A personal account

Date: 7 Jan 2010

It’s the new year when many people reassess their lives and think whether that job they’re doing is really what they want from life. For working mums it is often a time to ponder that age-old question of whether it s possible to have a better work life balance.

One person who has gone through the whole process and lived to tell the tale is 30-year-old Jodie Riddex. She set up her own accounting business after her daughter was born just over five years ago and is now reaping the benefits.

Jodie grew up in South Africa and came to the UK when she was 17. Her parents are British and she wanted to spend a gap year in the UK. However, soon after her parents decided to move back to Newcastle. Jodie wanted to study accountancy at university, but because she had not lived in the UK for the three previous years she would have had to pay international fees. She decided instead to combine working with learning about accountancy. Her first job was in a local firm working in a small accountancy department, which allowed her to find out about the different types of job available. She also worked for Ernst & Young and Business Link. While she was working she did an accounting technician course through the Association of Accounting Technicians and later also qualified with the Association of Taxation Technicians.

Then, in 2003, she fell pregnant. She was told informally during her pregnancy that the company would allow her to reduce her working week to 4 (longer) days when she returned to work. However, once her daughter, Caitlyn, was born she was told that she would have to take a pay cut of 30% if she wanted a day off a week.

After just a few months it became apparent that the company demanded more from her than she was being paid for and she decided she could not take the stress any longer and left.

Self-employment
She couldn’t afford not to work, but had lost confidence in traditional employment. “I felt it would not matter where I went to work if I was under the control of someone else,“ she said. “I felt I had to give setting up my own business a go, but it was a very scary time. I thought if it did not work out I would learn to appreciate the good things about being employed, such as the security of a regular income and structured annual leave.“

She got some temporary work which was very flexible and built up her own accountancy business, Accounts by Jodie, on the side. She was able to take time off from the job to do leaflet drops or visit potential clients and, after six months, she reduced her temping hours down to just 15 hours a week, giving her even more time to devote to the business.

By the end of a year, she was ready to go solo. Her work with Business Link had given her some insight into the support available to new start-ups, such as free marketing/networking courses and avaliable grants. She was a member of the AAT’s members in practice scheme which not only gave credibility to the services she offered, but helped with practical things like templates for engagement letters and access to their technical advice helpline as well as providing local courses and other training opportunities. She talked to other people who had set up their own businesses and found that those who were still going strong after three or four years were very unlikely to say they regretted their decision to be self-employed.

A neighbour with a similar-aged child looked after Caitlyn for her for a while and then she found a very flexible childminder. “It was good for Caitlyn as it meant she could socialise with other children and gain confidence spending time away from her family. This made the next step of starting nursery a very easy and exciting time for her,” she says.

School
Caitlyn is now at school and Jodie’s neighbour often picks her up if Jodie has to work late. In turn, Jodie often does the school drop-offs in the morning.

She says she sees clients at their premises about three out of the five days of the week and regularly has meetings with clients at home, often in the evenings, which is a service they are unlikely to get from many other accountants. She has a regular Monday slot with a client, but sets every Thursday afternoon aside for time with Caitlyn. She also takes her to a local soft play area which has wi-fi so she can work while Caitlyn plays and takes her laptop to Caitlyn’s ballet class. “I try somehow to fit it all in,” she says.
“Caitlyn is also independent enough now to play on her own after school while I am working or she sits beside me and chats to me and draws while I work. When she is older she can earn her pocket money by helping me shredding documents and so on,” says Jodie. “I think it is good for her to know that money has to be earned.”

Jodie, whose husband works full time in Newcastle, says loneliness is the hardest thing for her to combat in running her own business. “I am used to working with people and being able to bounce ideas off them if I get stuck on something. Sometimes if I get stuck on something it can take me hours to work it through,” she says. “Most of my friends don’t do anything similar so it often feels as if no-one understands the challenges I face. I think most people just think that I’m really lucky that I’m my own boss.”

Yellow Pages
Gradually, Jodie has built up regular clients and now no longer has to devote any time to marketing. She has a free ad in the Yellow Pages and still gets contacted by people who she sent letters and her business card to when she started the business over four years ago.

She is now enjoying the fruits of working for herself and will possibly be looking to recruit a new employee over the next few months to assist with potential new work.

She says that the support of her mother, sister and husband mean that she is able to manage things like school holidays quite flexibly. As Caitlyn gets older it also becomes easier to get work done with her at home, but she always makes sure that they take advantage of opportunities to spend time away from work and have fun together. “It’s all about multi-tasking,” she says.

Related tags: Accountancy | Flexible Working | Multi-tasking | Self-employment