Chartered accountancy is the backup plan
I could program a bit and I had a mathematics degree, but I did not have a career I could fall back on if everything blew up. My company was doing well, but I was aware that it might not be sustainable. I was using tricks to get traffic from search engines; a loophole I knew would eventually be closed (it happened about two years later and many of my websites nosedived).
Luckily I anticipated this. Two things were clear to me. I wanted business knowledge to understand how to run and analyse a business properly and I wanted a skill to fall back on. After just over half a year working for myself I decided to apply to accountancy firms to train as a Chartered Accountant.
I accepted an offer from KPMG in Reading. The training contract would last three years and then I would officially be a Chartered Accountant with the skill set to run the finances of my business with a lifelong qualification to fall back on.
The Partner that gave me my job at KPMG emailed me when I announced I was leaving to say that he expected to see my name in lights one day. Perhaps he says that to everyone who leaves, but I am intending to prove him right.
(Written January 1st 2009. Republished from Tim's personal blog on startups & small businesses)
