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  <created-at type="datetime">2009-04-15T14:11:25-07:00</created-at>
  <detail>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My story:&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; In April, 2008 I gave birth to my third and&amp;nbsp;last child. Two weeks later I was told I didn&amp;#39;t have a job to come back to. Seeing as how I worked as an accountant I didn&amp;#39;t think finding work would be as difficult as other professions since, after all, every business&amp;nbsp;has accounting, right? WRONG. The downpour of the economy had only just begun.&amp;nbsp;There were&amp;nbsp;medical bills, diapers, formula, clothing...typical expenses that come with a new baby, but still no job. I filed for unemployment, which ran out. What were we going to do? My next thought: &amp;quot;My business...just &lt;em&gt;DO&lt;/em&gt; it!&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My background:&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; I&amp;#39;ve always excelled in mathematics and enjoy working with numbers. At 23, I started working as an Administrator for a&amp;nbsp;small company;&amp;nbsp;typical job functions were office mgmt, payroll, bkpg. My experience grew. I eventually found myself working as an accountant&amp;nbsp;with accounting firms, though not a CPA. (I never finished my degree.)&amp;nbsp;...Then the&amp;nbsp;bubble burst. &amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My endeavor:&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; After almost a&amp;nbsp;year with no income, as well as being pushed by my friends and family who know my abilities, I decided to take the plunged and start my own bookkeeping/payroll business. Scary, yeah I know - especially when you&amp;#39;re broke!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My launch: &lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;Since having no degree, but 10 years experience, I&amp;#39;ve recently decided to become Certified &amp;amp; Licensed.&amp;nbsp;I had to take the full cost from our tax return (...ohh that tax return!!)&amp;nbsp; With a limited budget left and the help of coupons/promotions I was able to create products such as flyers, business cards, signs and a running website. I&amp;rsquo;ve also learned&amp;nbsp;newspapers occasionally have unfilled space just before printing&amp;nbsp;which&amp;nbsp;is sold&amp;nbsp;at a discounted rate (&amp;hellip;there&amp;#39;s marketing/advertising!!) &amp;nbsp;I even received other startup tools, such as accounting programs and association membership fees, as birthday gifts from family and friends. A little elbow grease with internet research, tracking on foot, attending &lt;em&gt;every&lt;/em&gt; local event with business cards in hand and I&amp;#39;m set. Whew!!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My business:&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; I perform outsourced bookkeeping and payroll services at &lt;em&gt;incredibly&lt;/em&gt; low rates to small businesses.&amp;nbsp;In our current economy, someone has to help the small business owner. (Since I work&amp;nbsp;out of my&amp;nbsp;home,&amp;nbsp;I don&amp;#39;t&amp;nbsp;have the&amp;nbsp;same overhead&amp;nbsp;expenses&amp;nbsp;as&amp;nbsp;other companies.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;My result:&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;I&amp;#39;m independent again. I&amp;#39;m doing what I&amp;nbsp;enjoy. I&amp;nbsp;have my own business -&amp;nbsp;all while helping economy-suffering companies the only way I can as &lt;em&gt;their&lt;/em&gt; cost-cutting measure.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I feel like I&amp;#39;ve hit two birds with one stone!&lt;/p&gt;</detail>
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  <subject>As a product of the fallen economy, I'm putting in my 2&#162; in an attempt to give back</subject>
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  <updated-at type="datetime">2010-01-27T10:42:30-08:00</updated-at>
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