From a career in IT and 27 years keeping his promise in the Scouts, Barry Aitken is taking on a new challenge and starting his own business. “After being made redundant, I decided that I needed to get out of IT and do something completely different” explains Barry.

From a career in IT and 27 years keeping his promise in the Scouts, Barry Aitken is taking on a new challenge and starting his own business. “After being made redundant, I decided that I needed to get out of IT and do something completely different” explains Barry.

With the support of Rosemary Bookkeeping’s team, Barry has taken the step into working for himself, with his own bookkeeping franchise. “I spotted a jobs fair leaflet and went along, thinking I’ve nothing to lose and I stumbled across a leaflet from FranchisingWorks. The bookkeeping stood out most for me as being something I thought I could do, I have a background working in the finance sector, so bookkeeping seemed a logical step.”

After years of being employed by other companies, and being hit by redundancy on more than one occasion, Barry felt it was time to take control of his working career. Taking on a Rosemary Bookkeeping franchise allows Barry to work for himself and have the flexibility of working from home. Knowing the Rosemary team are there offers that extra bit of reassurance that he is not alone.

“The phrase that has stuck in my mind throughout is from FranchisingWorks, it said: ‘in Business FOR yourself but not BY yourself’, that’s a key point for me. In a year’s time I would like to have a minimum of 12 clients and my first sub-contractor and with the support of Rosemary Bookkeeping, I really feel this is an achievable goal.’

With grown up sons, Barry is able to devote much of his time to the growing his business is his plan, he even has the support of his wife, Dawn. Barry jokes: “I’ve been unemployed for over 2 years so Dawn is very keen for me to get from under her feet and out working again!”

A long connection with the local Scouts and involvement with the Marching Show Bands locally in Manchester is where Barry is concentrating on spreading the word about his new business venture. “I currently hold positions at a local Group level, District level and at County level for Greater Manchester East Scouts. So as you can imagine, I’ve met a lot of different people along the way.”

Barry is offering all new clients £20 off their initial invoice

The Rosemary Bookkeeping™ franchise responds to the increasing need in the UK for an affordable, professional bookkeeping service that supports both the client and the accountant. Barry will be working in harmony with his clients’ accountants, providing them with exactly what they need in the format they want saving his clients’ time and money.

The franchise is based on a business concept that has been established and refined since 2002, providing a unique bookkeeping system within a fully supported franchise package. Barry will be able to obtain great flexibility and the potential for a superb work-life balance, that will allow him to juggle his new business and Scouting whilst looking after the family home with his wife Dawn.

The franchise is backed by four successful entrepreneur business women, Claire Watson-Bardot, Joanna Dennis, Sarah Cook and Lisa Curteis who have over 60 years of business and bookkeeping experience between them. As an Associate Member of the bfa, Rosemary Bookkeeping has a proven ability to sustain a franchise network successfully.