• Business Development Clinic: How to write a proposal which will help us win a competitive tender? Part 2

    Business Development Clinic: How to write a proposal which will help us win a competitive tender? Part 2

    This is the second part of a 2-part blog post – the first part can be found here. Read on for more tips to help you win that bid.  Use diagrams wherever possible As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words, and this is very true for proposals. Many people find large…

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  • 9 tips for successfully dealing with conflict at work

    9 tips for successfully dealing with conflict at work

    Jon Baker, shares his top 9 tips for dealing with conflict in your team and workplace. Here are nine ideas to help you successful deal with conflict at work: Disagreement is not the same as conflict. Disagreement can lead to discussion and learning. It’s easy to sense disagreement and feel oneself getting ready for battle….

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  • 6 ways to improve your confidence

    6 ways to improve your confidence

    Being in practice can at times be stressful. How does the saying go? My job would be easy if I didn’t have any clients? You know, and I know that in the world of professional services your survival and career progression depends on you feeling good. Do you, like Heather and I, ever have any…

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  • Why is regularly ‘feeding your soul’ so important to making partner?

    Why is regularly ‘feeding your soul’ so important to making partner?

    If you are going to work at peak performance, then you need to think differently about your health and well-being. Or as Chris William’s, performance coach to partners in the magic circle and Big 4, puts it, “Alternative Asset Management”. Most of us will find ourselves working at full stretch on the journey to get…

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  • Business Development Clinic: How often should I follow-up without seeming pushy?

    Business Development Clinic: How often should I follow-up without seeming pushy?

    Many professionals hate the thought of selling, as this implies in their mind that they need to turn into a pushy second-hand car sales person. Consequently they have a very hands-off approach to their Leads, and potentially lose many potentially good Clients by this approach. Your aim when managing your Leads through your Sales Pipeline…

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  • If you could read just one book to help your career move forward…

    If you could read just one book to help your career move forward…

    When Jo and I wrote ‘How to make partner and still have a life‘, we wanted to leave a legacy. In our combined 30 years in the professions, we had seen far too many able, clever and talented people fail to make partner, mostly because of a lack of knowledge of how the process works….

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  • Career Clinic: Should I take the offer of partnership from a top 100 firm or start my own practice

    Career Clinic: Should I take the offer of partnership from a top 100 firm or start my own practice

    It’s an interesting dilemma – should I take the offer of partnership, or should I start my own practice? It’s also a dilemma faced by the lucky ones. The accountants, lawyers or consultants who have got to the point in their career where they are a hot property. This was a question posed to me…

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  • How to make partner at a Big 4 firm? (part 2)

    How to make partner at a Big 4 firm? (part 2)

    Why do professionals want know how to make partner at a Big 4 firm? How to make partner at a Big 4 firm? This is often seen as the pinnacle of achievement for any accountant or consultant. In the last part of this two part article series, I dig into exactly how to make partner…

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  • How much do I need to buy-in as partner at the Big 4? (It’s not as much as you think.)

    How much do I need to buy-in as partner at the Big 4? (It’s not as much as you think.)

    From the Big 4 (KPMG, PWC, E&Y, Deloitte) down to the smallest firms, acceptance as an equity partner means you will need to resign as an employee, become self-employed, and invest some capital into your firm. This capital is often called ‘buy-in’. In return for this capital stake, if the year is a profitable one, you…

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