The Future Is Now: Jackie Meyer of TaxPlanIQ On How Their Technological Innovation Will Shake Up The Tech Scene
I would consider myself to be my best mentor. For all the negative things that have happened to me, it just makes me work harder and push to be better. I’ve come to a place where I can be thankful for all the good and the bad that’s happened to me because it’s made me who I am today. It’s hard to get to the top of the mountain if you weren’t ever at the bottom, you know?
As a part of our series about cutting edge technological breakthroughs, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jackie Meyer, the Concierge CPA, Founder of TaxPlanIQ™,
Jackie is a Certified Concierge Accountant and Meyer Tax Consulting, who specializes in providing innovative, tailored Tax Strategies Planning to executive clientele ($5M+ Net worth), Business Development, and Leadership Coaching Programs for a high return on investment. She leads her team of top-tier talent spanning across the US, which operates with 100 percent virtual workflows to manage all aspects of their clients’ tax planning process.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
My parents got divorced when I was young. My mom was a broke elementary school teacher, and my dad was in IT. Right as I was nearing college, my father lost his job in the IT industry. So, I always knew that I wanted to be in a profession that would allow me to take care of myself — which led me to finance. Finance exposed me to tax preparation and planning, and I fell in love with the idea that I could play detective and help people find extra tax savings. I like to better people’s lives that way, and I also love that it’s something everyone else would rather not do.
If I hadn’t had such a strong drive to be in the business profession to make money, I wanted to be a psychologist. So, what’s really cool, is the way I turned into this business coach for accountants in the past few years. Through TaxPlanIQ, we have the coaching product that we’re able to provide, on top of having my own CPA firm, Meyer Tax Consulting. I’m able to bridge those two interests of mine together, to where I feel like I’m really going above and beyond to help accountants. We’re able to go so much further than just a typical firm environment.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
I was fired from the last firm I worked at, and it forced me to start my own firm. I never really worked well for other people; I’ve always had an entrepreneurial mindset. That backfired on me when I tried to advocate for the people I worked for when we weren’t getting raises at the time. I don’t think I would have started my own firm if I didn’t have that situation happen to me. While I was really embarrassed and upset at the time, it’s one of the biggest blessings now looking back.
Around this time, my husband wanted me to go work for another CPA firm, and I said, “I think I can do this. I can start my own firm.” My firm took off ten years ago, and we’re doing great work for our clients and for our accountants. Since then, my husband always says, “I will never doubt you again.”
Can you tell us about TaxPlanIQ? How do you think this might change the tax industry?
TaxPlanIQ is a SaaS tax firm planning web application that helps with tax calculations, planning and organization. The platform decreases time spent on manually inputting data into spreadsheets by aggregating data into one place, improving workflow efficiencies and providing higher-value tax planning services.
TaxPlanIQ was a byproduct of my accounting firm manually handling countless Excel spreadsheets, trying to pull together all important details, download knowledge from our brains daily, constantly trying to figure out how do we implement this strategy or that strategy? After years of troubleshooting, we were able to take tasks that normally would take accountants four or five hours manually and turn that into a 15-minute task. That’s how TaxPlanIQ came about. The demand for this product was naturally occurring, and now it’s really become my third baby.
My personal mission is to infiltrate the accounting industry with tax strategies. There’s so much value a software like TaxPlanIQ can provide — not only to the mental health of the accountants that are trudging through compliance work, overworked and underpaid, but this SaaS platform is allowing its users to treat their clients even better. It’s a win-win. Even if you’re charging them more, you’re still saving them more tax money. And so, they’re getting more in their pocket, and you’re showing them why.
Was there a “tipping point” that led to the creation of TaxPlanIQ? Can you tell us that story?
The tipping point was COVID. We were already a virtual practice, so we were prepared for the pandemic and for a digital environment. I found that as others moved to that virtual environment, it was the perfect time to expose them to tax planning and value pricing. So, TaxPlanIQ became my pet project last year. I refocused my energy on something positive for the industry instead of all the negativity going on.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
I would consider myself to be my best mentor. For all the negative things that have happened to me, it just makes me work harder and push to be better. I’ve come to a place where I can be thankful for all the good and the bad that’s happened to me because it’s made me who I am today. It’s hard to get to the top of the mountain if you weren’t ever at the bottom, you know?
How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?
Because TaxPlanIQ came out of the success of Meyer Tax Consulting and The Certified Concierge Accounting Program, I have pledged to dedicate ten percent of our profits, not just net income, to charity this year. On top of that, the daily support that we’re able to give and the hope that we’re able to provide to accountants is priceless.
As accountants, we have quick deadlines and deal with high stress levels — it really does take a toll on people. So, with The Certified Concierge Accountant Program, we can really shine with more one-on-one coaching with people, and with TaxPlanIQ, we bring hope to accountants who need more time in their day.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started.”
Software development takes longer than you expect.
The SaaS industry moves FAST. You could get wiped out by a competitor at any moment. You must always be changing, enhancing and improving.
Being a SaaS entrepreneur is completely different than being an accounting firm entrepreneur.
Owning a business is like having another baby. It takes a lot of time.
Email drip campaigns in accounting are tough!
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
My mind has been on mental health a lot lately. I see the effects of the pandemic, I see the impact on not only accountants in my 5000-person Facebook group, called Accounting Firm Influencers, but across the profession — people are on edge and are nervous for the future. I’ve been looking at different mental health nonprofits that I can support. I also have personal family situations where there are mental health considerations. The thing is: taxes are solvable problems, which is why I think I love doing them so much. In taxes, you can always find a solution. But with mental health, there’s not always a solution to the problem.
There’s not enough support for Americans, or worldwide, for mental health needs. But we can’t lose hope. So, if there was a particular movement, I would work toward figuring out a way to solve the mental health crisis that we’re going through. In fact, we just came up with a #taxlocochallenge online that dumps ice on friends and donates to NAMI (top mental health nonprofit) IF you guess when our IRS tax deadline will be this year. Believe it or not, this is a super triggering, hot topic for accountants, so we are turning it into something fun instead of dreadful.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
My favorite life lesson quote is “Just Do It.” The very first time I ever spoke to an audience, that was my final slide. “Just Do It.” As accountants, we overthink, we don’t usually take risks, but we always need to take actual steps to move forward with a solution. And I see people stuck in this overthinking paralysis, where they’re just spinning in circles instead of moving forward with their lives. Whether it be accounting or your own personal life, “Just Do It.”
Some very well-known VCs read this column. If you had 60 seconds to make a pitch to a VC, what would you say?
It’s best to understand the core values behind our brand. Number one, we are trailblazers in the industry, and we will never accept the status quo. Number two, when we are working, we are hustling for excellence. We expect the same from anyone that we work with. Number three, honesty is the number one value for myself, personally, my family, and in the profession. So, having that and making sure that you’re transparent and honest, even if you mess up is something that we really value. Number four is having enthusiasm. It’s good to show positivity when there’s so much negativity out there. One of my team said that I reminded them of Meraki, a word that modern Greeks often use to describe doing something with soul, creativity, passion, or love. So, it’s my new favorite word!
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The Future Is Now: Jackie Meyer of TaxPlanIQ On How Their Technological Innovation Will Shake Up… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
