There once was a young girl who, more than anything, wanted to be a veterinarian. But, alas, circumstances prevented her from pursuing her goal and she ended up in the world of business. Soon after graduation, and after visiting with a pediatrician in the area with my small daughter, I was asked to run the office in an outlying area. I stayed with the world of pediatrics for 7 years. Since my fortitude to work with ill children was not what it should be, and my interests were surfacing in the world of dogs, my husband and I opened a small boarding and breeding kennel. During the 15 years of taking this small kennel to a substantial operation for boarding, breeding and handling show dogs I learned what running a business on my own entailed. Finding that the computer would make my life a little easier, I first obtained a word processor and kept all my kennel records on disks. This also made me take the word processor to it's fullest potential by using it for tracking the boarding dogs (i.e. scheduling, feeding, medication, etc.).
As time went on, goals changed from breeding and handling dogs to the desire to judge. The kennel was closed, due to conflict of interest with judging and it was time again to enter the business world. Needless to say, it was not easy to start her business career all over again.
Working for a financial company that dealt with audits and real estate was quite a challenge. All those new programs to learn on the computer! WOW! I loved it. I felt I had found my niche! It didn't take long for me to get bored and start to whine to my husband that I really needed a computer at home. Hour upon hour I would spend loading and unloading programs so they could be worked with. Pretty soon I felt comfortable (the fear of erasing everything in sight had disappeared) and I had a new skill.
Being the self driven person that I am, I started my own little business at home doing bookwork and processing for the medical community. I found that I loved working with graphics and became proficient enough to put my ideas for marketing into various graphic forms. On one of my week stints with Meridian Healthcare in their Marketing Department the Director asked if I would consider coming with Meridian as Office Manager. I went home to consider if I again wanted to work full time for someone else and found that it was quite appealing. So there I was, again in the corporate world, loving the hustle and bustle. Whoa - did I hear there was going to be a MERGER? Indeed! As the months progressed, I knew that being a junior manager put me in jeopardy of being cut. It happened in March, 1994.
Yes, I took the summer off, and then decided I could not stay home 24 hours a day. There were just not enough things to do that I could take an interest in (housework, did someone say? UGH!).
Interviewing with McQueen & Associates made my blood boil. Hearing about the new technology gave me goosebumps. I couldn't wait to see what was in store. Public Relations and Graphics are things I love to do and McQueen & Associates granted me the opportunity.
As my activities in the dog world demanded more of my time, both in judging and education, I am now working from home, still consulting with McQ, but building a new business doing graphic design and desktop publishing for businesses and cost-saving consulting for corporations..
If you have any questions or want to talk to me about any of our services, please e-mail to karina@clark.net or call: (410) 343-1215.
Updated11/21/98 KBA | Back to top | |Back to Karin's Page|