In 2014, I attended the first ever QuickBooks Connect Conference. It was a milestone for me because I was launching my new bookkeeping business, bookskeep. I didn’t have a clear plan for where it would go — just a conviction that ecommerce sellers needed better financial support than they were getting.

Looking back, every step beyond the original path led somewhere more interesting than what I’d planned. The relationships I built at that conference, the niches I discovered, the problems I learned to solve — none of it was in the original blueprint. Stay open to the stepping stones beyond the path you planned. They often lead somewhere better.