We were lucky to catch up with Katrina Martin recently and have shared our conversation below.

Katrina , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. One of the things we most admire about small businesses is their ability to diverge from the corporate/industry standard. Is there something that you or your brand do that differs from the industry standard? We’d love to hear about it as well as any stories you might have that illustrate how or why this difference matters.

I specialize in providing customized tax plans to legally reduce tax liability and business advisory service. Which helps clients retain and increase their profits while building generational wealth.

Many traditional firms provide transactional tax and accounting services and only report what’s given. Which makes many people shy away from talking to tax and accounting pros, because talking in industry jargon and just checking boxes is unpleasant.

Katrina , 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 Katrina L. Martin, I’m an Enrolled Agent and Tax Strategist who specializes in Tax Planning and Advisory Services. Being an Enrolled Agent, I’m licensed to represent clients before the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). I have 20 years experience in the tax industry.

My firm, Wow Tax & Advisory Service offers a different kind of service from traditional accounting firms.

Many of our clients are real estate investors, short-term rental host and service-based business owners.

I started my firm like most providing traditional tax and accounting services, but I didn’t love the transactional way we did business.

So, I leaned into learning everything that I could about tax strategies and legal loopholes to save my clients on average $45K+ annually in tax liability.

What makes me different is that I have a marketing and accounting background, so my advisory clients benefit with both tax savings and strategies to increase revenue and reach.

I love all things taxes and go above and beyond for my clients to save on taxes and better understand how taxes truly work.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Like most business owners, I had to pivot my business because of Covid. Lockdown happened in the middle of tax season in March of 2020 and majority of my clients would come into my brick and mortar location.

Well that had to change quickly, not to mention the phone starting blowing up with SBA loan, PPP and Unemployment questions. And, I at the time still had a full-time 9-5. It didn’t take long to figure out that business model had to shift and it needed me full-time.

So, we shifted from brick and mortar and went virtual and it was the best thing that could have happened. I was able to extend my reach and work with clients nationwide without too much push back. I had tried to go virutal before but it wasn’t well received until we had no other choice.

And, my team and I went all in on getting the information clients needed to stay afloat during a very challenging time.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

I like most people funded my business with my 9-5 to start. As the business grew it was able to sustain itself. I started on a limited budget and only got the things that I absolutely had to have to get started. Rented a reasonably priced space, purchased some Ikea furnishings, purchased cheap laptops, expensive software and utilities, legal set-up and that was all.

It doesn’t take much to get started in many businesses, get the essentials and then put the earnings back into the business in the early years to grown. My one piece of advice that I wish I would have utilized is hire early. Hire someone that can give you back time to focus on growing the business.

If you can get a low interest loan with good terms to start, excellent. But, don’t let funding be the roadblock to getting started. Where there is a will, there is a way!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.katrinalmartin.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tax_whisperer/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/katrina.l.martin/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katrina-martin-ea-ctc-m-s-30b6397/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSw_65uPrNuFOTpclBz6E1w