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Welcome to Career Convos with Nikki, where I share my experiences as both a leader and an employee in corporate America. In these episodes, I cover everything from finding a job and landing that promotion to managing employees and navigating the unwritten rules as a black woman and disruptive millennial in the workplace. I also answer career questions from my audience, offering advice and insights to help you find professional clarity and pursue your career goals with confidence. I'll talk about accounting a lot as that's my area of expertise but this career advice you can apply regardless of what field you work in. You're in charge, and you deserve it!
There has just been too many times and occasions where we have done something and not achieved the anticipated outcome because we did something that was not true to us. Prime example is social media. When I think about the introvert like myself who have no business on a video in front of a camera doing all these extroverted things knowing that we're introvert because the norm has become or the belief the overarching belief has become that video is king and content is king, and you have to constantly post videos and pictures and reels and all these things to get people's attention, but we gotta remember that likes don't equate to dollars. You can put a piece of content out and it gets 10,000, 11,000, 12,000 lights, but nobody's buying from you. So that means that if your intent is to put these things out for somebody to support your business or buy from you, but nobody's buying from you, but they're liking your post, that means that your content is dope, but your audience is not finding value in what you're posting enough to make them wanna invest with you or break bread with you.
Nikki Winston, CPA:So that can be for a couple of reasons. Maybe you're using hashtags and social media tactics that not attracting your ideal audience, which means that from the jump, your your marketing strategy is off because you haven't identified or you haven't found where your ideal customers live on the Internet. Meaning, not where they live, their physical addresses, but where do they live on the Internet? Do they live on one social platform versus the other? Are they not on social media at all?
Nikki Winston, CPA:Maybe you need to do a a email marketing campaign. Maybe you need to go old school and do some postcards and some mailings and some flyers. And so a lot of us end up shooting ourselves in the foot because we're not being true to who we are, and it's all because we have lost sight of what we're trying to do. Are you trying to get more followers and more likes, or are you trying to sell a service, or are you trying to educate people about what it is that you do? And that's another thing that I see a lot of us go wrong, again, myself included, is that we start off with the call to action.
Nikki Winston, CPA:Like my page, buy this, buy that, sign up for this, download that. And early on in my business, businesses, but early on in my business, I took that same approach, and then I said, this is not working, number 1. Number 2, this is not even true to who I am because I'm not a sales, tacticy type of person. I like to educate people. And I feel like if I educate you enough or if I give you these gems that you need to level up in your business, in your career at home, then you will find enough value in the free content, the podcast, the blog, the email list.
Nikki Winston, CPA:You will find value in all of those things. And then when you get to a point where you are ready to buy or you're ready to invest, then my firm, the Winston CPA Group, will be at the top of your list. I never want somebody to buy something from me or sign up for, the e suite or register to get their taxes now with our firm without them knowing about us and knowing who we are. So my customer, I guess, client cultivation cycle is very intentional in letting my clients know who we are, what we stand for, what we do, the type of services that we provide, and there's a process to determine whether or not we're a good fit to work together. And I took that approach because I realized that my firm is not for everybody.
Nikki Winston, CPA:We are not for everybody. We are not the cheapest accountants and CTAs and tax preparers out there, but we know what we're providing. When somebody wants to come and get their taxes done with us, for example, we're gonna file the return, the the federal, the state, the local return, but we're also going to give you some insight into what you can do better next year to improve your tax position, some ways that you can generate cash flow in your business. We're gonna help you get your accounting and your books in order. Same with individual return.
Nikki Winston, CPA:Yes. We work mostly with businesses, this, but we have a special place in our firm, especially during tax season for people, w two employees, individuals, heads of households who have children who are looking forward to getting these big refunds, which is probably the biggest lump sum that they'll see in the year. So we wanna make sure that they don't end up in the same position that they've been in, that we give them resources so that they can elevate. So any individual who has w two income that files a return with us, we give them access to our financial leader portal. And this portal includes courses about how to fix your credit, how to start a business, how to pay off these old past due bills that you have, how to stop living paycheck to paycheck, looking at your w four, you know, the form that you fill out when you start a new job where you tell them how much you want taken out of your paycheck for taxes, how many, dependents of things that you have.
Nikki Winston, CPA:So we want people who are like, look, I know I'm coming into this money at tax season, these few $1,000, and I don't wanna be in the same position that I'm in next year where I'm waiting for payday because I'm broke, and it's only been 2 weeks, or where I'm struggling trying to pay my bills, or I've been wanting to start this business, or I just really wanna have a great credit score because I realized how important credit is to my overall financial plan and strategy. So don't feel like, because, oh, I make $30,000 a year, or I make $50,000 a year, that you don't need to have a tax strategy because there are a ton of opportunities for you to improve your situation and be more informed about where you stand from a tax standpoint, and really level up in your life. Tax planning, tax strategy is not just for wealthy people. If you pay taxes, if you work in a job or you run a business and you pay taxes regardless of how much money you earn, if you are paying taxes, you need a tax strategy. Whether you make a dollar a year or a $1,000,000 a year, you need to have a tax strategy to figure out how are you gonna make this $1 of income or this 30,000 of income or this 50,000 of income work for you.
Nikki Winston, CPA:So I know that there are a lot of questions that people have. People get stressful during tax time and just really kind of don't know where to turn. They end up trying to do it themselves. They end up just finding some random person who calls themselves the tax preparer to do their taxes. And my question is, that's fine and good if you wanna save some money.
Nikki Winston, CPA:But and people have even said, well, I I put the numbers in the form, and it was fine. Okay. You put the numbers in the form. But do you know if it was right? Are you sure that you have thought back over the previous tax year and captured all of the income and all of the deductions that you need to.
Nikki Winston, CPA:So don't feel like this is just another thing that you have to pay for. When you are filing your taxes, this is an investment that you are making As a business owner, but also as an individual taxpayer, this is an investment that you are making in your financial well-being. So, yes, you you might get a refund or you might owe some money, but when you file with the Winston CPA Group, you also have insight, sight, and you're educated, and you're aware of what your tax position is and some strategies that you can leverage right now to get you in a better tax position. If you owe and you don't wanna owe, then we'll we'll walk you through some things that you can do to improve that. So as you wrap up this year and you start planning for next year and start gathering all the documents you'll need to file your tax return, keep in mind that you need to make sure that the person that you appoint or hire to handle this for you is credentialed, that they are well versed in taxes for your situation, and that they can provide you with more than just completed return, but a strategy as to what you can do going forward.
Nikki Winston, CPA:So you can definitely learn more about the Winston CPA Group, what we do. We do taxes, but we do a lot more other things. Visit us can't talk today. Visit us at winstoncpagroupdot com and sign up for our mailing list. Check out the blogs.
Nikki Winston, CPA:We got some free resources and things there. You can also sign up for tax prep and small business accounting services for collabs and writing requests and all those good things, and connect with us online. We are at Winston CPA Group on, I believe, most or all social media platforms, Instagram, Facebook, and all those great things. So stay tuned for an upcoming episode of the Working Mama podcast. If you have heard something today that resonated with you, that struck a chord with you, that makes you wanna get up and take action and improve your financial situation, feel free to share this podcast episode with your network.
Nikki Winston, CPA:Let them know that you are tuned in to the Working Mama's podcast. And, also, like us and subscribe us. I am before I go, I'm driving. And one thing I love to do is do on demand episodes. This was a freestyle episode.
Nikki Winston, CPA:I didn't have any show notes. This is something that was on my heart that I felt the need to share. I am trying to find a parking space for my son's game, and I'm late because I had some meetings and a few other things I had to wrap up. And so, of course, when you get there late, you just have to take whatever parking spaces are left. So the typical life of a busy working mama, mompreneur.
Nikki Winston, CPA:But keep those things in mind. Feel free to reach out to us online at winstonctagroup.com if you have any questions about tax season, about your business, about refunds, deductions, all that good stuff. So I hope I'm about to get lucky and get this parking space, but I will talk to y'all soon.