How to Make effective strategies through building your brand
In this episode of The Progression Show Andy Audate interviews one of his partners in The Progression Conference National Tour James Aquila, CEO of Aquila Financial. He is one of the fastest growing tax strategists in America. He tells us how he got to his pedestal and the lessons he acquired along the way.
Andy recalls their first encounter in a smoothie bar and how they became from strangers to partners. Aquila shared how he invited Andy to meet his team and how inspired he was telling
people that “when you are hungry, motivated and you have passion you can achieve what you want”. He shared what Aquila financial is about and the culture of family that they have. Freedom of time and financial support to be able to travel is what his tax business allowed him to do.
Finally, he shares how exposure and personal branding has made people do business with him and emphasizes that having the right culture in his business sets him apart from others.
You will learn:
- How motivation and passion can get you what you want
- That preparation is the key to building confidence and an unshakable position
- How your business can give you freedom of time
- Old strategies work best with brand awareness
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Transcriptions:
Andy Audate
I want to change lives. I want to show people how to progress and their money. I want to show people how to progress their mindset. I want to show people how to progress in their brand so that way they can take care of their family, take care of their finances and experience freedom.
Man on man. Am I excited today? I'm going to be bringing you a special guest.James aquila. He's the ceo of aquila financial and he is the one of the fastest growing tax strategists in america and I'm excited to not only have him be a partner on the progression conference, national tour, but also get to dive in deep into his brand today.Let's bring it up and let's give a round of applause in your mind. Well, my main man James is killed. James. How are you feeling today, man?
James Aquila
And I feel amazing. I feel awesome.
Andy Audate
Oh amazingly amazing and awesomely awesome. So james I met you, you know, this goes to show how much the opportunity is in the shop.
James Aquila
That actually puts it makes it even better because how we met is a reason why networking inside. So you know it is powerful, you know so.
Andy Audate
So from my point of view, let's, let's, let's, let's do this from my point of view. And then I'm gonna, I'm gonna askI'm in, I'm in Arlington, Texas right next to Dallas. And I'm promoting this when I was part of the Les Brown camp and that organization. And so I'm promoting one of their events and I go on Craigslist and the Eventbrite, and I find an opportunity at a, like a, like at a restaurant, not a restaurant, but Yeah, and it says, Hey, just show up business events. So I showed them my suit and everything. I walk in. There's a round table, maybe six people, six, twelve people and we're sharing cards and sharing what we do and we get a taste or a sample of the smoothie. And then we have the opportunity to buy. Then at the end of the presentation of that lady who just opened up her smoothie bar at the end of her presentation.Everyone's a this person leaving James comes in to get a smoothie.Cause this is one of his locations. I met him. I connect with him. He shares with me what he does. We stay connected. I ended up having lunch with him like the day after. And then I remember seeing a black man. I was like, man, to see a black man doing what, inspiring, inspiring, and then a year passes. And then I came back to Texas.I hosted an event. And I had James be part of it.
James Aquila
So the first day is that spot that we met, right? It was definitely so I used the crazy thing that the owner of the spot is, you know, he's old, he's also, you know, the black M and a lady that was haunting the event. I go there. I know I go there every morning to get my smoothie from. Right. And what was funny was that when I showed up because it was an ad that was happening, that's when we got the chance to meet at it, and started talking to you.
Yes. You know, this, you know, just hearing more about you and also what you do and stuff. And I'm like, listen, I gotta get you over to my office. And have you introduced you over to my team. Right. So I think we, it was on a Tuesday or Wednesday and I had a training. Saturday over at my office. I was like, why don't you go ahead and stop by come say hi to my people.And also bring some of your books. You remember that? Right? So you get an amazing job. I had a chance to introduce yourself to my team and everything. And I've just wanted to, you know, to show people that listen, when you're hungry and you're motivated and you have a passion you can achieve.Anything that you want and you being very young cause like how old are you now? 24.
Andy Audate
25 now.
James Aquila
I'll be 33 on Sunday. Right? My birthday is right around the corner. Right. And so just the opportunity, like, Hey, Mmm, well, I was getting connected right away and then gave it to you know stop building and just encouraging other people of our own race to do more.
Right. And so, and then a year later you're like, Hey, I'm going to be in Dallas. I'm saying, no worry, I'll be there. Right. And now here we are.
Andy Audate
Just go. So that when you solve for an opportunity when you show up you're bound to receive an opportunity. I remember posting it on Instagram and I declared it right then and there.I said and if you post if you scroll all the way down on my Instagram, you'll, you'll find that it's a photo of me in a suit. And now we're at the restaurant where I had a lunch with you at the mall.yeah, and I just, you know, said, Hey, meeting with the present, the president of Akila, financial seeing how we can work together in the future.And then we ended up working together. Now we're doing a national tour now. Well, we'll be in front of a lot of people throughout this year. So share with me. What is aquila financial though?
James Aquila
Well, I will say this because there's a lot of tax companies out there. There's a lot of, okay. And so what we are building is a culture of family.Okay. So our clients are just not another number. They are literally, they are our family. And so what we do a lot of the time is that we prepare our people. You know, we prepare our clients for, you know, for their taxes not just prepare their taxes for them. Right. So cause there will be no, we truly believe in education.You know, each them, you know, tax planning, tax different tax strategies and stuff like that. So aquila financial is more of a culture, is more of a family. As I take a selfie with all my clients, right. They came in here the other day I was telling them, I said, listen. So we meet every year to take selfies.We just happened to do taxes. You know why you're here. Right. And so that's the culture we're building. So I quit it. Financial was all about just serving the community, serving your family. So I've been people and we've known we are very very big on entrepreneurship. I am in my office. I got a lot of business cards.From different. All of those are all different business owners, entrepreneurs, cause I'm always promoting other businesses. Okay. Is beauty about being in a taxi industry? Is that our business is everybody else's business, literally. Okay. So your business, your business is my business. Okay. Right.
Andy Audate
So share with me the experience of you starting it because you can't just wake up in the morning and say, Hey, I run up, open up a tax office.Right. I'm going to share strategies with tax strategists. Like you're a tax strategist, but you have a group of people, a group of people on your, on your team and on your executive team that do that. Does taxes for you, with you on your behalf for your clientele. Now share with me the process that you had to go through to be able to get to the financial position that you're in.Also the executive position that you're in and running that organization.
James Aquila
Absolutely. So one of the things that when I first started in the taxi industry, it was more of a, I wanted to know how the tax law worked. I wanted to know because, you know, believe it or not, I always knew I was going to be successful.Regardless of what industry I was in or what I'm doing. I always knew that I was going to do something, you know, that I'm going to be successful at but taxes was always one of those things that I knew that I have to deal with, you know, every single time, you know, we make money. And so I remember several years back, a lady and her husband came to my house and they sat down and actually it did prepare a tax return for me.And so I was amazed by how much, I didn't really know. Well, you know about the tax industry so I asked him if they will be open to sit down with me and teach me a little bit more about industry, allow me to learn it at business. And so they were more than generous. They're more than happy to sit down and actually teach me the ins and outs of our taxes.So I, it took me about three years. Okay. Of just learning the industry. I wasn't, I wasn't in a hurry about building a business because I believe confidence comes when you are. When you know, when you, when you know what you're talking, I, when you sit down with someone and you know exactly what you're about, you know what you're talking about, you have a lot of confidence that comes across.And so that was what I did. I've developed confidence, I developed knowledge. And then in my third year, we decided to start expanding. We started recruiting and finding individuals you know, had no background in finance. And so I find that to be people that I love working with because they're, you know, you can be able to, you know, to train somebody.It's a lot easier to train a brand new person to retrain somebody who believes that they already know.
Andy Audate
In a brand new person than someone who already has done it has expressed it in the past.
James Aquila
Oh, yeah, almost. I would say every single one of my people that has come in have been brand new. I didn't have any experience in the tax industry.It came in first year when we took them through the tax law, we took them through the whole system. So I take, and you know literally that's what I do is I take somebody brand new, straight from the street, doesn't know anything about the business and I teach him about the, you know, the accent. And so now, and then the first year I always tell him, I said, look, before you can be good.Before you can be great. You have to be good people. You can be good. You have to be before you can be bad. You have to start. Right.I was like, listen, let's start. And the beauty about the system that we have built here is that all of the tax return comes from. To me before it goes to the IRS. So that allows us to be able to minimize as many errors as possible. So when my brand new person is sitting down with their clients and helping them prepare the tax returns, they have the full confidence that I'm going to be taking.I'm going to be looking at it or reviewing it before it goes off. And if there's something it seems off. I always let them know, Hey, I'll call Bobby. I'll go ahead and listen. I want to reach out with them and explain to them why it's not correct. Right. So we have a system that we built in place.
Andy Audate
Okay. Gotcha.Gotcha. So you had to go through the, you have to learn the business from itself. So you had mentors and people who were teaching you through the business yourself, and then it talked to the conference or gave you the confidence to say, Hey, I'm going to go and do it on my own in my own company. And then James or Kilos started a business.
James Aquila
Exactly. So I literally went through the system. So every system that I'm teaching my people right now on through it. Right. And so when they come to me, they're like, man, I'm struggling here. I said, listen, I've been exactly in your shoes. I know exactly what you're going through. And so just know this is how you handle that, that aspect.So I always feel that you got to lead from the front end before you can leave from the front. You got to know. You know where your people are at. Okay. Cause you know, you gotta learn. And I learned that from the military and why, you know, you know, serve eight years in the Marines. So as I got out, I wasI was up to Sergeant.And so with that knowledge, I was able to actually cope with them, you know, cultivate the same culture or the same system into attachments. Right. So they always say how you do anything is how you do everything. So good. Good, good, good, good, good, good.
Andy Audate
So you got good at taxes. Now, let me ask you this, man.You go in the military, like why taxes, taxes, taxes. Ain't a sexy thing or you don't, I don't know if people wake up in the morning and like, you know, taxes.
James Aquila
I love that question. And I'm glad that you asked that question. So here's, here's the reason why I thoroughly enjoy doing taxes. It's all about freedom of time.Okay. It's all about freedom of time. because what caught my attention was that, you know, in the industry, you can make six figures in 12 months, or you can make six figures in three months. You see it's all about time. Right. You, you know, you, you can decide if you want to make all your money in the first quarter of the year, or you want to do it all year round.So for me, I love to have time to myself to do what I want to do and be able to travel and so forth. And, you know, being an attached business was a, what if I need the freedom of time? And also the financial support to be able to travel. So before, you know, like for example, when it's in acre, I'm going to be flying over to South Sudan, to Africa or see my family, you know, again, and so on my way there I'll stop when we need it.For about a few days and then, you know, put down the South today and I'm on my way back. I'll stop in Donna. Before I came, I went back to America, right?
Andy Audate
The way you talk about travel, it's like, it's like, I'm going to stop at the gas station on the way home, or I'm going to stop in Egyptand then stop in Ghana. It's so inspiring.
James Aquila
And that's, that's what that's what having a tax business or a VA, you know, in the tax industry has allowed you know, it has allowed me to do. And so that's why I'm so passionate about, you know, working in the tax industry. Cause you make your income in the first quarter of the year and then you get to literally live on air to do what you love to do to what the rest of you.Okay. So I'm not, or super X, you know, like all about the numbers. I'm thinking more about the freedom that allows me to be able to be me. Right. So that is what, you know, what gets me excited about owning a tax business, brings more time.
Andy Audate
Freedom and freedom of time. Gotcha. Gotcha. And then, let's talk about the branding aspect or the marketing aspect of the business, how important.So, so like for example, you're a speaker on the national tour. How important is it to build a personal brand where people know James Aquila and you're speaking on platforms like the progression. In comparison to your counterpart or someone who else is in your industry, maybe 20 years, your senior in your industry it has tax office and the way they market themselves as through the direct mailers and stuff like that.And the old way of marketing, how important has it been for you to build that personal branding and get on platforms like progression?
James Aquila
Well, it's all about exposure. People do business with people that they know or companies that they know. Hey, the reason why McDonald's is so successful is just driving by the street.You'd see the golden arch all over the place. Right. You know, you see that everywhere. And so it's all about branding. And so the more people recognize your name, the more credibility that they, you know, that they associate your name to it. Because if you, you know, it, they know who you are in a course. And having a personal brand makes it more of a, they say more of a.It makes it personable. Okay. Because as the, that's the thing at the end of the day, he just, people want to be able to know that people don't care how much, you know, until they know how much you care. And so that's the thing, that's the coolest, the culture that we build. And hadn't, you know, the brand or the culture that we're building is that our, our clients are family and more than just a transaction.Right. They're more than just a transaction. So I have a partner with you being on stage speaking. It just builds a brand or a, it builds recognition across the country. Okay. And so now wait, now when we come to Philly and we open an office in Philly, somebody's going to recognize, I remember we are financial, I remember meeting that guy talking to him, right?
Like, yeah. It looked, they, you know, they have an office over in Maine or they got an office over in Nebraska, things like that. Now it starts, you know, the worst as to get out. So, I, I know we still do traditional mail by what happens a lot of time. Whenever you get a mail when you get a male and you don't recognize the name.This doorway. Exactly. So that is what we're trying now. That's what we're working on is that when somebody sees us they'll recognize the name now that they recognize the name, then okay. Hey, they have more than, you know, they're more than open fact. You give us a chance or give, you know, you know, then if they didn't know who we were, okay, you can have the cure for cancer, but if nobody knows who you are or where you are, it doesn't matter.
Andy Audate
Wow. That's probably so your marketing strategy essentially is that, Hey, I go like, so I will go to New York and speak at the progression conference in New York, and then I speak and they see the logo. They see the story, they see your, why they see your business. And then you can do a direct mailer mail directly in the post office.And then now they're like, Hey, I saw James speak on the progression and now I see it here. Like you're saying that they'll be more open and inclined to do business with you because they've seen you in multiple, multiple arenas.
James Aquila
Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, if you're all with you, the power of social media nowadays, it's like, man, you know, you can reach somebody all across, you know, a New York or in California, you know, and just offer social media.you know, just the yesterday I had a client that called me right off of Google, right. They're like, Hey, I read, read your reviews and you know, You know, a lot of your clients have said great things about you. And so I wanted to give you a chance, the same thing as personal branding is all about, you know, getting your business and exposure.
So people know that you are out there beginning there's thousands of ax companies out there. Some of them you may never heard of. Right. But the one that we have, the reason why, you know, there's, there's a lot of successful tax companies out there. It's because once again, You know, it, the more you hear it, the more it sticks in our mind.And so when it's time for you to do a business yet so you go to the bar, the one that you remember, the more, you know, the one that pops into your mind.
Andy Audate
So let's talk about taxes and money. What are some strategies and tips that you have for people who are say, like, for example, there are six figure earners and they're running their business.They've been running their business. And then between your one through five and their business, and they're at the top of the industry, what are some tax strategies that you have for them to keep most of them also the money that they're making?
James Aquila
Absolutely, you know, using different tax shelters, things like that, permission, IRAs, you know, those are things that you can put money into that shelters, your money.You know from taxes, right? If you're already in business, making sure that your company is properly structured because not just being, just having an LOC does not mean they pay protection from the taxes and LOC is just the same as a sole proprietor. But so, you know, of course the difference between an LLC and a sole proprietor, some individual is just an LLC puts a protection between you and your company.So, if you wouldn't get to get sued or the business get to get sued, your personal, you know, your personal and business does not enter twice, but on the tax side of it though you still get taxed the same. Unless you decide to actually incorporate and actually get to business more on you know have different tax entities in place.Things like you know you know as you say, picking up the old electing the escorts, you know filing status, right. And that allows you to be an employee of your company that saves you a lot of money on taxes if it's done properly, because you had to take the right amount of salary, things like that.Okay You know having an escort is definitely a good tax strategy, making sure that, you know, bookkeeping in our industry is by, for every business, having a good bookkeeper or keeping your accounts balanced properly, it will allow you to stay in business long term. It allows you to be able to,you know, because you've got to know what's happening with the numbers.I don't know what's going on. Right. So these are a few things that we can do, making sure I like the, you know, making sure you have the right election when it comes to your business, depending on where you are. So one of the things that we do all the time is we do an evaluation of every business that we sit down with to find out exactly what tax strategy works for them, because now that it's not a cookie cutting system. Now one, you know, one shape fits everybody. Right? So having in a traditional IRAs or is one strategy. Now I sit down with family, you know, with people, especially they start making six figures you know, a quarter of a million or so you want to make sure that they can put some funds into those account.Now there's limitations. And are there some, you know, there's some limitation on how much you make, of course, but. Everything is customized to the person, making sure you have an asphalt filing status, making sure you have different investment vehicles that can help shelter your, your, your, your income making sure your books are done properly.These are things that you can do. You only stop you only. A two employee then always having a home based business is a very, very, you know, a major tax tip that you can do because now you can be able to write off expenses that you will not, if that was not available to you in the beginning. Right. So there's, there's, there's quite a few things that could be done, but majority of time, we'll sit down with the client, evaluate their scenario.
And then from that say, Hey, mr. And mrs. Client, this is based on what you have going on. This is that the best tax tax strategies that can work for
Andy Audate
powerful from a tax. Strategist point of view, what would be the, let's say the strategy or scenario, best case scenario that you can share with someone to make more money.Cause now we're talking with now, we're coming from a position of how do you keep the money tax strategists perspective? How can an entrepreneur make more money?
James Aquila
How can they make more money?
Andy Audate
I want to learn about that opportunity too, because what I've seen, I see some tax strategies making some good money, man. So I want to, I'm interested to learn about that model, but you have a strategy or a scenario that you can tell someone like, Hey, you gotta do this to make more money.
James Aquila
Right. So a lot of times when I'm sitting down with a client and they don't have, they don't have a, a business on the side that they do always recommend that.I tell them, send, listen, it, as law is written for business owners, because if you know, we got to go back a little over a hundred years ago. Okay. About 95% of 90% of people actually own their own business. They work for themselves. Okay. And then, you know, the work for themselves, you talk to the X man, you know, the mom and pop barber shops and things like that.And they do a lot of border trade back in those States. And then I'll use fast forward, you know, a hundred years later, 90% of people put somebody at 10% on a business. Right? So the tax law is, you know, it benefits people that actually have their own business. Right. If you notice a lot of the politicians that go into office, there are companies who support them.And the reason being is because they want to make sure that the right law is passed to benefit their companies and stuff. Right? So one of the major tips I tell people all the time, I say, listen, the people that pay the most taxes are the uninformed. Okay.The one that is uninformed. Yes. So these are even, you know, so it's not really about how much money you make. It's really more of how informed are you when it comes to your taxes and TAC regulation? The people are saying that the rich don't pay any taxes. Well, that's because they're well informed. Right.And that really says the poor of it's actually, there's always one blaming in the other, but I always tell you, I would say this, those who pay the most are the one who are uninformed. Okay. So get informed. And the way that you do that is from January to December, you know, you know, tax time, like this time around around the touch, all we're doing right now is data reporting.We are reporting what we have already done. Okay. So that's why tax planning is so important and using different tractors. But to answer your question as what can somebody do to make more income? Listen, there's a lot of different opportunities out here. Okay. And that was one thing, you know, especially being an immigrant, coming to America, right?
I was 11 years old when my parents brought me here into America. And one thing I've realized is that when we are here, we get a view to how much opportunities and how you know, that is actually right in front of us. Because if you, so if you go outside the country for one time and they come back and just realize how much, you know, America is, literally you know, how you can be successful, almost anything that you use in society.If you have noticed a lot of immigrants that come here within two to three years, right? They either already have a home. They already got a business that they're going and stuff like that. Right. And so the question is why? Well, because they, when they came here, they realized how much more that they are now able to actually accomplish versus where they were before.So the question is not really what can somebody do? I, my, my suggestion is find something because there's a lot of communities anywhere everywhere. And one of the things I love about progression conferences is that many bring a lot of this and entrepreneurs to the tape, Right. You bring a lot of different businesses to the table and you have an audience.And so my, my encouragement to everybody who's who comes to the, to the conferences is that don't just come and just sit there and listen and be like, okay, what can I take? You know, from this pattern for me to the next level, how can I use the connection and the relationship that I have that I've witnessed that could take me to the next level, because it's really now about what, you know, it's about who, you know, you know, it's about who, you know, like, listen, you, you knew a lady from the, you know, from the ward, you know, from the from the cop, you know, from the smoothies, you know, joined that.I happened to know because that means connection. Here we are a year or so later here we are doing a podcast together and we'll go in and out. We would never have met if that connection was not there.
Andy Audate
I just realized, man, it's been two years.Yeah, it's been two years, 2018 is when I was out there two years. So just so you know, there was a, there was a young man who was at the progression conference where you were there and they were inspired by you. They went and started their own business. After I hear it. No, it's one of those things.So I get, I'm fortunate to be the one to get the report back, you know, about the people who've started businesses after progression conference on and Excel after some unfortunate to get the report back. So there was a report after hearing James speak, seeing what she's gone through. And saying, Hey, I connect with that.So speaking of let's talk about, let's talk about your, the, the difference in America. You came into America as an adult from, from Africa, correct?
James Aquila
I was 11 when I came here. Right. Yep. I was 11. So I literally had, you know, I'll tell you this. Okay. Growing up in Africa, you know, I grew up in Congo. I was born in South Sudan.
I grew up in Congo because we had a civil war that was happening at the time in South Sudan. So, you know, I pretty much live in a refugee camp in Congo. Right. So. From the age of two, three, all the way until I was by seven or seven or eight is, you know, that was my, you know, my life as a refugee. So every month we, our trucks that come in and bring us food and stuff.
Right. So when you go up, I, you know, here's what I've realized is that when it's hard, Okay. When, when life is hard and not giving everything upfront, you, your, your, your creativity comes into play as far as your survival skills come into play or what you need to do. And what I've seen with a lot of immigrants that are here in America is that when they come into the country, if already have to struggle, right, just to get the bare minimum is I, listen.If I wanted to get an a, if I want a fresh water here, I just turn on the faucet. Right. I just turn off I go, I know I have the water that I want, or I just go get it, you know, give me a bottle of water from the store and then boom. But a lot of times that's not the case for, you know, different immigrants around the world.Sometimes somebody has to go a whole, you know, an hour just to go fetch water and then bring it, you know, a name, bring it home so they can have fresh water. So. That happens as well when they come here and they can be able to get water straight from the store, this is what happens. And I create a sense of, okay, I can do so much more just from the preparation that I've already had with everything else that is completely available to us right now.So in the US is definitely the reason why they call it. The land of opportunity is because it truly is.
Andy Audate
So you're saying just something that's cause, cause my parents came from Haiti, but you know, the stories that I've heard are limited. And I was born in the United states so I have a different experience, but I have a lot of people around me who are immigrants that came to the united states, either at a young age, my cousins at a young age, much older that share with me.
So. But it's the first time it's going in depth like this. So you're sharing with me that small experience of seeing water or being able to do some work and be able to get water innately, grant ingrained something in your head saying, if I just do the work I can get whatever I want.
James Aquila
There is no substitution for hard work.There was nothing. Right. And so I that's, one of the things is that, you know, you can have anything that you want if you're willing to do the work. Okay. If you're willing to do the work I find, I see it so off so much that people want a reward before they put in the word, and then they get frustrated because then I get them anymore.
And the question I'm always asking, is that, okay? Well, where's the, where's the proof that you should have, what it is that you're asking for. Okay. You know. you gotta make it so obvious that you want to be successful. If people were to look at your calendar, they get eight, you know, convince you of actually wanting to be successful.
Andy Audate
I liked that you said you got to make it so obvious because, because now that changes things for people. I never heard of that. Like all my years of personal development study, I've never heard of, you gotta make it, so obviously it's want to be successful because now it changed the perspective. As soon as you said.You got to make it so obvious. I think in my life, it's obvious because I explain it to the whole world. Whoever is in my circle knows like I'm pushing for this. However, what about the person who's at home and has the same aspirations that you and I do of success and progression and growth and going to the next level?
Are they not making it obvious? I had never seen her before. Like, you shouldn't do that on a teacher. You gotta make a song.you know.
James Aquila
Everybody's success, everybody's level of success is completely different, right? So you gotta ask yourself, like, what, what does success mean to you? A single mom that is at home, you know, and that her success is that I want to make sure my kids are well taken care of and that they grow up to be, you know, great with morals and things like that.You know, they make it obvious, but. It's instilling to those children, you know, why, you know, a good character, good work ethic and things like that. That's making it out. Right. And so and so all of it and making it obvious in once again is that we cannot compare one industry or one person's work ethic against another because those may not be the same.You know, those may not be the same because at the same time we have our own different lanes and different goals that we're trying to reach. And so, but what I mean, when I say make it obvious, firstly, the first is you got to make it obvious to yourself. You know, you gotta first, you gotta understand what, what is it?
Why, what is it and what is it? Am I willing to do to get what it is I want. So you and I, Andy we know.
Andy Audate
The good thing is clear on what you need to do to get action.
James Aquila
Take action. Well, you know, listen, there's this, there's this thing that, you know, our prayers are not answered by the movement of our mouth, it is answered by the movement of our feet.
Andy Audate
Prayers is our answer by the movement on my own feet. So our prayers are not answered by the movement of my mouth, but by the movement,
James Aquila
that's the same thing.Give me one second.
Andy Audate
As, and as James was and sharing and handling his phone calls, listen to what he's saying, listen to the words that he's saying, and really have an understanding of how it applies to your life. You know, everything that he's saying, I'm, I'm looking at it from an inward perspective and saying, how does it apply?Even though I'm the one interviewing him, I'm still asking him, how does it apply to my life? Because Hey, my desire to be successful is the obvious. I want you to ask yourself that is obvious number one. And are you expecting a prayer to be answered from the movement of your lips? So many times I got on my knees and I prayed to God and I'm like, where is it coming from?
And knowing damn well, he would take action in a certain area. And it's like, okay. That's that check Mark. Like I got like, James, check me right now on, Hey, are you just playing by your lips or are you praying with your feet as well? That's, that's an interesting, like, pray with your feet. Like that's like we have to cause you know.
James Aquila
Think about it.a lot of times we pray in a lot, you know, we pray the same prayer multiple times. Right. And one of my mentors says that, you know, when you want something pray, one time. Okay. And then go to work because if you come back and pray again, the devil is going to think he didn't believe it the first time you prayed.Right. So literally when you know what you want, pray one time and then go to work and go for it. That's the same thing as far as making it obvious. And so that's what we've been doing, you know, literally is in our, you know, in the attacks business, once the, you know, Earlier you asked,let me take this call real quick.
Andy Audate
As James was sharing. Yes. Listen, look, man. I got, I got, I got to tell you he's dropping some nuggets right now. He's dropping some powerful nuggets. That number one makes it obvious. It's like a spirit, I forgot the saying. I know there's a spiritual saying, but it's like write your vision and make it plain.
James Aquila
Write your vision and make it plan and not get them wrong with it, right?Yes. You know, it's a Habad gig. I forget the other person, but I know the book is diverse. I remember, I remember that verse.
Andy Audate
And what you're saying is what you're saying is, Hey, this. To, to, to pray about it. Cause James man, I talked to a lot of Christians, man. I'm a Christian myself. I'm a believer.I'm a God fearing, man. I talked to a lot of Christians who, who I think that they're, what they're doing is they're throwing the responsibility of growth of their responsibilities in life, throwing it up to God and saying, I'm waiting on God's timing. Like, like for example, I, you know, well, my part of my business, I, I train speakers on how to grow their speaking and get to bigger platforms.And there are clients for potential clients that I talked to, that they kind of share with me that they are attracted to the offer that I made them have the training they're going to go through. Yes to the opportunity and they're all for it. And as soon as I share, I share a price point. It's like, what if it's for me, God will make a way for its work.And we talk about the finances. They have the finances. It's just like the mindset is that, Hey, I'm willing. Like I don't have to pay for an opportunity. God would provide one. And I hear that from Alex, from who I consider an elder old head that I learned from. What do you think about that?
James Aquila
First of all,
Andy Audate
Let me tell you something, man. Who's six months older than me, man.
James Aquila
I see that a lot though. I see that like, cause the thing is, I grew up in church, you know, I grew up, my father is actually a pastor and what I have seen cause I always questioned. Okay. Why are the people in church always struggling more than the people that are out of, out of church?Yeah. And then I was always trying to figure that out because I found that there's a disconnect. I know personally my own personal observation, there's a disconnect between, you know, taking responsibility or what God has already given you and giving him and putting the whole responsibility on God. No. The thing is, is like, you know, if you, if we were to look at a farmer that's a perfect example.You see a farmer, he has to do his part, God at the Scott is the one who gonna, you know allow the seed to dominate and then to start coming back up. But that is not going to make your hand go out there and throw the seeds in a third and put out that first part. See, we have to be able to take responsibility for our own hand and say, look okay, you know, If God's going to provide a harvest, he's going to use me to be able to plant the seeds.And then when, in order to see, and then from there, a harvest will come, you know, we'll be looking at nature and we'll look at everything with us. This may not be mankind. We're the only one who, you know, who can be as big or as small as our mind allows us. Okay. We're going to be as big, as small as our mind allows us to.So the thing is that we got to pray with our feet and not just our mouth. You gotta be able to, because when we pray, we acknowledge that God has already given to us what it is that we're asking for. And, and then whenever we work, we are actually now taking what actions belong to us. Okay. So it's like, okay, if we believe that he has already given it, so why are you not taking it?You don't want it. It's going to take you by action. You've gotta move. And then you gotta go out there and work and receive it. Okay. So that's where, you know, when I talk to my Christian friends instance, say, listen, faith without works is dead. We hear that all the time. Right. But you know, it's like we hear it, but then we don't want the responsibility.That's the thing on that is that we don't want the responsibility, you know, life doesn't turn out the way that we, we want to blame somebody else instead of ourselves. So the fact that looking in the mirror and say, you did this. Okay. Like, there was an old story in the Bible where, you know, David's sin and Nate there, which was the prophet at the time, look at him and call him out to the men like you did this.Right. It was like, you know, he was telling them that the came was at fault, right. There's like a very powerful scene in there. And so the same thing is that we got to take responsibility for our life. And most people don't want to do that. And the moment that you decide the moment you start to take responsibility, Hey, the reason why they enclose that cell is because I didn't make that phone call or I didn't make enough phone calls.Okay. Hey, I wanted a hundred times. Well, did you call a thousand times? Because if you call a thousand times you're almost guaranteed yourself to get at least a hundred, even if you're really, really bad. You know, so it is all the principles. Like there's no substitution for our work and that's the same thing in life.
If you want something you're going to have to go out there and get it. And that is going to add the increase. He's going to put you in the right position. You know, the thing is, in my mind, I always had this vision of actually speaking in front of people on stage. Right. And then guess what, you know I started going to these smoothie shops one time.Right. You know, it just happened to meet this kid, very young guy. Right. All the sudden he turns out to actually have a whole platform that speaks to, you know, individuals and look, I guess, well, each one of those steps we had to take action. Right. We had to take action. I remember whenever we, you know, last year when we were talking and you were like, Hey, you know, we had to take action.And you, you presented to me, what is he going to take to make this work? You know, I'm just, I'm looking at him like, okay, well everyone knows if I was not meant to that's what the door would never be even open.
Andy Audate
From a, from a, from a different standpoint. Yes. That, that vision was there. The, the, the vision, the vision was there.Why do you, in your mind recollect? So prior to us doing the deals, there was an investment that you had to make. We were talking about essentially what you're relating to our lane, too. Why did you not say because you made the investment? Why did you not say, you know, what, if it's my time I'll, I should have got it for free or something of that nature.
You know, if it's my time, I think the door should open wide for me automatically. And I put in work.
James Aquila
Well, here's the thing. I believe that experience is what you get when you want. Don't come to the past.
Andy Audate
Experience what you get, what you
James Aquila
experience is what you get when, what you want doesn't happen.
Andy Audate
Experience is what you get when you don't get one.
James Aquila
So what I mean by that is let's look at okay. Let's say we go through the whole. The whole conference and what my intention, you know, doesn't come to pass. Or whatever the case is, but I was able to meet a lot of great ones, you know, a lot of great entrepreneurs. I was able to network with a lot of great people, got to work on my speaking and you know, my speaking experience. Right. And so what I know is this is the person who's going to, you know, who's going to be going to this conference at the end of the year is not going to be the same person talking to you right now, right? No, I'm going to be, I'm going to be somebody completely different. And that's going to be the experience of actually having to go to these different cities and talking to these different people and interacting with everybody.And so what happens a lot of time is that we are so afraid to fail and we fail by default. See I'm not afraid to fail and it's okay if I fail.
Andy Audate
You know, this podcast would have been over by now, man, you talking to some good stuff man. So you're saying, you're saying, Hey team audate whoever's editing in this podcast, man. I want y'all to edit this up and put the pieces in the beginning. All the good content is that cause you know, I have a team who edits.So what you're saying is that sometimes we as humans, we're so afraid to fail. That we self sabotage and fuck it all up ourselves.
James Aquila
Yeah. Cause we want, we want things to be the right way when you read like, okay. It has to be right. The thing is, is that you make it right. You make the choice. Right. You know?So whether you say it won't go left or do I go right. It doesn't matter. Just pick a torch, go right. And make it right.
Andy Audate
Okay. Well, if you're, if you're constantly, what happens if you're constantly. Making these decisions one after the other, it's not like terrible decisions like that fuck up your life, but it's just like, okay, Hey man, I might've made the wrong move financially in that aspect.Or I might've hired the wrong person and you're constantly going through challenges, but you're still experiencing some wins, but it's a constant challenge after challenge after challenge that moment because you are going to slow down. Right.
James Aquila
So I, you know, have you ever heard I use this concept a lot.It's called running on quicksand, right? So when you run on quicksand, it's like, you're not going anywhere. It doesn't feel like you're going anywhere. Well, what's happening to you though. You know, what's happening to your legs. They're getting stronger. Right. They're getting stronger. So every decision that you make, no, there has to be some sort of a learning experience that you learn from them.Hey. So every time, when you're running a quicksand, you're getting stronger. And then guess what all it takes is one opportunity or one chance. And then all of a sudden this sets you on the right track and then boom, you take off and people are like, Whoa, come from. And they forget all of those years of having one app after another one.And they don't dare forget that a, all of those played a role because, you know, before I started my tax business, I think I failed in like six other businesses. Okay. I started one. It didn't turn out the way I wanted it. I started another one and lost a lot of money. I started one in the back in 2014 where, you know, it was a li no marketing business. And I would say within two weeks, we, we probably best that I own 75,000 into this business. Right. And then all of a sudden 800 ages, it just disappeared. Right? So we lost all of that. But guess what? You know, I know a lot of people that we met through those, through those businesses, when it was time for me to build a tax business, all that deal was I reached out to everybody.I said, listen guys, okay, we've done this, this, this, and this. None of them work. Okay. We got a tax business.We know people ain't going nowhere. They got to file the taxes every single year. They, you know, have to take it to somebody. Okay. And it's a business that is very local, so let's give it a shot.So we all came together, put our heads together. This, this one works. But if I will encode all of those other experiences to get to here, just what. This would not have happened. So every decision has a seed that is planted there that gets you to the next opportunity. Hey, so don't be so afraid to make a decision, just make the decision and make the right decision.Hey, I'd never intended for us to be perfectly eaten. Does, you know, we are here to make one decision after another every decision leads to another decision and that decision leads to another. The question is if you're happy with the outcome, if you're not happy with the outcome that the beauty about it is you are the one that is important.The moment that you become, you take responsibility for your life. Then you know that every decision that happens, you are responsible for it. And if you don't like it, what happens a lot of time is people put that out all on ads. And so, okay, God can take the wheel. Well, when the wheel goes right or left, but because you are not in control, you don't like either one of the outcomes.Well, you want up here or did you want it one up here? No. Okay. Well, you T you took one. What life gave you really had nothing to do with where you are right now. And so if you're happy, great. If you're not, it all happened by an accident, according to you.So when you take responsibility for yourself and every action that happens, that's the thing, you know, it's not taking away God's responsibility in your life.
It's like, no, because the Bible talks about it. God created us in his own image. So what does that mean? If he created us in his own image, therefore we are able to also create what we see. Right? So everything that we see around the life that you live, you created it. You know, whether you like it or not, you made it to an inch to exist.You know, you had a vision and to, to have progression conferences, things that are happening right now is happening because that was the vision that you, and then all of a sudden, and from pieces of lifestyle to come together to make that vision a reality. Right. So it all started out in my mind. And there's this book, they say that the hardest thing for a thing, you know, we don't like to thing.That's why we have social media to get away with escape, iPads, you know, Netflix, you just sit at home and then just, you know, escape. We want to escape so much because we don't want to listen to us. And the people that don't want to listen to us is because they don't want to take responsibility for where they are right in their life, the people alive, the most successful people.I know they like to spend time to themselves, read books, work on what's in here, because that way they know everything starts in the mind. Right. Everything starts knowing. Yeah. So I am attached to business, listen, it buys us more time. You know, it gives us, you know, three months out of the year and then you've got nine months to be able to do the work on yourself.Become whoever you want to be. Right.
Andy Audate
Seriously. This is so powerful. This is, this, this podcast has been.one of the shows I do a lot of shows I'm in, this is my third of the day. I do a lot of shows, man. And, and I mean this entire week is. It's like three to two podcasts a day back to back, even on Saturdays.And this one specifically really spoke life into me.and I hope it does the same for the audience, the audience members. Who's going to see that whether it's on iTunes, Spotify, or on YouTube or Facebook, wherever I post this. I'm truly excited to have you on the national tour. Can you share with me what shall we expect from you to be training on at the progression conference?
Because you're on the entire tour. So what should we, would we expect from you? Whether whichever city that people show up, right?
James Aquila
The message that I'm bringing is that.of course since I own and own a tax business is having a tag, a virtual tax company all across the U S. A virtual tax business. So you can have your own, you can have your nine to five job and then also have a tax business that you run directly at home.Or you can ask your rent, a virtual office, you know, in any, in any major city and get with you know, a six figure within three months, timeframe. I want to, I want to stress this, that it takes time and it takes effort. Anything that we do, you gotta put all your very best into it. Right? So. Hmm, but my message is clear.It's just that one. I'm expanding my business across the,you know across the nation. And I'm looking for really great entrepreneurs. I'm looking for like minded individuals, because that's one thing I realize is that we attract who we are. Okay. I'm not really, you know, coming in. I'm not really coming to try to sell anybody on as far as, Hey, why did she do something?I'm looking for people who are just as hungry as I am so that I believe that together we can build something even greater. Right. And so by building that you can both have the freedom of time to be able to travel. Because as you know, I would love to take a group of people to like Tanzania or Ghana or South Africa or something like that.I'm like, Hey, let's, let's view the world from a half from a point of view of freedom. Right. And that is really where my message is just we have the opportunity to build a virtual office all across the country. And I want, I want those who are looking for something very similar for us to link up let's build, and let's see how we can build this business.
Andy Audate
Thank you so much. How can people get in contact with you? They'll see you on stage at the progression conference, but how can people get in touch with you?
James Aquila
Okay, awesome. So best way to reach me. Of course, it's always, you know, give me a call. I, so you can call me at nine (817) 374-5049. You can also send me an email, which is a Quila at a L tax services.
Okay. I'll acquire tax services.com. Right. So you can reach me either way or just add my name James Aquila on Facebook. You know, I believe I'm the only one. Maybe if not James aquila tax if you put taxes next to it. Boom. I'm coming out.
Andy Audate
Aquila, James thank you so much for being in the show brother.
James Aquila
Absolutely, man. I appreciate it so much. Thank you so much.
