Thank you for taking time to check us out. I am Darren Dudley and I am the owner behind Pocket Protectors Small Business Services. I am a 1990 graduate of the University of New Mexico with a Bachelors of Business and a Concentration in Accounting.

 

I spent the next eleven years in wholesale distribution in the wood building products industry in Tempe, Arizona. I started as an accounting assistant and eventually moved up to the accounting manager position. The company was successful and continued to grow as did my job functions and responsibilities. A CPA was brought on as the accounting manager when I delved into the computer networking and IT functions of the company. I sat as a Board of Director, handled all human resources and IT functions, and continued supporting the accounting department in accounts payables and accounts receivables. During the entire eleven years I provided the payroll functions - outsourced to ADP, Compupay, and Paychex at different points during that time. This company was sold to a larger company in 2001 and I chose not to move to their corporate offices.

 

The next twelve months I spent setting up accounting procedures and policies, streamlining accounting functions and getting a job cost system in place for a stone countertop manufacturer. As the accounting manager, I supervised four employees and began my adventures using QuickBooks for the first time.

Bell Stone Company, Inc. 

 

 

 

 

From Arizona to beautiful central Oregon where I purchased a small restaurant and bar in Culver, Oregon. I learned to cook, bartend, and handle every imaginable situation. I set up all accounting procedures using QuickBooks, outsourced my payroll, and worked on average about 14 hours per day, seven days a week. Not too much time for family working so many hours, so we decided to sell the business after a year. I stayed on part-time for the new owner and remodeled a second restaurant for him in the same town.

 

My lovely and talented wife was offered a position at the coporate offices of the company she continues to work for, so we accepted and moved to the Greenville, South Carolina, area in June of 2005.

 

I spent the next year-and-a-half building and remodeling and landscaping our home and finally decided to get back into bookkeeping. I started in January 2007 at Snapshot Cafe'. From January until the opening date in February, I helped with a variety of construction tasks while setting up QuickBooks and getting payroll and inventory in place. I worked part-time until February of 2008 when I decided it was time to pursue adventures on my own.

 

A friend of the family purchased a coffee and ice cream shop. It was a dream come true for him and his family. He had an accountant that did payroll and was used as an advisor. After a period of time, he asked for my help with QuickBooks and how to classify different expenses and payments and how to book his payroll. I helped him on several occasions, sitting at his kitchen table, envelopes full of receipts stacked neatly nearby. On the second or third session of helping, he asked why I didn't do this part-time. His accountant was $60.00 per hour anytime he called. It was at that point that I decided to go into business.