Kate Padilla

And over the next year, I did just that. We got our foster care certification and took a baby into our home. Our rental business quadrupled, both through our own investment and through family investment in our town. And yes, I did blog a bit.

But almost one year, to the day, that I was let go from that initial job, I received the confirmation I needed that I was where I needed to be.

I had a knock on the door, and I answered it with our foster-baby on my hip. On the other side of the door was a new financial advisor in town, at a different firm than I had previously worked at. He was going door to door, just to introduce himself and get his face into the community.

“Can I ask, who does your wealth management?” he asked.

“Well, my father-in-law is a broker in California, so he handles our accounts. But I also have my Series licenses,” I responded.

That changed the conversation a bit.

“Oh, well have you ever thought about coming back into the industry?”

Here is where I had to stop. When I left last year, I had one child and twelve “doors” in rental properties. Right then, only a year later, I had two children at home and nearly 50 doors.

“To be honest, I don’t think I could,” I had to respond. “I can’t work a full-time job, and also do what I do here.”

That exchange was three-and-a-half years ago. And we’ve only grown since then. Foster-Baby is back with his family, though we have another toddler of our own and we’ll be adding another one to our family in August. We’re still hovering around 50 doors, but we’ve grown our overall investment in the community through additional business development — I earned my real estate license have have been building a real estate business. Nic started a pepper oil company. And, once more time opens up (whenever that happens to be) we’ve already got our next steps mapped out.

I didn’t expect to become an entrepreneur, or to run small businesses from my home. I have an English degree, in Writing and Literature. I was going to become an editor in a publishing house. And yet, life very rarely follows the ideals we set for it as late teens and early twenty-somethings.

But I know, confidently, that I’m where I’m meant to be. I’ve developed a passion for small business and entrepreneurship –particularly in small towns — over the last 10 years. It has, in a way, become my mission. And as my own career grows, I look forward to helping others get real about what they see for the ideas swimming around in their heads. I want to help develop those ideas, create businesses that value the communities they serve and open doors for their founders.

I want to allow parents, particularly mothers, to have the “best of both worlds” — raise a family and make a home, and also work and find fulfillment in a career. In 2022, it’s more possible than ever before.

Do you want to know more about starting a small business? Are you interested in exploring real estate as a means of balancing a career and a family? I would love to help you get started. Drop me a message below and let me know how I can help you tell your small business story.