HEATHER_5178Thanks for clicking the URL in my AccountingWeb author credit and profile – let me give you a little background on who I am and what I do.

My name is Heather Townsend and together with Jon Baker, we are the people behind howtomakepartner.com, venture-Now.com partnershippotential.co.uk and joinedupnetworking.com.

You can read more about me and my experience working with mainly accountants and lawyers on my about me page – but let me give you a bit of glimpse at who I am and what I do.

I’m a 37 year old Brit living about an hour north of London. I am married to ‘M’ (or OH on twitter) and together we have a boy and a girl. As they are only 16 months apart in age, it’s only now that they are 7 and almost 6, that I am getting more personal freedom back.  I jointly run the Excedia Group with Jon Baker, and we probably spend just a little too much time taking long walks together around Marston Vale, where our office is based.

My Blogs

I’ve been blogging since April 2009 on a number of sites. My first blog, eventually became the basis for my two books and the four main sites I contribute to or edit:

  • How to make partner: Advice for any aspiring, new or established partner who wants to take control of their career and life and fulfil their potential
  • Partnership Potential: Our site for partners, HR & Marketing/BD support staff from Mid-tier firms who want to grow their practice
  • Joined Up Networking: For any professional who needs to win business via their network
  • venture-Now: Our site for practice owners who want to grow their practice from 5-50 employees

Who I work with?

To give me the variety I crave, at any one time I tend to work with 4 or 5 small professional practices, particularly accountants, helping the practice owner build a business to allow them to have the freedom that an income worth over £150k can bring. These are normally accountants and lawyers, who want the lifestyle and freedom that a personal income of over £150k can bring. We normally work with these people in four main areas:

  • releasing their time so they can start to work ON the business rather than IN the business
  • devising a strategy which will help grow and differentiate their firm
  • building a predictable and effective marketing and sales machine to fuel the practice growth
  • building trustworthy and reliable resources to support the practice growth, be that team members, outsourced support or freelance staff

To find out whether you are the sort of practice owner we work with, click here

‘How to make partner’ the Blog

New Here - front page Free Career Kitbag home page

My Books

My blogging eventually lead to my third career as a writer. You would think that it would be impossible for a Engineering Graduate, who last wrote an essay at the age of 16 to write a book. Well think again, I’ve now managed it twice.
book_cover125

The FT Guide To Business networking – 80+ five star reviews on amazon

“I do a lot of networking for my business. Physical, virtual, social; you name it, I probably do it.
Heather’s book showed me how to make significant improvements in the effectiveness and efficiency of my networking activities.”

Gareth Howell

“It has changed my approach to Networking and I’m seeing positive results already!” S. Sherry

Now available on amazon.co.uk, amazon.com, (paperback and kindle), iBooks, and Kobo.

HowtoMakePartner book jacket

How to make partner and still have a life – 7+ five star reviews on amazon

“The book is a very useful guide covering many areas of professional life and provides practical suggestions to help navigate the path to partnership. As an aspiring Audit Manager in a top 10 accountancy firm, I am sure that this book will be useful over the next few years.” Simon, audit manager in top 10 Accountancy firm

“I’d recommend this book for anyone new into the professions, or who works with the professions, or who is looking to progress their career within a partnership environment.” Michael Beale

Now available on amazon.co.uk, amazon.com (paperback and kindle), iBooks, Kobo and Nook.

Connect with Me

Thanks for visiting my about page – if you’ve not already don’t forget to connect with me on LinkedIn so we can interact there.

I’m also relatively active on other social media sites like Twitter