Lisa McQuerrey

By Brian Sodoma

Monday, June 29, 2009 | 12:59 p.m.

It’s spring break, and Lisa McQuerrey’s kids want to go to the park. But she’s hard at work on a writing assignment for a client, and her mind likely wanders from moments of, “No, I’m too busy,” to “Maybe I can get away

for just a minute.”

The perks of running a microenterprise, or home-based, business are easy to see for those on the outside: casual dress code, flexible schedule (forget spring break, though) and that somewhat dignified title of sole proprietor. With a little luck and persistence, McQuerrey can attest, a decent living can be made while doing something enjoyable. But she’ll also tell you that working from home usually means she’s “always” working.

McQuerrey graduated from Ohio University’s E.W. Scripps School of Journalism in the late ’80s. Before completing school, she freelanced for numerous publications, including for an Associated Press bureau. Her writing career branched into broadcast journalism as well, and in 1991, McQuerrey took a job in Las Vegas with KNUU-AM, where she covered city and county business issues and anchored an afternoon drive-time news program.

In 1994, her employer at the time, a national chain of vocational schools, decided to move from Las Vegas to Colorado. Six months pregnant and soon to be jobless, McQuerrey saw opportunity in a challenge and created Professional Writing Services. Her office was a card table in her condominium bedroom, and her first client was the state of Nevada, which surfaced when an acquaintance passed along her résumé to then Lt. Gov. Sue Wagner; Wagner was looking for a speechwriter at the time.

“I couldn’t ask for a better break than that. It was the break of all breaks,” McQuerrey said.

Referrals continued, and the writer found herself doing newsletters, press releases, news features and marketing writing for a variety of clients, including the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, Nevada’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southern Nevada, Greenspun Media Group and many others. Her office now consists of two rooms of dedicated space in her home, and her revenues have doubled since 2006. At times, she even needs to turn down work.

McQuerrey also has helped her husband start his own home-based business, Into the Fire Lampwork Art Beads. She likes how owning a small home-based business forces her to “think outside the box” and react quickly to challenges.

“As a small business … you don’t have to call 50 people in for a meeting. … You can act faster and take advantage of things, if you’re willing to forget about how you’ve always done it in the past,” she added.

The daughter of a longtime outdoors writer, McQuerrey would like to follow in her father’s footsteps and someday publish books, preferably fiction pieces.

“My dad’s been a great help with offering advice on contracts and things like that through the years,” McQuerrey said. “He always reminds me who stole his pencils when I was little.”

For now, she also might be happy to settle for a day at the park.