events

How Erica Bell of Tax Guard Won Second in The Poker Tournament

Left: Sean Murray. Right: Erica Bell, Tax Guard

When the final hand of the B2B Finance Expo’s official poker tournament had concluded, Erica Bell, a Business Development Account Executive for Tax Guard, walked away with 2nd place. Bell has enjoyed poker for a long time and knows the game well. She’s even played in tournaments at the Ameristar Casino in Blackhawk, Colorado and won 1st place in one of them.

“The game’s strategy is what I truly enjoy,” Bell told deBanked. “A couple of individuals came up to me and congratulated me [on coming in 2nd].”

Bell, who at least took home a small prize, has worked for Tax Guard for 5 and a half years. For those not familiar, “Tax Guard is a 3rd party due diligence company who provides real-time insights into hidden tax debt of individuals and businesses by retrieving and analyzing IRS data directly from the source, the IRS,” she says.

The company’s services are primarily used by commercial lenders and financial institutions to assess tax-related risks associated with borrowers. Tax Guard is widely known throughout the industry and has been frequently referenced on deBanked. The company’s co-founder and CEO, Hansen Rada, even did a Zoom interview with deBanked during the early lockdown era of Covid.

The company’s value is pretty straightforward, a lot of tax debt is not easily discoverable, and they’ll get the info you don’t even know you’re missing straight from the source.

“By offering earlier visibility into potential tax issues, liabilities, liens, & levies, we help our customers make more informed lending decisions and mitigate financial risks,” Bell explains.

And if there is a hidden tax issue, Tax Guard can proactively work to resolve it and even negotiate a payment plan. One downside of ignoring tax debt as a lender is having to compete with the IRS when they ultimately move to enforce collection.

Clients can use the Tax Guard portal to run reports or integrate their API right into a CRM. Other critical information can be obtained as well including a wage and income transcript from the IRS. “This includes data from W-2s, 1099s, and other income forms, as well as withholding details,” Bell says. “This data provides a comprehensive view of a taxpayer’s reported income and can be critical when assessing financial risks, resolving discrepancies and verifying financial details.”

Obviously, Bell says that anyone interested in learning more can reach out to her directly.

“My role is highly dynamic, being sales, strategic partnership and relationship focused,” Bell says. “I really enjoy working with extremely talented people at Tax Guard, meeting new folks in the finance industry and learning from their perspectives.”

She’s also apparently planning to host her own upcoming friendly poker tournament so it’s safe to say she has no intention of letting her skills get rusty.

The Flair at Broker Fair

Times Square this weekend was filled with representatives of the alternative finance and fintech industry for this year’s Broker Fair.

“There’s just lots of opportunities to network, I mean there’s certainly breakout sessions and things like that, I think many people are excited about those, but I think everybody’s here to network,” said Mike Mroszak, Vice President of Strategic Partnership at Dedicated Financial GBC. “…there’s ample opportunities to do that, the trade show room here is always packed with people, which is not always the case in every conference, so that’s a little bit unique to Broker Fair.”

Funder, brokers, and lenders flooded the sponsor showcase room to talk business and give out swag.

“The best tchotchke is the Lendini tchotchke. Okay, what it is, it’s just a little tool kit, very practical, very handy,” said Michael O’Hare, President at Cashyew Leads. “…the funniest one is actually from FinTap and basically, it’s a button and it says, funded, kind of based off of what Staples says, that was easy, instead it says funded.”

Speakers included Jay Shaw from OnDeck discussing what makes a successful sales team and Keynote speaker Kaplan Mobray inspiring attendees to be excellent. Mobray even surprised the audience with a quick clarinet show. Other sessions that took place include: Bad Deals, The Great Debate, Building America, Equipping the Dream Behind the Scenes, Successful Sales Team (Panel), The State of Real Estate, Truck and Equipment Financing 101, and legal panels surrounding litigation alternatives and the new disclosure laws.
Platinum sponsors Lendini, Rapid Finance, and National Funding also took the stage in between sessions.

deBanked CONNECT Miami was also announced for January 19th, 2023, at the Miami Beach Convention Center. With reoccurring faces at this year’s event, attendees, sponsors and speakers are very excited to reconvene once again in Miami.

“It’s been a good time, not my first actually, my second, but I’m looking to do a lot more and definitely the Miami one in January,” said Charles Wolff, VP of Loan Originations at Financial Lynx.

Why Participating in Industry Events Matters

Guest Post by David Roitblat, Better Accounting Solutions

In just under a month, on October 24th, hundreds of members of the merchant cash advance community will descend on Times Square in New York City, at the New York Marriott Marquis, for deBanked’s Broker Fair event. Every aspect of the industry will be represented, from brokers and ISO shop reps to specialized lawyers and accountants.

I will be there representing my business, Better Accounting Solutions, and it will be the upteenth time I’ve attended this tremendous event. But attending industry pow-wows was not how I envisaged spending my working hours at the start of my career.

When I worked at entry-level jobs in accounting firms, I didn’t think attending these events was worth the time and financial investment, instead choosing to believe that if I put my head down and worked for the 24 hours that the events were being held, I’d be positioning myself better for my professional future. And when I opened Better Accounting Solutions in 2011, that attitude didn’t change, especially now that it was my own time and money on the line.

This whole approach changed on the advice of a mentor a few years in. Hearing me explain how I thought the business could be scaling quicker than it was, he suggested attending, and participating, in an accounting conference that was coming up. When I pushed back with my familiar list of grievances, he didn’t attempt to refute them, instead repeating his advice, adding that how could it possibly hurt.

I attended that first conference, and haven’t looked back since.

All the elements of industry events that I had previously dismissed proved to be incredibly valuable and are an integral part of Better Accounting Solutions’ story, and how we got where we are today.

It’s why I encourage everyone that’s involved in the MCA business to shake off the headsets and get their heads out of the screens, and to take this opportunity to connect with real people.

Here are some of the key takeaways that I got out of that first experience that remain true to this day:

1. You never know who you’ll meet. Industry events bring together people from all different backgrounds and experiences, and you never know who you might meet and what kinds of connections you might make. Many of the people I met at these conferences, especially at Broker Fair once we had established ourselves in the MCA space, have gone on to be my mentors, advisors, supporters, clients, and friends.

2. It’s a great way to build your network. I came into the industry very green, feeling my way around by letting my work do the talking. But when I opened my own business, I needed to let my actual talking do the talking, and learn the art of networking. Networking is all about building relationships, and industry events provide an excellent opportunity to meet new people and start making connections that can help you in your career.

3. You can learn from others. When you’re working in your own space, it’s possible to inadvertently build a bubble around yourself, insulating yourself from current trends and happenings in the business. Industry events are a great way to learn from the experiences of others in your field and hear about the latest developments and advances.

4. It can help you find a job and advance your career. Sometimes, all you need is an opportunity to get your foot in the door, and events like Broker Fair are great places to find that chance. At industry events like these, it doesn’t take a lot to bump into industry figures and leaders, and if you connect with them and hit the right notes, these people just might be your next employer, mentor, partner or client.

As a token of gratitude for all that I’ve gotten from it over the years, Better Accounting Solutions is a sponsor of Broker Fair, a testament to our belief in this event. I’ve gotten tremendous value from Broker Fair, and it’s why I’m such an advocate for events like it.

We can’t let ourselves be held up by the reasons we think of to avoid attending, for a supposed lack of finances or time. Avoid naively thinking like I did, that you can grow in this business if you keep doing exactly what you’ve been doing until now, minimizing yourself in the very same circle. This is the best investment you can make in yourself right at this moment.

And once you take the plunge and make a firm decision to come, stop feeling guilty and that you should be contained in your office instead. Networking is real work, and can only come when you let go of that guilt and allow yourself to think bigger.

It’s at places like these where I met people that lent me their ears and gave me a chance, a major factor in Better Accounting Solutions earning our reputation as leaders in specialized accounting for the merchant cash advance industry.

It happened for me, and it can happen for you too.