Community Highlights: Meet Danielle Brown of DSB Solutions

Today we’d like to introduce you to Danielle Brown.

Hi Danielle, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
How did I start? Great question! My story began when I was six (6) years old, playing at my parent’s kitchen table. I played like I had clients using my cash register with my mother’s stapler and clipboard. I wanted to be a businesswoman and travel the world. When I think about how I got here, I would say my innate ability to thrive amid trauma.

My dream started at six (6) years old, and trauma and abuse entered my life at five (5). Experiencing different types of adverse childhood trauma before age eighteen created something within me where I could zone out and focus on school, friends, love, and obtaining more. Being verbally, physically, emotionally, and mentally abused within a violent home created a passion within me to help others. I started my career at sixteen, working as an administrative assistant at a Tax & Accounting Firm. By age 21, I graduated high school, attended college for two years, and became a single mother when I decided to take a semester “off.”

Becoming a mother changed my focus. I knew I needed to get my degree and a position within a company where I could grow and advance. So I dived into being a mother. I was a TANF recipient at the time. I received cash assistance from the government, and to get the monthly stipend, I had to join a workforce development program that would provide me with the skills to obtain employment. So, I started as a program participant. While participating in the program, the executive director needed an assistant. So, I became her administrative assistant.

While working full-time, I held several positions within the agency and finished my degree online. I started as a program participant, became the executive assistant, started college and was promoted to business manager, supervising the accounting clerk and facilities manager. The agency was a multi-million-dollar agency with two satellite offices at the time. My job was intense, but I loved it. It was an honor having a mentor like Dr. Pamela Bax. She taught me a lot, and I had the privilege of being a part of the agency’s growth. Dr. Bax eventually retired, and I was devastated. I did not realize until years later how her love, wisdom, training, and support helped me have a positive coping environment. But, unfortunately, I had not yet dealt with all the abuse I had endured!

I was “forced” by new management to become the accountant because I knew the most about the budgets and grants; I had relationships with the funders, and they knew who I was. Being “forced” into this position was God’s way of setting me up for where I am today. Honestly, I had a degree in Business Management but struggled to pass my accounting classes. Let me tell you; I was not too fond of accounting. I went home crying, praying, and thinking God, please, I cannot afford to lose my job; I had a daughter to raise. I returned to work and told my manager I felt unprepared and could do it, but I needed training. And guess what… She bought in a retired CPA with IRS experience, which taught me one-on-one every day for an entire year. Of course, I was paid to be trained. Once I was given a different perspective on accounting and learned it was more about money than just debits and credits. I fell in love.

My previous trauma and my ability to thrive in the midst of it gave me the strength to say I could do it; the trauma and abuse I endured made me a fighter. It gave me power. Back then, as I was learning to be an accountant, I would go on a break with my co-worker, Maria and tell her I would have a business one day. I remember she would say what are you going to do and I would reply I do not know. I will help people. I had no idea what I was speaking into existence. I worked that position as an accountant until I had a terrible car accident with a semi-truck where I flew around the car ending up face down on top of the driver. I was not wearing my seatbelt because of cyst removal, and when I woke up, I was lying on top of the driver but started in the passenger seat. I walked away with a condition called Fibromyalgia. Back then, Fibromyalgia was a new condition, I suffered a lot, and it began to affect my attitude. The fatigue associated with Fibromyalgia, coupled with being a single mom and working a 50-hour-a-week demanding job, was too much for my body. The company that once supported me changed management, and the new administration lacked compassion and empathy for human issues and life happening. Long story short, I was terminated. After being terminated, I felt defeated. I had been working so hard. I was staying on “track” why was my body working against me?

Now, I was unemployed, feeling defeated and needed to keep my daughter in daycare. So I used the skills I had acquired since I was sixteen to help. I took some tax courses and worked at H&R block for a season or two. By March 2007, DSB Solutions was up and running. I had no idea what I was doing. However, I took everything I learned from Dr. Bax, my education, and the training I received with my experience and kept going!

Since 2007 DSB Solutions has serviced a diverse clientele. Representing clients for IRS desk audits, preparing clients for grant/A-133 audits, preparing over 1,000 tax returns, and providing monthly Fiscal Management services to over 150 small businesses.

I know I was called by God to do this. God used my education, life experience, and training in a time of need to birth forward DSB Solutions at the time I needed it the most.

The invitation to share my story with VoyageLA came at a pivotal time in my life. I am battling depression, healing from an abusive marriage, recovering from a mental break, running businesses and being a mother to two amazing daughters!

Being asked how I started and got here helped me remember who I am and what I was created to do.

It helped me hear my voice again. Thank you for allowing me to share my story. I hope my story helps!

I hope sharing my story will help entrepreneurs and business owners to practice self-care. I hope to create a community where you do not have to be okay to run a successful business. I want those of us who make, innovate, build, lead in thinking, contribute to the improvement of others, and give to remember that we are human. Humans in all our most extraordinary, and it is the human parts of us that make us successful.

While thinking of my story and how I started and got to where I am, I realized just how strong, innovative, courageous, and sensitive I am.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I have a list of struggles along my road. The road has been filled with many obstacles and challenges. Life is about learning, and I have learned that we learn our greatest lessons during the most challenging times. I have faced Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs Score of 8), Domestic Violence, Molestation, Homelessness, and Verbal, Mental, and Emotional Abuse. Some business challenges I have faced include having a lack of Self-Confidence, not knowing what to do in business, figuring out my niche, and how to scale. But with each Challenge, Each Obstacle taught me something. My drive to help people keeps me going, as my faith in God, my love for my children, and the strength I gained from the trauma and abuse I endured. What will help me reach my goals are continued therapy, much prayer, real friends, a loving family, a supportive community, and lots of love. Everything I need is in me and near me. Likewise, we need everything in us and near us if we believe.

It is not the obstacles and challenges that matter; it is the courage I have to talk about them and the strength it takes to keep going. I am determined to have a story of triumph to share and inspire others. I dream of living a life of legacy.

I remember reading an article that said 1 in 3 entrepreneurs is depressed. So, I want to create a society where we can discuss it without fear. Entrepreneurs struggle. I want to inspire those that struggle to keep going. Keep pressing forward! Your business is needed, your idea is different and unique, and you can do it!

As you know, we’re big fans of DSB Solutions. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
DSB Solutions started in March of 2007. What sets DSB Solutions apart is our ability to help Administrative Staff, Program Staff, and Management better understand and work more efficiently with the Financial Department.

DSB Solutions is a mission-driven company. We set our sights high on helping others. With business management, unprecedented accounting and executive assistant skills, we hone in developing flexible services to assist in the sustainability of businesses ran by people of color and those marginalized.

We are most proud of our ability to help our clients think about money differently. We help them understand the wealth gap by assisting them in budgeting, increasing revenue and reducing expenses.

With a wealth of knowledge, our approach is unmatched. DSB Solutions focuses on good policies, clear and concise documentation, and financial records. In addition, we service our clients to be able to pass IRS, Federal, State, and Local audits.

Danielle Sheree Brown, the owner of DSB Solutions, is a powerhouse woman in business. She has proven that overcoming the obstacles, stress and fear associated with finances, policies, procedures and paperwork is possible. DSB Solutions clears the cloud of fear with the light of faith, focus and knowledge of the inner workings of business today.

Services Include:
Fiscal Management: Audit Preparation, Bookkeeping, Budget Preparation, Business Compliance Checks, Financial Statements, Financial Reporting, Grant Management, Accounts Payable Management, Accounts Receivable Management, Policies and Procedures, Accounting Software Set-up, and more

Advisory Services: Strategy Sessions, Accountability Calls / Check-ins, and One-on-one sessions with executive or support staff on all fiscal management services requested/needed by the client.

Training: How to Start a Business, Business Bookkeeping Basics, and Personal Budgeting.

Offerings:
Clients are offered three packages after a business needs assessment during the business consultation. We offer a Starter Package, Professional Package, and Premium Package based on the client’s wants, needs, and can affordability.

In addition to DSB Solutions, I have a not-for-profit, Friends of Faith, Inc, where we help people address and overcome Adverse Childhood Experiences and Undesirable Trauma.

I took training to become a certified mental health first-aider in November 2022 and learned that financial self-care is budgeting, not overspending, and reducing expenses. God continues to show me that I am on the right path.

DSB Solutions is my childhood dream packaged the way God wanted it, and Friend of Faith, Inc. is my way of helping people not suffer from abuse and trauma the way I did for decades.

So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
People have several options to connect online with DSB Solutions via website to:
1. Learn more about DSB Solutions.
2. Ask questions about your business.
3. Receive a business assessment with a proposal for contracted services.

DSB Solutions is looking to collaborate with Bookkeepers who want to contract and make some extra cash. In addition, DSB Solutions is looking to collaborate with innovative marketing and business majors to help us implement cutting-edge processes and grow! In addition, we want to build our professional network by connecting with CPA auditors, Enrolled Agents, Financial Planners, and Investment Bankers. Friends of Faith, Inc is looking for trauma survivors who want to help others heal; please get in touch with us for a board member application if interested.

Contact Info:

• Website: DSB Solutions: www.dsbsolutions.net Friends of Faith, Inc.: www.friendoffaith.org
• Instagram: DSB Solutions: https://www.instagram.com/dsbsolutions/
  Friends of Faith, Inc: https://www.instagram.com/friendsoffaithinc/
• Facebook: DSB Solutions: https://www.facebook.com/DSBSolutions01
  Friends of Faith, Inc: https://www.facebook.com/FriendsofFaithInc

Image Credits
Headshot Photo Credits to FMK Media Flyers Credit to DSB Solutions