Blog
Welcome to my Blog Page. These posts seek to cover the broad panoply of issues, conundrums and thoughts that occupy the professional service entrepreneur’s mind.
A combination of extracts from my guides and current musings (often provoked by recent happenings at the great companies I now advise to), my aim is to inform and motivate all those who seek to build high performing teams and successful businesses.
I also enjoy responding to specific reader questions … so please feedback and let me know where you would like my mental meanderings to wander to next.
Dom Moorhouse Interview on Climb In Consulting Podcast
I was delighted (because it is an excellent idea) to recently support Nick Synnott with his new “Climb In Consulting” podcast series. Nick is targeting this growing content resource at those: seeking to grow their career in consulting, thinking of moving in to the industry and/or who simply want to learn from others in the […]
Building a high-performing sales capability
Following a series of posts from my Guide 08: Selling (see also: Common mistakes made in selling professional services), this blog looks at the basics of building a high-performing sales capability in your organisation. So, per my earlier blogs (example), you accept that a selling capability is fundamental to your future firm valuation; let’s turn now […]
Common mistakes made in selling professional services
Welcome to the latest blog in my series on building a successful consulting business. In this piece, I will be looking at the most critical of capabilities: selling! It is an extract from Guide 08 (Selling) of the ‘Five-Year Entrepreneur Series’. This set of articles looks at how fundamental a selling capability is to your firm’s success and, […]
Five-Year Entrepreneur Retreat 2017 | Wed 05 to Fri 07 July
Now in it’s fourth year, the initial idea for these Retreats came some time back when then earliest readers of the Series asked me if I was planning any events. Truth be told I wasn’t … but after a further survey of the 5YE membership revealed a real appetite for such a forum … planning got […]
Business Planning | Risk Analysis
Following on the series of business planning related blog posts including: What a good business plan looks like? Developing a Business Planning Process Business Planning Top Tips Professional Service Leverage Models Leverage in a consultancy business Vision, Mission and Objectives Values and Principles Building a Service Proposition Framework Market and Competitor Analysis Strategy and Execution […]
Business Planning | Financial Analysis | Part 02
Following on the series of business planning related blog posts including: What a good business plan looks like? Developing a Business Planning Process Business Planning Top Tips Professional Service Leverage Models Leverage in a consultancy business Vision, Mission and Objectives Values and Principles Building a Service Proposition Framework Market and Competitor Analysis Strategy and Execution […]
Business Planning | Financial Analysis | Part 01
Following on the series of business planning related blog posts including: What a good business plan looks like? Developing a Business Planning Process Business Planning Top Tips Professional Service Leverage Models Leverage in a consultancy business Vision, Mission and Objectives Values and Principles Building a Service Proposition Framework Market and Competitor Analysis Strategy and Execution […]
Business Planning | Strategy and Execution
Following on the series of business planning related blog posts including: What a good business plan looks like? Developing a Business Planning Process Business Planning Top Tips Professional Service Leverage Models Leverage in a consultancy business Vision, Mission and Objectives Values and Principles Building a Service Proposition Framework Market and Competitor Analysis … this post […]
Market and Competitor Analysis
Following on the series of business planning related blog posts including: What a good business plan looks like? Developing a Business Planning Process Business Planning Top Tips Professional Service Leverage Models Leverage in a consultancy business Vision, Mission and Objectives Values and Principles Building a Service Proposition Framework … this post looks at another key […]
The role of values in high-performing teams
As many of my guide and blog readers know, I am fascinated by the topic of team performance. Specifically, exemplar team performance within the context of professional service firms and what differentiates, in this realm, the success stories from the mediocre, meandering masses. I have no doubt, however, that the principles of high performance in […]
Building your service proposition framework
Following on the series of business planning related blog posts (including ‘What a good business plan looks like?’ and ‘Developing a Business Planning Process’) this post looks at a key element of your plan: your company’s service proposition framework. Another crucial area of pre-consideration when putting your business plan together is the services you plan to offer. As your […]
Values and Principles
Following on the series of business planning related blog posts (including ‘What a good business plan looks like?’ and ‘Developing a Business Planning Process’) this post looks at a key element of your plan: a statement of your company’s values and principles. A professional service firm will ‘live or die’ on the strength of the culture it has; fundamentally, […]
Vision, mission and objectives
Following on the series of business planning related blog posts (see ‘What a good business plan looks like?’, ‘Developing a Business Planning Process’, Some Business Planning ‘Top Tips’, Personal Case Study, Some Recommended Books, Professional Service Leverage Models and a worked example of leverage), this post looks at a key element of any business plan: your vision, mission and objectives. You may use […]
Leverage in a consultancy business – a worked example
Following on the series of business planning related blog posts (see ‘What a good business plan looks like?’, ‘Developing a Business Planning Process’, Some Business Planning ‘Top Tips’, Personal Case Study, Some Recommended Books and Professional Service Leverage Models), this post looks at a worked, real-life example of leverage. With the previous blog, I hopefully got across just how central the […]
Professional Service Leverage Models
Following on the series of business planning related blog posts (see ‘What a good business plan looks like?’, ‘Developing a Business Planning Process’, Some Business Planning ‘Top Tips’, Personal Case Study and Some Recommended Books), this post looks at the topic of leverage. A future series of blog posts is going to look at ‘best practice’ models of organising a professional […]
Business Planning | Five recommended books
Following on the series of business planning related blog posts (see ‘What a good business plan looks like?’, ‘Developing a Business Planning Process’ and Some Business Planning ‘Top Tips’, Personal Case Study), this post outlines five recommended books for the business planner (and business presentation/report writer generally). Books on start-up business planning abound. Whilst I certainly haven’t reviewed them all, one that […]
Dream like a visionary, plan like a pedant
Following on the series of business planning related blog posts (see ‘What a good business plan looks like?’, ‘Developing a Business Planning Process’ and Some Business Planning ‘Top Tips’) this blog looks at a case study. My own. I have always put stock in the power of the plan. Not in any over-zealous way but, I think subconsciously, […]
Some Business Planning Top Tips …
Following on the series of business planning related blog posts (see ‘What a good business plan looks like?’ and ‘Developing a Business Planning Process’), this blog suggests some business planning related top tips and cautions. TOP TIP #1: Be really deliberate with the time-framing of your personal ambition as to when you seek – the option […]
Developing a business planning process
Alas, the essential start-up plan is likely to involve just yourself as the sole author. As your business grows, however, I am strongly advocating that you develop a collaborative planning ethos and capability that includes your entire team. Well coordinated, such an approach is eminently feasible even with large numbers of staff (certainly up to, […]
What a good business plan looks like …
Of course, there is no definitive answer to what a good business plan looks like, and it’s important you tailor this to your own design, but by way of an illustration, the diagram below sets out the key elements of a comprehensive business plan: Later on in this blog series, I am going to cover […]