For the past two years I have been working hard at creating and fostering TechSesh and the community. I love challenges, solving problems and helping other women in the tech space feel welcomed. I thrive on variety. Newness. Challenges. Getting out and about and making things happen. Starting a project and feeling that awesome sense of accomplishment when I get it done … right. It has been an amazing journey, but there are days where I ask myself why am I doing this? Let me start with a few hard truths of being an entrepreneur:

1. It's stressful.
2. It's exhausting and never-ending.
3. It's frustrating.

Disclaimer: At the end of every day, I wouldn't trade it for any other option, and I'm grateful to be able to do what I truly love. Still, being an entrepreneur isn't the easy, carefree career path that many believe it to be; it's actually quite the opposite. When everything is invested in your own business--time, money, passion and creativity--it can border on obsession and you have to be insanely self-motivated.

The truth is I go in and out of these overwhelming days and then I find answers to problems and get inspired by solutions to be even better and bigger as an entrepreneur. Whether it's a new app that helps shed time off my hands, or an inspirational quote, inspiration is needed. This past week I attended the QuickBooks Connect Conference in San Jose and feel more inspired than ever. Topics included leadership, social media, content marketing, and more.  So let me drop a few nuggets of info and shed some light on the various panels I attended and the amazing stories that came to life over the course of the day. Hopefully you can get inspired too!

Insights from business experts. It's all about differentiating yourself. Anything is possible.

Simon Ever, Quip founder
He disrupted the dental care product space and has no background in dentistry!

His vision: Smaller, simpler and cheaper toothbrush, a product that would put oral care in a different space and part of our lifestyles.

Jamie Siminoff, Ring founder
Siminoff lost on 'Shark Tank,' and then sold his startup for over $1 billion. He said that failing on "Shark Tank" was a low point for Ring founder Jamie Siminoff -- but it forced him to succeed.

Also, Ring was first named doorbot when he started his company in his garage with two interns.

Interview with Leslie Witt, Head of Design, Small Business Intuit

Let’s take a break from the inspo for a minute. Quickbooks Connect also debuted new and improved updates to their platform and Intuit presented some new features and services to my favorite app, Quickbooks Self Employed. Good news, small businesses and all my self-employed peeps!  I had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing Leslie who was part of these upgrades and is helping level the playing field.

With Quickbooks, freelancers, contractors, and everyone in between are able to keep track of their accounts payable and receivable. That includes paid and unpaid invoices. On average, it takes small businesses 28 days to get paid. The reasons for delays vary, but major contributing factors are slow banking processes, issues with invoicing, and outdated payment methods.

Additionally, Leslie noted that most people use one account for both personal and business purposed. With the QuickBooks Self employed app, you can organize and separate these two when it comes to the different expenses like travel and mileage. This is a game-changer.

With the help of technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), small businesses of all sizes, including those with no employees, have never been in a better position to compete with larger, more established businesses than they are today.

Leslie said her team wanted to help find ways to  favor the self employed, leveraging emerging technologies that could change the trajectory of small business growth and progress.

I am all about that!

Breakout Sessions

The breakout sessions offered highly practical and actionable advice for business owners. Julie Gordon-White offered some great advice, HERE are my favorite takeaways. 

You cant grow unless you let go.
When you hire someone, only delegate one repeatable task then add more.
Automate everything: Back office, work flow, marketing, Systems Manual
Lead generation: Referrals are not a way to build a business because you money will flat line. You need to have a sales funnel to be successful. 

What an amazing day! I can't wait to go ahead next year. 

This post was in collaboration with Intuit Quickbooks