LIBERTY TAX FRANCHISE: Praise from 1st Year Owner
The Liberty Tax franchise opportunity has both its supporters and its detractors, neither of which are shy with their opinions.
As of this writing, two UnhappyFranchisee.com posts have 60+ comments on Liberty Tax and founder John Hewitt:
LIBERTY TAX SERVICE Franchise Complaints
Are LIBERTY TAX SERVICE Franchise Owners Happy?
We received a recent comment from a “Mario” who claims to be a first-year Liberty Tax franchise owner. Mario states that he converted his existing business to Liberty Tax and his numbers shot up 40% this year after converting our business to Liberty. According to Mario, “We are first hand proof that the system works.”
Here is Mario’s posted comment. What do you think? Share a comment below.
2010/05/11 at 5:12pm Mario wrote:
“The problem may lie in the people making these postings. I am a first year franchisee of Liberty. We converted our existing tax practice into a Liberty Tax and are very satisfied with their support and service. Owning a business is not for everyone. As an owner of up to 5 business at any given time, I have to work harder than most people who have jobs. I don’t complain about that, I am happy to work harder because my family and I are the ultimate beneficiaries of the hard work and long hours. People who have jobs and work for others mostly work harder for the benefit of their employers with no real job stability or appreciation. If you like working 9-5, owning a business or a franchise is not for you. If you don’t want to risk the money you are investing, owning a business or a franchise is not for you. Keep it in a savings account earning 1/2 a percent per year interest. There are no free rides. If it were easy, everyone would be doing it. Liberty provides an excellent system and backend that if executed properly, works. There are over 2000 franchisees in the Liberty system. Most are very happy and profitable. Obviously the ones that are unhappy and/or didn’t preform well in their endeavor have posted here. Is the system perfect? Absolutely not. Is it much better than opening up a business on your own (as I have done many times both successfully and unsuccessfully)? It absolutely is.
“John Hewitt successfully founded and ran Jackson Hewitt which was sold for hundreds of millions of dollars. Liberty Tax is the fastest growing tax franchise ever. He has over 40 years experience in the tax industry. With that comes some people who weren’t a good fit for franchising, or for the tax industry or for owning a business in general. You have seen their postings above. Take them with a grain of salt. If you are interested in franchising with Liberty Tax, inquire with Liberty and you will get a chance to talk with John Hewitt himself. Opportunities like that are rare. He is a hands on CEO with a wealth of information and knowledge that he isn’t afraid to share (to his franchisees). If you have questions about the postings above, feel free to present them to John directly and he will give you the other side of the story which is not represented here.
“Goto Jackson Hewitt’s website and goto their investor relations section and listen to their conference calls and look at their financials. Better yet, search them on Google News and you will see that they are on the verge of failing. Then do the same on Liberty’s website. You can see the financials posted (even though they are not a public company, they still release their financial performance). You can listen into John Hewitt’s investor conference calls. He has a wealth of information about the tax industry as well as competitors H&R Block and Jackson Hewitt. During recent years, Liberty has increased market share each year while it other two national competitors (H&R and Jackson Hewitt) have lost market share and their client base. Don’t let a couple of disgruntled franchisees sway your decision before getting all of the facts so you can make an informed educated decision about joining a great company like Liberty Tax Service.
“Our numbers were up 40% this year after converting our business to Liberty. We are first hand proof that the system works.”
More posts and discussions on the Liberty Tax franchise:
LIBERTY TAX SERVICE Franchise Success Story
LIBERTY TAX: Should Franchisees Call Customers Crackheads?
LIBERTY TAX SERVICE: Unhappy Franchisees Need a Reality Check
Are you familiar with the Liberty Tax franchise or other tax franchise opportunities? What do you think? Share a comment below.
Mario, for your conversion did you pay Liberty Tax service or did they pay you? Were your existing clients and earnings grandfathered in, so you dont have to pay LIberty any fee for the existing clientele that you brought to the business? Dont under estimate H & R Block. They are the only household tax name in the USA. They were a sleeping giant who slumbered and stumbled for a few years. But they have woken up now. They are selling new franchises without any franchise fee. They are also selling corporate stores. We are an existing tax business and talking to them for conversion. Thye are paying us to join the Block brand based on past 3 years earnings. Block will always be a brand. All their stores look similar. There is advertising to support the name. Its like Walgreens. Walk into one and you dont know if you are in Florida or Alabama. Same with Block. Uniformity that builds the brand. LIberty no 2 stores look the same. Some are great. A lot are holes in the wall. Similarly tax school. I attended the Block tax school. Great!! Innovative and creative teaching methods. Liberty tax schools vary from franchisee to franchisee. Also Liberty tax school lack credibility. There is no guarantee of jobs. One store owners are holding classes when husband and wife will be the only prepararers, and people who wasted money to join the school, will find the exercise fruitless. Also never join a franchise where the CEO cant be booted out. Phase 2 of a company’s growth needs a change of CEO. Liberty lacks this flexibility. They are now entering phase 2 and the current CEO will fly them into a wall.
Here is the real scoop:
IRS is the Instant Refund Service. It pays out over $300 billion to over 100 million people. That is about a $3000 average refund.
Online is where it was. Smart phones is where it is going.
Soon you will be able to get your refund from your phone.
So only invest in REFUND technology.