How a Former Police Officer Cracked the CODE to Making MILLIONS – Shawn Greene’s Story

Summary

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The Level Up Podcast w/ Paul Alex

Episode: "How a Former Police Officer Cracked the CODE to Making MILLIONS – Shawn Greene’s Story" (November 1, 2025)

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Paul Alex Espinoza sits down with Shawn Greene, a former police officer from Philly who became a self-made, multi-seven-figure entrepreneur through owning and scaling tax businesses. The conversation dives deep into Shawn's journey from public service and a six-figure corporate career into entrepreneurship, breaking limiting beliefs, and building generational wealth—all while serving his community.

Listeners get insider tips on marketing a niche tax business, practical steps for beginners, and the crucial mindset shifts necessary for success. Greene’s candid storytelling about his setbacks, internal doubts, and decision to leave comfort for growth provides both actionable advice and inspiring motivation.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Shawn’s Backstory: From Cop to Entrepreneur

• Early Law Enforcement Days:
  • Began as a Philadelphia police officer at age 21, hoping to serve the community.
  • Became dissatisfied with "living paycheck to paycheck" despite holding a college degree.
  • "I was a cop, but I was living paycheck to paycheck, dude. ... There's got to be another way." – Shawn Greene (03:20)
• Corporate and Sales Career:
  • After 3-4 years in law enforcement, transitioned to head of casino security, then pivoted to door-to-door cable and pharmaceutical sales.
  • Quickly became the top sales rep, but still felt unfulfilled financially and personally.

2. The Spark to Change: Overcoming Limiting Beliefs

• Internal Drive & Family Influence:
  • Lacked entrepreneurial mentors but felt a persistent internal voice: "There’s more to you."
  • Father pushed discipline but modeled imperfectly; this created an internal drive for more (09:04).
• Analysis Paralysis & Fear:
  • Hid from action for nearly a year out of fear and skepticism.
  • "The fear of never owning a business... and the fear of, does this really work?" – Shawn Greene (13:39)

3. Breaking Into Entrepreneurship

• Franchise Opportunity:

  • Discovered tax franchise after attending expos and meeting a genuine business owner.
  • Launched first store in 2019, focusing on tax prep for low-income communities.

• Early Growth Steps:

  • Took operations training seriously; asked the most questions.
  • "They said, you are going to probably be one of the most successful." – Shawn Greene (14:06)

4. Business Model: Serving the Underserved

• Niche Focus:

  • "We do taxes in the low income... for the, for the, that's what we primarily spend." (15:16)
  • Competes with big names but offers better pricing and stronger community presence.

• Growth Trajectory:

  • First store in 2019, second by year three, third after another three years.
  • Now serves 3,000 customers.

5. Secrets to Scaling: Marketing & Culture

• Hyper-Targeted Marketing:

  • Transitioned from guerrilla (door-to-door, flyers) to geotargeted social media ads, focusing on specific zip codes with lower average adjusted gross income (AGI).
  • Allowed for virtual tax prep, expanding reach nationally while serving original niche.
  • "Once we added the virtual piece, that's when things went crazy... I could service anyone in America." (19:10)

• Hiring & Culture:

  • Hires mainly via referrals and from his own customer base.
  • Recruits employees who personally experienced the business’s service.
  • Emphasizes calling customers by name, personal relations, and respect.
  • "There's nothing that I ask you to do that I won't do myself." (20:41)

Notable Quote:

“People will forget names, they forget a lot of stuff, but they never forget how you make them feel. So respect goes a long way with me.” – Shawn Greene (24:30)

6. Blueprint for Beginners: How to Get Started

• Setup Steps:

  • Register business structure.
  • Get certified for low-income tax prep via IRS PTIN number (~$25) and complete a due diligence training.
  • Use virtual tax software; start from home with minimal overhead.

• Effective Marketing:

  • "Go on social media. ... Boost ads and ... these are the zip codes I want to market to. ... Within 30 days, it's going to be, I don't know—30,000 touches." (29:14–31:30)
  • Choose zip codes based on AGI research to find your ideal customer.

Business In Three Months:

“You can do this in 90 days.” – Shawn Greene on the potential of tax business seasonality (34:12)

7. Mindset for Leveling Up

• Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs:

  • Surround yourself with positive, driven people.
  • Engage in self-development and physical fitness: “If you’re around five multimillionaires, guess what... sooner or later, you’re going to be the sixth.” (37:05)

• Breaking from Negative Environments:

  • Recognized at age 29 the need to leave behind comfort and friends who were content with mediocrity.

Memorable Reflection:

“You don’t have to have it figured out. All you have to do is start. Once you start, that’s when your legacy begins.” – Shawn Greene, advice to his younger self (43:36)

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Important Segment Timestamps

• Meet Shawn & Backstory – 02:49
• Leaving Law Enforcement, Corporate to Sales – 05:21
• The Internal Drive, Upbringing, and Mentors – 07:46–12:15
• First Franchise Opportunity, Analysis Paralysis – 13:35–14:45
• Business Model Explained – 15:16–16:07
• Growth Timeline – 16:17–16:45
• Secret to Scaling, Niche Marketing – 16:58–18:12, 19:10
• Marketing Tactics (Ads, Targeting, Results) – 29:04–32:41
• Cultural Approach & Hiring – 20:26–22:34
• Blueprint for Starting (Education & Process) – 25:59–28:16
• Mindset, Environment, and Leveling Up – 36:47–39:30
• Career Reflection & "Would You Go Back?" – 41:12–42:33
• Advice to Younger Self – 43:36

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “I had a six figure salary... but once the bills were paid, I was like, dude, I didn't have much to live on. ... There's more to you.” – Shawn Greene (06:24, 06:41)
• “You’ve got to follow instructions, got to follow the blueprint. ... Market your business to your customers.” – Shawn Greene on scaling (16:58–17:14)
• “Would you rather be working all those hours and making someone else rich or making yourself rich?” – Shawn Greene (42:03)
• “You don’t have to have it figured out. All you have to do is start.” – Shawn Greene (43:36)
• “There's nothing that I ask you to do that I won't do myself.” – Shawn Greene (20:41)

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Takeaways & Actionable Strategies

• Follow proven processes but tailor your marketing to a specific, underserved niche.
• Start small, even from your own home, by leveraging digital tools.
• Build a strong team culture: Hire from among clients and treat everyone with respect.
• Invest in self-development and your environment—you become who you surround yourself with.
• Don’t wait for perfect conditions. Begin, learn, adapt, and build as you go.

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Connect with Shawn Greene

• Instagram: @official_shawn63

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This episode delivers a compelling blueprint—from first steps to scaling and sustaining—while unpacking what it truly takes, mentally and tactically, to level up.

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Transcript

[Paul Alex]

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[Sean Green]

You know, I had a great salary. I was doing well for myself.

[Paul Alex]

What is well during that time, brother?

[Sean Green]

I, I had a six figure salary. Okay. That I, I thought was, was good. Oh, it's decent.

[Paul Alex]

A lot of people out there making six figures, man. They, they living life, right? Yeah.

[Sean Green]

Had a nice house, about two cars. Yeah. Once the bills were paid, I was like, dude, like have much to. To live on. I still never owned a business.

[Paul Alex]

What was it that kept you stuck on analysis? Paralysis, the fear.

[Sean Green]

The fear of never owning a business. And I didn't know. I know who had a business voice in my head, was just saying, there's more to you. There's more to you. Called him up like, hey, is that opportunity still level? He's like, yeah, I was waiting for you. And then from that point on, it was just uphill from there.

[Paul Alex]

Hey, guys, and welcome back to Level Podcast. This is Paul Alex, and today we have another great interview. We have our guest, Sean Green. Shawn Green is a former police officer turned serial entrepreneur that built multiple seven figures, guys. And you guys are going to love this industry, okay? Because it's coming up into 20, 26 tax businesses. That's right. Everybody likes to talk about taxes. You guys know the reason why I moved to Puerto Rico, because of taxes. So we're gonna go ahead and take a deep dive, not only into taxes, but Sean's background as a police officer and also his transition and his journey on how he was able to go ahead and build multiple seven figures here in the city of Philly. Sean, welcome to the show, brother.

[Sean Green]

Thanks for having Me, brother.

[Paul Alex]

It's been a long time coming, man. It has been. You know, we've been following each other for years on social media.

[Sean Green]

Yes.

[Paul Alex]

Former police officers, serial entrepreneurs. I see you're doing your thing over there, dude. I mean, I'm proud of you, man. So I'm glad that you're actually on the show, and I'm super excited to hear about your background. So for my audience that's listening and watching right now, dude, who are you?

[Sean Green]

Number one. Okay.

[Paul Alex]

And then number two, let's start off in your background with law enforcement.

[Sean Green]

Absolutely. Sean Green. My background in law enforcement started when I was about 21 years old. I was all excited to become a police officer, excited to serve my community and take care of people. I did well, flew through the police academy, won the physical fitness award in the police academy. Y. I was just that guy who wanted to do everything the right way. So that went well. I was in law enforcement for about. Only about three to four years, but I just always knew there was more I wanted. There was more to me. You know, I was a cop, but I was living paycheck to paycheck, dude. Yeah, literally. And I was like, there's got to be another way. You know, I had a college degree, and I was a law enforcement officer, but again, I just saw myself to do something more. My degree's in marketing, but I went into law enforcement. Yeah. A lot of people ask me, how do you correlate marketing to law enforcement? But that's what I did. Then I went into. I didn't want to stay in law enforcement because I just didn't. I just felt like there was more to me. Yeah. I feel like I wanted to do more. I wanted to have more. And honestly, I like money. Yeah.

[Paul Alex]

And that's okay. A lot of people like to paint, you know, money as this bad thing and this greed thing. But, you know, correct me if I'm wrong, Sean. It comes down to our environment.

[Sean Green]

Right. Correct.

[Paul Alex]

Who, you know, our parents are. We love our families and our parents and our loved ones and our friends, and they want to keep us all nice and cozy. Right. But at the end of the day, not staying safe is not going to make you rich or it's not going to build that life by design. Right, Correct. So obviously you saw more.

[Sean Green]

Yes.

[Paul Alex]

In yourself than what law enforcement was providing for you. And then what was the next move? So you were. You were in law enforcement for four years, and then what year was this? Around. What year?

[Sean Green]

This year was around 2000. Six. Seven.

[Paul Alex]

Okay. So 2000, six, seven. And that, that was around the time where the economy crashed, correct? During the real estate. Yes. So it was really bad.

[Sean Green]

It was bad.

[Paul Alex]

Oh, man. Brother, I remember when that happened, man. Luckily, during that time I was still in corporate America. Was right before, Right before I became a cop a few years before. So. Yeah, So I remember. So you went ahead and you transitioned. What did you get into right after law enforcement?

[Sean Green]

Great question. So right when I got out of law enforcement, I was still on that bridge. I became, I went to the head of security in the casino. Okay. Down in Lenox City. Okay. Did that for about a year and it was good. But then again, I still wanted more. So I, I took a job in sales.

[Paul Alex]

Okay.

[Sean Green]

I worked at, I was selling door to door. Cable. Yeah. Knocking on doors and selling cable. I became the number one sales rep in the company within three months. Wow. So I knew that I had some talent. Yeah. So that entered my career into sales. I did that for about three to four years and then I went right into pharmaceutical sales where I was, well, actually vision care, where I started selling contact lenses to eye doctors. Wow. I did that for a few years, about five years. And then there was just, still something, just that bug in me saying, I just want something more. Yeah. You know, I had a great salary. We were doing. I was doing well for myself.

[Paul Alex]

What is, what is. Well, during that time, brother, I had.

[Sean Green]

A six figure salary. Okay. That I, I thought was, was good.

[Paul Alex]

Oh, it's decent. A lot of people out there making six figures, man. They, they living life, right?

[Sean Green]

Yeah. Right. But I noticed, you know, I had a nice house, about two cars. Yeah. Once the bills were paid, I was like, dude, like, I mean, have much to to live on, you know? So that, that lit a fire in me where I wanted to do more. And I said, there's more into me that, that voice in my head was just saying, there's more to you. There's more to you. So I started going to the International Franchise Expo every year with a buddy of mine that I used to work with. I didn't know what I wanted to do. I had saved up some capital on my 401k. I didn't know what I wanted to do, but I said, I want to do something.

[Paul Alex]

How old were you during this time?

[Sean Green]

Early 30s. Early 30s.

[Paul Alex]

So early 30s, your mindset has shifted. You entered into business, you learned that sales is one of the most valuable skills and you just kept progressing.

[Sean Green]

Right.

[Paul Alex]

So now you're thinking about switching over to full time entrepreneurship. Correct. Did you have any friends during that time that were encouraging you to get into entrepreneurship?

[Sean Green]

So I had a buddy that I worked with. He wanted to own a business at some point, but I didn't have any friends. No one around me had owned any business. So it was new to me. A little bit foreign, so I didn't have anyone.

[Paul Alex]

Oh, wow.

[Sean Green]

No.

[Paul Alex]

So where do you think you got the mindset of I need to become more?

[Sean Green]

It's always been there. It's always been something in me just says, there's more to you. Like, there's just more. You can do more, you can become more. There's more for you. It's just a voice in my head that just kept saying, this is not all for you. This is not it for you to just go to work every day, pay your bills, have $600 to live off of for the next two weeks. You understand what I'm saying? And I didn't like that. So I sought out for other opportunities.

[Paul Alex]

Well, let me ask you, man. I mean, you know, I interview a lot of successful entrepreneurs, you being one of them now. And there's two paths that I usually see. One path is they come from an environment where people tell em, hey, we loved you. You could do anything you want in this life.

[Sean Green]

Right.

[Paul Alex]

And then there's the second path, and that's the school of hard knocks where people just learn just based off of grit, discipline. And they probably saw someone, like, they probably had a mentor. I know before social media and all that jazz, for a lot of us, I had a lot of mentors in law enforcement. I had a lot of mentors in sales. I even considered my parents tried to mentor me, you know, throughout when I was a kid. So did you have a mentor growing up?

[Sean Green]

Didn't really have mentors, but my father pushed me. Okay. My father pushed me hard. Yeah. And sometimes he was so hard on me, I'd be like this, dude, I like me. All right?

[Paul Alex]

It's a good or bad thing.

[Sean Green]

Right? But my dad was like, your last name is Green. You will get straight A's in this house. Wow. And you will be the best. That's that. I'm like, dude, I've never got an A in my life. Yeah. You know, because I live with my f. My mother. Then I left my mother's house and moved with my father because they split early. And then he's just like, my father didn't really live by everything. All the code he told me live by.

[Paul Alex]

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[Sean Green]

But he pushed me to be the best and that just lit a fire in me to just, you know, I was self disciplined. I didn't need no one to tell me to do the right thing.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[Sean Green]

You know, I didn't. I never smoked weed. I never did in that stuff like that. I was just. Just always on a straight path. That's because my father always pushed me to be the best. So I would. I would give all the credit to him as far as a mentor, like business mentor. When I got in, I didn't have any.

[Paul Alex]

Okay.

[Sean Green]

Yeah.

[Paul Alex]

All right. What's your dad's name?

[Sean Green]

Ronald.

[Paul Alex]

Ronald did a great job, man. I love that. I love that. So. All right, good. So you start going into all these expos With a really good friend of yours, you guys start considering business and what happens next?

[Sean Green]

So what happens next? I meet this guy. He has a. Have a great conversation with him. He's actually one of the. I didn't know he was the owner of the business, but I was. Just met him, had a great conversation, and I went home. I'm like, you know, this is a nice guy. I don't know who he is, but he's nice guy. He said, you know what? Once you come back for a meeting and just get a little more information about this business, I was like, okay, you seem cool. I'll listen to what you have to say. Right. About two weeks later, I came back, we had another meeting, but this time the meeting was at this nice fancy hotel. And he was actually sitting on the podium speaking. And I was just like, well, this is just a nice guy talking. I thought he was just one of the reps, but he's speaking. And when I walked outside, when I. Before I came in the building, it was just like all these supercars outside, and I'm like, what's really going on? You know? So it sparked my interest a little more after the meeting, you know. You know, the entrance meeting was nice, all the rah rah and everything. It sounds good. But I still never owned a business, right? So I went home and I was like, eh, let me think about it. I thought about it. Didn't really do anything with it for like a year, honestly.

[Paul Alex]

What was it that kept you stuck on analysis paralysis.

[Sean Green]

That year, I guess the fear. Well, stuck without the fear of not knowing. The fear of never owning a business, and I didn't know one who had a business. And the fear of. Does this really work? Because I tried, like, network marketing in the past, and just like, you know, you know, I'm sure people have good stories and bad stories about network marketing. Right. I just never made really money with it. So I was just like, you know.

[Paul Alex]

So you have bad taste in your mouth.

[Sean Green]

Correct. Okay. Correct.

[Paul Alex]

Okay.

[Sean Green]

But I didn't know that there was something still in me. And I remember that conversation. The guy just seemed so genuine. So I was like, you know, I called him up about a year, close to a year later. I was like, hey, is that opportunity still available? He's like, yeah, I was waiting for you. Still available. I went to operations training. I was probably the guy who asked the most questions. After Operation Trains, they said, you are going to probably be one of the most successful. We've never had nobody come in, ask these many questions and they're so in tuned. Everything you asked was on point. And then from that point on I opened one. My first store a few weeks after operations training. And then after that it was just, it was just uphill from there.

[Paul Alex]

So the business concept. Let's talk about the business concept that you had open after operations school. What exactly? And I would break it down like you would break it down to a fifth grader because typically, like my listeners, they're typically beginners that are looking for different opportunities. This is great. This might be an opportunity that a lot of people actually go ahead and get into because of you and your story. So what would you say on just a simplified, I guess, summary of what exactly your business does?

[Sean Green]

What my business does is we do taxes in the low income.

[Paul Alex]

Okay.

[Sean Green]

For the, for the, that's what we primarily spend. I can do taxes for anyone. But our specialty, we open up stores in low income area. Okay. We're like the other. I don't really want to say a lot of names, but we're like the other, the Liberties, the Jackson Hughes, all those were like the big three, but we're a little bit smaller. You understand what I'm saying? So that's what we are.

[Paul Alex]

You're more niched down, correct?

[Sean Green]

Yeah.

[Paul Alex]

So you're, you're, you're hyper focused on low income. Why specifically low income?

[Sean Green]

We specifically focus on low income because low income is where we see, we add more value and we add more value because we're not the most expensive in the, in the town, but we also do a lot for the community. Yeah, yeah, no, that's good, man.

[Paul Alex]

So you're able to help back, give back to the community and, and provide that level of service that they need. Now you started that.

[Sean Green]

What year came into business in first year was 2019.

[Paul Alex]

So in 2019 you opened your first franchise store.

[Sean Green]

Correct.

[Paul Alex]

And then from there, when or how long did it take until you got your second year, third store up and running.

[Sean Green]

I opened that store, had a store for two years, then opened my. On the third year, I opened my second store.

[Paul Alex]

Oh, wow.

[Sean Green]

Then I had my second store for three years and then opened my third store. I love that. I love that.

[Paul Alex]

So what would you say is the secret to your success? Now opening multiple franchises and now being able to scale that business into a multimillion dollar business.

[Sean Green]

It's a lot.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah, let's get into it, man.

[Sean Green]

The secret, the secret to success, to be successful in this business is one you got to follow. Follow instructions, got to follow the blueprint. There's a blueprint laid out and then we can talk, we can talk about that. But just the biggest thing is being able to market your business to your customers.

[Paul Alex]

Okay.

[Sean Green]

So some people have businesses they don't know who they're really marketing to. I market strategic. I market specifically to the customers that I want to. Grants to. I'm not marketing to everyone.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah, low income.

[Sean Green]

Correct. Okay, correct. If you have. If you make a certain amount of money, you can come into the store, but I'm not really marketing to you. I can service you, but you're not going to be my main market. Yeah, yeah.

[Paul Alex]

So how do you go ahead and go about marketing specifically to the low income? I know before the podcast, we were talking about boosting ads.

[Sean Green]

Correct.

[Paul Alex]

So on the digital side, you're one of the first ones to do it within your market. So let's talk a little bit about that when you first started with your first store. Because right now that somebody's listening, hey, they might be a struggling tax consultant.

[Sean Green]

Right now, let's say, like, all right.

[Paul Alex]

Tell me the sauce. Right. So what would you tell them? I mean, took you from like zero to the level of success that you're at now. Was it simply word of mouth referrals? Was it great marketing? What was it exactly?

[Sean Green]

At first, we started off a guerrilla marketing. We were big at that. We were literally outdoor to door. I had hired a team who were canvassing, giving out flyers to the community. I had a strategic zip code that we were working at that we did that for a period of time. And then I saw that that was okay, but not really getting the sales that I wanted to. Once I took it to social media and I would specialize ads for these zip codes, I would specialize the zip codes for the communities that I wanted to come in. It was probably three or four zip codes that I knew that were close to one of the stores. And then when I boosted those ads and added the. Because Customers didn't really want to come in. They didn't really want to come in. So I added the aspect of doing it virtually. So when customers were able to just send electronically their information through a secure portal, they let us do it virtually. And then the sales went. The sales went crazy. Oh, wow. Yeah. So once we added the virtual piece, that's when things went crazy. Because I could service anyone in America. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Paul Alex]

And then how many people are you currently servicing right now?

[Sean Green]

We're at about 3,000 customers right now.

[Paul Alex]

3,000 customers?

[Sean Green]

Yeah.

[Paul Alex]

Wow. And are you currently helping other people build franchises like yours right now? Now, I mean, you went from being the karate kid to Mr. Miyagi.

[Sean Green]

Right, right.

[Paul Alex]

Taxes. So, so now are you doing the exact same thing that your mentor showed you?

[Sean Green]

And that's my next goal. I'm not doing it yet, so that's why I'm here. So the next goal is to have others build their business and build a little faster. I, I, I know how to mentor where they can. All the negative things that I've been through. Yeah, they can avoid that. It is a big. I can avoid the, the big learning curve that they would have, or slow down that learning curve, speed it up or whatever. We can do that. And yeah, those, those are things that the next step I want to do is I want to mentor. I haven't started it yet, but that's something that I want to add. Yes.

[Paul Alex]

So what would you say culture in your, your, your line of work, with having employees and having to go ahead and how big is culture in your environment right now?

[Sean Green]

Culture?

[Paul Alex]

Yeah. Like, is it, does it play a big factor when building a team?

[Sean Green]

I believe it does. I believe the culture and how you treat your reps matter. I believe the culture and how you run everything matters. Because if I want someone to do something for me or do something for the business, I have to first show that I'm doing it and I can do it. So I was able to build a, build a good culture around my stores, just always leading by example. Because there's nothing that I ask you to do that I won't do myself. And there's nothing. I know every aspect of the business. I didn't win the top franchisee in the country for nothing. I did it because I followed a blueprint. You understand what I'm saying? Yeah. So that's, those are some of the things that helped me to be successful. And the culture is very, I take that very serious on how I treat people, how we run the stores. You run it like a tight ship and following the blueprint, following the steps and staying on track, those are some things that has helped us become number one man.

[Paul Alex]

How are you hiring people now, man? I know, I know me, myself, you know, now being in a full time entrepreneurship for close to a little bit over six years now, that is still one of the hardest things I have issues with. And I built three different businesses, man. But I still, it's just like, I don't know if it's just a trust thing.

[Sean Green]

Right.

[Paul Alex]

You know, it's just I've been burned a little bit before. But how are you finding good people to work with you?

[Sean Green]

That's been a challenge. That has been a challenge. But a lot of the reps that I hire.

[Paul Alex]

Referrals.

[Sean Green]

There were referrals, but there were also they came in as customers.

[Paul Alex]

Oh, really? Yeah.

[Sean Green]

So what I, what I do often is I'll send out ads on my Instagram and a lot of, because I have a couple pages, I have my store and have my personal and then I'll boost ads on the purse on this my store page. And a lot of customers that's already been customers. They want to work for the business because they like how we've treated them. 50% of my employees have come from previous customers. There were previous customers.

[Paul Alex]

I love that concept.

[Sean Green]

Yeah. I love giving back. I will hire someone who's come in, they see how we work. I would want to say first before I look out, but I, I, I want to keep it in, in the culture first. I want to see give opportunities to prior customers before I open up to, to everyone else.

[Paul Alex]

And that's a smart concept because here's the thing. They're able to talk from the experience.

[Sean Green]

Correct.

[Paul Alex]

You know, so now that they're going ahead and they're greeting or providing the customer service to your new clients or your new prospects, they're able to talk from personal experience.

[Sean Green]

Absolutely.

[Paul Alex]

And that's the biggest thing, right?

[Sean Green]

Sure.

[Paul Alex]

You know, do you believe that you yourself that people come back and do business with you year after year because you give that extra personal touch?

[Sean Green]

Thousand percent. Yeah. Thousand percent. I could probably name every customer that walks in that building by first name. I love that. Everyone. I because one thing I'm, I value is call the person by the first name. Yeah. They won't forget and say, right, yeah. So most of my customers continue to come because they know I'm going to do it, I'm fair. I'm going to do their taxes. Right. And I'm going to give, put Them in the best scenario for their tax return.

[Paul Alex]

Yes. So when you go ahead and you greet somebody and they're like, Sean, you know, that's, that's the level of culture that you're showing your employees to go ahead and do at your business. So where did you learn that from? Is that from like just personal experience? Is that from being in law enforcement? Like, how did you learn how to be an actual leader instead of a.

[Sean Green]

Manager becoming a leader? It was just always internal. I was in sports, I was a four time track champion, I was in law enforcement. Always knew how to lead and always knew how to treat everyone with respect. Respect goes a long way. No matter, you know, everyone has good days, everyone has bad days.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[Sean Green]

But respect, people will remember how you, you know, people forget names, they forget a lot of stuff, but they never forget how you make them feel. So respect goes a long way with me. And just being a leader is just something that I've always had in me. Just lead. Yeah, but not just lead and try to tell people to do, be able to lead by example. And when you can lead by example, people are going to trust you because they know, oh, he'll pull his sleeves up and get dirty. Right with us. Absolutely. I have so many customers that most of them want me to do their taxes, but I've gotten so big I can't do everyone's taxes. But we've trained our reps and I like to say reps, I don't like to say employees. We train our reps to the point where they know what I know and they can do what I can do. And we've been successful because our customers are confident in us, because they know that anyone who touches their return is going to do the magnificent job. Yeah.

[Paul Alex]

And then you're back in it. It's like, it's like a personal guarantee from someone.

[Sean Green]

Absolutely. Yeah. I love that. I love that.

[Paul Alex]

So let's do sort of like a master class during this interview. Okay.

[Sean Green]

Yeah, yeah.

[Paul Alex]

What would you tell somebody that is they're coming to you and they're like, Sean, you know, I know you're going to be speaking at a conference soon, man. What would be the first couple of steps that I need to take as a brand new entrepreneur to launch my tax business? What would be some key needle movers that you would give someone, especially in the beginner level, advice to go ahead and get started with that?

[Sean Green]

Well, first they would have to set their business structure up. Once their, their business struck up is they have their business structured, then we can Talk about how I can put you in a tax space where you can start making some money. My goal now is to take everything remote, make things a little bit easier. So that's how I would start with those customers.

[Paul Alex]

So when you say remote, you're. You're referring to not having to lease an office space. Not having to, like, rent an office space.

[Sean Green]

Correct.

[Paul Alex]

And they're able to do it from their home.

[Sean Green]

Correct. Make money from home.

[Paul Alex]

That's huge.

[Sean Green]

Absolutely.

[Paul Alex]

Because I know now in 2025, a lot of people are looking for different opportunities to go ahead and start a business at home. Right. Whether it's, you know, people can't afford to get a babysitter, whatnot. Right.

[Sean Green]

It's expensive, man.

[Paul Alex]

So they got to do double duty.

[Sean Green]

Absolutely.

[Paul Alex]

So they could go ahead and start from home. So is this like a special software or is. Is it sort of like a. An academy or a trade school they have to go to in order to get. Do you have to get certified to do this?

[Sean Green]

Yeah, you got to get certified. If you're going to do it with low income, you have to do. You have to get certified through the irs. That's a simple training. Then you have to have something called a P10. It's a preparer's tax ID number. That's like, what, $25 to get that. And then once you learn the software, which I can put a program together where we can teach you the software, you're pretty much up and running and ready to go. Once you have the software, you have your P10 and you just gain some customers, you start making money. Oh, wow.

[Paul Alex]

So how, how difficult, from a level, I guess, of 1 to 10 being the most difficult, would you say it is to go ahead and, and get certified for this?

[Sean Green]

To get certified, it's very simple. You would just go online to the IRS via Ptin and like, anyone can literally go online and do it. If they want to do it right now, they can do it. There's no certification for that. Anyone can get that. But, but to do taxes, you would have to go through something called a due diligence training. And that just shows like, hey, you can do this or you can't do this. If someone comes in, if someone. And it comes into your store or if you want to do their return and you're live with them front, you know, face to face. Is this their id? Is this their documentation? Are these really their dependents? Like those things? You have to verify. You have to verify that.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah, because there's, there's. There's a lot of scams and all that that happens.

[Sean Green]

There's a ton. Yeah. Now the training, the due diligence training. And once you go through that, you're saying, hey, I understand that. I'm not going to take this person's word for these are my dependents and these you can't, you have to verify, okay, what documentation do they provide you? And it doesn't have to, I mean, did they bring the id, do they have their other documentation to verify that, that they can, you know, properly claim that individual? Okay, yeah.

[Paul Alex]

Okay, so they get, they go ahead and they get certified, they get the documents and now they're able to run the business from home.

[Sean Green]

Correct.

[Paul Alex]

What would be, I guess the first step that you would recommend somebody to start marketing their business, especially being a remote tax business?

[Sean Green]

Go on social media.

[Paul Alex]

Social media.

[Sean Green]

Social media is huge. We would go online, go social media. And you know what I started to do is I boost ads. But it's not expensive. I mean, you can boost ads and let's talk about that.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah, so when you say boost ads, break it down to the person that doesn't know nothing about marketing, brother. Because I know you got a degree in marketing.

[Sean Green]

Correct?

[Paul Alex]

So you're more advanced than us. So go ahead and break down. When you say boosting ads, what do you mean?

[Sean Green]

Okay, so I would go on, let's say Instagram.

[Paul Alex]

Okay, Instagram.

[Sean Green]

I would type up whatever I was looking for. So I was like, hey, let's say if you didn't work a W2 job, but you did, did you, you did have self employment income and you can verify it and you have children but you didn't work a W2 job. I can get you a tax return.

[Paul Alex]

So basically you would be talking to a lot of home based businesses, correct. 1099 contractors, independent contractors. And this is something that you would film like almost like a selfie video, or would it be like a post? Like what, what type of ad would you do this for?

[Sean Green]

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[Paul Alex]

You would just write it down.

[Sean Green]

Just write it down. Post and you'd be surprised people. Something that could read in big bold.

[Paul Alex]

How simple?

[Sean Green]

Very simple. Yeah. And then I would just, when I go on Instagram, when I go to boost the ad, I would just say these are the zip codes I want to market to. Okay. And then I would boost that ad. It would probably charge me like five bucks a day. Yeah, something like that. And the reach and within 30 days is going to be, I don't know, 30,000. Yeah. Touches. So if I get 10% of 30,000. Yeah. It's 300. Yeah. So I mean that's a lot of sales. 300 sales would net you depending on what you're, what you're charging. 300 sales and a tax season, it's over a hundred thousand. Yeah, yeah. Easy.

[Paul Alex]

Hey guys, there, There you go. You know, for all my current tax consultants, if you guys are looking away to go ahead and boost your guys sales to a multiple 6 to 7 figure revenue within your tax season, come and talk to Sean. You know you need to start an agency. Absolutely. Start ready to allow tax fruits marketing, brother. You know, charge your arm and a leg for it too. No, I love that. So clarity. So just writing simple posts that people can understand. They can see. How do you pick the zip codes? Is it because you do you do a little bit of research based on like the income ratio?

[Sean Green]

Yeah, Great question. Yeah. So I picked the zip codes. 100 on the income.

[Paul Alex]

Okay.

[Sean Green]

So I can, you can run, you can go to IRS and just see, you can just either Google, what's the AGI? AGI just stands for adjusted gross income in that zip code. And once you see what they're making, if they're making 200,000 as zip code, they're probably going to CPA. Right. But if they're making 50,000 a little bit under, you could service that customer. Right. And then I would just market those ads specifically to those zip codes because I know that's where my clientele is going to come from.

[Paul Alex]

Smart.

[Sean Green]

Then they start calling and then we start taking those, taking those orders and getting those deals. Love that.

[Paul Alex]

And then once they submit the information, you yourself, you're giving them a call or are they jumping on a zoom call? How does that work?

[Sean Green]

We have a couple, we have a couple ways to do it now. So if they want to jump on a call, we can jump on a call. Like a zoom call. If they feel more comfortable seeing us. If they don't want to come to one of the stores, we can get on the phone. We send all of our information through Encrypted. Portals where no one literally can't get intercepted. So that's how we keep everybody's documentation safe. And yeah, we can do it. We can jump on a call if they're comfortable. That way we can go back and forth through zoom and yeah, we can do that. I love that.

[Paul Alex]

So you broke down the system of how to go ahead and create an ad which is super simplified that anyone can go ahead and understand it, correct you specific down to a niche, which your niche is more low income individuals. Then you do some research based on the zip code, based on the gross income of the zip code. Then that's how you target your avatar, your actual ideal client. And then you run the ads. Let's say you run $5 a day, you get, you know, 30,000 impressions or views 10% 300. Then yeah, you got, I mean, you're cash flowing. So that's, that's remarkable, man. And usually when are your busy seasons for your business?

[Sean Green]

So the months of January, February, March, you can do this in 90 days.

[Paul Alex]

Wow.

[Sean Green]

Yeah, you can do it in 90 days. I mean, April, you'll have some customers coming in, but a lot of the low income filers have already filed.

[Paul Alex]

Right.

[Sean Green]

So that's where you can get primarily most of your business in those first three months, right? Yeah.

[Paul Alex]

Wow, that's amazing. And then for the rest of the year, are you guys going ahead and taking that off or. I mean, what's, what's the exact schedule that you guys follow as a tax business?

[Sean Green]

So the rest of the year there's, believe it or not, there's a lot of people who just don't file. So we keep our phones open. If someone wants to do taxes, we can do them all year. Yeah, we don't. We're not one of those taxpay places that shut down right after taxi. Let's see us again. We're open all year long. Yeah. Yep.

[Paul Alex]

Any plans on expanding more actual in person locations for yourself and the three that you have?

[Sean Green]

It's a great question. It's good. That's a lot. Yeah. At this point, I think that I can help more people do it remotely. Yeah, I think more. At this point I'm gonna look to expand the business. Yes. And scale more, but we're gonna do it more on a, on a remote online basis. Yeah, that's the goal.

[Paul Alex]

I mean that, that makes, that makes a lot of sense. You know, there's a lot of other entrepreneurs in different industries. You know, like Alex Hermosi, for example.

[Sean Green]

Right.

[Paul Alex]

He, when he was doing gyms he would help launch gyms.

[Sean Green]

Right.

[Paul Alex]

And he was going in person, flying into different states to help gym owners launch the gym.

[Sean Green]

Okay.

[Paul Alex]

But then very similar concept as yours right now. The way you're thinking, man, is just like, I think I can help people more digitally. And that's what he did.

[Sean Green]

Yeah.

[Paul Alex]

He's just like, you know what? I think I can help more people launch digitally.

[Sean Green]

Absolutely.

[Paul Alex]

So I think at scale, especially because you already have the blueprint, the process. Correct. You have the social proof. Oh, yeah, dude. It's going to be huge. And that's going to be remarkable. So listen, Sean, I love everything, dude. I love everything from, you know, your, your, your summary of law enforcement, how you transitioned, and it's very real. You know, a lot of people you're not painting this picture of, you know, I was an overnight success at the age of 21 and now I have a lambo. Right. You went through your, your trials and tribulations, man. So what would you tell somebody about leveling up their mindset in 2025, brother? What does it take to level up yourself as a man, but also an entrepreneur? What would you say?

[Sean Green]

You've hit some great questions. For one, surround yourself with positive people. Positive people. Don't be around people who are always complaining because that energy is contagious. Also, you know, work on yourself. Work on yourself. Do some self help or self help books. And ultimately, at the end of the day, you have to set yourself away from anything that's like negative, any of that negativity. You just got to let that go, the vices and all that, and believe in yourself. Work on them. Work on your fitness. I think fitness is, is huge because I think that if you're working on yourself that way everything comes to you. Yeah. And surrounding yourself with people who are doing better than you. Yeah. It's going to help you out a lot. And just work, I like to say, investing in yourself, whatever that means. Invest in yourself. If you, you know, if you guys around five people who aren't doing well in life, guess what, you're going to be the sixth. If you're around five people who are drinking every day, you're going to be the six. If you're around five multimillionaires, guess what? Sooner or later you're going to be the six. So that's my advice to anyone. Just, just, just keep grinding. Yeah, I love that.

[Paul Alex]

Did you ever have to go ahead and basically force yourself to level up to a different environment because you realize that your environment was going to help.

[Sean Green]

You grow a thousand percent. Yeah. Yeah. I had friends that always wanted to go out drinking. That's all they want to do. Let's Friday night, let's go party. Let's go with Sean because we know Sean's gonna fill up that bill. And I got tired. I got around people who are just like, dude, this is what you do. Like, you have so much potential, you know, and they actually made me feel bad. I'm like, these dudes are doing so well and, you know, they saw I had potential, so I had to leave all the other, you know, all my other buddies that, I mean, we had some, some, some stories that we can talk about, but that wasn't making us money.

[Paul Alex]

Around. Around what age did you start realizing this?

[Sean Green]

29.

[Paul Alex]

29?

[Sean Green]

Yeah.

[Paul Alex]

It's a good age.

[Sean Green]

Yeah, 29. I was like, yeah, dude, I can't do this every night. Yeah. We were going out four nights a week. Yeah. Yeah. I couldn't do that. And I got around people who were just doing better than me and I looked up to him and trusted him and that's how things started to shift. I always had that self discipline. I always had the self discipline. I always worked out. I mean, that was something I was going to do. I always had that intact. I just didn't find the right people to be around with. I was never around people that did crazy things, but I just weren't around people who shifted their mindset to the entrepreneur mindset.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[Sean Green]

You know, when I got around the owner of the tax business I'm currently in, things started to shift because I started to see things from a different perspective. So you're about to make a trade based on a friend's text, but which you do you listen to is it. We could buy a house in Tulum, get optioning those options. We could lose everything.

[Paul Alex]

Or let's do a little research.

[Sean Green]

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[Paul Alex]

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[Sean Green]

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[Paul Alex]

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[Sean Green]

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[Paul Alex]

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[Sean Green]

Does not replace safe driving.

[Paul Alex]

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[Sean Green]

I saw people online doing really well. Yeah. I scrolled. So you. Yeah. Saw the positive things you were doing. You know, I looked up to that and you know, I wanted to be around people who are just taking things to a next level. Right. Being positive, helping others, whether that's through mentoring or whether that's through is leading by example. That's when things started to shift.

[Paul Alex]

Wow. So your perspective now that you've been in entrepreneurship for how many years now?

[Sean Green]

I say full entrepreneur. When I completely left corporate America, seven years.

[Paul Alex]

So seven years full time entrepreneur. What would you tell someone once they get into full time entrepreneurship, actually built a business, Would that person ever go back to working for someone else?

[Sean Green]

Once you get to a level of success, I don't think you ever could. Why is that? Having your time back is more valuable. Once you get your time back and you see that you could be compensated substantially and have your time, you can't go back. You couldn't pay me enough.

[Paul Alex]

Yeah.

[Sean Green]

No.

[Paul Alex]

And what do you say to the people that say, well, I see entrepreneurs working more than they would for someone else. I see them working 50 hours, 60 hours, 100 hours. What do you tell those people?

[Sean Green]

Oh, that been. That's. That's me sometimes. Yeah. I tell those people that in the beginning. Yeah. You're gonna be that guy working those hours. I mean, there's no way around it. Yeah. But let me ask you a question. Let me ask this question. Would you rather be working all those hours and making someone else rich or working all those hours and making yourself rich?

[Paul Alex]

That's right.

[Sean Green]

Yeah. Pick your poison. Yeah, right.

[Paul Alex]

It's going to be hard. Regardless.

[Sean Green]

It's going to be hard. Choose your heart. Yeah. Right.

[Paul Alex]

So, yeah, no, I love that, man. I love that type of mindset. So. All right. Now, typically I go ahead and at the very end of the interviews, I go ahead and I ask you to go and look at the camera and just imagine that you have hundreds of thousands of people which. What's going to happen watching this?

[Sean Green]

Right?

[Paul Alex]

And they're going to be inspired and they're going to be like, man, his story is so real. I'm currently 29. I still don't know what I want to do. I'm trying to figure it out. I have a friend telling me to do X, Y and Z. Should I do it right? So what words of encouragement would you tell? This is deep. Old Sean. What would you tell old Sean when old Sean was still hanging out with those people that were comfortable? They weren't bad people, but they were comfortable, man. They weren't leveling up. So what would you tell old Sean right now?

[Sean Green]

That is a probably the one of the top questions someone's asked me. I would tell old Sean that keep grinding. You don't have to have it figured out. All you have to do is start. Once you start, that's when your legacy begins. I don't have it figured out yet. The legendary Paul doesn't have it figured out yet. But once you, you start, that's when your legacy begins. Stay grinding, stay focused. Stay around people who's doing something positive. That's what I tell my old self. Just keep grinding and it's all going to pay off. Don't listen to those negative people who are being negative because the negative people there, you'll never be criticized by someone's not doing. You'll never be criticized by someone doing better than you. I would say if you're, if you're receiving criticism is because those people aren't where you're at and they're not doing what you're doing. That's what I tell my old self. Keep grind. Keep grinding and keep pushing. You'll get there.

[Paul Alex]

And that's what we call the Level up with Sean Green. Guys, guys, leave us five star review on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and on YouTube. We have a brand new YouTube channel called the Level up with Paul Alex. Make sure to go ahead and subscribe to that channel, guys. We're currently top three in business on Apple Podcasts for the past 10 months. Guys. Okay, because of you, the listeners now, guys, if you guys love this episode, make sure to share with a friend that you care about that wants to level up their knowledge not only in the tax business but also wants to go ahead and learn more from Sean. And then Sean, where can my followers and listeners actually go ahead and reach.

[Sean Green]

Out to you brother can reach out me to Instagram. My Instagram is official. Shawn. That's S h a w n 63. Again, it's official underscore. Sean. S h a w n 63. That's my IG.

[Paul Alex]

And there you guys have it. This is the Level up with Paul Alex, Sean Green. We'll catch you guys on the next one.

[Sean Green]

Peace.

[Paul Alex]

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[Sean Green]

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[Paul Alex]

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[Sean Green]

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[Paul Alex]

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[Sean Green]

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[Paul Alex]

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