Have you ever been turned down for a position that your were qualified or even over-qualified for? For us, that’s where our AB story begins…

Money was tight and we were doing everything we could to just pay the bills. I was a loan officer by day, and a door-to-door salesman by night. Still, it wasn’t enough to survive. Brooke, having an accounting degree and well qualified, applied for a position at a local accounting firm. The interview went well and we were sure she would get the job.

Well, she didn’t get the job and we were back to square one. I was surprised that she wasn’t offered the job because she was well over-qualified for the position. If I were them, I would have hired her on the spot…and that’s exactly what I did.

Just like that, Affordable Bookkeeping was born. It took months to get everything up and running. As we prepared to launch Affordable Bookkeeping, we found out we were expecting our 2nd child. A sense of urgency was now there since we had nine months to move the business out of our home and get the business off the ground.

Feeling up to the challenge, we decided to bring in reinforcements. With no positive cash flow, one client and our three-bedroom house, we recruited two summer interns, one bookkeeper and one salesman. They lived and worked out of our home. This made for a long and stressful summer but we did it! One month before our 2nd son was born, we had moved into our own office and had one full-time employee. We had arrived!

As we continued to grow our business, I focused my time on developing relationships and interacting with small business owners. In giving them an understanding of their financial statements, I also found a common thread. They all had the need and desire to grow their business but didn’t know where to begin.

Although I have an accounting degree, my real love and passion comes when I am working on the marketing aspects of our business. As a result, I am constantly reading and educating myself on small business marketing. In my quest for knowledge, I found a book called “Duct Tape Marketing” by John Jantsch. It was the most comprehensive book about small business marketing that I have ever read. After applying its principles to my own business, I found it was simple, effective, and affordable. I knew that this was the key for any small business that is serious about successfully launching, establishing, and growing their business. That is when we decided to become part of the Duct Tape Marketing Team.

As we identified the important roles that both marketing and accounting play in every small business, we decided to implement the Duct Tape Marketing System into our current accounting business and change our name to Affordable Business Solutions. This allows us to add value to your business by focusing our expertise on helping your small business make more, keep more and play more! We are passionate about small business and would love to help you succeed. We look forward to becoming part of your success story!