1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:01,400
How did it get started?

2
00:00:03,400 --> 00:00:07,600
I took an H&R Block course 55 years ago.

3
00:00:08,080 --> 00:00:08,640
Loved it.

4
00:00:09,400 --> 00:00:13,720
12 years later is running 250 H&R blocks.

5
00:00:13,880 --> 00:00:18,480
And my dad decided we should computerize taxes.

6
00:00:18,480 --> 00:00:23,080
So we both quit our jobs and built the first tax software for an Apple computer.

7
00:00:23,840 --> 00:00:25,640
1981, no one wanted it.

8
00:00:25,640 --> 00:00:30,320
Got lucky and found a company in Virginia Beach called Mel Jackson Tax Service.

9
00:00:31,080 --> 00:00:36,200
We merged the two companies, changed the name to Jackson Hewitt, built it into,

10
00:00:36,240 --> 00:00:40,600
built it and sold it for public company for $483 million.

11
00:00:41,920 --> 00:00:45,440
I had a three year not compete, but it didn't cover Canada.

12
00:00:46,120 --> 00:00:50,240
And having grown up in Buffalo, I knew the Canadian tax system.

13
00:00:50,240 --> 00:00:55,840
So it didn't cover Canada because Jackson Hewitt never went to Canada.

14
00:00:55,840 --> 00:00:58,840
But H&R Block is very successful in Canada.

15
00:00:58,840 --> 00:01:04,840
We opened Liberty Tax in Canada and within three years became a top 100 retail chain.

16
00:01:05,680 --> 00:01:08,080
Came back to United States in 2000.

17
00:01:08,560 --> 00:01:12,880
Now I had to compete against my own name, my own company, my own people.

18
00:01:13,360 --> 00:01:16,520
And yet we grew faster than Jackson Hewitt and Block combined.

19
00:01:16,520 --> 00:01:20,680
Liberty Tax opened 4,000 offices in 12 years.

20
00:01:21,360 --> 00:01:26,480
So my two companies, Jackson Hewitt and Liberty, grew to 10,000 locations.

21
00:01:27,440 --> 00:01:31,920
Jackson, or Liberty was also a public company worth, worth $500 million.

22
00:01:31,920 --> 00:01:45,440
Sold that and started loyalty brands.