"it was just incredible because the price that I eventually got from the client was three times what I probably would have previously charged " 

Tell us a bit about yourself

My name is Shafiq Khan, I'm the sole practitioner of SK Business Solutions based in Leicester, I started the practice about 10 years but I'd say really (properly) going in the last five, six years.

What was life like before joining the Mastermind group?

Main challenges and problems that I was having before the mastermind were plenty! As a sole practitioner, I found that my biggest problem was I didn't have anyone really to sort of bounce ideas off, somebody to give me direction. I had no employees in my business at the time.

So it was just constantly dealing with the client work knowing that I had to work on my business but just never was able to find the time and I previously worked with business coaches before but they just were general sort of business advisors and not really accounting coaches specifically.

And because of that, I just found that I was just going around in circles. They just didn't really understand the practice environment and how to help me grow my practice.

Where did you first hear about Reza?

I first came across Reza through Mark Wickersham. I was a member of Mark Wickersham's mentoring program and Mark constantly praised his star student Reza and Reza did a couple of guest sessions with Mark which I thought were amazing (talking about) the kind of things that Reza had achieved in his practice.

At the time there wasn't an option to work with him directly but I as soon as he introduced the idea of his individual mentoring group, I was really interested in that. So I signed up straight away and then following that, he then launched his Mastermind group which again I was really keen to join on to learn. I think I was one of the first few that actually joined onto the program for the mastermind.

What were your feelings about the mastermind before you joined?

Before joining the mastermind, I went in with an open mind. I was already getting group mentoring with Reza and that was proving to be very useful. And my thoughts at the time were that working with Reza directly one-on-one would just help me a little bit extra and make it more specific to my situation rather than (being one person) in a bigger audience. So I was looking forward to experiencing that one-on-one (support), handholding sort of guide. It helped me push my practice forward.

How had life changed after joining the mastermind ?

Since joining at the mastermind, there's been lots of benefits. Joining the mastermind group has been incredible. Firstly, the actual members that are part of the mastermind group are amazing to the extent that they will go out of their way to help you and help each other. I've never seen any thing like that before. I've been part of Facebook groups and other groups where people are sharing ideas and resources but they still keep their cards pretty close to their chest. But, in this group everyone is just willing to share anything and everything.

And it just saves a lot of time because you're not having to sort of duplicate resources. And also there's lots of things that you learn from each other and from Reza obviously as well. One of the biggest benefits that I've got from Reza is reducing my client base while increasing my prices and charging more appropriate prices to clients and working with my ideal clients.

What is the biggest benefit you have seen after joining the programme?

A proposal that I put together for a new client using Reza's pricing template. And it was just incredible because the price that I eventually got from the client was three times what I probably would have previously charged had I not use that kind of pricing methodology.

How long did it take you to see the benefits of being part of the programme?

I started seeing benefits from joining the program pretty much straight away because from our first group session and the one-on-one session, I was managing to take bits of other people's problems and challenges and solutions that Reza was providing.

And then the immediate goals that I should be working on to try and get some quick wins. So for example, working through my client base and just getting rid of the ones that were incredibly time consuming and just not very profitable. That's actually helped me massively because where I am now, my client base has significantly reduced to where I first started the mastermind program but my income has actually increased. And that's because of the pricing that I've learned.

What would you say to someone thinking of joining?

If somebody was thinking about joining the mastermind group, I would definitely encourage them to give it a try. If you're feeling lost and stuck like I was and you need a little bit of guidance to help you push past the barrier that you might feel that you're at or you want to grow your practice a little bit more, joining this group is a must!

What I've learned from this group so far and the improvements that I've made in my practice, have made a significant impact on the profitability that I've got in my practice but also the time that I have available to me now to be able to work and develop my practice more. Obviously there's always a concern about cost and this was the same for me as well. But I look at it as an investment and since joining what I've implemented has returned more than what I've paid today. So it's a no-brainer really, isn't it?

How does this mastermind compare to the others?

I've joined similar groups before. One of them was the accountancy growth program which was just a general support program for accountants where you would log in to a portal and they would give you a month by month strategy of what you needed to implement in your practice.

But there wasn't any direct guidance, you know, you can obviously get in touch with people but it's not the same as what it's like in the mastermind because you're actually working with people that are in practice day-to-day and obviously, Reza is still in practice.

And that's what really differentiates it for me is the fact that Reza is running a very successful practice. And that's what I find lacks in other programs. I'm also a member of AVN and it's different to the mastermind group in the sense that you still get good support from AVN but there is not that sort of direct relationship with working with somebody who is currently working in practice and that is a massive benefit.