Before starting Reich & Associates Business Services, Lori Reich was taking care of another kind of business — kids. For 10 years, beginning in the mid-90s, she ran a family daycare center out of her Napa home. 

After her three kids got older, she decided to go back to school.

“I realized that there were lots of people who were excellent daycare providers, but knew nothing about the accounting or business side of their business,” she said. “So I decided to get my degree in accounting and focus on helping small businesses.”

In 2004, she opened Reich & Associates to provide a full range of bookkeeping and financial services.

What job would you like to try/not like to try? 

I would love to be a golf instructor, spending all day outside teaching and playing golf and getting paid to do it. I’m not very good, so it’s definitely not in my future. My favorite course is Hiddenbrooke Golf Club. It’s beautiful up there.

I would not like to be the person that has to clean portable toilets. 

What was your first job?

My first job was as a maid in a nice hotel in Carmel Valley. I was in seventh grade and my girlfriend and I got up at  5 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday mornings and cleaned rooms all day. It was hard work.

How has the recession impacted your business ?

We haven’t had a downturn, so to speak. We’re finding quite the opposite; people are interested in their finances now more than ever.

Things I can’t live without

My family. I am so fortunate to have three amazing children (ages 12, 15 and 18) and a wonderful husband. Watching our kids grow into such wonderful young adults has made my husband and me so proud.

What’s on your to-do list? 

Traveling. I would love to visit Spain and France. I would also love to go back to Greece, where my husband and I went 20 years ago for our honeymoon.

What’s something people might be surprised to know about you?

I hate to be alone. I have always been afraid to be alone since I was a little kid. 

 What is your favorite charity? 

Any charity that benefits breast cancer prevention. My mother was diagnosed 10 years ago. Watching her go through this and seeing how it has changed her has been really hard.

What’s the most significant project you’ve been involved with in your career?

 I think the most significant project I have been involved with in my career was raising children in my daycare. People trusted me every day with their children. I was so fortunate to be involved in so many children’s lives and to have met some wonderful parents along the way.

What is the biggest challenge your business has faced? 

Finding employees that can manage multiple clients and personalities. There are lots of people that are qualified to do the job but they can’t manage different needs; they want to have a cookie-cutter approach for all clients and that doesn’t work.

What other business person(s) would you like to see featured in “10 Questions?”

Pete Richmond, Silverado Farming Company Inc.

Jennifer Kopp Putnam, executive director, Napa Valley Grapegrowers.

Vin Smith of Smith, Sickler & Associates and DVC Group.

More from Lori Reich

What’s the worst job you ever had?

The worst job I ever had was as a maid in a motel in Pacific Grove. Everyone there was miserable and hated their jobs, so the atmosphere was not very positive. I took the job because it paid more than the one I was working in and realized quickly money wasn’t everything.

Who do you most admire in the business world?

I admire all small business people that take a chance to do what they really love to do. It’s hard work starting a small company from scratch and lots of these people work many long hours to get their business off the ground. I admire their hard work and tenacity to make it work even during tough times.

If you could change one thing about your business, what would it be?

I would have had training for clients that don’t understand the bookkeeping aspects of things, but want to do it themselves.

What’s your favorite gift to give?

I love to give gift certificates to local restaurants. We are all so busy that we don’t always take time to relax and enjoy all the wonderful things in our city. 

What’s one thing Napa could do to help local business?

I think we need to encourage everyone to buy locally. Most things we buy day-to-day are available at local businesses and I think we can all do a better a part in helping local businesses succeed.  

What was your childhood ambition? 

I always wanted to be a mom and live in a brick house with a big front porch.

If you could be anywhere right now, where would you be?

On a beach somewhere with my family beside me.

Which three people would you most like to have dinner with?

 I would love to have dinner with my grandparents on my father’s side and my grandmother on my mother’s side. All of my grandparents passed away before I was born or when I was young so I never had the opportunity to get to know them.

What is one thing you hope to accomplish in your lifetime that you haven’t yet?

I would like to have time to play more golf and break 90.

Each Wednesday the Napa Valley Register’s Business Focus asks “10 Questions” of a local entrepreneur or businessperson. Readers are welcome to suggest business people to be profiled. To suggest a candidate contact 10 Questions Editor Jennifer Huffman. E-mail her at: jhuffman@napanews.com