A Dream Comes True
Lorenza had a dream. She wanted to be a dance teacher with her own studio.
She wanted to open it in America, not in her home country Italy. But she wanted its style to be Italian, like the palace in Florence where she was taking dance classes.
She moved to England to finish her qualification to teach dance. There she met Peter. He had studied physics and mathematics at the University of Cambridge and worked as a software engineer and a Bible translator.
Before long Peter and Lorenza were married, and working together on turning her dream into a reality. Lorenza worked on the dance and the studio design, while Peter handled the legal and financial paperwork they needed to get visas to move to the USA.
In 2012 they moved to Woodstock, Virginia, and opened their dance studio business Italia Performing Arts, based in nearby Winchester. While Lorenza taught dance, Peter worked hard behind the scenes, managing the business and keeping the books. By 2016 the school was well established, with over 100 students and a second studio in Edinburg, Virginia.
Peter found that he enjoyed his supporting role in a small business, especially the bookkeeping side. So he took some further training and opened his new business Italia Bookkeeping. He wants to help small businesses like his wife’s to develop and prosper. He also wants to save their owners from distractions like watching their bank balances, to set them free so that they can pursue their passion.
About Peter Kirk
Peter was born and spent most of his life in south east England. He studied physics and mathematics at the University of Cambridge. He worked for several years for GEC Marconi Research as a research and software engineer. He then studied theology, to master’s level, at London Bible College. He returned to the IT world to work on accounting software for an international bank. After that he served for several years with Wycliffe Bible Translators and the Bible Societies, as part of a team translating the Bible into languages of the former Soviet republics.
In 2012 Peter and his wife Lorenza moved to Virginia, USA. Initially Peter spent most of his time managing his wife’s dance studio business. He then studied to be a bookkeeper at Bookkeeper Business Academy. In 2016 he launched his new business Italia Bookkeeping. He is a QuickBooks Online Certified ProAdvisor and a Certified Advisor for Xero accounting software.
