Dad-of-three quit well-paid job to stay at home and now earns a living blogging

A Polegate dad who quit his well paid job when his wife was pregnant, now earns his living blogging and has a brilliant work/life balance.
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Tom Briggs has been named a finalist in the Working Dad of the Year category in Pitman Training’s SuperAchiever Awards.

This award is for fathers who epitomise the dedication required to juggle a busy home and family life, alongside achieving personal career ambitions.

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Tom was delighted to find out that he is one of the 2019 Working Dad of the Year Finalists, after he made the brave decision to quit his well-paid job to follow his dream of becoming a full-time blogger which means he can also spend more time with his family.

The UK’s leading independent training provider, Pitman Training launched the SuperAchievers Awards to show anything is possible and to help reward people committed to driving their careers forward in a bid to inspire more of the British workforce to strive for more.

Tom writes the award-winning blog, Diary of the Dad, and was nominated for this award by his wife, Kate.

Together, they have three children aged eight, six and three.

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Tom started his blog as a new hobby back in 2010 but it has since grown into something much bigger.

In 2015, Tom made the decision to become a full-time blogger in order to spend more time with his family. His wife was pregnant and Tom’s career at the time wasn’t allowing for a great work/life balance.

Naturally, it wasn’t a quick and easy decision to quit his job. Tom was the family’s only earner at the time, so there was a huge risk to walking away from a secure, well-paid job. But, he recognised that he wasn’t finding the enjoyment in the role and knew that he wanted more precious time with his growing family. Together they were confident that Tom could make it a success.

Now, Tom has turned a hobby into something that provides for a family of five and, most importantly, that gives them more time together.

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He works incredibly hard to continue building on the success he has achieved so far. He has had numerous media appearances on programmes such as Good Morning Britain and the Victoria Derbyshire show, as well as radio, newspaper and magazine interviews where he can offer a dad’s point of view. He also works with various brands as a spokesperson and holds regular contributor slots on various websites.

Most importantly, Tom is able to play a full part in family life. Working from home, with no commute, he structures his work to standard office hours. Around that, Tom is able to do school runs, attend class assemblies, school plays and all the extra-curricular activities that family life presents.

Tom knows he doesn’t want to return to the type of career he held before and that is a driving factor on his quest to continue building on the successes he has already achieved.

When asked why he should win this award, Tom’s wife Kate said, “Tom has worked so hard to provide for us and has gone from strength to strength while being around more too.

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“He’s found a way of having the best of both worlds and we’re really happy with how things have worked out.

“I think Tom is a great success, simply because he loves what he does for a living. Both in terms of his job itself and the work-life balance that it gives him.”

Claire Lister, managing director at Pitman Training Group, said, “We are honoured to be able to highlight such incredible stories, across a really varied set of professions and showcase those who are striving to achieve.

“Each year, I look at the entries submitted, and it inspires me to see what people are achieving through hard work and ambition.”

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Voting online via Pitman’s website is now open for all finalists here

Public vote closes on March 22 and the winners will then be announced on March 29.

Winners of the SuperAchievers Awards will not only gain international recognition of being a SuperAchievers Award winner, they will also receive an engraved award and a cheque for £500 and a voucher for a distance learning course of their choice.