A.I. Will Be Here For The Rest of Our Lives

0:00Gary, this website thing you're talking about, it sounds like a waste of money. we have the yellow pages. Like why would somebody have to find you on the interwebs, worldwide web? Like everyone uses the yellow pages. And I was like, John, everybody used to ride a fucking horse to work. Now we use a car. Attention is the number one asset. Gary, I'm looking right at you again. Thank you for joining us today. So just, yeah, of course. Looking at your record of early stage investments, you know, Facebook, uber twitter i i wish i knew you way back then it's evident you have an eye for understanding how technology can digitally transform and disrupt industries so you heard my spiel at the beginning here about the profession like how have you identified these industries and why uh such a strong proponent of tech adoption and digital transformation no matter what sector you're in um i'll answer the second one first of all super pumped to be on this uh on this panel um logan I'm missing your beard, Tiff.

1:04That's one of the best headshots I've ever seen. And Don, I think you and I can be tag team WWF champions. The energy is real. And then super enjoying the chat here, by the way, Matt, I'm like all in the trenches with everybody here. So let me answer the second part, because I think it really matters for everybody who's listening, who might be tentative, or who might not be thinking about it, the concept that I have to answer this question in 2023 blows my mind because it was the question I was answering in 1996 in local chambers of commerce in New Jersey, which looked like the following Gary.

1:38And I was like 21 and I looked like 16 at the time. So I get where the cynicism came from for the business people. They're like, Gary, this website thing you're talking about, it sounds like a waste of money. We have the yellow pages. Like why would somebody have to find you on the interwebs worldwide web? Like everyone uses the Yellow Pages. And I was like, John, everybody used to ride a fucking horse to work. Now we use a car. You know, the answer to your question is if people on average are losing$76 ,000 that are on this call by not using technology. And even if that's an inflated number, if the number is$1 ,000 plus time, you know how many people here, if they use proper technology would be able to go and see their kids soccer game during tax season.

2:25Like this is time and money. Like I don't understand like your ideology that you hate AI or you hate technology or you like the better in the eighties when the kids played outside. Like, I'm sorry, like you live in 2023 and you're running a business and to not use technology or demonize technology is asinine. You use technology for everything. If you don't like technology, why do you have an iPhone? If you don't like technology, why do you use Uber? If you don't like technology, why do your food with seamless and you do all these things in real life? Like, why don't you use a paper ticket at the airport?

2:58You're using your QR code. Like if you're doing all those things, how on God's green earth are you not using technology to make more money and have more time with your family? And because you're not used to it or you don't like it, I get it. I get it. Like it's like you don't want another app. You don't want another. You don't want to pay the SAS fee if you don't use. I get it. the problem is it's pretty well documented that you're wrong. And more importantly, if your competitors continue to get more efficient at this, they're going to take your business. So real quick in the chat for the 600 plus of you, how many of you are retiring in the next five years?

3:33And I don't mean you're going to crush it and make so much money and buy an island. I mean, you're old and you're finished and you're done in five years. How many are retiring within to five years. Good. So for Al Dorff and one other person, okay, like I can wrap my head around you kind of like mailing it in the next year or two because you're wrapping it up. But for everyone else here, when I see Jack at 26 years old in the chat, like, what are we doing here? Forget about this technology. Like everybody here should be using AI every day. And nobody is. I know that to be true it's that early I get it by the way me included you know I'm giving my own I'm like kind of giving advice to myself like I really need people to wrap their head around not understanding how to use better tools like look I guess I get that you can like get a screw into you know into a wall by using a rock but like we invented the screwdriver use it like I get that you can eat with your hands.

4:36I, by the way, do that often, but like, but it's like the fork exists, like the concept to not use software to make more money and have more time for your family. Bananas to me. Let me ask you here. I think you raise a good point. What do you think the friction point is there? Like, what do you think is the barrier that they're, that's hard to overcome? Bullshit ideology, complacency, and laziness. They'd rather not put in the work for, And I don't say that lightly. I don't say that to harass anybody. It's an ideology and a demonization and an insecurity that they can't learn it without realizing they're way more capable than they think.

5:18Mm-hmm. And going back, you ask people, like, who's going to be retiring in, like, five, say, 10 years? Is there advice you might give for someone who is retiring who's thinking, like, you're an accountant. This was your business. Like, there's a lot of money in that firm. Have you ever talked to anybody about, like, future-proofing their business to say, like, if you're not on technology? And I'm sorry if I'm front-loading the question, but if you're not on technology, I'm laughing because a lot of people here, based on the comments, have a sense of me, and a lot of people don't. And one of the reasons I think I have nice vibes towards me is I'm not just interacting with the Facebooks and the Twitters and the Ubers.

5:53I'm like answering random DMs at like two in the morning from like small businesses that have like three, I love people and I love small business. I come from small business. I grew up in a one store liquor store in New Jersey. Of course, nobody's gonna buy your shit if you don't have tech. Yeah. Like it's 2024. 24. They don't want your cell phones in your phone and that's your business. Your book of business is dramatically less valuable if it's not got a layer of tech infrastructure to the people that would actually buy it. I would pay, actually not in this sector, but in a different industry, I told a friend's cousin to buy the leading software, which was like$5 ,000 a month, which was expensive for how small the business was, but they were ready to sell it because I I knew they could arb out the$60 ,000 investment on the exit of the business.

6:47And they did. They literally got a million dollar offer more because they had the tech, even though they weren't even using it. Matt, they weren't even using it. They just have the license and put it. So like, to your point, I wasn't even thinking this. Kudos to you on the question. It's 2024. Jesus fucking Christ. Listen, we penned an open letter, Gary, to the industry. and it was basically about being brave. And obviously we're talking about the technology aspect of it, but thinking about working smarter, looking at technology to boost efficiency, profitability and driving healthier cashflow, increased revenue, you name it.

7:27So when you hear that 43 % of accounting professionals, this is from a survey that we put out, fairly scientific, I'll add, they absorb that time cost and that scope creep, basically absorbing the billable work they've already worked. like what does that make you think about the industry it makes me love the industry believe it or not there's no razz on this i'm empathetic you know don't let my cursing and jersey energy right now throw anyone off i'm deeply empathetic my father didn't accept credit cards or have a computer in the store when i started in 1993 i'm like we we didn't take credit cards i'm like dad he's like people have checks i'm like not for long bro.

8:09Like, like, I'm like, dad, we don't have our inventory figured out. He's like, we count it by paper. I'm like, dad, they're stealing. Your managers are stealing shit. Like, like, technology is good. I understand you didn't want to pay. Like, I, I have such an old school father, Matt. Do you know that my father still doesn't wire money digitally? He like still signs the checks. We have a hundred employees at Wine Library in Springfield, New Jersey right now. And my father can't vacation because on Wednesdays he has to sign everyone's check. You know, like I'm deeply empathetic. I live with an old, like my favorite person on earth professionally is my father.

8:46And I like basically still help him manage his business. Like I understand. I just also refuse to take an opportunity and miss it. If anyone is part of that crew on this call or listening in the future, you will make more money and you will have more time and you will be happier if you make the commitment no different than eating better and going to the gym will be better for your health. News alert, it's better. And like I get like I that doesn't come natural to me. All the muscles in my body only happened in the last 10 years, not the prior 38 years. I'd never been in a gym in my life. I drink less soda, I eat less candy, I eat less carbs, all are devastating to me.

9:27I want them. They are delicious. But if I want the right things to happen, you do the right things. for the people like I don't understand business people not wanting to run a better business I understand being hesitant because it doesn't come natural to you but but the cat's out of the bag it's like I said 10 times already it's 2024 it's hard to compete without technology and I'm not even getting into what I need everybody else to do what I care about which is everybody here should be making two to three posts on LinkedIn a day to get customers. Like we're not even getting in. Like what you're talking about is like oxygen and like getting out of bed.

10:07Like the shit you're talking about is like step one. You don't want me to unleash on these people, Matty. I don't know, Gary. You're getting me pumped here. No, but I mean like to your point, like for your agenda and like what you want for these people, both for yourself and for them, like to me, that's just like waking up in the morning. For me, I'm worried about everyone here not producing content on social media. I'm worried about everybody here not having their website properly. I'm worried about people here not really creating funnels that lack friction to great business development. I'm worried about here people being complacent of word of mouth because they've been doing it for 22 years.

10:43Gary, you don't get it. I've been the local CPA. I'm like, that's great, Don. But like I promised you right now, I can start a firm in any single place tomorrow and take tons of people's business from here, never doing the work prior hiring a kid that's been doing it for three years. I'm not going to get to it, but like somebody else is like Zillow became a problem for real estate. Like, like let there be no confusion. The Googles and the Apples and the Amazons, they're coming for your business, everyone. You better wake up. I'm going to pass it over now, Gary, to our esteemed panel here. And, you know, Don, I'm going to throw it over to you.

11:22And this is going to be a Q &A from them. I'm so done. First question from you for Gary. How about it? Well, I think everyone's wondering what your thoughts are around the AI to be able to rebuild the Achilles tendon of Aaron Rodgers. Have you figured that out yet? And no crying.

11:42We lost him. He's already left. It was a mic drop. I thought it was a pretty simple question, personally. So he laughs, he closed the laptop on accident. That's probably what happened. While we're waiting for Gary to rejoin, any reactions from the panel on what he's saying? Is there anything? Here he is. Okay. Here he is. All right. So Gary.

12:06Dawn, I'm just really emotional when it comes to business. Completely unemotional. It is my greatest strength. No emotion, no ideology, just execution, customer first, win. But the New York Jets is a very different place for me, Dawn. That is a very different place. It took everything. If I was not contractually obligated to sign back in, there is zero chance I'd be back in this call. Well, my heart goes out to you. I want you to know. So that was really it was coming from the heart. But just from that, what I want, I want to ask you. So the biggest problem that I see with within the change that needs to happen is 100 percent the mindset.

12:44and that's what our biggest challenge is. It's not our hands. It's not our feet. It's not anything else. It's what happens between your ears and how can we help other practitioners come with the confidence and one of the podcasts I watch of you being curious enough and courageous enough to take the step. So how can we help them do that? You know this, Dawn. I look at all these names, right? Jackie C versus Beverly G versus Jennifer T. And the reality is it's different for everyone, right? Like for example, one of the things I fear is comfort. One of the biggest enemies for us trying to help people on this call is they're good, right?

13:27They're part of a two income family. I can give you 30 examples that are good. Loving, relationship, good kid. Like they've got their shit together. They don't need another, they don't need a Lamborghini or a Mercedes or a second house to fulfill their insecurities. They're plenty secure. They make enough money. their savings, they're good. The problem is technology is either your best friend or your enemy, right? It's like a big wave for a surfer, right? Either you're going to grab a surfboard and ride it and it's going to be epic or it's going to get you, right? And so my first, there's many different answers to your question.

14:03One is getting the people that are complacent, understanding that people are coming for them. That last year was great. The year before was great. Next year's great. It's all looking great until somebody invents an Uber. I spoke at the national black car and taxi convention the year Uber launched. And I was an investor. And it was just kind of like it lined up. I wasn't speaking as the investor of Uber. I was speaking as Gary because I wrote this orange book about customer service and it went really well. I just invested in Uber and I could see Uber was winning. And I'm on stage and I'm like, by the way, I did my spiel, but I'm like, by the way, have anybody raised your hand if you've seen Uber and like some people in LA and SF and New York, raise your hand, not the whole room.

14:47And I went into a five minute spiel of like, Hey, this might be a problem. When I tell you they laughed at me the same way, Dawn, that somebody right now, when I say somebody is coming to get you and someone's sitting there and saying, I've been dominating short Hills, New Jersey or Beverly Hill or Topeka, Kansas for 20 years. Gary, I love you. You're entertaining. I get it, but not for me. 20 years, 59 clients who've always been with me, third generation families. I got the grandkid now, not for me, Gary. And they don't realize that like, you've got to continue to future proof your business with new technology because you can get caught.

15:24And I want to remind people here that a lot of you built your businesses by taking market share from the person that you out innovated with Google AdWords, a website, direct mail, working harder by hustling in the local area, innovating, like you did that and somebody can do that to you. And so like, just don't, don't chill. Right. And Denise is right into it with AI, like, like, and they're already making moves. They're already, they're already doing other things that we're all seeing as the email comes in. You're like, what are they doing now? And it's like, well, just stay ahead of them. We can stay ahead of them.

16:01And honestly, it's probably gonna be hard to stay ahead of big tech companies, just staying a hair more contemporary and on it than a low state will service people well here. Right? Just sending an email to all your clients to talk about doing a zoom like this with all of them about how to use AI. That's like left field. Let me let me give you a weird strategy done. Send an email to all your clients saying, I'm doing a Google Hangout. And now this is after three, four, six months of playing with AI yourself because you can't talk out of your ass. All my clients, I'm just doing a little five minutes, literally 615 to 645, 30 minutes on some fun things about AI.

16:44I think we all know AI is out there. I'll show you what I've been thinking about. That 30 minutes for the 10 % of your clients that show up to the Zoom, where you really just talk about AI in general, not from a CPA standpoint, will make every one of your clients that got that email subconsciously understand that you're staying ahead, thus rendering them not to consider to move from you. Yeah. Well, we're going to commence polling shortly, folks, to be on the lookout for those polls. Just an FYI, Logan, over to you for a question for Gary, please. Awesome. Gary, Gen Z is starting to make money and need accountants.

17:28Like what needs to change to be able to attract and sell our services to that generation? There's two ways to think about it, brother. As you know, a lot of you get business just because their parents worked with you, right? That's real. That's cool for a lot of people. And I love that. I do think Gen Z is, and Gen Alpha for sure, which is a little further away, but there's some youngsters on this call, but Gen Z is showing very clear indication that they're not going to use their parents' accountant will, like they're very, very, very, very cynical to their parents' generation. There is a generation war of boomer millennial versus Gen Z, and it's manifesting as a ha ha ha on TikTok, but it's showing up in business results.

18:13We're seeing the lowest conversion of generational service providing. And that's a big fear for me for a lot of people here. And I hate this generational stuff. One of the best, please, can we just stop saying Gen Z's, like every person's different. Like generalization of generations is hurting us. You know, look, I think this goes back to what I was alluding to, Logan. I really do want people here to make three or four or five TikToks describing CPA 101 or taxes 101. You know, like, I think relevance is going to matter. And I know that people are like, wait a minute, I'm not making a TikTok. I'm like, cool, but go put in CPA, hashtag CPA or hashtag taxes.

18:52Search that on TikTok right now. You will be blown away. And you don't have to dance and you don't have to make a skip. You can just talk real facts. This is a big one for a lot of people. Gen Z is using TikTok as a search engine over Google in a real way. And a lot of you get your business from Google. things are changing and so you know i really really really want to make sure that if especially for the people here who plan on doing business for next 20 30 years um even 10 that they're starting to get to a place where the requirement of making a little bit of content in these platforms really matters because they look like you don't even need the content similar to what I just said earlier, creating a TikTok and making 10 videos, just having it when Gen Z client looks at you and looks for your TikTok and sees that you're there, there's a level of confidence that you understand because they're asking questions and they're thinking about it differently.

19:47And they don't want to pay your fees if they can get around it and into it with AI or other things is going to be a thing. And so you're going to have to win on people skills like you always have. And I think relevance is going to matter. And I think a little bit of content on TikTok will go a long way for a lot of people who are future-proofing their business. Doesn't have to go viral. You just have to show that you do it. I love that point. The people skills, Gary, it's never going away. It's never going. Here's the good news. For all the AI and all the TikTok and all the Gary being excited about technology, it's a human game.

20:15But scaling the humanity is what I'm trying to get everybody to do. I like that. I want you to use technology to scale your humanity. I want you to use technology as a gateway drug to your human skills. Tiffany, what's your question for Gary? All right, Gary. So for us people that we are with you, we 100 % know technology is the absolute way. We have been doing our best to be able to stay forward, stay on top of it. What is that advanced information that you would share for those to take our businesses that are tech savvy to that next level to be able to get those clients and start scaling? YouTube Shorts is a secret weapon for everybody here because YouTube is the second biggest search engine in the world and the biggest when it comes to accounting and taxes because most people's reading comprehension isn't strong enough to read the long form content that's out there.

21:16So a lot of people are going to YouTube to watch videos and listen to information on making decisions. YouTube Shorts is short form video similar to TikTok and Instagram. But if you title it based on search queries. So you go and look on Google trends or on Google to see what people type for, how do I do my, so you make a video on some new tax law and that's your video, but you title the video, even though it's not actually what's in the video, you title it how to do my taxes in 2024, because that's how it indexes on Google, excuse me, on YouTube for search. So look, Look, even for someone like me, who's an advanced businessman, I am not going to stay up to date on every tax law.

22:00Most people know nothing about what you guys do for a living. Showing confidence or information to people is the quickest way to get their business. And so for the advanced group here, YouTube Shorts, even more than TikTok or Instagram, because people use YouTube to search, is a huge, huge opportunity and something people should be looking at. The other one is LinkedIn. I can't express, especially for you three panelists, I don't know where you're at on your career on this, like two, three posts a day. And I know that's like a daunting number. But like, as Zach said, what if you freeze up on video?

22:38Well, then talk, like, show a tax return, show your tax return, video it and talk over it. You don't have to be in the video. Not everybody is as dynamic on film as Don B here who explodes off the screen with the double fist pump. Not everyone has that. And that's okay. For people that can write their asses off but aren't good on video, then LinkedIn's a fucking mitzvah. Instagram, you can post something like a dollar bill, but then write 10 paragraphs. And that's the post. you know you can you can do a lot of you can go do ai generated content and say make me a picture that has 76 000 in pennies now you've got an image to reinforce what matt wants people to know which is you're wasting 76 000 imagine that image of like a trillion fucking pennies and then you so like there's a lot of ways to be creative and do content but that is required if that is required this is a content warfare and it's always Gary like this doesn't take a lot of time throughout your day is what I'm hearing it takes a lot of time to make the mental jump that Dawn was talking about and then it's what happened with me with working out it's still the hardest but it's a lot easier for me to go to the gym this morning and bang out my work than 10 years ago when like it was just death.

24:00I literally, there was in that first year, I was like, I just, I'm going to jump out the window and die. I do not want to go to the gym. Right. And like, like, and then it just becomes like right now there's a lot of people with tech, SAS, social, they're listening to me talking. They're like, no way. They're like, I'll let my niece do that or get that. But once it becomes a habit and it doubles your business or protects your business, you're really happy you did it. Just like the people that would have died of a heart attack that didn't, I promise you, they may not know it because they'll have to wait to get to heaven when God tells them you would have died if you didn't fucking stop eating those cheeseburgers.

24:33But they will be happy when they get to heaven and realize they live for 20 more years because they changed their health. For all of you on this, and then everyone in the chat, do you all believe that when you do your service for people, you save them money by understanding the tax law that year and put them in a position to save money, please say yes or no real quick. Very simple question.

24:57This industry is like, I understand humans back to Dawn versus TIF, DNA, parenting environment. There's variables to why someone will feel comfortable or uncomfortable to ask for money. There's a lot of parents that demonize asking for money or neighborhoods or teachers or people of influence. The reason I I asked the question and obviously everybody responded what they responded is there's not a lot of businesses on earth that can speak to saving people tangible money that's black and white that you can show them, right? Like when I talk about time efficiency savings, this is a blind thing. You're 19 hours back, made you more money but that's a pretty heady intellectual, deeper understanding thing.

25:43You, nobody here should be scared to ask for money because you can literally at the end of it, show them that you saved it. More importantly, like this is a big one, I'm just gonna, I'm sorry to interrupt your flow, Dom, but I'm like passionate about this. What's gonna happen when you ask for more money than you asked last year? They're gonna tell you you're a fucking creep? Like what? Like, you know this, the biggest issue for most people here is asking for more money from someone that they've been doing business with for a long time. Right? I don't know if you guys heard, like money costs money now.

26:18Like we don't get money at zero interest anymore. Like, like I just really need people like, like, like literally here's the conversation. Don, let's role play. Don, hey, quick. I'm really glad you answered my email. I just need five minutes. I know how busy you are. Listen, I don't have to tell you what's going on. Obviously we've been doing business for a long time and I'm really thankful for our relationship, but the supply and demand, you know, I'm running my own business too, just like the business you're running. I have a lot of people trying to come in the door, but I want to do that hand-to-hand dirty work that I've always done for you.

26:50But I've got so many more people coming to want to work with me. And full disclosure, I've been grandfathering your price to do the work for you for so long. I'm going to need to raise it because I'm really starting to hurt myself and my business. And I know that's not your headache and it may be right for you to go with someone else who can stay within the budget. But I really think I've earned this 20 % increase on the fees that I've been passing along. Okay, so now that's what you say. Here is literally the answer. Now I'm going to be in reverse. Don just said that to me. Hey, Don, fuck you.