Georgi Rollings gives us an insight to why and how she setup Starfish Accounting following the birth of her twins:

Before the girls were born I was an accountant for Hewlett Packard working in their IT services division, having qualified as a chartered accountant at Deloitte & Touche back in 1996. When my twin girls were born in May 2010 my priorities completely shifted, and I didn't feel that returning to a high pressured corporate environment would have let me spend as much time with them as I wanted to while they are still little, not even on a part time basis. Like a lot of other multiple mums I was also very aware that childcare costs are a lot more when you have more children to care for.

I spent a lot of time thinking about what I could do when my maternity leave ended. My previous boss was very supportive of my request to return part time, but it didn't feel like the right thing to do. My inspiration came after talking to some other mums who had fantastic ideas for new businesses - I may not be creative enough as an accountant to come up with the next must have product, but I could very definitely help other people to turn their bright ideas into profitable businesses. I therefore set up a small accounting practice with the aim of helping mum and dad owned businesses to do exactly that. My company is called Starfish Accounting Ltd - named after our twins who were nicknamed Starfish Girls in the early days when they slept in the classic baby arms thrown out position.

I manage to juggle my workload so that I mostly work in the evenings, and the occasional afternoon when the girls spend some time with their grandparents. Business calls can normally be squeezed into nap times, or an emergency 20 minute Waybuloo slot... I find that the major challenge is just trying to fit everything in - including sleep! - so that the girls get to spend quality time with their mum, the house doesn't overflow with dirty dishes and laundry, and I stay on top of my emails! Luckily my husband does the cooking otherwise I think we would have to live on baked potatoes.

And for anyone else who is thinking about setting up in business but hasn't quite managed to take the plunge? If you have a good business idea, and have researched it enough to know it is a genuine opportunity, then GO FOR IT! Try to link in with some other like minded people, there are some great communities of business mums out there. Make sure you get the advice that you need and when you need it, not months after the fact - a good accountant will save you more money than they cost. And if you are able to run a household with twins or triplets, you will have most of the skills and determination you need to run a successful business!