Its been a rollercoaster of a year for absolutely everyone. We can all agree on that.
I have tried to make positive experiences where I could through out the year and I have had some incredible opportunities to help people. From jointly setting up my local Covid support group with a fellow local, and now friend for life (whether he likes it or not), John Sibbald. To refreshing my expired nursing pin number to help out a local GP practice with vaccination clinics on occasional weekends. And of course supporting my clients as and when I can with the myriad of information from HMRC.
After being placed on furlough due to childcare reasons in the initial lockdown (thank goodness, children aged 2 and 4 at the time) I actually became busier than ever but fortunately without the added stress of having to meet deadlines for my employers. We set up the covid support group and organised many initiatives with the local community so people knew they weren't alone.
I had two bookkeeping clients at the time with a very small income from them so I decided to look into starting to build my practice. It became clear that I would be unable to return to my employed job due to the uncertainty with the children and no external support. So it was game on, I decided to put everything into Eleven Accounts Services and make it a bookkeeping service that people would be proud to use.
With the support and direction of the incredible team at 6 Figure Bookkeeper I have built a sustainable practice which continues to grow. I have the most wonderful clients with some amazing businesses. Incredible people who have braved this horrific period and some that have managed to adapt their business and thrive. Not to mention others that have grown out of this experience and built something incredible.
As the need for the Covid support group reduced due to government and council strategies put in place I wanted to do something else practical to help. Which is when my good friend (and Covid hero) Dr Haider Ali directed me to a vaccinator role in South Manchester to help out occasionally when they need staff. Due to insurance and contractual reasons this had to be a paid role, which wasn't what I was intending. I was torn with making money from helping out when so many are volunteering that I decided to donate any money earnt from this job to Eat Well MCR CIC. Eat Well MCR started up in response to the pandemic and to date have provided over 40,000 meals to different groups of people in need in Manchester. Not only filling their bellies but filling them with restaurant quality food from an amazing display of support from Manchester's hospitality businesses.
So why am I telling you all this? And what does it have to do with the title of the blog post? Well, I wanted to tell you about the incredible people that I have met across the course of the year and helped to shape the experiences that I have had.
But also because I told this story to the organisers of the PQ Awards and they deemed it worthy of being shortlisted for Accountancy Personality of the Year
So here I am finding myself nominated in a category with some amazing people and not a cat in hell's chance of winning but that is fine. To be nominated is a huge honour.
Typically I get the awards ceremony that has to be held virtually instead of a swanky do but hey it is 2021 after all!
It's been a year of hell but its also been a hell of a year. It's good to look for the positives.