Mike Thurston headshot

Mike Thurston

Fitness influencer

Athlete, content creator and fitness social media sensation

"I had an accountant just to do my tax returns but I quickly realised that my business had outgrown him. I had breached the VAT threshold without realising so my finances were in a right mess.”

– Mike Thurston

Case Study

What motivated you to get in touch?


I was at a point where my income had grown really quickly. My YouTube channel had really taken off and that resulted in additional sales of my online course through my own website. I had an accountant just to do my tax returns but I quickly realised that my business had outgrown him. I had breached the VAT threshold without realising so my finances were in a right mess.


Reza had been in contact with me so I reached out to him to have a call and see if he could take me on and sort out my stuff.


I knew I had to do something as otherwise i'd start receiving demands from HMRC or penalties because I hadn't registered for VAT and that would have stressed me out and taken me away from what I love doing - creating valuable content for my audience.


What benefits have you seen since coming on board as a client?


Massive benefits! Although my accounts were in a mess and Walji's had to sort out prior years and bring me up to date with things, it gave me huge peace of mind that my affairs were being dealt with by professionals who knew what they were doing. I was assigned to Doris who's my account manager and she's brilliant. She proactively keeps me updated, tells me what I need to do and what I have to pay, manages all the correspondence from HMRC so I don't have to worry and basically takes a huge worry away from me.

How long did it take you to see the benefits?


Straight away! As I said I had a big back log and mess to clear and Walji's took it off my hands and gave me a timetable over which the finances would be brought up to date and into cloud accounting software so we could submit the right figures to HMRC. Also I get regular reports about how my business is doing, the various income streams which allows me to see the growth and make better business decisions.


In addition I was able to tap into high level tax advice through Reza which enabled me to become non resident in Dubai and structure my affairs very tax efficiently.


What would you say to another creator / influencer thinking of getting in touch with Walji's?


Do it! They've helped me take the worry about managing my accounts and taxes - which is real minefield - which enables me to do what I love and what i'm good at. As you grow your income streams develop and there's so many things to think about like VAT, income tax, corporation tax, whether to set up a new company and so much more that you need a firm who understands these things and specialises in content creators like Walji's on your side.

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