Quitting your job and starting up your own business during a recession may seem like either a very brave or very foolish move to most people.

But for Kerry Judd, owner and consultant at New Beginnings Inc., it seemed like the perfect opportunity to prioritise what was important in her life and fulfil her ambitions just as many businesses have had to redefine their goals and objectives during tough economic times.

Having enjoyed a successful career in marketing, which included working for Government and Belco, Ms Judd decided to call it day at Aardvark Communications, where she had worked for almost four-and-a-half years as general manager, and take some time out to consider her next move.

The idea of being her own boss had been formulating in her mind ever since she started writing up an action plan in her journal during an appreciative inquiry workshop run by Philanthropic Quest International nearly 18 months ago.

Ms Judd even came up with a name for the new company she wanted to form and put a concept in place in her entry, but it took a series of unfortunate turns of event for her to realise that time was too short and she needed to find her true calling.

"The catalyst for it was last summer during a two-week period when my dad broke five ribs and my best friend was diagnosed with breast cancer and that made me sit back and think 'What am I doing with my life?'," she said.

"I actually spent about three months just trying to figure it out and then I realised in August that I was so busy with both my role at Aardvark and a number of other things that I didn't have time to answer that question properly.

"So I took a leap of faith and told my boss I was leaving and now here I am.

"I think I definitely made the right move because the work that I am doing and the clients that I am working with right now are very fulfilling for me personally because I am either working within industries that need support or am helping organisations out."

Ms Judd described her work as developing the values of organisation and its people throughout the operational infrastructure, covering everything from the hiring process to effective communication, including staff training, strategic planning and brand identification.

Her clients range from groups such as the Bermuda International Business Association (BIBA), the Bermuda Hotel Association and Bermuda First (public private partnership) to companies like Bermuda Security Group, providing public relations and consultancy services for annual general meetings and sub-committees.

Ms Judd said the hardest thing about taking a step into the unknown and branching off on her own wasn't the uncertainty, but rather the discipline of adapting to working from home. She said it took a good three months to work out how to be at her most productive with all the distractions going on around about, including a one-year-old puppy and two cats to look after.

Doing her homework properly, she worked out the additional costs she would be taking on such as health insurance, pension, payroll tax, etc. and took steps to put her mortgage on hold for three months to give her a bit of breathing room for the initial outlay of income needed. But she counts herself lucky to have had the support of close friends and family in making her decision.

"I think the first thing that I did was to step away from the need to own a home and have a big salary, but at the same time I realised that if the freelancing did not cover the mortgage then I would sell or put the house up for rent," she said.

"There were no constraints because I didn't want my next decision to be made based on income.

"It got to the point where I was completely open to anything that came my way in order to bring my skill set to the table but also be involved with an organisation in the social sector.

"I count myself as being really blessed because I didn't do much in November and December and I guess as word started to get out the kinds of organisations and people that can offer such a fulfilling nature of work have been approaching me and everything is falling into place quite nicely now."

Ms Judd believes she will be able to give such organisations the benefit of her strategic skills and insight while receiving a high level of fulfilment in return as she becomes fully engaged with their business and its practices.

In fact, becoming her own boss has also allowed her to achieve the right work/life balance in the way she manages her time, making a conscious decision to nuckle down to work at the start of the New Year and learning to structure her day while having the flexibility to fit in other commitments, including dividing her time between her duties as a committee partner and life coach on the Mirrors programme, a mentor for the Bermuda Small Business Development Corporation's Partnering For Success scheme, sitting on the board of Mount St. Agnes and chair of BIBA's local awareness committee.

"I am now in a place where I can honestly say that this month 'business Kerry' has kicked in," she said.

Despite facing some tough challenges and stiff competition during the current global economic downturn, Ms Judd reckons a lot of the organisations and people she has been working with realise this is a prime opportunity to come out the other end positioned as strongly as possible and making the best use of the resources they have at their disposal.

Having successfully attained a degree in commerce with a double honour in marketing and HR, she joined Belco as a communications co-ordinator and threw herself in at the deep end, getting involved in the operational process of the company and its sister entities Bermuda Gas and Quantum Communications. She left to work for Total Marketing and Communications for a four-year period, during which time she moved into the role of manager of research services, managing qualitative research.

Following that, her career path took a slightly different direction, as she linked up with the Department of Tourism and Transport in the form of manager of communications, charged with promoting the Bermuda hospitality product and the Island as a destination to the rest of the world, including North America, the UK and Germany through various agencies and the Internet, opening her eyes for the first time to what was available outside of Bermuda.

Ms Judd quickly found she was able to implement many of the principles and expertise she had acquired to her post in the day-to-day management and forward planning requirements at Aardvark.

"My philosophy has always been if you put the employee first the company will be as successful as you want it to be," she said.

"At Aardvark, I was driven by trying to achieve a healthy working environment and providing professional development opportunities in in times when that was working well the revenue followed, so it was proven to me and it is something I still very much believe in today."