Desperate4Votes

How is it that I got here anyway...it seems as though the road has been long, however, in the grand scheme of life it has gone by with a blink of an eye!

I have, since I can remember anyways, always been busy busy busy.  I am not sure that I know how to be anything but busy.  As a young child I was always running to cheer leading, dance, gymnastics, dance and girl scouts.  In high school things changed a little...it was more like cheer leading, dance, socialize, socialize, soccer, track, socialize, dance, gymnastics, socialize and more cheer leading.  I am sure at some point...boys came into the picture.  Once I graduated from High school the honest truth is that I needed a break and a break I took.  I could have gone to a University to Cheer, however, I was tired.  Tired of always being busy.  So, I went to a community college and had lots of fun socializing.  Well, I wasn't busy enough so I decided to give "real" college life a try.  I packed up all by my self (ok, my Mom was a big help) and went to MU.  Wow, was that ever fun!! I joined a sorority and had lots of fun but I missed home. 

I came home from MU after a year and got what I consider my first "real" job.  I worked for a wholesale distributor of natural stone (marble and granite...the kind for your floors and counters).  I started as a receptionist and when I left 7 years later I was the Operations Manager for our location and was responsible for training the Credit Managers in our other locations.  I left because the company was going under and they had let my mentor go.  It was a very sad situation and to be perfectly honest I really miss that job and the industry.  I was really good at what I did as it was all I knew.  I still believe that there is something to be said about being green...absorption is so much better!

The other reason I decided to leave my job was that I had gotten married 4 years earlier and with all the stress of my job we were having trouble getting pregnant.  This is a problem so many women face and I truely believe that the minute I decided to quit my body said OK we can agree to do this now.  Stress played a huge factor in our delay, however, we were lucky enough that it happened about a year later.  In the meantime I went to work for our family business.

I really enjoyed working with my dad at Moore's Home Mechanical.  The only piece that was missing was that I didn't love the industry.  For me there just wasn't any love for plumbing, hvac or appliance parts or knowledge for that matter.  I had always wanted to be like my mom and be a stay at home mom, however, deep down inside I always knew that I would have to contribute to our family somehow.  So with that in mind, we got pregnant and I told my Dad I would be leaving once the baby was born.  I learned so much while working with my Dad and our relationship grew to a new level.  I wouldn't change or give up the time that I worked with him everyday to save my life.

As the time for Brody (that is my now 4 year old) to arrive came closer it became more and more apparent to me that it was really important to me, as an individual, to have some sort of job to call my own.  About that time it was proposed to me that I help out a friend of mine that I went to high school with as they were overloaded with work due to a hurricane that had hit Florida.  At the time it was some very basic bookkeeping and billing and it was very easy for me to say yes.  I was really feeling like I needed to continue to work...the timing was perfect.

The last four years have been a complete whirlwind.  Working in the disaster recovery business, helping to clean up the aftermath of 3 huge hurricanes (including Katrina and Ike) has been both rewarding and destroying.  It has been said that I have a hard time telling people no and that I am controlling.  I think this would be an understatement!!  I realize now, after many months (ok, more like years) of not saying no and wanting to have my hands on everything that these two things are not only my nemesis but have all but almost ruined me.  I have learned my lesson and have since hired some help, however, the valley is deep and wide.  And this is what my Path to Here looks like.

So here we are...how I ended up being a finalist in the Dell Means Business Contest to win $25K technology make over.  In the last 4 years I have run 3 computers into the ground.  I am still using the third.  It was about a month ago when I was fighting my computer (aren't they great when they work?) that I went on line in search of my next verdict.  As I am currently using a Dell and was extremely impressed with the sales person that I spoke to to buy my current computer I went back to there site to look for a solution.  Either a solution to my current computer issues or to buy an new computer, this I cannot recall.  I bumped into the contest information which simply asked that I describe how my small business could use a technology make over and why.  My fingers went ablaze and then became the essay that allowed me to be a finalist in this contest.

A little over a week ago I received an email that I was a finalist.  I had forgotten all about writing this essay as nothing of this nature ever happens to me.  They requested that I send them a few picture and suggested that I start spreading the word to get votes.  I was trying to come up with a catchy email address, as to not flood my already overflowing email account with contest emails, when my friend Amy suggested desperate4votes.com and this website just came to life in my head. 

I really do hope that I win the Dell Means Business Contest.  It is very important to me as I am ready to take my business to the next level.  I would love to be able to stream line some of my current processes so that I could focus on the larger picture.  I spend hours of my time reconciling paper tickets that shoud be scanned and read my handwriting software, however, it is very expensive.  More importantly, however, is the need to spend more time with my family.  I work between 10 and 20 hours a day and this does not leave near enough time to spend with my husband and son.  I love them both more than I could ever describe with words, however, when the valley is as deep and wide as the one I am in, balance is a very hard thing to find.  I would love to have more time to do things like make hand turkeys instead of admiring the ones brought home from daycare (or school as we call it)!

I hope my Path to Here as given you some insigt as to who I am and where I have been to get here...Now...PLEASE GO VOTE for KLC Accounting, LLC at Dell Means Business :0)