From member to chair: What being a CIMA MiP has taught me as I’ve built my business

No business journey is easy, and I hope I’ve lived up to my values of openness and kindness when I’ve freely shared my own successes and challenges.

To get to the place I’m in today, I’ve engaged with organisations and people who I know I can connect with positively and who’ll become invaluable support networks. No place has had quite as profound an impact as CIMA, the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.

From starting out as a Member in Practice (MiP) to taking up my new voluntary role as CIMA MiP Committee Chair, it’s been an incredible journey. CIMA asked me to share my story in a recent newsletter with MiPs starting their businesses today.

My CIMA story

Starting out as a new business

My journey as a MiP began in 2016, when I knew I was to be made redundant in early 2017 from the company I’d worked for for 22 years. I had no idea what I wanted to do next. Yet as I’d been an MD, I knew I didn’t want to be employed and have a boss. That’s when my friend, Debbie Whitaker, suggested I start my own company offering finance director services – an exciting, but scary prospect!

Debbie already had her own successful accountancy practice, so generously offered to set up a sister company for me to run as my own. This gave me freedom as an MD, backed by shared office space and team support as I set out on my own.

At the start of 2023, Debbie and I parted company professionally, but we remain great friends. I kept my business and gave it a makeover to become MoonStone FD.

Reflecting on shared challenges

The rebrand has given me the opportunity to look back and see how far I’ve come. It was clear that, in the first few years, I’d faced many of the issues that new MiPs share with me so often:

? I hated talking about my prices

? I undercharged

? I over-delivered

? I didn’t follow up with prospects

? I didn’t increase prices with current clients

? I was available out of hours

? I didn’t make time for networking when I was busy with work

? I took on clients who didn’t match my values.

Today, things have changed. I quickly found out if you don’t value your time and skills, clients won’t either (I learnt that the hard way!). I talk to MiPs about listening to their instincts, just as I do now. I tell them “if you have a niggle that something’s not right, walk away – quickly! It’ll leave you with the lovely clients in the long run”.

Sharing successful strategies

When MiPs ask me how I started to find clients, I always mention networking. Luckily, I’d started networking before I started my business, but at my first event I was terrified! Now, I love networking. It gets easier with practice - and making sure as many people as possible know who you are and what you do is crucial.

I also highly recommend having an active LinkedIn profile. Interact with other posts, even if you’re not posting much yourself. Connect with others in your industry (like other MiPs) and comment on their posts so potential clients see you’re credible. In fact, the MiP community as a whole has made me feel part of something really special. There’s so much advice through all the groups you can join, conferences to attend and friendships to make.

Looking to the next steps

I’ll be honest: I didn’t feel I really had a business for at least two years. Yet when I started to speak confidently about how I helped my clients, enquiries started coming in. I’m still learning I’m not the right fit for everyone who comes my way! But I’m firm about the types of clients I like working with – typically charities, solicitors, and small women-led businesses – so it’s easier for people to refer me. Now I feel I have a successful business, and I’m very proud of how far I’ve come.

In the early years, I felt full of doubt and insecurities. Yet it’s all been worth it. My biggest lesson has been growing my self-belief and confidence, taking the help and advice available in the MiP community and stepping outside my comfort zone. I’ve found my tribe! Connecting with others sharing the same journey is so uplifting. I’m also mentoring through the CIMA Mentoring Scheme to help give back to those who’ve helped me so hugely.

Now, MoonStone FD is a successful business with clients I love, and my personal life is thriving, too. It’s important to share where we’ve succeeded as well as where we’ve struggled, and it’s thanks to my clients, friends and CIMA community that I’m where I am today.