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My Journey as a Freelance Accountant

Sarah Hamilton—SJH Accounting

This Blog is about my journey as a freelance accountant. I’m still at the beginning of my journey but I’ve already learnt a lot along the way, including:

You can never network enough

In my experience, joining networking groups has been an extremely worthwhile investment in my business. Networking has provided me with some fantastic leads to generate new business, and more importantly has given me access to a wonderful team of experts to help my business grow. I would recommend investing as much time and money in networking activity as you can.

Make sure that you update all of your contacts efficiently and that you have face to face meetings with people who you connect with. Collecting a pile of business cards is a waste of time and effort. The more you reach out and connect with others, the more you will benefit. You will also learn so much from others who are further along their business journey.

Support others as much as you can and you will reap the rewards

In the early stages of your journey, be prepared to give advice and support others wherever you can. Use every opportunity to demonstrate your expertise. Run free workshops, prepare useful, insightful blogs and always be on the end of the phone to support others. Also, be prepared to listen to others and take an interest in their business. Your business interests may not be aligned, but never under-estimate the connections other people may have.

Perseverance

As a one-person business, you will encounter more challenges than you could could ever imagine. My advice is to persevere and stick with it and eventually your efforts will be rewarded.

“The secret of life, though, is to fall seven times and to get up eight times.”

—Paulo Coelho (The Alchemist)

Be prepared to move out of your comfort zone

Your work will no longer be handed to you on a plate. You will have to reach out and bring in new clients. You will also be responsible for all aspects of your business, from IT to marketing. You will need to ensure you have the best support your budget allows in these essential areas of your business.

“I used to have a Comfort Zone,

“Where I knew I couldn’t fail,

“The same four walls of busy work

“Were really more like jail...

“I couldn’t let my life go by

“Just watching others win

“I held my breath and stepped outside

“To let the change begin.”

—Anonymous

Be resourceful

It is amazing what you can do to kick-start your business on a shoe-string budget. Be resourceful; look out for free training courses (also a good networking opportunity), free software and even answer questionnaires to gain rewards such as free subscriptions for different services and products. Sign up for newsletters provided by support networks such as Motivating Mum UK. There is a wealth of free advice on all aspects of business available from this website.

Use Social Media—it’s free!

Get connected for free on Twitter and LinkedIn. This will enable you to connect with others and demonstrate your expertise.

These are my ‘pearls of wisdom’ that I have gained along my journey. I still have a long way to go and I’m still learning. Good luck. You will never look back!

Sarah Hamilton—SJH Accounting, ( www.sjhaccounting.co.uk )