Full Circle

From being an employee to self-employed to employee again

When I started blogging around 10 years ago, I started off all bright-eyed and excited about all the possibilities that lay ahead of me. I was going to work for myself as an accountant and fit it in while I have my kids. It took me ages to get the practising certificate and by the time I got it I felt like I deserved an extra designation just for making it through the application process. 

Practising certificate

I started off doing some work for myself as well as freelancing right up to when my first daughter was born. With one daughter it felt like it was almost possible. I soon became pregnant with the next one and then everything got a little harder. The freelancing work I got was good and in most cases easier to do than trying to make something out of my practice. So I relaxed a bit and eventually let it go. 

By the time I had come to this decision, I had stopped taking on new work and I was only doing a few accounts for friends and family. As they are friends and family I didn’t really need an expensive practising certificate along with all the other insurance and regulations required to keep this all in place, so I started to question the need for all of these costs. 

Ten years later

Ten years since I first got my practising certificate, I have finally let go. All the other costs of keeping the certificate have gone too and I feel so relieved of the burden. About two years ago I had an ACCA inspection and everything went fine, except they decided that the insurance cover was too low for the amount I was earning. It wasn’t too much of a hassle. But I started to realise that I didn’t really want to spend all my evenings working and worrying about how I was going to make a worthwhile income when I could easily work part-time and spend the rest of my time with my daughters or exploring other hobbies (such as writing) or just relaxing. 

Steady income

Having a part-time job with a steady income is so much easier to do and I know I am lucky to be in this situation especially with the way the economy is at the moment. I also know it might not last forever or a long time but for now, it is good. I think if I was out of a job, I could quite easily go and look for another job. I have more confidence to do so. I also believe that there are more opportunities out there for women looking for part-time, flexible work unlike when I first started where all the jobs I applied for insisted that eventually (in 2-3 years), I needed to go full time. I wasn’t too keen on that idea and even though in 2-3 years, things might change, the hours were still not that flexible. That was one of my primary motivation for attempting to work for myself. 

So anyway, the full circle means that I am back to being an employee working in accounts and tax as I was before, although on a part-time basis this time around.