This isn’t quite where I expected Pink Lily to be heading - but it feels like the right next step.

My husband, David, has always said I should start my own accountancy practice. He’s always had aspirations of running his own business. Whereas I was quite happy working for someone else… or so I thought.

“I wouldn’t know where to start running my own business” was always my answer.

Fast forward to 2021, and I found myself in a job I didn’t love when the opportunity came up to buy our local Turtle Tots franchise. Not quite an accountancy practice — but we’d been customers for six years, and as a former swimmer, the opportunity excited me.

After a bit of toing and froing (and the prospect of classes stopping locally), in September 2021 I became the owner of Turtle Tots Falkirk, Stirling and West Lothian.

I was now a business owner - something I’d never really planned for.

Owning the franchise gave me a real insight into what it’s like to run a business, but it also helped me realise what matters to me..

The first (and a big one for me) was working weekends. I’d always worked Monday to Friday and didn’t realise quite how much that suited me. With David working during the week and me working Saturdays and Sundays, we had very little time together as a family, which I found really hard.

The other challenge was dealing with things that were completely out with my control — mainly the pools, which is quite fundamental to a swim school. Relying on council-run school pools meant constant issues, whether that was broken parts or unreliable temperatures. It often felt like an uphill battle.

So in 2024 when my initial franchise term came to an end, I decided it was time to sell and try something new.

By that point, I knew I didn’t want to go back to working for someone else - having to ask permission to go to school events or even get my hair done!

I’d proved to myself that I could run a business.

So I went back to what I knew best — and the part of running the business I enjoyed most — the numbers.

Later that year, Pink Lily Accounting Solutions was born.

Over the last 18 months, I’ve mainly worked with businesses in the children’s activity sector. Having been a franchisee myself, and a customer of many of these businesses for over 10 years, it felt like the natural place to start.

While I’ve really enjoyed working with these businesses, most are only looking for year-end compliance work.

And if I’m honest, that’s my least favourite part of the job — and probably why I spent most of my career working in industry.

What I enjoy most is getting properly involved in a business. Understanding how it works and helping it move forward.

So when I came across the idea of running a Virtual Finance Department, it really clicked. This is the kind of work I want to be doing – acting as a strategic partner, not just producing accounts after the fact.

At the same time, David and I had been talking more seriously about working together. We just couldn’t see how it would work - until now.

David has spent his whole career working in engineering consultancies, in fact that’s where we met all those years ago! Most recently, he was the managing director of an engineering consultancy. He understands those businesses inside out and naturally gravitates towards the numbers.

So focusing on engineering consultancies, architects and other project-based businesses feels like a natural step.

It’s about combining my finance experience with his 35+ years of real-world experience.

So what does this mean in practice?

For current clients, nothing changes. I’ll still be working with children’s activity providers and businesses across other sectors.

But going forward, you’ll see a clear focus in our marketing messaging - centred around supporting engineering consultancies, architects and project-based businesses through a Virtual Finance Department model.

It’s a new direction — but one that feels very aligned with where we want to go.

And I’m excited to see where this next chapter takes us.