I am Paulette Dreher, friend, colleague, Intuit ProAdvisor and Premier Reseller. I live and breathe QuickBooks because it has given me the freedom and lifestyle I always wanted.
I majored in Accounting because I really didn’t know what I wanted to do. I then worked Corporate for about 15 years. It paid the bills but I was never truly professionally happy because I hated the time constraints. It was only after I got laid off that I found my niche.
My Dad was German and my Mom was Italian. They met during World War II and had a story book romance. I was born in Italy. However, my parents couldn’t figure out which country to live in, so we moved to America. Growing up, I learned and spoke English, German and Italian fluently and then took French and Spanish classes in school. Everyone thought I should work for the United Nations as an interpreter, so of course I chose another path.
I worked with my Dad as a teenager. He was an entrepreneur and owned amusement rides in various now defunct parks. I always loved the freedom of being outside in the spring, summer and fall seasons and not working in the winter. Of course that was just my perspective. I now know he worked all year to get contracts in place and the rides in shape for the next year. Nonetheless, I learned that not being cooped up in a cubicle or office, nor needing to “punch a clock” was what I liked.
Fast forwarding, I am a single mom of a wonderful son named Michael. He is now 22 years old and works full time at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom in Food and Beverage. We spend a lot of “in person” and “phone time” together. As a Disney employee, he gets amazing discounts on Hotels and Meals and the Parks are free. I visit him often. Phone time is special too and we love to talk sports, especially about the Yankees.
When I was in Corporate, Michael was in Day Care. Not only did I spend a fortune on that but it was also awful because I had to drop him off at 7am and most times could not pick him up until almost 7pm. That wonderful day in 1996, when my boss informed me that after 12 years of employment I would be down-sized in 2 weeks, was the best day of my professional career.
My business partner, Kathleen Feliccia, was also let go around the same time from a different company. That was how SBS Associates, Inc. was formed. That first year, we lived on unemployment and professed to knowing everything from QuickBooks, to Web Development and IT Technology just to keep the business going. Our first client was a nightmare and also a bully but we got past it and eventually fired him.
Today, I mostly live at the beach in a bayfront townhouse, having sold a house that was always too big but was the “go to” house for friends, especially Michael’s. Here I enjoy family, friends and neighbors. We engage at the beach, on our Jet Skis or simply on the deck, patio or dock. I’m hoping to be able to buy a boat next year – a Boston Whaler. I also have a “winter” condo. Lovely and enjoyable but it can’t beat the beach!
Our business is very successful and perhaps someday I will retire, though I can’t imagine it being any time soon. I’m having too much fun. We are certified in all the QuickBooks versions and enjoy the diversity and challenges of all the industries whose needs can be met using QuickBooks. Our Field Service Management and Method CRM expertise is the “icing on the cake”. We almost never need to say “No we can’t …”
I want to continue being part of the Intuit EcoSystem. Traveling, Golf, Photography, Bike Riding and Pencil Drawing are my hobbies but I’m not yet ready for any of them on a full time basis. In the meantime, Kathy and I enjoy an excellent client base and look forward to continued Intuit partner relationships and mutual success.
Paulette
Editor’s Note: Paulette Dreher is an Advanced QuickBooks ProAdvisor in Westwood, NJ. She is a member of Intuitive Accountant’s Top 100 and Top 10 ProAdvisors for 2014, and recipient of Intuitive Accountant’s 2014 Integrations Practice award recognizing the ProAdvisor whose practice specializes in integrating various solutions within the Intuit Ecosystem.