Ed Pisani Jr

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign. Welcome, everyone. This is Rashad woods with the Tron podcast. I have a very special guest from the sunny side of Florida, very active member in his community, entrepreneur, Mr. Ed Pisani Jr. Thank you for being on the show. [00:00:31] Speaker B: Yeah, thank you for allowing me the opportunity to be on your show. I'm really looking forward to this, and I think this is gonna be an awesome opportunity to get people to be aware of what you do, what I do, and how we can make a difference in our community. [00:00:41] Speaker A: Well, you know, I think, you know, your active community involvement is very, very a great thing. And I saw, you know, your background is very. Is varied, and it began in college, right, when you graduated with a bachelor's degree in entrepreneurship from Wales University. Right. In New Jersey. So you want to talk about your background? [00:00:56] Speaker B: Absolutely. Y. I graduated from school at Rhode Island. I went to Johnson Wales University, got an entrepreneurship degree from there. I went to work for a charity, and I was like, you know, it'd be cool if I one day we can executive director of a charity. And that was kind of my desire when I was younger. Younger, and after a certain period of time, I started helping people start up charities because for the charity, I was helping them start programs inside of the charity. And then someone's like, oh, yeah, Ed's the guy. If you need to start something up, talk to him. So I had this salsa group come to me, and very pretty girl, not gonna lie. Like, that was a very attracting opportunity to me because I got talked to a pre girl, very good, in shape, nice Latina. I was like, this is wonderful. So I helped them start the charity. And from there it became on reception. From the upset, from the inception to now, it's just like something I really enjoy doing. I think I've started about 10 charities every year since 2009. [00:01:55] Speaker A: Right. And I saw that you help people do that as well, too. So, you know, was it. What are the common pratfalls when people want to start a charity and do good in their community, or even further than that. So when people want to start it, there's obviously tax implications, business implications. So what are the Pratt Falls that people fall into when they want to, you know, do goodwill? [00:02:12] Speaker B: Like, generally what I find most of all is the board creation. There's a big problem there, because the boards, they don't really define how they want their board to function. It's going to be a working board, operating board, governing board. Is there going to be standing committees? No standing committees. Is it a situation where that founder is going to be doing all the work and the board's going to be supporting him or is everyone jumping in there or doing it together? A lot of times I find there is a mismatch in desires. And sometimes when you have a board member that joins your board that has a different idea in their mind of what needs to be done, that causes a problem too. So the early days friction is something I try to coach people through when making board selections and truly trying to identify what they want their charity to be working as. [00:02:56] Speaker A: Right. And so it obviously has to be very defined in specific roles. And then they obviously have to set up the correct IRS and tax implication forms because those have very severe consequences if that's not set up correctly. Even if you have good intentions while wanting to run a charity so you know it's still a business in a sense of you have to do things in the proper order. Am I correct? [00:03:15] Speaker B: 100%. I've had numerous times where there's a good intention accountant that sets up a organization for someone that's like, I want to be a charity and they set up a C corp. I've run into it twice and it's been one of those big.com names that everyone knows online and sees and they didn't stop because they probably gave it to a paralegal legal assistant and they set up the wrong entity. So right out of the gate everything was wrong because that's a double taxation organization, that's for a for profit business versus a nonprofit, which is showing a zero bottom line balance. So there was having to restart the whole thing over. I had one accountant that basically said, no, I did it right. And they were going to town that like, no, you're, you're wrong, I'm right. I'm like, I, I don't think I am because I've done this umpteen times. And every time I do it, there's a certain system that has to be followed a certain way. You have to do things. If you don't do in proper order, the IRS is going to ask you questions. And that's the last thing that you want to have happen is having an IRS agent open up the book of anything because you're guilty until proven innocence in the eyes of the irs. [00:04:20] Speaker A: No, no question. And I think that if there's three letters in the US language that terrifies any person with a pulsating heart and blood in their veins, it's those three letters. Right? Yeah. [00:04:30] Speaker B: So going in there and saying, we're going to set this up right from day one and then Say, okay, we're going to do the basic blocking and tackling. We're going to have a mission statement created. I help them create a mission statement. Every charity of setup has successfully received their 501 status. I don't. Because it's just like, C6 is C7, C26s. Everyone knows, like, a C3 charity, which is the most popular one out there. But a C4 is actually a foundation, and then there's hybrid versions and there's some that are meant for fraternal organizations and then some meant for, like, support organizations. So I go through, based upon our initial conversation, and I make suggestions of, like, this is where I think you should land. And when we put this together, this is the actual TNI number that's in the IRS database that I think best fits you. I can't guarantee you're going to be a 501C3, but I can guarantee you will become a charity, charitable organization if we follow this step by step plan. And I have sessions set up where I break down, like, board development, organizational setup, fundraising, ongoing goal planning, what results they want to achieve. So at the end of those sessions, they're like, brain is full. And they're like, okay, I can't take anymore. Because when I start talking about this, since I've been doing it so long, it's like taking a drink from a fire hose. [00:05:47] Speaker A: Because. Right, because people really don't understand, I'm guessing, how encompassing it truly is. Right? [00:05:51] Speaker B: Yeah. And then at just an important time, your brain is full and we have to take a break because you need to digest everything I've shared with you. Because just in this conversation, you know, I'm going boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, quick. And, like, I do the same thing in my sessions, and then I'll stop and I give examples in my sessions, and I'll talk about, like, hey, if you're not careful, this could happen. If you're not careful, that could happen. Unless in some cases, they want that to happen. And that's a good thing, because they want to have, like, a charity board of 30 people. They want to have an advisory board of 30 people, and they want to step away after two years and say, I don't want to be the founder. I don't want to be on the board. I just want to be the person that bags the food in the food pantry. That's all I want to do. And there are some people like that. I have other people that are like, founders. And, like, until the day I die, I will be the Founder. [00:06:39] Speaker A: Right, Right. [00:06:40] Speaker B: And yeah, two different worlds, two different. [00:06:43] Speaker A: Mindsets, different processes involved and things like that. Right, yeah, that's. That's a lot to digest just in the small amount of time that you told me that. Right. Because I'm like, when I think of charity, you know, sometimes you think of, you know, Salvation army and clothing drives and things like that. But obviously that's a lot more encompassing than even I was able to wrap my mind around just hearing it being treated more as a business. I think that, you know, that that's a good thing that you're telling people that you have to go through the proper steps in order to save yourself off from these particular issues. But that's, that's very helpful. I really appreciate you that. Does that segue into your i4 Web Services? Is that separate? Because I know that you also do that as an. [00:07:19] Speaker B: It is. Okay, yeah. [00:07:22] Speaker A: Can you talk about that? [00:07:22] Speaker B: So, basically, yeah, i4 Web Services, I do web design, SEO, blogging, social media, content creation, graphic design. Um, I do graphic designs for like people's business cards. And I tell them, just gonna print them anywhere you want. So my coaching that I do for these startups can go hand in hand with that. But if you have your nieces, brothers, sister's best friend that you've known since diapers gonna do your website, I can't compete with that, nor do I want to. So like, I. But I offer that service out there as a plus one. And I say, hey, I can help you with the branding and the awareness campaigns if you want to keep me on in that capacity separately from what I'm doing for my coaching. Because my coaching is like, I want to get you to the touchdown finish line for this. That's the end goal. And I want to give you the tools in your toolbox so you could do a good fundraiser. You can have your SOP set up and your bylaw set up and then it's sort of like, okay, now I'm going to step off. And because I've completed, unless you want me to have me around quarterly to say, let's just keep up it, I want to talk to you about something new that pops up. I'm more than willing to do that. [00:08:27] Speaker A: So how does financial disclosures work with charities? Because I've never been involved with one. I mean, I've seen donations online where if there's like a GoFundMe or obviously been at services at a church and you know, the offering is how does the financial disclosure work with a full running charity? As a Full time nonprofit or those other entities that you spoke of. [00:08:45] Speaker B: Yeah, you have to do reporting at the end of the year on 990form. For those that are very, very small, that have under a $50,000 budget, you could do a 990EZ postcard. And that basically is for like your Toastmasters Club that might do 900 a year. And they are charity unto themselves because that's how Toastmasters have set themselves up. They're a franchise system. So the franchisors Toastmasters, their franchisee is a local club and then if the club goes bad, they just merge it with another franchisee and other Toastmasters Club. But they charge like 25 bucks a year. Not. They're not, they're not like a big massive entity at the local level. So an easy postcard is a way to go. When you get larger, you start having more boxes to check. And that's where I recommend bringing that accountant to sort of say, hey, we got this going now bring the accountant in. [00:09:33] Speaker A: Absolutely. [00:09:34] Speaker B: Now. And we. There's certain accountants that are good for for profit work and there's very good accountants that do nonprofit work. So let's say you get lucky and you have the Bill Gates foundation say, I'm going to give you $5 million. [00:09:47] Speaker A: Got it. [00:09:47] Speaker B: Wonderful. They're going to automatically say, I want a qualified audit, which means you have to spend $5,000 from your charity funds to have a qualified audit. Show that to them, they can review it and then they'll say, okay, now we're going to approve you for this money. You can't use the $5,000 out of the $5,000 million that you're hoping you'll get. You have to do everything in proper order. [00:10:08] Speaker A: You have to have things of cash on hand to actually do the audit yourself rather than say you're going to use incoming funds to do it. [00:10:14] Speaker B: And you need to have like QuickBooks, like online. And that's a good way to track and handle that. And like, there's certain tools out there that make life easier, of course. And I'd sort of say these are the tools you can use. These are the ways you can go. Sometimes they have board members that join their team that already have those tools and other times they don't. And they're just like a grandma that says, you know what, I have kids in my community that need a coat and I'm going to get coats and I'm going to give coats away. And I met one at my chamber recently. That was literally the exact story. And this is Great. Because she does something really, really good fundraising wise. There's room for opportunity there, for coaching, setup wise. She was very fortunate that her board member was an attorney. Not everyone has an attorney that could be like, hey, I'm going to do this. And some attorneys don't know what they're doing. I've had several occasions where attorneys came to me and said, hey, Ed, can you show me how to do this? And because they were like an accident attorney, nothing wrong with that. You know, you have those folks that take care of those type of things. This is its own wheelhouse. I'm not an attorney. I just been doing it since 2009, so close to 15 years now. So. [00:11:23] Speaker A: And I think that, you know, you know, that example of that grandmother, that, that individual, you know, there's a lot more behind the, behind the scenes that may need to be done if she's going to do this and it turns into something larger. Right. So people imagine going to this, something, you know, with very good intentions, but they have to make sure that if it does turn into something larger, does bring in large amounts of, you know, whether it's vendors or supplies or items and coats that have value associated with them, that's when you have to sit back. And your services in particular would say, hey, that's great. You need to check these boxes first before this gets something that you may need to report. [00:11:56] Speaker B: Yeah. And then I talk about goal setting and I get into a little bit about feature proofing your charity. So you'd start this charity up, you drop the initial investment for you doing a great thing. That grandmother is older, she's not getting any younger. We're all not, we're all not getting younger in life. We're all getting older. Well, how do you future proof this idea for the next generation? [00:12:14] Speaker A: Very good idea. Yeah, Very good thought. Very good thought. [00:12:16] Speaker B: So we spent a whole session just on that and we talk about, like, what are your long term goals? I want you to think five, ten years out. I don't want you to think five, ten months out. [00:12:26] Speaker A: Right. [00:12:26] Speaker B: Because in five, ten months you might turn around, be like, I don't do this anymore. [00:12:29] Speaker A: Exactly, exactly. And so are you, are you, are you specifically just Florida, like, so I know you're in Florida. [00:12:35] Speaker B: I do nationwide, like I am Florida based. So obviously Florida is easiest for me because I'm running everyone's backyard. I do this things, introduction meetings by zoom, I do sessions by zoom or over the phone, whichever is easier. I have no problem, anyone in the United States proper, I can help if you're in Canada, you're in Mexico. I'm not your guy. [00:12:56] Speaker A: Yeah. Because that's a whole different other slew of laws and tax. Yeah, I mean, we're talking that. That's not your level of expertise. It's best. Hey, we can talk and we can say that's a great thing, but you're better off going with your particular sets of finance and reporting laws over there. [00:13:08] Speaker B: Yeah. So I've set up charities in Rhode Island, Florida, obviously, Georgia, Texas. So I've done them out of state. And it's nice, it's fun, because you get a chance to really engage. And know I did one in North Carolina. So all across the United States, no problem. I'll take you through the steps because a lot of the states function similarly, not identical. So there is some research that I'll do between sessions for your given state to say, hey, you need to be aware of this. This is important. [00:13:35] Speaker A: Right. There's different reporting laws per state. So this is. This is kind of down that wormhole where you talked about you couldn't help another country. And what if somebody has a charity that does, like, international help? Right. They're based in Florida, but they do something to, you know, Central America or South America or something like that. [00:13:50] Speaker B: I have had occasions where that's been the case where, like, there was a charity that was set up that was an international charity based in Florida. We set it up in Florida. It was 501c3, organized in the state of Florida. But they were delivering the word of God to places where that was not allowed. Illegal. [00:14:10] Speaker A: Oh, wow. [00:14:11] Speaker B: Yeah. So they were like, three levels deeper where they're saying, this is what we're doing, and we're doing it in just this way. And they had a storefront LLC that was doing a different piece of the puzzle for them. So how the whole structure of everything was set up, if. If you didn't know, you would have thought that that was not the real intention of it. Yeah, it's. It's a good covert action they were taking because they were bringing in their minds Jesus Christ, their Lord and Savior. I'm a follower of Jesus myself. [00:14:42] Speaker A: I saw you in your church. I saw you. [00:14:44] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:14:45] Speaker A: Beautiful picture with your family when your baby was in the. [00:14:48] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:14:48] Speaker A: On your website. That's awesome. [00:14:50] Speaker B: Yeah. So, like, obviously that was a big deal to be able to deliver that message to those that can't get a hold of a Bible or not allowed to get X, Y and Z. I'm. And then getting them connected to organizations that can do online seminary school so they can start up churches and ministries over in a place where it's not really allowed and do it underground. [00:15:11] Speaker A: That sounds like, hate to even say it, kind of, you know, dangerous. I don't mean to, you know, that that's, that's a heavy lift, right? That's a heavy lift. When you're just hearing, well, I'm a. [00:15:19] Speaker B: Coach, so I'm like four or five arm lengths away. [00:15:23] Speaker A: Thank you. I just. But just hearing that, I'm just like, wow, you know, you know, something like that is so commendable because you're just like, you know, you have to really put yourself out there willing to do something like that. So, yeah, glad they have you as a resource to be able to help. That's really good. You know, one thing I thought was really interesting was, you know, you're part of your local chamber of commerce and you're very active in your community. And you also have your own podcast too, which is interesting by design. I thought that was fantastic. Which is a great day, by the way. And you want to tell a little bit about your podcast? [00:15:50] Speaker B: Sure, yeah. I do long form podcasts. I generally talk with someone for over an hour, sometimes pushing two hours, and we just deep dive. And that's what it is like for me. It's an opportunity because when I'm doing the website design, I'm in front of a lot of computer screens and it gives me a chance to get to know someone and really dig deep. And it was just people like, oh, this is like the Joe Rogan show. I no intention it to be like that, but it was just, it was just like, I like talking to people and I need to get work done so I can multitask, we can talk. And then if I want to just take a mind break because I'm, I'm working on a. A project that I need just to switch gears and think about something different. I can jump in that, look at that and say, okay, now I've refreshed. I come back, it's like, oh, here's the answer. This is how this is coded wrong. I can take care of that. [00:16:37] Speaker A: Well, it's funny you mentioned that, because I think that was exactly the segue why you did your podcast in addition to the work you have. Because I can imagine that, hey, man, maybe I need, you know, a refresher or better insight to helping with what you do. And the podcast allows you to reach people to say, that's a great perspective. Yeah, you could tweak certain things that you were doing to be more effective at what you were. What you were doing, you know, with your charities. And I think your podcast, I listened to it, a couple snippets of, and I was very impressed by some of the questions. The tax guy you had on there in particular, that was Australian. I was like, that's the first I've ever heard an Australian guy talking about the irs. [00:17:09] Speaker B: Yeah, it's. It's not something you hear every day. And, like, I get a kick out of it because it's someone new with a different perspective that comes on the show. Um, and that allows me the opportunity to just enjoy, you know, life, because I do what I do every day, and it's. It's a lot of fun. So I have. [00:17:28] Speaker A: I have to imagine, I hate to cut you off, that when the COVID situation happened, that your online services became more prevalent to use, and because people, you know, ultimately what happened happened, your services that you had already had in place became, you know, how do you do this online? And meeting people and being able to assist people online had to be great for company growth and opportunities. [00:17:50] Speaker B: Yeah, there was growth there. I don't want to rain on a bad moment in our history. Like, I look at Covid as being like, in 25 years from now, there's gonna be so many case studies from so many results from what happened at that time and how people reacted and, like, things that kind of grew and then shrunk. Like, Zoom is a great example. It exploded. Exactly. It's shrunk back down again. And you have other ones where there's other things in play. Like, so, yeah. Is my web business do well that some point in time? Yeah. Was I also stressed out like the rest of the world? Absolutely. I just kind of pivoted and I said, okay, this pivot is good. So, yeah, I mean, there's. There's been good moments and there's been other moments. I ran a charity for upwards of 10 years myself personally called Bounce. And during COVID that kind of was a nail in the coffin because we would only do in person meetings with GED high school students, helping them learn certain aspects of useful life, from saving money to starting a business to, like, career interviewing skills. When that went along. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, once. Once I went away, the board's like, hey, we're not going to get sued for ICU if someone gets Covid. And I was like, I 1000% agree. So we shuttered that. But I have firsthand experience of running a charity as a managing director for about A decade. So when someone comes to me and says, hey, I want to. I want someone to coach me, yeah, I could coach you. And I have that background, wealth of expertise. I worked for a large charity. I also ran my own small charity. I've set up 150plus. Now. I really don't really consider how many I've set up charities that all have gotten to the 501 status so I could do that again. And it makes people feel good that there's someone that's a reliable resource there for them. [00:19:38] Speaker A: Well, I think the Internet is a very, you know, powerful, but also, you know, can be a dangerous wormhole because unfortunately, it brings out a lot of bad actors. And in every sector of economy and life, knowing that there's a trusted resource of a guy, a gentleman, yourself, active in the church, active in the Chamber of Commerce, and has credibility in their local community only stresses how much, you know, you're a good, valued resource to be able to go to somebody that ultimately will give them, you know, the results and the proper structure that they need. And, you know, just briefly, I just want to talk about, you know. [00:20:10] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, go ahead. [00:20:12] Speaker A: I was just going to talk about your community work. [00:20:13] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, yeah. I was just going to say, like, a little bit of what I run off of and I think why people respond well to me is I believe in fearless honesty. So I will give you the answer that not everybody wants to hear, but it needs to be said like that. Yeah, that's really, really important. But onto your next question. Can you say that again for me? [00:20:30] Speaker A: I was going to say I saw you were very active in your community, like the fema, Freemasonry, the Chamber of Commerce. You're an active member in your church. I saw that you do. You teach Sunday school courses. So you're kind of, you know, you have a full circle kind of view about life and everything when it comes to giving of self. [00:20:45] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, like, I've had a successful business, thankfully, and I've given back to my communities that I've had a pleasure of being a leader in an organization for, from my Masonic Lodge where I served as virtual master, to being a Toastmaster President, to being on the board of Rotary, to, like, this year serving as president of my Chamber of Commerce. Last year I was district commissioner for the scouting district that I'm in. This year I'm becoming the district chair. So, like, I give back 100% in, like, it's a testament to, like, abundance. I've gotten some abundance in my life and I Like to give that abundance back out and be there. And there's no better way to say thank you than with time, because with time is a way to show love. And like, if you love your communities, you're going to put time and effort into your communities as best you can. [00:21:28] Speaker A: That's fantastic. And so for people who are listening, how can they find, like obviously they don't need me to find, but just for this program speaking, how can people find you your services that you offer to lead them down the right path to success in business consulting or in life coaching? [00:21:44] Speaker B: Yeah, like fastest ways, you just look at my name edpazzanijr.com and when you find that you will be able to see my services, you can schedule interview call with me. 30 minute inter zoom call. There's also a book I wrote on how to write a business plan. So if you want to take the time, 160 pages that you can read, you can digitally get it on Amazon or you can get it right online, you can buy a hard copy book. And you can find me on Facebook, on LinkedIn. I'm around, I'm available, I'm on my Instagram. So if you just look up Epizzani Jr. I pop right up. You'll see this fantastic beard which is getting grayer by the year. But I like to call it Chrome because you know, us guys, we don't gray, we get Chrome. [00:22:27] Speaker A: You know, luckily, you know, I've seen one or two pop up and it's an out of body experience. First one you get because you're trying to fool yourself that it's not really like there. You know what I mean? You're like, nah, that's not, you know, I've seen one like in my mustache. I'm like, no, that's not really, I'm looking at angles wrong. And then you start looking closer, you're. [00:22:43] Speaker B: Like, yeah, I thought it was whitening toothpaste. And then it started spreading and I was like, ah, toothpaste. That's not it exactly. [00:22:52] Speaker A: Exactly. Well, you know, I would love to continue this conversation, you know, with a follow up with you. It has been an honor and a pleasure. And did you have any questions in particular for me? [00:23:02] Speaker B: No, I just want to thank you for the opportunity to come out and speak on your podcast. It means a lot to me and I just want to leave one last parting message to the folks that are maybe listening. You've been blessed with a good idea in your mind and it's up to you to take action to make that into a charitable organization if you so desire. I'm here to be there for you. Yeah, absolutely. [00:23:24] Speaker A: You know, I think that when people start understanding that life is very precious and short, they'll take more of opportunities. And there are people like yourself out there that if you are committed and you're passionate, that there's a person that's there to assist for it. You're not alone when it comes to that endeavor. [00:23:38] Speaker B: Correct? Yeah. [00:23:40] Speaker A: Thank you very much, Ed Pisani Jr. I really appreciate your time. [00:23:43] Speaker B: Appreciate you. Have a great day. [00:23:44] Speaker A: You, too. It.