Sole practitioners are animals: Which one are you?

In six years I went from £0 fees to £500k of fess as a sole prac with one acquistion of £135k before suffering a breakdown and being ripped off by my new partners who I merged with just a few months before I became ill.

Reading your descriptions has made me smile for I know I fell into a number of the camps at different times and have met many of the others - especially the wise old lions and the snakes.

Overall, I think I was a cheetah and a workhorse; I ran around all day chasing everyone and then sat up all night doing all the work!

Albert

Was in partnership with two FCAs (I'm FCCA) one was an idiot the other a s#1t - I was a workhorse for 10 years. Then I left and started on my own. I aspire to be a wise old lion but alas I think I'm really an old dog crossed with an ostrich :( - but I am 1000% happier.

Grafter

I have been your ultimate workhorse for a number of years now. I have been a solicitor, mortgage broker, estate and letting agent, insurance broker, bank manager, civil servant etc, etc, with no reward and no appreciation.

However, I have recently reminded clients in no uncertian manner that I am an Accountant and Tax Adviser and nothing else. I now have more time on my hands and less headache. 

 I am a bit of a mix of a few.

I am a bit of an ostrich whereby I am happy with what I make and only wish to make enough to ,make a good living.  I am also a bit of a workhorse as I provide some services beyond accountancy and tax advice but I try to limit this and refer to relevant businesses where appropriate.  Then again I am also quite a giraffe.  I don't try to make sure my neighbours notice me but I do have my own young and modern ways of running a practice and thats how I and my clients like it.