I’m well on my way to building a real asset for my future

The TaxAssist Accountants franchise is a perfect fit for Jeremy Gilks’ skills and experience

As an FCCA qualified accountant with over 30 years’ experience in the commerce and financial industry, Jeremy Gilks was a clear match for the TaxAssist Accountants franchise.

Before approaching TaxAssist and becoming a franchise owner in his home city of Norwich, Jeremy ran his own business providing finance director and consultancy services.

Continually stretched

But as he hit his 50s, Jeremy was finding all he was selling was himself and not a business. He was continually stretched between projects and clients and was looking for something he could build into a business that he could work on and not in.

Being from Norwich, Jeremy was aware of TaxAssist (where the company’s support centre is based) and had seen it grow from a start-up to become a hugely successful operation providing professional turnkey solutions to sole traders and businesses, but with the personal touch of a small business.

Supportive culture

Jeremy explains: “I wanted to expand my offering to clients and was attracted to TaxAssist because of the proven business model and support, as I had not worked in practice for a number of years. The supportive culture and professional solutions offered to the franchisee were the differentiator between TaxAssist and the other franchise accountancy models.

“In my career, I most enjoyed working with small businesses and knew that through TaxAssist I could provide an excellent value for money service to this group of clients.

“With many years’ experience as an accountant in a variety of roles, I have a wealth of knowledge and real-life scenarios to draw upon. This ensures I’m well equipped to deal with the broad range of challenges presented to me when new clients walk through the door. I think the grey hair, or what’s left of it, helps to give people confidence that I am not wet behind the ears.”

Convenient for clients

Jeremy opened his city centre TaxAssist shop in August 2019. He adds: “It ticks all the boxes, with plenty of on-street parking for clients to use when popping in, making it convenient for clients to come and visit us while doing their shopping.

“We don’t consider ourselves to be typical accountants, which is clear from the look and feel of our modern shop.

“We are passionate about offering a bespoke, tailored service to every kind of small business client and have adopted the latest software on offer, which allows us to be more responsive to clients’ needs and provides greater efficiencies. But we have a best-of-both-worlds approach for those who enjoy using tech and those who prefer just to come in and talk to us.

Jeremy says he’s pleased with the way the practice has grown so far: “The TaxAssist support centre provides client leads as part of their offering and in the last 12 months these leads have generated over a third of new business.

“I’m happy to report I’ve hit my business plan targets and am well on my way to building a real asset for my future.”

At a glance TaxAssist accountants

Established:

1995

Number of franchised outlets:

224 franchise areas and 382 shops and offices

Location of units:

UK-wide

Investment range:

£100,000-£150,000

Minimum required capital:

£40,000

Contact:

franchiseenquiries@taxassist.co.uk or 0800 0188297 taxassistfranchise.co.uk