About
Meet Our Franchisees
Marina Sturmey, Oxfordshire
Every franchisee comes to Affinity Associates with a different story, and Marina Sturmey’s is that of an experienced accountant who knew exactly what she wanted and was determined to get the timing right.
Which is why she didn’t need long to decide that Affinity Associates was the franchise for her. She spoke to a couple of other franchises while she was researching her options, but she never felt she clicked with any of them, whereas Affinity felt right almost from the first conversation. “I didn’t get the right vibe from the others,” she explains. “With Affinity, I knew they were a bunch of people I could work with. It had the right vibe, the right feel.” The outsourcing model was a big part of that too, because it meant she could decide which work to take on herself while still offering clients everything they might need, so the question was never really whether to join Affinity, only when.
Marina has spent most of her working life as an accountant, albeit embedded in the finance departments of larger businesses, rather than working in a dedicated practice. When she had children, she went in a completely different direction and opened a childcare day nursery, which suited family life at the time. She still runs that business to this day, but accountancy has always been what she enjoyed most, and she always planned to come back to it one day.
“I’ve spent so many years in accountancy, and that’s where my passion is.” she told us. ” I often thought about moving back into it, but I didn’t want to go back to the 9-5 with a standard job. I wanted something which would give me more flexibility and, to be honest, less office politics.”
Getting a feel for client work
Marina’s first step was to work as a fractional Financial Controller for a well-known finance firm, providing part-time support to several client businesses. It was her first real experience of working for a number of clients at once, each with their own projects and deadlines, and she found she really enjoyed it.
The firm only offered the traditional FC role, and Marina began to think more and more about owning her own practice one day. However, she knew it wouldn’t be easy. She’d already encountered the concept of franchising through her work, so she knew it offered a route to business ownership which could give her the start she needed. She went online and began researching accountancy franchises, though none felt quite right until she discovered Affinity.
Why Affinity
The outsourcing model was the main draw. Marina thinks offshore support, such as Affinity’s international team, is where the profession is heading these days, given how expensive it has become to employ qualified staff in the UK, and she also liked the flexibility it gives her day to day. “I liked the idea of outsourcing straight away,” she says. “I want to be able to offer my clients a wide range of services, but of course I can’t manage that all myself. Outsourcing solves that problem, and also allows me to pick and choose which work I do myself, and which work I refer to the wider network.”
The people made a big difference too.
“Right from the start, the team were very welcoming, very accommodating and happy to answer any questions,” she remembers. “It wasn’t a dry conversation, and I never felt like I was being pressured and then written off if I wasn’t immediately ready to take the next steps. If the person at the front of the conversation gives you the impression they won’t talk to you unless you’re really interested, that can put you off straight away.”
Getting the timing right
Although Marina was sure about Affinity early on, she wanted to be certain the time was right for her. She still had FC clients to look after, she had never worked in a practice before, and she wanted to understand everything involved in setting up a new business before she signed anything.
“I knew I wanted to go ahead, I just didn’t know when,” she explains. “For me, it was about making sure everything was in place first.”
Marina first spoke to Affinity in January, and we stayed in touch throughout the months that followed, answering her questions, sending through guidance documents and explaining each of the practical steps, such as setting up the company. “There was no way they could know whether I would eventually sign up or not, but they treated me with respect and gave me the time I needed,” she says. “I never felt rushed, and there was none of this pressure selling. They were happy to support me and wait until it was the right move for everyone.”
By the summer of 2026, she was ready. Marina signed her franchise agreement in August and handed in her notice so that she could give the new business her full attention.
Starting from scratch
Quite a few of the offices in the Affinity network joined as existing practices that already had clients, but Marina is building hers from the beginning. Her previous clients came through other firms, so they aren’t hers to bring across, and she was very open at the start of the journey about how much work she still had ahead. “It’s early stages, so I wouldn’t say I’m 100% confident yet, and I do have my concerns,” she admits. “At the moment I don’t have the clients, but I don’t have the presence yet either, so the two go together. Once the website is running and the ads are going, I’ll get a feel for how many enquiries come in and whether I need extra support from Affinity to increase the traffic.”
She already has a few things in her favour, though. Marina plans to move her own businesses over to Affinity, she has a first client lined up, and she expects word of mouth and local networking in Oxfordshire to play a big part in growing the practice.
She also sees the benefit of starting out with a known name behind her. “If the model has worked for the existing businesses, I don’t see why it can’t work for me,” she says. “It just means more effort will be needed in marketing and advertising at the start.”
None of this is anything Marina will be facing alone, of course. The Affinity Associates team will be behind her every step of the way, ensuring she benefits from our decades of experience in building successful accountancy practices.
Marina’s story shows that you don’t need to have worked in practice before, or to bring an existing client base with you, to build an accountancy business of your own. If you’re a qualified accountant who wants the independence of running your own practice, Affinity Associates gives you the outsourcing support, the full range of services and the experienced team you need to offer clients a valuable one-stop solution from day one.