Balancing Work and Family

Owner: Joyce Thomas, 47

Current business: Chino Hills, California-based Medical Reimbursement Specialists, a Medicare-compliance company that has had three

lives. Initially MRS handled electronic claims processing for local physicians. Two years later, Thomas decided to use her experience to train other women to process claims from their homes. During that time, she helped start 500 affiliate businesses, providing them with hardware, software, training, and support. Now Thomas contracts with hospitals nationwide to present Medicare-compliance seminars.

Employees: One. When she was training women how to do electronic claims processing, Thomas had multiple offices and 15 employees.

Year founded: 1987

Previous life: Thomas worked in the healthcare industry for 20 years. She has been a midwife, a clinical nurse and a manager of multimillion-dollar medical groups in Los Angeles and Orange County, CA. Thomas holds a master's in healthcare administration.