We were lucky to catch up with Richard James recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Richard , thanks for joining us today. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.

February 28th of 2020 I quit my corporate job to pursue our business, James Family Tax, full time. March of 2020 the world shut down with the Covid lock down. This was undoubtedly on of the scariest moments of our life knowing that we had just left “comfortable” to now “uncertainty” with a family depending on us. However, all of the groundwork that had been laid began to pay dividends. We had tremendously loyal clients who supported us with business and referrals, and we were set up to take care of people virtually. Our first tax season we were able to help hundreds of people with taxes and stimulus payments through one of the most difficult moments in our country’s history. While it was a challenging year, we got through it stronger and more resilient.

Since then, we have now finished out our 3rd year as James Family Tax being our outright business. We have been blessed with the opportunity to see our “Tax Family” grow exponentially, and we have had the opportunity to grow our team.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

It is our Honor and Privilege to serve our local and extended community. We are a family and veteran owned company starting from humble beginnings with the simple goal to do things “differently” in the Tax Preparation industry. We began preparing Taxes from our college apartment in 2011.

While we do love the numbers and work to provide our clients with quality service, we look beyond that. Our true passion is being there for families through the many stages of their lives year over year. We take joy when our “Tax Family” buys their first home, is blessed with a child, gets a promotion, or gets married. We mourn with our clients when they suffer a loss or hardship. It truly is an Honor and Privilege.

James Family Tax is committed to healthy and consistent growth for our community and seeks out ways to better provide the services our “Tax Family” rely on as they grow. We are a company determined to make a positive impact on the lives of our clients.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

James Family Tax began in me and my wife’s college apartment just over 11 years ago. We have come a long way since then and love what we do even more than the day we started. Tax preparation is typically not seen as the most glamorous field of work for college students, but we were drawn to the personal aspect of the work. A tax return was more to us than just the numbers, it reflects the many important life events that we experience in our lifetimes, and we recognized that there was a need for a more caring experience for people.

Our first tax clients a decade ago consisted of a handful of close friends and college classmates. They would meet with us in our small apartment kitchen. Many of these first clients still work with us today. We have had the opportunity to work with them as they have grown into successful professionals, started businesses, and are now raising children.

The work we were doing with James Family Tax was important to us, but at the time we began growing our family, and I had entered the corporate world. James Family Tax was a seasonal side hustle, but we knew it would be our future. We worked to build our skillset, business experience, and sought out every opportunity to develop and grow. I would spend 8 years in the corporate world, and in that time I sought out to be impactful to the company and learn as much as possible from my employer. I had a variety of roles and met several mentors that I am forever grateful for today. The most important lesson I learned during this time it that regardless of the title, role, or company there is ALWAYS something to be learned and an opportunity to grow.

8 years we operated as a side hustle. In those 8 years we remained true to our goal of providing a tax experience where people felt cared for. As a family we also adopted a set of values that would guide us over those 8 years and continue to guide us today. Family, Trust, and Community. Over those 8 years as a side hustle, we consistently grew our client base through mostly referrals. Growing what we called our “Tax Family” year over year kept us excited and reinforced the idea that people were truly looking for a more caring tax experience.

In those 8 years we also began planning to scale our business. It is hard to scale a business from just an apartment kitchen. We were blessed to find a professional space to conduct our work. We began also working on systems and processes to make the client experience seamless from the first contact they have with us each tax season, to the completion of their return, and beyond. We also began laying the foundation for the possibility of a completely virtual tax experience.

8 years of passion for what we do, 8 years of growth and development, 8 years of building systems and processes, and 8 years of staying true to our values. After 8 years we decided it was time to take a leap of faith and go all in with our business.

This brings us to the beginning of 2020. At this point as a family, we now had 3 beautiful children and a successful corporate career. Keeping things as status quo would have been the comfortable thing to do, and James Family Tax could have very well just stayed our side hustle. We knew though that we had been working towards something bigger and there were many people we would have to opportunity to serve if we could fully commit to James Family Tax and turn it from our side hustle to our business.

February 28th of 2020 I quit my corporate job. March of 2020 the world shut down with the Covid lock down. This was undoubtedly on of the scariest moments of our life knowing that we had just left “comfortable” to now “uncertainty” with a family depending on us. However, all of the groundwork that had been laid began to pay dividends. We had tremendously loyal clients who supported us with business and referrals, and we were set up to take care of people virtually. Our first tax season we were able to help hundreds of people with taxes and stimulus payments through one of the most difficult moments in our country’s history. While it was a challenging year, we got through it stronger and more resilient.

Since then, we have now finished out our 3rd year as James Family Tax being our outright business. We have been blessed with the opportunity to see our “Tax Family” grow exponentially, and we have had the opportunity to grow our team.

The big takeaway from what I am sharing is that the pressure to succeed is real, but there is no timeline other than your own. With some faith, a willingness to grow, clear values, and most importantly consistency the result over time is sure to be success.

James Family Tax is still growing and still learning, but we are more than ever hopeful for the future and impact we will make in the Tax Industry.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I have had to unlearn what many people consider measures of success. Culturally you are successful if you work at a company for x number of years, receive a bonus, and get benefits. From other people’s perspective some saw what we were doing was seen as a hobby because there was no immediate financial benefit. Because of this, who we hoped would be our biggest advocates, seemed to expect failure.

We knew in our heart that these things were not absolute truths but the tension we felt by going against the status quo was real. We unlearned these lessons mainly through our Faith, staying true to what we felt our calling was, and creating our own set of values to build our own truths. Honestly though going against the norm for me created some separation from some closest to me. We have experienced others doubts, negative opinions, and even sometimes mocking behavior because of the slow progress we were making over the years. What they did not see or underestimated was the consistency and intentionality we had behind our decisions.

People also did not understand the decision to leave a “great” corporate career. While I did love my employer and am forever grateful for the things learned while with them, I had to come to the realization that I was replaceable and that the goals we have for James Family Tax were and where we wanted our focus to be.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://jamesfamilytax.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jamesfamilytax/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jamesfamilytax/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-james-391a25a8
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/james-family-tax-san-antonio-2
• Other: Better Business Bureau https://www.bbb.org/us/tx/san-antonio/profile/tax-consultant/james-family-tax-0825-1000173359 San Antonio Women https://sawoman.com/2021/11/dossier-tax-professionals-james-family-tax/

Image Credits
Professional Photos by David Teran and Abigail Marie Photography