Welcome back to Girl Economics! We have a bumper interview today after Grace and I spent over an hour on call discussing her journey to becoming a business owner. Since being interviewed, Grace has also attended an awards ceremony after being nominated for Accountancy Personality of the Year!

An Interview with… Grace Hardy

What fed into your decision not to go to university?

I have terrible dyslexia so me and school never really got on. I find that the problem with the school system is that it is very much just a memory game and exams just try to find out whether you can apply what you have memorised to a given question. I am a much more practical person and so I thought university probably wouldn’t be best because I wouldn’t do very well with writing essays or attending lectures and trying to listen and write at the same time. I’ve had a job since I was 12 and, with the fact that university is quite expensive so I’d have to take out loans and get a job while studying, I thought that I might as well just go into work! My mum is an apprenticeship provider for the NHS so she suggested that I look into doing an apprenticeship.

I did find that my career advisors in schools don’t know much about apprenticeships and even I thought that apprenticeships were only for things such as hairdressing and becoming a builder! So I really had to go through the process myself, just with the guidance of my mum. I do think it is such a shame that apprenticeships aren’t talked about enough in school because the benefits are huge: you get to learn, and gain experience, and get paid, all at the same time!

What resources would you recommend for people who are thinking about going down the route of an apprenticeship?

The Not Going To Uni website is really brilliant. There are lots of NGTUni ambassadors who have all done apprenticeships so they regularly post lots of tips and tricks about the application process that you aren’t going to find anywhere else. The fact that the whole platform is run by apprentices for apprentices is really amazing. Apprentago is another great platform which is run by a friend of mine and it offers the opportunity to be coached by former apprentices because the application process is super competitive! To give context, Microsoft recently came out with their own apprenticeship program and, for the 5 places on the program, there were over 35,000 applications!

What is accountancy?

Every day is completely different and I could be doing anything from bookkeeping to a VAT return to keeping annual accounts to speaking to clients, to doing discovery calls. No day is the same and that really is why I love it so much because I can’t sit still and I could chat for England! It is mostly numbers-based and looking with clients to see how they can reduce their expenses and increase their sales. Being an account is more than filling out tax returns, it is being there to ask questions and helping people grow their businesses.

Would you recommend to young people that they should go down the route of an accountancy apprenticeship?

If you were doing accounting and finance at university then you would study for 3 years and immediately have to find a grad scheme and do another three years to get your qualifications. That is six years in total. I did three. And I came out with work experience and I was not in any debt. To me, it is such a no-brainer

Tell us about someone who is an inspiration to you

My grandparents are so inspiring. They were the most hardworking people I know and were so full of love for everyone. I was incredibly privileged that my grandfather had put enough money aside for 8 children to go to to private school from the age of 5 to 18 so I was incredibly lucky to be privately educated because he had done that for all of us. To see them work so hard and out so much effort into our education is so inspiring. So everyday I try to make them proud. They both didn’t live long enough to see me become qualified as an accountant or start my business but I know they would be over the moon.

Tell us about your podcast!

I’ve recently started a podcast called the Unconventional Podcast in which I talk to people who have taken unconventional routes in life I.e. who have not just done the traditional route of school, university, grad program. It really is there to (a) teach people about finance, and (b) to inspire people to start their own businesses. I was very lucky to have the confidence and the ability to start my own business, but other people might need to be inspired into it and that is what I try to achieve with the podcast! I want to give platforms to people that I know are going to do really well!

Do you think that mentors are important?

I wouldn’t be in the position I am today if people hadn’t picked up the phone to me or given me a platform to speak to them so I am very grateful and I always want to give back to other people! When you start reaching out to people, you feel really awkward about it but actually there are so many people out there who are so willing to help you. People are there to ask questions and people are ready to give you mentorship. There will be times that people say no, but that is not a judgement of you, people might just not have the time!

Do you use LinkedIn to grow your business?

My hot take is that LinkedIn is the most damaging social media platform, even worse than Instagram and TikTok. On Insta and TikTok you’ll see people living lavish lives etc but it is not that deep and you feel more disconnected from the people you’re watching. On LinkedIn, however, it feels much more personal. You’re watching people succeed and do all of these incredible things which can make you question whether you are doing enough yourself. You’ll see the equivalent of professionals saying “Oh I just had lunch with the King today” and I’m sat there thinking “I had a meal deal - what am I doing wrong?!”

How did you go from the idea of starting an accounting business to actually running it?

First thing to know is that no one starts off wanting to become an accountant. I don’t think anyone wakes up wanting to become an accountant. Until I was 15, I actually wanted to join the circus, something like Cirque de Soleil, because I was a great gymnast and contortionist… until I tore my ACL. Then economics was my favourite subject in school so I tried for an apprenticeship with the Government Economic Service and I got to the assessment centre but had to write a timed essay which didn’t go too well with my dyslexia so I didn’t get that apprenticeship. I then thought about what would be fairly close to economics and settled on Tax, I applied to lots of apprenticeships in Tax but didn’t get any because I’d applied too late and so was switched over to Accountancy!

Through the apprenticeship I got my qualifications to become a licensed accountant but after the apprenticeship was over, I really wanted to go travelling since I’d started working at 18 and really hadn’t had the chance to go travelling! I wanted to go and find myself in Bali 🏝️. I bought clothes, backpack, and quit my job in September 2023 but then my friends basically tell me that I can’t go because it is the middle of the wet season.

I then thought that I needed to make some money before I could go to Bali when the weather got better so I just started my own accountancy business. I put my last name on the name of the company, made a logo on Canva, got all of the legal and license bits complete, set up a website and an Instagram, and just started posting! I honestly didn’t think that everything was going to work out with the business and I was set on going travelling in February. But, then it got to January and I realised that I had clients and deadlines and responsibilities and actually couldn’t go to Bali!

How did you find clients in the initial stage?

I got my first client through word of mouth and that was 5 girls who run a Fashion Shop in Soho. I was over the moon because they are such interesting and lovely girls and their business is going to be going to Paris Fashion Week in September! Then after that I started going to networking events which were fine, but I couldn’t find my ideal clients there. If you picture an accountant, you’ll probably think of an old man; I don’t quite fit that stereotype! So, I began talking to young business owners and realised that they were scared to go to the traditional accountants because they are worried that they will be looked down on and would rather have someone they can ask questions to and not feel comfortable about that. I realised that I wanted younger clients so I downloaded TikTok, got my sister to give me a bit of a masterclass, and I started posting content. Initially I was not posting the best content because I do feel like, to make content that does well, you have to take your ego away but all business owners need a degree of ego because you have to believe in your business. But, once I took my ego away, I started posting tax tips, my journey, how to grow your credit score etc and from there my business really flourished.

Do you see your business expanding?

I’m sure that, in time, I will expand the business. For now, I am happy to grow at my own pace, mainly because I really don’t want to hand over control of the things that I am doing to others! I think I am a bit of a control freak so I feel that if I try to delegate tasks, I will end up tweaking and changing what I’m given back anyway so I might as well do the whole thing myself in the first place! I have had a creative director in and he was brilliant in creating templates for me to use on my instagram which almost make accountancy look fun!

Have you found it hard to establish yourself as a young women in accountancy?

It has been terrible, to be honest with you. It has been really difficult; at a lot of networking events that I go to, people mistake me for a PA or a girlfriend. If you go on my TikTok and look the comments on my videos, they are filled with teenage boys and old men trying to tear me down, saying things like “you’re not qualified” and “you shouldn’t be talking about xyz”. The things they are saying are really hurtful but I do try to remind myself that these people are coming from a place of jealousy. I do find being a woman in business to be hard because the smallest thing that you do wrong will be picked up on and people tend to be much less lenient with you whilst you’re learning. At the end of the day, you’ll get people at networking events who will try to come onto you inappropriately and there can be a lot of alcohol involved with industry events which really doesn’t help!

Have you joined any Women in Business networks that have helped you?

I moved down to London to grow my business from Oxford. When I came over and starting attending networking events I could hardly find any young people, let alone young women in the industry. What I did was start my own community of young female business owners with two women that I meant. We share our challenges, our wins, and regularly have brunches and other events! I always says to people that if you can’t find your crowd, make it. Chances are that there will be other people out there who would benefit!

What have you learned from starting a business?

Quite literally the only limit you have are the ones you put on yourself! I have been in places I would have never dreamed of in a corporate job. When you are your own boss, the sky is the limit and I think that is what is so exciting about being your own boss! I was asked to give a talk by the Department for Education the other week and I gave 2 talks and learned so much! The only reason I was asked to do this was because I took the chance to put myself out there!

Midweek Market News

That’s all for another edition of Girl Economics!

See you tomorrow - Erin McGurk

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