We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Joanne Meaney a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Joanne, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

The definition of being successful is something that has evolved throughout my life of almost 70 years. I attended private schools even though our family lived in a very modest, if not lower middle class neighborhood, commonly referred to as the barrios of Los Angeles. During the day, I was surrounded by the trappings of the well-heeled, including but not limited to those who had large houses with manicured lawns, those who hosted elegant dinner parties and possessed shiny objects, and those who had standing in the community with names on iconic landmarks. My round trip commute, often by bus, brought me back to the decayed houses with messy yards adorned with non-functional cars and happily, a vineyard across the street which stretched up a hill that had sweeping views of LA when I needed a quiet place to reflect. Most of my neighbors were loving and kind, although some were not. In my youth and through my 20s, the trappings of the well-off became the things I thought I needed or wanted to be successful. As soon as I could, I bought a pretty car and thought I had arrived. In looking back, that hysterical and pompous and totally shallow. I remember friends saying that they had just purchased a Lexus, his or her dream car, etc. Another friend could not help but show off his watch. We were all living our dreams. The immaturity of youth seems so ridiculous now. Thankfully, mentors surfaced in my life. These people did not focus on wealth, but on caring about others and helping others develop their full potential. They focused on product quality and customer relationships. One became a business partner, and while he sadly passed at an early age, during that life, he gave his all to every project he took on and made sure that all who joined him along the path were appreciated. Three of us co-owned a company that never made much money but made a tremendous impact on others at the beginning of the microcomputer era. We created the third PC based accounting software product in the world. Our staff people were incredibly dedicated and went the extra mile to help people. I also started a vocational school that taught computerized accounting, which evolved from the needs of the accounting software company. The successes that I feel now are nothing about money or objects. They are heartfelt moments of gratitude that I was able to help somebody in some way. We are here to serve others. One person was so overwhelmed in his accounting practice and said he was suicidal (not joking, mostly overwhelmed by the loss of a loved one) and one of our staff people made him feel so good about life. He shared he never felt he would have made it through without her kindness. Another time, in the vocational school, a blackballed actor/comedian attended our class. Hollywood types are not known to mix well with accountants, but somehow he ended up in our computerized accounting class. At the end of it, he expressed such gratitude for the love and support he felt from everybody in the class, including our instructors and staff people. He shared that he had dark thoughts of wanting to end his life and his classmates and our staff people lifted him up in a way he had never felt before. To be surrounded by such incredible people sharing their vulnerabilities and by those who took time to care about other people and help however they could, that is the success story of my life. I am grateful for the people who have been a part of my business life, from those who have taken the time to mentor me, to the coworkers who have shared in a vision and for the clients who have put their faith in our skills. It has been a beautiful journey. I think to be successful, you must have faith in God, be persistent, surround yourself with loving people, give love to others and know what true success is.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

As a child, I could not wait to start working. The first time I remember being entrepreneurial was as a 7 year old when I set out a stand in front of my parents house, folded some paper into products only a 7 year old could envision as a “product” and then set out to sell them at the stand. Needless to say, they went unsold, but this did not deter me. I just needed to refine my products and my sales skills. During high school, the cost of college was looming so I started working lots of jobs, including tutoring others students at my schools and working at a hot dog stand in downtown Los Angeles as a cook. Thankfully, the owner of the hot dog stand was painfully honest and let me go, explaining, “You belong in an office.” I started inquiring at school about jobs. A classmate’s father was a CPA and his firm hired me over Christmas and summer to help with filing. I loved the environment…books that looked like law books (they were, of sorts, IRS Code), you got to dress up at work, etc. Sadly, I got sick and had to leave and was heartbroken. I went on to work as a day camp counselor at Salvation Army in Hollywood (and even learned to play the timbrels to Onward Christian Soldiers) and the CPA helped find me another job with his client, in their accounting department. By this time, I had started applying to colleges and was accepted to a university that pretty much guaranteed me a position in an international accounting firm (Big 8, as they were referred to in the day.) On one of my first assignments at the international CPA firm, I met one of those mentors who eventually became my business partner. His company and my company were using the computer processing room at MCA Universal and that meeting became the basis for my work life going forward. The focus of my work life is pretty much the same as all aspects of my life…we are here to serve others. I am also proud to be a state builder. With God’s grace, I hope that you will soon see the creation of New California, as the result of a Constitutionally supported group that is creating a new state from existing California. New California is a state with unlimited possibilities: rural representation, parental rights, medical freedom, affordable housing, well-managed resources, more dams and less than 1/2 the layers of bureaucracy of current California (resulting in lower taxes.) It is a state with a mindset for personal liberty.

Can you talk to us about your experience with buying businesses?

At the time, the main focus of my business life was the vocational school. There are ups and downs in government funding and the school was almost 100% government funded, so it seemed prudent to diversify. To that end, I started building up CPA type clients (tax, consulting, anything), as I had been out of that field for a long time and the accounting software business was in steep decline due to QuickBooks coming on the scene, so I had decided to leave the accounting software firm. QuickBooks is a story for another day. My former business partner in the accounting software business and I shared office space. He then developed terminal cancer and had to give up his share of the office. The landlord was very sympathetic and said he would continue to rent out 1/2 the space to me. Of course, one cannot expect the landlord to take the hit for 1/2 of the office space for a very long time, so I started to search for another CPA firm to move in, hoping to get some overflow work from that new office roommate. The CPA who moved in oddly, was somebody we had previously sold office equipment to when HP paid the accounting software firm in credits for printer products for providing scoring at the LA Open in their hospitality suites. I felt very comfortable with him moving into the office space. At some point, the CPA’s wife retired and said, “I am moving to our other house in the rural area of California.” Without hesitation, the CPA came to me and said he is looking for somebody to take over his clients. At this point, my tax background was very limited, as I had been an auditor for most of the time I was in public accounting. I knew a little about taxes, enough to be dangerous. I asked him if he wanted me to bring him some leads to buy his practice, not thinking of myself as a tax accountant in any way, shape or form. Nobody I knew was interested…we were all almost of retirement age. The landlord, caring person that he is, came to me and asked, “Why are you not offering to take over the practice?” I explained that I am not a tax accountant. He said, “You should consider it.” I went to the other CPA and explained, “I am not a tax accountant. Would you allow me to take over your clients?” The next word out of his mouth was, “Done.” It was that easy. There was only a handshake. Another great mentor had come into my life. Both of the most important mentors in my life played the saxophone. What is that all about? I don’t know, but I love this.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Our offices used to be across the street from our current location. At that time, my son was 2, I was going through a divorce, my mother was dying from bone cancer, government funding for schools had been on hiatus for 6 months due to a change in laws and the landlord across the street would not renew our lease and there was nothing but grief in my life, so it seemed. My world was crashing down as it does for many in their 40s. I do not understand why the 40s bring about so much upheaval, but it seems common. I was renting a room from a friend while going through a divorce. My friend was kind enough to let my son and I stay there for an incredibly reasonable price. He, too, was going through a divorce. There were no romantic ties. We had worked together years earlier, but we both were in need and the situation worked out. The house was much nicer than my own tiny condo, but it was still not home. During that time of reflection, classical music was cathartic. It seemed that I would never be able to dig out of the hole I was in. My mom was very sick and required a lot of my time since my brother had huge responsibilities of his own and my sister was in another state. My father had died a few years earlier and my mom depended on me for help, since he was gone. One year, between the two of us, we had over 70 doctor visits, many of which were her radiation treatments. All I remember was taking life one day at a time. I read books about the death process in Buddhism, books on self-improvement, books on relationships and books on alcoholism (why I begrudgingly left the father of my child-it was the hardest decision I ever had to make.) From that despair, I do not have any answers. These are tests God puts us through. I am still here and am living my best life. After this hard time, I met my second husband who was the love of my life and my rock. He is gone, but he made my life complete and I still feel his loving presence. Surround yourself with love and good people.