The Raymundo Show

Damn Uncle Sam I’m Focused ( Taxes )

• Ray Gonzalez • Season 4 • Episode 34

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Damn, Uncle Sam! He always comes for you in the end. In this episode Raymundo and special guest Jarrell Thompson give you all the tools you need to be your own boss. Learn the importance of taxes & grow a business so you can have financial freedom.

Special Guest: Jerrell M Thompson

IG: @the_tax_breaker

Website: https://ttaxllc.com/who-we-are/

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Yeah. Yeah. It's your host. Raimundo. Welcome to my show. Where we try to relate. Have some fun. And demonstrate positivity. On some real ass shit. But this is episode 34. Damn uncle Sam, um, focused. I got a special guest to help me with this one. if you don't know it's about taxes and taxes. All important with a. You self-employed. Or employed. either way we need to know some shit about it. Cause. Oh, it was there. No play around. He wants that Britta. But you know how we do as goat. Let's go let's go. And today's quoted a day's boats. You buy fucking ghosts cause. Fine. I couldn't find who wrote it. I was looking for it. I'm like son I read it. I don't have time. There'll be fucking around, but. the best things in life are free. But sooner or later, The government will find a way to tax I thought I was amazing, cause I really believe that to be true Taxes. They no joke, man. Like. They're fucking everywhere, like on clothes or shoes on food on the whole nine Shit. There's certain, you know, organizations that get. Tax exemptions. But yeah, man, that shit that should be kicking our ass. You know, like you, the more you work. The more you get paid. The more you get taxed. So it's like, Sometimes is it even worth it? You know what I mean? Especially when, um, They used to ask me for like overtime and shit. so my girls in the word game, I will ask her, yo, is this going to make a difference? That much of a difference should be They get overtime. And spoofy. Oh man. Yeah, but I I'll keep it a buck, man. Taxes suck. Cause like you don't even really know. If they. There's no way to track. If they using the money for what they say, they use the money for. Right. cause there was a time before taxes that they had Chevron is moving. They didn't have taxes. But, you know, it is what it is like. This is the world we live in. It's part of his. So instead of being mad, Just fine. The best techniques, man. And a lot of these rich dudes, a lot of these financial gurus, like a real financial Google's at that. No loopholes knows tricks Knowles. They know the game, you know what I mean? And you may not have time to learn it. So you might have to, you know, get someone that can put you in a situation. To. You know, have a tax advantage. Just making sure you don't want to take. taxi advice. From the same person. Wesley Snipes was. Oh man. Yo Wesley thought he was good, man. Especially like when you a celebrity. High profile like. You think nobody see you. Everybody. See you especially know. Let me say, say. You don't want to play peek-a-boo with dot. Because they always go and see. Oh man. Yeah, there was a time. Our old them for like years in the real estate. And yo I could have wrote it off where I probably could have got some bread When I took my sweet time. Don't take your sweet time with the IRS because. No, they don't give a fuck about you, bro. Like they really, they don't care about you. They want that bread. They all about the bread. So like, Think about this, right. You start this great business. You become this artist. you know, you make money for yourself. And everything was going good. You buying the things you want, but then you forgot. That you know, somebody needs, they cut. And. they might not. come through guns blazing. Shit, but they. But they'll do a drive by on your Also better this society shit. And they got my son Cain. Yo. This is my interpretation. Of. How uncle Sam. Comes through for that bread. And I will use lands for kingdom, New York, too. Display From here on, nothing goes on unless I'm involved. No blackjack, no dope deals. No nothing. Uh, Nickelback gets sold in the park. I want You guys got fat? Well, everybody stalled on It's my turn Yeah, man. But. I didn't know so much about this tags game. So, you know, I had to get an expert. But yeah, let's do the transitional things so we can get into the episode.

raymundo:

this episode was called damn uncle Sam I'm focused and I got somebody who's focused and is in the tax game. So I feel like I needed I needed the special guest to help me deliver this message. That taxe is important, even though yout wanna pay them shits. They still is pouring as hell. You know what I mean? So but what I further do, let me introduce my guest JRE Thompson, CPA, E a realtor. And there's a lot more that he does, but we just gonna start off with basics. So

jt:

Gotcha. Gotcha. Good to be here, brother. Good to be here.

raymundo:

Well, but well, but welcome yeah, man. Yo how you been by the way, man? How's everything going

jt:

Things are going well. Taxes, tax seasons are definitely getting busier. I'm seeing a lot more people branching out, starting businesses, whatnot, you know, just trying to manage the way that they run their businesses. You know, trying to communicate, trying to manage a lot of different personalities. It's a lot, but it's necessary. You know, I enjoy what I do. it gets challenging at time, but you know, some people, you know, we agree, we signed up for this,

raymundo:

Yo, when, when you love what you do, it just makes, it makes it a little bit easier to get through those like tough times. You know what I mean?

jt:

tell me about it, man.

raymundo:

How was taxis a few? was it booming or was.

jt:

It was booming, but, um, it, it showed me a lot about, I guess, the way that I was running my business and how I could do a lot of things better. A lot of businesses, what they do is, you know, small business owners, they come out and they just start running their businesses. And a lot of people think that it's okay just to wait to end of the year, to get things done and that people can turn things around really quickly. The problem with that is the results are basically unknown. So if you had a good year, you don't know cuz you weren't keeping the numbers. If you only came to me at the end of the year, if you had a bad year, you don't know cuz you didn't come to me to the end of the year. And the problem would happen a good year is sometimes a lot of business owners don't realize that some, no one's withholding your taxes anymore. We just went from having jobs where the corporations withheld the taxes and paid them to the state and the, I. And then all of a sudden, you gotta pay these taxes on top of these extra taxes that your job used to pay for you on your behalf. So now I gotta be the bearer of bad news and basically explain all of this stuff to you after doing it. So this tax season was very hectic because there are more and more small business owners coming out by the day.

raymundo:

and, you know, one thing I noticed, you said, cuz they wait till the end of the year, but um, then what is it? You gotta measure, you gotta measure what you manage. You know what I mean? So I feel like that that quote, like falls into that. Like if you can measure it, you can manage it and if you can manage it, you can measure it. So in that way you can scale your business or scale, whatever you're doing. I feel like nobody uses that word a lot, but it, you know, finding out if something scalable,

jt:

exactly.

raymundo:

Raymundo's word of the day is scalable. Don't play around I wanted to let the people know pretty much how we know each other. I was working for this company F. Shit didn't work out. Cause I forgot to put tea in the CEO's oh, I forgot to put water in the CEO's teapot. So they got rid of me

jt:

What.

raymundo:

they sent me to PWC and like instantly I just, it was, first of all, it was, it was a great environment to be in. It was a great environment to be in. And you know what I'm saying? The people were great. Everybody was just welcoming. And I used to bump into JRE all the time in the hallway. And he used to tell me the shit that he's doing right now. So to let you know how important to put your thing, you know, put this shit out there and put into his existence. Because he said, yo, I'm gonna run my own accounting company. I'm gonna get into real estate. I'm gonna get into investing. And I'm over here. Like, you know, I've been at that time, I'm learning about real estate. I was the agent for a while. He's saying all the stuff he's doing, but I'm seeing him do his work. And to see him do it every day is, is, is dope. It's dope. But maybe you can give your feedback on PWC days.

jt:

Honestly, that's where. Honest. I learned a lot of skills there that like are helping me to this day. They, you know, they put a lot of work on us. They gave me a lot of great opportunities. You know, I worked in asset management, that's like dealing with private equity, hedge funds, like investments, things of that nature, just from an auditing perspective though. Time management, I learned that because we were really busy, you know, I got to travel a lot. I got to see a lot of things and I got to see what it looked like to be, you know, working for a well oil machine. And I met a lot of guy a lot of great people like Ray, like there's not there. Isn't too many people that didn't know Ray, you know, he had a great personality, you know, you know, it's funny. Like people would think, you know, just the, the, the, the accountants really make that place. And now that I'm in running my own organization, I realize it's not the skillset. It's the people that drive a company, a guy like you is really invaluable, like cuz just having your energy walking through somebody's corporation every day, Like I'm telling you, there's plenty of people that will know who you are. Like just by seeing you, you know, walking down the street because like you can't replicate that personality is one of a kind and you want a guy like that in your organization to keep the morale high, to keep the energy where it needs to go. So like, you just naturally gravitate to array cuz he knows everybody. He knows a lot about how the place runs and he's the type of guy that like you would wanna know, cuz he's always gonna be in the know cuz who doesn't wanna conversate with a person like that. You know? So it's like on top of like learning from a technical perspective, it's people like Ray that kept me around a little bit longer, cuz it gets kind of boring, gets tedious. You feel like people don't care about you sometimes when it's all about work. So it was all about that balance. And Ray was a, you know, a great offset to like what I was dealing with on a daily basis. Cuz you know it's very high pace. It's intense. It's a, it is a tense environment to say the least, but I learned a lot. I got a lot of technical skill sets. And then from there, like you said, like, I always kept at the forefront, what I wanted to do. And like, when it got to a point where like, I really didn't wanna go in anymore and I didn't feel like I was bringing my best self anymore and I couldn't find myself, you get what I couldn't find, not, not myself. I couldn't find that fire in me any longer. And that's because like that job had run its course I had become a CPA. I saw enough. And like, my intuition was like, yo, what are we still doing here?

raymundo:

time for the next chapter.

jt:

you here for the pizza party still, you still want to just travel or do you wanna go accomplish that mission? You said that you was gonna do when you got here, you know what I'm.

raymundo:

before you finish that. Yo free pizza salad on

jt:

Yo the 24th and 23rd floor used to be it, man.

raymundo:

yo yo. Oh my God. I never, I barely had to pay for lunch, man. And I wasn't supposed to, but Hey, you saying when you show love, they show love back

jt:

Exactly.

raymundo:

now I, I, I appreciate you saying that, man. Cuz I, I always, once I went in there, man, I just always felt that good energy and talking, you know what I'm saying? Talking to you and talking to other people that were on the same, like we knew. It was something better than PWC. Like we knew that, and then it was cool to like connect in that way. And you know what I'm saying? I'm still not, I mean, I'm on the journey, but you know, to see you on the journey is dope, man. Cause you always kept it a buckle with me, even though, you know, you ducked me a little bit when it came to playing basketball, you know what I'm saying? That's another, you know, I know

jt:

don't do that.

raymundo:

I know you saw the highlight reel

jt:

don't do that. Right. Don't do that. Cause I'm still, I'm still in the gym with that.

raymundo:

yo

jt:

do that.

raymundo:

you know, I had to bro. Nah, lemme tell you son. I think, I really think you probably, you coulda, and I probably, I think you really could have went pro I I've seen him win the championship in Madison square garden. And I really thought he was going throw under the leg, but he just did a, a light, little windmill, like yo whole lot. so you know what I'm saying? But in actuality, I'm glad you ain't show up to that game that we played your team. Cause. Yo whose son damn son, like, cause so I'm playing your team, right? And I'm like, man, this, this white boy can't guard me. Right. I forgot his name son. He was like a little heavy set, but yo, he stripped me. He an won me, hit me with a three pointer. Crossed me shit. So important lesson. Never judge by SC

jt:

Man look, my teams, my teams in those leagues were solid. I don't know how we got so lucky, but if you played against the first year partners, man, we were all athletes. We were all

raymundo:

Yo like yo, you see them in, they suit and tie. You be like, yo, Brian, Brian gonna get this. He gonna get this work. And then Brian can hit threes. Brian is the one ready? No, actually he played D one. And you just, you just a snack thing. what I'm saying.

jt:

exactly man. We

raymundo:

man. Speaking of Brian, man, Brian Davis, man, shout off to Brian Davis

jt:

Did.

raymundo:

but speaking of all this, so how did you become an, like an accountant? Like what started the journey? What gave the idea like, yo,

jt:

Okay. So initially I wanted to be a sports agent. I went, I was, I used to live in Newark, New Jersey, but I went to school in playing field. Like my

raymundo:

Jersey

jt:

you are all day you. So my, my dad would drive me about 30 minutes to school every morning from where we lived. And I went to school in another district. So like one day we were driving down this highway in Jersey called 78 and we seen this. It was like maybe ninety six, ninety five. When cell phones just came out or whatnot. I don't know if I'm getting the timeline on. All I remember is I seen this smooth gray convertible cruising down 78 past me and my dad dude, like had a real cool demeanor shirt tie, he driving on a big cellphone in the car and the license plate said Yankees. And I asked my dad, what does he do? And he was like, that's probably a sports agent. So I went to school and I was like, yo, that's what I wanna be, whatever he do. That's what I wanna do. So I went to school. Yeah. I went to school. I was majoring in sports management. And then like I found an accounting class. And since I was. I always like math. I was gifted. Well, lucky enough, fortunate enough to be put in like the gifted and talented classes in like second, third and fifth grade or whatnot. And my teacher who had us in the second, third, well, the second grade, she was a gifted and talented teacher. And she went from the second grade to the third grade into the fifth grade was they had never seen that before a teacher that just kept the same class and she kept us together and she went all the way through elementary school with us. And literally the only five people out of that class that like I kept in touch with that we all went to the same schools. One of'em graduated from NYU. She was the valedictorian at high school. Another one graduated from Rutgers university. Another one graduated from Niagara university and played in the pros. Another one lives in Philly, married with kids now. And then you got me. So like what she did really work. And I said that to say, we were really competitive about our subjects. Our subject matters, like when we would get hundreds, we weren't asking mom and dad to give us gifts for it. Like it was a sport to us. And math was one of those subjects that really got us extra credit. So like I got into it really young. And when I got to sacred heart and I saw math and I got into an accounting course, it really intrigued me. And then I started reading of more and more about accounting. I had a knack for it. And then I read an article that said this athlete, he was in the car with one of his pals and his pal and saw some papers hanging out his glove box. And he was like, yo, you mind if you got papers and here you mind, if I take a look seat, you know, if you straight or whatnot, he looks at the paper and he like, yo you know, you're paying around$20,000 a month. Car insurances. He gonna, nah, I didn't know that. And then at that point, it clicked. I'm not gonna let somebody else manage my money. Cuz I was an athlete young and I was into the flashy sneakers, the nice clothes, the frivolous

raymundo:

it's fast fault, man. Fabulous. It's his fault, man. He, he, we wanted to be fresh with some fabulous shit.

power back young.

jt:

Exactly, exactly. And literally every time I would get money, it would be gone and like a weekend. And I had this roommate who was really disciplined, who would keep track of his money. He was in and out. He was from Turkey, very disciplined Islamic guy, pray, do everything he had to do. And just wasn't with that other stuff. So behind watching him, reading that article fall in love with math, I was like, you know what? I'm just gonna go forward with it. A professor pulled me to the side and was like, yo black people are underrepresented in this. If you go into this field, you're going to do well. And then later on, I found out that less than 2% of the African Americans that go on to graduate with a degree in accounting, even go on to take the CPA exam. And less than 2% of the CPAs in the United States of America are African American. So with that being the case, I'm like, you know, why not? If we need it. And we, you know, economics is the source of, you know, most of our problems not having enough resources, some people gotta go ahead and like do it, these, and be done. And the fact that I love math, I love numbers. I love helping people. It kind of all ended up working together.

raymundo:

Right. So you, you put two and two together,

jt:

I said, that was it. And that's why I said, like I was at PWC and I was helping a lot of people. Not that I didn't enjoy working with and for, but it's like, you don't, you are gonna have access to a million CPA. Well, thousands of CPAs, like. My communities are like, you know, black or Hispanic communities. They're not gonna have as much access. The numbers are probably going now, but years ago when I started, like, it just wasn't like that we were still, and it is probably still not that many of us, you know what I mean? But I just wanted to go service the community that can benefit more from it.

raymundo:

and you know, what's crazy. I could relate because one of like my dreams that I kind of got in the back, like in a. After reading poor that rich dad, you don't wanna just go straight and pay for college. You want to get an asset and then go back to school. That's my plan right now. So when I saw that, there's only, I think it was, I wanted to be a, a psychologist, like the therapist, like in that field, like mental health field. And I saw that only Hispanics and black only made up like 5% of all the therapists. And you think about how much issues we have, and we want somebody who can relate and, and you know what I'm saying at the end of the day, as much as they could be great, but if they don't know what I feel, what I'm going through, how could they really help me get through? So I'm like, you know what, I wanna be part of that. But until then that doesn't gimme an excuse to wait. I'm doing it through the podcast. You, what I'm saying, it's great to, to see something like, there's, there's a spot missing and you want to kind of fill in the gap, you know what I'm saying? and in your case, like where, like you were saying about sneakers, right? Like. When you get older, you realize like, damn, I could have been the consumer instead of consuming so much shit. Like,

jt:

mm-hmm.

raymundo:

like

jt:

exactly. We still living and still learning man. But yeah, hindsight is always 2020, but now that we know, each one teach run, you know, that message. It just gotta be shared. It gotta be communicated. Like our culture is big on looking good, feeling good. So I get it. So it's not about taking that away. It's about doing it reasonably and responsibly. Like you said, get yourself an asset, let the asset cash flow, let your capital or your cash stay, put in your asset. And whatever that asset produces, take yourself a trip, go buy yourself some new drip or whatever it is that you went to go live lavishly, but make sure you're not doing it with earned income. A lot of us like to skip steps cuz the process is taking too long and that's what we end up setting ourselves back because at 65, when we don't got the strength to work or you know, go and work the three jobs or go and start something from scratch all of a sudden, cuz we got responsibilities. It's time to sit down and retire. Like, that's it. You know, we think we got an infinite amount of time to go and get this stuff right. But the sacrifice needs to be happening. Now you need to be building your art now, building your nest egg. Now like doing this, making the small deposit into investment accounts. Now buying your little pieces of Bitcoin, buying your stocks, saving up for your peace of land, all of that stuff. Starting your small business. It needs to start now. So by the time, you know, you of age, you've got something to sit down and enjoy it. You know what I mean?

raymundo:

Exactly. And you don't, you don't wanna be working all the time. You wanna be able to enjoy the fruits of your labor. Which brings me to this. I don't know if you ever read that book, the full work week. That shit.

jt:

of it.

raymundo:

That's a great book by Tom Ferris. he said, yo, I like to do a lot of wild things, a lot of adventurous stuff. So I'm gonna figure out how to only work four hours and still make the, the amount of money that I need to enjoy my life and not be working all day. So his system is outsourcing certain things, master them first and then outsourcing them. So you have like minimal work, but yo, I mean, know they say knowledge is power. And I said this before appli knowledge is what, like reading it and learning is something, but putting it to life to action. That's when you become a problem,

jt:

Yeah, true.

raymundo:

like Cassidy before he's the, before he became the hustler. so, what personal challenge did you face, like going into business for yourself? Like what was your little, what was the little roadblock you went through?

jt:

I guess just getting people to, like, I guess reassure me that I was doing the right thing. Cause here I am leaving this job that can guarantee me 360 K a year in retirement or something like that with equity in it. And what equity in company or something. If I just stayed there for 20, 25, 30 years. and I'm leaving it to go start and do my own thing. Like that sounded crazy to a lot of people. Cause like telling your parents you're an entrepreneur is kind of where your family, your friends is kind of like, you sound like one of those hippies back in the seventies, like I just don't wanna work for the man anymore. So like, so like trying to get people to understand and I had to realize what I'm doing is kind of foreign. Nobody has done it in my family. Nobody's done it in my, my C close group of friends. So I'm kind of like an anomaly right now. And I kind of gotta, I gotta go show people that it's possible. So I. And I did it. And, you know, I had doubts along the way, but that was more the challenges like the work. I always loved the challenges I embrace'em and stuff gets harder than the bench press at time. But like, again, this is my calling, this is what I was put here to do. So like, I, I overcame that stuff and I got wiser every year. I get, you know, I learn more every year and I'm constantly getting better, you know? So like that was the initial challenge. Like getting people to accept it. you seem, you think you're going crazy when you first leave work, cuz everybody you were talking to at PWC, you know, they were, they were working the same amount of hours as you and everybody was on the same time and like chatting. And then the next thing I know I'm at home and my schedule is completely different. I don't have anybody to really talk to cuz everybody's working during the same times. You know what I mean? And now. I really got more freedom. I could do what I want when I want, you know, as long as I'm getting my work done. But if I wanna call and go hang out with somebody, oh man, I wish I could. When I'm working today. Oh man. I wish I could, but work is crazy and I'm not understanding that. And I'm feeling like, yo, why am I not doing the same things as everybody else? Am I doing this wrong? Like, am I, am I losing my mind? So getting comfortable with that is, was like the, the most challenging part, cuz the most, you know, the, the most familiar thing you're gonna see people do is conform. Most people like they buy this because everybody else is buying that they don't have a reason. Like, you know, like they do this or they go over there or they travel there. If you notice, like when people travel, everybody starts going to the same place at the same time, everybody body.

raymundo:

Puerto Rico picture, I'm gonna spazz out.

jt:

My mind is tum. If I see another tum one, man. So I'm, and it all happens at the same time. Like we we're features that like kind of wanna conform, like you see, everybody wants to fit in, in a way. So like, to not be fitting in, like kind of gets to you sometimes. And to this day, like, I'll be on a different schedule. Like I'll go to the grocery store at Tuesday and there's nobody in there, but now I learn to appreciate that. And I'm not going to the grocery store on Saturday and Sunday, cuz that's when everybody's there, it's crowded. You never got produce out. So it's like now I'm learning to embrace and like appreciate the fact that, you know, I'm traveling a different path. Like I go to the stores, I go to the mall where there's nobody there. I get extra attention. Like people are like paying more attention to me. I'm getting more of what I want, you know? So, so that's kind of like how I'm transitioning and like trying to figure out, you know, this new life that I'm, you know, I'm kind of living now.

raymundo:

Yo that's dope though. Cuz when people like people are so used to traditional ways and like the traditional ways, sometimes don't work. Like it's a different society and we only going to evolve even more than this. So at some point, but it always has to be that one that says, you know what. I'm gonna break this fucking cycle. You know what I'm saying? Like, I'm not gonna just go to college and do the job that I hate just because my grandfather, my father did it before. and you know, What's crazy that they say these, I think it's four groups of people have this in common kids, crazy people. And I think dreamers are entrepreneurs. They all have that like dream above what's expected. Like they able to see like a kid, right? He uses his imagination. But as you get older, your imagination get broken down. But the ones who still have it, the ones who still dream, the ones who still believe, They're called crazy because they not following the normal. I, you don't know how many times I've heard that. Yo yeah. Raised the crazy one, man. And I know. That it's going at some point in my life, it's gonna show like, oh, all this time that yo rate why race so different? Yo rivalry always wanna, like, I don't wanna do nine to five no more. So like, I I've been trying my best to keep it like that. But I know you get those people. That's like, yo, just get, just get a little job. And, and I'm like, yo, like, nah, I'm, I'm figuring this shit out. Like, I'm gonna figure this out. Like, and when I, and it's crazy, you gotta show action. It's easy. Cuz everybody talks. But once they see the proof, It's in is in the, you know what I.

jt:

exactly. And I encourage you to stick with it, man, because over time, you'll start to figure out, you know, your peak seasons, your seasons that are slower, you know, you'll figure out what products you can introduce to your business that like, or, or services that allow you to not have those slower seasons. And then you'll learn how to manage money a little bit better. And from my perspective, that's the way to sustain, your independence, the people that can like understand their model, the people that understands how their business performs in these different seasons. And they, they start to do things to basically combat that. That's why it's important, you know, to have someone that you can talk to, or have somebody that's looking at your numbers, that you can go back and forth with because as the CEO of your company, it's your obligation to understand everything about it. The, the accountant is somebody that's going to capture all the information, all of their pertinent data in the form of numbers and communicate it back to you. It's your job to look at those numbers as the person that's driving the ship and say, we going in a different direction. If you notice from every January to April, your business is slower. You gotta figure out what product you can introduce or what service you can introduce to make that no longer happen. And while that's happening and you got your peak months, you gotta figure out what portion of that money is gonna go into reserves so that during the slower months, your life doesn't change. See what I appreciate about entrepreneurship and what I've learned over the years is people don't mind entrepreneurs. They mind the fact that entrepreneurs put their dreams on everybody else. So if you're going to be doing this, you gotta make sure that you're standing on your own. That's when people can embrace what you're doing. Oh, snap. You know, GRE's holding his own.

raymundo:

Yeah. I don't gotta help.'em out.

jt:

he ain't asking nobody for nothing. As a matter of fact, just boy, Two properties this year, he's talking about stocks, he's buying crypto. Like maybe we should think about entrepreneurship cuz he on his own time and he's like leveling up in these different ways. So it's on us to pretty much, you know, be the gatekeepers to this entrepreneurship thinking we are the generational curse breakers and we're the ones showing it to the family. So we're that on your shoulders, man, wear that comfort on your shoulders. And like, as you're going through it, don't look at it as you're failing, look at it. As you are learning, you gotta learn why my business isn't doing what it's supposed to do right now. Or I gotta learn why my business is excelling a whole lot right now. Now what can I do to make sure that people still have a good experience with me that like I continue to bring more business in or I continue to make more people wanna work and engage with me. So like, those are the type of things that allow you to stand on your own two feet and allow people around you to like embrace the entrepreneurship, embrace this, this struggle. They'll be like race crazy, but why you doing the damn thing? You know

raymundo:

He doing the damn thing, man. They like. they have no choice, but to respect you, like when, when, so when they see you putting in that work, I know I can't, get little Kims line in that, in that song.

Grocery, get the money and you get the mother fucking pound. You get the fucking power.

raymundo:

And motherfuckers will respect you key to life.

jt:

Yeah, exactly. Money, power, respect.

raymundo:

But what was dope though, that there's a saying, right? That a salary is a bribe for your dreams and you pretty much say, yo, stick that salary up your ass. You know what I mean? So I commend you on that and everything you doing. I ain't gonna front, if, if I would be lying, if I say you, not one of the people that inspire the shit out you, when I see you doing your thing and even with the, especially with the yeah, man, with the working out, like you do not play with that. I remember you was, you was boxing back then you was in the gym back then. Like you never play with that. And seeing you do everything and balance everything out. I'm like, yo, I know, you know what I'm saying? Gives me hope. Like, yo, he could do it. I could do it too. You know what I'm saying? Cause we all, yo we all human. I say the same thing. There's nothing. I can't do that somebody else can't do, I'm just gonna do it my way. That's it. You know what I'm saying? And seeing people that come from where you from and they not letting those excuses get in their way that when that call came, they picked it up. Like money was calling

jt:

Exactly

raymundo:

know what I'm saying? Cause if you knew money was calling you gonna pick that shit up. But if you believe in yourself that much it's like money is calling when you really think about it, cuz it's all perception. Right?

jt:

exactly, exactly. That that is a fact. I'm glad that you brought that up because it's like this misconception that like, as dads, we gotta put ourselves or dads or husbands or significant others, or just men in general. The idea is that we have to put ourselves last all the time. And I'm not saying that your family doesn't come first, but if your family, ain't up at 5:00 AM, that's a chance for you to get up and give yourself the best hour of your day when it comes to fitness and routine and health. What I like to do, I like to beat everybody up. I'm up before the sun is

raymundo:

Wait, wait. When the morning, when the day did you read that book?

jt:

I did it.

raymundo:

Oh my God. You, the 5:00 AM club. It will change your life.

jt:

Okay.

raymundo:

even, I'm not even halfway done, but the, you already applying it, but. Seeing a book about the 15 million copy. So seeing a book about somebody and breaking it down the way they break it down, but you already got that part, but you, you already like proof you wake up early, you win the day. There's no way you gonna lose a momentum. You started, you woke up on five, like

jt:

Ex E exactly. And, and people like, you know, you probably tend to try to give yourself your last during the day, like, all right. I went to work. I did what I had to do for my business. I took care of the kids, made sure my wife and my lady was good. Now I'm gonna go and take an hour and head to the gym, bro. You're pooped. You like, you have nothing left. What are you giving yourself at the gym? You're scrolling, trying to find the right song to give you energy or whatever. Like, you know, you see the, the dudes in there that be there 24, 7, like laughing you. And then, you know, you got 30 minutes of like hardwork and then the next, you know, 30 minutes, you doing nothing. And then you go home, probably don't eat the right food. So you really didn't do much of nothing. You're supposed to stretch after work where you gonna have all that time at the end of the day. Now you exhausted because you're so tired the next morning you wake up and start giving yourself to everybody else. First eat. I work out when I can't. That's why you gotta switch that around. You wake up at five and you get to it, have a whole different day. You've

raymundo:

your whole day's smoother

jt:

That you got your nutrients in, you got your exercise in. So now when you're going through the day, the other stuff that's necessity that needs to happen is automatically going to happen. But you got chores in already. That's the key. Find your time to get yours in, because if you don't, everything else is slowly but surely suffering because of it. Cuz what, what can you get? You can't pour from empty cup man, guy,

raymundo:

I always, yo I love hearing that line, man. That's that's so that's so true.

jt:

you can't,

raymundo:

yo, that's a fact but that's true. So like, what are the benefits of having someone like. Helping them with they taxes.

jt:

This is the best way I could put it. So I'll look at, you know, how celebrities or, you know, high profile people have security walking around with them and like they have those people protecting them 24, 7 and whatnot. You ever seen? How often do you see someone's security actually have to buck up or draw a weapon or like, you know, act up on behalf of their client? It's not that often. Right? But the people that are walking around, they got peace of mind knowing that I got this trained professional here that will handle anything that comes to my way. That's me. But from a financial perspective, I don't always gotta flex. I don't always gotta step out in front of you, but if somebody is trying you, you know, I'm a phone call away, you know, I got everything tucked away. You know, I got everything put in folders and we did everything by the book. So I am basically a financial security. Now, when you deal with a regular tax preparer or somebody from around the way, they can't guarantee that cuz they don't got that EA or that CPA at the end of they name like I may have. So they can't go and stand in front of those in front of those people that are questioning you and protect. I can, that's the difference. And by the time I'm done doing everything, I'm making sure what I prepared I can stand on and I can protect you. So just like those security guards that you never really see pull out their weapons or have to put their hands on somebody because people see them with you already. So they know when I sign off your tax return, my credentials are on them. So like, there's going to be less scrutiny there because they know I've done what I was supposed to do to handle everything that was supposed to be handled prior to filing this return. All of the bogus expenses we got rid of those, all of the rules that you weren't following. We corrected that before. It's all outta here. So now you got this, you know, beef up level of protection and you know, your stuff was done correctly. So that's what you get. You know, when you work with me, that, that security at the end of the

raymundo:

Shit. I'm, I'm about to talk to my girl like, yo, I think we're gonna have to hire him as our tax guy. Cause I, I, you know, a building a team is important. You need someone, what is it Jack of all trades master of none of, of

jt:

a Jack of bar trade is the master of none, but still better off than the master of none.

raymundo:

Woo,

jt:

what I'm saying?

raymundo:

nice. I like that. See that it is all about bringing in that balance. You know what I mean?

jt:

Mm-hmm exactly.

raymundo:

So as far as like, pretty much having someone like you gives you peace of mind like that, like having peace of mind, knowing that you're not missing a cent of dollar and that you can, which is an important word I'm about to using that you can trust. That person cuz they, their work ethic, their credibility, you know, and they hold demeanor, just calls for, you know what I'm saying for what you need. And there's people out there like that, you know what I'm saying? All different fields. You just gotta find, you gotta find your tribe pretty

jt:

you know, it's funny, a lot of my clients ping me because they say like, sometimes I could be a little intimidating, I'm intimidating. And I work for you. Imagine people that gotta deal with me that I don't work for. You care what I'm saying? I got these credentials. I'm built the way that I am. I'm a black man. You know what I mean? So like, what do you think they're thinking when they gotta look at me representing you, they don't want no problems with me. Neither. You get what I'm saying?

raymundo:

like you don't want no smoke.

jt:

yeah, like you really want me to put this suit on and come in here and start talking my stuff or can we sit down and hash this stuff out? Like adults, you get what I'm saying? So like, you know, but I want you to understand this about accounting relationships as well. You gotta do work too. You can't put it all on me. You can't, I'm doing the numbers. I'm doing the books, but what good am I, if you don't sit down and look at'em, what good am I, if you don't sit down, look at'em and ask me questions to make yourself better or make yourself a more skilled business professional. I think that's where a lot of my relationships kind of get great because they think that I can make them great. What, where in life can you get great without you putting in work

raymundo:

nowhere.

jt:

nowhere, but that's what I want you to understand. Like even like, so even if I'm your financial coach and your Kobe or your Mike or whatever,

raymundo:

She must to

jt:

The the, yeah, exactly, exactly. Them. Those guys are working around the clock. They're waking up before everybody. They're the first ones in the gym and the last ones to leave. So I've given you a blueprint or I'm giving you your numbers so you can study'em and go make the changes yourself. So you're the CEO. You drive the companies the see like the company sometimes is a household, the company, sometimes an actual business. So if you guys are investing in accounting services, you gotta understand that I'm the, I can be a coach to you, but you are the players. You have to go out there and execute,

raymundo:

And boss as it aint, it ain't about the lay blind. You gotta hit them. You gotta hit them clutch shots,

jt:

exactly

raymundo:

he can like an account can only take you to the financial waters of greatness. They can't make you drink you. What I'm can't make you

jt:

you drink, swim, paddle, nothing. I could take you there and say, This is how you get through all of this. This is how you build your arc. This is how you get over this water without drowning, but it's up to you to take my advice, apply it, build it and move forward. I can't do that stuff for you at the end of the day, you control the resources. I just tell you how you're performed. And I tell you, based on your past performance, this is what it's looking like going forward, unless you make adjustments.

raymundo:

Yep. See

jt:

then go

raymundo:

yeah. And, and that's something that's. That's helpful. Cause we can only focus on so much and it's and if you wanna get more into what's making, you have to get an accountant, then get an accountant so you can focus more

jt:

Exactly. And that's a great point. Like just being able, the wisest people I know, and the most successful business owners that I basically, I service. Those are the people that hire me. They don't care what I cost. They working on what they're good at all year round. So that like, and I give them that peace of mind on the financial side, I keep them abreast on what they need to know, send them their numbers every month, like clockwork. So they can review.'em make their adjustments and focus in their area of genius. That's what you want your accountant to provide you that peace of mind. So you can focus in your area. If you gotta worry about tax returns or you're trying to do bookkeeping, or you're trying to run your own payroll, you're taking away from being able to work and focus in your area. Genius. That's how you earn. That's how you, you know, generate your revenue. Don't focus in your accountants area, focus in your own. And if you gotta focus in your accountants area, it's time to get a new one.

raymundo:

And, and at some point, if you gonna make a certain amount of money, you gonna, you wanna live a certain lifestyle. You gonna need some help. You can ask around or you could just hit up Jeral he'll help you out.

jt:

Exactly.

raymundo:

not to give you a whole bunch, but what's the little son you can give us as far as like, for the average Joe that doesn't know about taxes. Like what's some tips that can help him. At least be a little better off than he was before

jt:

So the, the first thing you wanna know at all times is what's your earning. What's gonna be your taxable income. And the reason that you wanna know that is you never wanna be blindsided by a tax bill. You wanna know what your liabilities are at all. Because that's gonna allow you to navigate, know what you can spend on investments, know how much you could afford to invest in a property, know how you can basically build your asset column out without being blindsided. That year end with this extensive tax bill that you don't know how you're gonna pay, cuz you're no longer liquid. You don't wanna be, have a situation where you load it up on stocks, cryptocurrency. You just put it down, large, down payment on the house. And then you figure out that you got this tax liability because to move the money out of those vehicles, you are creating more tax liabilities. You get what I'm saying. So being, being in the know of your situation at all times, knowing what you're earning and getting an accountant to give you estimates every quarter, that's gonna go a long way for you because it gives you that clarity on your tax situation and that peace of mind to know, all right. If I wanted to go invest this I'm okay. Because I know I pay those taxes every three months, like I was supposed to last year and I made sure I was trued up. So therefore I know what. What's over here in this reserve account, I'm free to go invest, spend reinvest in my business, go put a down payment on the property, so on and so forth. So that's what, like at a very, at a bare minimum, just stay on top of your tax liabilities.

raymundo:

That's great information, cuz like when it comes to taxes, I feel like all you think about is the success of the business. But like I mentioned earlier, you want to end up like Wesley man, Wesley got sniped. You know what I mean? You don't want to get sniped like Wesley

jt:

Exactly.

raymundo:

And having clarity. It's not like having clarity, man, when, when it's raining and that sun come up and you can see clearly now it gets better after that, you know what I mean?

jt:

Exactly.

The equity. More Mundo after this commercial break.

raymundo:

so, and a lot of people like to avoid having to, it is crazy. They avoid having to pay extra, which can in return, get them more. So like a lot of people like to do turbo tax. And one thing I heard is turbo tax, places like that, they miss certain forms. I don't know if it's true, but what do you feel about turbo tax stuff?

jt:

It's fine. I too use Intuit products, but I use it, from on a professional level. So, you know, their products are really interactive. They have OCR readers, you know, that basically read your documents, transfer, information for you really easily. So if you got a W2, it's a good place to, you know, get everything done. But once you start running businesses, SCOR partnerships and all that, you have to have different software. So turbo tax really wouldn't work for you. That'll help you file on the individual side, but on the business side, it'll get a little too complicated for you to, or you won't have the capability to file those forms on that platform. They do have platforms where you can, but that would be separate. So I don't really mind like software is only good as good as the user. And if TurboTax is too confusing, then that's the sign that you might need to get an accountant.

raymundo:

there you go, man. Listen up, listen up. So, you mentioned LLC Corp,

jt:

Mm-hmm

raymundo:

it's a new wave. Now, everybody, I feel like not everybody's grasping what a LLC, is. It just, it sounds dope to say, right? Like, yo son, I just got that LLC B but then you not doing nothing with it. So why should you form a LLC? And like, what are the benefits? Like what are the real benefits

jt:

that's a great point, man. People do celebrate the LLC. we gotta stop doing, we gotta stop doing that, man. Stop celebrating the LLC and not doing the work. So what I would say is like in LLC is like protection. You wanna separate what's happening in this business from what's happening in that business and what's happening in your personal life, so on and so forth. So if you have an LL. But you're not running your business outta LLC account. You're running stuff outta your personal account. Let's say you, you make body butters and you have an LLC or better yet. Let's say you don't have the LLC. You make body butters and somebody uses your body butter and they break out and they get a rash that basically is causing all types of issues throughout there. But now if you have a home that's being taken to court, you got vehicles, you got savings, you got investments, all that in your personal name, all of that is fair game in court. That's called being deep pocketed. So when you don't have an LLC, you're leaving all your personal assets up for grab. When you have an LLC, you're saying this entity stands by itself. So if you're gonna Sue something, you have to Sue this entity. And the only thing you can get is what's in this entity. So if I have 20 different operations, I'm going to have 20 different LLCs. I'll see some people say stuff like, okay, I sell shirts, but I also wanna sell sneakers. So should I put'em in the same LLC? Absolutely not.

raymundo:

Mmm.

jt:

sneakers, you might deal with different patent issues where somebody might come after you say, you know, that looks too much like the Jordan five. So Nike is coming after you or Jordan brand is coming at coming after you to Sue for that particular shoe. You want that in the same stable as your t-shirts, that ain't harming nobody.

raymundo:

Exactly. Wow. That's a good ass point.

jt:

You see what I'm saying? So the LLCs are protection. Don't be lazy when it comes to your LLC. Remember that? I told you that. So I don't care what it, if it's not t-shirts and you wanna go sell something else that could be risky, or you could see yourself being sued or a legal issue arising from it, except just create the different LLC. you don't have the budget for it at that time. That's telling you it's not time to do that

raymundo:

exactly. Listen to

jt:

budget for. Exactly. If you can't budget for the legal and the accounting, it's not time for you to branch off into that yet. It's time for you to stay over here. Figure this out a little bit more until you get enough reserves to be able to afford everything you need over there. And then once you can afford everything you need over, there you go ahead over there,

raymundo:

That's a FA. And how about a S Corp? Like when, when should you form a S Corp?

jt:

Around when you're netting around six figures, because the S Corp is, is a great way to save money, you're gonna have additional accounting requirements when you're running an S Corp. And those additional accounting requirements is things like payroll, definitely mandatory bookkeeping. And then you gotta file a corporate tax return. So, and then you're gonna have somebody that under needs to understand like how to keep track of basises and all of that stuff as well. So like to get all of that done, now, you're talking CPA type service. So, if you wanna be a S Corp, you wanna know that you're saving enough where all of the extra work is going to be worth it. So what you're saving is gonna be worth like hiring the, the accountant and like, you'll still be able to pay yourself a reasonable salary and still have enough distributed income that you're saving on those FICA taxes, where it makes sense for you to do that. Then you'll go ahead and do it. But if you're a business, that's just starting out your net, maybe 10 K a year. It's not time for you to be an escort yet. And I see that too often. I see people go and they become escorts, and then they gotta come see me. And I'm the bad guy. I didn't tell you to become an escort. At that point, you tell me you were going make that amount of money or you didn't talk to me at all. You went and did it cuz you saw it on Instagram and now you're coming to me and I'm telling you, you would've had the same tax liability. If you just stayed the way that you were. And we would've had to do half of what we have to do right now.

raymundo:

I was telling my boy, Ruben, those reals man, they reel you in, like, that's why they call him reals. Like, it's not, cuz it's real. Cuz they reel you in and you don't even know half if half of the stuff that they telling you is, is true. And it sounds nice when you got somebody with a dope video, you got graphics, took about S Corp LLC. It's like, it is hard not to wanna know what it is, but it is more than just a title and more than it's just sounding nice. This is your personal life that you trying to build and you don't wanna play with that shit. Like you don't wanna play with your credit or the IRS. Cause they will, they will show up. They will they will be like biggie with the four fold. You know what I'm saying?

jt:

Exactly.

raymundo:

so you've been an employee and now you're currently, you know, a boss, like what helped you get out the nine to five mentality? Cause Like those of us that's woke, know that we from we, when we start school, we program you. Right. The lines you gotta ask, you gotta wait.

jt:

I'd be, I I'll be honest with you. I was never in a nine to five mindset everywhere I worked. I was always planning to leave. If you looked at any desks I've ever had in corporate, never had a single picture on it. Cuz

raymundo:

that's so true, man, you always, like, you always felt like, you know, you was gonna be you, not that you were better than it, but you know, you can do better.

jt:

Exactly. And, and, and I don't wanna, I don't wanna shame nine to fives because you can build a fortune off nine to fives. Right. But my thing was, I just knew it. Wasn't what I wanted to do. When I went into corporate, I wanted to get my educat, well, finish off my CPA license. I wanted to get my sports agent license. And I didn't know I would become an EA. I just knew I wanted to be, you know, sound with money and have the right licenses to help people handle money. So like I got those licenses, so I no longer had a need for corporate. And like I'm working out the plan because like long term I wanted to get in the sports agency. But then I saw how that industry really works. And before I can do that, my passive income game got has to be ridiculous cause what these players, so what these players are expecting to see when they meet an agent and how they're expecting to be treated and what they're expecting, you know, their family to be awarded, upon shining or upon, you know, approaching them. You don't wanna be doing that without passing income coming in, you don't wanna be spending that type of money with earned income. You need that type of money. That's going to keep coming back no matter what. So that I could pay for the legal education that I'm gonna get at some point, and then be able to fund what it would take to reel in a number one draft pick, you know, you can't just do that off word or you can't just walk up to'em. You gotta, they wanna see stuff. They wanna be treated a certain way. They want to eat at certain restaurants. They wanna be flu certain places and a certain way they wanna wear a certain suit on draft day. And if you don't have the resources to basically support that or fund that your chances are nav, these clients are like slim to none. Let's just be real.

raymundo:

and you are about to, so you, you trying to combine dreams right now. That's dope.

jt:

Oh yeah. I'm not, I'm not done. I just had to time it out and space it out the right way.

raymundo:

yo that's that's fire cuz when you really wanna do something, man, there's nothing that can stop it. And sometimes in life we gotta take a break from it, but not really a break. We just gotta set it up, man. And all the greatest things. Take time. If you think about all the great ones, they weren't just great. You know, the first time they did something, it's all at work behind the scenes that you can't see. So it's like. That's I don't know. That's just powerful stuff. Like I can't wait to yo, when you become a sports agent, you gotta come back

jt:

Of

raymundo:

to, to talk about the sports agents and we played this clip. We might have to that shit live some

jt:

exactly. This is the first time I actually spoke about that in years. Like people probably forgot that I even was doing that. I have, I literally, I have a Feba license. Like I could send people overseas to play, but again, I know how the game works and I'm not gonna keep whining and dying and spoiling clients. And then they jump and ship to go deal with somebody else. Then you gotta go to court to get stuff back. Yeah, no, not right now.

raymundo:

That'd be crazy. Cause you be yo, I could do your accounting. I can get the best deal. And I could probably bust your ass if you gimme the chance.

jt:

I honestly, I see that ass, the ultimate dream, like age and somebody that could make sure your money is being taken care of. Like they can make sure your taxes put you in a house, you know, set you up with an advisor and at the same time, get out there and help you work on what the Scouts or what the league is saying that you like are struggling with. That's like a dream come true. Where else do you need to go?

raymundo:

I got a question.

jt:

Huh.

raymundo:

You sure you, you, you didn't wanna become a sports agent when you saw

jt:

You know what, you know what, you know, what that might have that might have that, that might be where that whole idea came from seriously.

with Joey.

raymundo:

Yo, that, that career had you a hello.

jt:

yeah. Yeah. And, and you don't see too many representations of it, but it's like a awesome profession, you

raymundo:

No, but yo I ain't in the front. Like I left. That was one of those that I'm like, all right, I ain't making it to the NBA, but I'm like, yo, I'm personable. But then, you know, you hear all the op the obstacles. If you still wanna do it after the obstacles, then that's you gonna be fired at that? with podcasting. Yo, as soon as I heard my voice, I was like, damn, this me felt I was, I could hear myself all day, man. Like, I feel like, I felt like what you call like Isaac Hayes, like, Hey baby to the smooth sounds.

jt:

Exactly.

raymundo:

so, which, which is something you wish you knew when you started? Like, so that would've just gave you a little edge

jt:

all money, not good money. How about that?

raymundo:

or, or I never heard that one before.

jt:

well, money not good. Nah, man. Nah, like I learned like you can't help everybody. Some people aren't ready. Some people aren't good for you. You know, some people just aren't in the space to like collide with what you're doing right now. And sometimes like trying to help people and just looking at it as a lucrative business opportunities cost me thousands, you know? So like I would say just definitely being more patient evaluating people, situations, engagements a little bit better and like, you know, just realize I'm gonna get where I need to go, but it's more important to build anything that I want. Off of, strong principles, people that have, you know, similar bad core values to mine and people that are trying to travel in the same direction. I would rather have three people like that than 30 people that are kind of sometimes they're, you know, traveling this way and sometimes they don't really care and they'll just go anyway. You know what I mean? Be

raymundo:

that's a benefit of being your own boss. You can kind of dictate who you wanna work with. You don't wanna work with. It's not like when I was PWC and I had to work with, when I had to see Joey Boco with don't listen to shit, be dope. What the hell? Yo, you hear that name right? That shit forever. You could be, you could be 80 years old. You be like Joey Boco, like Boco. He got a son he got a grandson. What was the biggest, like upset that ended up being a blessing in the Skye.

jt:

Okay, honestly I would probably say it's happening now. So what happened was like, my business was growing really fast, but it wasn't built to grow really fast and it was meant to be more of a boutique style, but then all of this influx of business was coming in based on word of mouth. And I'm just thinking I can help every. And like, it ended up backfiring because people were expecting relationships that they heard other people have with me, but they weren't under the same agreements or like they just weren't in the same place as those other people. And like, because of it, my reputation ended up taking a, a really big hit because of that. Like, because a lot of people weren't happy with their experience because of experience they heard from other people. And then those other people were here, what those other people said. And then, then they would second, guess what I'm doing? And I really had to one, I learned that I do know what I'm doing. I do. I've learned that my infrastructure needs to change for me to slow down and really get to know what people are before I'm working with them. And then made sure that I'm focusing more on Fivestar reviews going forward and relationships with people than net profit, I should say. So like just learning that to focus more on. The quality of my relationships and the quality of like, who I'm engaging with, like those entire situations, they matter, right? Like when you're dealing with a lot of different people and their personalities and like their finances at the same time, like things can get tricky. Nevermind. Like a lot of people probably don't even know what I do for'em. They just knew that JRE was handling it. And when they hurt other people and not have the same, you know, same experience, they start to question it, not even knowing what I did for,'em not even knowing that when they go somewhere else or they work with somebody else, what that's even gonna look like, because like of how I've kept things so well, and nothing control for them. They never really had any issues. No white notices in the mail from the IRS everything's been smooth selling, but because they don't quite understand because they weren't. Trying to do the, be the Kobes or the MJS, you know, to take the information and like really, really level up from it. Now, everything that I was building I could see is start to take a hit. So going forward, I'm having two and three and four conversations with people to really go through everything they would expect. Not because I know for a fact I'm going to work with. But to see if this is a relationship, I'm going to be able to foster and curate until it's time for me to sit down and retire. So that's how I'm restructured. So what I learned is like, I just, I have to slow down and think about the long term pitch these days. And I don't care if sales slow come all the way to a hall, you know, I'm good. I've been investing all these years and now I got the ability to just hand pick my clients and make sure they're a good. For me, make sure their mindsets is forward. Looking forward, thinking they care about the numbers. They care about the relationships and it's built on something where than maybe status or the appearance of having an accountant. And it is really substance there. So like now that I'm focusing more on that, I think I'll be a lot happier as a professional. I feel like my success with my clients will be a lot better. And I think my clients will go a lot further, you know, cuz they're, they're great. They're great at what they do. And I'll give them that peace of mind. I know that they're looking at the numbers. I know that they're studying to be great and that I'm of value to them. So like this, that was what I pretty much learned. Like that was probably the biggest challenge that I've ever faced in entrepreneurship is happening. Literally right now I'm restructuring as we speak

raymundo:

So, you know, you know, what's dope is that when you love what you do, it's so easy to give great service. You know what I mean? you been on that line and Jody hate her job and she's trying to find a way to not let you show it, but you could feel her energy's all fucked up, but you know, I'm not talking about anybody that works at Chick-fil-A. Cause they love, they fucking job

jt:

Exactly. I ain't never seen a disgruntled Chick-fil-A worker.

raymundo:

for me. I want them to feel like they work for Chick-fil-A.

jt:

Exactly. Exactly.

raymundo:

So what role does fear play in your life? Cause the reason I asked that question is because that's like my signature question, just because. Fear has been the reason I feel like I haven't flourished the way I knew I could. And the whole point of this season is to step to it. so I, I'm just trying to get, you know, feedback from everybody to, to take a little bit of everybody's answer and then add it to the actions I'm taking to smack that bitch in the face. I wanna smack fear in the face. Like I, I skydived I've done weddings. I'm on this podcast, you know, I'm doing video now, so I'm loving it up. So like everything you do

jt:

All right. All right. So

raymundo:

wheres

jt:

it's all good to, to me, fear is fear is good. It's awareness. That means like, there's something that you don't understand. That's very close to you, like, or that's embarking upon you. Cause when you're, when you understand something, you don't really have any fear. Like when you go home, there's no fear cuz it's comfort. You know, every corner, you know, every piece of furniture is, every corner of the house. So, but when you walk outside and you're, you know, going somewhere, you've never been, there's the fear of the unknown. But once you walk around the corner, you take a good look around you understand yourself, your surroundings, the fear dissipates. So my advice to you is if you fear something, we gotta get, we gotta get that away from you. We can heighten your awareness, but how do you get the fear where you study it, whatever it is that you're fearing, you have to study it to understand it better so that you stop fearing it. And once you get the answer, doesn't interfere. Always go away. If someone has, if someone has a weapon drawn and pointed at you, you fear for your life until you find out no bullets in

raymundo:

there's no bullets in it, then you, and then you do that. Jackie chain shit where you grab this shit. Like

jt:

I wouldn't advise you. I wouldn't advise you do that, but I'm just saying don't Ray, don't be no hero, man.

raymundo:

Before I got, I gotta hero.

jt:

yo, did you see man, that guy who was doing all of those videos, he tried to take the gun from this one kid and missed like three times

raymundo:

that shit.

jt:

Yeah.

raymundo:

Oh man. But yeah, man, that's dope, man. Like I think like when you think about fear, nobody, you don't wanna study it, but like tho doing what everybody else won't do is what gets you, those, those results and facing the uncomfortable from my experience. I mean, you gotta continue to do it cuz it's just like everything else, like a muscle you start working out, I must have gone deflate. You gotta build that, that facing fear muscle. There we go. You know what I'm saying? Flex, you know, whether you

jt:

me, I think I know what you're saying. You ain't, you're not facing fears. It sounds like you might be afraid to fail. Is that what it Is

raymundo:

up. All right. Damn. I gotta work on the fucking round of applause. That just sucked, bro. My fault. So, yeah. And, and the thing is, I think it's so, deep in, in my head that I, it is, it's hard for me to like, acknowledge it or put in the forefront. I just think I fear shit and I know I just gotta face it, but, and in reality, like, example, I didn't like doing interviews cuz I was worried about messing up or forgetting what I'm gonna say shit like that. But the more I've done it, you know, all, and I just joined Toastmaster, you know, you heard of Toastmaster, I just joined I'm gonna do whatever it takes. I'm gonna make this shit happen. So, but yeah. Fair failure. That's what it is.

jt:

Exactly. And, and, and that comes from sometimes it's lack of repetition. It's lack of experience in a certain area. So again, you have to do the things that you're, you're afraid of. You gotta try them and failing is normal. LeBron is home right now.

raymundo:

Yeah. Right.

jt:

one of the greatest added all athletes of all time. He's home watching the playoffs with us. You get what I'm saying? Like people fail, it happens, but you know how he's gonna come back next season.

raymundo:

Oh yeah. He, he coming back with some new shit

jt:

you see, you see a whole demeanor change. Oh, his failure is about to take him to the next level. So why can't yours do that for you?

raymundo:

exa yeah, exactly. That that's so true. That's so true.

jt:

Oh, Ray failed. When he come back the next time.

raymundo:

it's a,

jt:

exact. Exactly. So don't be afraid of that. Like cuz if you keep doing what you are good at, that's a comfort zone. That mean you're not getting better.

raymundo:

say that again, please. That's fine. Say that again, please.

jt:

if you're good at what you're doing, that means like you're not getting better at anything. So you're staying comfortable. You don't wanna stay in that place. Just imagine if the only place, you know, we talked about sports all day. Me, the only place I ever excelled at in basketball was LA fitness. I never left LA fitness. I never left. Let's just, there are people that do that. They never leave LA fitness and they think that's gonna translate to a basketball court at lifetime with a bunch of pros that came home for the summer. Bro. You're gonna look like you don't belong in that gym, but if you go in that gym enough, where you go back to LA fitness, they'll look at you. Like you don't belong there anymore.

raymundo:

that's crazy. You know, what's crazy that, so my high school game didn't evolve because of that. Right? Like my coach told me, yo, you gotta go to different parks. You nice here. You nice in the park, but are you nice in this park? And I would be like, yeah, I'm gonna do it. And I never did it. So my everybody's game passed mine and I stood the same, you know, that's one of those things that you like, wow. It was only about a matter of a time because I got nice at that point. I was the captain of the basketball team. I got nice from you know what I'm saying? My playing better with, basketball players that were better than me and I got better. So. Yeah, pretty much gotta apply the same thing. Just, you know, like interviewing someone like you. I got potentially

jt:

bro. I got ultimate faith in you. Ultimate faith bro. BR bro Ray, I don't know. You gotta stop sleeping on yourself, dude.

raymundo:

I know. I know,

jt:

on yourself. Cause cuz in, in 10 years, bro, you gotta give anything you do 10 years. Don't think about today in 10 years, if you stay consistent like this shoot, even the people that you're interviewing now, we gonna go places too. So even if you just have us back in 10 years, you know what we would've done by then? You get what I'm saying? You know, I was in the studio one time with these rappers that I was like, you know, doing accounting for. Right. And like, I was helping with their management and stuff like that. And they were, and we were in Philly and the engineer, Asian guy owned his own studio. He's, you know, chopping their sounds up and whatnot, editing what, what they just put down and they were in the back, you know, they were talking, I don't know if they were showing off of the crowd or that they was like, yeah, we gonna, we gonna work with meek and we're gonna work with little S cuz they off affiliate, whatever. And that the engineer turned around and he was like, look to the left, look to the right. That's who you grow with. Don't worry about those guys that are all the way up there. Don't worry about that. You broke with the people that are around you because at one point mill was just the brave, the, the, the rapper with the dirty braids that locked,

raymundo:

I remember that.

jt:

you get what I'm saying. And he took those people with him. One person came down and gave him an opportunity, but I believe he was gonna make it regardless. Cuz he was buzzing. Everybody knew about him. Right? So the same thing holds true for you. You're going to get bigger. The people that you interview you podcast are going to get bigger. Just gotta give it time in 10 years. Imagine if 10 years pass by. And I did break ground in the sports agent industry and I did do everything that I said I was gonna do. And I did become a household name when I come to sports agent or I just break ground in what I'm doing. And like I'm the, all the top athletes accountant. And they all raving about me. Rappers is talking about me and so, so and so forth. We go back. How far you think if I see Ray Mundo pop through on my email, like I did before, I'm not pulling up for you be I'm never, I'm never going forget where we connected at. That's something that can't be, that's something that can't be forgotten. We connected at the bottom. Right. You know what I mean? So

raymundo:

from day one, man. Respect from day one, always.

jt:

exactly. So it's like the people that you are working with now, keep in touch with us. Because we gonna keep working, you gonna keep working and then it might be a point in time where I'll be like, yo Ray, I got something I gotta say. And then I need to come back on the podcast to say, cuz you got a platform too. So we all gotta keep

raymundo:

F bro. That's a

jt:

we, we need you to level up and what you doing and keep going. We need that. And you need me to level up and keep doing what I'm doing. Cuz we all feed off each other. You got your tribe, bro.

raymundo:

That's yo that's yo, I ain't gonna fuck you. You like, I feel like, I feel like I could do that windmill. You did in that Nah, yo, I appreciate that, man. Like you need those words sometime. Like, don't get me wrong. Like regardless what anybody says or who's believing, you know, I'm waking up every day and I'm, I'm fighting for the dream, but it's good to hear that it's, you know, that, that gets you through those stretches where you've been told no. Hearing, something like that, man, that that's, that's something for the mind and the soul. Know what I mean? So I appreciate that. And that's what we gotta do. We gotta keep helping each other, you know what I'm saying? Get to that next level. Sometimes we can't only do it by ourselves it could be just one word, one video, even the lyric from the song or just the friend saying, yo, I believe in you all that shit. All that can make a big difference, man. So

jt:

Yo you, you, you force the belief or your brand already

raymundo:

thanks,

jt:

yourself as such seriously, man. Like I

raymundo:

Yeah. I needed to hear that. I needed to hear that for real.

jt:

and I need a platform, I'm I'm literally gonna come. Yo Ray, I got something to say,

raymundo:

But we definitely gonna do that. Any resources you could recommend to my listeners. That helped you along your journey, whether it was a book, a video, someone you follow

jt:

my favorite book of all time is the richest man in Babylon and

raymundo:

get to read it, but it's fire. I heard it's fire. Matter of fact,

jt:

the, the principles in that book are pretty much all you need talks about. Investing or putting away 10% to continuously invest that's called compound interest. It talks

raymundo:

compound interest, you heard of the, there's a book called the atomic habits and that's like taking the, the interest aspect and adding it to your life, like little increments end up being huge at the end. So

jt:

Exactly.

raymundo:

anyway, continue. I'm sorry, bear.

jt:

Oh, compound interest credit working hard paying off your debts, like all of the, the key principles and, you know, financial help are all in that book that they tell it through story. So it's a unique perspective. So it's a great read for anybody that doesn't wanna be bored and like really learned about business, through stories that took place in like, you know, the BC era. So like I've literally branded my business after it and everything. Like, I like that book that much, like I'm the type of guy that, like, it takes me a while to read a book because as I'm reading it, I have to go into life and apply right then and there. Then I come back to another chapter, I read it. Then I go into life and apply it. Like I gotta do. I get so excited when I read, I gotta like do it right then and there. And like everything, for instance, I did this, this calc for somebody I mentor she's just starting to work now. And she wants to like start saving a little bit from every check and I shoulder, you know, just at a modest interest rate, if you can just save the small, I think it was maybe 140 bucks or something like that per month. For 10 years, that'll be worth over six figures. But if you allow that to continue to compound for another 10 years, that six figures turns into millions. You get what? I'm that's compound interest like over time, just continuously compounding your initial investment and letting this sit still. You see that first 10 years, that was one animal that next 10 years, whole different beast. Now she's sitting on a couple millions after that second, 10 years, if she does it again, and she's starting to invest at 16, by the time she's 46, third, 20, 20, 30, 40 million. She's sitting on get what I'm saying, but that's

raymundo:

interest. Learn about that shit.

jt:

That's what I'm saying. So, and, and will start investing now and wanna see a return tomorrow. That's why I told you what your podcast, you gotta give it 10 years, because like you said, the atomic habits I have, it's funny how I haven't read a lot of books that you were talking about, but a lot of this stuff kind of like comes natural to me. Like if you give this 10 years, what do you think your podcast will be? If you go hard for the whole 10 years, you take what you learn and you build upon it.

raymundo:

Oh man, 10 years, man. I'll be, I'll be living in, in the house that I put on my vision board. You know what I'm saying?

jt:

Exactly. So you gotta exactly, you gotta let your investments do the same thing. Like all investments, you gotta let them season. And then after that 10 years, imagine if you go hard for another 10 years.

raymundo:

yeah, man, I, yo I love doing this and Going hard and making it what I know it could be where it can financially take care of my family and not, and, and I know you gonna like this cause. Not only do I wanna make income, I want to have an impact. When you could do both, you feeding the soul and the bank accounts. Cause you know, at the end of the day we need money to help. You know, I can't help the poor if I'm one of them. So I gotta get rich and give back to them. That's the win-win

jt:

Exactly.

raymundo:

What, what message would you give to someone that you know, I'm saying like is having a hard time trying to focus and, and believing in themself when it comes to being a boss and going for yours,

jt:

You don't know your, why you don't know your why?

raymundo:

When, why is it strong enough?

jt:

why ain't strong enough, you lost track of it. That's what happened. You're doing it for the wrong reasons now, cuz when you got your Y out in front of you, you can stay focused on the mission and the mission never really gets away from you. But once that, that why starts to move away from you for a number of reasons like you wanna compare yourself to other people or that's usually the main reason it gets away from most people you're comparing yourself to something that wasn't met for you or you're listening to the crowd or you're getting away from the original reason that you got into it. Once that starts, starts to happen, then the focus starts to D. So that's when you gotta pull back, get away from the distractions, get ugly for a little bit, get back on your grind and then start from scratch. Figure out where you went wrong. Get back in your box and then come out. Once you reestablish everything, sometimes you gotta hit the reset button.

raymundo:

Damn, you know what you just said, me, you just speaking of Bo, like you just threw me the alley. So I could say so I could use this line. You not starting from scratch. You're starting from experience. Shout out to Tyrion's

jt:

exactly. exactly. To alwayss that exactly.

raymundo:

that. So, If they, if, if my Mundo fans wanted to get information or they feel like they're in a place where like, you know what, I need JRE to help me with my business. I trust them. Cause I'm pretty sure that you're gonna, they, once they hear this, they gonna trust the shit outta you. especially if I'm back I'm, I'm standing, you know what I'm saying? Like, I'm, I'm vouching for him. Like, he's a great dude. You know what I'm saying? Genuine. And, but, and on top of that, he keeps it a hundred. he not gonna tell you what, you want to hear. He's gonna tell you what you need to hear. And he's sharpen in the fucking machete blade. You know what I'm saying? He got his shit together organized. So you not gonna get the service that you expect is what you gonna get. You see professional, you gonna get professional, but just, you gotta do your part too. So don't get it twisted.

jt:

exactly.

raymundo:

they find you if they wanted to.

jt:

So right now you can email me at JMT J as in jump, as in Mary, T as in Tom, T as in Tom, a as in apple, X, as in x-ray, L as in learn, L as in learn C as in company.com. My Instagram handle is the underscore tax underscore breaker. I prefer you guys email me so I can send you a, a customized link because you're hearing me on raise podcast so we can kind of talk, get to know each other a little. Not charging anything complimentary consultation, just to get to know you, help you get to know me, figure out if we a good fit for each other, or, you know, just give you some great insight on your situation and how you wanna move forward. So if that's the type of relationship that you're looking for, cause you nothing and, you know, figure out how to get in contact with me and reach out, have that initial conversation. And you know, I'll forever be a resource to you from there. If I could help we'll work together. If not again, you know, I'm there something seems shady and you want somebody to take a second, look at something, or you wanna contract me for that. I'll be there. So that's how you find me. That's how you get in contact with me. Ray will definitely have my information too, in case, you know, something might change the future. He'll always have my info to.

raymundo:

Yep. Everything also will be in the show notes. So, if you didn't get that, you could just always go to the show notes do your research from there, send them an email on social media, which why tax breaker not break a breaker one nine,

jt:

I'd say, cause I can't rat man.

raymundo:

yo man, but yo Dre, I wanna thank you brother, for, for being on the Raymundo show. The value that my listeners got is unbelievable. Shit, even me, like, I feel more confident in taxes and, and going for the dream. You know what I'm saying? 10 years, not only my compound interest going. But my ratings, my, my, everything about the Raymundo show is going to be up. It's going to be a dream bought to life. you know what I'm saying? Cause we bringing the shit, we bringing dreams to life. We ain't chasing them over here.

jt:

Exactly. And what my homework for you before the next time we speak, I want you to build your team out your accountant, your lawyer, your whatever league, whatever marketing team advertising team. I want you to start putting people around you as if you're already where you're trying to go. And the people that are met, they're going to see the vision and y'all gonna figure out how to make it all work. That's how I want you to start treating yourself. Start treating yourself like a fortune 500 and you B one.

raymundo:

yo, yo, thank you for that brother. nah, but I appreciate that, man. You know, you having that belief in me, especially I'm still in the beginning, but. When you can see someone past someone's situation, that's deep, man. I feel like I, the way you moved, I'm not surprised where you at and where you going to be. And what's crazy. What's crazy. Dre, this is only the beginning. You know what I mean? Like

jt:

That's

raymundo:

the beginning. We we'd even scratched this certain surface yet, so, and we gonna stay in touch. Cause we definitely on the same wavelength, just like before. I mean, I'm just not as good as basketball, you know, I used to be better than you in basketball and that shit is over. So

jt:

the jury's still out on that one, brother.

raymundo:

yo, but I wanna thank you brother, man. Take care of yourself and keep doing your thing.

Transcribing... Uncle Sam, not family, but you better save him and play that dinner. like a prospect and a bike again. He won this. Cut. Not a fade. But that peace seat. And not the one HP cells. No matter how well you do, don't forget to set some cash aside. Work on improving your financial intelligence. We live in a world where it feels so relevant. Emphasis is focused on spending and pretend that you're not living check to check, but you don't stand the chance if you're income and debt or neck to neck. but you really define by your means. If you don't work on living under it, Then you trolling to have your crib. Under a bridge instead of letting your financial strategy. Get you to that deluxe apartment in the sky. You wanna be the boss, then you gotta pay the cost. Not only in the form of finances, but. Working on your personal development. Can make success part of who you are. Love who you are, but like the bad guy. And won the woman 84. You could be batter.<laugh>. Skills can help you build. But work your ass self now. So later you could chill. The one thing, the wealthy know. Is how to make their money work for them. You wanna obtain that knowledge? Cuz it can make all the difference. apply knowledge is power. So. It's time to get to it, including myself. But I wanna thank y'all for joining me on this episode. I want to thank my brother Jerrell Thompson. For making it to the Raymundo show. For giving me so much great information that I'm already using. Cuz I've been had the episode<laugh>. And I hope that y'all can. Apply. Uh, some of the things we spoke about and it can make a difference in your life. yeah, man. Thank you for tuning in. See you next week, stay safe. Be good peace. Love Mundo out.

People on this episode

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Raymundo

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