Sylvia: Hi Katrina. I am thrilled to talk to you. Congratulations on being selected as NAWR’s “10 Most Intriguing Women on the Rise.  Tell me about yourself and your business? 

Katrina: The words that best describe me are determined, genuine, committed, innovative, and trailblazing. I’m not the type to beat to the drum of others and live my life as a testimony of how committing yourself to following your true purpose can lead to reward. I founded KM Harrell Group, LLC in 2008 initially as consulting company providing business management and accounting consulting to minority owned business in the behavioral health industry. It has since transformed to a company focused on Business Development fueled by creativity, passion and inspiration with a commitment to building wealth. We do this via our businesses and ventures including:

  • Your Simple Bookkeeper, Inc – which I am CEO and Founder and provides award winning Bookkeeping services to micro and small business throughout the US. It is also home of the Micro Business Resource Center which is committed to empowering micro business owners with sound business and financial information and resources.
  • Publishing – which we have 3 books I’m authoring to be released in 2011/2012 (“Micro Business Bootstrapping Guide”, “You ARE Power” and “The Treadmill Effect”
  • Powerhouse Enterprise – which KM Harrell group is Co-founder and was founded in 2010 and is a Women Enterprise Building Co-operative committed to entrepreneurship enterprise building for under-served women.
  • Speaking – which began in 2011 and is sparked from the publishing division
  • Business Strategist/Business Development – This is the core of the KM Harrell Group, LLC. We are committed to empowering women-owned and minority owned business supporting true wealth building. We consult with six and seven figure speakers, businesses, coaches on strategies and systems, to create enterprises around their core business. Think of it as “Building Scaffolds” around your passion by creating an enterprise that creates wealth for you. We also assist minority and women owned businesses with gaining diversity certification with government agencies. Lastly this division also has an “Ideas Factory” where we partner with entrepreneurs lending our innovative business ideas.
  • Young entrepreneurs – Is a private initiative within KM Harrell Group where we are creating a food service company fun completely by young aspiring entrepreneurs during the summer months.

Sylvia: Success is…

Katrina: Living your life in complete submission to my True purpose.

Sylvia: How do you give back to your community? 

Katrina: Giving back to my community is equally connected to my business ventures. By way of the work I do with Your Simple Bookkeeper, its Micro Business Resource Center and the other ventures within KM Harrell Group, I spend hours working on ways to improve and bring awareness to women and minority owned businesses. As Co-founder of Powerhouse Enterprises (a business development co-op) we are working very closely with local HBCUs to establish an entrepreneur project educating and empowering urban and minority entrepreneurs who lack access to resources and information on enterprise building. We expect to have our first Entrepreneur Boot-camp and project starting this September 2011.

I’m also member of North Carolina Regional Black Chamber of Commerce and part of the founding members of the African-American Women Chamber of Commerce – Raleigh NC chapter. Beyond these initiatives, using my talents and gifts by way of speaking engagements with Girls in Action, Shaw University, Local expert panels, blogs, area churches and other regional and local organizations speaking on topics from professional development, self-help, spirituality as well as entrepreneurship, I’m committed my life work to giving back to my community.

Sylvia:  How do you create work/life balance?

Katrina: I create work/life balance by ensuring the all the work I do is in alignment with my values, goals, and true purpose. In practical terms, I have learned to put my life in the following order:

  • God
  • Me
  • Family
  • Career

By doing this, I make decisions on where to open an office, my office hours, creating “out of office” in-office hours, and involving my family and my relationship with God. My 3 year old is home 3 days a week with me, so on Monday and Wednesday I don’t answer the phone or respond to emails, I create a “out of office” responder on emails informing incoming emails that those days are committed to focusing what little time I do have to work (aside from the time I have to spend with my daughter) purely on working.

Also Your Simple Bookkeeper just opened its first office in walking distance from my home and our office hours are Mon-Thurs 9am-4:30pm. I make it a habit to stop working by 5:30pm so that I may ensure my family is taken care of as well as getting up at 4:15 am most days to get in some simple walking, praying stretching and a head start of work. For me there is no secret potion to this, its trial and error.

Sylvia: What tips can you share with women business owners?

Katrina:  It’s important to truly understand your goals and measure them against what’s important to your life, the complete summation of your life, not just the aspects that you want to address. True wealth is not measured in how much you earn in $$ but in how well you live in complete submission to your true purpose. 

Sylvia: Thank you for sharing your time and expertise with our members and subscribers. How can we get in touch with you?

Katrina: You are welcome, my contact information is below:

Contact: Your Micro Business Bookkeeper
Website: http://yoursimplebookkeeper.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/yoursimplebookkeeper
Twitter: http://twitter.com/yoursimpletweet
Phone: 888.449.4145
Fax: 888.767.1966

Share This: