‘You shouldn’t have to pick’: lessons in flexible work from female founders

At the Women in Finance Summit on Friday (14 November), panellists and accountants Simone Palfreyman and Natalie Lennon shared lessons in entrepreneurship, overcoming challenges and building a fulfilling career for themselves and their employees.

Palfreyman, the founder of Hunter Valley-based accounting firm Palfreyman Chartered Accountants, said a desire for a better balance between work and family life made her take the plunge and start her own business.

“I started my business mainly because I had two young kids and at the time I was lecturing at Newcastle Uni and I had big classes, and if my kids were sick I still had to go to that lecture. And I couldn't do it,” Palfreyman said.

“I thought if I at least ran my own business, I'd have the flexibility of working around my family because that to me was so, so important. I didn't want to give up my career, but I needed my career to be able to work around my family.”

Being her own boss allowed Palfreyman to only work school hours – including not working school holidays – and prioritise her family. Despite being told “you can’t do that,” Palfreyman said she ended up being so busy her books were closed and she had to hire a part-time accountant.

“It literally started as I wanted to be a mum, but I really didn't want to give up my profession. So it was a way for me to succeed on both levels and also then provide a chance for other people to do the same,” Palfreyman said.

“So we've always had flexible work, working around childcare, school times and just giving people that chance to do both. You shouldn't have to pick your career or your family.”

Natalie Lennon, the founder and director of Two Sides Accounting, recalled the lack of support and flexibility available to her in her former partnership, which prompted her to start her own firm.

“Here I was, an equity partner, feeling like an employee. Feeling, if I left at 5 o'clock in the afternoon, [that] they were looking at their watches, even though I was probably in first and they were in later,” Lennon recalled.

“And I was like, what am I doing? Like, this is my business, but I've got no control over it because I've got two male partners and I'm the young one, the young female. They don't want to listen to me. They kind of just want me there as the token. And I went, no, enough's enough.”

When Lennon founded her own businesses, she said she still grappled with traditional expectations from clients. She started her business from home in the pre-pandemic era, and recalled facing pressure to work in an office.

“Most of us, when we're starting, we feel the pressure to start the business the way that we've seen it done many times before, especially in accounting,” she said.

“I felt the pressure because I had some clients that came with me and I remember they would say to me … ‘When are you going to get an office? When are you going to hire people?’ … ‘We really want to see you progress and be a real business.’

“Whilst we did that, when COVID hit, I think it was a bit of a blessing in disguise because it meant we could go and work from home and show them that it actually could be done.”

A few years on, Lennon said she had gotten rid of the office and hadn’t looked back.

“Now we're 100 per cent remote, which means we have that flexibility that I set out to do in the beginning and sort of never got,” she said.

“Now that we've built the reputation and the brand and we've got the clients and the marketing funnel's working, we can be a lot more picky about who we work with. So the office is not open on Fridays for us. The team has the flexibility to work four days a week if they choose.”

Reflecting on their career journeys and challenges along the way to becoming founders, Palfreyman and Lennon shared advice on staying true to their values and dealing with self-doubt.

“If I could go back to my younger self and tell her a bit of advice, it would be, whatever you want, you can do it. It's not going to be easy. Like, it's going to be hard, but if you work hard enough and you believe in yourself, you can achieve it,” Lennon said.

Palfreyman said her focus on work/life balance and high-quality work continued to guide her decision making.

“I focus on my business, and why I started. It was [about] providing quality services, but also providing the flexibility to do the things that you want,” she said.

“[It’s] important for my staff as well. We've got a lot of athletes that really, really love their sports, and by providing [the] flexibility for them to actually achieve outside of work, they come to work full on, ready to go. And that's what I think is so important. Remember your purpose. Ours is quality, but flexibility.”