Business Success Story

Young and female, Sophie Hughes and Lucy Cohen were met with a lot of scepticism when they decided to set up Mazuma soon after leaving college.

But one year on, the Cardiff-based 24-year olds now have an office with two additional staff, and revenues are rising impressively.

When did you decide to set the business up?

Sophie: About Christmas 2005. We bumped into each other on a college course. We had been friends in school but had lost touch.

She took on one big client so I started helping out. Then we thought “why not make a day of it, try to find some clients and make it a full-time job. We started going to networking events and picked up a few clients in the first couple of months, so we thought we’d quit our jobs and go for it.
Via-Business Marketplace

So there was no grand plan at the outset to start a business…

Sophie: Not really. We wanted to work for ourselves but didn’t necessarily think we would end up running our own practice.

It must be unusual to do it straight after qualification…

Sophie: I think so, yeah. Neither of us went to uni so I think we have more work experience than people who did; we’re about three or four years up on people our age, so that probably helped as well.

How did you finance the business?

Sophie: Just by working and building it up that way.

To be honest we didn’t really need much. We had to buy licences for software and things, but it wasn’t too expensive, and we worked at home at first, which kept costs down.

The Sun did an article about your start-up and reported that you’re already getting revenues of £120k already…
Sophie: Well, that’s exaggerated… Then again, if we carry on at this rate we will be bringing that in by the end of this financial year.

Have things gone better than you thought?

Sophie: Yeah, much better. I say we’ve been lucky but Lucy always tells me off, saying it’s not luck – we’ve done it ourselves.

Have you been working long hours?

Sophie: Yeah, but it’s not too bad. Before our first member of staff started we were working Saturdays regularly. Luckily it’s now only every now and then.

We now have two accountants working for us.

It’s quite unusual to have a female-owned and run accountancy…

Sophie: Definitely, and that’s probably why we’ve had a fairly good reception.

A lot of younger businesses definitely like us, although we don’t just want to appeal to women. There is a solicitor’s firm local to us which only has women working for it, but we’re all equals so we don’t want to come across like that.

But we do think women are attracted to us because we are female. And younger people seem to like us because we’re on the same wavelength.

Sofa_photo2.jpgHas perceived inexperienced cost you clients?

Sophie: A couple of times I think clients thought we were a bit young. But the one client that really expressed that became a client anyway – a really big one – and equally, people love the fact that we’re younger and have a modern approach.

We put things into plain English as well.

What have you enjoyed most about running your own business?

Sophie: It’s really good when we take on new clients and we’re doing it for ourselves, not someone else. We don’t have employers telling us what to do.

It’s definitely rewarding when you help someone out. When they have a bit of a tax difficulty it’s really nice and you’re like “well done, us!”

Lucy: The element of freedom. We have complete autonomy.

You’re in charge of the decision-making process. I think sometimes the higher up the corporate ladder you go the longer the decision-making process is and the less control you really have.

And I think your work ethic changes. You’re not watching the clock anymore or waiting for payday. You know that every bit of effort you put in directly affects your profit.

Speaking of decision-making, have you had many disagreements over the direction of the company?

Lucy: No, not really. We have a really good relationship.

We’re quite fortunate in that we both tend to like doing different things. Sophie is very good strategically and seeing the bigger picture, whereas I’m very good at the nitty gritty stuff. If one of us has an idea we’ll run it by the other one and I think you can tell straightaway by the look on their face as to whether it’s a good idea or not.

We’re both clear on what we want the company to be and I think we trust each other to make decisions without any comeback. Sometimes you get a phone call and you have to make a decision there and then. You can’t wait, you have to know each other well enough and know what the other one is going to say.

What’s been the most frustrating thing about setting up the business?

Sophie: I think when we first started people were quite dismissive. I think it’s the age thing.

We went to a meeting with someone from Entrepreneur Action one time, and he said “no that won’t work, remember this is a profession and people won’t think you’re taking it seriously…” We came out of that meeting really disheartened.

Sun%20Photo2.jpgBut we proved him wrong, and he actually became a client three or four months ago!

Lucy: I’ve always been the sort of person that wants to run before they can walk. But you can’t just set up a business one day and be turning over millions of pounds the next. That’s not how it works.

You will take knockbacks. You have to have what I call ‘teflon shoulders’ – you have to brush it off and get on with it.

Has anything surprised you about running your own business?

Sophie: The only thing that surprised me is just how small the business world is. Literally everybody knows everybody and I never expected that. I don’t know if that is just a Cardiff thing, but that really surprised me.

It’s pretty much what I was hoping for really, so I have been quite pleased with it.

Any future plans?

Sophie: We want to bring it back to the high street. We don’t want to be like Deloitte’s and have one massive office.

We’re planning on opening more, smaller offices in various cities. We’re opening an office in Bridge End next, because we have quite a few clients over there. We’re certainly not going to have more than five or six members of staff per office.

What advice would you give to someone starting a business?

Sophie: Make sure you do a business plan. It gives you something to measure against what you’ve done.

Another one which Lucy always says is that a lot of people tend to work part-time when they’re setting up their business. But if you do that you can’t focus on your business and it’s never going to be as good as you want it to be. If possible just plunge into it, and if after three months you’re not making any money then fine, get a part-time job. But if you don’t give it 100% commitment right from the beginning then it’s not going to give you 100% reward.

Lucy: Don’t be wishy washy. You have to put in 100% effort, but you also have to be 100% sure. There will inevitably be a time, when you first quit your job, when you wake up at three in the morning thinking “Oh my God, what have I done?”

And money will be tight. You’re always one month away from not being able to pay your mortgage when you’re on a salary so it can be difficult if you have a month without that.

But this is where the planning comes into it. You’ve got to be so good at planning and commit yourself fully to it. You’ve got to go for it.

And another thing. I heard a phrase once and it stuck with me – and that’s to tell the truth in advance. If sales have been a bit slow, don’t go round saying everything’s awful. Next week will be better. Something just happens – your mindset changes and you’ll hit that target. You have to have a positive outlook or you will never succeed.

Don’t listen to your family either! They’re far too invested in your personal interests; they can’t make an impartial view. They want you to be happy, healthy and not struggle for money, which is obviously what parents are there to do. They’ll be there to give you a pat on the back or give you a kick up the arse when you need it. But when it comes to taking risks, be careful about taking their advice because they’re far too worried about your happiness.

It’s one of the most stressful but rewarding things you can ever do. And if you want to do it then go for it, because you can’t spend your life thinking “What if?” can you? If you’ve been bitten by the bug, then at least try.