Sugey Piedra delves into the challenges and triumphs of leadership within the realm of business and personal development. Sugey, co-founder of a wealth management firm, shares her profound journey from tax preparer to visionary entrepreneur. She emphasizes the often-overlooked human element in financial management, advocating for a more personal approach to client relationships and financial planning.

Sugey’s story is a testament to resilience, highlighting how personal setbacks, including a difficult divorce and the subsequent loss of her ex-husband, reshaped her approach to business and life. She discusses the importance of delegation, revealing how stepping back allowed her team to thrive and her business to flourish without her constant oversight. This shift not only led to improved operations but also enhanced her own well-being and the quality of her interactions with her children and clients.

Listeners will gain valuable insights on balancing professional rigor with personal health, understanding the strategic benefits of tax planning, and harnessing the power of effective communication within their teams.

Want to learn more about Sugey's work? Check out their website at https://www.prominencebusiness.com/.

Connect with Sugey on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/sugey-piedra-ea-39aba911a.

Key Points with Time Stamps

• [00:01:43-00:02:01] Sugey introduces her life’s message about the missed opportunities in business.
• [00:02:45-00:03:32] Explanation of client-focused financial narratives beyond typical tax preparation.
• [00:06:04-00:07:01] Sugey discusses the impact of her divorce and the sudden passing of her ex-husband.
• [00:11:15-00:11:36] The transition Sugey made from hands-on management to empowering her team.
• [00:15:05-00:15:23] Realizations about business automation and the importance of processes.
• [00:18:53-00:19:27] Sugey emphasizes quick client communication and the repercussions of delays.
• [00:22:10-00:23:35] Sugey shares insights on personalizing tax advice to reveal the financial stories behind the numbers.

Transcript

00;00;00;00 - 00;00;30;20
Craig Andrews
I was in a coma for six weeks while the doctors told my wife I was going to die. When I woke up, she told me the most fantastic story. My team kept running the business without me. Freelancers reached out to my team and said, we will do whatever it takes. As long as Craig's in the hospital. I consider that the greatest accomplishment of my career.

00;00;30;23 - 00;00;51;10
Craig Andrews
My name is Craig Andrews and this is the Leaders and Legacies podcast where we talk to leaders creating an impact beyond themselves. At the end of today's interview, I'll tell you how you can be the next leader featured on the show.

00;00;51;10 - 00;01;23;05
Craig Andrews
Today I want to welcome Sugey Piedra. She runs a business called, prominence, which is she's co-founder of. And it's a business and wealth management, company. But I think the thing that really stood out when I was talking to Sue hay about what her message was, it's people are missing out. Business owners are missing out. And she wants you to be aware.

00;01;23;08 - 00;01;43;07
Craig Andrews
The rest is kind of nuts and bolts. But there's going to be a discussion of taxes. And, and that's something that's easy, to just kind of put in someone else's hands, which there are better people to do it, but there's I want to explore this message of, you're missing out and want to understand that a little bit better.

00;01;43;07 - 00;02;01;11
Craig Andrews
So that's what we're going to be talking about. Sue hay has a powerful life message that I think any business owner should listen to. If you're running a business, you need to hear this message today. So without further ado, I said, hey, welcome. Thanks for being on Leaders and Legacies.

00;02;01;13 - 00;02;05;16
Sugey Piedra
Oh, thank you for having me. Such an honor.

00;02;05;18 - 00;02;23;29
Craig Andrews
Yeah. So, anyway, the so let's just take a quick dip at a high level. Who do you help and how do you help them? And then we're going to jump into some other things. But just so everybody has a little bit of context, who do you help and how do you help them.

00;02;24;01 - 00;02;45;23
Sugey Piedra
So, my ideal client is always going to be that individual who knows or is tired of that rat race, right? Sometimes you don't know that there's more that you can be doing. hey, I'm a tax preparer. I've been doing taxes for 20 years, but when I founded my business, I wanted it to be different than the volume based businesses where it's in and out.

00;02;45;23 - 00;03;08;10
Sugey Piedra
I wanted to clients to really understand the story behind their tax returns, be behind their finances, their profit and loss, their balance sheet. A lot of clients just plug in all these numbers, give them to the preparers because they just want to be done with taxes, right? They don't want to face, just the nagging of dealing with their finances.

00;03;08;13 - 00;03;32;23
Sugey Piedra
And so when they're here with me, I say, okay, let's slow down. I'm done with your tax return. This is the result. But this is why. And here are a couple nuggets that you can do to make a difference next year. And so really understanding the, the client, their business and what they do for a living sometimes are just, you know, they're W-2 employees and they're like, why do I pay?

00;03;32;23 - 00;04;03;10
Sugey Piedra
So much in taxes? And so, you know, I go down that little spiel of saying, hey, this, you know, this country's made for the W-2 earners to pay all the taxes. What do you mean? And then, and business owners who want to write off the kitchen sink, but then I explain to them purchasing power, and I explain to clients that, you know, when you do write off absolutely everything and you show losses, then you hurt your purchasing power and you can advance, and you can't go out and get properties and rentals or your or your business, you know, offices and stuff like that.

00;04;03;10 - 00;04;13;26
Sugey Piedra
And so I help them paint a bigger picture and show them that with these financials, everything's possible. We just know how to drive them instead of them driving us kind of a deal.

00;04;13;29 - 00;04;27;13
Craig Andrews
Yeah. Well, cool. Well, and one of the things that you said in there is to slow down. Yes. And life happened and it forced you to slow down.

00;04;27;19 - 00;04;30;15
Sugey Piedra
Oh, for sure.

00;04;30;18 - 00;04;33;08
Craig Andrews
What what happened?

00;04;33;10 - 00;04;54;25
Sugey Piedra
So, I mean, my business is not that old, you know, and I had been doing taxes for many years working for somebody else, working for others. And, I wanted to start my own business. And I would always say, you know, next year, next year. And so one day, my sister Cruz is like, no, we're starting our business now.

00;04;54;28 - 00;05;19;21
Sugey Piedra
it's time. It's time to get started. And we did. We started our business and I wanted to start my business different since I have learned from others and, you know, been in the, the corporate world. So I was ready to rock and roll. But in doing so, my focus was my business, and I'm used to working taxes and super long hours for somebody else.

00;05;19;21 - 00;05;40;02
Sugey Piedra
So I wanted to do the same for me. So again, the business was taking a lot of my time. And I have two kids. I have, you know, two kids that, are amazing kids and knew that they had to kiss mommy goodbye and see you April 15th. Kind of a deal, right? Because they've always been. Taxes were always in my life.

00;05;40;05 - 00;06;04;07
Sugey Piedra
Well, a lot of what was happening was I wasn't home. I wasn't home for them. I wasn't home for their dad. I wasn't, I wasn't as, you know, as present as I should have been. And, and growing the business. As my business grew, my marriage started to fall apart. And I wasn't paying attention to a lot of things.

00;06;04;08 - 00;06;31;04
Sugey Piedra
And I probably cut out, you know, there was a lot of things that maybe we could have fixed. We could have changed. But in that time, as my business grew, my marriage was falling apart. so much so that, in 2021, I filed for divorce. I filed for divorce. I said, I'm done. I think I just need to, you know, be alone and focus on my business and do what I gotta do.

00;06;31;07 - 00;07;01;06
Sugey Piedra
And, it was an amicable divorce. Everything was pretty good for the most part. Of course, like every divorce, there's situations where, you know, ugly things. You did this, you did that, or you failed to do this or whatever. Pointing the finger. And, two weeks after the divorce was final, he passed away. He passed away. And, it was it was devastating.

00;07;01;08 - 00;07;23;10
Sugey Piedra
It was devastating. there's probably a lot of missed conversations that we could have had after the divorce of, you know. Yeah. What we could have done better, different or how we're going to now parent co-parent our kids differently or whatever. A lot of I'm sorry is were missed, you know, but that's life. Life halted me.

00;07;23;10 - 00;07;43;04
Sugey Piedra
Life said enough, you know, and so now the business was not my priority. My priority were my kids, their emotions, the guilt I was dealing with, the just, you know, a whole baggage of just stuff that's going on emotionally. And so.

00;07;43;07 - 00;08;04;04
Craig Andrews
Yeah, let me let me just kind of pause there. that just had to be so incredibly devastating. You know, I, you know, divorce is incredibly hard. And, you know, you're looking at one type of separation and then to have them pass away just two weeks later.

00;08;04;06 - 00;08;28;12
Sugey Piedra
Yeah. No, it was, like I said, it's not that we were in horrible terms, luckily, you know, but there was still a lot of things that were left unresolved, a lot of emotions, a lot of conversations that were going to be had, you know, next week, next month, whatever. And, and life happens and there's no time for that.

00;08;28;12 - 00;08;31;03
Sugey Piedra
So, you know.

00;08;31;05 - 00;08;44;05
Craig Andrews
And I think there's a lesson there, you know, the. You don't none of us really know when the clock runs out. We know there's a clock running.

00;08;44;07 - 00;08;45;00
Sugey Piedra
Yes.

00;08;45;03 - 00;08;48;00
Craig Andrews
But none of that. None of us knows when it runs out.

00;08;48;03 - 00;08;49;05
Sugey Piedra
Right.

00;08;49;08 - 00;09;09;18
Craig Andrews
And you know, in my life, you know, I'm not supposed to be here. I should be dead. Covid should have taken me. And, two and a half years ago, my wife didn't know. I didn't know we. You know, I was in the hospital for 11 days. Neither of us thinking that I was on my path to the ventilator, which was certain death.

00;09;09;20 - 00;09;16;03
Craig Andrews
And there were conversations that we would have missed out on right.

00;09;16;05 - 00;09;34;28
Craig Andrews
My wife, so, actually, somebody who sat with me in the hospital when I was, when I was first waking up from the coma, there was somebody there, you know, just a wonderful, wonderful lady who came to sit with me at my wife's request. Make sure, you know, because when I woke up, I couldn't do anything for myself.

00;09;34;28 - 00;09;48;14
Craig Andrews
And she wanted to make sure she was there for me. Well, she's now on the ventilator in a deep come in. May not make it. And, you know, my wife and I are both thinking about all the things that we wished we could have said.

00;09;48;16 - 00;09;49;08
Sugey Piedra
Yeah.

00;09;49;10 - 00;09;51;01
Craig Andrews
Three weeks ago.

00;09;51;04 - 00;10;16;11
Sugey Piedra
No, it's, it's something that, is just hard to deal with. the the biggest thing for us or for me was obviously divorce is not good for it just hardly ever does it have those good emotions. It's good. You know, all of that. There's a lot of resentment. There's just a lot of negative things going on when you're going through that separation.

00;10;16;11 - 00;10;54;05
Sugey Piedra
Right. And even though with us it wasn't extremely horrible, but there was still stuff that we had said, okay, let's get through this, we'll figure this out after, you know, blah, blah, blah. And there was no after there was no more time. And, for me, it was just there was a lot of guilt to deal with because I felt that I never gave him the time, even though I logically speaking, and after dealing with therapy and all these great workshops that I've done to deal with my grief, there was other things that perhaps led to that divorce.

00;10;54;05 - 00;11;15;03
Sugey Piedra
Right? But at the end of the day, I still blame myself for being so focused on the business. And just like many entrepreneurs out there, when we start our businesses or where we are in our business, we become slaves to our own business, right? We we, were so we were so many hats that it takes so much time from us.

00;11;15;03 - 00;11;36;04
Sugey Piedra
And, you know, I'm here consulting people and then I'm in the evening networking, trying to build the business. And then I've got other work to do and marketing and, you know, it's just like one thing after another after another, that it just never seems like I have enough time and I'm so consumed by it. things definitely changed after he passed.

00;11;36;06 - 00;11;40;22
Craig Andrews
Yeah. So what happened? You know what? What changes did you make?

00;11;40;24 - 00;12;00;26
Sugey Piedra
well, I had to step back. Luckily, you know, the businesses, you know, my sisters and I who, who owned the business. And even though I didn't want to step back because I felt the work was where I was hiding. Right. I was hiding from dealing with all of that emotion stuff that I was going through.

00;12;00;29 - 00;12;19;29
Sugey Piedra
but, you know, my body wanted me. My body wasn't the same. My health wasn't the same. And so they forced me to stop. They're like, you have to deal with what just happened. And he passed away in December. And tax season starts in January. And so, you know I was like a robot just coming in. Didn't want to have to do.

00;12;19;29 - 00;12;44;19
Sugey Piedra
And stepping away until I finally just my body gave out on me. My body crashed, my body said enough. And at that point I just closed the business. I don't want I don't want to return to work. I don't want to work. I don't want anything to do with that closing. Do whatever you got to do and instead what they did is they stepped up, they stepped up, they took control of the business.

00;12;44;19 - 00;12;50;17
Sugey Piedra
They took control of a lot of things that were on my plate. because why I had to do it all.

00;12;50;19 - 00;12;52;00
Craig Andrews
And who's they?

00;12;52;03 - 00;13;19;09
Sugey Piedra
My sisters, your sisters, my staff, my team. so cruise is my right hand. she does a lot of what I do. And Brisa is my operations. She is our funnel. That girl is process based. Everything has to be systematized. But you can't systematize something that's in my head. You can't submit. Systematize something that I'm holding hostage.

00;13;19;09 - 00;13;38;28
Sugey Piedra
And saying you can't touch. And that's how I was. I was very controlling over everything. And I use controlling and admitting that I'm controlling. But I didn't know that I was. And I realize that today. But back then, I didn't. I felt like I was the only one that can do the job. I felt like I was the only one that was going to do it right.

00;13;39;00 - 00;14;08;21
Sugey Piedra
you know, a lot of things that it was me, me, me. And, when I stepped back and they came in and they took over all of these tasks that I was doing, things that my receptionist handled, things that our admin staff could have done, but it was on my desk because I wanted to do it. And so allowing them to take control over that, allowing them to do their processes, allowing them to just make the business work and flow better.

00;14;08;23 - 00;14;42;18
Sugey Piedra
was something that I allowed or happened while I was gone because I was not present anymore. I was literally just, you know, in my own sorrows, in my own world dealing with what I was going through, and trying to help the kids. Right, trying to help the kids cope with everything. And so, when I returned back to the office and things are being handled differently and the clients are still here and the phones are still ringing and business is still coming in, I'm like, how far I haven't been here?

00;14;42;21 - 00;15;05;04
Sugey Piedra
Right. but then it was a whole new way of looking at the business and seeing that the business is growing all on its own. you know, the wheel continued to turn to turn while even I was gone. Yes. My hard work paid off, but now my staff has put everything in order. Where there's a process, there's things that followed.

00;15;05;04 - 00;15;23;07
Sugey Piedra
Everything has its place that it's just a whole different business. And I love it. And now I love sharing that with my clients. I love meeting with business owners and saying, hey, there is another way. there's a little work we got to do, but there is another way. And this is how I run my business and this is what happened to me.

00;15;23;09 - 00;15;36;25
Sugey Piedra
And don't wait till it's too late. So it's, it's very it just feels good to be able to to pass on the message and to help others because you just never know how much time you have left.

00;15;36;27 - 00;16;03;09
Craig Andrews
Yeah, well, what a what a painful way to learn that lesson. But I'm sure, you know, I think in that there's a couple things that jump out at me. One is align business owners, they do what they do because they love it and they're very good at it. And, you know, I think, you know, one of the terms you used was was controlling.

00;16;03;12 - 00;16;20;00
Craig Andrews
I think the challenge is, I mean, if you're really good at what you do and you hire someone else, I mean, if you're extremely fortunate, you're going to hire somebody who's better than you, but most of the time, you're going to hire somebody who's not as good.

00;16;20;02 - 00;16;29;26
Craig Andrews
And so it's hard to let go. what would you tell folks who are wrestling with that, who are having trouble letting go?

00;16;29;28 - 00;16;55;23
Sugey Piedra
So one of the things I learned, and again, even though I can admit and say things today, this is not how I was before. There's been a lot of coaching involved. There's been a lot of, you know, work that I've done to realize that as long as 80% of it is good, that's good enough. No one's ever going to be 100% the one you want, right, or the right to be done the way you want it to be done.

00;16;55;26 - 00;17;13;26
Sugey Piedra
And a good example was my emails. I sometimes won't send out emails because I have to rewrite it ten times, but if I realize how much time I spent now, I just made the client mad because it's taken me days to reply when I could have just replied in that one minute, right? But because I have to, it's me.

00;17;14;03 - 00;17;37;15
Sugey Piedra
Me rewriting and rewriting, thinking, oh, I didn't use the right word there, but let me think about it. Right? And so now I have a client who's upset because I haven't returned their message versus my team, my admin, my assistant will reply immediately, and I'm like, I wouldn't have sent that, you know? But the client's super happy because they got their answer and it was so darn quick.

00;17;37;15 - 00;17;56;25
Sugey Piedra
And they're like, wow. And I'm like, I'm missing the the message. I'm missing. The client just wants an answer. They don't care what kind of words I use. They don't, you know, it. It was so eye opening to realize that I was just overthinking something as simple as just replying to a client who just was looking for an answer.

00;17;56;28 - 00;18;20;09
Sugey Piedra
And my staff will do it so quickly, so much better now in my eyes than I would. And it's just time, the value of time. And so now it's like I don't return messages like my admin does. You know, my my son, my help does. They are amazing people at what they do. And even though I wouldn't have used those words, the message got across just fine.

00;18;20;12 - 00;18;25;19
Sugey Piedra
So as long as the client is happy, then I don't see why I shouldn't be.

00;18;25;22 - 00;18;53;14
Craig Andrews
Well, and you know, and I think about that from a marketing standpoint, you know, in those moments of silence. And it's not just from marketing, it's in relationships, in the moments of silence, our imagination takes us to dark places, of course. Yeah. They're like, well, Sujay isn't responding, and we're just thinking. She's upset. She doesn't like, you know, whatever our you know.

00;18;53;14 - 00;18;58;25
Craig Andrews
And when we let our client's imagination have free range to roam.

00;18;58;27 - 00;19;00;08
Sugey Piedra
Yeah.

00;19;00;10 - 00;19;02;23
Craig Andrews
It's usually not good for us.

00;19;02;25 - 00;19;27;19
Sugey Piedra
Right? Yeah. You're right. They're probably thinking she doesn't have time. I mean, not that they were probably. They were thinking that I've had clients where, like, Have you gone to bed that you can't handle? It's like, that's not it. It's. I was following up doing research, you know, I was trying to get you the right answer instead of me just replying by saying, hey, you know, I need a day or two to really look this through and I'll get back to you.

00;19;27;19 - 00;19;49;20
Sugey Piedra
Right. but instead they do. They paint their own story. They imagine something totally different, and it's all because I couldn't just reply. I was overthinking everything. And so now that's definitely not how it's handled. And so it allows me to have more time, more freedom. Everything is organized. There's a process, and I get to go home at five, and I like that.

00;19;49;22 - 00;20;14;28
Sugey Piedra
I get to go home every day at 5:00. instead of being here like any other tax preparer would be, you know, midnight working. I have more freedom. And, that took some adjusting for, let me tell you. Yeah. And you control when you organize your life to the point that you have available time, freedom. That was driving me crazy was like, what do I do with all this time?

00;20;14;28 - 00;20;36;08
Sugey Piedra
You mean I get to watch TV? Like, no, this is not okay, right? I felt like something was wrong. I felt like something was falling apart behind me, and I just wasn't catching it. but I had to pivot a little bit and learn to enjoy time with myself, read a book, enjoy the sunset. Things that I never did before.

00;20;36;10 - 00;20;42;27
Craig Andrews
I'll tell you, that's something I struggle with. If I'm sitting around and relaxing, I feel lazy.

00;20;43;00 - 00;21;05;23
Sugey Piedra
Yeah, for sure. That's just how we've been, you know, conditioned to believe that, we're supposed to have a chaotic life in order to feel productive, and yet it's such opposite. I think when I was so chaotic, I wouldn't get more. I would get less done than I get now, just because everything's a little more organized and I get to go home and have dinner at home or whatever.

00;21;05;23 - 00;21;08;00
Sugey Piedra
It's just it's weird how it works.

00;21;08;03 - 00;21;39;04
Craig Andrews
Yeah. Well very cool. Well, I'm sorry for all the pain that was in the path of that lesson, but, I mean, those are some powerful, powerful lessons. Let's, let's pivot a little bit. You said two things to me. when we spoke a month or two ago, getting ready for this interview, and you said that taxes could be different and you don't need to fear the IRS.

00;21;39;07 - 00;21;41;00
Sugey Piedra
Right.

00;21;41;03 - 00;21;50;11
Craig Andrews
And so I don't remember the context. Those are just kind of the notes I took. But, what does one of those two statements mean to you?

00;21;50;13 - 00;22;10;21
Sugey Piedra
So, I mean, a lot of us do our taxes because we have to write. A lot of us, it's April 15th, and we just have to file because we're supposed to file, right? And 99% of the time when I'm helping a client, they're just dreading, you know, to do their taxes. And so I started to see that trend in client.

00;22;10;21 - 00;22;26;24
Sugey Piedra
And I started to see that and everybody that I was helping. And so I felt like it just needed to be slowed down and needed to be explained to them what is it that they're doing here and why are we doing it, and what is the tax return telling me or saying about them? There's a story behind there.

00;22;26;24 - 00;22;49;07
Sugey Piedra
There's telling them usually if you're a W-2 employee or, you know, you own your own business, it doesn't matter. But when I go and I explain to you every number on that tax return, the very first thing somebody will say is, I made that much. Where did it all go? You know. And so that is a realization of, hey, you, did you did make this kind of money.

00;22;49;14 - 00;23;13;13
Sugey Piedra
So where did it all go? Right. It's time to start evaluating and looking at that. Where did it all go? And as we continue to go through the return, realizing how much Uncle Sam really took from you. So there's some of the portion, a big chunk of where your money went, right? Is Uncle Sam's pocket. And is there anything that we can do to make things different?

00;23;13;16 - 00;23;35;08
Sugey Piedra
And I always say, I'm not against paying taxes. We all should be paying our fair share. I'm okay with that. This country was built off of that. But I think that because we don't pay attention, then that there's things that happen that could have been better, that could have been different. I also want to have control of my money, because I can do things with my money that are way better.

00;23;35;10 - 00;24;10;04
Sugey Piedra
For example, I love investing in real estate. I have clients, I have, a membership group that clients love because once a month I teach them about real estate strategy and how I can create really cool, tax write offs with strategy and, how they can buy properties out of state. And so that group of people just love the fact that they have everything there, that they need the access to the teams, all the information, and then when they get their tax return, it beautifully creates what they wanted it to do.

00;24;10;10 - 00;24;32;14
Sugey Piedra
There's additional write offs, there's, strategy behind it. And so as long as they do everything that they're supposed to do now, the return is doing what they want, not just whatever the computer populate it. Right. So now they're proactive. They're they're forward thinking. They're the ones driving their financials instead of just whatever pops up. And it is what it is.

00;24;32;16 - 00;24;52;29
Sugey Piedra
And so when, when I really meet with clients, we really go over all of this stuff that it's just a huge difference is very different, is very eye opening. And I tell them this is more of tax advisory, tax planning, not just tax preparation. And now clients love that.

00;24;53;02 - 00;25;17;07
Craig Andrews
Well, one of my frustrations over the years is I it feels like I've been the one going to my tax guy saying, hey, I heard about this thing called the Augusta rule. Yeah. Can I use it? And he's like, yeah, sure. I'm like, why didn't you call me five years ago, right?

00;25;17;09 - 00;25;28;23
Sugey Piedra
Yes. So that's that's the new trend, right? I think that social media and the internet has allowed you to find something like the Augusta rule, right.

00;25;28;26 - 00;25;32;00
Craig Andrews
And mean real quick. What does that just said? People aren't lost.

00;25;32;03 - 00;25;53;06
Sugey Piedra
So just a rule is a rule where, you know, if the name is funny on it. But anyways, it's it's what they call a loophole, even though it's not necessarily a loophole. But the IRS says that as long as you rent your you are allowed to rent your personal primary residence less than 15 times. So say you rent it 14 times throughout the year.

00;25;53;08 - 00;26;22;05
Sugey Piedra
and whatever earnings you make off of that that are not taxable, you as a person do not have to report it, on your income tax, as income. So and that came from the golf golfing I think. Is it in Georgia that it started. And so what it is, is people would rent their mansions or their homes to these individuals that would come for this golf tournament and in return, they didn't have to report that as income in their tax return.

00;26;22;07 - 00;26;42;22
Sugey Piedra
So now that Augusta rule doesn't say it just has to be for golf or it just has to be for events like this. And so individuals that have their own businesses are allowed to do something like that, where they rent it to their business. As long as you know you can justifying have paperwork and we do comps and we do all this stuff to make sure that we still meet the IRS rules.

00;26;42;24 - 00;27;00;09
Sugey Piedra
But now you don't have to report that as income. And so it gives you a little bit of a break. And if we nickel and dime your tax return this way, guess what? At the end of the day, you won't owe as much or you won't. You know, you'll you'll have a better outcome than you did before because you weren't paying attention to little things like this.

00;27;00;11 - 00;27;16;29
Craig Andrews
When this goes back to what you said earlier, that in income tax is made for w-2s, right. If you're a business owner, I think, my goodness, if you're paying the price of being a business owner because it's a hard road. Yes, you should take advantage of these things.

00;27;17;02 - 00;27;43;05
Sugey Piedra
Of course. And even as a W-2 employee, there's things that you know you can generate. And I always tell, especially when we have like high earning, individuals like a doctor or something, they're like, well, I guess I'm just supposed to be paying all these taxes. And I'm like, no, there's other ways. Yes. Today you may be having to pay these taxes, but you have something that my that my business owners crave, which is purchasing power.

00;27;43;08 - 00;28;11;12
Sugey Piedra
They can literally walk into a bank. And because they have strong w-2s, the bank will lend them what they need. And my, my self-employed individuals are like, well, I want to write off everything because if not, I have to pay taxes. But what they do is they hurt their purchasing power. And so I can have a W-2 employee paying taxes today and saying, Uncle Sam, you went today, but I'm setting myself up so that tomorrow I can live tax free.

00;28;11;15 - 00;28;36;09
Sugey Piedra
And how you do that is now that should be your focus. That should be the the planning that you're doing. You're generating and you're creating assets that will return money to you. So when you retire, it could potentially be all tax free or minimal tax. And so again you are driving. And that's what I like with my clients is that we I'm trying to show them in the mission statement here is that you can have more control over your finances.

00;28;36;11 - 00;28;47;20
Sugey Piedra
If you just slowed down a little bit and really looked at them month to month, quarter to quarter, you know, year compared the years to see what it is that you're doing and where is it taking you now?

00;28;47;20 - 00;28;54;00
Craig Andrews
What about your statement that you don't need to fear the IRS? Because I don't know anybody that believes you on that.

00;28;54;02 - 00;29;21;00
Sugey Piedra
That is funny. I always say that because I think the IRS is so patient, right? I mean, look, it takes us two hours to get a phone call, right? I mean, to be able to get through to them. they will always give us extensions in time. But when you have people, you know, telling us their horror stories, that they sees their bank account and they seize their property and blah, blah, blah, it's because you ignored the first 102 letters that they sent you.

00;29;21;03 - 00;29;45;16
Sugey Piedra
You know what I mean? It's because they've tried to resolve this issue issue and you've ignored it. And so now they have no choice but to draw your attention and leave your property or, you know, seize your bank account. I mean, there's there's, you know, individuals out there that have huge tax liabilities and they're on a payment plan, but do you need to be on a payment plan and you need to stop owing the IRS.

00;29;45;16 - 00;30;04;28
Sugey Piedra
You need to change the way you're doing things so that you can be in good terms with them. But that's those are not the stories you hear. You hear like, oh my gosh, they seized my bank account. I'm like, well, yeah. Because, where's the initial notice they sent? And it's dated like five years ago. Right. So that's the only reason I say there's no need to fear the IRS.

00;30;04;28 - 00;30;28;24
Sugey Piedra
There's a lot of really, good IRS codes that we can take advantage of. You know, when you tax plan. It's not illegal. It's not wrong. You're just learning how to play the game so that you can do it legally and within the IRS code. But the IRS code is huge. So there's so many things in there and we don't know how to read that or we don't know how to take advantage of it.

00;30;28;24 - 00;30;39;02
Sugey Piedra
So the majority of us just do what we have to do to get them, you know, to file, get rid of it and not worry about it till next year. But we leave a lot of opportunity on the table.

00;30;39;04 - 00;30;59;26
Craig Andrews
So what would you say to people like me? Yeah, my long time frustration has been I go to some event, I learn about the Augusta rule, and so I go to my accountant and we negotiate something. You do comps and what have you. So I can take advantage of that. But that was me that just happened to be I was in the right room at the right time.

00;30;59;26 - 00;31;09;13
Craig Andrews
I heard the right thing. How can people like me figure out how to find these tools? Put this to work.

00;31;09;16 - 00;31;31;27
Sugey Piedra
There's so many tools out there. And like I said, the Augusta rules one. But when you find if I were you, I would be looking for the tax preparer that this is their business. Right. So with me now I have colleagues. Now we have a group of individuals. And now there's resources where you can actually find people like me.

00;31;31;27 - 00;31;58;21
Sugey Piedra
So I used to think like how are people ever going to know that I exist? And this is the type of service that I, that I provide. So now that I've been more into it for the last, I don't know, three years or so, I have found the networks and now there's, there's websites that you can go and you can look up for a preparer in your web, in your area, if you want to meet somebody or individuals like myself that are federally licensed, and I'll have meetings with my clients via zoom.

00;31;58;28 - 00;32;23;21
Sugey Piedra
But some clients want to meet with their preparer face to face and in person. So through these, through this website, you can go on there and you can, find somebody in your area. These individuals are tax advisory. They are strategists. So they would be what I do. I go out and I go to conventions throughout the rest of the year finding and looking for things like the Augusta rule, what else is out there that I need to study?

00;32;23;21 - 00;32;41;24
Sugey Piedra
And then I bring it back to my clients as far as W-2 employees or self-employed. And so some of these little nuggets that I learned may not apply today to anybody that I have, but you never know what other client I may get on the road. I'd be like, you know what? There's a strategy out there. I do not the expert, but let me look it up and let me find it.

00;32;41;24 - 00;33;02;28
Sugey Piedra
Maybe I can connect you to somebody else. Or maybe, you know, we can work this out together. So finding that tax person, the financial advisor, you know, your individual, your team that has a strategic way of thinking, a problem solving kind of thinking, not just filling out a document saying, hey, this is what the computer spat out. And it is what it is.

00;33;02;28 - 00;33;14;11
Sugey Piedra
It's like now there's a hundred and different ways that you can resolve and change your outcome if you just really, really are with the right team behind you.

00;33;14;14 - 00;33;40;00
Craig Andrews
Well, let me throw another scenario because I'm curious about this, because I did something that I thought was clever, and I noticed that I was the only one doing it. And so maybe it made me wonder, okay, maybe it's clever, but not okay. I haven't done this in years, but, I had an employee that was, remote employee that was coming to town, so I had, by her, hotel room.

00;33;40;02 - 00;34;03;17
Craig Andrews
And at the time, I knew the general manager of a hotel in the area. And he had always told me, said, Craig, don't go online, you know, don't use, you know, Expedia or one of these services. I will match any price you can find online because I get paid more that way. And so I had this employee come into town and I went and found them and said, his name is John.

00;34;03;17 - 00;34;26;15
Craig Andrews
I said, hey, John, I've got an employee coming. You said to always come to you and, you would give me a deal. And he said, yeah, in some of what's going on. I said, well, here's the thing. I said, John, I said, here's the price I found online. I don't want you to match that. I said, as a matter of fact, John, I want you to charge me as much as you can.

00;34;26;15 - 00;34;51;21
Craig Andrews
I want you to sell me your most expensive room at full price. And he's like, okay, what's the hitch? And says, well, John, you have a you have a bar, you have a rooftop bar that serves food. And we're gonna have clients come in. And we're gonna eat in that bar. And and what I want is a voucher that I can apply there.

00;34;51;21 - 00;35;14;07
Craig Andrews
And he's like, well Craig, why don't I just discount your room and said, well, John, because, hotel rooms are 100% tax deductible, entertainment is only 50% tax. And so he did that. So I guess my question to you was there because literally, I mean, there's companies like AMD, the big chip company has people staying in this hotel all the time.

00;35;14;10 - 00;35;21;17
Craig Andrews
They never do this. And I'm like, did I think of something that they didn't think of? Or is there a reason that I'm the only one doing that?

00;35;21;20 - 00;35;48;28
Sugey Piedra
You probably have a unique opportunity to do something like that. You know what I mean? But like, who else is going to know a gentleman like this that will be is willing to do something like that. So it just depends. But yes, entertainment is only 50% or is not deductible, right. Or and meals are only 50%. But what I tell clients is really you got to look at what it is that you're trying to, that you're trying to write off, like when and if ever knock on wood you were to be audited.

00;35;49;05 - 00;36;14;27
Sugey Piedra
There's you have to explain. And so you the IRS is anything that's ordinary and necessary to you as a deduction. Right. So what may be ordinary necessary for you in your business is not going to be the same thing that is ordinary necessary for me to run my business. And so it's just about, really being able to create an explanation and and justifying and say, this is why it's a write off to me.

00;36;15;00 - 00;36;36;29
Sugey Piedra
Okay. So, well, one of the things that I do is I network a lot. I go out a lot. So it looks like it's entertainment. I'm at a bar, I'm at this place, but I'm not. I'm there with a group of other professionals and, generating business right. So if you were to write this off as entertainment, it's not a write off, but it was an entertainment.

00;36;36;29 - 00;36;55;28
Sugey Piedra
It was a networking meeting. And I can prove that it was a networking meeting. And this is where I pick up clients and this is how I do it. Right? So it's a write off to me. So it just depends on what it is that you're trying to do. It's like or reorganizing it, reorganizing it so that you can justify again that deduction.

00;36;56;00 - 00;37;16;26
Sugey Piedra
So most of the time clients feel like, oh, I heard this isn't it? And so I won't do it. And I'm like, no, really. Read there's court cases out there. There's so many things out there that stand out because people took it too, all the way to, you know, the, the higher tax courts to fight because they had a really good explanation of what that right off this.

00;37;16;26 - 00;37;34;14
Sugey Piedra
And even though you and I cannot write off a yacht and make it a business deduction, you know, there's a real estate agent out there that did because they saw ocean properties or whatever. Right. And so they got away with being able to write off their yacht. So again, it's just what's unique to you. What's unique to your business.

00;37;34;16 - 00;37;56;14
Sugey Piedra
And a lot of my clients come in here and they love the fact that I have, you know, sense. And I have, I do have, you know, an app. tequila bar. And I'm like, hey, you need to calm your nerves. So if you're gonna have a tequila shot, have it, you know what I mean? So again, it's it's one of those things that what it makes you unique and what makes you and your business.

00;37;56;14 - 00;38;01;07
Sugey Piedra
And that's what the IRS is going to allow for it to be ordinary, necessary for you.

00;38;01;09 - 00;38;28;02
Craig Andrews
Well, and something you said in that and this is always been my litmus test, I, I live with the assumption that one day I will be audited and, and if I'm debating an expense or a deduction or something like that, if I can, in honesty, sit across the table and say, here's, you know, so an example of, hey, yes, my employees stayed in the suite.

00;38;28;05 - 00;38;52;02
Craig Andrews
Yeah. This isn't the Driscoll Hotel downtown, which would be, you know, four times more expensive. This is. Yes, it's a suite, but I think it was I think it was like $250 a night and not not crazy. And. Yeah, that was deductible. you know, I feel very confident in saying that. And, you know, we did spend a little bit over the voucher that, that the general manager gave us.

00;38;52;02 - 00;39;14;26
Craig Andrews
And so, yeah, that was, that was, you know, done as an entertainment expense on the Augusta rule. have a neighbor two doors down that rents their house out for three times more than three times. Right. What I'm charging to the business. And and if I'm sitting across the table from the auditor and he says, how do you justify that?

00;39;14;26 - 00;39;19;02
Craig Andrews
So say two doors down, three times the price call.

00;39;19;04 - 00;39;36;27
Sugey Piedra
Exactly. Do you see the confidence of that? And that's what I'm saying is whatever is is going to be for you and your business and it's going to make you, you know, you rewrite that and so that it's necessary in order for you and your business, then you can defend it. Right? And of course, I took clients all the time.

00;39;36;27 - 00;39;52;02
Sugey Piedra
It just, you know, it depends on the order you're going to get. And all of a sudden there's other variations into it. But at the end of the day, my goal is to make sure that we have clarity and that we're checking off all the boxes that we have receipts, that we have notes, that we have, everything that we need, just in case.

00;39;52;02 - 00;40;15;06
Sugey Piedra
You just never know. And but it's beyond that. It's about really understanding how your business runs, how you need to have things in order for you never know what you may need them for. And so, I just encourage people to keep receipts, to keep things because you just never know. If I go to target and I buy, you know, ink and paper and toner, but I don't keep the receipt.

00;40;15;07 - 00;40;33;14
Sugey Piedra
How does the IRS agent know that I didn't buy detergent and dish soap? And, you know, you know, things for the for the house. It's like the receipt gives you the breakdown that the IRS agent needs to see to make sure that that is still a good deduction or not. So records are very important.

00;40;33;17 - 00;40;52;10
Craig Andrews
Well, hey, this has been such a great discussion. clearly we could go on for another hour. And, but, I love how you approach it. I love what you say. No need to fear the IRS. I'm still. I'm still a bit scared, but I like the fact that you get people to the point where they don't need to fear the IRS.

00;40;52;13 - 00;40;57;28
Craig Andrews
And for the people that don't want to fear the IRS, how do they reach you?

00;40;58;00 - 00;41;13;19
Sugey Piedra
So you can always find me in our social media. It's Instagram Prominence services or our website, which is Prominence business.com. We try to always stay updated with information and try to give good nuggets to our clients and our followers.

00;41;13;22 - 00;41;16;05
Craig Andrews
Well, excellent. Well, thank you for coming on Leaders and Legacies.

00;41;16;10 - 00;41;20;24
Sugey Piedra
Thank you so much for having such a fun interview.

00;41;20;24 - 00;41;49;20
Craig Andrews
This is Craig Andrews. I want to thank you for listening to the Leaders and Legacies podcast. We're looking for leaders to share how they're making the impact beyond themselves. If that's you, please go to Alize for me.com/guest and sign up there. If you got something out of this interview, we would love you to share this episode on social media.

00;41;49;22 - 00;42;13;04
Craig Andrews
Just do a quick screenshot with your phone and text it to a friend, or posted on the socials. If you know someone who would be a great guest, tag them on social media and let them know about the show, including the hashtag leaders and legacies. I love seeing your posts and suggestions. We are regularly putting out new episodes and content to make sure you don't miss anything.

00;42;13;06 - 00;44;23;20
Craig Andrews
Please go ahead and subscribe your thumbs up! Ratings and reviews go a long way to help promote the show. It means a lot to me. It means a lot to my team. If you want to know more, please go to Alize for me.com. or follow me on LinkedIn. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time.