BKS Accounts started in 2009 with just me! I had been working for other people for many years and had been thinking about setting up my own practice for some time. I eventually took the plunge in 2009. That was scary! I left full time employment to start my new business with a handful of clients, but we all have to start somewhere. Within a couple of years, I needed a part-time bookkeeper which has since grown into another full time Accountant and 2 part-time bookkeepers.

The problem with running your own business is at what point do you take on extra staff? What I have done in the past, is wait until we are all so far stretched, then take on a new member of staff. This is not a recommendation! Any business owner will understand how hard it is to let go. I know my clients, so to handover the workload to somebody new is very difficult. I have compromised and reached a happy medium. My bookkeepers do a lot of the work while I tie up all the loose ends and keep in touch with the clients. This is very important to me because we offer such a personal service. I feel it is best for me to remain the point of contact in order to keep this service personal.

My hobbies include going to festivals. The campervan gets stuffed to the brim with all the essentials (plus a great deal of non-essential rubbish as Tim does like to pack the kitchen sink) and off we trot to meet great friends. Usually there’s between 15 to 20 of us who rock up to the VW festivals. We even hold an annual “Tim Fest” where all our friends come and join us in our garden for a knees up! It usually involves drinking lots of Prosecco/Gin, karaoke and an evening fire pit!