Meet Your Private Tutor
Hi. I'm Lake (short for Lake Girl)

I will be your tutor on this site so ... let me get the formalities out of the way before you get to know the real me!

Small Business Bookkeeper / Management Accountant



1 year acting as my own Web Master of this site ... and loving it ... almost more than bookkeeping!

9 years Canadian small business experience in bookkeeping, management accounting/reporting, basic tax preparation - currently dba Lakeshore Bookkeeping Services

3 years financial caretaker experience for seniors providing assistance in managing their personal day-to-day monetary affairs

3 years estate executor experience settling estates and distributing the property to beneficiaries

20 years corporate head office experience in budgets, forecasting, financial planning, general accounting



Bachelor of Commerce, University of Calgary

CPB Certified Professional Bookkeeper Member, Institute of Professional Bookkeepers of Canada, Prince George Chapter (see Code of Conduct)

Senior Member, Canadian Bookkeepers Association (see Code of Ethics)

Member, American Institute of Professional Bookkeepers

QuickBooks Pro Advisor - Canada

Self development - numerous economics and professional accounting courses through the University of Calgary, CGA Association of Alberta and H&R Block

In the media, "5 Tips to Manage Your Books Yourself", Mompreneur Magazine, January/February, 2010, p. 18-20 www.themompreneur.com

Whew! Now that's over with, we can have a chin-wag. ;-)

I'm learning to build my own website through Site Build It! You'll see ads about SBI! scattered throughout this site.

The majority of the information on this site comes from my desire to gather all my own personal reference notes and place them all in one place for easy access.

Crossroads ... Choices ... Dreams

In December 2008, my life was at a bit of a crossroads. (This is the third set of crossroads in my life.)

I had a choice on where my life should go next ... so I opted for following a dream ... having my own website and virtual business so I could work from home.

I live on lake front property (I followed this dream at my second set of crossroads awhile back) ... less than an hour away from a city in one direction and a small town in the opposite direction. (You'll see pictures of the area around my home scattered throughout this website ... just in case you were wondering what the heck they had to do with bookkeeping!)

Living year round at the lake allows me ... to breathe and feel like ... I'm home ... I'm finally home. The tension my body feels when I'm in the city ... falls away when I turn off the highway and drive the long lake road to home.

This want ... this need to live at the lake only remains a reality if I have income (like everyone!)... and I wanted ... so wanted... to not drive to the city five days a week ... I wanted ... and the want slowly became a need over the years ... I needed ... to find a way to work close to home.

I was doing a lot of thinking on how I could make this happen when ... I started toying with the idea that ...

... if I built a website ... I could work from home.

My original goal was to create my own website that I could access from anywhere ... and have a place to direct clients when they needed information or had questions. The idea was to create a "brochure" website for my business.

(I decided to start up my business again after my parents' deaths and more time became available ... instead of looking for employment. I had gotten used to having flexible hours after six years spent caring for my parents and wrapping up their estates.)

Once I decided to build a "brochure" website, I was faced with the problem of learning how to do that ...

I didn't want to pay someone thousands of dollars just to create and maintain a website

... when I found a free host that would enable me to put up a simple website ... actually, a neighbour across the lake had started using it.

While researching some aspect of how to get the site up and running, I stumbled onto Site Build It! (SBI!) as an affordable solution.

For $30 US per month (or $300 US per year), SBI! provided the guidance, tools, and support so I could become my own web master and run a profitable (eventually ... with some hard work) online business.

Once I made the decision to go the SBI! route, I deleted my "brochure" site and started over ... building my site following SBI!'s advice.

Working Towards The Dream

After reading (in pdf format) and watching (on video) the SBI! Step by Step Action Guide, I realized that ALL (not just some) of my notes and references may be useful to other work from home business owners who weren't clients or bookkeepers starting their own practice from home ... and that I could earn some money providing this information.

I took the leap and decided to make all my notes available on the internet for others to use and reference. It will take me some time to get everything up but I've got a good start at it.

(Update January 2010 - Actually this website has now taken on a life of its own.)

Prior to finding SBI!, I did not think of having an internet site as a business, in its own right, that I could earn money from.

After I discovered that gem of a possibility ... I decided to "make a curve in my pathway" ... setting my first goal to earning $200-$300 a month.

Once I realized the amount of work actually involved in building the site, I revised my initial goal to making this site pay for itself first ... then work on achieving supplemental income of $200-$300 per month.

(To be really truthful, SBI! testimonial ads and the SBI! forums are full of people who have been able to leave their jobs after having a website. That is my dream too! ... I can't say I really believed it at first

... you know the "if it's too good to be true, it probably isn't"!

But my site has been progressing just like Dr. Ken Evoy and SBI! said it would ... just slower than I originally anticipated ... I have always been a bit of a slow learner ... but once I catch on ... I've got it.

... All of the successful SBIers say all you need to do is plan for it to take two to five years and ... this is very important ... follow the Action Guide ... step by step ... no deviations.)

Building this site has been a learning curve ... but one I am enjoying.

It is taking longer to earn money than I planned ... I had trouble with a few of the concepts, still do ... so I'm a bit behind on my plan ... but I still think it is achievable.

I started a log of my progress on building this site so on the days I am a bit discouraged at my progress, I can check in with myself and see how much I have accomplished!

If you would like to read a bit more about my experience with SBI!, click here.

Wow ... I kind of got off topic (if I knew how to insert an embarrassed face, I would)... but as you can see, I really do love SBI! ... but back to making my notes available on this website.

While learning to get this site up and running, I do my best to ensure my "notes" are accurate, complete and do not infringe on others' copyrights ... but I am still learning.

I make these pages available for your use with the understanding that I cannot be held liable for errors and/or omissions. Please make yourself familiar with my site policies prior to relying on any of the information on this site.

It is my sincere hope that this site provides you with useful, practical information to assist you with your business.

Stay tuned .... there will be more to come ... at some point ... on a day when I feel like sharing / talking about myself.

So until I'm in a chatty mood, I'll share a picture of two of my best friends. They originally started working at Lakeshore Bookkeeping Services as bookkeepers-in-training. However, it soon became evident that their talents leaned more towards the people side of the business. Both are happy in their positions as Greeters. ;-)

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