TaxAssist Accountants franchisee: “It’s amazing how quickly we have all adapted to this new life”

Franchisees share how they are adjusting to the new normal

As more of the UK turns to self-isolation and social distancing, balancing personal and professional lives with home-schooling and other duties, remaining positive through these trying times is paramount.

In this new series, we speak with franchisees and franchisors from across the UK to find out how they are coping with “the new normal”.

We speak with Cheryl Hopkins, TaxAssist Accountants Long Eaton franchisee, about looking at the positives, including time spent with family, working together, sharing problems and having fun.

On working from home with children

“Working from home is a new concept for me, other than catching up with bits on the sofa when the kids were in bed, most of my work was undertaken in the office. Currently, with home-schooling added in, we are all set up around our dining table on our own laptops trying to focus on our own work. Working with a 12-year-old and a 9-year-old is challenging. We have created a structure to our day with set breaks and fun thrown in.”

On how to cope with the pressure

“Both, us as a family and my clients, have different levels of pressure. The vast quantity of work coming into the office is from clients concerned over where funds are coming from and how quickly they are going to receive grant funding, to the other scale of clients who have seen a growth in their business due to this pandemic and need assistance with how to deal with this growth. We are trying to speak to clients who may be feeling this pressure to see where we can assist them, to take away some of this concern and reassure them we will do what we can to help.”

On balancing work and personal lives

“We make sure we have set breaks and once work is finished, we come off technology and either go out for a walk or go into the garden to play and have some fun. Work is work, but once 5.00 pm comes, it’s time to concentrate on our own family time.”

On adapting to the new normal

“This is the new normal and every morning we wake up, get dressed, have breakfast and start our day as we would normally, but instead of having the school run to do, we just set up and start at 9.30 am for school and work. We know we can’t go out to see friends and family, but we make sure we speak to them over social media, wave at them through the window when we walk by and keep our distance. It’s amazing how quickly we have all adapted to this new life. Its been nice to be able to spend so much time with the family when I’ve always been a full-time working mum.”

On staying positive

“To stay positive we have been thinking about all the positives this outbreak has created. More time together, baking, painting, things we may have put off as we were too busy with our lives. Enjoying the time spent around our dining room table working together, sharing problems, talking through issues with work and having fun. This will not last forever and neither will this special time as a family. Before long our busy lives will come back to us. Let’s hope we keep some of these positives and continue them into the future.”

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