An upper dale financial consultant has been shortlisted for a major business advisor award.
Kim Masters, who runs her company MATS Consulting from Middleton-in-Teesdale, is in the running for a UK Top Business Advisers award.
The shortlisting recognises the help she has provided to small businesses through the Make Peace With Money course she developed.
The course is based on her own personal experiences and combines her passions for accounting and healing.
It began when she and husband Paul Harris found themselves going from two salaries to one when he developed a health issue eight years ago.
Ms Masters, who did book-keeping and accounting for small businesses at the time, said: “We were now in debt and I needed to manage this. It really gave me more impetus to learn about the mental and emotional side of money because obviously I already knew about the practical side of money.”
Working with a business mentor she streamlined the course from 24 sessions to 12 and included Emotional Freedom Technique in it.
For two years she was commissioned by Hounslow Borough Council in London to deliver her course in the area during covid.
Ms Masters said: “We did the course online, live over Zoom, and I got to experience these small businesses that had lost their income.
“I had hoteliers, people who had lost travel businesses, they were all going into debt – it was bit of a baptism of fire, if I am completely honest, because how do you help people who have just lost their income?”
More recently she was awarded a grant by Borough of Broxbourne Council, in Hertfordshire, to help small businesses in that area.
The consultant and her husband moved to Middleton-in-Teesdale late last year and since then she has become the north east lead for Enterprise Nation, a group that provides expert advice and support for small businesses.
Among her voluntary activities Ms Masters has started a money talks group on Enterprise Nation to get business people to discuss their issues.
The advisor said: “Paul and I want to do more and because we have been through such a tough time financially, I know how difficult it is to talk about it.”
Of the award shortlisting, she said: “It is a profound validation of my mission to help people to look at money in a different way, and feel more confident and in control of their finances, especially during these challenging financial times.
“This recognition inspires me to continue my journey to help more people, especially in the north east.”
