Juliana Ramirez

Juliana started her business in April 2012 out of necessity. Facing the fallout of recent unemployment and the need to support her growing family, Juliana took a leap of faith and launched JR Bookkeeping “with 11 clients and a lot of determination.”  

Three months later, knowing that she wanted to grow her business, Juliana connected with WEV and instantly enrolled in the Smart Entrepreneurial Training (SET) business training course.  

Juliana recalls, “On my first day of the SET class, we were asked by our instructor to define success in our own words. I said, ’Success to me is doing whatever you want whenever you want’. I also remember hearing the definition of ‘having a job’ versus ‘having a business’. I realized that when you’re self-employed, ‘a job’ is where you make money only if you work, whereas having ‘a business’ means having a company that will work for you even if you’re not there. We were then asked, ‘Do you want a job, or do you want a business?’ I said, ‘I want a business!’” 

“WEV empowered me to be confident and helped me in setting up the foundation for a successful business. They assisted us in creating our very first business plan which became a living document and the roadmap to continue building our business,” shared Juliana.  

Reflecting on her 10-year business journey, Juliana said, “One of the aspects we are most proud of, and excited about, is to have created employment opportunities for more than a handful of part-time and full-time employees.”  

She added, “We are blown away and humbled by the support we have received from our family, friends, and our community. We know we couldn’t have done this alone.”