Mentor and Speaker. Biz dev support for Accountants. Caring and pragmatic insights and advice (incl re Linkedin). Debunker. Chair of UK’s largest network of specialist tax advisers

I love supporting accountants and tax advisers who have no business partners and feel their practice isn’t giving them what they want. Some need to free up time, gain a sounding board, or simply get clarity on what really matters to them. You’ve probably had advice before, but it didn’t quite resonate... 

Not everyone wants to grow their firm. Some just want more focus, more control, or things to feel less overwhelming. That’s where I come in

With a deep understanding of the profession, I help accountants refine, reshape, and re-energise their firms without chasing growth for growth’s sake

You choose how we work together:

🔹 1-2-1 mentoring – Ideal if you're feeling frustrated, overwhelmed, or isolated as the sole decision-maker in your practice. With my support and guidance you'll feel confident to move forward to achieve whatever you want

🔹 Speaking & training – Book me to speak at your event, whether on stage, online or for a local group, firm or team. I deliver pragmatic, commercial, and entertaining presentations that also debunk the hype that many others promote.  I specialise in helping accountants who want the skills to succeed in an AI world, both generally and especially on LinkedIn.

🔹 LinkedIn and related advice – Let me help you understand how YOU can use LinkedIn effectively - and that rarely requires you to post loads of content here

🔹 Sole Practice Club – Join my supportive online club for sole practitioner accountants

Popular topics across all of my service offerings include

✅  Lead generation
✅  Improving referrals
✅  Business development
✅  Networking
✅  Practice development
✅  Driving business benefits from LinkedIn

I’ve long been identified as a top online influencer in the profession, have judged many accounting and tax awards, and was honoured with the first and only Outstanding Contribution award at Accountex 2024

I’m a Fellow of ICAEW, CIOT, and the PSA, and a member of The Magic Circle. My practice-focused column for AccountingWeb had over one million views, and my bookmarklee blog has more than 400 advice-focused articles

NEW: Selling to, connecting with and gaining referrals through accountants – the insider’s guide

If you sell to accountants, want referrals from them, or struggle to get their attention, this is your shortcut to avoiding any more costly mistakes and gaining insights to help you:

✅ Connect with accountants more effectively
✅ Gain the business and referrals you seek
✅ Stop wasting time and money on ineffective approaches

Join the next course or the waiting list here: www.bookmarklee.co.uk/series

Can pulling pints teach accountants what CPD can’t?
Most accountants weren’t trained to deal with people.
They were trained to deal with numbers 😬

That’s not a criticism — just a reality of how the profession has evolved.
Which is why I was nodding vigorously when I saw Peter Gallanagh’s comments in The Times at the weekend.

 His firm, Azets, is reportedly considering secondments for trainees into pubs and hotels — so they can learn people skills by literally going ‘front of house’. 🍻

It’s a bold move. And, frankly, an overdue one.
Gallanagh says:

“Most accountants don’t think that way.”

He’s right.

For years, I’ve been gently (and sometimes not-so-gently) encouraging accountants to build the skills we were never taught when studying for our professional exams:
✅ How to market and promote your services 
✅ How to attract and really connect with clients
✅ How to communicate clearly and confidently
✅ How to read between the lines, not just balance them
✅ How to influence and inspire, not just analyse and advise

These are the skills that don’t come from textbooks. Or technical CPD.

They come from conversations. From experience. From curiosity. 🤔

And if AI is going to handle more of the “number crunching”, then Key Business Skills (too often dismissively seen as 'soft' skills) aren’t optional anymore — they’re essential.  

I see it time and again in my mentoring work with sole practitioners:

Those who want to grow the practice, win better clients, feel more confident, increase their average fees, typically benefit most when they start focusing on what most accountants avoid:

👉 Understanding people.

Whether that’s their clients, their team (if they have one), or even themselves.

You don’t have to pull pints to learn those skills (although it would make team meetings more interesting… 🍷)

But you do need to make a conscious effort to develop them — or get support from someone who’s been there.

So, if the article resonates with you, and you’ve been thinking:
 
“I need to get better at this stuff, but I’ve no idea where to start”…

You know where I am.

📌 If you had to spend a week shadowing any profession to boost your people skills, what would it be?

MARK LEE FCA

Practice focused and LinkedIn advice for UK Accountants | Mentor, Speaker, Debunker, Realist | Leads the Sole Practice Club | Podcast host | Received Outstanding Contribution award at Accountex 2024

“Why are we letting Mark Lee go?”  -  I felt like a fraud, even though plenty of evidence said otherwise. Ever felt that way yourself? 

24 years ago, the top ten firm I was with paid for me to have outplacement counselling as part of my enforced departure package 😬

Just a few years earlier, I’d been headhunted to join the firm as an equity partner — leading the tax side of their professional practices team and acting as media spokesperson.

I had profile, experience and credibility. But I wasn’t billing £1m+ a year.

And when that became the survival threshold for partners… I was out.
Classic “last in, first out”.  [I may be misremembering the precise threshold]

I was touched by the number of surprised partners who were apparently asking:
“Why are we letting Mark Lee go?” 😕

At the same time, my whole team was being merged into a much bigger group and I didn’t fancy going along for the ride.

So there I was: on my way out and sitting across from a career counsellor whose subsequent advice had a profound impact on my self-confidence.

He had picked up on something I kept saying: “I'm not as good as people think I am.”

He asked me why I felt like that.

I had plenty of answers but what I was really saying was: “I feel like a fraud.” 😟

Classic impostor syndrome. Although back then, I didn’t have a name for it.

The ensuing conversation had a profound impact on me.
He challenged my assumptions, helped me reframe my story, and nudged me to see myself more clearly.

I’m quite sure I tell the story differently now than I did in 2001.

I’ve since used the same technique to help dozens of accountants and others who’ve needed a confidence boost or a fresh perspective.

And here’s the thing: they were never as far behind as they feared 🙌

But it's clear to me that impostor syndrome is alive and well in our profession.

Especially among sole practitioners — where it shows up in ways we don’t often discuss.

For example, when:
😲 You’re working longer hours than you ever planned
😲 You compare yourself to some idealised version of “success”
😲 You feel stuck in your own head
😲 You can’t prioritise the changes you know you need to make
😲 You believe the hype and self-promotion of others that you see online
😲 You want to slow down… but don’t think you can let go of anything 😩

Recognise any of that?
You’re not alone 
And you don’t need fixing.
You might just need a bit of support.
A new perspective.
Some encouragement from someone who's been there

If any of this resonates — let’s talk 😀 
No pressure. No sales pitch. Just an honest, supportive chat. 👋

What’s the deal with Facebook-style posts on LinkedIn?

Some people have a problem with them. I don’t. But, equally, I rarely read them here 😐

And actually the algorithms rarely show them to me any more 👍

Even if I know you well, I’m pretty selective about which non-business posts I stop to read. 

Why? 

I'm choosy how I spend my time and because I don’t want the algorithms thinking I’d like to see more such posts here 😎

The more I stop to read, react or comment on 'facebook style' posts, the more likely LinkedIn is to show me more of the same 👉

It’s just how the algorithms work — trying to anticipate what we want, based on how we behave 🤓

I understand that personal posts can perform well — especially with friends, former colleagues or close connections. There’s nothing wrong with that.

But if your goal is to attract fresh connections, prospects, or people who don’t already know you well… how useful are these personal stories? 🤔

Yes, people buy people. They want to know the human behind the business 👌

I agree.

But they’re usually more interested in your credibility, expertise and value before they get curious about your day to day family and lifestyle issues.  Or is it just me? 

I get that’s why some people advocate mixing business with the personal.
Nothing wrong with that either.

But it’s worth remembering: each of our posts are typically only seen by a small portion of our wider networks. And it’s rarely the same group each time 😳

My advice? Think carefully about your REAL objectives and let that drive the content of most of your posts here 👌

In my LinkedIn trainings I recommend never sharing more with the strangers on LinkedIn than you would share with strangers at a live networking event.

Don’t bother just trying to chase high impression numbers - which probably include random people around the world who are not part of your target audience anyway 🙄
————
Supportive AND alternative views welcome 👉

Could you be a guest on our podcast? Don't be shy ☺️

January sees us edging closer to our 100th episode of the Accountants' Success Secrets Podcast 👏

Together with my co-host, Philippa Haynes, we have now produced over 80 episodes including almost 70 awesome interviews.

We also create a 'Reflections' show after every 4 interviews.

You may have heard of some of our interviewees but many will be new names to you. So please don't feel you need to already be famous or a known 'name' 😎

Their stories about how and why they started their practice will inspire you.

You'll also learn the secrets to their success, the mistakes they made, what they have learned along the way and what makes them stand out from the crowd.

Each 30 minute interview is casual, relaxed and focused 😌

Every interviewee to date has said how much they enjoyed it, so we plan to continue the podcast just as long as we can identify suitable interviewees.

There are thousands of you out there, I know 🤗

Being interviewed can also boost your self confidence, credibility and online engagement 🥹

These are the only criteria:

✅ You've been running your own accountancy practice for at least 5 years

✅ Whilst you may still seek to grow further you feel that the practice is already generating a decent living for you

✅ Modesty aside, you feel that your practice has grown successfully and you can explain how you achieved this and how you navigated tougher times

✅ You are able and willing to share your experiences in a way that perhaps others haven’t done before

✅ You are doing something in/with your practice that is distinct and distinguishable from most other accountants. It helps you to stand out from the others

It's the last one that seems to hold some people back. Modesty? Imposter syndrome? Let us decide 🤗

Get in touch with Philippa or me if you're interested. If you're not an accountant but you know someone who could be an interviewee, please share this post with them 👍

You'll find all previous episodes on Spotify, YouTube and Apple podcasts; also on Patreon and on the Linkedin page for the Accountants Success Secrets podcast

The LinkedIn algorithms aren't magic and they aren't mind readers. Are you giving them the right clues to show you the posts you want to see? 🤔

If you read a post, even all the way to the end, and then scroll on without reacting, commenting, saving or sharing… 

…LinkedIn assumes it didn’t really interest you 😶

Your reading (“dwell”) time may impact the algorithms and it will count as an ‘impression’. 

But that is the same metric triggered when you just scroll straight past a post that appeared in your home feed. 

That’s right: reading and ignoring are both counted as an impression 🤷‍♂️

But…

React to a post (even with a quick 👍) and you’re sending a stronger signal to the algorithms.

A clue that you might like to see more posts on this topic or from the same author in the future🤓

Is it better to choose ❤️, 🙌 or 💡 than a simple 👍? 
Possibly. But it certainly won’t hurt 🙃

Even better? Leave a comment.

Comments help you, the author, the algorithm — everyone.

And if you want the author, and others who comment on the post, to notice you, make sure your comment is positive, meaningful and relevant.

If you’ve noticed some people’s posts showing up more often, this is likely why.

And if you used to see posts from someone you liked and now don’t?

It’s probably because the algorithms didn't notice you engaging with them.

The algorithms assume you’ve lost interest — even if you haven’t. 🤦

I know for a fact that dozens (maybe even hundreds) of accountants read my posts and scroll on. 

I've been approached to mentor accountants who have seen my posts but never reacted or commented.

I've even been approached to speak at conferences for accountants by people who have seen my posts but never reacted or commented on them

The fact that these people who contact me have still seen some off my posts is more through luck than anything else.  And maybe they missed some of my better posts 😎

So if you’ve been wondering:
“Why am I not seeing as many of these posts anymore?”

It may be down to you. 

Some of this is theory.
Some is common sense.
Some is wild conjecture (Well… not that wild. It makes sense really.) 😅

Naturally I should add that if you’ve read this far, and you’d like to see more from me… you know what to do.

Clicking the notifications bell on a profile helps too. 

What types of posts do you enjoy most on LinkedIn — and which ones make you scroll straight past?

taplio

MARK FCA's Linkedin Analytics

MARK LEE FCA

Performance ScoreMARK LEE FCA's LinkedIn Performance

What is MARK talking about?

MARK LEE FCA's Best Posts (last 30 days)

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

.css-6ytdur{background-image:linear-gradient(284deg, rgba(39, 43, 72, 1) 0%, rgba(33, 47, 183, 1) 100%);color:transparent;-webkit-background-clip:text;background-clip:text;}MARK FCA's Linkedin Analytics

MARK LEE FCA

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}MARK LEE FCA's LinkedIn Performance

What is MARK talking about?

MARK LEE FCA's Best Posts .css-1emoo84{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:400;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);}(last 30 days)

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

MARK FCA's Linkedin Analytics

Performance ScoreMARK LEE FCA's LinkedIn Performance

MARK LEE FCA's Best Posts (last 30 days)