Save content
Have you found this content useful? Use the button above to save it to your profile.

Carpe that Diem

29th Jul 2017
Save content
Have you found this content useful? Use the button above to save it to your profile.

The idea for But the Books started after a chance conversation with a barista on a lunchbreak from the volunteer training I was taking with the Prince's Trust one day. 

I've worked as an accountant for a long time in large organisations where I've accounted for everything from leisure centres to tea bags to pension fund investments. A friend worked for the Prince's Trust and said a numbers person like me was just what they needed, so I signed up as a volunteer to mentor a few young people, particularly to help with their business plans. They needed help with working out how their product or service could make a profit, understanding their cash flows and potentially applying for a startup loan from the Prince's Trust.

When I popped into a cafe to grab some lunch, the barista asked what I'd been doing that morning, and was surprisingly enthusiastic when I told him I was an accountant on a training course for volunteers. I said I was going to help young people with the finance side of starting a business, to which he told me his real passion was his violin and that he'd love to teach, if only he knew what he needed to do about tax. 

This stayed in my mind through the first months of my volunteering, and as I spoke to more people: my mentees through the Prince's Trust, family and friends. I found that many people had secret hopes to open their own restaurants, run personal training businesses and to grow mushrooms in coffee grounds (really), but I also found that people often know how to do everything...but the books. Finances and tax are the reason a lot of people are putting off starting their startup or getting their side project of the sidelines. If you're not a numbers person, the idea of building a cash flow forecast can be enough to make you keep your dream startup idea on the shelf forever. 

I love working with entrepreneurs. I really enjoy hearing the stories of their startup and looking at the opportunities for their businesses to grow. The volunteering I've been doing, and the demand from startups for bookkeeping support made me realise I should start my own business. As a startup myself, I know exactly what my clients are experiencing in trying to get their businesses off the ground. It was a bit of a mission to get everything in place to apply for my Practice Licence with the ICB, and I know just how much dedication and hard work it takes to begin trading (did I mention I have a 7-month-old child as well?).

I love what I'm doing now, and I'm proud to be working with a number of clients, many of whom are recent startups or in the process of starting up now. I'm looking forward to sharing some of their stories and the challenges they are facing as well as general enthusiasm for entrepreneurship through my blog posts. I never did find out what happened to that barista, I really hope he seized the day and is happily teaching violin somewhere. 

Replies (0)

Please login or register to join the discussion.

There are currently no replies, be the first to post a reply.