After years of hard work and dedication, you’ve finally reached the mountain top – you’ve been named partner. However, the trouble with achieving these huge career goals is that we often don’t know what to do next. You see, once the celebrations come to a close, many people begin to notice their anxieties creeping in, and they realise they’re in uncharted territory. So, to help you overcome these initial fears, we’re sharing our secrets on what to prioritise after making partner. From addressing your anxieties to organising your affairs, we’ll discuss everything you need to do in order to prepare yourself for partnership.
Identify your anxieties
Becoming a partner in your firm can be a daunting endeavour. So it’s important to identify your fears about the position early on. Why? Because once you acknowledge your anxieties, you can start addressing them. Some of the most common concerns people express after making partner include:
- Worrying whether or not they’ve made the right decision
- Worrying about making a large financial investment
- Fear of losing their work-life balance and employee benefits
- Fear of being the ‘new kid’ in the partnership
Sound familiar? Don’t worry! These concerns are all part and parcel of becoming a paid partner. The important thing is that you don’t let them get in your way. After all, you don’t want to have come this far to then fall at the final hurdle.
Lay the groundwork
Addressing your anxieties should be your first priority after making partner. (After all, the transition from employee to partner is stressful enough.) So, to help you out, we’ve created a list of ‘what to prioritise after making partner.’ These steps will help you lay the groundwork for a successful partnership whilst simultaneously tackling each of the concerns we outlined above. So, without further ado, let’s discuss what to prioritise after making partner:
1. Do your due diligence
Before formally accepting your position as partner, you want to ensure you’ve done your due diligence. After all, buying in is a big deal! So you want to be confident it’s the right decision for you. If you haven’t had the opportunity beforehand, now is the time to start reviewing your firm’s documents. Why? Because whilst being offered partner is a great privilege, it is also a huge financial commitment. Start by carefully assessing your partnership agreement along with your firm’s solvency arrangements, key performance trends and strategic plans. Together these documents should create a clear outline of how your capital will be used. Remember, there is no rush to sign on the dotted line. So take your time to review all the necessary resources before making an informed decision.
Read: Why you need to do your due diligence on a firm before buying in (and how to do it!)
2. Organise your finances
After working so hard to get to this point, you don’t want to be worrying about your finances when you’re finally appointed partner. So, try and get your affairs in order beforehand. With that said, don’t worry too much about sourcing a loan to cover your investment capital. The majority of medium to large-sized firms will have a pre-existing arrangement with their bank to help provide their partners with suitable loans.
3. Prepare for self-employment
Next on the list for ‘what to prioritise after making partner‘ is to prepare for self-employment. The transition from being an employee to becoming a self-employed partner is quite a steep slope – so prepare for some serious changes. You will need to consider:
- Starting a personal pension
- Organising your life insurance and tax affairs
- How and when you can access drawings
- What support/benefits your firm provides for their partners
However, if losing your employee benefits is a real pain point for you, you can also try negotiating some of those benefits into your partnership agreement.
Read: Making partner- the pros and cons. Do you really want to make partner?
4. Develop a PR plan
Being appointed partner is a huge achievement – and a perfect PR opportunity. So, once you’ve finished celebrating with all your friends and family, you want to start thinking about constructing a PR plan. Your firm’s marketing team will likely have their own procedure for what to prioritise after making partner, so we suggest you start there. But as a general rule of thumb, you want to be clear about: 
- How and when you will break the news on social media
and
- How you plan on telling your clients and intermediaries
These PR opportunities are essential when establishing your position as a partner. Why? Because they indicate to the public (and your fellow partners) that you are a key member of your firm – and you’ve invested the time and money to prove it. PS – remember, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity – so don’t minimise it! Allow yourself to enjoy the spotlight (if only for a moment).
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Start striving for your goals
Becoming a named partner is a huge achievement – and one you should be incredibly proud of. But this is only the start of your success story! Now that you’ve addressed your anxieties and your affairs are in order, it’s time for the real work to begin. So don’t hold back. Set your intentions, strive for your goals and allow your hard work and preparation to pay off.
We have a great course in our subscriber-only site Progress to Partner called “How to Truly Commit to Moving your Career Forward“. It’s a game-changer and will get you focussed and help you to create the time and space to work a little on your career plan every.single.week.
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