From the point in life I am at now, looking back, it sure has been a long, winding road. Great adventures along the way, an endless variety of people who crossed my path, some affecting and shaping my life, others just passing through. Like most, it's a journey that bears no resemblance to the perfect path we envision at 18, when we know everything there is to know.
Today, I am the owner of Lone Star Trading Post, a business venture I started in earnest two years ago. It's a retail business, selling collectibles of all sorts - old fishing tackle, old advertising signs, oil & gas memorabilia - including restored gas pumps adn porcelain signs, rustic and antique home decor items, and a lot more. I get a big kick out of buying and selling, taking the photos, setting up listings, and even packing and shipping.
For the prior 9 years, I travelled to 9 different states conducting inventories and training, a job that I loved for the first 4 years or so. Never got tired of working with the people in the field, nor the traveling and seeing the country. It was an amazing opportunity that began with setting up my own job description and duties, developed into training, and then scheduling and booking all my travel and destinations.
Looking back, the part of my career I have enjoyed the most is working with other people, training them on new procedures and new software. It's great seeing them realize what they are capable of, and take off and really excel and becoming more effective and efficient in their jobs. It makes their lives more fulfilled, and gives me a great deal of satisfaction knowing I've helped someone else.
While my degree is in accounting, I have never seen myself as your stereotypical number-crunching accountant. Math has always been a strong suit, and I can perform many calculations in my head, as many co-workers can attest when we were counting hundreds of thousands of brick stacked in 3-dimensional sections for inventory purposes, and accounting just seemed a natural avenue. With a strong creative side, I've been able to dodge being stuck at a desk 24/7 and do more of what I describe as "creative" accounting. I've gotten to learn many good softwares, such as Access and Excel, and can create some great reports, slicing and dicing numbers any way they were asked for or that I dreamed up that was useful and meaningful.
To save for college, I worked one full year as a roughneck on an oil drilling rig - one of the most fascinating industries I have ever been involved in. I learned a great deal about hard work, and about my ability to do anything I set my mind to. I'm definitely not afraid to get my hands dirty to get a job done.
After graduation, I worked for a drilling contractor in Lafayette, Lousiana, and also spent time with the owner's oilfield rental tool company, and oil & gas company. I worked with both the office personnel and the supervisors on the drilling rigs themselves.
I spent another 2 years in Tyler, working for an oil & gas production & leasing company, and was able to streamline many of their time-consuming processes by use of databases.
I have 5 years experience with the office side of a convenience store chain and a drug store chain. I was the assistant to the director of finance & administration, supervising up to 9 staff members, and working closely with loss prevention and internal audit as well.
I have worked as technical support for a software company, customizing reports and software specs to suit customers, as well as trouble-shooting problems customers ran into.
I have worked for large corporations - Coca-Cola in Dallas, and Blockbuster in Dallas, again improving efficiency greatly with the knowledge and use of database software tools. With Blockbuster, was a main player in implementing a major new way of doing business called revenue-sharing.
As you can see, I have a lot of experience, and in various environments. I have been able to use software to streamline processes, and to provide management with more meaningful reports upon demand. For me, this is where I see myself as being a "creative" accountant, thinking outside the box on a number of occasions, with good results. There is always a way to get from A to B, with a little creativity.
