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About the Guest: Duke Alexander Moore
Duke is a leading tax professional and the founder of Duke Tax. With a robust background in accounting and tax services, Duke has carved a niche in the tax planning domain for influencers and content creators. Known for his dynamic presence on social media, particularly TikTok, where he has gathered an audience of over 3.5 million followers, Duke has been recognized for blending humor with education. His innovative approach to simplifying complex tax issues has earned him appearances on major platforms such as Good Morning America. Additionally, Duke is an enrolled agent and has a profound understanding of the unique financial challenges facing modern digital entrepreneurs.
Duke is a leading tax professional and the founder of Duke Tax. With a robust background in accounting and tax services, Duke has carved a niche in the tax planning domain for influencers and content creators. Known for his dynamic presence on social media, particularly TikTok, where he has gathered an audience of over 3.5 million followers, Duke has been recognized for blending humor with education. His innovative approach to simplifying complex tax issues has earned him appearances on major platforms such as Good Morning America. Additionally, Duke is an enrolled agent and has a profound understanding of the unique financial challenges facing modern digital entrepreneurs.
Episode Summary:
In Episode 110 of the Teaching Tax Flow podcast, hosts John Tripolskyand Chris Piciurro dive into the intricacies of tax planning for influencers and content creators alongside the well-regarded Duke Alexander Moore. The episode spotlights the burgeoning industry of digital creators and the subsequent tax challenges they encounter. Duke, who boasts a remarkable following on TikTok, captivatingly brings a fresh perspective to tax guidance by infusing an element of entertainment into traditionally dry topics. This engaging installment illustrates the need for specialized tax services as online platforms become lucrative income sources.
Through conversations peppered with insightful exchanges and anecdotes, the episode navigates the complexities that content creators face in managing finances. Duke, an influencer and tax expert himself, shares his journey and how his firm, Duke Tax, is uniquely positioned to cater to the needs of creators, ranging from beginners to top-earning professionals. Among the main themes discussed are monetization strategies, the intricacies of tax compliance, and the importance of personalized tax planning. Listeners will gain actionable insights into managing their digital venture's financial health effectively.
Key Takeaways:
- Tax planning is crucial for content creators and influencers to avoid legal issues and maximize financial returns.
- Experience and specialization in the online creator niche are essential qualities to seek in a tax professional.
- Content creators must be strategic about their monetization methods, considering brand deals, subscriptions, and product sales.
- Educating clients about their financial obligations fosters better compliance and a sense of empowerment among digital entrepreneurs.
- Consistency in content creation paired with unique brand engagement is vital in maintaining and growing an audience.
Notable Quotes:
- "Taxes aren't fun, so I put an entertaining spin on it." – Duke Alexander Moore
- "Followers don't equal dollars." – Duke Alexander Moore
- "Get inspired and don't be afraid to mimic that person. Consistency is the most important thing." – Duke Alexander Moore
- "We are in the business of actually creating an experience." – Duke Alexander Moore
- "If you're not failing, you're not changing. You're not growing." – Duke Alexander Moore
Resource:
- Duke Tax: workwithduke.com
Episode Sponsor: The Mortgage Shop
Listeners are invited to explore the full episode to uncover detailed insights from Duke Moore on tax strategies tailored for influencers and to stay updated with future episodes of the Teaching Tax Flow podcast that continue to break down complex tax issues into actionable advice.
- (00:03) - Tax Planning Insights for Influencers and Content Creators
- (05:22) - From Teenage Model to TikTok Tax Expert
- (10:46) - Navigating Tax Challenges for Content Creators and Influencers
- (21:22) - Building Brands Through Transparency, Inspiration, and Experience
- (28:50) - The Impact of Books on Personal Growth and Mindset
- (30:28) - Tax Planning Strategies for Creators and Small Business Owners
Creators & Guests
What is Teaching Tax Flow: The Podcast?
Welcome to “Teaching Tax Flow: The Podcast”, the show that’s all about demystifying taxes and helping you keep more of your hard-earned income in your pocket.
Hosted by tax experts from the Teaching Tax Flow team, this unfiltered (but clean) podcast is designed to empower you with the knowledge and tools you need to confidently navigate the world of taxes. We’ll cover everything from understanding tax laws and regulations to maximizing deductions and credits.
In each episode, we’ll break down a specific tax-related topic in a clear and accessible way, providing practical tips and strategies you can use to optimize your tax situation. We’ll also answer listener questions, share the mic with amazing guests, and share real-world examples to help illustrate key concepts.
Whether you’re a freelancer, small business owner, real estate investor, or just looking to understand your taxes better, this podcast is for you. So tune in, take notes, and start building your confidence in taxes today.
Produced and hosted by Teaching Tax Flow.
www.TeachingTaxFlow.com
Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the Teaching Tax Flow podcast today, episode 110. We're gonna look at tax planning for influencers and content creators. And the guest that's gonna join us here momentarily may look familiar to some of you. He does have well over 3,000,000 followers just on TikTok alone.
John Tripolsky:So be sure to check this one out. But before we do that, as always, let's take a brief moment and thank our episode sponsor.
Ad Read:This podcast is sponsored by The Mortgage Shop. Are you looking to qualify for an investment credit loan without jumping through hoops? That's easy. They have loans with LTV up to 89.99%. Exploring their products and discovering how they can work for you is simple.
Ad Read:Just visit mortgage.shop or call 865-325-2566, and tell them TTF sent you.
John Tripolsky:As promised, we keep bringing some of the best guests we could find in the industry, and really important to this one, we got a really, really good topic that I know people are interested in. And if you're not, you should be because our guest that my cohost here, Chris Paciro, is gonna introduce here shortly. I think it's up to about 3.4, almost 3,500,000 followers just on TikTok. And why bring up TikTok specifically? So today, obviously, we're gonna talk about tax planning.
John Tripolsky:So, basically, taxes for content creators, your influencers. And this is gonna be really interesting. Right? Because I would almost wager a bet that most people that are listening to this, whether you know it or not, you probably follow somebody on social media who's producing the content out there in in the modern age here. And being a marketing guy, I appreciate it because it's not as easy as it looks.
John Tripolsky:But with that comes some challenges when it comes to taxes. So, Chris, welcome back to your own show, man. How, how are you doing today?
Chris Picciurro:I am amazing. I'm so excited about our guest today. I know I say that whenever we have a guest, but I truly am excited. John, I'm gonna I'm gonna before I introduce him, I'm gonna you know, Johnny t had a big head for a while. I'm gonna explain why, and and he's not gonna feel so good after this.
Chris Picciurro:I didn't
John Tripolsky:Take it.
Chris Picciurro:Okay. So, John, last year, we or in 2024, Johnny t and I went to Taxposium, an ATP Taxposium, well over a 1000 attendees. We sat we sat down at a table, for lunch, and these mature age ladies were sitting next to us. And they're like we're talking to them. We had just done a presentation for, like, 3, 400 people.
Chris Picciurro:It was awesome. And and we sat down and oh, I did the presentation, but we we worked on it together. And the ladies, like, talking about, what do you do? Where do you live? And they and somehow this podcast came up.
Chris Picciurro:And they're like, oh, the teach we we follow teaching tax flow podcast. I'm like, really? And they're like, yeah. They're like, who's the other guy that is on the podcast? I'm like, oh, John Chapulski?
Chris Picciurro:They're like, yeah. Where is he? Oh, he he's in the bathroom. He's coming. He's gonna sit next week.
Chris Picciurro:Wow. We never met anyone famous before. And, so, John, you know, unfortunately, you're not the most famous person on this podcast anymore. I'm so sorry.
John Tripolsky:I'll take it. And and who you're about to introduce too. I mean, I'm sure he can give us some great examples, but, you know, I've never been on Good Morning America. You know? I know.
John Tripolsky:I'm not that I'm not that popular. So, Chris, you know, what is always
Chris Picciurro:I am I am so happy. We are joined by Duke Alexander Moore. I had the honor of meeting him at the Intuit Better Together, event back in 2023 in the NYC right at right next to Times Square. And the reason I'm bringing up John getting recognized by those mature age ladies for the first time in my life, the whenever you do an Intuit event, they treat you pretty well. And we had a really nice, dinner the night before the event.
Chris Picciurro:And where I met Duke, we actually sat next to each other and talked a ton. But when I don't know if, Duke, you remember this, but when we got to the restaurant, some random people was like, running the ice cream, like, are you Duke Alexander? Yeah. Oh, man. It's nice to meet you.
Chris Picciurro:I'm like, damn. I've never had an accountant, tax professional get recognized in public by a nontax professional. Like, there's some people in our industry that that are kind of, you know, in our world, the influencers and speakers, that we know, but never an outside person recognizing the account. So it's an honor to have you. Welcome.
Chris Picciurro:Thank you, brother. To the actual podcast.
Duke Alexander Moore:Thank you, John and Chris, for the dope intro. I'm so excited to be here. And, I don't know. It's Friday too, so we picked we picked a really good day to do this. So I'm excited.
Chris Picciurro:Oh, absolutely. And we are excited to have you. You did an amazing job emceeing that event. But I know that one of the things like, my niche is real estate. So we and one of the things that I truly believe in in our private practices, you have to eat your own cooking.
Chris Picciurro:Now I know you have a lot of cool videos in your kitchen where you're pretending to cook stuff, but Yeah. You eat your own cooking. As an influencer, as a content creator yourself, that's why I think you connect so well with that industry because they you connect on that level, not just a tax professional. So can you tell us about your journey of how you got to the point of being not only a amazing tax professional, but also a Like a a creator?
Duke Alexander Moore:Yeah. So, so, really, it started out with I think the first time I've held a camera, they did well. I was reporting a school fight. I was like, the cameraman for the school assignment. Wait, dude.
Duke Alexander Moore:Let me get that video. Oh my gosh. I got so much pain for that. It was like a popularized school fight. Oh, that was so cool.
Duke Alexander Moore:Outside of that, I I remember it was my freshman year in high school, and I joined theater. I'm like, okay. This is this is this is fun. This is theater. This is awesome.
Duke Alexander Moore:Because before that, in the in the summer of middle school transitioning to high school, I would make videos on YouTube. I I actually taught myself how to play the piano. So I would like, oh, my video's on YouTube. This is part of the fun of it. I'll make fun music videos.
Duke Alexander Moore:I'm like, oh, cool. I kinda like this. So my freshman year of high school, I joined theater, and it was cool. It was fun. I really enjoyed it.
Duke Alexander Moore:And I had a classmate there. She's like, hey. You should go audition at this event. It was just like some, like, pop up in Dallas. So I did that, and they're like, hey.
Duke Alexander Moore:You're good. We like you. You know, come on come on aboard. We want you to do some more stuff. Long story short, I I was trained to become a model, an actor.
Duke Alexander Moore:It's called AMTC at at the time, and it's a model, an actor, and I was in this event at this national event. I placed, like, top 40 as, like, a model and actor at the age of, like, 14. I had to, like, do my own monologue, like, everything. So it was cool. So I got really cool, opportunities out of that.
Duke Alexander Moore:Whereas for a couple of years, I was a primary model for JCPenney for the teenage boys, actually. So you were walking around the mall, like, oh my gosh. There's tits. Or there's his legs. Those are my legs, ma'am.
Duke Alexander Moore:I was on the back of, like, gay board boxes. I did something with Frito Lay. I did some really cool stuff, really fun stuff. But at that time, I I'm getting paid as of 10.99. I'm not aware of none of this.
Duke Alexander Moore:I've never it's my first, like, shop, as well. So I'm getting paid 10.99. The the money is good, but it's, like, minimum wage at that's a $187 an hour. $187.50 an hour. Sometimes it's $750 an hour.
Duke Alexander Moore:Anyways, I got the 10.99 at the end of the year. My parents have never seen this. You know, they've always worked w two jobs. And so, you know, they drove me down to H&R Block, and, they kinda taught me I actually prepared my own return at that time. They taught me how to do this, expenses, and what else.
Duke Alexander Moore:I'm like, oh, this is interesting. This is cool. Like, I like this. This is dope. I've always been interested in math as well.
Duke Alexander Moore:That's always been the subject that I excelled in. So I'm like, I really wanted to get an accounting tax, like, growing up. So that's what I pursued. And, I pursued that, and I'm like, okay. I wanna be a CPA because I wanna do taxes.
Duke Alexander Moore:Like, I looked up what's a hard profession. They said taxes are something that's very difficult to understand. I'm like, I'll do that. I'll I'll let that occupy my time. Long story short, realize you don't have to be a CPA to do taxes.
Duke Alexander Moore:I mean, we all find that out one way or another. So, I ended up dropping out of dropping out of college, and, I was already, like, 1,000 of dollars in debt, so I saved myself there. I went and got my EA instead, because at that time as well, I was trying to apply for different, like, FERS. Couldn't get into them because I don't have the college education blah blah blah. So I was like, whatever.
Duke Alexander Moore:Let me start my own firm. So I did that, and I was getting clients just from the pro what's pro adviser. It was here and there. That's how I kinda got my experience with small business owners. And then I was kinda, like, making videos on TikTok, like, here and there.
Duke Alexander Moore:And then, like, I was on TikTok one day, and I saw this one video, a guy about making a video about taxes. I'm like and then he had, like, over a 1000000 views or a 1000000 likes. I can't remember which one it was. But I'm like, this guy's not even a tax professional. He doesn't know what he's talking about.
Duke Alexander Moore:And it's something as simple as, like, this is how you fill out a w 2. I'm like, that's crazy. You get a 1000000 views for doing that? Like, I do this for real. You just did it on Google.
Duke Alexander Moore:So I was like, let me try that. So I I hopped into that. Creating content was very difficult in the beginning because, like, anything's new is challenging. I would sweat. It would take me 2 hours or 4, like, 30 seconds.
Duke Alexander Moore:It's very challenging. Like, it was, oh my gosh. This is the most nerve wrecking thing. I'm like, should I take a shot before I do a video? Like, oh my god.
Duke Alexander Moore:Like, it was like, told you that. But, after a couple months, overcame that fear was easier, easier to make videos, and I started to learn, like, things like okay. Let's make it engaging by adding comedy to it, as well. So education plus comedy because talk talking about tax itself can be fairly boring. And it kinda just took off from there, and, you know, it really helped me because, like, before that, times are rough.
Duke Alexander Moore:Like, I just I was got evicted. I was living pretty much homeless. I didn't wasn't I slept on the streets a couple times. Alright? In and out of friends' places, and it's so forth.
Duke Alexander Moore:So the really help of that really helped me as well because I actually had to file bankruptcy too. And so, well, got all that taken care of, and that helped. And then it just came to a point where the social media was growing so fast. It's like I was forced down. So it's like, I'm like, I'm not I'm like, I'm not choosing to work with creators.
Duke Alexander Moore:Creators will come into me. And it when you have, like, a 100 leads a day, and it's only one of you, you gotta, like okay. Who's the ones I wanna work with? And so that's how creators kinda came to it. Like, I'm a creator that speaks creator language, and this was, like, probably in 2019, Noah has really, like, worked with creators and understood it.
Duke Alexander Moore:And so, yeah, I just chose that. And it's but we still work with small business owners of freelancers as well. Yeah. That's kind of the journey.
John Tripolsky:And, dude, just looking through your TikTok, it's so funny because for the longest time, I remember my wife's like, we'll call her a champion scroller. Right? She's, oh, I'm that's like her vacation is is scrolling for reals. And I I came across your page a while ago. I think it was it right after you met Chris.
John Tripolsky:And I'm like, alright. Let's let's check this out. You know, how how funny could these be? I, I I probably busted out laughing. And and chances are I was at a coffee shop.
John Tripolsky:And I think one of the funniest thing and, you know, what's what's wild too, right, is and and this is a a giant compliment to you, Like, is that there is so much content out there. Now there's a lot. Right? I just Yeah. Business management, taxes, all this stuff.
John Tripolsky:And some of it again, me not being a tax guy. I mean, I'm I'm a marketing guy. So I look at this, and I'm like, even I know that's BS. Like, you're not Billing it. Not you, but some of this other stuff.
John Tripolsky:I'm like, what are you guys like, you're setting people up for for chaos here. Like, you're getting them excited. Well, you explained things really, really well. Not to mention that you actually got president Biden, the press secretary, to do the damn doggy.
Duke Alexander Moore:Oh, yeah. That was That's a whole that's
John Tripolsky:a whole another story, Nat.
Duke Alexander Moore:Oh, yeah. I got That's a whole another thing. I got the feed down for doing that. But oh, yeah.
John Tripolsky:But I appreciate your follow-up on that. But that's and the I've seen your follow-up, which is good. It was good.
Duke Alexander Moore:I was like, I was very hesitant to post that. Like, so I beat up. Now let's do this. Let's let's stick strong 10 toes down. Yeah, man.
John Tripolsky:And the the cool thing too, I mean, like, literally, you've taken you know, on that point, you've taken something that's about as not sexy as it can possibly get. Right? So taxes, historically. Like, you think pocket protectors and tax professionals. And now you've added that sense of comedy, but it's credibility and comedy to it.
John Tripolsky:And then as you mentioned, like, you're really making that connection with content creators. Because, yeah, I mean, the a lot of these individuals, right, they may have kind of just fallen into it. And all of a sudden, they're, you know, wow. I just went from being a barista to a true content creator making 6, 7 figures a year. Like
Duke Alexander Moore:In the cloud.
John Tripolsky:And now I got this thing called taxes. So a a question for you actually on that is, you know, just on those types of individuals, and we you call it content creator, small business owners, whichever we wanna say it, How many of those come to you like, oh, crap. I didn't realize that I would actually have a tax problem. Right? And then, like, you knowing that industry, knowing those individuals, like, how do how do you start those conversations?
John Tripolsky:Like, do you coach them more along? Or or how do how does that relationship work? Just out of curiosity.
Duke Alexander Moore:Interesting. Okay. So cool. When it was just me, yeah, it was a lot of, like, coaching and, like, teaching and explaining. I mean, explaining in a sense to make sure they understand.
Duke Alexander Moore:I think that's the one key point because the these creators, they want to understand. They actually choose to a majority of them want to understand and want to know. And so it had to become across in a way, how do I easily communicate it to them as well? So that's that's been a journey itself, and it's been a lot of, like, okay. This didn't work.
Duke Alexander Moore:This worked. This worked. This didn't work. This didn't work. This didn't work.
Duke Alexander Moore:Okay. This works. So now it's at a point where now I've, you know, delegated that initial process when they initially come to us to 2 other team members. So now they know how to communicate. And if they want something in the depth, we hop on a call.
Duke Alexander Moore:Oh, I don't have it. But when that call comes out, it's iPad and pencil time. And so drawings, I will actually draw out, like, stick figures like, hey. This is you. You know?
Duke Alexander Moore:This is you as a sole proprietorship, and then this is you as an. You see this little piggy bank? That's your payroll. So it's it's it's coming down to that. And, really, when it comes down to education, education in this time is a value because education is overwhelming, and it's it's everywhere.
Duke Alexander Moore:What's right? What's wrong? And so that's really what it comes down to with education, coaching, and this just have it's it's them having an understanding is is ultimately what it is.
Chris Picciurro:I think that's a great point. A lot of creators and influencers actually do wanna learn be financially literate, and that's a big problem we have just that we don't have a lot of financial literacy in our education system, which is a whole another topic, whole another show. And hats off to you too. You really not only grow your client base, but you've grown in a a nice sized team in Duke tax, and we'll put all that information out there. We're gonna have some some more information we're gonna talk about in a little bit.
Chris Picciurro:What are some of so when you're talking to people that do you have a following, let's call them an influencer or or content creator, at what point do they do they actually feel like they're they're able to monetize that? And is it kinda like a a big ball that starts rolling where it might seem like a little bit of and and it's just an exponential explosion of their income or you know, what's your typical client journey looking like?
Duke Alexander Moore:Oh, yeah. It's fine. So different creators are at different stages. So you could have someone with 20,000 followers and doing much more than someone past 3,000,000 or 10 minute 10,000,000 followers. So it goes to the question of monetization.
Duke Alexander Moore:How are they monetizing? Typically, our creators that have something on the side, whether it's a small business, oh, there's there's I'm a get to the number one because I know the the number one. But the the creators that have some type of small business that they're selling on the side, whether it's a product, products are really good because you can just you can demonstrate it and get really creative with it. We have one client that sells a planner. A planner, and she is doing 1,000,000 a year selling a planner.
Duke Alexander Moore:She just does it. She just makes content out of her drawn in the planet planner with her creative writing or or cool writing, and she does well. So when it comes down, you you followers don't equal dollars. Dollars. I like that a little.
Duke Alexander Moore:Followers don't equal dollars. They they it doesn't. You can't say, like, that person has a lot. That person does it. It really comes down to the creator, one, who's the team behind them, and do they have the entrepreneur mindset?
Duke Alexander Moore:And so that's that's a big chunk. Another big chunk is gonna be brand deals. That is the like, that should always be viewed as additional income. Never we never wanna rely on that because it's unreliable. In other words, we have to wait for people to come to us or reach out to us or you that's something you negotiated.
Duke Alexander Moore:You're not in too much control of it, whereas if you have a product, you're in complete control of it. But, like, I wanna sell this. I wanna do that. Brand deals, you have to wait or have someone reach out. So that's another sector.
Duke Alexander Moore:And then a really good the fastest sector, the fastest, the most lucrative, the most game changing, the the one that just blows everyone's mind, it's always gonna be our fanfics or o and OnlyFans. It's gonna be that type of sector. And that's when and when it comes to that, there's a big difference with these type of creators as well when we talk about their art our OnlyFans and FanFix. FanFix is a, is a friendly version of OnlyFans. It's a non nude version.
Duke Alexander Moore:So there's a whole different way of monetizing that because it's not just it's not just subscriptions. A lot of people think it's subscriptions. Like, oh, getting people to subscribe. But over there, how you truly monetize it is having the it is having the idea that the individual has an online girlfriend. And so most of that money, how that's monetized is actually made through messages, like messaging and messages and so forth.
Duke Alexander Moore:And it's not subscription. It's not, like, the pictures. It's the idea that that individual has an online girlfriend. And once that creator or that girl has that idea, that's how that's monetized. So I would say those are, like, the main ones.
Duke Alexander Moore:Just having a small business, whether it's a product or service that you have on the side, whether you're doing brand deals is a it's another good service. And then, like, the the people who are just doing, like, the o f and and all my girlfriend things is crazy.
Chris Picciurro:And and then the cool thing for for those type of people, you know, obviously, they're they might not want to go down to to the local tax professional and and kind of be, you know, they wanna work with someone like you that that understands the the the nuances of that, the confidentiality, the, you know, you're you're in in some ways, you might have an alter ego or you might have you know, you you have even if you're not on one of those platforms, you're just you're just a a content creator or influencer that millions of people watch every day. You that might not be how you are on a day to day basis. And you want someone that can work with you and understand you, that doesn't get into like, I remember that, you know, I love sports and I first when I started having some professional athlete clients, like, yeah, when I was super young, I was just kinda like, oh, gosh. You know, that's something itself. And then it it was quick where I was like
Duke Alexander Moore:You can't
Chris Picciurro:All they want is just ignore that. You know? And and and then it works out much better. So Yeah.
Duke Alexander Moore:We gotta treat them like a human. Like and, yeah, it's funny to say that. Like, you know, Chris and John, it's like we we have a couple of white girls that have come to us or even creators that are like, do you guys work with us? Like, I keep getting turned away. It's such a bad stigma.
Duke Alexander Moore:The creator industry in, like, you know, the adult entertainment industry is such a nasty bad stigma. So some of the lead forms that we get is like, please tell me you guys work with, you know, this type of industry. I need help. I don't know what to do. I mean, they truly need help, and they are actually getting turned away from other firms because either there's I don't know.
Duke Alexander Moore:Maybe there's fear. Where does fear come? Fear comes from unknown. And so those creators of those women and men in the adult entertainment industry are actually getting turned away from leather burns.
Chris Picciurro:Mhmm. And in growing your so let me let me ask this girl. What are some of the, you know, tips you can give someone that not just the creator or influencer, but as a small business owner as far as, you know, as they grow, just some I know I know you you said you you originally were on the, Qubit or QuickBooks platform as as a pro advisor platform. From a, you know, bookkeeping standpoint, and I and then one other thing I really like about how you operate is you've got very transparent pricing. That's something that I think we use in our practice.
Chris Picciurro:I think that's extremely important because that that immediately gives trust to your client. And so if you're listening to this, even if you're not in this in in in that industry, you should be were you you wanna be working with someone that is very transparent with their prices. So, yeah, what what's been the secret to your success of growing your practice and and working with, and being able to help those people?
Duke Alexander Moore:I like that. Yeah. Price transparency is so important. You'll hear some people say, like, don't put the prices on there. Have them fill out the form.
Duke Alexander Moore:They'll, no. Here you go. And so I would say a lot of, you know, of my success was actually is counterintuitive. It becomes some failures because I believe the best teacher and coach is failing. And, there's actually there's no true thing as failure.
Duke Alexander Moore:It's only feedback. So we have always have to take it as, as feedback. So it's really it's just like listening to the people. What do you feel is naturally right, as well as a business owner? And then or a tax professional running a firm and then doing things that are gonna make you uncomfortable.
Duke Alexander Moore:You gotta put yourself in those uncomfortable situations if you wanna change. If you're not change, if you're not failing, you're not changing, you're not growing. You're just, you know, you're just sitting there chilling. So that's gonna be really important, and I think the most important thing is anyone that's listening to this or watching this, you know, like, I want some type of change and you do not know where to go, your next step is to get inspired. Meaning, you have to look at someone that is doing what you're doing or or that you're interested in doing and almost mimic them to the point where it's like you're mimicking them to understand it.
Duke Alexander Moore:Once you understand, once you've mimic, once you've been inspired by that person, you then start to get your little twist and your little twang to it, and that's how you use NARC to build your brand and your company, and that's when you start to get growth. So a lot of the things like me, I mimicked a lot of things. Apple mimics. A lot of people do that when you're first starting out. That is okay.
Duke Alexander Moore:Don't try to reinvent the wheel. I tried to do that. That'll that will that will that will hurt you so bad. Do what's already doing right. It's okay to mimic.
Duke Alexander Moore:It's okay to copy. I call it inspiration. Once you have been comfortable and inspired by that person enough, start branching out, adding your own twist and things. So I would believe that would be the biggest transformation for anyone that's listening to this that wants to just have change success. Success.
Duke Alexander Moore:Get inspired with somebody, copy what they do, then do your own thing.
Chris Picciurro:Yeah. Couple of thing I mean, I've learned that that and I try I even have this written on my whiteboard. Bitter or better. The you know, and when something goes your way, does not go your way, you could either, yeah, you either get bitter about it or you can get better and just constantly John gets sick of hearing me say it's a fail forward. You you know, there's there there's no you you learn more from losing and winning.
Chris Picciurro:Even my one of my children, was not happy with one of their grades just last night. And I sat with my wife and I sat down with that child. I'm not gonna say which one. And it was like, hey. Be bitter or be because the child got emotional.
Chris Picciurro:And and what you know, take this and always, you know, measure backwards. Hey. That's where you were at. Let's go forward. You touched on something that I think a lot of people, not just in the industry that you serve, but listeners of this could really would love to hear your thoughts on it of kinda some of the secrets of how to build a brand.
Chris Picciurro:What what are what are some few tips on doing that?
Duke Alexander Moore:Oh, yeah. That oh, yeah. Okay. So with that, when building a brand, it doesn't have to be rushed. Fun fact, we didn't have a logo for, like, the longest time.
Duke Alexander Moore:I think we like, I just, like, copied the same thing I used on social media. I think a brand is built over time. It's not something you have to, like, figure out the colors, like, right away. Just take your take your time with it. And a brand is more than just colors and a logo.
Duke Alexander Moore:It's how, you know, people view your practice and your business. What feeling do they get? Do do do the people in your staff and your team members, do they understand that as well? Do they see the vision? That's one of the most difficult things to do as well as communicating a vision because we have visionaries.
Duke Alexander Moore:Right? And we have an implementers in our in our practices, and a lot of our CEOs are visionaries. But communicating that visionaries is a whole different ballgame. So when you're building your brand and your practice, understand it's a slow it's a slow process. Have your core values.
Duke Alexander Moore:I believe that is super, super important, and just keep in mind, what do you want people to feel? For us, we are in the business of actually creating an experience. So when I tell you know, when I talk to the team, I'm like, yeah. We do taxes. Yeah.
Duke Alexander Moore:We do bookkeeping accounting, but we are in the business of actually creating an experience, like, you know, making this the best experience. Because if we don't do that, we are a commodity. And what I mean by commodity is, like, we are just, oh, let's just just price compare. Let's just go with the cheaper one. Like, who wouldn't wanna do that?
Duke Alexander Moore:Like, if I had to buy a a bottle of water, a Dasani bottle of water, and over here, $3, and over here is $2, I'm gonna go to the $2 one. But over here is $3, and I don't know. They take your pictures and they, like, throw bubbles on you. And I don't know. I don't know.
Duke Alexander Moore:They they just make it cool. They make it a fun experience. It smells good. You may wanna go over there. So that's that's what what it when it comes down to the brand is also an experience.
Duke Alexander Moore:And then, you know, Chris, speaking on, like, you know, the process of it, kind of what we're just talking about is, I think, a really important concept to know is is the gap in the game. That's a really good book if you guys haven't read that. I would say, you know, check it out. It's called the gap in the game. And, essentially, what it what what it comes down to the a lot of us a lot of our entrepreneurs, you're going to get stuck in this mindset.
Duke Alexander Moore:And the gap is, like, the difference. So you always want to look at where you started at, and then look at where you're at right now. For example I'll give you a good example that happened to me, this this past week. I had a or past month. I lost a 100,000 followers on social media because, like, you know, this video I made dancing with the president.
Duke Alexander Moore:I don't know. People are going crazy. I lost a 100,000 followers. I'm like, oh my god. This a lot of people be like, damn.
Duke Alexander Moore:That sucks. Oh my gosh. What do I do? But what did that do? Take me from 3.5 to 3.4.
Duke Alexander Moore:I lost. But if I were to if I don't focus on that gain that I made where I started at, that's what that's what it's all about. I started at 0. So even if I go from 3.5 to 3.4, I am still up, baby, because I am focused on what I have gained overall. I started at 0.
Duke Alexander Moore:I'm still at 3.4. So a lot of you small business owners are entrepreneurs or tax professionals listening to this as well. That's a principle that you can always apply whether it's in your practice, whether it's like like the question of building your brand. Folks, look at where you started. Look at where you're at right now.
Duke Alexander Moore:Just because you have a setback,
John Tripolsky:at least you know where
Duke Alexander Moore:you're at like a year ago. It's progress, not perfection, and we just gotta keep moving on.
Chris Picciurro:So, Duke, this is why I love you so much. I'm gonna Yeah. For those of you watching on YouTube, you're gonna see this. This is a book I have just finished.
Duke Alexander Moore:There oh, you just finished it. Oh, that's not
Chris Picciurro:Just finished it, and that's what I told our child. Always measure backwards. Yep. Oh, that that's what I talk about. Right?
Chris Picciurro:And we can we can get in the we can get in the the gap, and then we can admit that gap to other people in our life. So you gotta live in that gain. And I just started turning my phone off an hour before I went to let's put a airplane mode. You know? All those things that that that they teach, and and there's another book, 10 x is easier than 2 x.
Chris Picciurro:I don't know if you read that one also. That was the precursor to the gap and the gain. The gap and the gain is a, and yet that was phenomenal. And I don't love reading books. I listen to them.
Chris Picciurro:So I had a I had a road trip, recently, and I'm like, I knocked this book out. And this book, the gap in the game was so good that I was bummed that I got home with an hour left in the book, and I went for a walk to listen to the rest. That's it. This is right. Laughing because I called them, and I said, dude, you gotta listen to this this book.
Duke Alexander Moore:It's good. It's lovely.
John Tripolsky:And I I think I'm about 20 minutes into it, as of the other day, and it's pretty good. And I the attention span of a a gerbil sometimes where it's,
Duke Alexander Moore:it's a good not my thing. And, like, there's certain books that I really like. Like, that's a good one to start with why, but I have to check out one way up. Yeah. I agree.
John Tripolsky:It's a good one. It's a good and and, Duke, I'm looking back. You know, I've taken some notes since Chris mentioned your name way back. I think this was probably the best quote that sums up exactly what you've done, at least being being a creator, but then also, you know, in in being a tax professional. You know, it's being an EA.
John Tripolsky:I I wanna say it was it might be business insider or Bloomberg, one of the interviews or articles they wrote on you. I think you were quoted saying taxes aren't fun, so I put an entertaining spin on it. I think that sums up exactly what you did, but then also back to what you know, I I spoke out a little bit earlier, and I I think you guys agree is that there's so much content out there that is it's not even that some of it's completely untrue. Right? It's that it's not telling the whole story.
John Tripolsky:And when you don't tell the whole story, it might as well be untrue. I mean, there's there's some of it. So you do a a great job of that, and you're keeping people's attention. Right? That's that's one of the toughest things.
John Tripolsky:And I think the industry, both the content creator industry, this side of things, but then also in the in the tax industry. I mean, that's a huge that's a huge problem. Right? I mean or I shouldn't say a problem. I say a hurdle, which I think you've, you've done a pretty darn successful job of taking on, man.
John Tripolsky:So congrats with that. Yeah.
Chris Picciurro:And I would agree, like, the one of the reasons we've created teaching tax flow and focused on tax planning and strategy is that, Duke, just like what you said, I say it all the time. Tax compliance, tax preparation is a commodity. Yeah. You might go to 10 different tax professionals and they might do things 10 different ways and hopefully you have about the same result, but it's the it's the experience. It it's the planning and strategy and and that makes the difference.
Chris Picciurro:And, you know, that's that's something that if you're listening to this and and not you know, if you're if you're in any situation, you could be you could be an employee somewhere. You could be a a small business owner or a rental property owner. Understanding the importance of working with people that look forward, as far as from a planning and and perspective instead of being reactive. We say in all the time that, you know, one of 2 things is gonna happen. If you do no tax planning, the IRS is gonna pick your tax.
Chris Picciurro:If you do tax planning, you pick your tax. So you get the choice. What what is it what is it gonna be? So so can you tell us about, you know, I know you mentioned, before the show, you've got some some opportunities. So if you're listening to this, if you're a small business owner, a creator, an influencer, and you've you've been just looking for that that firm, that tax firm that aligns and understands your industry, you you've probably found you've probably just listened to them.
Chris Picciurro:You probably know who Duke is already, but you might not already. What could they do to and we'll put all of your information in the show notes. Well, what should they be looking for in a tax professional, and what are some of the things that if if they haven't found that that they should consider working with, with you and your crew?
Duke Alexander Moore:Yeah. So a good thing to look for someone in a tax professional is do they have experience in your field? That's gonna be super, super, super important, especially if the the more money you make. That the more money you make, the more important that it's going to be. For example, for someone who, you know, and I don't know, like, someone gets hurt.
Duke Alexander Moore:They can go to a a minute clinic or a care and air, care and out, something very local. If they have something wrong with their heart, they can go to a cardiologist. Right? That's a heart doctor. That's someone that specializes in the heart.
Duke Alexander Moore:They're gonna cost more, but they're gonna get the job done. But what if something what if someone has a heart problem in their child? Well, do they go to a pediatric cardiologist? So it's specialized in in really finding that. And I would say, look look for that specialist if your income is is high.
Duke Alexander Moore:They're gonna cost a little bit more, but they're going to save you save you. So that's the first stage. If your income is high, look for a tax professional, that is that can do that because they're gonna have great planning. They have experience. They have rapid tape, repetition with, other people in your field.
Duke Alexander Moore:Now if you're in that middle ground, you're just getting started, well, find someone who's very creative. Like, that you know, they're fun. They can explain things. They make things very educational, and they're transparent, as well. That's gonna be super important to do that.
Duke Alexander Moore:The team that backs them as well, what is their, flow? Communication is the most important thing. That's the chief complaint for a lot of tax professionals to CP CPA Farm today. It's communication, the lack thereof, and as well as getting billed for it hourly. You know?
Duke Alexander Moore:They just you know, look for that. The communication is strong. And, typically, you can find that out as soon as you you submit a a form submission. Now if you're like, oh, okay. Yeah.
Duke Alexander Moore:Yeah. Duke. I like you guys. If you're interested in working with us, or the name of my firm is called Duke Tax, and, we have something cool going on right now. If you're just looking for tax preparation, you can reserve your spot before the end of the year.
Duke Alexander Moore:It'll save you a $150. You can go to work with duke.com, to check that out. It helps us. It helps you because we kinda know what to gear for for this season. That's why we kinda, offer that.
Duke Alexander Moore:And then if you're also we also have memberships. So our memberships are, like, people who just, I don't wanna deal with nothing. You guys handle it. We have 3 tiers there, and, we can find the right one for you. Awesome.
Duke Alexander Moore:That is So you
John Tripolsky:guys make it pretty easy
Chris Picciurro:for the preboarding of flight. Right? You wanna freeboard that, baby. Check-in the day before.
Duke Alexander Moore:Easy. Yes. Just, you know, we will handle everything. So the you gotta do is show up, do your you know? The the onboarding part typically is the hardest part for our memberships.
Duke Alexander Moore:Once you're onboarded, we have your organizing your banking. It'll be your quarterly taxes, your consulting. We'll talk to you every now and then about some tax planning and so forth. So, yeah, we have we have 2 sectors, clients. You know, those are just people who visit us yearly for just tax preparation.
Duke Alexander Moore:And then we have members, and those are more of our subscription, whether it's, you know, monthly or annual. We have something for almost everybody, so we have 3 tiers there. So, yeah, feel free to check it
John Tripolsky:out. Awesome, man. Be before we let you go here, and then we'll we'll wrap this up, 2 really quick questions for you. It could be tax related or or none, whatever you think. So anybody that is either getting into being a content creator or is one already, What would be, in your opinion, the number one thing oh, is it do and the number one thing is it don't you would tell them?
Duke Alexander Moore:For anyone that's getting into, like, content creation?
John Tripolsky:Mhmm. Or already maybe they're already in it, and, you know, they've I just walked in your door. And, again, it could be it could be don't go buy a Ferrari. It could be, you know, cut your darn hair. It it could be anything.
John Tripolsky:So
Duke Alexander Moore:Oh my god. Let me let me let me I think that's a good one. Okay. So anyone that's getting started with content creation, what if you're getting started, I think the best do is to get inspired. And, don't be afraid to mimic that person.
Duke Alexander Moore:So that's the first thing. It's inspiration, getting inspired. What you don't wanna do, the number one don't, is stop. Consistency is the most important thing. So do, inspire, mimic, copy.
Duke Alexander Moore:Don't stop, because once you stop, miss Overwood.
John Tripolsky:That that might be the best mic drop as we wrap up one of our episodes. So, yeah, we've we really appreciate you joining us, man. I know we we took a good chunk of your time here, but but we appreciate it, ma'am, and we look forward to chatting with you next time.
Duke Alexander Moore:No. Thanks for having me. This is fun.
John Tripolsky:Absolutely. Absolutely. So as as I always like to wrap up it here and the teaching tax full podcast, we'll see you back here again next week. Different time roughly, completely different topic. Have a great week, everybody.
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