"It is good to take some (calculated) risks."
In his capacity as CEO, Jacob Dayan has assembled a strong team of attorney practitioners, CPAs and enrolled agents to deliver superior customer service and expected results. Community Tax has set the standard for customer service in the tax resolution industry and is widely recognized as an industry leader by its peers. Jacob manages all day-to-day marketing efforts and business operations of Community Tax. As CMO, Jacob is responsible for all digital and offline marketing efforts.
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Table of Contents
Thank you for joining us today. Please introduce yourself to our readers. They want to know you, some of the background story to bring some context to your interview.
Jacob Dayan: I was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. After graduating with a Bachelor’s in Business Administration from the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, I moved to New York City, where I began a career as a financial analyst at Bear Stearns’ industry leading Financial Analytics and Structured Transactions group.
At Bear, I was tasked with managing a team of analysts responsible for financial modeling and the securitization of mortgage and asset backed securities. Shortly before Bear Stearns was acquired by JP Morgan, Dayan was promoted into a role as a trader on the Proprietary Foreign Exchange Trading Desk.
When Bear Stearns was acquired by JP Morgan, I left to join Millennium Partners, a large Multi-Strategy hedge fund. There, I worked as an analyst in a Global Macro Options Trading group assisting with the research and implementation of options strategies. In early 2009, I returned to Chicago to be with his family and pursue a career assisting consumers and small businesses with various financial needs. In 2010, I co-founded Community Tax LLC, a tax company dedicated to helping customers nationwide with tax resolution, tax preparation, bookkeeping and accounting services.
I also assisted in the launch of Consumer Law Group, LLC, an Illinois Law firm focused on offering legal services to the Hispanic Community. Services offered include immigration law, criminal defense, employment and labor law, personal injury, and family law. My involvement at Consumer Law inspired my return to law school at Mitchell Hamline School of Law, where I graduated Magna Cum Laude and received my Juris Doctor degree. I am licensed to practice law in Illinois.
You are a successful entrepreneur, so we’d like your view point, do you believe entrepreneurs are born or made? Explain.
Jacob Dayan: As an entrepreneur, I believe entrepreneurs are made. I think entrepreneurs seek out the ways to get the best out of each experience that they are in, big or small. I think the experiences you learn through have the ability to make you an entrepreneur. Entreprenuers learn by doing, taking each experience they’ve learned from in the past to make a future path for themselves. As entrepreneurs learn and collaborate with colleagues they grow and learn to connect with individuals they learn from and work with.
If you were asked to describe yourself as an entrepreneur in a few words, what would you say?
Jacob Dayan: Hardworking, ambitious, driven, innovative, articulate are some words that describe me as an entrepreneur. With my background in finance and lawn I have demonstrated all of these qualities and grown as an entreprenuer.
Tell us about what your company does and how did it change over the years?
Jacob Dayan: At Community Tax, we aim to make complex tax jargon understandable to every reader by writing in a tone that’s simple, clear, and concise.We offer forms, resources such as our blog, and direct help. Over the years we have developed our resources, writing an informational blog as a resource for our clients.
Thank you for all that. Now for the main focus of this interview. With close to 11.000 new businesses registered daily in the US, what must an entrepreneur assume when starting a business?
Jacob Dayan: When starting a business, an entreprenuer must assume that it is going to be a hard road ahead. Hard work doesn’t always pay off as soon as you’d like to see but that doesn’t mean it’s okay to give up. Entreprenuers should be ready to pivot, thinking two steps ahead. They will wear many hats and should assume they are going to be apart of the finance, marketing and operations team. Consumer feedback, lifetime customer value, churn rate or customers are all things entrepreneurs should be thinking about when starting a business.
Did you make any wrong assumptions before starting a business that you ended up paying dearly for?
Jacob Dayan: As far as my personal career goes, I assumed I wanted to work as a financial analyst and spent a lot of time working in that field before following my entrepreneurial spirits.
If you could go back in time to when you first started your business, what advice would you give yourself and why? Explain
Jacob Dayan: Think more about the long term goals than short term benefits. Invest in your employees, make sure they are trained well, hardworking, and well taken care of.
What is the worst advice you received regarding running a business and what lesson would you like others to learn from your experience?
Jacob Dayan: The worst advice I received regarding sunning a business were to follow in the foot steps on the people before me. Following the status quo is not always the best, we would not have the company we have today and have been able to grow Community Tax to be if we had not taken some risks. The lesson I would like others to learn from my experience is that it is good to take some (calculated) risks.
In your opinion, how has COVID-19 changed what entrepreneurs should assume before starting a business? What hasn’t changed?
Jacob Dayan: COVID-19 has taught entrepreneurs starting a business that they need to be ready for change, and up to date with technology. So much changed with the way companies communicate with their clients, and being up to date with technology is crucial no matter what kind of business you have. What hasn’t changed is that successful entrepreneurs have always been adjustable, it has always been necessary for entrepreneurs to have a few plans and be ready to adjust but now entrepreneurs need to be up to date with technology and ready for an entire shift.
What is a common myth about entrepreneurship that aspiring entrepreneurs and would-be business owners believe in? What advice would you give them?
Jacob Dayan: A common myth about entrepreneurship that aspiring entrepreneurs and would-be business owners believe in is that all it takes is a good idea. There is a lot more that goes into a successful business than the initial idea. I would advise that entrepreneurs take a long time planning and really considering the implications of their ideas before they launch.
What traits, qualities, and assumptions do you believe are most important to have before starting a business?
Jacob Dayan: Persistence, agility, creativity, passion, motivation, optimism and self-confidence are all important qualities to have before starting a business.
How can aspiring leaders prepare themselves for the future challenges of entrepreneurship? Are there any books, websites, or even movies to learn from?
Jacob Dayan: It is a good idea to have a concrete mission and why statement for aspiring leaders to memorize to prepare themselves for the future challenges so they always have a motivating factor to go back to. One book that inspired my entrepreneurial spirit is “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen Covey.
You have shared quite a bit of your wisdom and our readers thank you for your generosity but would also love to know: If you could choose any job other than being an entrepreneur, what would it be?
Jacob Dayan: If I could choose any other job than being an entrepreneur, I would be a philanthropist. There are a lot of organizations the could use fundraising help and I would love to be a philanthropic influence on my community. At Community Tax, our mission is to help people understand taxes and tax jargon, all stemming from the place to help people.
Thank you so much for your time, I believe I speak for all of our readers when I say that this has been incredibly insightful. We do have one more question: If you could add anyone to Mount Rushmore, but not a politician, who would it be; why?
Jacob Dayan: Albert Einstein would be the person I would add to Mount Rushmore because technology would not have advanced to the field its at today without his discoveries and mind.
Jed Morley, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Jacob Dayan for taking the time to do this interview and share his knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Jacob Dayan or his company, you can do it through his – Linkedin Page
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