Common challenges:

Overcome the struggles facing most sole practitioners. As the sole decision maker for your accounting firm, you’ve likely faced isolation, overwhelming workloads, and the constant pressure to run a successful practice. I understand your struggles here and so do all of the members of the Sole Practice Club.

Join our community of passionate sole practitioners who are ready to support you every step of the way. By becoming a member, you’ll gain access to a powerful network of professionals who share your journey and understand your challenges.

Across the course of each year we address all of the most common issues you face plus any fresh issues that arise as a result of changes in the economic, professional and competitive environment.

So you can be confident that you’ll get ideas, advice, insights and tips to help you run and build a more successful practice as a sole practitioner. Members drive the topics we discuss so you’re likely to learn about:

• Marketing and promoting your practice – effectively rather than randomly
• Effectively pitching your services 1-2-1
• Pricing your services – with more confidence
• Increasing your fees
• Onboarding new clients efficiently
• Keeping clients happy

• Resolving issues with problem clients
• Encouraging the referrals you really want
• Improving your practice profitability
• Software options and choices
• Improving efficiency and peace of mind
• Strategic planning for your practice

And so much more ;-)

Don’t join us if:

• You want to be cajoled and chased to do stuff between meetings like a naughty school kid
• You are looking for a quick-fix ‘magic’ solution to solve your issues
• You expect to get seminars or a lectures.  These are available quite separately to the monthly Zoom meetings
• You want to be part of a technical discussion forum. Our discussions focus on practical and commercial issues rather than technical topics.
• You want to pay hundreds of pounds a month for mastermind group support
• You are a show off or have a big ego and want to show how wonderful you are
• You aren’t willing to have your camera on during our online meetings
• You want to be held to account and embarrassed if you don’t manage to make progress between meetings

NONE of the above is on offer through the Sole Practice Club ;-)

Registration is simple. Simply click the Join Now button and then complete the payment details. Once you’ve done that I’ll email you everything you need.  Or, if you have any questions that are not addressed in the FAQs below, just call me and I’ll do what I can to help.

 Feedback from members of the Sole Practice Club includes:

“SPG provides an open and safe forum for sole practitioners to learn from each other as we share our experiences of practical practice management matters, such as effective and ineffective marketing strategies. This is complemented by insights and supportive contributions from Mark. SPG affords beneficial learning opportunities for new and established sole practitioners.”

“This is a superb place to meet like-minded accountants who want to pool ideas and support each other. Mark creates a very relaxed environment without the pressure of hype or expectation”

“Really interesting to hear how other practitioners approach particular issues and Mark provides insightful anecdotes from his years of experience mentoring sole practitioners. I got some valuable ideas which I plan to tweak and implement in my practice”

*Being part of the SPC helps give me more confidence I’m doing the right things. Very reassuring”

“It’s always good to hear how others are getting on and to reflect on what I can do better”

*So enlightening and great to hear how others do things and to learn from this”

*Good to know what’s going on and to talk with like minded practitioners facing similar issues and problems to me”

Timings:

What time is best for you? The Club meets on the 2nd Tuesday of each month. 

• Group 1: 0830-1000hrs
• Group 2: 1100-1230hrs

All members of each group also get a link to recordings of their group’s meetings to review at their leisure. This also means you won’t miss out if you are unable to attend your regular group meeting.

Membership Terms:

Unlike other mentoring groups that charge hundreds or thousands of pounds a month, the Sole Practice Club offers all the benefits of a mastermind group at a fraction of the cost.

Our goal is to support as many sole practitioner accountants as possible. So the Sole Practice Club is NOT a high-priced mastermind group or programme that might appeal to those running bigger firms or who are prepared to pay a premium fee to be spoon-fed.

The monthly subs are much lower than you might expect. But high enough to ensure you don’t just pay and forget about it. Also high enough to make the Club members a priority for me to support alongside my other (related) activities.

Exceptional value

• Prospective members – £132 per meeting (max 5 prospective members per meeting)
• New members in 2023 – Just £99 a month payable via DD.  Annual subs available at £1050 (saving £138pa)

Max 20 members per group. Over half of the available places have already been snapped up.

I want everyone to have a maximum chance of engaging and benefitting from membership. So you will want to join up quickly as I will keep each group to a maximum of 20 members. (There are fewer spaces left in Group 2 than in Group 1)

Once the first two groups are full, I’ll set up a waiting list. Those joining any further groups will be liable to pay higher monthly subs.

Registration is simple. Simply click the Join Now button and then complete the payment details. Once you’ve done that I’ll email you everything you need.  Or, if you have any questions that are not addressed in the FAQs below, just call me and I’ll do what I can to help.

Would you fit in?

You will fit in if you share the same key characteristics as most members of the Sole Practice Club:

• Are you a sole practitioner running your own ambitious general accountancy practice?
• Have you been in practice either now or during the course of your career for at least 2 years?
• Do you have an open-minded approach to problem solving – for yourself and others?
• Are you keen to avoid reinventing the wheel, to benefit from the synergy of the group and to learn from your peers?
• Are you willing to give as well as to receive help, ideas and support?
• Are you prepared to make a modest monthly investment in the development of your practice?

If you answered ‘yes’ to those questions, you should fit it fine.

As a member of the Sole Practice Club you would also need to agree to the following key principles which form part of the Membership Agreement:

1. Share ideas, issues, challenges and solutions in an open and constructive way
2. Respect fellow members’ views
3. Keep confidential everything you hear about other practices – adopting the principles of the Chatham House Rule
4. Help keep the club independent and free from bias
5. Contribute ideas and suggestions to enhance the value members derive from membership of the club
6. Accept that, whilst I will run the Club for the benefit of all, it’s my club and my rules ;-)

The terms of the agreement are essentially ‘small print’ standard terms and conditions to protect members and enshrine my right to expel anyone who disrupts the Club. This is a necessary precaution I have been advised to adopt even though I would not expect to ever have to do this. (I never have before!)

FAQ’s

When are the meetings?

Typically the 2nd Tuesday of each month. So 10th Jan and so on (we may decide to move the meeting on Tues 14th Feb 2023)

• Group 1: 0830-1000hrs
• Group 2: 1100-1230hrs

How many sole practitioners will be on each zoom call?
There will generally be 10-20. Membership of each group will be capped at 20. Experience suggests that most, but not all, will be at every meeting. If I know there may be a gap a prospective member may take their place.

Can I switch between groups?

If your needs change then we will do our best to accommodate you. The key caveat will be if the ‘other’ group is close to or at capacity.

Will I fit in?

One long-time member of my original round table Inner Circle for sole practitioners laughed when he recalled how he feared everyone would be high flyers compared to him. Not so.  He is now an active member of the Sole Practice Club.

Another member originally thought they would be too young to contribute. They simply brought a different perspective and did fit in very well.

Another member thought she was too new (after having acquired the practice from her old boss). She was always very complimentary about the value she gained from The Inner Circle.

My experience with The Inner Circle was that we only seemed to attract the sort of accountants who get on. As long as you can relate well to me, the likelihood is that you will fit in with the group. Whilst every member is different, many of the issues and challenges you face are similar.

Can I pay to attend one meeting and see how it goes?

Of course you can. To maintain the integrity of the group and to be fair to all members, we charge a prospective member fee – currently £132. And such places are limited. Please let me know if you are interested and I’ll confirm when the next spot is available.

Can I keep my camera off during meetings?

I’m really sorry but we do need everyone to have their cameras on. This is how we can be sure who is there and will also help build camaraderie and support among club members.

Will there be a WhatsApp group?

No. Sorry. I find them too distracting and unhelpful. So I would never encourage accountants to join such a group.

What if I don’t want to engage in the Club’s Facebook group?

That’s fine though you will be missing out on one of the benefits of membership. Indeed. If that ever becomes a majority view I’ll move the group to another platform.

Can I see the Membership Agreement before applying to join the Club?

Of course. It’s here>>>

What happened to The Inner Circle?

After 5 years I made the decision, towards the end of 2019, to close the group. I explained to the members that my business focus was changing and that I would be spending more time speaking at conferences and events around the UK and Europe. I needed the flexibility to accept speaking gigs without the constraints of regular half-day meetings in London.

Little did I know that 2020 would bring a pandemic that removed the prospect of me speaking at events for 2+ years!

And now, post-pandemic, I find the idea of running around all over the country (and beyond) to deliver talks on stage far less appealing than I did back in 2019. I won’t reject such invitations but I no longer anticipate that speaking on stage will be a major part of my ongoing business activities.

Never the less it took until late summer 2022 for me to finally develop a sustainable online solution for helping groups of accountants. And, as I hoped, it quickly appealed to more sole practitioners than could ever have attended the Inner Circle round tables in London.

What’s in it for me (as an accountant)?

I’m sorry if I haven’t adequately spelled this out already. Here are some of the reasons accountants have previously told me they renewed their membership or wanted to join my groups:

• Learn from others what they are doing better than you
• Avoid reinventing the wheel
• Focus on building the practice rather than just servicing clients
• Gain a greater commitment to achieving my goals
• Learn new ideas I can adapt and implement to suit me, my practice and my clients
• Confirm that you are not the only one going through the decision journeys that you encounter
• Hear about  and discuss the problems facing other sole practitioners
• Overcome the isolation of working alone
• Bounce ideas around with fellow sole practitioners
• Learn how others have overcome the same challenges that you face
• Gain from regular interaction with a peer group

How do I know the meetings will address my issues?

First of all – membership is NOT just about the meetings ;-)

It is invariably the case that the ideas and solutions being sought by one member of the Sole Practice Club inspire other members too.

Whilst every sole practitioner is unique and special, I rarely come across anyone whose issues, challenges or problems are not shared by others. If that does happen then we can arrange a 1-2-1 to address your very specific issues.

What if someone tries to dominate the discussion?

I don’t let this to happen. I never did when we had face to face meetings. With zoom it’s even easier as I could mute someone but so far this hasn’t been necessary and I hope that’s how things continue to be.

How can I be sure I will get value from this?

No one has left any of the early meetings of the the Sole Practice Club saying it was a waste of time. On the contrary everyone seems invariably positive, energised and motivated. It was the same with meetings of The Inner Circle.

My approach, enthusiasm and reputation mean that I make every effort to ensure that everyone gains maximum value from each session. I am skilled in running such meetings (on and offline), keeping them to time, helping to draw out the key learnings to everyone’s benefit and never taking myself too seriously.

Experience with similar groups has proved that the more a member of a group, like the Sole Practice Club, is prepared to contribute and to share their ideas and solutions, the more fellow members will want to help them. This supports the old idea of ‘givers gain’ or ‘you scratch my back…’

You can also rely on my money-back guarantee (as outlined above). Essentially, if you don’t feel that membership is beneficial you can have a full refund of your subs if you ask for this within 3 months of joining the Club. The only caveat to this guarantee is that you must have taken the opportunity seriously and attended at least 2 meetings.

I offered this same guarantee to members of The Inner Circle and during the five years it ran not one person requested a refund.

What is the overall purpose of the Sole Practice Club?

Simply to help our sole practitioner members to become as successful in practice as they wish to be.

This is why we ask about your key challenges at the outset. And also why we suggest that if you are already as successful as you want to be then it’s not for you.

What if I cannot attend a meeting?

You’ll miss out on contributing but will still get a recording so that you won’t miss out on the discussion, learnings and advice.

Where did the idea for the Sole Practice Club come from?

I have been facilitating face to face groups like this for many years. Most recently, from 2014-2019 I ran The Inner Circle – an in-person round-table group for sole practitioners in London. I have combined the best of what worked well for that and other groups I have run, with my wider experience of participating in ‘mastermind’ groups.

What is a ‘mastermind’ group?

There are many variations. Essentially they involve like-minded participants sharing their ideas – so that the group benefits from the ‘mastermind’ that is created. Many variations of such groups exist for entrepreneurs and business owners. This is NOT a class, group coaching, or networking group.

Some accountants run mastermind groups for their clients. After attending Mark’s Sole Practice Club you may choose to establish a similar group for your clients.

Why should I trust you?

Do check me out online – through the ABOUT MARK page on this website, on Linkedin where I have c13,000 followers (mostly from the UK accounting profession), on AccountingWEB where I wrote over 200 articles with more than one million views, or even just google me.

Most accountants who join the Sole Practice Club seem to already know me or know of me. I cherish my integrity, professional approach and passion to help sole practitioner accountants. Regular feedback from those I have worked with and those who read my articles, blogs and comments is invariably positive and grateful.