WESST Client Profiles

Brenda partnered with her husband to start J&B Gardens, a family-owned
landscaping business. She began taking care of their bookkeeping needs
while continuing to work with another contractor as a full-time office
manager. Brenda then decided to open her own business: Libelula
Financial, a bookkeeping service that assists businesses with acquiring the
permits and applications needed to become registered businesses. She
focuses on working closely with the Spanish-speaking community and
those in need of assistance. Her desire to assist others with their
bookkeeping needs and business questions motivated her to fill a need
and begin Libelula Financial. Being bilingual, she knew she could provide
customers with the highest quality of service in both Spanish and English.

One of the biggest challenges she has is educating her clients on the
concept of time and money. As with many entrepreneurs who are starting
a business, herself included, she found it challenging to set prices correctly
and recognize the value of time. With many clients having Spanish as their
first language, the language barrier impacted abilities to move forward
with their businesses. They needed assistance with understanding not only
the bookkeeping aspects of a business, but also how to run an effective
business. This includes permits, financing, and how to perform correct
reporting. She meets with her clients one-on-one, reviews their
bookkeeping practices, and discusses the opportunities and successes
they have had. Her experience helping her clients has helped her
recognize what she must work on to create a successful business. She’s
taught her clients to be proactive and to invest in themselves by planning
and implementing marketing plans, rather than just waiting for customers
to come to them.

Brenda heard about WESST in 2019 when helping her husband with his
landscaping business and has built a relationship with the SFE office. She
began with one-on-one consultations and was invited to informative
workshops to help her with various aspects of her business. When she
decided to start her own bookkeeping business, WESST was supportive
and continues to assist her. She attended workshops in English and
Spanish ranging from Credit to Social Media Marketing.