Final point in this series – but the most important one if you want to grow and improve your practice. For a long time I was resistant to having any team members. I had worked in big businesses before I started my practice and had been responsible for teams of up to 30 people. This was draining in itself; it often felt like having 30 children! For too long I… Read more
As choosing to work with the right clients is vital, so is providing the right services. You may decide that you purely want to focus on compliance work. Or it may be compliance plus some advisory in the form of management accounts, cash flow forecasts and board meetings. Or you may decide that you want to commit to a comprehensive range of advisory services, or what I prefer to break… Read more
The sooner you’re able to identify the clients you want to work with the better. Better for you and better for the clients. I made the obvious mistake that many do of taking on any client who agreed to pay my fees. But I quickly became busy with a huge variety of business types and client types. Most clients were, and still are great to work with but there was… Read more
The earlier you get your pricing right the better. You need to work out what you want to charge and not be influenced by other factors – how much you need the work, whether you like the client, what mood you’re in. Try and remove emotion from it. Easier said than done! I was guilty, as are many others, in the early days desperate to win work you price low… Read more
When starting out I had no set or predefined systems or processes. I had left practice very soon after qualifying and the practice work experience I had was mostly in audit. It wasn’t the best training for me if I was going to start running a small practice! I knew the work that needed to be done but I had no system. I learnt on the job so to speak… Read more
If I look at my practice now, in 2021, it’s completely different to what I envisaged it would look like in 2012 when I started – and also every year in between. We start our accountancy practices for many reasons, but we don’t just start them to be busy. Most of us start our practices to give us a better life. This could be more money, more time with our… Read more
About this session Every episode, Mark Telford sits down with an accountant in practice and look under the bonnet of their accountancy practice. Click here to listen on AccountingWeb In this episode, Mark talks to Glenn Martin, award-winning accountant and business growth specialist who needs little introduction. The owner and CEO of Northeast firm Avery Martin is a long-standing Any Answers regular better known to AccountingWEB members under his nom… Read more