I left my old company and started working for myself full-time.
I called the business Parker Bookkeeping Services.
Very creative, I know.
I worked from a desk squeezed into the corner of my bedroom.
My first “office chair” was a dining chair with a pillow tied to the back.
I answered client calls while three preschoolers built blanket forts around me.
Some days were disasters.
Other days felt like miracles.
Slowly, the business grew.
By the time the triplets started kindergarten, I had enough clients to rent a tiny office.
By third grade, I hired my first employee.
By fifth grade, there were seven of us.
I wasn’t rich.
But the electricity stayed on.
The refrigerator stayed full.
We moved from the apartment into a small three-bedroom house with a backyard.
I bought a used SUV without needing a cosigner.
I took the kids to Lake Erie one summer and
