Today, we’d like to introduce you to Kristy Pack.
Hi Kristy, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I never thought I’d end up doing taxes or owing a business. I was on track to work in government intelligence, and I started working at a CPA firm to help pay my way through college and grad school. Well, it turned out that I loved doing taxes. After finishing my Master’s degree from the University of Utah, I was offered my dream job at the CIA. However, my now husband proposed to me two weeks before that job offer, and I decided to stay in Utah to be close to him and his children. I turned down the CIA job and kept working at the CPA firm.
I thought I’d just stay at that firm forever. I loved taxes; I was good at it. I became their highest producer. But then I got pregnant. When I had my first baby, I asked the firm if I could bring a nanny to the office with my small infant to keep her close but still work. At this point, I was doing more than 50% of all revenue for the firm and had been there for seven years. Never missed a day of work. I thought for sure they would accommodate me. I was shocked when the answer was a hard no. Not only could I not bring the infant with a nanny (there was PLENTY of space and open rooms and lounge areas where they could have been), but they would allow zero flexibility in my schedule. I was required to work every hour the firm was open, with no exceptions.
This was hard, but I did it. The money was good. I loved my clients. I loved the work I was doing. Two years later, I was pregnant again. My baby came early during tax season. I gave birth on a Monday and was back in the office that Thursday preparing taxes. It was insane.
The following year, I decided that the demands were just too much with my growing family. As my production in the firm increased they let me know that they now needed to change my pay scale so that it was not based on production because I was earning too much. They cut my pay and increased the demands of the hours for me to work. This was just too much. I finished the season strong but planned to go out on my own.
Right after that tax season, I set out to start my firm. But I decided from the beginning that I would do something radically different. I was determined to create an opportunity for work, money, and success that allowed for flexibility and family.
My husband and I decided to sell our house, downsize, and move to my hometown of North Ogden. We bought a house that had never been remodeled in the 1950s in the town center and got to work gutting it and turning it into an office. I had my third baby that summer.
Since I couldn’t take any of my clients with me from my old firm, we had to start from scratch, and I knew it would take a huge marketing effort to make this business take off. I did not want to grow slowly. I wanted to burst onto the scene. We emptied every bank account, sold what we had, and dumped thousands of dollars into marketing.
We opened our doors in January 2018 – I had a 5-month-old, 18-month-old, and three-year-old. Insanity. I worked crazy hours hustling clients, taking calls at any time, day or night, prospecting, running, and writing ads.
We targeted a specific group of people for our clients: normal people. These people have usually been using Turbo Tax or going to HR Block. We weren’t trying to ever compete with big CPA firms. We didn’t want those clients. We wanted regular people as clients, and we would offer them services at regular people’s prices.
And it worked. People came. They gave us a shot, and they referred our friends. Our business grew. Within five years, we had grown from zero clients to over 5,000 clients. All of this is from organic marketing, not from buying out other business books.
We now have a staff of many CPAs, Enrolled Agents, and other highly qualified preparers. And we give all of them the flexibility to put their own lives and families first. Every single preparer picks their schedules and has complete freedom in when and how much they want to work.
Our office is family-friendly. Not only are clients welcome to bring their children (we have a playroom and snacks!), but our employees are welcome to have their families there as well. We have separate areas for our employees where their kids and spouses can hang out, come to lunch, or just be there. It’s not uncommon to see children or teenagers hanging out in our staff room while their parents are working.
My greatest joy is working to create an environment for my employees that shows them respect and appreciation and values their autonomy and desire to keep their families and personal lives the priority.
Our business, Pack Tax, focuses on three core values: relationships, accuracy, and data security. We’ve been recognized as an Emerging Elite company in Utah by Mountain West Capital Group (fall 2023). We want Best of State for all accounting Firms in Utah (2023), and as the founder of Pack Tax, I was just recognized as one of the “Forty under 40” by Utah Business Magazine. We’ve won many other local “best of” awards and have over 1,500 real reviews on Google.
We treat people right. Our staff. Our clients. We price things right. And we are excellent at what we do. The kind of growth we have experienced is not normal for our industry, and we want to make waves. We are excited to expand and bring professional tax services to regular people at reasonable prices.
We all face challenges, but would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Ba ha! Not smooth. Lots and lots of learning. Two years into our business, COVID-19 hit. That was a huge hurdle. We had to send all staff home and find a way to pivot all our services to virtual services overnight. It was so hard and took so much work, but now we are much better at it.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Pack Tax Co?
Utah’s Highest-Rated Tax Nerds.
We offer professional tax preparation and bookkeeping at “regular people” prices.
We specialize in individuals and small businesses with revenue under $500,000 per year.
Our three core values are relationships, accuracy, and data security!
Over 1500 real reviews on Google.
I’m most proud of our amazing team and our organic growth. We’ve never posted a job listing for our tax preparers – they have all come to us from other firms interested in working with us because of our culture and systems. Our 5,000 + clients have come organically. Most of our clients come from referrals or by finding us on google searches and reading our reviews.
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
Taxes are the worst, and they just keep getting weirder. I see traditional CPA firms and big national chains like HR Block continue increasing their prices as the tax laws get more complex.
I also see self-preparation options like Turbo Tax having to increase their prices and offer more hybrid services with virtual assistants helping because of increasingly complex tax laws.
As these services go up in price, we see a huge opportunity in the market to swoop in and gather clients who want professional help but don’t want to pay huge prices.
Pricing:
- Our average tax return price last year was $175
- S Corps and Partnerships start at $325
Contact Info:
- Website: www.pack.tax
- Instagram: @packtax
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/packtax
