Tracie Lowe, CPA, Founder’s Mastermind Member Member Spotlight:
In today’s fast-paced world, we’re all juggling something, but for Florida- based CPA Tracie Lowe, she is the ultimate juggler working as a CFO, running her own practice, being a busy mom to four children, owning a menagerie of pets, being a league bowler with a couple of perfect 300 scores, and being involved with community service. Tracie, who has a master’s degree in accounting, worked with the Fortune 500 company Deloitte. After six years in public accounting, she was hired as chief financial officer of a global medical supply company. After working there for 10 years, she realized she had reached an employment value ceiling. “My talents weren’t valued, and my value was not going to increase, meaning monetarily,” she says. “I set out a vision to say, okay, where do I want to be in five years, 10 years, 15 years? I wanted to have my own place and work my own hours and knowmy own value. So, I opened a small office, and I split my time between company CFO and my own practice. It was a leap of faith.” That faith was quickly tested when the IRS came calling. “I got audited because I had my W-2 income, which was substantial, and I had my self- employed office. Initially, it was reporting a loss because, as a CPA, I knew everything I could legally deduct as expenses against my business.” Tracie experienced what so many tax resolution clients do: the IRS’s “you’re guilty until you prove you’re innocent” attitude. Tracie recalls, “I started going through the audit process and was totally disrespected. I wondered if they’re treating me like this, how are they treating people who don’t know anything about taxes?”
It was about that time that Tracie discovered ASTPS and attended her first tax resolution conference. Michael Rozbruch was on the program, and Tracie’s first meeting with him helped her to see what she didn’t know about tax resolution. “I didn’t know I was supposed to charge for an Installment Agreement. I didn’t know I was supposed to charge for a POA,”Tracie says. “I was at the happy hour, having a good time, meeting people, and Roz comes over to me, introduces himself, and says, ‘Well, what’s your goal? Howmuch do you charge for a tax return?’ I think I said something like $125, $250, and he hits the table and says, “‘Did you spend all that money on your education and all that time sitting for the CPA exam to charge less than what H&R Block charges?’”Tracie joined Roz Strategies shortly after that. Understanding the value of her services, Tracie put Michael’s strategies to work. “I put authority figure image in my branding, and I get called now,” she says. “I’m doing FaceTime Live. I’m doing YouTube. I’m sending letters. And now I can implement other things because that foundation is there. That’s what creates the bulbs that go off in my head. And it’s kind of fun!” One of the letters Tracie sent landed on the desk of the president of one of the largest chambers of commerce in the Tampa, Florida, area. “He works at a bank, and he said, ‘You can’t imagine all the IRS garnishment letters I get in here, but I didn’t know where to send people with tax problems.’ He invited me to speak at the South Tampa Chamber event on April 15,
2020. Unfortunately, we got shut down with COVID-19. But he did refer one of my first customers that I was able to charge a full engagement fee. It was $7,500, no questions asked, and that came from the letter.” Tracie says her business is growing just in time, since she has two children in college. She and her husband, Jerome Lowe, Sr., have been married 21 years and have a blended family. Jerome is in the Air Force; AJ attends Hillsborough Community College; Anise will be attending Barry University (Miami, FL) on an academic and volleyball scholarship; and Alina is going into the third grade. In addition to being a busy CPA, mom of four, caretaker of animals, and a league bowler, she is also the president of the High School Volleyball Association. She officiates local basketball and volleyball games. “I’ve found that the community service aspect allows presence in the community,”Tracie says. “It also allows for authority in networking because a lot of people who officiate are professionals. I actually get referrals through them.”
4 • www.rozstrategies.com
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