[00:00:00] Today I want to take you back to December, 2009, a time in my life where everything changed. I was a single mum to two little girls, one in prep and one in kindergarten. And like many mums, I was trying to juggle everything. Life was busy. It was stressful, and it was chaotic, but gosh, I was doing my best. 

Then came a moment that turned my entire world upside down. I needed a day off without pay to look after my daughters. If you’ve ever been a dance mum, you’ll know how those end-of-season concerts go. They’re long. They’re exhausting, and they’re really tough on little ones who aren’t great with late night. 

So I’d asked for a day off and my boss said no. I still remember being called into his office on the Thursday afternoon. He looked straight into my eyes and he [00:01:00] said to me, if you are not here on Friday, then don’t bother coming back on Monday. I was devastated. I loved my job. I loved the people I worked with, and I loved my clients. 

I’d been there for four years. But it was in that moment that I realised I couldn’t do it anymore. I was not going to let anyone bully me into choosing between my kids and my career. So my boss was in a meeting that afternoon and I sent him an email and I had just said straight out, I’m not gonna be bullied into choosing between my children and my job, and I won’t be here tomorrow. 

And that was it. 

Now, if you’ve ever been a single mum, you know how terrifying that is to lose your financial security, but I decided that I wasn’t going to let my finances or my future be dictated by anyone else ever again. 

By January, 2010, I’d started my own [00:02:00] accountancy practice with my now husband, and I’ve never looked back. It wasn’t easy, but it was the best decision I’ve ever made. In this episode, I’m going to share with you, while I will never work for someone else again. What I’ve learned along the way and how you can take control of your finances and future too. 

Let’s dive in. 

When I [00:03:00] think back to that moment in 2009, one thing stands out. And that thing is freedom. I wanted freedom. Freedom to make decisions for myself, to provide for my kids without fear and to never feel stuck in that situation again. Now, for me, and this is different for everybody, but financial independence is not just about money. 

It’s about choices. It’s about knowing that I can support myself and my family no matter what. And for me, I truly believe that running a business is one of the best ways to take control of your financial future. Why? Because you are the one in the driver’s seat. You are the one calling the shots. Your financial future isn’t tied to somebody else’s decisions and their business success or failure. 

And whether they think you [00:04:00] deserve a raise or not, none of that matters. It’s all in your hands. But here’s one thing. So many women don’t feel financially secure. One of the fastest-growing groups of homelessness is women over the age of 55. And that’s a terrifying statistic, and it’s part of what drives me to share my story with you today and to hopefully help others. 

I truly believe that financial independence is one of the most empowering things you can achieve. It can give you control, confidence, and security, and no one should ever rely on someone else to feel those things. 

That moment in my boss’s office was not just a turning point for me personally, but it was a start of a new chapter of how I approach both work and life. When my husband and I [00:05:00] decided to start that accountancy practice, we didn’t have a business plan, but we did have some really clear boundaries. We were clear on the start that we needed to create a business that worked for us and not the other way around. 

And I remember sitting in our lounge room having this discussion around what those boundaries would look like and. It is 2025 at the time of this recording and I’m really proud to say that none of these things have changed. For us, there was never going to be working over time. It was absolutely a non-negotiable for us. 

Clients were never going to have our mobile numbers, and there was this really clear segregation of work stays at work and home as home. Something that was important to me is that I only worked school hours and as a mum, being able to support my girls in the way I wanted to [00:06:00] was always my top priority. 

And even now we’ve gone on to have two little boys. I still only worked. School hours, there’s somebody always at home to greet them after their school day. Another thing that was really important to us is that we would never work with people who didn’t value us. And for me, it’s what I like to call, whether it’s right or wrong, is I have a no dickhead policy. 

If you’re a dickhead, you don’t get to work with me. Another thing that was really important is that we would always have four weeks holiday a year. Absolutely no exceptions. I always. I guess the reason for that is if I was working for anybody else, I would be entitled to those paid holidays. And why should working for myself be any different? 

It’s a lot more than four weeks now, but that’s how we started. Looking back now, I am so proud of those boundaries that I set at just [00:07:00] 26 years old. It wasn’t always easy to stick to them, but having them in place gave us the freedom to run our business on our terms and build a life that worked for our family. 

And while some things have shifted as my kids have grown older, the core of those boundaries has never changed. We still prioritise our values, our time, and our energy, and I think that’s a really big part of why we’re still here doing so well so many years later. When we went into business back in January of 2010, I wish I could tell you that we had it all figured out. 

But the truth is we didn’t have a plan. I know that sounds so incredibly bizarre from somebody who is so organised and a real planner, but we didn’t, we had no plan at all. But what we did have was a [00:08:00] loyal following of clients who came with us from the old practice to the new one, and that gave us the foundation to start with. 

We didn’t have a proper business plan, but what we did have was a loyal following of clients who came with us from the old firm to the new one. And that gave us a really great foundation to start with. Did we have a proper business plan? Absolutely not. 

Did we have perfectly documented systems and procedures? Not even close. But the real kicker for me is that I wasn’t even qualified. I didn’t have my degree yet. I wasn’t a registered tax agent. And while I’d been working in the industry for years. I didn’t have that formal piece of paper when the girls were little. 

I spent six years studying my degree externally while working full-time to earn my qualification. It wasn’t easy and I was balancing work study and all [00:09:00] of the parenting duties, and there were nights when I absolutely thought, what the hell am I doing? Looking back now, it was worth it. I remember the moment that I applied for university, I’d always been pretty smart at school, but uni was never on the radar for me. 

I didn’t have the interest and it wasn’t until I became a single mum and had that realisation of shit em, you’ve got these two little people relying on you. I need to be able to set things up to be able to provide for them, and I can still see so clearly myself flicking through the Q TAC application, completely unsure of what I wanted to do, and I stumbled on accounting. 

I wasn’t from a family of business owners and honestly, I didn’t really know anything about accounting at the time. But like many people looking at accounting, they think that maths is the [00:10:00] crux of everything. Accounting, and I was good at it. I think the real thing for me is, yes, I was good at maths, but I wanted a stable profession that pays okay. 

And is not really how do you say it? Influenced by. The economy and different things. Everybody’s always gonna need accountants. So that’s how I started. I jumped in completely uncertain, but determined to make it work and make it work for not only me, but those two little girls that I was raising. 

So looking back now, I realise that I didn’t need to have it all figured out to start something new. Sometimes it’s about taking a leap of faith, even if you’re scared and trusting yourself, that it will all figure itself out on the way. I think that’s the beauty of being a business owner, is that you’ve got the flexibility to tweak and change things as you go. 

If something’s not working, you can pivot. And I think, [00:11:00] for so many of us, COVID was a perfect example of how people were able to pivot and change and adapt to suit what the new life is and. I think you can do that too. For us, it was about figuring out what worked for our business and our family. 

It wasn’t always smooth sailing, but every single mistake taught us something really valuable. And over those times, those lessons added up to create a business that reflected our values and worked for us. And more importantly, it didn’t work the other way around. So if you are ready to start taking control of your financial future, here is what I believe are four things that you can do to get yourself started. 

And the first one of those is to ask yourself the hard questions. Is your business in its [00:12:00] current form providing you with what you truly want? Whether that’s money, whether it’s time, or whether it’s something else. And if the answer is no, then what needs to change? The second thing I want you to do is write it down. 

Once you know what needs to change, then document it. Be specific about what you need to do and create a plan to make it happen. Nothing changes if nothing changes. The next thing is to break it down into steps. So I am well aware that really big goals can feel overwhelming. So if you can break them down into smaller actionable steps, then you can start moving yourself from where you are today to closer to where you wanna be. 

The final step that I want you to consider is to commit to the process. [00:13:00] Change takes time. But what is really key is the consistency. So if you can commit to making those changes and remember that progress, every little step is still progress towards what you’re trying to achieve. The key thing I want you to take away from this episode is you don’t need to have it all figured out and you don’t need to have. 

All of the answers, but I will leave you with this. Only you can change your path and what you aren’t changing your choosing. Thanks for joining me today, and I’ll see you next time for another episode of the Business BFF podcast. 

Thanks for tuning into the business BFF. We hope you’ve found this episode, equal parts, big hug and kick up the bum, all the things a bestie is good for. Remember, you’ve got this and we’ve got your back [00:14:00] like only a BFF can. If you’ve loved what you’ve heard, be sure to subscribe, leave a review and share it with your fellow business besties. 

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