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Speech Transcript

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L. Scott Ferguson: [00:00:00] Hey, time to shine today. Podcast Varsity Squad. It is Scott Ferguson. So i’m sure you’ve heard the Term, the only thing is for sure in life is death and taxes spoken by one of the most brilliant men that ever lived, Benjamin Franklin. And it’s the truth. , I hate to admit it. People that know me, friends, family, know that I went through quite the lack of a better term, hell with back taxes.

And it was a hundred percent on my responsibility, my fault, to let myself get to that position. I had somebody that firm that really kinda helped me out. And I was able to get out from underneath my tax debt, but I also spent about 14, 000 on it. And I didn’t know somebody like my good friend, Raanan Raanan someone who I immensely respect, a former IRS tax agent that is really helps people that are struggling with back taxes.

Or leans and . He has a great resource at irsvideos. [00:01:00] com And I we have about a 45 minute conversation, which is a little bit longer than I generally take but the knowledge nuggets He got they put out there especially for business owners or entrepreneurs that, , have to file their own taxes and , and kind of can get in a conundrum like me.

, he, he laid down some serious knowledge nuggets. So if you’re a business owner, entrepreneur, or even somebody that really wants to help somebody else, they know they are in a situation with back taxes or liens, please, , share this with them or hit the like button or subscribe. My sponsors and affiliates really love that.

So without further ado, Here’s my good friend Michael Raanan from IRSvideos. com. Let’s level up. Time to shine today podcast varsity squad. This is Scott Ferguson. And I have somebody that not, not everybody likes to talk about taxes. Okay. But I was caught in a pinch back in 2010. He had to reach out and pay. Thousands and thousands of dollars to get to a certain status. My gentleman that I’m bringing on right now has forgot more about [00:02:00] taxes than I’ll ever care to know.

We had a fantastic mindset alignment chat off Mike. I immensely, immensely, immensely respect him. And that’s why I wanted to bring him on. There’s a waiting time to be able to bring him on because he is in super high demand. His name is Raanan Raanan, and he has the. Company IRS videos. com and Raanan’s background is, , he’s a former IRS agent.

He is known as the most sought after IRS back tax expert in the tax relief community and that’s legit guys Go google him. He’s a founder of again irsvideos. com the number one education educational resource that helps taxpayers resolve their IRS tax issues Back taxes and I cannot wait to throw some questions at my guy Raanan here because he’s again He’s you think of an IRS agent you think of just ooh like straight narrow But Raanan is actually pretty relatable.

We had a really fun conversation. I can’t wait to meet him in person as well So Raanan, thank you so [00:03:00] much for coming on. Please introduce yourself the time to shine today podcast varsity squad But first What’s your favorite color and why?

Michael Raanan: Favorite color is blue. Blue, okay. And why, that one’s hard to say.

, maybe it was because when I was a baby, I was given blue clothes or something like that and surrounded by blue. Right. But for me, I like the light color blue and I’ll tell you why in that one. Because it’s, it’s , it’s something that kind of shines and it’s something that’s bright. So I’m usually geared towards brighter, shinier colors, which for me is more optimism.

L. Scott Ferguson: That’s very cool, man. That’s very cool. So we had some talks about like you’re growing up and kind of what you did. I know, I believe you went to college in Florida went now, but I kind of want to get to the roots and like going to college and say, I’m going to work for the man. Basically, what I’m saying?

And then how did that kind of came about and how you really leveling up now to helping people with your courses, which squatted all be in the show notes. Fantastic content, by the way, even the free stuff is amazing. But how did Raanan, how did we get really to that point of to, [00:04:00] to say, I’m going to be an IRS tax agent.

Michael Raanan: Yeah, yeah. So it definitely wasn’t planned. So what happened was I was a I was a sophomore in college. 9 11 happened and and shortly after that, , I graduated and the market was still in the tank. And , the, the economy was still on a downward swing and, and wasn’t necessarily recovering just yet.

And I was looking for work, , I was looking for work. I was a new graduate. I wanted to hit the ground running and start working immediately. , I already had bills to pay. I got stuff I want to accomplish in life. And long story short, , I was going from job fair to job fair. I was doing interviews and being a diligent person that I am, I went to this one job fair.

And I made sure I hit every single table at the job fair.

L. Scott Ferguson: Right.

Michael Raanan: And I was going down the row and at the very end of this one row was these these two individuals standing up in suits. And as I got closer, I could see it [00:05:00] said IRS. I said, Oh, that’s interesting. The big bad IRS is here. At a job fair, , and then I started getting targets, right?

Exactly. Right. I started getting some emotions. I’m like, all right, hold on. I got these preconceived notions. All right. I’m supposed to be scared and intimidated. Do I talk to them? Do I skip over their table? So I said, all right, I’m going to actually speak with them. , I needed a, I needed a job.

And also I wanted to figure out, , what was going on with this bad IRS. So I ended up chatting with these folks. They were very personable and friendly. And they told me that that evening at midnight. That there’s an opportunity that’s closing that the IRS finally had a little bit of money in their budget to do a mass hiring.

And I think they were hiring about maybe 1200 people or 2500 people, whatever, nationwide and all these different locations. And I said, all right, great. , what’s the link? How do I get on there? So I went on there. It was on the IRS website and they gave me a special link and they had this 100 question kind of initial [00:06:00] test on there.

And I think it was more for analytical skills, , and also like psychology, , what would you do in this scenario? What would you in this scenario? So I did 100 questions. I submitted it ended up passing, getting a high score. They reach you. And then I got an invite to in person interview.

So now I’m in Florida, but the interviews in California and I had zero money. So I had to borrow money to pay for a flight and luckily we had a relative in, in California at the time and stayed with them and ended up flying over there doing the fingerprinting that they have doing the in person interview.

Which itself is, was very stressful, especially chatting with the, the IRS agents there. Now, those 2 IRS agents are an interview. We’re not as friendly as the initial 2. so I ended up passing that. Right? And so they’re testing you. Maybe, maybe they did it on purpose. We’ll see. But , what ended up happening is made it to the next level and ended up getting the job offer with the IRS and then you have [00:07:00] 1 whole year of on the job training while they do a background investigation.

That’s in depth.

L. Scott Ferguson: Okay. And that was in 2001, two timeframe.

Michael Raanan: So that was in 2004 that I started working at the IRS. Yeah. Gotcha.

L. Scott Ferguson: Gotcha. So you were stationed or where were you? Cause you’re a government guy. You’re are there, by the way, are those GS ratings?

Michael Raanan: They are. Yeah. So I came in as a GS seven and which was only , which is the chart for the, for the people who don’t know.

So you have this general schedule chart, GS schedule, and it came in as a seven, which was paying a whopping, I think 38, 500 or something. And then if you, if you pass, and then after the one year on the job training.

Then you moved automatically to a GS nine, which pays a whopping 42, 000 or something like that. Yeah. Big money, especially in California.

L. Scott Ferguson: Were you, you were your office out in California then during your time? Yeah.

Michael Raanan: So my, my [00:08:00] office, the my main, IRS post of duty, they call it. Even though this is all just civil, some military but they call it a post of duty and it was Glendale, California.

So basically one of the suburbs of Los Angeles County.

L. Scott Ferguson: Okay. And what, like, do you have any like fun stories before we kind of get in the nuts and bolts of what you can do for people? Like something fun where maybe someone thought they were getting over. You, and really they’re not, do you have anything that you’re allowed to share?

Michael Raanan: Yeah. I mean, I could share a lot, , the I mean, you could share almost everything when you’re, when you’re at the IRS, except for people’s socials or names and stuff like that. But just, just right, but just by virtue of being in LA County, it was very interesting because I had a whole bunch of different taxpayers.

In my inventory and , as a, as a GS nine is a grade nine, you end up with 95 cases that you’re working at one time in your inventory. That’s a lot of cases. So who are these taxpayers? These are businesses and individuals [00:09:00] that are. In and around Los Angeles County. So that means celebrities. That means rock bands.

That means, , actors and actresses, it could be sports athletes. It could be just a regular John Doe and Jane Doe down the street. I’ve also had cases of people and, , in Malibu, Beverly Hills, all that stuff. But more importantly, interestingly, I had restaurants and businesses that were on Rodeo Drive.

Okay. So, So all of us, we end up on Rodeo Drive, we’re walking down, we see like paparazzi, we see the red carpets out, but really behind the scenes, there’s a lot of tax problems and things going on. So that was very interesting to see. So, so, , my, I ended up seeing and doing a lot of different things.

And one of the things I was chatting about the other day was when I was working this individual case for, for individual taxpayer he was an attorney and he owed I think a million dollars or something like that, or just over a million dollars. As a revenue officer, which is what my position was at the IRS, you’re supposed to go out into the field and pay a visit to the taxpayer and say, Hey, what’s [00:10:00] going on?

What caused this problem? , what, , can you set up a payment plan and what can you do to prevent owing again in the future?

L. Scott Ferguson: Right.

Michael Raanan: So it’s very, at a certain amount of, , dollar threshold with the IRS, it’s very, very difficult. person to person. All right. So you actually get your own IRS concierge coming out and helping you, right?

Is that what

L. Scott Ferguson: you get that or,

Michael Raanan: It depends on how they categorize it at the IRS. They categorize certain cases, certain higher dollar amounts. They send it to the field, which just means a local IRS office. So I went out and visited this taxpayer. And he was happy to see me say, Oh, thanks for coming in.

, I’m, I’m an open book. Yeah, I ran into some problems, all this stuff. I said, Oh, great. , this is what we need. Just the typical financial form that the IRS uses. So we get together, figure out what is the guy’s ability to pay? Because even if you have a million dollars on a back tax, it doesn’t really matter what the dollar amount is.

The IRS just wants to know objectively, what can you pay today towards the back tax? What’s your income per month expenses per month. Do you have any assets [00:11:00] that maybe you could borrow and so forth? So, so it’s very objective, just an analysis, right? So, so the guy said, very friendly. I said, great. So I left the paperwork in, , with him and said, here’s you what we need to buy, call me if you need some more time or what have you.

So over the next few days, everything went completely downhill. All right. So he was very friendly, personable. I’m an open book. He told me all this stuff. So after I got back to the office, working on all these other 94 cases that I’m working and, and all of a sudden things started going downhill. So we started to get he ended up getting a tax representative who was also an attorney and that’s fine.

Taxpayers have a right to do that and they should if they’re busy or they just don’t know what they’re doing and they want help. So we got the, the tax representative came in, it was an attorney and After that, we started getting a whole bunch of faxes and and correspondence in the mail saying that that dispute and liability and also more so that they they’re going to refuse to communicate any further after this initial .

Bombardment of all this [00:12:00] communication. So we’re trying to reach out and figure out what happened, what’s going on. And there was no communication. So fast forward a few weeks later, we ended up getting by by serving a process server and by fax and elsewhere, a lawsuit where the, the taxpayer ended up suing me personally.

Ended up suing the IRS commissioner, ended up suing. The brokerage firms and the other third parties that we ended up having to issue a levy to. So we, we ended up issuing garnishments and levies to these, these third parties after weeks and weeks. There’s probably months really that went by where he refused to communicate, just saying, Hey, I can pay, I can’t pay or whatever, just stop communicating.

And when you stop communicating with the IRS, basically he’s now all alone. So they have to figure out, all right, , we have to try to set up a payment plan, but this person’s now not communicating. So we don’t really know what’s happening. So we have to get their attention. So we ended up suing even the brokerage firm that was holding some of these funds that we ended up levying.

So that, that [00:13:00] created an entire domino effect Discussions with their, their council, IRS council, and all this other stuff. But what the taxpayer didn’t realize that you can’t sue an IRS employee. So putting my name as a defendant on there is a waste of time. So that ended up getting converting to.

The U. S. The United States Treasury is who the correct party was to sue. So I had to participate in certain kind of quasi depositions and all other stuff with the U. S. Attorneys. But all sorts of all sorts of different things happen when you work in an I. R. S. case. You don’t know whether it’s going to go, , in a positive way, which most of them should and do, but Or are you going to have some sort of issue where the taxpayer really doesn’t understand the process?

And they automatically switch to lawsuits, even though owing a back tax is not necessarily a legal venue. It’s more administrative venue.

L. Scott Ferguson: Right. So basically just. Like, when I got that letter, which I shared with you off mic, [00:14:00] I, , pooped my pants, I ain’t gonna lie to you, right? And so, I mean, I immediately, like, by, I got it on a Friday, so it’s like weighing on me, Saturday and Sunday, I call on Monday, and they were, the IRS was so nice to me.

I mean, they were not, they didn’t attack me or I was thinking they’re like, we’re coming after you. You’re a dirt bag. There was super cool. And they actually were like, listen, your best bet. And I don’t know if this is common practice, but they, the lady was so nice to me. She’s like, your best bet would probably be get representation.

 And because I didn’t have access to stuff like you put out which squad we will get to that in a little bit and I did and I hired somebody and I showed you what they did for me But it was like what my biggest thing is is if anyone’s out there like don’t run from the irs They’ll you guys or not you guys they will work with you As long as you don’t duck them like that guy did To you guys, , so so now i’m liking your story Raanan to Kind of like a prosecutor, [00:15:00] right?

That, said, Okay, now I’m going to move to the other side of the aisle, right? Is that kind of a, , in a quasi analogy, what I’m saying? Like what you kind of did, like when you moved into now, like how to work with the IRS to help yourself out.

Michael Raanan: Yeah, yeah, I would say that, but and also in a way, it’s kind of like the opposite.

So it’s actually both. So, so the reason being is that even when I was at the IRS for the full, , the 8 years that I was there the communication always involved. This is the problem, which is the past. , these are liabilities for this year, this year, and this year. What caused those balances?

And the tax, and then we would figure out with the taxpayer oh, they just had lack of withholding from their paycheck.

L. Scott Ferguson: Right.

Michael Raanan: You know what I mean? They didn’t have enough withholding. Easy, right? You just increase your withholding. Or if the individual was a contractor and they got 1099 income, then they ended up being required to make an estimated tax payment.

[00:16:00] So you withhold from yourself and you send that to the IRS yourself. There’s no employer to withhold it. So the solution there is simply make your estimated tax payments. So almost all of these IRS problems Surround those 2 things, just lack of taxes that were either withheld or were made in the form of estimated payment.

So, so what that comes down to is education. So 99. 9 percent of these discussions, even as an former IRS agent was all about education. This is what caused your IRS back tax and then the 2nd part is, this is how you resolve it. And, and resolution doesn’t mean full pay it. , and definitely doesn’t involve, , give the IRS your, your firstborn shut down your business, , never survive or drive.

The reality, the reality that, that a lot of people don’t realize the IRS has about 20 million cases in their inventory. People that have back taxes today, they do not even know who these [00:17:00] people are personally, nor do they even care. So if Raanan’s in the inventory or Scott’s in the inventory, they send out these, these template canned letters to all of us saying, Hey, you owe a back tax.

All right, no problem. Set up a payment plan or set up whatever the resolution should be. So the IRS does not really. come after you in the sense that we all think they do. The IRS is the IRS computer these days, and the computer likes to send out these canned templates because it’s programmed to do so.

So education was, was what I was doing at the IRS. And even once I ended up on the other side of the table, it’s the same exact thing. And funny enough my first client in private Was a former taxpayer that I had when I was at the IRS.

L. Scott Ferguson: That you kind of were like, quote unquote, going after to resolve. So

Michael Raanan: the, the tax represent, right.

That’s right. So the, the, the tax representative who is representing that taxpayer. When I was at the IRS, [00:18:00] he and I had a very good relationship. I had a very good relationship with 99 percent of the tax representatives who were representing taxpayers when I was at the IRS. So they all, they all knew me then.

And then when I let them know, I started my own practice. They’re like, Oh, great. We have some cases we’d like to refer to you because they didn’t want to handle it or they’re retiring or whatever the case may be. So the first case is I got a call saying, Oh, Oh, Raanan, , I got, I got a, do you remember so and so I’m like, yeah, he’s like, Oh, I like you to, I like you to take over his case.

And so we’re no longer, , representing him or handling the cases more, just doing preparation. So, so my former taxpayer as an IRS employee became my very first client in private practice.

L. Scott Ferguson: Oh, wow. So do you have to be an attorney to be that a tax collector or, , what, what you do, a

Michael Raanan: tax representative?

Yes. Okay. So, so the IRS requires a license you have, but you have to have one of the three licensees. So you could be an attorney you could be a [00:19:00] CPA or you could have an enrolled agent’s license, an EA license and the enrolled agent license actually older than the CPA license, but no one’s ever heard of it.

And, and the license comes from the IRS directly.

L. Scott Ferguson: Okay.

Michael Raanan: So the IRS is the one who came up, the treasury with the enrolled agent license and your license specialized in tax and your, your license and your specialty is handling IRS collection cases.

L. Scott Ferguson: Gotcha, gotcha. That’s, that’s good to know. So, what would your recommendation be for people that, oh big, they’ve been sticking their head in the sand, right?

Thinking they’re going to pull it out the next year and everything’s going to be okay. Like, of course, I mean, interest tax on, they’re dodging the IRS. And, and unfortunately, I know some people like this. I also was that person from like I showed you right, but like, what would you really the council from a council side?

What would you say to that person?

Michael Raanan: Yeah. So, so number 1 is, is immediately make sure they’re opening [00:20:00] up the envelopes from the IRS, which again is the IRS computer. So these templates are telling us what the computer is about to do. So first you get a bill saying, Hey, you have X amount of dollars. Next one says, , X amount of dollars.

The next one says, Oh, , please contact us. If not, we’re, we have to move to the next step, which is file a tax lien. , next one is going to say, we’re going to levy or garnish you. Cause it’s been months now that you’re getting these letters. So number one is. Communication is key. So open up the envelopes and just know that you could even disagree with the IRS, no big deal.

So just communicate the disagreement.

L. Scott Ferguson: If

Michael Raanan: they send you a bill that says it’s a hundred thousand dollars, but you think it’s inaccurate, very easy. You just call them, say, I believe this is wrong because of such and such.

L. Scott Ferguson: Okay.

Michael Raanan: So, so they ought to, they got to open up the envelopes and then secondly, immediately take action.

So that you’re always on offense, nobody wants to end up getting the bank account garnished or, , or their wages levied or any of that stuff. And things should never [00:21:00] ever escalate to enforcement action. That’s all. That’s all call enforcement action. So you don’t have to worry about garnishments or seizures or any of that other nonsense because there’s so many opportunities to resolve your IRS issue before the IRS escalates to what they called enforced collection.

 Where, where they’re basically all by themselves, they, the IRS by the taxpayer and they have to move by themselves, they can’t just close the case they’ll have to exhaust all the things now if they levy and they garnish and they get nothing at some point, they might end up closing the case, but they need to hear from the taxpayer.

So, so second, again, , communicate second one is take action and then also reach out, reach out. , for someone could always represent you or they take over the case, but in more cases than not, which I would say by 99 percent of taxpayers don’t even need representation where I take over their case.

They just need to know what are the procedures to set up a payment plan.

L. Scott Ferguson: Right.

Michael Raanan: Very simple. What are the procedures [00:22:00] to abate the penalties to say, Hey, IRS, can you please get rid of these penalties and interest and bring the balance down? And those are just procedures. So whether Scott makes the call or Raanan makes the call, it’s the same exact procedure,

L. Scott Ferguson: same exact procedure.

And in basically, so you see these infomercials and stuff out there, Raanan, and I know, , which ones I’m kind of talking about. When they’re like, Oh, the IRS garnished me. That’s because that person did not communicate with the IRS. Right. I mean, they just sat there and then they had to take what you call enforceable action because they were on an Island by themselves.

No one’s communicating with them. So they have to do what the constitution kind of tells them they had to do. Right. I mean, so you see those commercials like that, that’s because those people didn’t communicate, the IRS just doesn’t go and say, Oh, take it. Right.

Michael Raanan: That’s right. That’s right. So I, I literally this morning, and since all we do is back taxes, we get this daily and literally every day.

So this morning I was speaking with the lady, 16, 000. They wanted to charge her for. Addressing [00:23:00] her back taxes. She just simply needs a payment plan and then try to pursue the penalties. And sure, sure. Do you pay them to 95 to supposedly stop enforcement or make sure they don’t do enforcement, which, which that itself is not even a, a, Possibility for them to do something like that for

L. Scott Ferguson: 295.

Michael Raanan: And, and she gave me the name of this, of this so called tax relief firm, which I I’m very familiar with. I I’ve received so many phone calls and emails from victims of all these unscrupulous tax relief firms.

L. Scott Ferguson: Right.

Michael Raanan: And, and one of the reasons I created irsvideos. com that will be. Hopefully they are forever and ever for taxpayers to use is so that taxpayers do not become victimized by these tax relief firms.

I know, I know a tax relief firm that pays 5 million per month. For advertising and marketing across radio, internet and, and by mail.

L. Scott Ferguson: Wow. So they’re,

Michael Raanan: they’re paying, they’re paying 60 million a year to advertise [00:24:00] to the 20 million people in the IRS inventory that we talked about.

L. Scott Ferguson: Well, squad, anybody that’s out there, , I’m blessed to have you watch me in Vimeo and YouTube.

I’m going to kind of show you something. I don’t really ever do this. Everyone that really knows, but I really want to get this out to people. And this is Raanan’s. Website here, the IRS videos. com. And Raanan, if , if you can take, just take a couple of minutes and kind of walk us through a little bit about like what these programs might be able to offer my listeners out there.

Michael Raanan: Yeah, yeah, sure. So, so it was maybe like six or seven or eight years into my practice where just verbally I’ve been telling people one on one , don’t hire us. Literally telling nine out of 10 people, we get referrals and inquiries all the time. I said, don’t hire us to represent you where we take over the case because it costs thousands of dollars because of all the time that’s involved.

But number one, number two, your case doesn’t even require a tax representative. This is not a big deal. [00:25:00] Right. Even if you have a hundred thousand, 500, 000, it’s still not necessarily a big deal because the procedure is the same, whether you have 500, 000 or Or 5, 000 to the IRS. Right. If you’re trying to request a payment plan, it’s the same procedure, whether Raanan does it or you do it.

So I’ve been telling people verbally, finally, and I was busy. So I finally got around of setting up irsvideos. com a few years back.

L. Scott Ferguson: Sure.

Michael Raanan: And that’s basically me in video format, which is what you’re seeing on the screen, explaining step by step, very simply, how do you remove an IRS tax lien? People always ask me all the time.

How do you, how do you remove an IRS tax lien? How do you, on this one is, , how do you reduce the, your IRS debt? how do you actually pay less to the IRS? And there’s no, there’s no magic involved. And, and so, , how do you set up an IRS payment plan? How do you remove the penalties and the interest?

All of these are questions. So what I did was I took the questions and the common things that people need and I put them in a video format. So instead of having to [00:26:00] hire us. Or, or, or become a victim of these so called tax relief firms. They could get the step by step instructions as a blueprint on just resolve your issue on your own.

I’m a former, former IRS agent.

L. Scott Ferguson: And these are, these are videos. And so if let me ask something like you keep up with the times and you’ll make a tweak to a video, if need be, , if something’s like IRS changes the laws and you do that. Okay. That’s good. That’s great to know squad that’s out there. So the, each one of them kind of has like, there is a free one here with a five ways to pay less than your IRS.

And full disclosure, I really kind of went through that. Already the squad and then these as other ones. So this, the, the, the bundle, what is that bundle? Cause that’s a fantastic price compared to what I had to pay to and Lawrence Levy was great for me. I mean, he helped me out, but I think I might overpay just a little bit.

Michael Raanan: Yeah. Yeah. It costs, it costs thousands of dollars, thousands of dollars to hire a tax relief firm. It’s, it’s, it’s, it’s going to end up being tens [00:27:00] of thousands of dollars only because the IRS is slow and stop. So, so you would be paying a legitimate tax firm. Not, not a tax relief firm, but a legitimate tax firm, professional tax firm.

Tens of thousands of dollars over the period of X amount of months. It could be eight months. It could be nine months only because the IRS is slow. Yeah, there you go. Yeah. So, and, and in most cases, nine out of 10 cases, there’s no need to do that because there’s no need to hire a representative.

It’s not a big deal. You just set up your own payment plan. So, so what these are is, is individual cases individual blueprints and videos of if you just need to know how to get rid of a tax lien, we have that there. So you can end up just getting that that video and learning step by step how I do it, right.

And how my firm does it without having to hire us, or if someone needs two or three, then it makes more sense to buy the bundle and just get all seven, all

L. Scott Ferguson: of these for 400 bucks, basically 395. Everything you see on the

Michael Raanan: screen.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yeah, [00:28:00] exactly. That’s amazing. Raanan, this, I’ll tell you what, this that’s fricking amazing that you do it.

And I know that how you are as a teacher and I’ve seen what you’re putting out there is legit. It’s easy to follow. That’s not rocket science, man. So I really appreciate that about you, brother. So let me ask you something, make this a little bit fun, kind of get off taxes just a little bit here, but let’s, you’ve seen The movie back to the future.

I assume. Okay. Let’s let’s get in that DeLorean. With marty mcfly, right? Let’s go back to the double deuce the 22 year old Raanan Okay, I don’t want you to change any of your journey because it’s pretty awesome But what might you say to him that might help him shorten the learning curve or blast through maybe just a little bit quicker Or just blast through in anything.

Michael Raanan: Yeah. Yeah, so fun fact real quick. So I was 22 when I became an iris agent Yeah, yes, but what I wish I knew yeah to fast forward, , the biggest thing I learned [00:29:00] a lot outside of academic institutions, I would say more so than when I got my bachelor’s and master’s degree. I learned the things that have helped me the most were outside of school.

L. Scott Ferguson: Okay.

Michael Raanan: So I, I, , what, what would be helpful to actually. Accelerate success and and is more of understanding the way business works and networking works in general, , and and who, , and what, are both very important. , some people say it’s more who, , but what, , so become an expert and in.

Sir, a certain subject matter.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yes.

Michael Raanan: I think actual real expertise is very hard to come by, , especially those of us who, who hire and, and bring on different folks. So, so. That’s the number one thing is actually learning as much as possible in the field that you’re actually focused on. And then you ended up building upon that with how does business actually work?

, who wants to do, who wants to do business with another business [00:30:00] person, that’s also an expert in a certain field and just understanding those two things. And it’s not submitting resumes. Cause , we talked about how did I get started with the IRS is I submitted. God knows how many of hundreds and hundreds of resumes to people when I graduated college, I was looking for work in order to survive, , and I was networking at the same time.

I was trying to reach people who knew people who knew people and and all of that stuff. So, , today people are complaining and saying, I can’t find a job in the right. Because no one’s even looking at resumes. That’s not how business is conducted today. Not

L. Scott Ferguson: anymore, man.

Michael Raanan: Not anymore, right? I teach

L. Scott Ferguson: networking to different companies when they send their people out.

Because a lot of people are out there, me, me, me. I go to networking events. My biggest compliment I can get, if I was to meet you at a networking event, Raanan, and we didn’t know each other for a minute. My biggest compliment would be, When I turn my back and leave you, you to say, what the hell is that guy do?

Cause I use the Ford technique, family, [00:31:00] occupation, recreation, and dreams. My, my superpower is curiosity. I’m going to know everything about you at a networking event, because I’m going to ask in my conversational way. I have a thank you note, the boxes, thank you cards in there. I have your business card.

I’m going to write you thinking, man, I’d love to grab a one on one with you sometime, , away from the event. Let me buy you a coffee. And I dropped that in the mail before I walk into my condo at night, right? Nine times out of 10, I get a call or an email or a text from you. And that’s the way, because I want to see what I can provide for you.

If you said, Oh, my kid is playing soccer and I need a really good coach or I need this. I’m going to do everything I can to send, Hey dude, , coach Rick. , and help you out. And that’s the way networking has to be done now because it’s not about me, me, me, , it’s just not, , there’s too many, much interference.

You can get what you want by giving. And that’s what I’ve kind of heard. And what your explanations were is I

Michael Raanan: think you just gave a nice mini masterclass to people listening. That’s exactly how relationships are built real relationships. Yes. So, so even in that one [00:32:00] interaction, you will know that person and they will know you forever after that.

And they will call you and contact you to, , to do business together. And , and, and then they also will introduce you to other people. So, so that, that’s what I wish I knew when I was 22 and someone, , someone taught me or I was able to find that information. And, and the second thing is I would tell everyone from my experience is for anyone who may be in school to as soon as you can.

Depart from that institution and, and really start conducting business. Even if that means you’re, you’re, , you’re going door to door and you’re, you’re offering to do car washes for people, or if you live in the North and, and it’s snowy, you, you, you’re scraping the snow off their windshields and they’re paying for that, that’s business and, and.

As the sooner someone could get out of the these, , the, the, the school institutions you’re going to learn 99. 9 percent of what you need to know outside of [00:33:00] school and doing

L. Scott Ferguson: it

Michael Raanan: by actually doing it. And, and, and for me, I would not have gone to college. I would not have even gone to high school for our young kids.

They’ll be, , they’ll, they’ll be leaving the elementary school once they finished with that and they will be homeschooled. I would have them hanging with you for three months and learning from you. They would get a much better education being with an entrepreneur. So we look at, , when I analyze things right now and I look back, , in, in the DeLorean for 22 years of age, I would say I wanted, I should have immediately found someone that I could work with and work with for free.

I want to go wherever you go. I want to, I want to be your right hand man. I would, I would work with you. Teach me everything about, , what you’re doing as a, in a brokerage firm, teach me about communication, teach me about marketing, whatever it is that person is doing. And that is the best way.

And I would even say the only way people are going to be able to thrive in the future. Is by actually learning alongside somebody the professors and the teachers and, and the [00:34:00] folks who come and do their nine to five at this, the schools, they don’t have that experience. Unfortunately, you’re not going to have a Scott Ferguson who’s, who’s working at the school and can say, here’s what I did to build my company.

Here’s what I know out of my knowledge. They’re just not at these locations. So why would you go to a location where the knowledge and the actual practical experience is not there. And that’s what I learned. After going through all these institutions myself,

L. Scott Ferguson: I love that you threw it out there with regards to, like, because kids will, , I live in Palm Beach, so you have to keep a certain status, right?

So I do speak at high school. So see what I pull up in what I’m wearing, all this stuff. And they’re like, you didn’t go to college. Should I? And I, and I just weigh the options with them. I’m like, are you going, if you use college as a networking events every day, that’s one thing. Right? Because those who can’t do teach, right?

That’s the bottom line. Most teachers like Warren Buffett might speak at a school here and there, but he ain’t a teacher. You know what I’m saying? So [00:35:00] if you’re looking for, or if you’re going to go to college and your parents are dead set on making you go, then join a fraternity. Join something that is going to put networking at the forefront of everything that you do in life.

Period. So I loved it in that question that you said networking. So Raanan, as we kind of tie it up a little bit, I have to ask you, what is your definition of a life well lived?

Michael Raanan: Yeah, life well lived. Yeah, that’s a great question. , for me, it’s, it’s, it’s reaching my potential and I’ll explain what that means because I think a lot of people may, may say that.

So, so reaching my potential, which means I’m actually doing what I know I can do. And, and that’s why I was excited about irisvideos. com when I launched it, because my ultimate goal is to depart from the tax industry at some point and leave that for people to use, right? So life well lived is, is taking care of myself, a family.

And, but more importantly is how can I help other people with the little that I know, right? So my background on back taxes, how can I help this lady who I spoke to this [00:36:00] morning with not getting ripped off is 16, 000. Right. Okay. And, and, and she doesn’t even owe that much. She should be applying the 16, 000 towards the back tax or the current tax, but they somehow quoted her that.

Right. So, so I see this every day. So in my little world of back taxes, one of my success would be to ensure that I give the money back. The U. S. Population, right? Which my fellow Americans, something they could use. And then I would have been productive in my area of tax, right? And, and so that’s what I love.

Like, when I was talking again, one on one with people, I need to scale and say, Hey, stop being ripped off. Here’s something you could be, , useful to you. Now, with my kids, the number one thing is education.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yeah,

Michael Raanan: right. So life well lived and successes before I leave the planet. , here’s what you guys need to know to be successful.

Skip all the other stuff that, that I realized I didn’t know at the time, but I realized as I got older, you don’t need, right? Here’s what you need to know. So what are we [00:37:00] talking about? Even now at age four and seven with my young ones investments,

L. Scott Ferguson: This

Michael Raanan: is what passive income is. And we look at our passive income together.

Here’s why we got passive income every day on the 15th. Right here, here’s real estate investing. Here’s what we need to know. The business marketing we see, we see empty , lots here in central Florida, where I’m at. And a Publix is getting built, the public supermarket. Right. And we talk about, and we part, we pull in and say, look at, look at what they’re doing, look, look how they turn the, the, all this raw land into the infrastructure of what’s called a Publix.

And we look at the construction workers every day when we pass by and look at the progress now, phase one, phase two, all this stuff. And then we ended up going into Publix and we say, Hey, look, look, remember when this was just raw lands and we watched them doing construction. All right. And we talk about owning the shopping center.

So now when we drive by. My four year old and my seven year old say, Oh, that, that’s a good apartment complex. There’s, , and I say, yeah, it’s probably 300 units in there.

L. Scott Ferguson: And they

Michael Raanan: say, Oh, and my, my, if my four year old says, Oh, [00:38:00] that, , we should that’s one that we could own so that people pay us money instead of us paying people money.

L. Scott Ferguson: That’s the education. I mean, that is a life

Michael Raanan: well lived for me is, is showing them what they need to know so that when I’m not here any longer, they know exactly how to thrive. Cause , making a hundred thousand today. , 100, 000 when I was, when I was in college and stuff, everyone used to talk about that was their target.

, you can make six figures and it’s and I posted this on LinkedIn the other day. A lot of people don’t like to hear it, but, but 100, 000 today would be a million dollars. So if you want to be, if you want to end up middle income, which means I could survive. I have a certain sense of financial security.

My, my kids do with all anything that the government or whatever may or may not do. I’m, I have a certain amount of stability and I could take care of my health. I could afford to go into the doctor if I need to, all this stuff, it costs a lot of money. And it’s only going to go way up. So people are complaining and talking about [00:39:00] housing.

Housing is going to be way up, which means most people are actually going to be renters. They will.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yeah. They’re going to have to because they can’t afford to

Michael Raanan: buy. Right. Right. And, and, and that’s okay, but the rent’s going to be, what do you, what are they going to do when the rent is 7, 000 a month? For a basic rental, not anything fancy.

And in the future it will be 7, 000 a month. So now, , now you’re, you’re paying a lot of money , close to a hundred thousand dollars just to have a, a, , shelter over your head.

L. Scott Ferguson: Right.

Michael Raanan: So, so these are the things that, , we kind of think about and plan about and talk about. So my success is making sure I set that up for us now.

And that my kids have that education and then the general, , public that I could help while I’m here on this planet, I could help as much as possible.

L. Scott Ferguson: And I love that you’re planting trees you don’t plan to sit in the shade of, dude. That, that’s just something that this world needs more of. And Mike, as we kind of really wind things down here, I do have to put you through my leveling up lightning round, and it’ll take us just really quick to get through it.

You and I, I’m definitely gonna make it a point to meet you in real life. But [00:40:00] like, and we could probably talk about a few of these questions for 15, 20 minutes, but today you’ve got five seconds with no explanations. You ready to try? Or not even try. You ready to do this? Ready. Let’s go. Here we go.

Hopefully my Stitch doesn’t interrupt us. I don’t know if you heard my dog, but he’s just let me know something. All right, Raanan, what is the best leveling up advice you’ve ever received?

Michael Raanan: That would be use your, use your earned income to invest in passive income.

L. Scott Ferguson: Beautiful. Share one of your personal habits that contributes to your success.

Discipline. Beautiful. So you see me again, maybe walking down the street. Fergie’s looks like he’s in his doldrums a little bit. What book might you hand me? That’s really touched your life. Outwitting the devil by Napoleon Hill. Hell yeah. Your most commonly used emoji, if any, when you text thumbs up, nicknames, growing up, Mikey, Mike, got it.

Any hidden talent or superpower that you have that nobody knows about? Well, until now,[00:41:00]

introspection, love it. Chess checkers, a monopoly monopoly headline for your life. Hmm.

Michael Raanan: He did his best.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yeah. Any superstitions you buy into? Karma. Very, very good. Go to ice cream flavor. Vanilla. There’s a sandwich called the Mikey

Michael Raanan: Mike. Build that sandwich for me. What’s on it? So that would be protein with any healthy vegetables on top.

L. Scott Ferguson: Awesome. Favorite charity and or organization like to give your time and or money to?

So anything related to veterans. Awesome. Thank you for saying that last question. You can elaborate on this one a little bit, but what’s the best decade of music? 60s, 70s, 80s, or 90s. 90s. Yeah. Right. My man. So I know we can find you at irsvideos. com and I believe on there you have the tax relief book that is kind of like a free giveaway as well.

Okay. Tell us a [00:42:00] little bit about what you put out that you’re putting out to the to the, the squad out there. Like what, what’s that about?

Michael Raanan: Yeah. Yeah. So taxpayers are always saying, how do we get tax relief? They use this terminology of tax relief, IRS relief. So I created the tax relief booklet. And folks who get that at irsvideos.

com forward slash book. And it’s a hundred percent free. So we sell it for like 25, I think on Amazon. But you could get it for free at irsvideos. com forward slash book. And, and it just goes over the different ways you could bring your balance down. These are IRS ways. I’m not any magic involved, but it’s the IRS procedures and they’re welcome to go and grab that.

L. Scott Ferguson: I love it. And that’s a very generous giveaway and squad. I’m going to put it in the show notes. And the first person that puts in Mikey Mike, I know you’ve listened this long. I’m going to Purchase for you the bundle. So the first person that puts I don’t care if it’s pinterest insta I don’t care if you text it to five six one four four zero three eight three zero or if somebody you’re listening this and know somebody that needs it still [00:43:00] put in Mikey Mike In there and it’ll be actually i’ll do two the first two people that put in Mikey Mike I will do the irs bundle that he has on his site there and mike if you do me one last salad Raanan, you can do me one last solid and leave us with one last knowledge nugget we can take with us, internalize, and take action.

Michael Raanan: Yeah. Yeah. I would say the number one thing is, is discipline. So delay the gratification whatever it might be put in the work and discipline. And then you’re going to be so far ahead of where you ever imagined you would be.

L. Scott Ferguson: My good, like my good friend Jocko said I actually worked with, , it’s a discipline equals freedom, right?

That’s good. There you go. There you go.

Michael Raanan: Jocko knows what he’s talking about. Discipline is, is the key. So what’s the secret sauce? Discipline. When a Superbowl you’re working and, and, and that’s your discipline.

L. Scott Ferguson: , it’s funny that we have to pick with my coach. I have to pick one word a year and that’s my word.

, it’s like my, my word for the year. And actually it’s right there on my phone with that. It’s like, I wake up everything around here. If you’re seeing my office, it’s disciplined [00:44:00] inside my car system, because I have it. But I have a discipline of not seeing things all the way through to the end, right?

So that’s what i’m really working on squad. I just had like, sorry We took you a little long, but the information was fantastic a fantastic really master class with my good friend Raanan Raanan who wasn’t planning on going to the irs I mean he went through like when saw all those booths out there said hey i’ll pop by there And he he did the deed.

He he walked it, , he worked for our awesome You Nation our awesome government and he reminds us that 99. 9 percent of issues are caused tax issues are caused by a lack of education And when you get those envelopes Out there open them and remember Raanan said it’s okay to disagree with it And he’s saying take action be disciplined enough to take action always stay On the offense with them and that’s not saying battle them and go after them But just like communicate with them stay on the offense Don’t try to hide in a corner stick your head in the sand and wake up [00:45:00] another year and think it’s gonna be different Do not do that.

Raanan reminds us do not do that. And lastly like don’t let it Escalate to enforcement action. So all those infomercials you see out there saying irs garnished my accounts Yeah, because the people did not communicate with irs , Raanan wants you to understand networking, especially if you’re the young bucks and buckets out there understand networking It’s the new currency what you can provide for people be a relationship creator Get out there and give give give until it hurts so good and be open to that reciprocation , and get into business as soon as you can.

When you’re young, it doesn’t matter if it’s a lemonade stand. You’re not, all of us are lucky to have a pops like Raanan. That’s teaching his two youngins. Listen, this is what it is. This is passive income. This is where it’s at. So get out there and really do your due diligence. And lastly, discipline delay, the gratification.

That you are that you want right now and just do the work because it’ll come up a tenfold, the further down the road. And again, my guy. Raanan does things for the [00:46:00] intention not the attention. I know this guy does pretty good But you don’t see him out there leaning on lambo’s and all that other shit He’s out there doing the work serving and giving people and I said it before he’s planning to see trees He’s never gonna sit in the shade of with just these videos and what he’s doing with his kids because if you can make one Change or one influence on any individual.

It passes down through generations. And the more you mentor, the more immortal you become. So just remember that. And that’s what my good friend, Raanan does. He loves up his health. He loves up as well. He’s earned his varsity squatter squad letter here at time to shine today. Thank you so much for coming on, Raanan.

Everything you laid out was gold and I’m going to make sure that the squad takes action on it, brother.

Michael Raanan: Yeah. I appreciate you having him on the show. It’s a real privilege. We’ll talk soon. Yeah. Thanks, Scott. Bye bye.

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