By the Numbers – Young Entrepreneur always busy running Spotlight Bookkeeping

Pure, unadulterated joy. That is what lights up in her eyes when she talks about running her own business.

Veralyn Saulnier, 29, is Spotlight Bookkeeping. Her one-woman business, which she’s been managing for more than two years now, is based in Yarmouth. After a summer job at an accounting firm, Veralyn realized how much she enjoyed bookkeeping - leaving the education program at Acadia University at age 20 to pursue business administration and accounting at NSCC. She never looked back.

While working for a local accountant, Veralyn felt overwhelmed while single-handedly assisting more than 50 clients. With Spotlight Bookkeeping, she manages 13-14 clients in addition to some sub-contracting work. Her business model is unique, as she provides her services at her client’s offices.

“I travel to my clients, which is a little bit different,” she says. “Every day of the week right now, I’m travelling to clients. I like it myself, being there, but the clients like it too – all the paperwork is in their office.”

At first, all Spotlight Bookkeeping clients were based in the town of Yarmouth – which has a population of less than 7,500 residents. Today, Veralyn serves clients throughout Yarmouth County in a variety of different organizations, including restaurants, hotels, charities, a welder and a fish plant.

When asked what surprised her about starting her own business, Veralyn’s answer was … well, surprising. “I think the stress level is what surprised me most,” she says thoughtfully. “I thought it was going to be more daunting – a lot more stuff to worry about. But just managing my own work, I’m perfectly fine.”

Veralyn is in the process of expanding Spotlight Bookkeeping. The first step of the plan was hiring her mother, who is a retired assistant branch manager at a local bank.

“My mother recently retired from the bank and didn’t really want to just sit at home,” Veralyn explains. “She loves bookkeeping, so I thought “why not?” She offered to help me out. It’s just a perfect fit.”

“I can honestly say – I love running my own business,” Veralyn says with a little smile. “I actually had an offer to go back to an accounting firm and work full-time and I turned it down. I said no. I love learning new things and in this business, you learn something new every day.”