When long Covid hit Paul Wareham, it knocked him for six. He had built a thriving £390k firm, PS Accountants, with a strong team and market-leading profitability. In fact, we wrote about his story to learn how to win new business every week. But after multiple bouts of Covid and years of brain fog as a result, his capacity dropped to just four or five hours a day.
Then came a defining moment. Two senior team members announced maternity leave within weeks of each other, and recruitment was proving impossible. For Paul, who had always prided himself on running a high-performing business, this was the point where he realised something had to change or he would be pushed to breaking point.
Fast forward a couple of years, he is now running a leaner, happier firm closer to home, with a stronger team, higher profits, and a life that finally feels more balanced.
In this Growth Story, you’ll learn how Paul:
- Pressed the reset button on his business after burnout and illness
- Rebuilt his firm in a new location, even after losing a quarter of his clients
- Went from sceptic to advocate for outsourcing
- Moved from chasing growth to building a practice that supports his lifestyle
- Finally found balance, with time for health, family, and cycling
If you’d like to listen to or watch the conversation, click below for the YouTube video of Paul’s chat with Heather.
About Paul
Paul Wareham has been an accountant for more than 20 years. Like many small firm owners, he did not set out to build a business that would take over his life.
After returning from a stint in Dubai, he took on a franchise to get started, eventually going independent and building PS Accountants into a respected firm in Heywood in North Manchester. Known for his exacting standards, Paul built a loyal client base and a close-knit team. But the long hours and relentless pace were catching up with him.
When Paul caught Covid, and he seemed to get it every single time it came around, it would be time out of the business for him. On top of that he then suffered long Covid. As Paul said, it was like, if he was a car, he had lost his top 2 gears. Hills that used to be effortless to climb on his road bike were now a slog.
When success becomes unsustainable
By late 2020, PS Accountants was performing brilliantly on paper. The firm was profitable and growing steadily. See here for Paul’s back story! But behind the scenes, Paul was running on an empty tank. (This is very common for many small growing accounting firms.)
Each time he caught Covid, it floored him for weeks, then months. The second bout sent him to A&E with a suspected stroke and/or heart attack. The diagnosis was long Covid.
The frustration started to creep in. Paul openly admitted, when you’re an expert at what you do it’s “really frustrating to be in a meeting and not be able to recall data from information that you sat and studied years and years for to be the best professional you can be.”
The fatigue, fog and frustration forced him to reassess everything. When two of his most senior team members went on maternity leave, it felt like the final straw. With an 80-mile round daily commute to an office that no longer worked for him, Paul found himself at a crossroads.
Something had to give.
Pressing the reset button
The real turning point came not in a business meeting, but over a bottle of champagne at home. Paul’s wife, Sue, simply said, “You’re moving the office.”
And so he did. (When you know Paul you will realise that the true boss is his wife Sue!)
He sold the firm’s old building, moved the practice 21 miles closer to home in Lymm, and accepted that some clients and staff would not make the transition. “We were quite happy to lose 25%,” he recalls. “We lost 25% and coped with that.”
By anyone’s standards it was a bold move, especially in the middle of personal health challenges and the added pressure of two team members about to go on maternity leave imminently. He really did have unmovable deadlines when it came to his firm’s capacity. But it gave Paul the chance to rebuild the firm from the ground up.
He made redundancies where needed, outsourced bookkeeping, and started working with a smaller, more focused team. The goal was no longer to grow at all costs. It was to create a business that could thrive without exhausting him.
Learning to let go
When Paul first joined the club, he was clear that outsourcing wasn’t for him. He believed strongly in training apprentices and keeping everything local.
But when the firm struggled to recruit, Covid changed both his outlook and the market. “We were struggling for staff,” he says. “I never ever thought I’d be an outsourced person. I love it. It’s brilliant. You know what you’re going to get. You’re not getting perfection. You’re going to have to work hard at it. But yeah, I like it. I’m a big fan.”
Working with outsourced teams brought new challenges too. He had to improve his communication and put better processes in place. But once those were established, the results were significant: better capacity, less pressure, and more consistency across the team.
Rebuilding on new foundations
Moving the practice was a leap into the unknown, but it paid off. The firm ended its first 12 months after the move six percent up on both revenue and profit.
“The limited company clients that we tried our hardest to keep hold of, they stayed with us for the first 12 months to see how it went,” Paul says. “Even if you think, how much am I going to lose? You don’t lose it all at midnight on the day you move, which is lovely.”
The client base shifted too, away from small tax-return work and toward limited companies already using cloud accounting systems. “We’re losing hand over fist small tax-return work that we just don’t want anymore,” he says. “And if we’ve lost a limited company client that is still on paper and wants to bring in their physical paperwork, they’ve done us such a big favour.”
Just as importantly, Paul now walks to work instead of driving 80 miles a day. That change alone, he estimates, adds the equivalent of £45,000 a year in productivity. “I’m actually producing [more] because nobody’s in the office,” he says. “It’s all nice and quiet. The phones are not ringing.”
For Paul, balance means running a calm, steady practice that supports his health, his family, who have always been his reason ‘why’, and the simple pleasure of taking time off to do the things he enjoys, like watching the Tour de France.
Redefining success
These days, Paul’s definition of success has changed completely.
He no longer chases turnover targets. Instead, he is focused on balance and sustainability.
He even admitted to not feeling overly excited about reaching half a million. He went on to explain “because realistically, financially, you’re at a point where you’re nice and comfortable. You can have the holidays you want, the cars you want, the life you want within reason.”
After 15 years of running the practice, he is finally planning his first two-week holiday, since running his practice, with no laptop and the intention of not answering calls. Adding that, like all firms, they’ve got to have the systems and structure in place to be able to manage that.
As Paul puts it, “I used to measure success by how big we got. Now it’s by how calm it feels.”
Lessons learned
Paul’s story is not about growing or scaling. It is about having the courage to take a risk, and rebuild his firm in a way that worked with his lifestyle.
Here are the key lessons he shares with other firm owners:
- Do not wait for a crisis to make a change. If something feels unsustainable, it probably is.
- Plan for downtime. Illness, holidays, and family time all matter. Systemise your practice so you can step away.
- Outsourcing is not the enemy. With the right structure, well-defined and articulated processes between you and the outsourced team, it can free you to focus on the work that matters most.
- Choose your hard. Change is uncomfortable, but so is burnout. Don’t chase money, chase happiness.
- Growth is not just about revenue. It is about building a business and a life you actually enjoy.
What’s next for PS Accountants
PS Accountants continues to grow steadily, with a refreshed client base and a stronger operational backbone. Paul’s focus now is on refining his systems, empowering his team, and maintaining his newfound balance.
It is a South Manchester-based practice offering accountancy and advisory services to small businesses. If you would like to learn more about Paul’s journey or how to rebuild your firm on your own terms, you can connect with him here.