INVESTOR STORIES
SUCCESS STORY
Winning at the Numbers Game HOW CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCES LED TO ACCOUNTING, CONSULTING, AND SYNDICATION
I have real estate in my heart and numbers in my blood.”
ome of Stephanie Petersen’s fondest memories involve
agement company, Blue Bonnet Com - mercial Manage - ment, and our own
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spending time with her mother working on the first flip her mom bought. It turns out an after-school “job” helping her mom led Stephanie to a successful career in real estate and accounting. “I can still see my mother clear - ly, steaming layers of wallpaper while I followed her around, watch - ing her scrape off layer after layer of wallpaper. It was a long process, followed by prepping the walls and then applying new wallpaper. We had to pay close attention to match the seams and carefully measure the lengths of paper to ensure the strip fit the wall and matched the pattern. Eventually, I realized much of the art of real estate relies on math and attention to details.” As the years passed, Stephanie began working as a bookkeeper and ultimately earned her CPA license. These were challenging years because, like every mother, she was striving to balance being present for her children as well as succeeding professionally. “I was blessed to work for a great company but decided, like most of us with entrepreneurship or real estate in our blood, to open my own firm so I could be with my daughters even more. It took off immediately, and I also began investing in apartment complexes with my husband Bruce. We eventually opened our own man -
construction company. Of course, I handled the books for these enterprises,
and that was when my love for num - bers began to really call me once again,” she said. Stephanie has always kept the books not only for her businesses but for the ones she has shared with Bruce. “It only makes sense. After all, I balanced his books on our first date!” she said. “Having spent so many years working with real estate investors, I know that most of them can rattle off the numbers on their potential deals without batting an eyelid, but these same savvy peo - ple dump an entire box of receipts on their accountant’s table and look at the pile proudly, saying, ‘I saved every one!’” “Now, I am proud of them for saving receipts, but the fact that they just dump a trash can on my table is going to cost them. Real estate investors spend thousands of dollars needlessly on high-end accounting services when really, if they took a little time to harmonize their accounting practices with their business practices and personalities, they would have more peace of mind, far better budgets, and, in many cas - es, lower taxes,” Stephanie said.
Stephanie continued to expand the businesses she was running in the real estate space and realized that the time had come to start not just consulting on an individual basis but to start teaching real estate inves - tors directly so they could do this themselves. “My father always wrote his num- bers in invisible ink in the air. I want to make that invisible ink light up for you in your real estate business. I am proud so many real estate investors and professionals have chosen me to guide them on this ultimately simple (I promise!) but incredibly important journey,” she said.
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