About

Peri PakrooFrom working for a series of down-and-dirty start-ups just after college, to being a self-employed author and business consultant, I’ve spent a couple decades as a small business geek. My books include The Women’s Small Business Start-Up Kit (1st edition, 2010), The Small Business Start-Up Kit (6th edition, 2010), The Small Business Start-Up Kit for California (8th edition, 2010) and Starting & Building a Nonprofit (3rd edition, 2009), all published by Nolo.

Writing how-to business books came about pretty organically for me. I’ve always had a knack for understanding bureaucratic processes — and a somewhat perverse pleasure in tackling them. As long as I can remember, I’ve been the go-to person among my friends and family for advice on handling these sorts of tasks. As in, “Peri, how can I drop my Psychology 101 class after the drop deadline without paying a penalty?” or “Peri, how can I get my car un-booted from DMV when I can’t find my driver’s license and my car still has out-of-state plates?” That sort of thing.

I’ve also always been drawn to small, independent businesses and start-ups. After college and during law school I worked at a couple start-up newspapers and learned the good, the bad and the very ugly about starting and running a successful small business. (Despite all odds, both papers are still in print.) From that point, I knew I wasn’t interested in working at any big corporate jobs — or practicing law, for that matter. Instead, after getting my law degree I got my first “real” job in 1996 as an editor at Nolo, the nation’s leading publisher of how-to legal and business information. It couldn’t have been a better fit for me.

After a few years at Nolo, I transitioned to full-time self-employment in 2001. Besides continuing to write books and other resources for Nolo, I own and run a small firm, P-Brain Media, that provides consulting and communications services to businesses and nonprofits. I also teach entrepreneurship courses at a wonderful nonprofit in Albuquerque, WESST (for Women’s Economic Self-Sufficiency Team), whose mission is to alleviate poverty by facilitating entrepreneurship among women and minorities in the state of New Mexico. I’m a huge fan of local, independent businesses and in 2003 I co-founded the Albuquerque Independent Business Alliance.

As much as possible and feasible, I strive mightily not to work. I sing and play guitar in a sweet little country band, The Joneses, and sometimes with The Moist Towelettes. I have a couple gorgeous, awe-inspiring little kids and a foxy husband, so on good days it feels like I have it all. On regular days it feels pretty good but I’m sure that I’m forgetting something. Something really big and important. What am I forgetting?

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