A NEW LIFE:Changing cities and jobs at the same time paid off for former tax consultant Grace Fields
WHEN FORMER tax consultant Grace Fields lived in Dublin, she was commuting from Glasnevin to Ballsbridge, spending about three hours a day in the car and typically getting home at around 7-7.30pm. Now running her own weight management clinic in Waterford city, she still only gets home at 7pm, but here's the kicker - she doesn't start work until 11am, and her commute home takes less than 10 minutes.
Fields studied at Trinity and completed a postgrad in DCU before going to work with Arthur Andersen - she was working with the firm when it imploded following the Enron scandal in 2002 and its subsequent merger in the Irish market with KPMG. "It was very odd," she says of that period in her life. "The first we knew about it, we got this message saying that something had happened in the States. Next thing we knew we were working for KPMG."
Two years later she took a year out to travel around Australia - an early indication perhaps that she was not 100 per cent happy in her career. Her last job before she went in search of her new life was as a tax consultant with a "boutique" tax firm, providing tax consultancy for high-net-worth individuals.
Helping wealthy folk to reduce their tax bill, I ask cynically?
"It's about maximising the tax advantage," she laughs. "There are a lot of negative connotations about tax consultancy, but in my experience it was very rewarding to be helping people who needed advice about taxation."
Meanwhile, she had become interested in the whole area of personal development, reading up and attending courses by motivational speakers such as Tony Robbins. In addition, performance reviews at work provided a tantalising clue as to what she might do next. "I was always really involved in the business development side of things, bringing in new clients and so on. I really enjoyed the one-to-one side of my job more than anything."
Her sister attended a Motivation Weight Management clinic as a client, and was so impressed by the experience that she opted to buy a franchise and establish a clinic in Swords. Fields decided to follow suit.
"I had been nine years in tax so it was time for a break, otherwise I might have stayed there forever. It just seemed to fit - I was interested in running my own business, I love working with people and I knew from working in an office that people talk about weight all the time."
In 2006, she met with Paul Connolly who owns the master franchise in Ireland and a moth later, she handed in her notice at her old job. "It felt fantastic, though of course I had some last-minute nerves about leaving a well-paid job in taxation. But when I came out and said it, I knew it was the right thing to do."
Founded by French-Canadian obesity expert, Dr Maurice Larocque, the clinics focus on motivating clients to make long-term changes when it comes to food behaviour and attitude. All franchises, she says, undergo a substantial training programme and the reduced-calorie food plans are devised by Larocque. "People go on diets to look good and feel better about themselves, but health should be the main reason for weight management. We don't like the concept of 'diets' - our focus is on a long-term healthy eating plan to help people maintain their target weight."
Her first operational decision was to leave her native Dublin and establish the clinic in Waterford. "It was nerve-racking obviously to think about moving jobs and cities at the same time. I was looking at the map and trying to weigh up the options. I had holidayed in Waterford as a child, so I had an affinity with the county and I liked the fact that it's a city but has the atmosphere of a town. I walk down the street here and I meet loads of people I know. I miss that when I go back to Dublin."
While the clinic is now busy enough for her to employ two staff, she admits to having sat by the phone for the first few weeks waiting anxiously for her first clients to call.
"It takes time. Word of mouth is huge in a business like this - if a client loses weight, then people want to know what their secret is. I ran a series in the local paper which had before and after pictures of our clients and the business really took off then."
That level of activity has allowed her to take a back seat in terms of client consultations which she now does only two days a week. "I've read that you should spend more time working on your business, than in your business. I love working with clients, but I also love the challenge of growing a company."
The happy release from a crippling commute also allows her more time for herself. "When I moved here first, I used to give myself half an hour to get anywhere, you know if I was meeting a friend or anything. It's that real Dublin mindset - but here I was always early for everything. I would be sitting there for 20 minutes waiting on them.
"I was also a great one for grabbing a scone and a cappuccino on the way to work for breakfast, but now I have the time to sit down and have my poached egg for breakfast and go to the gym before work. I am less stressed, I mean I am probably busier than I was, but I love all the different challenges."