A BUSINESSWOMAN stormed to victory Stateside when she picked up a unique award.

Tracy Irwin of TI Payroll won international acclaim after embarking on a quest to transform her business.

The journey began when Ms Irwin encountered American entrepreneur, Mike Michalowicz, through his self-help book, Profit First.

This book examines an innovative approach to accountancy and business management by encouraging firms to pay themselves first.

It takes the basic rule of accountancy and turns it on its head to create a more positive, more logical way to manage a business.

Ms Irwin explained: “It’s something I’ve been trying to tell my clients to do for years but Mike just explains it in a clearer way.

“It’s something I’ve taken on because I would like more businesses to understand that they can pay themselves first.

“So many businesses work every hour of the day and only take home the scraps.

“People work up to 80 hours a week, pay their expenses and wait to see what’s left for them.

“They think that if they work harder they will make more money but it’s not true. They need just need to work smarter.”

Having adopted this practice into her own business, Ms Irwin quickly became the UK’s only Profit First professional and has worked hard to promote the message to her clients and other businesses in country.

After hearing of her enthusiasm and success, Ms Irwin was then asked to speak at the Profit First conference in New Jersey, where she was being marked by executives alongside three other shortlisted candidates.

The winner was then proclaimed the Profit First Member of the Year.

Ms Irwin was the only British representative at the event and was delighted to win the award for herself and Cumbria.

She said: “I was the only person in the room, other than a guy from Mexico, who wasn’t from America.

“It’s always nice to know that my company is forward thinking.

“We live in the Lake District and there’s a lot of stuff we don’t get first so it’s nice to have something for Cumbria.”

Ms Irwin explained that progression is key for all companies and is eager to advise businesses of all sizes to continue moving forward.

She said: “You can’t get a business that stays the same – if it’s not moving forwards it’s moving backwards. A business can’t be stagnant.

“Five years ago I was still doing all my accounts offline and now everything I do is in the cloud.

“It means I can do anything – I even have a client in Estonia.

“I would never have been able to do that five years ago.”