About Kathy

I l @ ve RuBoard

I went to school for a long time and accumulated quite a few degrees. After years of clinical work as a school psychologist , family therapist, and clinical supervisor, I opened my own practice. It was my life's dream ”or so I thought. I found a charming office and threw a grand-opening party. But in spite of the beautiful and cozy office with piped-in music and my own coffee pot, I was isolated and bored. At the end of the day I felt drained and empty. I kept hearing singer Peggy Lee in my head, "Is that all there is?"

I always imagined that later in my career I would work from home and write. I had this idea that working from home was for those who were winding down from a stellar career, certainly not starting one. That point of view was flipped on its head with one single phone call. In just seven days, my husband and I would become the parents of a six-month-old boy from Vietnam. There wasn't even a diaper no less a crib in our home. The arrival of my son was a defining moment in my life. I knew at that moment exactly what I wanted. I wanted to work from home and raise my son.

I left private practice and opened a small publishing company from my house. A lot of people shook their heads and thought I was nuts. They believed I was tossing all those clinical years out the window. That's not how I saw it. I saw it as a fantastic opportunity to take my training and experience and turn it into something that was tailor-made to suit my life. I was still a psychologist ”that hadn't changed. I was dying in that private practice, but now I felt liberated.

The road into publishing was filled with wild highs and nail-biting lows. One of the first books I published was my own, First Aid for Tantrums . When the media noticed the book, the phone started ringing. I was flown to New York to appear on Good Morning America and MSNBC . I went nose-to-nose with the feisty Bill O'Reilly who admitted on television that he drove all those nuns crazy back in parochial school. I survived Sally Jesse Raphael's raucous audience and was invited back two more times. I crossed the country doing a weeklong national book tour, being escorted from television studio to radio station to newspaper reporter. It was a thrill to meet new people in all these cities.

The work was hard and the deadlines were stressful but I loved publishing from a home office. There are moments I will never forget ”like the time my son danced naked on the front lawn while I was doing a live radio interview or the day when I first saw my book printed in another language.

As high as I soared as an author, I struggled as a publisher. My small publishing company just couldn't compete against the giants. The failure nearly shattered my confidence to say nothing of the gaping whole it put in my family's bank account. It was not an easy time.

Everybody loves 20/20 hindsight. When I look back, I can see where the mistakes were made. Some were caused by a national distributor whose business ethics were less than honorable. My accountant and lawyer urged me to pursue legal avenues, but the till was empty. The other mistakes were mine. I entered publishing with little experience and without a business plan. I thought I was bright enough to figure it all out. These are classic mistakes for anyone starting a new business.

Bruised and beaten ”you bet. Then why didn't I tattoo a big "L" on my head for loser? The way I see it in life there are choices to make: You can either move forward when you stumble or hide under the bed. I made a decision to be a small publisher and it didn't work out. People fail every day. I made the decision to move on.

How did I succeed if I failed? I succeeded because during my years as a small publisher, I learned every aspect of the business from developmental editing to designing book covers. Sure, I learned the hard way, but I did learn. I found out that there were aspects of publishing that I was pretty good at, such as writing and appearing on television. I took those skills and freelanced myself out to other publishers ”all from my home office. The best part is that I haven't missed a minute with my children, and I am writing my own books again.

Today, I am not only a psychologist but also an author and a public speaker. My home office gives me the freedom to raise my children, run my household, care for my mom who now lives with us, and boost my family's income. I like how that success feels to me.

I l @ ve RuBoard