We caught up with the brilliant and insightful VANESSA (VEE) LOPEZ a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

VANESSA (VEE), appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about serving the underserved.

Underserved, under resources; not having sufficient service. To understand my journey , all my twist, turns, and roadblocks that came my way due to lack of information and or resources is why I choose the underserved as my clientele. Not only do I assist small businesses with various professional services, but they also gain business insight and a better understanding of how to grow their company. These past nine years in business have given me a new perspective on the lack of knowledge and financial services new businesses receive. It also showed me that the high school graduates going into college are first generation and have no support or knowledge in the transition into their new academic journey. Without the correct knowledge, support, or compassion to assist college students and or business owners , they become discourage. When this happens , and this is when I swoop in and assist!

VANESSA (VEE), before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

A bit about myself, ugh! It is always hard to talk about yourself when your mind is going 1000 miles per hour and you are trying to decide on how to explain the multiple hats you wear and businesses you run! Let’s start off with the basics, My name is Vanessa Lopez, but I go by Vee. I am a wife, mother of 3 (6 if you include my fur babies) and an entrepreneur.

My Journey of entrepreneurship became present in 2015. At the time I was a full-time employee, full time mother , wife, and full time student as well. It was hard to find the time to focus on my specialty with the kiddos running around. I had to make adjustments in my routine for my business to grow. My bookkeeping began at 830pm when the kids were in bed. This is were ” Night Owl ” came into play. I stayed up 2am sometimes 3 am to complete the bookkeeping and filing for small companies I was doing work for.

By 2017 I had three bookkeeping clients,8 tax clients, and 4 collage prep students. With the three bookkeeping clients I noticed a trend which consisted of the small business owners lack of overall business knowledge. Now, when starting a business you have 1 of the 2 , 1. jumping right into the business and figuring things out as you go, or 2. over analyzing each decision prior to starting that business. ( I had both clients) It became my job to gain as much information that I could by research, my school courses, and mentors that taught me my trait so I would be able to assist others and guide them away from huge roadblocks just because they lacked business insight. This trend was the same for the college students I was advising. They had no idea where to start, their college advisor on campus did not assist so I stepped in and advised them on course selection & degree planning for the transfer school they will be attending.

Long story short, this is how I geared my specialty & made it my mission to assist & educate small businesses for success & advising each college student a smoother transition in completing their chose college degree.

Vee’s Night Owl Services has been specializing in personalized taxation along with payroll and accounting services throughout the Greater Houston area since 2012. In addition to our 9+ years of experience, we have the skills, knowledge, and charisma to handle all of your accounting and business needs. Our goal is to educate and assist you in your company’s success! We also offer college advising which consist of college enrollment, financial aid assistance, degree planning , scholarship and transfer options. We are ready to tackle any challenges that you may have as your trusted business consultant, financial and or college advisor.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

The school education system is the only way to learn and without a degree you are not credible. I started my rebuttal with education while I was attending school learning about accounting, while learning hands on in the accounting department of a company with CMA’s and CPA’s. Although the foundation is the same and you have to learn the rules and manual way before putting your spin on things, the education system never fully allows you to understand how things work in the real world. With a technology filled world that has software and calculators , and excel spreadsheets to assist. For me, as a minority, and a woman, I always received backlash from my professor for “questions” that were geared towards the technological side of accounting. I remember becoming discouraged, while sitting into a meeting with investors worth more than 2 million, I answered all the questions correctly, I was the head of the accounting department for a company, but because I did not have a degree at that time I was deemed unreliable. I learned from hands-on experience, conversations with mentors, reading, but being a minority woman, and at the time I was young, I was unreliable source to these investors.

With respect to my professors, investors, and mentors along the way, they shifted my mindset from ” I need school, to I can use school as a tool and acceptance.” I further my education by getting my bachelors and masters degree, but as I worked on my clients books and tax returns and assisted them in mini projects, I realized that education was not something that was needed. These clients range from 300,000 to 1.5 million and none of them have degrees and none of them have an issue with me completing their financials.

I had to unlearn that the education system is the only way to be successful.
I had to unlearn I was not “credible” to some because I was a young minority woman.

Unlearning this helped me adapt to the future, technology , feedback, and growth. I was able to change my perspective on business and provide my services with total confidence.

If it weren’t for the closed minded people that came across my path, I would not have been able to explore the outside world of knowledge, nor grow to who I am as an entrepreneur today, so I thank them.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

Before officially becoming full time in my career, I worked in the education field. I went from the Aldine school district to Lonestar College where I learned the ins and outs of the system. ( How I am able to assist college students with their academic pathways)

Bookkeeping & all other professional services have always been a “side hustle” for me and my family. My small business clients grew from 3 to 5 and now to 10 and pushing for more clientele.

Continuously evolving, learning , and adapting to new things is what played a huge factor in my decision in transitioning my side hustle into a full time business. My first milestone was having my very first client. My first client turned into a continuous client. I helped them correct their company formation, clean, organize and get their books in order, and file their taxes on time. ( They have not filed on time in years) In time my one client turned into three, and three into ten. Not only do I care about the success of my clients, I ensure that they are educated on how to understand their company’s financials. Providing professional services and support to my continuous clients are the reason why I am able to build my full time business and for that I am extremely grateful.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.veesnightowlservices.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/nightowlservices/
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/VeesNightowlServices