My portfolio journey

Dani Wainwright explains why she decided to take the plunge and launch an independent career, the practical steps she has taken, how she has identified her niche and how she hopes to build her portfolio of clients.

What type of independent career are you establishing?

I am planning to work as a portfolio finance director, working part-time for a small number of businesses. Those businesses are likely to be SMEs (i.e. small enough not to require a full-time FD), and be going through change such as looking to grow significantly, change strategy, develop an exit plan, or make acquisitions. Ideally, I'd like to work 3 days a week. 

Why now?

I started working through a modern apprenticeship, long before their recent resurgence – it was quite unusual at the time. I began my career in the year 2000 at a small firm in Leeds, and the breadth of experience was excellent. Whilst studying towards the AAT qualification, we rotated around departments, through audit, accounts, and tax, learning all the basics. It wasn't unusual to be presented with a carrier bag full of receipts and to turn that into some statutory accounts and a tax return! I then moved to Grant Thornton and obtained my ACA qualification, and then moved into industry. In recent years I've held senior finance roles in a FTSE100 company, which whilst massively interesting and rewarding, was very demanding.

So, I've been working hard for 20 years, and have often needed to put work before hobbies, friendships, and even my two children. I was very happy with how my career had progressed but didn't feel my life was very balanced, and I wanted to address this. 

I'd been mulling over the idea of moving to an independent career for about 6 months, but (as my husband often challenged me) would I actually do it? It can be hard to leave the comfort and security of a regular salary and other benefits, especially if you've share options or bonuses effectively tying you in. Then Covid-19 hit, after a few months redundancy came along, and this gave me the opportunity and the impetus to start my business earlier than I'd planned. 

I no longer want to work full-time, but I relish working in finance, especially at the Finance Director level, where I feel I can have a real impact on the direction and success of a business, and be really engaged in my work. My belief is that working as a portfolio FD on a part-time basis will give me a fantastically rounded life whilst my children grow up, and ultimately make me happier.

Was this part of your long-term strategy?

Honestly, I haven't really thought about a long-term strategy. Some weeks it was a relief just to get through to Friday – I am sure this will be familiar to many! Each time my husband or I took on more, we said that it might be time for one of us to step back, so we could hold everything together. As we juggled very demanding jobs, after school club and the kids' sports teams though, we continued to take on more with not a step back in sight. I definitely knew I wanted to step back 'soon' though – having not been there as much as I'd have liked for my girls whilst they were very little, I hoped to be more present in time for when the tricky pre-teen years began.

What attributes do you think are needed?

When you're setting up, you need a lot of positivity and to be resilient. There have been fleeting moments when I've seen a full-time role that looked interesting and challenging, and hovered over the 'apply' button, but I resist, because this is not what I really want – you have to hold your nerve and not panic. For that reason, it is very helpful if you can build up a buffer of funds to start your journey.

Being sociable and willing to reach out to contacts old and new to build your network is important, so you'll be 'front-of-mind' when those contacts interact with your ideal customers, and they'll recommend you. I am doing a lot of Zoom introductions and a few face-to-face coffees with specialist recruiters, and other relevant professionals such as Accountants in large firms, Private Equity investors and lawyers. People have been very positive about what I'm embarking on, both from the perspective of thinking I'll come across well to clients and also believing there is a lot of opportunity out there for this to work. People have been very willing to help me make those connections – LinkedIn is your friend for this.

What practical steps have you taken or are you thinking about?

Well, I will be trading through a Limited Company and I needed a practising certificate, so all this, along with my Professional Indemnity Insurance, are set up. I contacted CABA when I was made redundant, and they were really supportive, arranging for me to have six sessions with a business mentor. We spent the time together working on improving my LinkedIn profile, discussing positioning in the market, and how to reach my ideal client. These sessions, together with reading 'Building a Story Brand' by Donald Miller, helped me change my mindset from describing my skills as a finance professional to describing the impact my skills could have for client. This is crucial to understand and will completely transform the way you talk about what you do and 'sell' yourself.

Have you drafted a business plan?

Shock horror – I haven't! What I have done is a lot of research into what my chargeable rate should be in the market and had a very good think about what my ideal client looks like. At present, my only ambition is to find work for myself, so a detailed plan is not really needed at this stage. I think time is better spent on building my network.

How are you marketing and positioning yourself?

I'm using LinkedIn as my main marketing tool, as that's the platform my ideal client is on the most. I comment regularly and engage in conversation and create articles with my own content every couple of weeks. Quality over quantity is key with content marketing on LinkedIn. My recent article '5 valuable benefits of a part-time Finance Director' was viewed and shared quite widely and brought me several new connections, so it was definitely worth the time taken to write it. Getting Recommendations on LinkedIn is another useful way to build your authority in the eyes of your client and connections.

When I started talking to specialist recruiters, more than one of them told me my first prospect was most likely to come from my own network, and that has been my experience. Just chatting to someone on the school run can be all it takes, so (without being a bore) take every opportunity!

I am marketing my service as being able to bring financial clarity and headspace to help businesses achieve their goals. I am positioning myself as a Part-Time Finance Director for SMEs, and am targeting industries I have relevant and demonstrable experience in. Another useful tip I got from my CABA mentor was not to try and be everything to everyone. Whilst you might have experience in multiple industries, and think you'd enjoy getting experience in new ones too, put yourself in your client's shoes. Would you choose a generalist or a specialist?

Is there anything you have found harder/easier than you expected?

I'm pleased to say I've found the LinkedIn community much more friendly and helpful than I'd anticipated. If you strike up a good rapport and reciprocate, people go out of their way to assist you where they can. Getting my head around my target market and how I was going to sell the benefits to prospects wasn't hard, but it was iterative. My view of that now has developed quite rapidly over the last few months, so be prepared for not having all the answers immediately, but they will come as you talk to your network. I have recently been appointed on an ongoing basis with one client, and am working with another on an project basis, so, although business development will feel like a full time job at first, keep at it, you’re probably much closer to landing your first role than you think.

Daniella Wainwright

The views expressed are the author’s and not ICAEW’s.