Hi, I’m Serena

3 financial disasters ….. and a mission

I'm Serena Humphrey FCMA, a Chartered Management accountant, financial trainer, financial mindset coach, NLP coach, and a highly experienced CFO and business owner.

For over 30 years, I've been on what you might call an obsession; a lifelong mission to help business owners achieve the financial security they deserve from their businesses.

This isn't just a business for me. It's deeply personal.

It all began in the 90’s

In the early ‘90s recession 3 things happened that changed the course of my life and set me on this journey.

When I was 21, I lost my home that I'd proudly bought when I was 18. With interest rates soaring to 15%, I had to hand back the keys and walk away.

Then, the amazing business that I loved as my own, where I was the finance manager, collapsed overnight. We'd spent three years building it into a £10m nationwide success story. I had to make our factory workers redundant and shut down stores across the country.

Finally, I watched helplessly as my parents lost their dream business and their home to the recession.

It was deeply painful and personal.

Everyone’s security had gone and we had to start again.

I needed answers…

It was a brutal time and I needed answers.

Why did it happen?

What could I have done about it?

Why do some businesses survive the tough times when others fail? Why do some people get financial security when others stay vulnerable, no matter how hard they work?

These questions ignited a mission that still drives me today - to understand the real drivers of financial security and to help business owners build it for themselves.

So I qualified as an accountant so I could learn what went wrong and what I could have done to stop it all happening. I then set up my own business to help business owners build better financial security. I built and sold a management accounting practice, have worked as a financial coach and CFO for many years, and now I work 1:1 with amazing small business owners.

I'm a business owner too

My parents have always been business owners, and I started my own business in 2000, so I've lived the entrepreneurial journey firsthand.

I’ve employed teams of people and had the sleepless nights worrying about clients, cash flow, staff and marketing. I really get it!

I understand the isolation, the pressure, and the constant juggling act that comes with running a business.

And I know what it takes to push through those challenges to build something that delivers real financial security

Why I created this coaching program

For years, I drank the Kool-Aid and bought into the narrative that scaling and exiting was the only path to financial security.  I had a team of 12 people and I was scaling on my path to my first million turnover. I systematised everything, and reinvested every penny back into the business.

And it was going well. Except I bloody hated it! I felt trapped. I was working silly hours, I was unhappy and I was sacrificing my health. I was selling my soul for a dream that wasn’t even mine.

I had to find a better way. This model of success wasn’t working for me.

So I turned my back on the business I built, and I sold it.

I proudly embraced having a lifestyle business.

I was still as ambitious as ever, but I found that ambition can exist in a lifestyle business.

I focused on profitability, financial strength, and used my business to create my financial security. I saved more, spent less, built up my investments and cleared my mortgage. 

I had a better financial outcome and a better life.

Today, I'm debt free and mortgage-free in our dream home, and well on my way to financial independence. 

But I'm not someone who had it all figured out from day one. I’ve made plenty of the same mistakes many business owners make; I started investing later than I should have, and I'm still on the journey myself.

I believe this makes me a better coach because I understand the real challenges; I've faced them too. And I've found practical ways forward that don't mean having to scale and exit to get that pay day.

My work is the culmination of everything I've learned - not just as a CFO or financial expert, but as a coach and a business owner who's followed all the “should” advice and found healthier happier way to create financial successs.

I’m not against scaling and selling - it’s just not the only way, it’s definitely not for everyone, and it’s risky if you’re relying on a sale to secure your future.

Healthy and happy comes first

I bought into believing you have to work ridiculously hard to succeed. Business comes first. It was the blueprint I was brought up with.

I did the 80+ hour’s weeks growing my first business, and inevitably after a few years I completely burnt out. This led to having ME, and finally a cancer diagnosis, when I finally got it through my head that this wasn’t the way!

Now healthy and happy is my non-negotiable. It comes before anything. I’m passionate about nutrition, I love juicing, and I meditate, journal and exercise most days. I don’t work Fridays, evenings or weekends.

And guess what? My business does better when I’m feeling great!

These health pillars come first in my life, and they’re front and centre of my program too.

If you want to achieve great things with your business, you need health, energy, and the sparkles!

A bit more about me

Now that I have free time, I spend my time outside of work enjoying actual hobbies (who knew you could have hobbies AND a business!)

I’ve taken up sewing and making my own clothes. I love my daily walks by the river, I joined Rock Choir which has given me more joy than I could imagine, I’m obsessed with nutrition and I love cooking (healthy food obviously) and spending time with my husband Captain Sean, my friends, family and of course our cats, including 2 very new little kittens!