About

I started my own business years ago for many of the same reasons anyone does. Freedom to call the shots, chances for more opportunities than I could get with a 9-5, and to escape reliance on an employer. But what I found was even better than I could have imagined: I get to work with people who are passionate about their business, business owners who want to have the best business possible and who are willing to go that extra step to make sure their businesses succeed.

Sure, all the initial reasons are there also, but without the people that I get to work with, it wouldn’t be nearly as rewarding. My clients are my favorite part of this job.

When I left the Air Force after six years I wasn’t sure where to go next. So I got a job and continued with college, which was, at the time, as an English major. When I took over for a bookkeeper I discovered I had a talent for bookkeeping, an ability to see patterns in the numbers that could indicate problems, and so I continued as a bookkeeper, and switched my major to accounting. By the time I graduated with my degree in accounting I’d worked for an escrow company, clearing up escrow accounts that had been in disarray for years, and then in a medical clinic where I worked in the billing office, in charge of refunds and reconciling accounts and solving reimbursement problems.

After graduation I worked for a cell phone company and dealt with roaming accounts, and then I went to work for a CPA firm where I was the Staff Accountant. We dealt mostly with litigation, with most of our clients being construction firms involved in lawsuits. I made spreadsheets the size of conference rooms, meticulously taped together from standard sized sheets of paper.

Then I worked as an Office Manager and Store Manager for a pool and spa company. We did installations, repair, service, and had a retail store, so there were several fun new areas to learn about. I used Peachtree, and then BusinessWorks, for all the accounting functions.

Then it was another move, so another job, this time as a Cost Accountant for a meat packing plant. So If you want to know how to account for the ingredients in your marinade, you’ve come to the right place.

After that it was time as a self-employed writer and editor, creating marketing materials and writing for business journals.

Then a move to Washington, where I worked in several short-term temp positions before signing on with a manufacturer of sound equipment in the accounting department. After several years I moved on to work with a school district who hadn’t reconciled their accounts in a year. Seventeen schools, four funds, and four accounts, and I spent months reconciling the accounts that no one had been able to deal with for a year.

And then I decided it was time to work for myself. Since then my clients have included retailers, construction, service, manufacturers, franchises, consultants, travel agencies, distributors, and . . . the list goes on. For ten years I’ve been enjoying my clients and helping them find the solutions to make their businesses run better. I plan to keep this up for a few more decades.