That's me. I took this selfie while sitting in the Florida Keys sunshine and drinking fresh orange juice. My husband got to sleep in and my kids were swimming in the resort's infinity pool. This isn't normally how you think of a "work conference" but this is how my family rolls. Oh, my kids and I also got to swim with dolphins.

Every time I look at this picture I know that I built this life and my family are full stakeholders in it.

When I planned my own family / work / life balance, THIS is exactly what I wanted.

I can help you get here, too.

Maybe your idea of family business life isn't drinking fresh juice and watching your kids swim with dolphins. Maybe you don't know what it looks like yet. But you DO know that it needs to involve your family somehow.

It won't happen overnight. First steps first, right? Who am I and how did I get here? (Queue Talking Heads song...)

I own a family business.

In fact, I’ve owned several family businesses.

My husband and I have been together 20+ years, made 7-figures, lost 6-figures, and had 2 kids along the way.

We’ve brought our kids to work, had our kids DO work, worked with our siblings business and even hired on a cousin.

I’ve owned a retail store, a consultancy, an agency, worked as a freelance consultant, produced several podcasts, owned several direct sales companies. I’ve even worked for someone else’s company in order to “extend the runway” of our family businesses.

I currently serve as a coach and mentor to other family-owned business owners and also am the co-founder of a software company (with my husband.)

Most – but not all – of those businesses have been with my husband. A few existed before he came around. One of the businesses has been so wildly successful all we could do to survive was lean on our family for help and tap their professional expertise. Some of our businesses failed to thrive the way we envisioned. One business failed so spectacularly I wasn’t sure we’d ever recover (hellloooooo retail store I’m lookin’ at you…)

It is time we acknowledge that family-owned businesses are a unique and vibrant part of our economy and deserve to be cared for, invested in, and celebrated.

I (accidentally) helped a number of family-owned businesses find their own way.

Now I do it with purpose.

My path helping others figure out their own path was accidental. Time and time again friends have reached out to me for advice, guidance or mentorship on how to navigate a small business – but somehow it always came around to needing to work with or with the support of their family. Not soon after, my digital marketing agency clients came to me with the same request. They wanted my expertise on marketing their business and wound up hiring me to guide them to blend business and family. Weird, right? Not really. I was attracting clients to me that only saw an issue with their company but I knew it was an issue with their family company. Big difference.

I’ll be honest here, sometimes their outcome was a shuttered business or broken relationship. I’m not a medical professional. I can only speak from experience and a point of reference to help encourage each person to choose their own path and give them some tools to facilitate that.

They came to me because of the track record I have with not just small business, technology and marketing – but the fact that my husband and I not only make amazing business partners but life partners as well.

It was not always easy.

It was not always simple.

But it is very much worth it.

My goal is to help YOU grow profitable businesses and strengthen your family. Thanks for the opportunity to help guide you on the journey.