A Ruddington based accountant – who has been running her new business for less than a year – has been named among the UK’s top one hundred small businesses to be celebrated in a national campaign.
Bookkeeping With Jo, owned and run by Joanne Roome, is to be highlighted as part of the lead-up to “Small Business Saturday” on the 5th of December 2020. It’s the eighth annual UK event – which aims to raise the profile of the country’s 5.5 million small businesses.
One firm from the ‘Small Biz 100’ calendar is featured each day ahead of the celebration – with Jo’s ‘big day’ being Saturday November 14th. She spent 16 years working as an accountant – becoming AAT and ACCA qualified – before a rather unfortunate accident led to her current venture…
“Last November I got married at the beautiful St Peter’s church in the village – the day before I fell down the stairs and broke my foot!” explains Jo. “Four weeks of sitting on the sofa made me realise I really wanted to work for myself and help other business owners who are not in a position to hire an accountant.”
Now the Ruddington businesswoman – who has lived here for four years – provides training courses and a membership to other business owners who are not ready to hire an accountant and want to learn how to do their own bookkeeping, tax and accountancy: “I teach them about all the numbers in their business” she says. “It’s so important for business owners to know their numbers so that they can grow and they can make better business decisions. I encourage people to learn about their own numbers without hiring an accountant. I’m on a mission to make bookkeeping less boring and take the fear out of finances.”
At the moment Bookkeeping With Jo is a completely online business, but face to face events are being considered in the future. Jo believes she achieved the ‘smallbiz100’ accolade because her business is different: “I’m not offering accountancy services. I want business owners to understand numbers themselves and I want to make bookkeeping and tax less boring and less scary. I’m super passionate about bookkeeping and my business – so I bring that to my audience!”
Jo is hoping to help as many clients in Ruddington as possible: “This recognition will mean that I can reach and help even more business owners and that is what is most important to me.” She adds: “We love it here. The friendly village atmosphere is very important to us as a family.”
It’s the second time a Ruddington businesswoman has been featured in these national awards. The Split Screen Coffee Company owner Jen Walker was highlighted in 2017.
