Clarity Consistency Continuous improvement Communication Congruence The core values of both of my businesses. These are the values that I look to live by every day and encourage my team to do the same. These aren’t empty fluffy words just stuck on our website to look or sound good, they have real meaning. You’ll also notice I’ve deliberately avoiding words such as ‘kindness’, ‘loyalty’, ‘honesty’. Because these are values… Read more
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
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
I remember very clearly the first time I was asked what I wanted to achieve in my business life. I had qualified as an accountant, left practice shortly after and was enjoying working in industry. At the time I was working as a Financial Accountant for a private rail freight operator, one which had been born out of the merger of three separate divisions of British Rail post privatisation. The… 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
When I was 8 years old I got stuck at the top of a tree, I’d climbed too high and couldn’t get down. I froze. I’d looked down, seen how high it was and just froze. All my friends had climbed the same tree, just as high, and had managed to get back down. I couldn’t, the fear of not being able to get down safely stopped me moving. One… Read more
In June 1999 I started a new job with a mixture of emotions. Excited about the opportunity the new job offered, and terrified that I was out of my depth (imposter syndrome popping up again). However, I was determined to make it a success. I was prepared to do what was needed (the ‘D’ element of my disc profile coming out here). Head down and just get on with it… Read more
Recognising that your accountancy practice isn’t working the way you want is the first step. At this point it’s natural to feel a sense of overwhelming anxiety and think “where do I start?!” It can feel like there’s so much to do and that it all needs to be done at the same time. This happened to me a few years ago. My practice had increased fee income by 30%… Read more
I was 45 when I started my accountancy practice. It wasn’t a conscious “right, time to start”, it wasn’t a gut reaction. The decision required the coming together of a series of events, ideas, thoughts and opportunities. It was a gradual move towards starting. I had left practice very soon after qualifying and swore I would never return. It was a bleak uninspiring experience – dull work, poor pay, too… Read more
I run a successful and award-winning accountancy practice. I’ve created a great work/life balance and am in the fortunate position of being able to earn enough to enjoy the lifestyle I want and have enough time to do what I want with the people I care about. I’m also far less stressed than I ever have been before. So why would I want to start coaching accountants? They’re the competition… Read more
It really did – honestly. Not in a spiritual kool-aid type way but becoming a ‘Xero Accountant’ helped me to change the direction of my career which has led to more work satisfaction, getting to see more of my family and putting me more in control of work and life. If we go back to 2010 I had recently left full time employment as the Group Finance Director of a… Read more