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.
Do you have a sufficient ‘appetite for work’ to be a successful entrepreneur?
In this blog posting, I address the topic of ‘Appetite for Work’ – as another important consideration to weigh up if you are considering starting up your own company. Appetite for Work There is no doubt about it; owning and running a professional services business is hard work – brutally so on occasion. Of course, […]
Five unique characteristics of professional service firms …
I have written this series of guides – from which these blog extracts are taken – specifically for the owner-managers of professional service businesses. Such firms are primarily business-to-business ventures and involve the marketing, selling and dispensing of a ‘professional service’. The definition is, however, broad and covers a panoply of service types – from […]
The Entrepreneurial Journey
So, here’s a question: If you were setting off, say, on a twenty-year spell as an entrepreneur and your only point of self-interest was personal wealth creation, then, on average, which of the following two models do you think you are likely to be more successful with? Model one: overseeing four five-year cycles (i.e. start-up-to-sale […]
An Entrepreneur’s ‘Attitude to Risk’
In last week’s blog, I completed my description of the ‘Complete Entrepreneur’. This was taken from my first guide Personal Motivation and Circumstance. This (free) guide seeks to explore, generally, the kinds of questions that would-be-entrepreneurs ask themselves. Of course, a fundamental aspect to such a self-evaluation is your personal attitude to risk. The autonomous, […]
The Top 10 Characteristics of the ‘Complete Entrepreneur’ (Part 2)
Following on from last week’s blog, I want to focus on the importance of having the right entrepreneurial mind-set and, specifically, complete my examination of a model for the ‘Complete Entrepreneur’. This may be particularly apt if you are seriously considering starting up your own professional service business but are wondering if such a step really is for […]
The Top 10 Characteristics of the ‘Complete Entrepreneur’ (Part 1)
In this blog, I want to focus on the importance of having the right entrepreneurial mind-set and, specifically, start to examine a model for the ‘Complete Entrepreneur’. This may be particularly apt if you are seriously considering starting up your own professional service business but are wondering if such a step really is for you. Over the […]
How to value a professional service business?
I cover this question in detail in Guide 02 (as well as plenty of advice as to how best to grow it!) but this post covers some basics. There are a number of valuation methods used to value companies generally – ranging from asset valuation, liquidation or book value, the modelling of future income streams through to industry-specific […]
Welcome to 2013 … a year of greater personal balance?
Firstly, warm best wishes for 2013 to all members of the 5YE ‘community’. I hope this finds you recharged and rested for the year ahead. As is traditional for this period – a ‘down-period’ bridging one calendar year into the next – it is a time for reflection and renewed goal setting. In this time-honoured spirit, […]
What are the common mistakes made when selling professional services?
I cover this topic in depth in Guide 08 (Selling); specifically, it covers how to develop a selling capability within your company. It begins, however, by looking at the common mistakes made in this area … I learnt a lot from a guy called Lars Tewes (MD SBR Consulting). From our earliest encounter, I remember the […]
How do you improve the chances of selling a business to an interested buyer?
That question was recently posed on quora.com. And, it is an excellent question because if you understand the answer to this now – ideally early on in your journey to build a business – then you are far more likely to derive due reward for your efforts in the future. But – before I answer […]
At what age are entrepreneurs more likely to be successful as founders?
I answered this question on www.quora.com recently … pulling on an extract from within Guide 01 of the series: Right Time in your Life? This is, of course, a question only you can answer, but if I had to give some steers, I would say that there is a danger of going too early if […]
The Five-Year Entrepreneur website launches
A very warm welcome to the Five-Year Entrepreneur Website. The project has been some time in the making. Indeed, the idea for it came pretty quickly after stepping down from the company I had spent the previous eight years building from start-up. Immediately, albeit with the hard-earned privilege of financial autonomy, I turned to the […]