Kathy Toms came to Alaska to forge her own frontier: this small-business owner is known as "the chamber.".

• Author: Komancheck, Wendy
• Position: CELEBRATING SMALL BUSINESS

It is hard being a businesswoman in Alaska, says Kathy Toms of Anchor Point.

"I run two businesses, Aurora Taxes and Top of the Rock Lodge. I have two to five employees, depending on the time of the year. I'm on several boards for nonprofits." Running two businesses simultaneously is much like learning to live and survive in the Alaska frontier, where Toms has perfected her hunting and fishing passions.

Toms hails from California, but fell in love with Alaska after a fishing trip with her ex-husband, who was her boyfriend at the time. After her former husband semi-retired, they would drive their motor home, truck, and an 18-foot Klamath boat up the Alaska Highway. During the summer, Toms would explore Cook Inlet and Kachemak Bay. She says, "I fell in love with the area and the people. The second year we drove up, we decided to find some land and build a summer home."

Then, Toms' marriage ended in 1997, and she decided to make Alaska her permanent home. She brought her tax experience with her from California as a way to make a living in her new frontier. Toms also got involved with her local Chamber of Commerce as well as other nonprofits, which has established her as a permanent fixture in Anchor Point and has enabled her to network for new clients through her involvement with these nonprofits.

LEAVING CALIFORNIA BEHIND TO FORGE A NEW LIFE

Toms made a deal with her ex-husband after they divorced. "I told my ex-husband that I wanted to stay in Alaska, and he could have California," she says.

After her divorce, Toms transformed her 2,100-square-foot dirt basement into a bed and breakfast. She remodeled the basement into three bedrooms with private baths. Toms also joined several bed and breakfast associations and several chambers of commerce. She likes to extensively network in person as well as online, so her Web site is linked to all the chambers and associations that she belongs to. "I've been booked for the summers. In the fall and winter, I have been renting it (the bed and breakfast) to the oil and gas companies who are doing exploration in the area," Toms says.

ESTABLISHING AURORA TAXES AND TOP OF THE ROCK LODGE

Toms gets about 90 percent of her clientele for Top of the Rock Lodge from the Lower 48. "Forty-five percent of my clients come from the Internet, and another 45 percent are either repeat clients or referrals," she says. "The additional 10 percent are overflow clients from other fishing lodges."

The lodging business is...