Launching my business

I have been a bookkeeper using QuickBooks Software since 1995.  I climbed the corporate ladder and by 2003 I was married and working as a Controller for a large water treatment corporation.  Two years later my husband and I got the wonderful news that we were expecting TWINS!  Although I was doing well in my career, working full time and paying for daycare just didn't make sense financially nor did being a full time working mom sit well with me.  After 18 months at home with my kids, helping out my old employer from time to time and helping friends and their friends with QuickBooks concerns or start up, I decided to get my certification as a ProAdvisor with the little bit of free time I had.  Once I completed the program I thought "ya know, I could make a business out of this and still be a stay at home mom".  I put my first ad on CraigsList offering Company Start-Up Services and Off-Site Bookkeeping Services using QuickBooks.  To my suprise the phone continued to ring and ring.  Before I knew it I was doing bookkeeping from home for local businesses...providing training and tech support for others...and consulting companies on the software in general.  It was amazing!  Teach Me QB, LLC was born.  It has been three years now and my twins have just turned 5.  I got to be a mom and I got to create this great business that gives me the flexibility I wanted, the money I needed and the courage to stand on my own.  Oh, and that water treatment corporation I was working for prior to all of this...well, they are now my biggest client which has acquired 2 more companies since and I now handle the bookkeeping for all of them.

Advice for others

I always wanted to do what I loved in life and that was to be a mom and to continue doing bookkeeping and earning a living.  Never give up on your dreams and never think that there is no way you can achieve them.  I was lucky that the costs to start this thing were minimal...a lap top, the QB Certification and the CraigsList Ad was free.  Yes, there are times that my work has taken me away from my twins but I have come to find out that that is not such a bad thing!  Now with the extra money, I get to spoil them!  It's been a win-win for all of us!  Don't ever think that you can't reach for the stars no matter what life hands you.