Financial Coaching business – part 2. Introducing M&M

Financial Coaching business – part 2. Introducing M&M

Following on from last weeks blog where I talked about our year and the building (or not) of our financial coaching business, I wanted to carry on the story.

I discussed last week how there wasn’t a market, or at least a large enough one yet to have a full time coaching business, especially without any contacts already. This bit is quite important.

I talked in a blog a few weeks ago about the red car phenomenon with opportunities. Both have come together.

Both Nicola and I have finance backgrounds. We both like adding value. Opportunities have come up this year which I have taken which I never would have taken before or dreamed of.

It has been a year of reflection.

As a qualified accountant I have a skill which I have worked hard for. It is true that I was unhappy with that skill in a large corporate environment due to my passion and need to add value. I ended up in a large corporate environment as that is the only place where commercial accountants exist. Departments to really understand the numbers and helped make decisions off the back of analysis.

If I think about adding value (my role in commercial finance) and helping people (financial coaching) they are closely linked – therefore what was staring me in the face is that I could get the need of the helping people while doing my skill.

That is where the idea of an accountancy business with a difference came from. I had stumbled across a gap in the market or so I thought. So many accountants sit behind their desk and do what is needed for HMRC and accounts filing but how many give the business owner of smaller business the finance business partner treatment – someone to understand the impact of the numbers.

I was lucky to find a part time FD role for a company where I could test the theory. The owner was an entrepreneur – he wanted a mix of a management accountant but someone to support the business with decisions. It was clear there was a gap in the market.

Nicola then responded to someone on facebook who was asking for a bookkeeper. Following a meeting it became clear he wanted was what we wanted to offer. He said – ‘where have we been for 17 years’?

 A helping hand and support to get into the numbers on a monthly basis – to help drive profitability but not wait for the year end to look at the accounts. He gave us the confidence again there was a gap in the market. He also talked about retirement – brilliant we could link the financial coaching and the accountancy business.

That is where M&M financial management came from. We will do the normal accountancy but we will be your support more of a money and finance friend.

If I think back to last week and the list of steps to building a business;

1.     Do your research to ensure there's a market for your passion – there will always be a market for accountancy and there is definitely a market for accountants with a difference who have had business experience. Our target market is the people who don’t have the time or have little finance background and are owner managed businesses.

2.     Build your online presence for your personal brand and business.  This will be fun – we can do this while earning money rather than the other way round to the Money friends

3.     Test the waters and see if your passion can be monetised – It most definitely can be as we have seen.

4.     Make a plan for your business. 

5.     Understand your finances and budget accordingly – by gaining some part time work and a couple of clients already we have mitigated the risk of starting from scratch

6.     Think long term and set clear goals. We know the end game of what we want and have set a KPI of a number of clients to gain each month to get there.

I would say that Nicola and I have different strengths – she is the organised one for example but together it is much easier to do it with someone to bounce ideas off of. We general weirdly come to the same idea and think very similarly. That is one of our strengths – likewise another USP is our backgounds in finance in businesses and also our personalities and making the complex simple.

M&M financial management is live and we are so excited not just to have a profitable company but to also link it in with the money friends and the passion behind it

Have a great week

Laura and Nicola x