Scale to Success with Glen Wielandt

Jun 4, 2018

In episode 11 of Tax Pro Nation, 37-year veteran tax pro and entrepreneur Glen Wielandt speaks about scaling franchises with the “Big 3” tax franchises and what it takes to succeed in the tax business. He has trained more than 100 area developers and 250 franchisees. He is the former Director of Franchise Business Development at Fiesta Auto Insurance and Tax® and has owned and operated 18 tax preparation offices in the Denver, Colorado, area.

 

To learn more, and for the complete show notes, visit: http://taxpronation.com/11

 

Quotables:

• [13:06] “It’s not the number of offices you own, but it’s the amount of tax returns you do in each office that’s important.” —Glen Wielandt
• [19:04] “If I had delegated the amount of tax returns that I did myself and paid more attention to my offices, I probably could have been more successful.” —Glen Wielandt
• [24:37] “It’s really important if you are going to be a multiple-office owner that you really learn more about business than taxes.” —Glen Wielandt
• [53:38] “As you grow, you need to take care of the people that take care of you.” —Glen Wielandt

 

In This Conversation We Cover:

 

• [03:47] Why a tax business is notoriously difficult to scale
• [05:56] Why a franchise model works better than corporate-owned stores
• [08:02] The role mentorship plays in scaling during the Multiplication step of The Pronto Path
• [09:45] The 2 skills Glen’s Army and VITA experience taught him that helped his career
• [11:20] How Glen moonlighted with H&R Block and saw an opportunity for 28,000 tax returns
• [12:03] How Glen bought his first territory with Jackson-Hewitt
• [13:06] “It’s not the number of offices you own, but it’s the amount of tax returns you do in each office that’s important.” —Glen Wielandt
• [14:44] The 3 groups of tax pros that will benefit most from this episode
• [16:44] How Glen’s past District Manager of H&R Block (now head of CTEC) mentored him to see more opportunity
• [17:14] Glen’s pitfalls he ran into in his first offices and how he lost money over and over
• [19:04] “If I had delegated the amount of tax returns that I did myself and paid more attention to my offices, I probably could have been more successful.” —Glen Wielandt
• [21:59] The important difference between a tax preparer and an owner of a tax business
• [24:37] “It’s really important if you are going to be a multiple-office owner that you really learn more about business than taxes.” —Glen Wielandt
• [24:56] Glen’s insights from being mentored by John Hewitt
• [28:09] The “FTS” secret in the franchise model to guarantee a 90% success rate
• [32:54] What works in this new tax business environment? What’s an example?
• [35:40] Glen’s Liberty Tax experience and franchise scaling insights
• [37:38] Jeff asks about a poorly branded tax business he would drive by in TN
• [40:28] Guerilla Marketing tactics Liberty Tax used as they grew
• [42:02] The shift in marketing from the foot traffic tactics to the mobile phone
• [45:35] Building a culture of sales at Fiesta Auto Insurance and Tax
• [49:10] Feeling like you cannot charge what you should and what to do about it
• [51:15] Glen shares his experience growing franchises with Roni Deutsch
• [53:38] “As you grow, you need to take care of the people that take care of you.” —Glen Wielandt
• [58:10] In light of all the recent changes to the tax industry, is the tax business dead?
• [01:01:51] Glen shares an encouraging story of a franchisee who went from being $35K in debt to owning 35 tax offices

Tax Pro Nation is sponsored by Pronto Tax School, Inc. Sponsored links include:

 

The Pronto Path infographic

http://taxpronation.com/path

 

Basic Income Tax (Federal) course link:

http://taxpronation.com/basic

 

Business Tax Verified online course link

http://taxpronation.com/business

 

To sponsor an episode, please email [e-mail]

Tax Pro Nation is produced by Podcast Masters