We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ciera Jones. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ciera below.

Ciera , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s kick things off with a hypothetical question – if it were up to you, what would you change about the school or education system to better prepare students for a more fulfilling life and career?

If I could change anything about the education system, it would be to get rid of those state tests and focus on real life skills more. I feel like there is so much focus on the tests that our children aren’t getting the full access of how it is after school.

I think there should be more talk about being a Business Owners as well as other professions besides the main lawyer, doctor, nurse and athlete. There is nothing wrong with those professions however there is so many other careers opportunities available for our youth that they’re not seeing until after high school or later in adulthood.

I would also stress Financial literacy. Although teaching does start at home, alot of people from the older generations didn’t have access to or don’t know anything about financial literacy so it’s hard for them to teach that to their children.

Ciera , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Ciera Jones and I am a Tax & Credit Strategist.

I was born in Shreveport, Louisiana and raised in Grand Prairie, Texas. I am wife, mother to five beautiful children and a Aries. I enjoy traveling, spending time with my family and friends, trying new adventures and learning. I am a numbers girl and I have a strong passion for solving problems.

In 2013 I left my home state of Louisiana and moved back to Texas where I grew up at. I left as a single mother with two children under the age of two. That was the most challenging thing that I have ever done. I struggled finding affordable daycare and jobs that would go around my children’s schedule. However, I am so thankful to have had the help of my brother, mother and bestfriend. A few years later I had more children and ending up getting up getting married.

Being a Business Owner has always been my dream, but with the challenges of being a single mother away from her hometown at that time, that just didn’t seem like it would ever be a dream come true.

In 2018, my husband and I applied for a home and got denied due to our credit score. So we decided to enroll into a credit repair program with a well-known Credit Repair Company in our area. However, we ended up paying for services that we never received. So not only did we lose time, but we lost a lot of money.

So after an horrible experience I started researching and started working on our credit myself. I was able to increase our scores over 100 points in less than 6 months. I was so happy and excited, so I started telling some of my friends and family members. In which, some of them became some of my first clients. I then decided to turn that passion into a business and in 2019 I became a Certified Credit Specialist. During my time as a Credit Specialist I have been able to eliminate over half a million dollars worth of consumer debt, helped dozens obtain their first credit card, house and a new car.

In 2020, I decided to add Tax Preparation services to my business which by my surprised did well my first year. Since then I have tripled my clientele and my business is still growing.

Currently I am a member of the NATP (National Association of Tax Professionals), ABTP (Association of Black Tax Professionals), Bosses Sip Tea Society ( Dallas Chapter), and I am on the Path to become an Enrolled Agent to better serve my clients.

My company offers Tax Preparation Services, Tax Planning Services, Tax Debt Resolution, Bookkeeping Start-Up and Credit Consultations. We ensure that our clients receive an excellent customer experience and top tier quality services. Our main focus is to ensure that our clients don’t overpay in taxes and we do this with w step-by-step strategy.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

When I first started my business I was working part time. I started off doing everything manually. I didn’t have the money for a software so I had folders and I had each client a folder and I would print and write down everything from their credit reports. Later I went from that to an excel spreadsheet (which I still use to this day). Once I got enough money saved and as my clients stated to grow, I invested into software which took about 6-9 months.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

At one point I was teaching business owners how to build and manage business credit. Although this is a great service to offer because it’s much needed and it’s lucrative; however it came with a-lot of problems. What I found out with offering this service is that alot of business owners did not have good credit, no proper business structure, no business plan, and no bookkeeping. These are huge obstacles that got in the way of making that service a success. So I decided to pivot from offering Business Credit to Bookkeeping Start-Up. I strongly feel as if every business owner should either hire a bookkeeper or do some sort of bookkeeping themselves before trying to build business credit from scratch. So now the focus is on the financial health of their business which starts with bookkeeping and tax planning.

Contact Info:

• Website: linktree.ee/apluscredit
• Instagram: @cierajones
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aplustaxandfinanical?mibextid=LQQJ4d

Image Credits
Mash Access