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November 10, 2000/12 Heshvan 5761, Vol. 53, No.7
Mom finds success in home-based business
BETH OLSON
Editorial Assistant
Rochelle Balch has bragged her way to New Zealand.
In 1993, when Balch found herself jobless with a young daughter to support, she decided to begin a computer consulting company out of her Glendale home.
In addition to building a successful company, RB Balch & Associates, without leaving home, Balch has become an author and international public speaker.
How did she achieve so much in just seven years? Self-promotion, she says.
In fact, she will deliver a speech entitled "Self-promotion, brag your way to success," at the National Speakers Association Annual convention in Auckland, New Zealand, Nov. 24-28.
RB Balch is a computer consulting company which offers contract programming and small office support. The company hires computer programmers, then contracts them out to large corporation for jobs last- ing from six months to three years. They also provide technical support for small businesses.
"With small businesses, the network goes down, the computer doesn't work - it's making a funny noise - you think you've got a virus, e-mail doesn't work - they call us up and we send out a field tech to fix it," Balch says.
Two relatives work alongside Balch: her brother, Andy Karpel, vice president, and her cousin, Lori Bruggeman, accountant.
She says her success in business has led to invitations to speak about small business, marketing and technology.
When Balch conducted a seminar with the Entrepreneurial Mothers Association, she titled it "CEO and MOM, Same Time, Same Place" - "meaning doing them both (business and parenting) at the same time, out of the same place - your home."
The name became the title of her book, which was originally published in 1997. A revised second addition was published this year (RB Balch & Associates, Inc. $11.95 paperback).
The book chronicles Balch's success and is filled with tips on starting a business, marketing and self-promotion, using technology in business, and advice on finding time for volunteer work and parenting.
Balch's daughter, Shayna, now 16, attends Northwest Education Center in Glendale.
Balch is involved with a variety of volunteer activities, she says, including a work-skills program, for incarcerated teens, which she started with the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office.
Her book can be purchased at Borders or through her Web site, www.rbbalch.com.
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