team.

Heidi (13:17):
K. Alright. It's back to accounting now. It says it's
recording, and it says it'srecording my end. So I'll just
seeing them together if it didbreak.

Dave (13:25):
So Okay. Well, I will say this. As as I was saying before
we were so rudely interrupted byRiverside, you know, we all are
conditioned. Right? So it's allthese these different influences
in our lives.
Parents, friends, media,culture, school, religion. All
these things help shape how wethink and react to all the

(13:45):
things that do come up in ourlives, all the situations. If
you think about it, like, muchdo you think really to drive a
car or throw a ball or, youknow, even when you are in
conversation. Right? How youknow, how much do you actually
think when you respond?
That's all run by thesubconscious and stuff. And we
pick up everything's pretty goodalong the way, but we can pick
up things that actually can bedebilitating to, you know, our

(14:05):
success and and our potential.Right? And then once we learn to
recognize what those things are,and be able to isolate them, and
and decide whether we want tokeep them or change them to the
things that we truly want.Right?
And ask ourselves, is thatsomething that I actually
believe? Right? And if not,change it to what I want. You
can, it's the ultimate inpersonal power. You can really

(14:26):
change your whole trajectory,your life, everything.
Right? Yes, And so here I am. Iget my daughter. Yes. And she's
got the three pairs of pantsshe's ever worn.
She got the three shirts thatshe's ever had. She's 18 old.
She has no teeth, and she cannotwalk. Wow. And after five days
of getting three square meals aday, all of a sudden teeth are

(14:48):
popping.
Her legs are strong. She'sstarting to stand. So I would
find myself walking up and downthe hotel hallways of the hotel
we were in in China, like, justbecoming a dad, number one, but
also, like, you know, holdingher holding her hands and
helping her get her legsunderneath her so she could
walk. Right? And it was, like,hitting me the whole time.
You're conditioning her rightnow. She's modeling what she

(15:09):
sees from you right now. Likelike, what you say is going into
her mind. Like and so and andlike the thought hit me like,
gosh, there's gotta be a way toimmortalize all this incredible
information that I've I'velearned, that I will get to
learn, and from all theseamazing people I get to meet
along the journey so thatHannah, my daughter, can learn
from her daddy and his misfitfriends long after I'm dead and
gone. And so, like, that's whatpopped in my head.

(15:30):
And, you know, fast forwardabout eight months later Mhmm.
You know, We're we're home.We're doing doing everything,
you know, Joe and his familydoing all that stuff, and it's
still in the back of my mind.And any entrepreneur out there
knows if something sticks in theback of your mind long enough
like that, you gotta scratch theitch. So sat down over a
weekend, like, what am I gonnado about this?
Do I write more books? Do Istart a blog? Do I record
videos? And I've always lovedpodcasting. I've always loved

(15:52):
the spoken word.
Right? Somebody may not be ableto watch this, but they can take
us on the go, in the gym, in thecar, anywhere, and be able to
feel the emotion and everythingas we do as we do this. And so I
said, why not? You know? I'ddone a number of podcasts as a
guest.
Podcast was becoming moremainstream. Never hosted one,
but how hard can it be. Right?So, so over a weekend, you know,

(16:12):
put up a splash page, hackediTunes, called a few buddies to
do some interviews, and sent itout to the network the next
week, and, you know, took off.Here we are ten years later, you
know, 450 or so episodes intothe thing, and it's been
listened to in a hundredcountries.
And, you know, I've had justamazing guests. There's
literally, you know, multipleMBAs worth of information in the

(16:34):
episodes for those that want it.So it's been a lot of fun.

Heidi (16:37):
That that is amazing. I I was late to the podcast game.
You know, it seems likeeverybody has a podcast, but
Yeah. You know, it's verysimilar from my sense of just
having a bit of a passionproject about an industry and
pain points and and and saying,why not have conversations,
meaningful conversations withpeople that are figuring out the
things I think that we're alltrying to figure out on a day to

(16:59):
day basis? You know, success anddrive and work and balance
between all of these things.
Are there any particular gueststhat you've had on the podcast
that I mean, I'm sure there are.Give me a couple examples, I
should say, of a particularguest that left a really, really
lasting impression on you andand what that was.

Dave (17:18):
Gosh. At this point, there's been so many. Honestly,
if I looked back through all ofour history, I'd be able to I I
really would be able to say,wow. That one yeah. That was a
really great episode.
You know, I there's some bignames like Alex Rumozzi's been
on. He's well known, hundredmillion dollar offers and all
that stuff. I think Alex was Iyou know, he was on right before
he got very, you know, famous.Right? I think it was really

(17:41):
cool.
Him and Leila, his significantother, were on together. Oh.
That was a really cool episode.I mentioned, like, Tom Ziggler.
Ziggler was really good.
Mhmm. He's guy that not a lot ofpeople hear about, but he's kind
of in the same vein as, like,Alex, and he's been really
successful as an immigrantentrepreneur. He's a guy named
Beidros Killion.

Heidi (17:59):
Mhmm.

Dave (17:59):
I've had him on a couple times. A good you know, a really
good one. And then we've had Imean, we've had billionaire, you
know, that that have been onthat have built billion dollar
businesses and stuff. There wasand I can't remember her name.
Sadly, it was a few years ago,but she built the largest
transcription service in theworld.
Wow. You know? And hearing thatstory, like starting an

(18:20):
apartment in New York andbuilding that, like, you know,
there are just so manyincredible stories, and and
really, that's what we do in theepisode. We the guest tells a
story. I actually don't wannaknow any of that ahead of time.
I like to be genuinelysurprised. So and then I get
curious, and we go down rabbitholes. Like, that no episode's
ever the same, so it's kindait's kinda fun like that. Right?

(18:43):
So I always tell people, becausethey're like, hey, what episode
should I go?
I'm like, the best thing to dois peruse the titles. Which ones
speak to you? Go check them out.You really can't go wrong with
any of them. Each guest is youknow, a highly accomplished in
their own right, so you'realways gonna learn something.

Heidi (19:01):
Yeah. But is there there's gotta be something, and
I'm sure it's hard to pullsomething out out of all of the
ones you've done, but somethingthat somebody said to you that
just hit you. You know? And thathappens to me sometimes when I'm
talking to people.

Dave (19:13):
And Ziegler had one of the yeah. Tom Ziegler had a, you
know, one of the best, you know,definitions of success that I've
ever heard. And, you know, I Iuse it to this day. So I asked
him. I said, Leo, you know,what's the best way to succeed?
He said, simple. Replace a badhabit with a good habit. And do

(19:33):
that over and over and overagain. And so, like, last year,
we went through an exercise thatI started at beginning of the
year in TechSpendIQ, and I'mlike, let's look at each area,
an apartment we have. Let's finda bad habit, and replace it with
a good habit.
Yes. And then go to the nextone, and the next one, and the
next one. And it's amazing, youknow, where you are at the end
of the year. I you know, I'vesaid for many years, you know,

(19:54):
people overestimate what theycan do in a week and
underestimate what they can doin a year.

Heidi (19:59):
Mhmm.

Dave (19:59):
Right? Yep. And it's amazing what you can accomplish
over the long term. Right? Andthat's one theme that comes up a
lot.
It it well, it's really justproven by these entrepreneurs.
The those that play the longgame win.

Heidi (20:14):
Mhmm. Well, it's

Dave (20:15):
like that

Heidi (20:15):
1% rule. You know, you you I can't remember what book
that is, but, you know, getting1% better every day. And Tiny
gains.

Dave (20:23):
Yes. Mhmm. It's tiny gains. It's why am I blinking?
I'll come back around.
But Yeah. Exactly. It's thelittle 1% that add up over time.
Right? And that's but you but ifif if you don't play the long
game and everything is just likebecause we're we're we're
conditioned as instant society.
Right? It's like, you know, themicrowave, you know, we stop it

(20:45):
with three seconds left. Wecan't even wait three seconds
anymore. You know? It's like Ilike, you know what I mean?
So there's this this insatiablehunger for everything now.
Right? And that's that's that'sa that's a a very hard thing
when it comes to lastingsuccess.

Heidi (21:02):
Yeah.

Dave (21:02):
You might get it once, but you're gonna give it back, or
you're you're gonna not be ableto do it consistently because
you you're not looking at it forthe long term. You're not taking
that long view. You know?

Heidi (21:13):
Yeah. Well, obviously, I mean, you have a huge
entrepreneurial spirit. And I Icould actually go down the
rabbit hole all day of talkingabout the childhood experience
because I I am not a big, my mytherapy is being outside. My is
moving my body. That's how Iwork through Yeah.
Psychological, emotional issuesis is physically moving. Mhmm.

(21:35):
But, you know, you hear a lotabout childhood trauma and
people working through that. Ihave three kids in their
twenties, and it's amazing tostart to see them work through
things from their childhood. Notnecessarily the word bad things.
They're just things thathappened, like like you with the
flag as a five year old, and itit planted a seed so strongly

(21:55):
and powerfully that it reallydoes shape how we go forward,
and it could be good or bad. Andso really taking the time to
reflect on that is, I think, soempowering with how that changes
the trajectory of our lives. Butback to TaxPlanIQ, because this
is a big one. Being anentrepreneur, how did you spin

(22:16):
into this relationship withJackie at TaxPlanIQ? I mean,
this software, it offers taxplanning, savings, strategy
really for taxpayers.
What gap in the market did yousee that really inspired you to
jump onboard with Jackie, tohave buy in, and really wanna to
become the CEO of this of thiscompany?

Dave (22:38):
Well, I wanna give a lot of credit to Jackie because she
originally saw the opportunity,the need, and everything else.
Right? So those, you know,listening, probably some of you
have heard of Jackie becauseshe's spoken a lot in everything
else, and her her success storyhas been told a lot. Right? This
is a, you know, a CPA running a,you know, just small market firm
doing 3 to 400,000 a year inrevenue, working sixty, seventy

(22:59):
hours a week like crazy, who hadan epiphany moment where her
husband told the kids that weshould just forget mommy exists
for the next few months duringtax season.
Yep. That pretty much set her ona path to, you know, figure out
how to, you know, live the lifethat she wanted. Right? And she
found tax planning is thevehicle to do that. Mhmm.

(23:22):
And over a three year period,she was able to reduce her
client base by 60% and grow herrevenues by almost four times
and have a million dollarbusiness. Now who wouldn't wanna
do that? Right? And so all themethodology that she originally
was doing by hand, you know, andwith spreadsheets and stuff
became the initial kind ofversion of Tax Plan IQ. And so

(23:45):
once she launched it, it, youknow, it it it got, you know,
some falling because people knewher right off the bat.
And I think where I came in was,you know, she had she had
reached that initial. Everybusiness has different plateau
levels. Right? I always I I usethis I have this formula that
I've always used called DCP,consistency, and persistent.
Right?

(24:05):
Yep. So discipline is doing thethings that you know you need to
do even when you don't wanna dothem. Consistency is doing that
day in and day out without fail.And persistence is even though
even if you're disciplined andconsistent, you are gonna hit
what seem like insurmountableroadblocks. And if you're not
willing to persevere or persistthrough those times, you kinda

(24:26):
stagnate.
Right? Mhmm. And every business,like, from, you know, zero to
500,000, five hundred thousandto a million, a million to
5,000,000, five to 10, and andso on, goes through these levels
of of that. Right? And you gottafigure out how to break through,
though.
Right? And I've I've had someexperience in doing that. And so
Jackie kinda been at, you know,that that first level, you know,

(24:47):
over a million and and growingand trying to figure out that
next that next kind of phase,and that's where we were
introduced. And so when we satdown, you know, she's like,
look. I, you know, I I build abusiness, but I've never built a
software company before.
It's definitely different than aCPA firm. Like, what can we do
together? Right? So I I startedworking with her on how to get

(25:08):
better alignment, how toapproach the market. We brought
in EOS, if you've ever heard ofEOS before.
Yep. EOS, the entrepreneuroperating system. It's a great
structure for how to run abusiness and get everybody on
the same page. Right? Did thosethings, and and we doubled the
size of the business in aboutsix months.
Wow. And, you know, after that,Jackie's like, you know what? I

(25:28):
really like being, like, outfront with the message of what
tax planning can do and helpingpeople understand that, as well
as working she really loves towork in in the product and and
that sort of thing. Right? She'slike, would you take over as CEO
and, you know, really continuewhat we've done here?
Because you've got theexperience. You've done it.
You've gone to these differentlevels, and, you know, we'll be

(25:50):
a great team together. And atthat point, I had really fallen
in love with the business of oftax planning. Having the
background that I had was nicebecause I understood the CPA
community pretty well andunderstood the the challenges
there.
And you look at tax prep, andtax prep is it's needed. Right?
But it's a really big bloody redocean. It's kind of like a race

(26:10):
to the bottom. You know?
It's like you know, think aboutit. Most c you know, most CPAs
and accountants watching, like,know, client comes in the
office. They're like, well, youknow, they had an accountant or
somebody doing their taxesbefore. It's like, well, my old
CPA was doing it for this. Canyou beat it?
Like, it's a horrible playposition to be in. Right? And
try to sell value on the on thesame thing that everybody's got

(26:32):
the same software doing andeverything. Right? So, like, how
do you separate yourself apart?
Well, if somebody walks in youroffice, you could say, hey. I I
took your your last year's taxreturn and ran it through our
our software, and it turns out Ican save you about a hundred and
$80,000 in taxes going forward.Now, obviously, there's more
work that we have to do forthat. It's not just one and done
doing your tax returns at theyear. It's a year round thing

(26:54):
that we have to do to make surewe that all that savings is
realized, and, you know, it'llcost you about $30,000 to do
that, plus it includes your taxreturn.
It's a completely differentconversation. If I walk into if
if somebody walked into me andsaid, Dave, pay me 30,000, and
I'll pay you a hundred and80,000 Yeah. I would do that
over and over and over again.Right? Yep.
And so that's what tax planningreally opens up, and that's the

(27:15):
thing I love about it is it'sreally a win win win. Actually,
one tax planning client onaverage is the same revenue as
22 tax prep clients.

Heidi (27:24):
Wow. Wow.

Dave (27:25):
That's an interesting

Heidi (27:26):
that's an interesting stat.

Dave (27:27):
You wanna know how Jackie got rid of 60% of her client
base. She focused on the onesthat tax planning really made
sense for Mhmm. And did the taxprep form, but, you know, that's
what allowed her to, you know,grow her revenues that much and
have less clients. And Yep. Shegot down to where she was
working four hours a weekbecause she you know, I
challenged her on this becauseshe read the four hour work week
by Tim Ferriss and was like, I'mgonna do it.

(27:48):
And she actually did get to thatpoint. Wow. And so, you know,
her her as a result, her familylife changed and what she could
do with her family and all thatstuff changed. Right? Made a
huge difference for her.
And that's really what we're ourmission is at Tax Plan IQ. We've
got a software that literallydoes 90 plus percent of the work
for you. Mhmm. Reads the datafrom, you know, the the
taxpayer's information, suggeststhe strategies to maximize the

(28:11):
savings, puts together the planand all of that for you with the
click of a button. Yep.
You know? And so it's it's beena lot of fun making really
having a win win win. Right? Thetaxpayer wins. They save a lot
of money.
The the CPA or the accountingfirm wins because they are now
able to generate more revenuesand be more proactive and and

(28:31):
really serve their clients at ahigher level, and obviously, we
win because they use oursoftware to do it. So it's it's
rare to find that in thesoftware space having been in it
so long.

Heidi (28:40):
Yeah. No. You guys have really interesting model. And
the it's interesting becauseI've seen such a shift in in the
CPA space over the last coupleof years. One of the biggest
shifts I've seen in my twentyplus years in this industry
specifically, and I think it's afew different factors.
It's the whole pandemic reallycatapulted the industry forward

(29:02):
with technology. I think thatmany of the older style firms
were very resistant to, and itforced having to go to the cloud
and having to begin using Zoomand realizing that, you know,
working virtually is actually apossibility. Obviously, you'd
seen in other industries, butnot the CPA space. But the other

(29:23):
factor that's really shiftingthings is this max exodus of
people retiring out of the spaceand the significant lack of
people actually graduating andcoming into the CPA or the
accounting industry. Thedifficulty and this is where I
see opportunity, but also someprobably struggle with something

(29:45):
like tax plan IQ, and I'd lovefor you to address it a little
bit.
For one, we have firms that arerealizing for them to change and
to adapt, they need to shifttheir focus into strategic tax
planning, into really looking atthose opportunities and finding
value, and then also successbased billing, very possibly.
And we're seeing a big shift inthe younger, newer firms moving

(30:09):
towards that model andunderstanding the value. But on
the flip side, we see some ofthe larger or regional
traditional formed firms saying,look, we don't have time for
that. We don't have time. Wedon't have capacity.
We don't have the energy. Wedon't have the desire to sit

(30:29):
here and do this strategic planwith our clients. It's just too
time consuming. We we are set upto bill on success based
billing. And so it's interestingbecause I see this whole piece
of the industry that I think isreally going to gravitate toward
what you guys have built, Andthen this other piece that's
gonna be much more hesitant.
Can you talk a little bit aboutfirst, some key features in in

(30:54):
the platform? And then really,how is it making a real
difference for CPAs and how theycan this to solve both of those
points. They're they're twodifferent problems, I think.

Dave (31:06):
Well, I will say I will say this before I get into those
features and stuff. Inertia is achallenge in in any industry.

Heidi (31:12):
Right?

Dave (31:14):
You know, change is tough, especially when you've done
things a certain way a longtime. You know, our goal is the
way we built things and and andset it up is to really be the
bridge between the old way andthe new way. Right? Yeah. And I
think we've done a good job ofdoing that, and we continue to
get better, you know, as withthe additions that we make to

(31:35):
the software and stuff.
But, you know, the key features,you know, are again, when
somebody says I don't have time,that's the exact reason you need
to change.

Heidi (31:44):
Yes. K.

Dave (31:45):
Because if you don't have time, if you don't have five
minutes to be proactive andreally look out for your client
in a better way, that's anissue. Yep. Because you're gonna
get passed up because somebodywill come along and do that.
It's just the nature ofbusiness. Yeah.
Right? And so so that I think tolike, that that should be a wake
up call. Right? And the the nicething is, like, we've kinda

(32:09):
democratized it in a in a waythat, you know, makes it so that
you can do it in five minutes.So there's not really an excuse
of time anymore.
Right? It's just whether youwant to or not.

Heidi (32:19):
I see.

Dave (32:19):
So in our world, you know, we we use the the the ten forty,
and the reason that we use theten forty as the main instrument
is because for most taxpayers,95 plus percent fill you know,
everything flows through intothe ten forty. So if you get the
ten forty, you can you can readthat. You can OCR that. Right?
And get the data points off ofit, and then be able to

(32:41):
recommend the the the best taxstrategy set up for that client.
We have about a 25, hundred and30 strategies, and then there's
state counterparts in thesoftware, so it's like quote
unquote 6,000 strategies if youdo it like that. Mhmm. Right?
And so the the software does. Itreads it within less than a
minute.
It tells you, hey. Based on thistax return, here are the top tax

(33:04):
strategies. We've got a specificlogic, and then we've got
brought an AI with that tomaximize that and make sure it's
right. And so it tells you, hey.Here's your potential savings.
Here are the strategies makesense. It tells you a dollar
value specifically for eachstrategy that could potentially
be there based upon how much ofit you decide to use. Right? And
then you can literally check thebox. Check.

(33:27):
Check. Check. And it goes on tothe tax plan, and then the tax
plan with the click of a buttonis automatically created with
the specific steps for eachstrategy and what to do. The,
you know, risk to understand,you know, the steps that a
client needs to do, all of it'sright there. It's the playbook
at your fingertips.
Yep. And then we also producesome really unique other assets.
We actually produce a salespresentation. So if you don't

(33:49):
have a sales presentation, it'sactually done and ready for you.
So that's in there.
Right? So how to you know, ittakes you right through how to
present to the client. Now welike people that, like, pick and
choose slides from that and putit with their own stuff and
everything too, but it's just anasset and a resource for you.
And then we also have, one of myfavorites is like an executive
summary. It's like a one pagereport that, you know, you can
download.
Like, think about meeting with aclient. Kind of that example I

(34:11):
said earlier. Right? You runtheir tax return through ahead
of time. It shows you can save,you know, a hundred and $50,000
for them, and it shows across,you know, that we do it by
category, as a default.
Right? So it doesn't say thespecific strategies. Maybe you
don't wanna give those away, butit'll show you what the, year
one, year two is, and then yourten year, you know, trajectory

(34:34):
for savings. So imagine sittingfrom a client being like, well,
we can save you a hundred and 50in year one. We're gonna save
you, you know, another hundredor so in year two and beyond, so
your total savings over the nextten years is like 1,300,000.0.
Like, that's a really compellingstory to talk about. The other
thing that we did, probably themost important thing we did, is
we we figured out the thestandard for how to price tax

(34:55):
planning.

Heidi (34:56):
K.

Dave (34:56):
This was about a ten year effort starting with Jackie's
efforts, you know, almost adecade ago, and working with the
best tax planners that were outthere, people that are you know,
they've made it their wholebusiness and, you know, clients
of ours and and thought leadersout there to really figure out a
methodology for how toconsistently price tax money
because there isn't one in thespace. No. And just in November

(35:17):
of last year, the AICPA came outand adopted it, and they'll be
rolling out more with that inthe this year on, really, the
standard we call it the ROImethod. Good. And so we actually
have a workbook on that sopeople can download that, and
they can, you know, plug inthings and and see what the
pricing is.
But the software does it allwith just answering four
questions. Wow. So it's allbaked in. Yep. So literally, in

(35:40):
about five minutes, you've got atax plan.
You know what to price it at.You know what the going rate is
in the market. That's actuallyfactored into the net savings
and everything on the tax planand all that for you. Mhmm. And
you're off and running.
So there's we've tried to do ourbest to make it, like I said, 90
plus percent of the work. Yep.And, you know, make it within a
few minutes you've got what youneed and and can get going.

Heidi (36:01):
You know what? It's it's amazing because you and I have
been talking for, I think, overa year or so, and we had looked
for a tool, looked for a partnerthat was doing something like
this. And there are a fewplatforms, but what you guys are
doing different. And one of thethings I love the most is that
you approach it from the tenforty, from the individual
taxpayer. And where we come inas being a tax credit incentive

(36:26):
firm, you know, we're workingwith cost segregation and R and
D, your platforms identify whenthose are applicable.
But when we're working on itfrom a client side, we finish
one of those, and the inherentquestion is always, what else
should I be doing? What else canwe deploy? And then also,
oftentimes, our CPA isn'tlooking at those opportunities
for us. Much of our business isreferred to us by CPAs that are

(36:50):
strategically looking at thoseopportunities. But the clients
that come to us directly becausethere's so much information out
there nowadays, they're findingus direct.
We're working with an investoron a real estate project or
business owner. Those questionsare inherently those next things
they're searching for. Our toolsand resources for someone to
provide them that thatvisibility of what they can be

(37:13):
looking at, how they can save,how they can reinvest. Because
it's not about their success,how much money they're making,
and how much tax they have topay. It's that the tax code is
built to incentivize specificactivities, and knowledge is
power.
And so have that knowledge I Ican't tell you how many CPAs
over the years have told theirclients, well, you should be

(37:35):
thrilled. You did really greatthis year. I mean, this is what
you owe. So you should just youshould be really proud of
yourself. And and I agree withthat to an extent, except that
when they get to that level,that next step is really
changing the mindset.
And to that point, like, beyondthe software, I love what you

(37:56):
said that inertia is a challengein any industry. And I think
that you really hit the nail onthe head because with the
accounting and CPA industry,we're resistant to things that
are difficult that that createchange and probably are gonna
take a little bit of time tounderstand or are new, but this
is really what our clients arelooking for. So now shifting

(38:18):
from use, like, using aplatform, using change, which
really about mindset. So whattraits do you see again and
again in in a lot of theseentrepreneurs that you work with
or investors you work with? Whatis the mindset they've been able
to adopt to really cultivatethat mindset to be more open and
really start to recognize thoseopportunities?

Dave (38:41):
Well, I'll talk about that because a few things with that.
But I I'll say this. Like, overthe last two years, we've saved
over a billion dollars in taxesfor taxpayers. We average over
$40,000 per taxpayer on ourplatform. So if you took all
your clients and plugged them inour platform, you'd average over
$40,000.
Now some, you may save amillion. Right? But I will say

(39:02):
this much. All it does is takethe decision. Like, we have
people that I I mean, happensevery single month.
We have people that start intheir first month. Right? And we
actually give a lot ofinstructions. So we don't just,
like, give you a platform, and,you know, we have a support team
that is second to none that'sthere to help you, that onboards
you, that trains you, that walksyou through everything, and we

(39:23):
have tax technical experts, allof that stuff there to
effectively hold your hand.Right?
Because we know it can bechallenging. But our goal was
always to get your first taxplans sold with you in less than
thirty days and help yourclients. Amazing. And that's
always the goal. Mhmm.
And we and we see it's like, oneof my favorite stories with a 72

(39:45):
year old who's still doing taxprep work. She's, you know,
she's love her to death. She's awonderful lady, but she had just
she didn't know she knew sheneeded to change, but she wasn't
sure what to do. Right? She cameon board hesitantly.
She worked with our team. Wehelped her out, and she went
with one of her larger clientsto start. We identified over

(40:07):
$300,000 in savings for thatclient. Wow. And the ROI method
told her that because of thestrategy she was doing and the
the work that's involved we it'snot a success fee based or
anything like that.
The ROI method takes intoaccount the actual work needed
to implement strategiesthroughout the year, assigns
like a dollar value to it, likean hourly value, and then it has
a markup and everything. Sothere's no percentage. There's

(40:27):
none of that stuff. But the ROImethod told her to charge
$72,000 for the tax plan. Mhmm.
She'd never charged more than acouple grand in her entire life
to any client. Right?

Heidi (40:36):
So

Dave (40:39):
worked with her a little bit. She was you know, got, you
know, up the the courage. Shesat down with her client and
went through the pitch, showedit to them, showed the savings,
and said it's gonna cost about$72,000 to do it. Client didn't
blink an eye, cut her check onthe spot. That's the thing that
happens more often than not.
And once somebody has thathappen, when I you know, talk

(41:00):
about mental. Right? Oncesomebody sees that that's
possible, it's it's on fromthere. It's, you know, it did
you know, it's gone on to do abunch more since then, and we
see that all the time. Yeah.
So a lot of the mentalroadblocks are, you know, you
know, are in our own minds. Yep.Back to the subconscious and
everything. Right? You can'tcharge $72,000 for a tax plan.

(41:20):
Well, yeah, you can. And, youknow, I've got some clients that
they deal with really high networth individuals or business
owners, and they're charging 304hundred thousand dollars. So
it's really where your mentallimits are in a lot of cases.

Heidi (41:35):
Yeah.

Dave (41:35):
Right? That's, know, that part of that's from being an
industry that kind of has hadthings set in a way and stuff.
So the I think the biggest thingthe biggest thing that people
have to do is is have to take astep back and just say, like,
what do I truly want? Not notjust for my business, but for
myself. Right?
What is the best day in the lifelook like for me if I had it my

(41:59):
way? Right? Yeah. And once youstart to, you you look at those
things and kind of see whattruly matters, right, And what,
you know, really makes adifference in your life and and
all that. It it it takes on adifferent meaning, and then that
gives you a purpose.
And once you have a purpose,right, you have something to
live into, just like anythingfor anybody, and and you set the

(42:21):
goal when you go after it. And Ithink that's the because we get
so bogged down in the day today, you know, like this we're
doing this during tax season, sowe're already, you know, we're
cranking. Right? And all thatstuff. And so we're bogged down
the day to day.
You know, you don't stop to,like I I think actually tax
season is gonna sound crazy to alot of people. I think it's one
of the best times to you utilizelike a tool like ours or any of

(42:42):
them out there from a taxplanning perspective. Yeah.
Because you're working with theclient's data now. You're you're
you've got the the ten fortybeing done.
Can identify the opportunitiesfor next year, have great
conversation during this time.Maybe you can go back and amend
a return from a year two ago andget some extra savings. You
know? Like, to me, it's likeit's like just the ultimate.
It's it's, It's the best time toto do that.

(43:04):
Right? Yep. Interesting. Butagain, a mind shift. It's a mind
shift.
Right? A %. To do that. Yep. A%.
Yeah. So so you have to you haveto go down to the core. You have
to go to the real your what'syour real purpose? And most
people never sit down for a fewhours on a Friday and just ask
themselves, what do I trulywant? Yeah.

(43:25):
Why do I want

Heidi (43:26):
it? Mhmm.

Dave (43:27):
Right? And and and question themselves and dig in
on themselves. It's not asurface level answer, you know,
three, four, or five levelsdeep. But once you get there and
you get it, right, then a lot ofthings fall in line. And so I
think that's what some of thesethese people that, you know,
that that are know they need tomove but aren't doing it, right,
have to kinda do and then resethow their business is.

(43:48):
It can be a little bit scary,but, you know, there's a there's
a best case. There's a worstcase. You usually fall somewhere
in between. Right? So if youjust focus on the worst case,
you're you're missing out on alot of opportunity.
So symmetric risk and reward.

Heidi (44:00):
Right. So is that how so you are an Amazon bestselling
author of the ten year career.You mentioned that. The book
Mhmm. Promises a fast trackguide to retiring young,
wealthy, and fulfilled.
Is this a result of you goingthrough that exercise for
yourself in terms of askingyourself, what do I really want?
What what do I want? What do Iwant my life to look like?

Dave (44:20):
Is this book a

Heidi (44:22):
result of that?

Dave (44:24):
It it actually helped spurred that because in order to
write it, I had to get real withwho I was and and everything. I
you know, I when I wrote that, Iwas in my, you know, mid to late
twenties. Right? I'm stilltrying to at that point, I'm
still trying to figure out who Iam or what I'm gonna you know,
what do I wanna be when I growup. Right?
For most people. Right? Yeah.And so going through that,

(44:45):
knowing that I was gonna putsomething out there that was
going to share wisdom and advicethat could help others, you
know, with where they were andwhere they wanted to go, I had
to get really real andunderstand that about myself
first.

Heidi (44:58):
Mhmm.

Dave (44:59):
You know? And as you grow older, things change. We know
that priorities change. I didn'thave a kid back then. Mhmm.
To now, you know, muchdifferent. Right? She's 11 going
on 18, so or 12 going on 18. SoYeah. She's little it's a
completely different world.
Right? So but the you know, andso things do change, and so
that's why I I still do it everyyear. Mhmm. Now a lot of the

(45:21):
core stuff like, my core valuesin principles, those those don't
change. You know?
Those are pretty darnconsistent. Yeah. But, like,
when I look at, like, what do Iwanna accomplish for 2025 versus
2024 based on what we have goingon, right, I look at your
professional life, I look atyour personal life, and I look
at what I call, like, yourdiscretionary, which is the

(45:41):
other areas. Right? So, like,for me, professionals like what
I do at TextBend IQ and some ofthe other ventures that I have.
Right? So what do I what reallymatters there? Where if I'm
gonna put my time in that, wheredo I put my time and why? Right?
What's my purpose?
Personal. What's what's mypurpose with my my family this
year? How do I become a betterfather? How do I become a better
husband? How do I, you know,become a better man overall?

(46:03):
Right? And then, like,discretionary or, like, the
other areas, like, where I haveendeavors. Like, you mentioned
I'm being an athlete and stuff.I, you know, I compete pretty
heavily in Ironman. Right?
So it's like, well, what do Iwant to like, what would make me
a really great year here, andwhat do I need to do it? What
sacrifices do I need to make?Like, you know, once you have
that and you align that withyour principles, your your core

(46:24):
values, and everything, it'sit's a lot easier to move
forward. And less is more. Ithink too is another thing.

Heidi (46:30):
I'm glad you brought that up because I did wanna talk
about you're doing Ironmans. Soas I said, you are just just
slightly an overachiever. Wewe've got books. We have the
podcast. You're Sounds

Dave (46:42):
like Sounds more than it is.

Heidi (46:43):
It sounds more like it is. I know it's amazing what we
can pack into a day. But talk alittle bit about a year. Yeah.
What talk about how do youbalance all of that?
I mean, just Ironman's byitself. The training regimen for
that typically is is extremewith the number of hours that
you train in different, youknow, swim and bike and run and,

(47:06):
and the hours you have miles youhave to spend doing those
things. Yep. One thing I talkabout on this podcast that I'm
really passionate about is thecommitment to choosing what we
want our lives to look like, andthen building it that way, that
we are not victims of time andtasks, that we are the
constructors of time and tasks.And how do you construct that in

(47:31):
a way where you can still do thethings that you love, that you
are passionate about?
You know, you're a father, youryour your family, your work,
your, you know, physicalendeavors. How are you balancing
all that? Talk a little bitabout the structure and your
commitment to those things.

Dave (47:46):
Well, I I think, and I've said this for a long time too,
most people it's in in the booktoo, most people don't get what
they want because they don'tknow what they want. And so,
again, when you know what youwant, right, kind of what we
just talked about before, thingsfall online a lot easier. Right?
But so I I got him to do an ironman's I I played football
through college. Right?
And after college, I still hadkind of a competitive itch that

(48:10):
I wanted to scratch. Right? So Istarted running. Right? So you
get into, you know, halfmarathons and marathons and
things like that.
But, you know, after 40 ofthose, it gets a little boring.
You know? And so it, like, ityou you start looking for kinda
some other things, and that'swhere kind of endurance racing
came in. And I like I I I liketriathlon because of the
different disciplines that youlike, me, if I do the same thing

(48:31):
over and over and over again allthe time, I get bored. Right?
So the different disciplinesrequire a different skill set, a
different focus, and everythingto get good at them, and then
putting them together is isalways a challenge. Right? Every
race that I do, you know, I justgot back from the world
championships in New Zealandhere in last December and

(48:51):
competed. And I did pretty well,but I've never been passed up so
much in my life in racing. Andso, like, it it like, it's
amazing how good people are.
Right? So, like, that spurred meto go, okay. Like, I broke down
the race. Like, my transitionsweren't fast enough. What other
things that I did you know,could I have done better?
Like you know? And so those arethings working on this year
because I've got the worldchampionship in Nice, France.

(49:12):
Right? So, like, to me, like, II love racing because it's a
great metaphor for business andlife. Right?
You you have to be disciplined,like, every single day. Right?
Again, doing the things you knowyou need to do even when you
don't wanna do them. Right? So Iwas up at you know, I got, like,
two hours of sleep on, you know,Monday night, caught a plane

(49:35):
back yesterday, worked, and hada, you know, a a big webinar
last night, got some sleep, gotup at 05:30, and did my run that
I had to do today.
Right? And so, like, that forcesme to have to follow a structure
and a schedule and everythingelse. So that's one thing that
training does is it it forces meto do that. It also forces me to
take care of myself. Mhmm.
You know? Mhmm. I I can't be,you know, you know, weekend

(49:57):
warrior stuff. I I and all that.That, you know, a lot of people
do.
Like, I you know, when you gottaget up at 6AM for a seven hour
training block on a Saturday orSunday morning, you know, you
can't you can't do that stuff.Right? So it forces you to be
disciplined and helps with yourhealth and stuff, which also
helps as an entrepreneur. Yeah.It also teaches you that the
little things make the biggestdifference, kinda what I was

(50:18):
talking about.
Right? So nutrition. When you'rein Ironman, for those that don't
know, is a 2.5 mile swimfollowed by a 12 mile bike ride
followed by a marathon as fastas you can do it. Okay? That's
that's what

Heidi (50:32):
it all. Yeah. That's all.

Dave (50:33):
Well and, you know, so so over a nine or ten hour stretch,
you know, which is, you know, inthe you know, just so you know,
the pros are finishing, like,seven to eight hours, guys.
That's how good people are atthe sport. But, you know, for my
age group, I'm I'm one of thetops in the world, and the
nutrition is such a big thing.If you don't get your nutrition
right, if I don't eat the bananaat exactly when I get off the

(50:54):
bike to get on the run, thatpotassium that I didn't get from
that banana is gonna hurt me onthe run if I don't have that.
Like, everything's dialed inscientifically at this point.
So business, the little thingsmake the biggest difference.
Creating the SOP, documentingthings appropriately, making
sure that if you got a process,it's consistently followed.
Like, things are, like, thingsthat nobody wants to deal with

(51:14):
or think about or have to, youknow, come back to, but it's
what makes a great business.Right? And so, like, there's a
lot of these, like, parallels,and then the mental game.
Every single race, wanna quit.There's a point at which, you
know, my mind's telling me,you're going too fast. You
haven't gone at this speedbefore. You're gonna, you know,
burn out, slow down, orwhatever. Right?

(51:35):
Like, where you have thisstruggle mentally that you have
to use will and overcome, right,to to make it and finish it.
And, thankfully, knock on wood,I've never not finished a race
at this point. You know? Andthat translates well to business
because, again, you know, everyday like, business has problems.

(51:57):
Every day there's problems thatcome up.
Right? The more problems you cansolve, the bigger ones that you
can handle, the more yourbusiness can grow. So I welcome
the challenge now. Right? It'snot like, oh, no.
You know, this happened, or thisis going on. It's like, okay.
Great. Where's the opportunityin this? Let's figure that out.
Let's how are we gonna takeadvantage of it? Right? And so

(52:18):
that's one of the things that,you know, racing has helped me,
you know, get better with myselfover the years. So there's a lot
of these these parallels to it.Back to structure.
Go back. One of the things thatwell, I'll share this and then,
you know, because I I thinkit'll give you the last point
you need. So when it comes tostructure, and I don't like the
word balance. Just the, youknow, I I what I love is the

(52:40):
word harmony because I think asentrepreneurs, balance is
actually really hard. Findingtrue harmony amongst things,
right, that's more in line withwith what you have to do with.
Because let's face it, there aresome times you're gonna work
late. You know? It just is whatit is. There are some times
where you gotta travel and youdon't wanna travel. Right?
There's, like, things like thatthat come up. So what I did

(53:03):
years ago is I took back controlof my life through my calendar
with a very simple exercise. Igot up one morning, and I
blocked out all the times for meon my calendar that my staff had
access to. Workout times,lunchtime, thinking time, my
own, you know, blocks forwhatever it is I wanna do
strategic planning, and evenfamily time. Like, if you look

(53:25):
at my calendar, 05:45PM easteastern, family time, and it
goes through the end of thenight.
Right? And so what I did is withthat exercise, I actually
trained people when I wasavailable for them. And so if
you've ever lived in that worldwhere your calendar's open and
people just grab times and taketimes, and all of a sudden,
you've got no time left. Right?

Heidi (53:44):
Mhmm.

Dave (53:45):
Yeah. I I took all that back so that I didn't have to
worry about that. And so my, youknow, teams know, hey. This is
when I'm available. If it's notopen, hey.
You gotta find another time.Right? Or wait till our one on
one time. Right? And that sortof thing.
Because that's your time, right,that I put into you at the at
those. The rest is is mine, andthat has made a a massive

(54:05):
difference in just taking backthat control and not ceding it
to others.

Heidi (54:10):
Yeah. I think that's huge. I mean, time blocking and
prioritizing, we do a quadrantexercise, and part of that comes
from the Covey thought processof the quadrants and really
understanding. But the timeblocking is so imperative. You
have so many insights oneverything from tax planning and
business.

(54:30):
We didn't even get to yourinvesting because I know you
you're also doing some realestate investing. You do some
coaching with differentbusinesses, business coaching
and consulting, career growth.But if somebody's listening, as
we kind of wrap this up, what isjust one step that somebody
could take towards that nextstep for them, whether that's

(54:51):
their financial freedom or theharmony that they have between
their work life balance, theirmental health, physical health,
and their own success? Like,just one little thing, and and
and I'll I'll preface this bysaying, I asked that question
because sometimes it's so easyto get overwhelmed. You know?
And and honestly, looking atsomeone like you and seeing

(55:12):
everything you achieved, it'slike, well, I mean, that, you
know, that's impossible. That'shim. He's amazing. He's he's
like a superhero. You know, I Ihaven't worked out in ten years.
So so we talked already a littlebit about 1%, you know, replace
one bad habit with one goodhabit. I love a lot of these
little takeaways you'veprovided. Is there anything
else, just one thing thatresonates with you that you feel

(55:35):
like you could share withlisteners as just a motivator
for just starting with that onelittle thing?

Dave (55:41):
Yeah. I mean, honestly, Tom Ziegler's advice, pick the
one bad habit and replace itwith a good habit is one of the
best things that you can do. Andthen once you've done it, you're
gonna gain momentum. The theother thing, though, I I I and I
go back to this. Most peopledon't get what they want because
they don't know what they want.
So if you don't take the time toreally figure that out, you're
gonna be running from one thingto the next, and you're not

(56:01):
gonna really get there. So thoseare I think those two things, if
you can do them for yourself, itwill make a huge difference for
you. You know, I I guess asidefrom that is, you know, start
recognizing your thoughts thatyou have, especially in trouble

(56:22):
situations or when you getscared or fearful. Start
recognizing what you're thinkingthere, and then ask yourself if
that's what you really wannahave or if it's really
warranted, and then start tochange your belief system around
it. Because I think that'sthat's what holds people back.
Right? It's that conditioningand stuff. So, you know, pick

(56:43):
from those that makes what makessense for you, but I think those
are a few of the things. And andif you've I got it up there. If
you've never read The Alchemistby Paulo Coelho

Heidi (56:55):
Oh, yes.

Dave (56:57):
I would pick that book up and and read it this year for
yourself. Kind of encompasses alot of what we talked.

Heidi (57:02):
Yeah. Thank you for sharing that. I've read that
book. It wouldn't hurt to readit again. It is is a phenomenal
book and very insightful.
And and as we wrap up, you know,it gets my wheels turning. One
final comment. You know, not noteverybody's an athlete. Not
everybody's, you know, competingin something actively. But I

(57:23):
have to I have to say itresonates with me what you're
sharing about you doing theIronman and wanting to quit and
how you have to fight throughthat and how you have to have
that discipline.
Ride horses. I talk about it allthe time. I ride and show
dressage. I feel like it's thebiggest form of masochism that
could exist. Like, it has to bethe most difficult thing to ride

(57:44):
a 2,000 pound horse that hastheir own mind and their own
emotions.
Some days, they're in a goodmood, some days, and they're in
the bad. Right. And, you know, II will go out there and I'll
compete and be really excitedand have worked for a year to
achieve something and getsomewhere and have the worst
ride in the world. I mean, justhorrific. And the self the self
the self talk, those innerbeliefs, those the belief

(58:06):
systems that you say toyourself, that feeling of, I
wanna quit.
Why am I doing this? I hatethis. I'm an idiot. I'm you
know, I think I'm doing good,and it's like, oh, I just
failed, you know, because thisguy was faster or this guy did
better or whatever. But in astrange sense, I feel like
allowing ourselves thoseopportunities or experiences

(58:28):
really opens us up to successand failure and realizing how
much we actually can accomplishwhen we realize or push through
something we didn't think wecould do.
And so that very much resonateswith me. I feel that very much.
And I think, know, I alwaysencourage people find something

(58:49):
you're passionate about, notjust work. Don't don't make work
your life's passion. Findsomething you love and feed your
soul.
And, you know, and if it's goodfor your body, that's even
better, and just live that. So II really appreciate you sharing
all of your insights.

Dave (59:04):
Yeah. Absolutely. That last point's a really great one.
And guys, this isn't likesomething that is just like, you
know, somebody wrote a book orsomething like that. Literally,
what you focus on in your lifeexpands.
That goes all the way it'swritten about in the bible. What
you gaze upon, you become.Socrates. Right? Man is a it's

(59:27):
like man is a living animal, buthis life only has meaning if
he's reaching out and strivingfor his goals.
Like, this is not like, muchsmarter people than us
throughout history have figuredout, like, you know, that where
your focus goes, your energyflows, and all that stuff. And
so just pay attention to whatthat is. And when you have times
like you just mentioned, I Ithink that that's a great story

(59:49):
because the work that you put into get to that point, even
though it didn't turn out,you're a better person for it.
Yeah. You know?
So it's a wonderful thing thatyou shared that.

Heidi (59:59):
Well, thank you so much. So where can the audience find
you, connect with you, or learnabout your work with tax plan,
with your your podcast, withtwelve minute trading. You have
we even talk about that. Youhave so many things. Where's the
best way for someone to find andconnect with you?

Dave (01:00:14):
Yeah. I I mean, if you're interested in what we do at
TaxPlanIQ, w w w Tax Plan IQCom. That's the easiest. And
then misfitentrepreneur.com. Youcan find that anywhere that the
podcast that you got whereveryou get your podcast at, it'll
be there.
And from that, you know,website, you can pretty much
find everything else about meand all that stuff too.

Heidi (01:00:35):
Alright. Dave, thank you so much again for being a guest
on today's podcast. It's beensuch a pleasure. I've really
enjoyed working with you, and, Ican't say enough amazing things
about how impressive your workhas been and, the insights that
you've shared. So thank you somuch.

Dave (01:00:52):
Thank you. It's been an honor, and thank you all for
watching and listening.

Heidi (01:00:57):
And that wraps up today's episode of SlashTax. Huge thanks
to Dave Lucas for sharing hugeinsights into entrepreneurship
and tax strategy and how toscale your business without
leaving money on the table. Andhis personal insights are pretty
impressive, I have to say. Ifyou're looking to elevate your
tax game and grow strategically,check out the show notes for

(01:01:18):
links to tax plan IQ, Dave'spodcast, and other resources to
help you get started. Remember,SlashTax is here to bring you
the tools and strategies to cutyour tax bill, build wealth, and
invest smarter.
Make sure to subscribe, leave areview, and share this episode
with someone who may need tohear it. And we'll see you next

(01:01:39):
time.

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The Ironman of Tax Strategy - Dave Lukas of TaxPlanIQ

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}The Ironman of Tax Strategy - Dave Lukas of TaxPlanIQ