LuSundra Everett, Enrolled Agent Founder’s Mastermind Member Spotlight:
Sometimes, when we start on a life journey, we never know where that road will lead us. For LuSundra Everett, enrolled agent and owner of Everett Tax Solutions, her path into tax resolution began in 2015. Although, at the time, she didn’t even know what tax resolution was, never mind making it her career destination. It all started with her pursuing an item on her bucket list: learning how to prepare taxes. LuSundra grew up in a military family and is both a U.S. veteran and a military wife. She shares that being a military spouse comes with its own set of problems when looking for a job. “When people know you’re a military spouse, the first question they ask is, ‘How long are you going to be here?’” LuSundra explains. “They’re trying to decide whether or not they want to hire you knowing in a year or two they’re possibly going to have to replace you.” She decided she wanted to figure out what she could do on her own. Learning how to prepare taxes was on her bucket list, but her challenge was that whenever she moved, she was too late to enroll in that year’s tax prep classes. Finally, in 2015, LuSundra experienced what she calls a divine intervention during a Girl Scout meeting. “One of the other moms was saying, ‘Hey, my parents own a tax business, and they’re starting a class.’ I was like, ‘Perfect. Sign me up.’” From that moment on, one thing led to another. LuSundra began working for a tax prep franchise, and her boss wanted her to commit to the following year, saying, “When you take your test next year, you can do this.” LuSundra asked her boss why would she have to take a test the following year if she just took one? Her
boss told her she could avoid taking the annual tax preparers test if she became an enrolled agent, and he offered to pay for the EA review course and exams if LuSundra would work for him for five years. That’s when a lightbulb went on. “I’m a military spouse. I can’t commit for five minutes much less five years,” LuSundra says, “but I thought, if you’re willing to take five years of my life, there has got to be something to this enrolled agent thing, even though I have absolutely no clue what it is.” In January 2017, LuSundra became an EA. She was thrilled with her accomplishment but didn’t know about tax resolution. All that changed in August 2020 when she saw Michael online and attended the Tax Resolution Success Summit. “I wasn’t looking for tax resolution. What I was looking for is someone in the tax industry who could help me with marketing.” She says, “But I believe that when you are walking in your purpose, the people you need will show up when you need them.” One of the first things she learned was to price her services appropriately. “As soon as that first Summit was over, I had my first call for tax resolution. The client wanted an offer in compromise,” LuSundra recalls. “I told her, ‘Based on what you’re telling me, you’re not going to qualify for an offer in compromise.’ She replied, ‘Well, will you try?’ I replied, ‘It’s going to cost you $5,000,’ and she said, ‘Great. How do I pay you?’” As it turns out, LuSundra was right, but the client ended up with an installment agreement and was happy with the outcome. “Michael helped me see the value in what we have to offer,” LuSundra says. “That was an eye-opener for me.”
LuSundra says Michael helped her understand the power of her EA credential and encouraged her to make the shift from tax prep to tax resolution. “All I knew was preparing taxes. I did not know there was such a thing as tax resolution,” she says. But she took Michael’s advice and began focusing on tax resolution and separated her tax resolution practice from her tax prep practice and recently formed ETS Tax Relief. For now, LuSundra, who has moved over 30 times, and her husband Darl Jr., who recently retired from the military, are settled now in Virginia. Their son Darl III (19) finished his first year in college, and their daughter Donavyn (14) is busy on swim team. It’s been an interesting journey for LuSundra who has worked in many other industries and even has a degree in nursing. She shares. “I wondered if I was ever going to find my thing, but now that I’m in tax resolution, I can definitively say that everything I’ve gone through has uniquely prepared me to help a lot of people. All of that background has been very valuable to me.”
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