Rural businesswoman becomes a leader in a male-dominated industry through her successful firm

As founder of the consulting and taxation advisory firm, Harris Business Solutions, Kathryn Harris helps small businesses with their record keeping and compliance in order to grow their businesses. She’s found that working with these small businesses is her favourite part of the job. Kathryn’s expertise stems from 13 years as a tax agent along with achieving Chartered Tax Advisor and recently becoming a Fellow as a Certified Practicing Accountant. Before accomplishing all of this, Kathryn was working at a firm that relocated from her rural area to a city two hours away. At the time, she was seven months pregnant with her third child and had another child diagnosed with severe vision impairment. She was in no place to be relocating or commuting two hours, so she started her own firm. Harris Business Solutions has grown to having five staff members; multiple sites; and Kathryn even took on a business partner. Kathryn is able to operate her business from a rural area with the help of many types of technology including a cloud-based system, various computer programs and a phone system that makes long-distance connections more cost effective. She also stays involved in her local community through Facebook and is involved in sporting groups and the chamber of commerce. She’s found that the biggest challenge with her location and industry is that it’s primarily male-dominated. She hasn’t let client expectations that her husband is running the business or patronising comments stop her from running a successful firm though. Kathryn’s advice for up-and-coming business owners is: “Do your research. Make sure there is a need for your services in your community. Be confident and authentic. And never give up.”   This post was co-authored by Courtney Sweeney. Courtney is currently completing a journalism internship at the Australian Businesswomen’s Network. She studies journalism, political science, and public relations at Michigan State University in the United States.