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Winning the IRS Employment Game: A Strategic Guide

I recently shared a post regarding the Internal Revenue Service’s “hiring” push that is unlikely to result in any material impact on agency goals and objectives. However, at the end of the post, I mentioned how there would be some terminated or laid-off IRS employees that may be considering returning to the Service for the upcoming filing season, and how these employees could maximize the opportunity regardless of how indeterminate their employment time may be. Here are my recommendations for getting maximum benefit as a re-hired IRS employee:

  • Prior to returning to the office, schedule any doctor and specialist appointments so that your reinstated federal health insurance can cover those visits. For instance, if I was a former IRS employee that intends to be rehired before the filing season begins, I’d start scheduling doctor appointments for February and March 2026. I’d be sure to focus on those specialists that have a 6-9 months wait list, as well as any doctors that I have been unable to visit while I’ve been unemployed. I’d put those appointments on President’s Day if possible (this is a federal holiday that is open for many businesses, including a good number of medical offices). If, for some reason, I am not hired or my insurance is not reinstated within a few days of the appointment, I’d call and reschedule. I’ve lost nothing, and the medical office still has time to offer that space to another patient.
  • Leverage your lunch time and after work hours to complete free Skillsoft training to qualify you for a different job. Since it’s been more than a decade since I worked for IRS, I’m unsure how much access employees have within Skillsoft. However, if you are a rehired employee, confirm the Skillsoft access information in your employee handbook or through intranet pages. See if there is an option to download the Skillsoft app to your personal device, where you can use your agency log-in information to complete training when you’re off the clock. If so, explore the training paths that are most beneficial to your goals and use this re-employment period to complete the training. As you complete courses, make sure you retain copies of your completion records, lest they become unavailable to you in the future. Some programs I’d recommend are the project management and business analysis tracks (successfully completing Skillsoft training in either area is accepted by the Project Management Institute and the International Institute of Business Analysis). However, if you’d like to know of additional Skillsoft training that I recommend, let me know, and I’ll do another post.
  • Research the tuition reimbursement and student loan repayment options available to you. It’s uncertain whether these programs are going to be available when rehired employees return, but if I came back to the agency, this would be one of the first things I’d confirm. Generally, you must have at least one year of employment to qualify, but you’ll have to confirm whether there are additional criteria, such as whether the year of employment must be 12 consecutive months, if you must be a permanent employment (as opposed to seasonal) to qualify, if the benefits are available only to certain job series (positions), etc.,.
  • This is a perfect opportunity to utilize Employee Assistance Program (EAP) resources. Whatever you need that is available through EAP, go ahead and use it. I cannot remember the full extent of the resources available through IRS’s EAP, but these programs usually offer counseling and therapy services, financial and legal advice for personal purposes, and expedited referrals to various specialists. It’s a complimentary service so get as much as you can while you’re there.
  • Prioritize completing internal required and supplemental training and save documentation of it. Outside of Skillsoft, IRS used to maintain its own training materials. I advise you to take advantage of these training programs if still available and, should you find yourself laid off again, you’ll be able to prove that you’ve completed tax-relevant and other specialized training programs. These can be great if you enjoy working in finance or tax, and want to distinguish yourself from other applicants for other positions.
  • If at all possible, invest heavily in your Thrift Savings Program account. Socking away some retirement funds is always a good idea, and the effect of compound interest can work to your advantage. The sooner you put funds in, the longer you can benefit from the time advantage. So if you can put in a little (or a lot!), do it. Your future financial security will thank you for whatever you do now.

If you can think of additional strategies for rehired IRS employees, please leave those suggestions in the comments, so that others can benefit. Also, if there are any points that need correction, please let me know and I’ll be sure to update. Let’s help each other to make the best of this situation!

The IRS “Hiring” Fiasco: The Least Surprising Development of 2025

I will apologize in advance for any snark that you detect in this post. I try to keep things elevated and fairly neutral, but this latest chaotic development from the Internal Revenue Service concerns me, and I don’t want to dilute my thoughts as I address the issues that I see when it comes to the latest hiring “push” from the Service.

Last week, the Internal Revenue Service announced that it would be hiring several thousand employees as contact representatives and tax examination technicians, while simultaneously getting rid of direct filing capabilities (taxpayers are once again going to have to figure out how to use commercial tax filing software if they want to submit electronic returns). This hiring “push” comes after months of intentionally reducing a number of the employees that were already doing collection and tax resolution tasks. Many of these employees were not at the top of their pay scales – they were fairly newer hires – and now the Service will be tacking on the cost of re-hiring people at the same levels of the ones that were just terminated earlier this year.

If that isn’t wacky enough, it gets even more chaotic. The job announcement for contact representatives was posted on July 29th, and canceled on July 31st. Yes, you are reading that correctly: within 72 hours of posting the job, it was canceled on the federal government’s hiring platform, USAJobs. Why was it canceled so quickly? It’s possible that IRS had already gotten the maximum number of applications they were seeking. But, it’s far more likely that the post was published hastily, and it likely was missing a number of critical details. Whenever I’ve seen jobs posted and taken down quickly, it’s usually because the HR Department was ill-prepared and put up an inaccurate, incomplete announcement (most likely scenario) or the requested number of applications (let’s say, no more than 200 or 500) was received (this is very unlikely). The whole thing smacks of impulsive decision making and poorly completed, rushed work.

Oh, that quickly removed announcement? It was only eligible for certain categories of IRS employees anyway: specifically, current IRS employees, and IRS career transition employees (those were previously fired or otherwise subjected to reduction-in-force actions [layoffs]). So, they terminated people, only to attempt to hire the same folks back, at the same pay rates that they were using before. In summary, this whole game of layoffs and rehires is an expensive exercise in futility.

I also mentioned that there is an announcement for tax examination technicians. That post is still available, but it’s for that same limited group of IRS employees (current IRS and career transition IRS employees), which, again, makes the vast majority of people ineligible to apply. Additionally, the tax exam tech posting was done so hastily that the hyperlinked video on the job announcement doesn’t work at the time of this posting: the promotional video generally provided to potential employees isn’t even viewable! All of this smacks of rush work and poor execution from IRS. And of course, the tax exam tech job caps at roughly $60,000, with no telework or remote work options, and the expectation of developing into a technical advisor, classroom instructor or on-the-job trainer (with no additional pay: you’d be getting the same compensation as someone that didn’t train fellow employees).

I’ve seen disorganized hiring efforts before, but this one has to be one of the most comical, considering how the IRS wants to hire back the same people that were unceremoniously discarded several months ago. If I was one of those terminated employees, this game of “keep away” that IRS is playing with people’s livelihoods would completely turn me off to working for them again. However, for those that decide that they want to try it again, and find a way to make these games work for them . . . I have some strategies coming for you later this week. Make sure to come back so I can explain exactly how to WIN while working an IRS job. I’ll talk to you all soon!

Why Your Business is a Temple: The Sacred Systems that Scale Elegantly

The deeper truth of what you’re building

Most people think of their business as a machine: something to be optimized, automated, squeezed for efficiency and profit margins. They don’t think of their business as anything outside of a mechanism to accomplish a financial goal.

In the Sanctum, we see it differently.

Your business is a temple. It’s where your deepest gifts meet the world. It’s also where your ancestors’ sacrifices find new form. Their tears, their strides, their efforts – all of these energetic investments culminate into something new and powerful in your temple.

Your business is where your future lineage will one day trace their security and opportunity back to: all of the choices you’re making right now are part of your dazzling origin story.

This is why your systems — the structures that hold your offers, your money, your client relationships — must be more than transactional.

They must be sacred.

The Power of Spiritual & Strategic Infrastructure

True wealth isn’t just about how much money flows through your accounts. Money is just an indicator – a mirror – of previous decisions. However, true wealth is about how your business holds that money, circulates it, protects it, and grows it — without fracturing your nervous system in the process.

Here’s how we approach it in the Aureum Sanctum:

Systems that free time

Your time is your most precious non-renewable resource.

A sacred business honors it by building systems that operate gracefully even when you step away.

Seamless onboarding flows? These ensure that each new client feels cherished and initiated, without you scrambling behind the scenes. Automated payment structures? These trigger beautiful confirmations, not clunky invoices. Evergreen offers or passive products? These allow you to make money while you rest, travel, or simply luxuriate in your life.

Your business doesn’t require micromanagement. Trust the systems that you put in place.

Systems that regulate wealth

The goal is wealth without structure leaks.

Just like water that seeps through cracked jars, or the harvest that rots in the field, a business without proper storage in place will have spoilage and spillage.

Sacred financial systems are like consecrated vessels: Trusts that hold assets beyond your lifetime. Thoughtful tax architectures that transform liabilities into legacies. Elegant dashboards that show you your numbers at a glance, so you steward them with calm clarity.

When your money knows exactly where to go, it multiplies with grace — not chaos.

Systems that honor your nervous system

What good is scaling if your body is in a perpetual state of contraction?

Systems that support your calm can look like:

Calendars that include Sabbath days and silk afternoons — not just back-to-back calls. Automated reminders that replace mental clutter. Ritualized CEO days where you review metrics over tea and candles, so your wealth is tracked in a way that soothes your soul, not spikes your cortisol.

The right systems don’t just make you efficient: they make you feel profoundly safe.

Your temple deserves more than duct tape

Too many entrepreneurs slap together duct-tape solutions and wonder why their empire feels shaky. Temporary solutions rarely generate permanent positive results.

Your business deserves the same reverence you’d give to constructing a cathedral:

Solid foundations, intricate artistry, and space for spirit to move through.

So yes, let’s build the automations and hire the right team.

Let’s set up smart tax entities and invest in beauty-infused client portals.

Let’s do it not just for profit, but as an act of profound devotion to your future — and everyone who will walk these halls after you.

Create Your Business Temple

If you’re ready to treat your business as a temple that blesses you as much as it blesses the world — consider having a conversation with me. My door is open, and I’m excited to serve you as you create the business of your wildest dreams.

Scaling should feel sacred. Your business should feel like a beautiful sanctuary. Your nervous system deserves to thrive right alongside your bank accounts. Let’s build your beautiful vision – together.

Can’t Be Disciplined? Try Being Devoted.

In exploring paths to prosperity, I’ve been diving deeper into the habits and practices that can contribute to sustainable riches and a delicious life. With the advent of AI and other automation tools and technology, there are more paths to wealth than ever before!

Of course, in the path to wealth, there are as many hinderances as there are opportunities. Knowledge gaps, lack of time, inadequate resources, and a number of other stumbling blocks present significant challenges to people attempting to reach their financial goals. But, even in the absence of barriers, some people still struggle with reaching their financial goals. What gives?

I suspect that the main issue that some people have is that they struggle with being “disciplined”. They aren’t able to commit to hard (or easy) actions on a regular, consistent basis. This is similar to the aversion some people have to the term “budget” (which I’ve discussed in a previous post). They find themselves easily discouraged when they are inconvenienced or misdirected from their path. Also, “discipline” as a concept may feel uncomfortable. It may trigger emotions like inferiority, shame, frustration, or inadequacy, especially in cases where the figures from their childhoods that embodied “discipline” were harsh, critical or not particularly nurturing (insert caregiver trauma here).

In the spirit of redefining personal finance, perhaps a new term is the best solution. Perhaps, instead of “discipline”, we can try framing this dedication as devotion. Much like religious adherents that love the sacrifice that comes with their service, we can view our consistent actions as an act of devotion to our future selves and the future reality that awaits us if we just stay the course.

When discussing wealth generation strategies, most of the conversations tend to glamorize quick wins over the long game. The myth of “Sudden Wealth” is a pervasive one, and, by focusing on fast money, anything that occurs in the inverse (such as quiet, incremental growth) is seen as boring, difficult and unsatisfying. Including the topic of “discipline” in these conversations just further highlights the disdain many people have towards consistent work. However, when reframed as devotion, the conversation takes on a very different energy. The quiet power that comes from incremental devotion isn’t boring, it’s mysterious; it isn’t difficult, it’s an exhilarating experiment. Incremental devotion isn’t unsatisfying: it’s a fire that grows from a flicker to an inferno. Like compound interest that grows over time, incremental steps rooted in devotion to our future selves are small at the beginning but become monumental over time. The route of incremental devotion eliminates the need for intensity, since consistency and time do most of the heavy lifting.

Speaking of the “boring” and unappealing nature of discipline . . . Discipline tends to be associated with rigidity, and most people are averse to anything too rigid. On the other hand, devotion can be fluid and even sensual: it’s easy to take a necessary task and add elements of beautiful rituals to it. One of my favorite ways to make my devotion feel more like a ritual is to set up my desk before working on anything related to business. I usually light a gorgeous scented candle, put on a piece of jewelry or an article of clothing that symbolizes what I’m working on (as I type this, I’m wearing a soft red top that always makes me feel divine and polished), and put on some music that matches the mood I want to invoke (rainforest sounds, gentle chimes, success subliminals, and classical music are great places to start). The most important part of connecting rituals to devotion is to treat the task as something sacred and nonnegotiable, which are terms that can also be used to describe (you guessed it) discipline.

At the heart of devotion is a positive feeling of self worth. Even the most perfect plans and the most disciplined person will abandon their work if their don’t believe they are truly worthy of the goal they desire. Staying devoted is easier to do when you feel worthy of the wealth, ease and abundance you’re creating. Daily affirmations, mirror work, journaling, and other self concept practices can help with identity shifting. From that newly shifted space, it is much easier to stay devoted and cultivate consistent practices that will create the life you desire.

When I began this conversation, I stated how there are more opportunities to build wealth than ever before. However, along with opportunity comes another issue. The same internet that provides wealth-building access also floods us with distractions, comparison traps, and “shiny object syndrome.” And, unfortunately, discipline “punishes” us for falling into distraction, instead of gently refocusing us and encouraging us. Devotion requires discernment — staying loyal to your path and not being seduced by every new tactic, course, or platform. While discernment may take some time and experience to develop, devotion doesn’t have the harshness of a stern disciplinarian: it warmly invites us to return to our goals sooner rather than later.

Following the path of devotion has been a sweeter experience than the road of discipline. I invite you all to try devotion instead of discipline, and let me know how it works for you. I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

My Review of ExodUS Summit 2022: Money Matters And Creating Joyful Lifestyles

Hello friends! I meant to tell you all about ExodUS Summit when I attended in October 2022, but I had so many other things going on at that time. I’m finally back to tell you all about ExodUS Summit, what I learned, and whether I recommend that you all attend future sessions.

ExodUS Summit is a weekend-long virtual conference, where speakers discuss a variety of topics all related to a central theme. The founders of ExodUS Summit, Roshida Dowe and Stephanie Perry, both live full-time outside of the United States, and they have built lifestyles around helping other Black women to do the same. The summit theme selected each year is focused on supporting Black women in creating their dream lives by moving abroad. The theme for the 2022 summit is Move Abroad Money, and the sessions within the summit were all centered around ways to generate enough money to relocate outside of the United States.

The topics this year ranged from securing remote positions, starting businesses, investing for profit, getting work in foreign countries, and more. I watched several sessions and I was so impressed with the variety of information offered, as well as the ease of implementing the strategies discussed. Each of the speakers excelled in explaining exactly how to get started on their recommended path to getting “move abroad money”, and I left the conference feeling confident that I could implement any of the plans that I found interesting.

The importance of ExodUS Summit cannot be overstated: a recent article published on Business Insider discussed how Black women are tired of discrimination and microaggressions in the workplace, and are leaving corporate America. This is creating a talent gap within industries and is expected to hurt “innovation and profits in corporate America”. ExodUS Summit speaks to women that are not just weary of corporate shenanigans, but who are also tired of living within a system that feels oppressive and unrewarding. The summit addresses the needs of women who are disillusioned with corporate culture, and are also seeking new levels of liberation and satisfaction. There are a lot of systemic and cultural implications that have to be unpacked when discussing whether an ExodUS is worth it, which I won’t explore in depth here (you can visit the YouTube channels of Stephanie Perry or Roshida Dowe for more details on those topics). That being said, many Black women are realizing that there are more satisfying ways to earn their living, and they don’t have to tolerate casual or targeted abuse in their personal or professional lives to support themselves.

While the conference is aimed at Black women, I believe some of the principles can be applied to anyone. There are always income alternatives that can be explored, and abusive work environments are a hazard to everyone. Making a positive change doesn’t have to be a drastic one, but if your health is at risk, taking the leap is better than staying put. In many cases, a smooth transition from a draining life to a rejuvenating one can be achieved with proper planning.

If you are part of the summit’s target audience (Black women residing in America), then I highly recommend that you attend the next summit. The discussions in this space are life affirming, inspirational and full of actionable tips. I feel that my ability to envision financial freedom was enhanced by what was discussed in ExodUS Summit. I’m confident that anyone that wants to create a life that delights them can benefit from attending the summit and taking action on what is taught.

Making Your Labor Count – 3 Ways To Make The Most of Work

In the United States, yesterday was Labor Day. This day observes those American works that advocated for labor law improvements that established guidelines for ethical, reasonable work and that opened the way for safer work environments, fair(er) pay and better work schedules. While the state of US labor still has much room for improvement, this holiday recognizes the workers that paved the way for better work for all.

As I reflect on Labor Day, I think of how those early advocates would be both delighted and dismayed by the current state of work here in the US. I also thought about individuals within the workforce, and how they can position themselves to make the most of their careers and the experiences afforded to them by virtue of their professions. Here are three ways that we (because I’m still an employee, too!) can make the most of our time as employees:

  • Explore and take advantage of employee benefits. Free or lowered price training, various insurances, shopping discounts, access to restricted spaces and exclusive events: find out all of the benefits available to you from your employer. Then take advantage of every program, benefit, and perk that you can. If these perks can be enjoyed on the clock, even better!
  • Network like crazy while you’re there. Wherever you work, remember that you are less than six degrees from people that can assist you with your goals. So meet as many people as you can, and add these individuals to your network. The thought that a person should only go to work and refuse to develop networks within their sphere of influence is antiquated and limiting. Many people that hold this perspective will also complain about job stagnancy and air their frustrations over how better networkers get certain promotions and advantages within the workplace. Your dream role may be just one crucial contact away from where you are right now. Learn to network so that you can tap into all of the opportunities just beyond your reach.
  • Do a skills audit so you can quantify what you learned and make moves based on your skill set. Examine the skills you’ve gained on the job, and determine which ones would qualify you for a better position (spoiler alert: ALL skills have the potential to qualify you for something better). If you struggle with identifying and enhancing your skills, you can get a skills audit done by me. I offer this audit so that, instead of feeling overwhelmed or disempowered, you can devise a plan of action that moves you confidently toward the career of your dreams! As employees, most of us are more talented, skilled, and desirable than we know. The skills we have are often downplayed by us (as an attempt to display humility) or others (part of getting us to accept less than we deserve). If you aren’t sure what your gifts are, or what you bring to the job market, contact me: I can help you pinpoint your talents and tell you how to leverage them to your advantage.

Those are my top tips for getting the most out of your current job. What are some of your tips? I’d love to hear about them in the comments below!