At the age of 17 Aberdeenshire businesswoman Laura Mearns had a big decision to make. It was a case of giving up on one of her dreams.
Does she follow her passion for ballet dancing or train to be a chartered accountant at Aberdeen University?
As a teenager Laura chose to have a career that would hopefully one day see her own her own business.
Now the mum-of-three is running estate and letting agency Northwood turning over £1 million a year.
‘No regrets’
The 45-year-old has 17 staff and offices in Aberdeen, Inverurie and Banchory.
But it was still a tough choice for Laura, who at the age of seven became the youngest ever child to play Clara in the Nutcracker for Scottish Ballet at His Majesty’s Theatre.
However, the desire to one day have her own business was too hard to resist and it’s a decision with no regrets.
Laura, who went to St Margaret’s School for Girls, said: “I left school at the age of 17 but I knew from the age of eight I always wanted to be a chartered accountant. It was my dream.
“I just love numbers. I love the calculator and I just got it. English was never and still isn’t my strong point.
“I used to sit and watch my dad do VAT returns. But I really struggled a bit at school with my Highers and my headteacher told my I should reconsider my career as I wouldn’t get the grades I needed for Aberdeen University.
“But I prove them wrong and got a first class honours in accountancy and won the dissertation prize.
“I was very passionate about dancing and but I’d made the choice at 17 to go to uni.
“It was a hard decision but I knew how competitive that world was and I also wanted a career and a business.
“I don’t regret my decision I absolutely love what I’ve done and what I do.”
Start of Laura’s business journey
In her third year of university Laura applied to the ‘Big Four’ accountancy firms for a placement and got accepted at KPMG.
When she finished her degree at the age of 21 she got a full-time job there as an audit assistant and qualified as a full chartered accountant in 2004.
In 2006 Laura joined Johnston Carmichael as an audit senior before becoming learning and development executive a short time later.
It was in 2008 that Laura and husband Steven, who she met at KPMG in 2001, became parents with their first child William being born.
But it wasn’t just the milestone of becoming parents. It was the same year they started running Northwood.
Laura, who is an ambassador for cancer support charity Clan, said: “We are both quite entrepreneurial and both really wanted our own business.
“We loved property and one night we went for a Chinese takeaway. I picked up a franchise magazine and came across an advert for Northwood.
“We sent away for the DVD introduction to the franchise and the rest was history.
“Steven left his job in oil and gas and took on Northwood and I was basically the book keeper and the support behind him.
“Although I had my job at Johnston Carmichael three days a week I did the books and looked after all the landlord payments.”
Juggling motherhood with work
In 2012 Steven took an opportunity to start another business, TaxAssist Accountants and Laura, who had given birth to second son Robert in 2010, decided to take over the running of Northwood.
She said: “Northwood was thriving he’d grown a strong team and it was doing well, despite the crash in 2008.
“We both agreed we can’t have a business and not have one of us in it.
“I had this great business and I knew it was a great opportunity.
“I loved property and it would be nice to be my own boss, yes it comes with stresses but I would be kind of living a dream.”
Laura transitioned from being the book keeper to running the business.
She admits it wasn’t the easiest juggling a business and two children under the age of five. But was grateful for the support of her mum Jean Ingram who Laura describes as her rock.
She said: “It was mental and juggling was quite overwhelming. But Steven and my other rock, my mum, allowed me to do it.
“A strong team, including my operations director Matt Pullinger, have helped me grow a successful business.”
Move into Northwood selling property
Since 2012 Northwood has grown to three offices with Rosemount, Inverurie and Banchory.
In 2017, Northwood acquired Bain property agency and the Aberdeen wing of Cox and Co in deals worth around £300,000.
It started out as a letting agency before branching out to estate agency with the launch of Bespoke by Northwood in 2020.
Laura, who had her third son James in 2017, said: “In 2014/15 when the Aberdeen market crashed I had landlords come to me that wanted to sell their properties.
“At that point we weren’t sure, there were other Northwoods across the franchise selling property, but we hadn’t specifically sold property.
“But we realised we had a demand and tried it with one or two clients to start with. It was really successful from 2017 to 2020 and three days before lockdown we were ready to launch.
“We did think should we halt the breaks because obviously we were just about to all be locked up for 12 weeks and there was no going to be no housing transactions.
“But we saw it as an opportunity because everyone’s going to be at home and they’re still going to be listening to the radio let’s just go for it because we were too far down the line.”
Another large part of Laura’s life is carrying out charity and community work.
Last year Northwood raised £7,500 for three north-east charities.
Laura said: “Last year we celebrated 15 years and it was all about giving back.
“Our fundraising efforts saw three charities get money and another 12 we donated one day a month as a team to help them.
“I’m a big community person and when I do step back from Northwood I want to be on the board of charities.
“I think it’s so important.”
Northwood to continue growing
Looking to the future of Northwood, Laura hopes to open a branch in either Elgin or Inverness with Peterhead another possible location.
Laura, who enjoys spending time with the family at their holiday home in Harris, said: “Elgin and Inverness are two possible locations and who knows maybe Ellon and Peterhead.
“We’re very much focusing on the north-east corner and when obviously finances and growth opportunities allow we will move into these areas but we are actively looking for acquisitions.”
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