We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ashley Aladin a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Ashley, appreciate you joining us today. How has Covid changed your business model?

Yes, it has! Prior to COVID, the tax business was known to be mostly brick and mortar. Tax payers had to go to the office and sit with a tax professional for an hour or two to discuss their taxes. Over the last several years, we’ve seen a uptick of virtual tax filing. Following the pandemic, the IRS extended the tax season for several months. It is my belief that this lead to opportunities for tax professionals to create systems to help tax payers file. A majority of tax payers continue to file their tax returns remotely. As a matter of fact, the IRS is in the proses of creating their tax filing system. COVID helped shapeshift the evolution of tax preparation as we know it.

Ashley, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Ashley and I am the Tax Consultant and owner of Nidala and Consultants, Tax Services. We are a fully virtual tax firm that assist savvy business professionals by not only helping understand their taxs we also assist with future plannning by offering tax tip strategies. I have always been a go getter and a what I would call, a hustler. I got started in the business around 2016. At the time I was in college and classmate of mine turned colleague, introduced me to tax preparation. I started working as a contractor under the same umbrella as him. I got extensive training during the time and since that day, continuing education became an integral part of my business. Nonetheless, as time went on, I relocated to Atlanta and during COVID, I decided I would venture off and start my own business. I made the decision to leave it in God’s hands whatever the next would be. I learned how to stream lined processed, created a website, started social media platforms for my business and took note of the tax industry in whole. I am incredibly proud of my business as it has shown me that slow and steady wins the race. Like most of my clients, I too am a savvy professional with multiple streams of income sources. That coupled with my strong academic background in business, helps makes me very relatable to clients.

Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?

This recent tax season, I lost my social media manager and had to find a new one. Although we had our moments, she was able to pump out content based in the way in which I needed at the time. Out of the blue, she became nonresponsive! She started lying about her whereabouts and wasn’t adhering to the timelines we agreed upon. Instead of making a big deal about it, I was able to hire a new content creator who basically took my social media up 10 notches. The problem however is that my Instagram was now shadow banned. I was unable to reach my audience for whatever reason and my views were terribly low. Even with clear and engaging content, brand new photography and a new upgraded vision, my wasn’t reaching the amount of people I felt I deserved. Closer to the end of tax season, like around March, I decided I would give my Facebook page and ads some love. Unfortunately, my Facebook was hacked and I no longer have access to my page. Finally, I decided to use my TikTok platform by repurposing the new content and posting it on TikTok. I ended up gaining new clients from TikTok and Instagram despite these challenges. I almost threw in the towel. I almost quit. Pushing myself to stay the course has been the best thing I can do for my business.

Have you ever had to pivot?

The previous story shows an example of having to pivot. At any given moment, you will lost employees, the industry can take a shift, the plan and strategies you spend months to put together can all begin to crumble. Even the most prepared person cannot foresee what will happen to them next. The best thing you can do is to keep going. No matter what, do not give up.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: nidalataxservices

Image Credits
Arminta Photography