After more than 20 years in finance, Tracy Bland knew something had to change. Long hours, constant travel, and repeated relocations left little space for family life. When her first child arrived, everything shifted.
“I was traveling a lot, I relocated around the UK a lot, I didn't really have much of a work-life balance.”
“When I became a mum, my whole perspective on career and work completely changed. I needed to be a bit more present around my children.”
Stepping back in her finance role didn’t bring the balance she hoped for, so Tracy tried something completely different - sales.
“I went completely on a tangent and started selling kitchens, quite bizarrely… I wanted to put myself out of my comfort zone.”
In 2023, after researching the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers (ICB), Tracy rang Ideal Schools. A chat with Brian McVean was all it took to spark her next big leap.
“I rang Brian… I asked him a million questions and then I rang him back the next day and I said, ‘I've quit my job, I'm doing this.’”
She retrained, qualified, and launched her bookkeeping business—something she’d never imagined just a year earlier.
“I trained with Ideal Schools, qualified, set my business up nearly two years ago now.”
Balancing work, study, and family has been no easy task, but Tracy has made it work.
“The amount of times I would ring Brian when my little one was asleep in the car… If it’s nap time, the textbooks are out!”
“It was little and often… if I found that a week had gone by where I hadn’t studied enough, I knew I had to step it up the next week.”
Community and collaboration
Tracy started small, with one or two clients while she worked on her website, social media, and advertising. And ICB has been central to Tracy’s journey - not just the qualifications, but the people too. Working with fellow members has opened doors for her business, specifically with the help of fellow members in the awards winning Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire branch.
“I’m actually onboarding five new clients in September, purely because of fellow ICB branch members. We operate as a patchwork for each other, where we have different skills, outsourcing and insourcing dependent on capacity and qualifications.”
Relationships that matter
For Tracy, the best part of her new career is the closeness she has with her clients.
“I can go to their homes, and I'm sat with a dog on my lap while I'm doing their accounts… I’ve held babies for mums returning to work.”
“It isn’t always easy, but it is always rewarding… You’re in control, which is what I love about it.”
Tracy is keen to encourage anyone thinking about making a change.
“Don’t be put off by the thought of a new career or trying something new!There’s never a better time to get a better work-life balance.”
You can watch a recording of a recent webinar featuring Tracy, where she tells her full story here.
