There is nothing more personal than owning your own business – and being proud of that business.

Back in 1994, we started inSync. Prior to that, Frank Halsema, my husband, was a software programmer for the aerospace industry but, out of necessity, also started managing and maintaining their enterprise-level IT infrastructure, the beginning of his IT background.

I was a controller of a real estate investment company that also dabbled in new business interests. I became the turnaround expert for their faltering businesses. My accounting background was extremely helpful with quickly locating the problems in those troubled businesses.

Ironically one of those faltering interests was a computer outsourcing company. After 4 years in business, they still had not turned a profit. I was asked to look into it. They had great clients – large law firms, entertainment companies – but they could never overcome their overhead. The 4 founders, 2 sets of husband & wives, each pulled sizeable salaries. The men were the technical side of the business but the wives didn’t have a role in the company.

They also rented a very prominent space in Burbank costing a fortune, despite the fact that their clients never came to their offices. And they invested in $50k in inventory, which sat untouched and was later sold for pennies on a dollar. The lessons learned I brought to inSync: Keep your overhead low including rent, minimize non-income producing employees, & don’t have inventory.