Tell us a bit about yourself

My business is Smiles Better Accountancy. I specialize in accountancy for dental associates and dental practices. I've got a mixture of both. I've been in this niche since late 2019. This is actually my second accountancy firm. My first firm Assurance accountancy which is more of a generalist firm still running is running by my co-director and I've got staff and it runs itself pretty well. I have a strategic input into that one, but my maybe 90-95% of my time now is spent in Smiles Better Accountancy. And so just specializing in dental accounting.

What was life like before joining the Mastermind group?

Number one, because I'm a sole practitioner, you know you have the problem of motivation and focus. And so what the mastermind did was help me to focus. And it also helped me to take myself out of my comfort zone and and do things which probably I've been thinking about doing for a long time, but I never really trusted myself to do it. And then I never got round to doing it - a) because I didn't trust myself, and b) because I didn't have the confidence.

So for example, writing an ebook, I never thought about writing an ebook, working with yourself Reza I realized that it's something that I could do because I am the specialist and it's something that I could lead with. And I set myself a target with you of a month to write it.

I wanted to stick to that target because it's important. That's what the mastermind group does, helps you to focus to meet those deadlines you set yourself- and then you've got other people also who also set deadlines. So it's a sort of pseudo competition. You want to be the best in class!

That's how I viewed it anyway. So when I saw other people setting their own targets I thought, well, you know I want to do better than them and want to finish! So it gave that little competitive edge which is really important in business and and to get things done. So It was completed (the e-book). Just waiting to get it launched. Even the launch, how to launch it and where to launch it and where to place it. I learned how to do all of that. So I'm excited about implementing that part of it as well. And the website to go with that, and probably the webinars also to go with that going forward (to further attract my ideal clients)

The biggest challenge you faced that made you join the mastermind?

Biggest challenge was not knowing which of the umpteen things that you should do. Everything takes a certain amount of time and has a certain amount of costs. So if you're barking up the wrong tree and you're spending the time that you shouldn't be spending in a certain aspect or money behind a certain thing and it's the completely wrong thing that that's just time and money wasted, and it obviously it takes you off track. So having been on the course and knowing the right areas to invest your own time, effort and money has the thing that I think has helped me the most.

Where did you first hear about Reza?

I believe I first heard about you when I downloaded your own (property) ebook which is actually fantastic! And I use it as a reference guide. This is the one with the property. I use it as a guide actually when I've got a situation like that with a client and they've got a property issue.

So I've, I've revisited your book many times. And I think obviously the natural thing you'd do is Google the author and then you'd get from one thing to another. And then I think we connected on LinkedIn and maybe I saw some of the videos and some of the courses that you were doing.

And that's when I I'd actually spoken to you I think about two years ago, initially. And that was for my other firm - Assurance Accountancy but because I had other problems - not problems but obstacles is a better word - I couldn't take the plunge at the time, but for Smiles Better Accountancy specifically with the niche there, I think that the fit was perfect.

What or who convinced you to make the decision to join the mastermind?

The other people on that course, if I can name names it was Buhir (Rafiq) who actually reached out to me some time ago as well just to give some pointers on my website which I thought was quite nice. So I built a relationship with him and had a couple of conversations.

And actually because he was already on on the course he was the first person. Because I trust him quite a lot. And I asked him, I said what's your honest assessment of the course. And would it be beneficial for me? And yes he said, ABSOLUTELY no shadow of a doubt and actually everything that he said I found all of it to be true.

Some of the benefits of being on the programme? 

So the one-to-one coaching I personally feel that the the main benefit that I've had is actually watching how you diversified yourself on your skills away from accountancy, into other areas of business.

And in this day and age with social media and how you put yourself out there is so important and such an important asset and skill to have and how you've done it has inspired me.

So I'm kind of feeling like I want to go down that route in how you do your deliveries and webinars. So having that one-to-one, and then being able to ask you and all the different things that you've learned which you've helped me with as well immensely that has helped massively from the one-to-one aspect - but also the wider group is really good because learning from your peers and especially with guys, like, again I'm name dropping, but Aaron, for example, you know some of the templates that he's done (and shared) and it just saves you so much time and effort because at the end of the day, it's already there you just gotta adapt it for your own firm.

And some people are a little bit ahead of the journey and are there to support you to encourage you, to give you pointers - even had a couple of (client) referrals from a couple of people as well! So all these things have kind of come together to make the actual mastermind itself such a brilliant thing to be a part of.

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

Less than a month! I think as soon as I joined the WhatsApp group it was so busy and and already saw so many resources are coming in. I'm not really a Facebook person. I don't really visit the Facebook thing all that much but because WhatsApp is just there all the time in your face its just a brilliant resource.

And so, yeah, within a short space of time, I could see the benefits. Some of the things were alien to me and I remember the first session that we did where we had a group and we all had to speak. And, you know, obviously that's something that you're doing ongoing and I'm giving my five minutes and someone else has given their five minutes and I didn't really know what to make of it.

But as I did two or three of them I realized actually just talking about what you're doing it just reinvigorates your energy and your goals and just listening to where other people are. And I suppose different peoples take on different things and some people take comfort and knowledge or from getting a little bit of kudos from their peers and what I was silently doing was just challenging myself against them and trying to finish things before they did try and have more tasks than they did. And that's just how I sort of internalize my own motivation on that. That was great. That helped massively

What would you say to someone thinking of joining?

Absolutely do it! I think, you know immediately the value is there, it focuses. It would focus that person to push the right points and maybe a year or two years down the line even if you don't see the value immediately, which which you do, but from my perspective because I've been an accountant now or let's say a principal in two different firms, you know the only regret I have is probably when I started in 2012 something like this wasn't around maybe would I be right in saying that? Or if it was around in a different guise maybe? but with tech and everything it's so accessible now that anybody who is looking to move their business forward definitely needs to factor in coaching into that without doubt.