Light that spark fire nation JLD here and welcome to entrepreneurs on fire brought to you by the HubSpot podcast network with great shows like business made simple today will be breaking down tax strategies most entrepreneurs miss to draw these value bombs. I brought Shannon Weinstein into EO fire studios.

Shannon is a CPA coach and mentor for growth minded small business owners her company fit nannical solutions offers fractional cfo and tax strategy services delivered from the heart of a teacher.

And today financial talk about why entrepreneurs need to be spending time thinking about taxes Shannon will share her top three strategies on how you can save money in taxes and most importantly how to implement these strategies and so much more when we get back from thinking hours sponsors.

Are you looking for more more income more freedom more time into make more of an impact on the world then creating an online course should be your next move get started with thinkific today at thinkific dot com slash E O F business made simple hosted by Donald Miller takes the mystery out of growing your business check out recent episodes like how to escape a villain mindset and the framework that makes marketing easy listen to business made simple wherever you go.

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Shannon say what's up to fire nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with I would say that most people have been taught and believe that you need education experience and all of the training in the world and certifications credentials to generate success but I don't believe that to be the case at all I believe all you need to do.

And I believe all you need is enough motivation and resourcefulness and you can pretty much conquer anything well the Beatles said all you need is love so that's exactly.

We'll say what's up the fire nation hi everyone what's up yes we're going to rock it today fire nation we're talking tax strategies most entrepreneurs miss and I want to start off with a why question Shannon why should entrepreneurs be spending any time at all thinking in terms of tax strategy.

Because it's not going away taxes are not going away anytime soon unless they live in Puerto Rico with you.

Taxes are part of life they are part of this awful board game we've all been forced to play it's like we're all in a monopoly game and we go around the board every single year some people passed go and you know collect $200 and go about their lives and then some people play to win and that's what tax strategy is all about is playing to win the game and build well.

And I'm kind of curious on your thoughts on this because I actually am a personal believer that taxes are not inherently evil like they're not bad like a lot of people just talk bad about them but

do you really think through that fire nation if you are one of those individuals because look at the roads that we drive on the electrical grid that we have the bridges the infrastructure and believe me nothing's perfect as far from it.

But none of that would be possible if the government had no money so what is your kind of thoughts on that kind of thing because for me it's like you know there's a point where I'm happy to pay taxes but then it starts to get to the evil category after a certain percentage and for me that's somewhere between 20 to 30% if I'm being honest.

Yeah I feel the same way and actually I look at it as you know you're you're supposed to pay your fair share but for a lot of people they assume their fair share is actually higher than it needs to be and there's really two schools about one that think that all of it is evil and one that thinks that you know I just I don't want to pay too little I don't want to get audited I don't want they're kind of fear based and they end up paying more than they need to legally pay and as I say don't give the IRS a tip they have no.

No very interesting thoughts and so fire nation I mean you know it's it's important again that you know we are looking at it in a way that's a certain amount is definitely necessary needed in a lot of areas and then anything above that we have people like Shannon who's saying okay enough is enough now let's let you keep the rest of the money that you make so that you can invest in yourself and your business and your family and your loved ones because entrepreneurs Shannon and you know this they are so busy so if we have a tax professional we're just like.

Oh thank God a higher tax professional I gave them money they're going to do everything that they need to do like I can just focus on on all the other things that need to do in my business but are they implementing all of these things not necessarily so thinking of it like that is like saying I hired a personal trainer so I'm going to lose 40 pounds this summer I'm going to be in the bikini that's a good energy.

You got to put the work in you also have to make sure that they're that they're a good match for you it's not just about like a person with those three letters at the end of their name and saying I hired a CPA therefore problem solved you have to put the work in you have to invest in engaging with that person and making sure that you're part of the conversation and part of the decision making because

that hates a break into you entrepreneurs and I'm one of you no one is going to care about your business as much as you do and it's really important to remember that that even when you're hiring someone who is an expert in a field like taxes that you are still in the driver seat you still have that in your control and you have to make sure that you're taking their advice but you're also you know the ultimate decision maker and and feel just own that role and that's everything in life to fire nation I mean I want to kind of repeat that phrase that Shannon just said is so important is that you are not going to be able to do that.

But the important is that nobody is going to care about and then here fill in the blank as much as you do because it's really everything I mean I see it in every part of my business and my life in general like you know I have a great lawn mower guy like I have a great lawn keeper he does is thing but the other day like I was just kind of walking up behind him and he's just like

you know picking the trash and kind of like throwing it over the wall and you know I happen to own the next lot next to me and I'm like you're just throwing trash onto my other lot and he's like oh I didn't really think you cared and I'm like well of course I care that's trash and it's just

you know again it's just like nobody's going to care about anything and that that has to do with you specifically fire nation as much as you do and they shouldn't because they got their own things to be worrying about I mean there's a certain level that they should be doing because

it's their professional duty to do so but beyond that it's on you like it's on you to dot those eyes across those tees to make sure that things are getting done and when I'm really excited about is we're going to talk next about

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