THE FRASER PRACTICE

Work Together

Independent · Unfiltered · Dubai & beyond

Independent second opinions for

life's biggest decisions.

Career. Business. Money. Health. Relationships.

Practical counsel from someone who has spent twenty years building businesses, leading teams, navigating adversity, and helping people make better decisions.

Book an Exploration Call

How it works

Who I am

The Fraser Practice is one person, not a faceless firm — independent, plain-spoken counsel from someone who's actually lived the things you're up against, and come out the far side.

No guru act, no agenda but yours. Just the unvarnished read the people too close to you will never give.

I'm a forty-something professional with roughly two decades across the Middle East, eighteen of them in Dubai. From apprentice engineer in a small Scottish town to working offshore across EMEA and APAC. Into management before thirty, a director before forty, now senior leadership inside a large matrix organisation. I pitched and grew a new business to eight figures in four years, and turned a seven-figure loss into net profit inside eighteen months — leading teams from five to five hundred.

All while navigating the loss of a parent, a divorce, a custody battle, and serious health issues — rebuilding my body from over 30% body fat to 12% at my leanest, with every major marker improved. I learned the mindset and the strategies to keep going through it, and to come out the far side.

I stay anonymous on purpose. This isn't about my name — it's about giving you the unvarnished version no one with skin in your game ever will.

— J.G. Fraser · The Fraser Practice

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What this is

A chat down the pub with a good mate — without burdening the people closest to you, who often doubt you, have no real insight into your position, and advise you through their own pre-conceptions.

There's a name for why this works: Solomon's paradox — after the king who gave wise counsel to everyone but himself. We reason far more clearly about other people's problems than our own; too close to your own situation, you simply can't see it straight. The fix isn't thinking harder — it's distance. An experienced outside head on the problem. That's the whole job here.

This is independent, unbiased, and built on many years of getting it done in the real world. Somewhere between a quick gut-check and a months-long mentorship where we set targets, agree deliverables, and I hold you accountable. It will not be a therapy session — and if that's what I think you actually need, I'll tell you so, plainly.

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Ways to work together

AED 150
Exploration Call
20–30 minutes to understand your situation and assess fit.
A short call to talk through where you are and what you're facing. I'll tell you straight whether I can help and how. Fully redeemable against any future engagement, so nothing is wasted if we go on to work together.
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AED 500
Fixer Call
A focused 60-minute problem-solving session with clear next steps.
One sitting, one problem, sorted. A straight read on where you are, what you're missing, and the course correction to get you back on line. You leave with clear actions and next steps — no ongoing commitment required.
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AED 2,000
Mentorship & Accountability
Five sessions of ongoing support, at a discount versus booking individually.
For when you want to work a problem properly, not just sanity-check it. We define the objective up front, agree targets and deliverables, and I hold you accountable to them over five sessions — priced lower than booking five Fixer Calls separately.
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By proposal
Custom Advisory
Bespoke support for business owners, executives and market entry.
For business owners, executives, UAE market entry, turnaround projects and bespoke commercial support — situations that don't fit a standard session. Scope and pricing are built around what you actually need, after a conversation about the brief.
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What I can help with

Career & Leadership
Career, Leadership & Enterprise
From job hunt to boardroom: CVs, pitch decks and business cases; interview prep and the first 90 days; leading teams; turning a failing operation around.
Stuck in a job hunt, prepping for a make-or-break interview, or trying to survive the first months in a bigger role? We work the specifics — I've sat on the hiring side of thousands of CVs and decks, so I'll tell you what a panel reacts to versus what gets binned, then sharpen your CV, rehearse the questions you're dreading, and build a 30/60/90-day plan. Beyond landing the role: the actual craft of leading teams of five to five hundred — difficult conversations, performance management, and leading through change and matrix politics. If you're turning a failing operation around, I've taken a seven-figure loss to net profit and can help you do the same. If you're sizing up a venture, partnership or business plan before committing capital, I'll pressure-test it with you — the honest 'will this actually work?' before you commit, or bring in the right specialist to do it properly. And if AI has you worried about your job, I'll cut the hype both ways: what it's genuinely good for, what to avoid, and the practical steps to become the person who uses it rather than the one replaced by it.
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Sales & Negotiation
Sales, Bids & Negotiation
Winning work and getting paid properly. Sales process and tactics, bid and tender strategy, and the negotiation playbook — from someone who's closed 500+ deals.
Whether you're chasing a better package, pricing a service, pitching for a contract or trying to close bigger deals, the mechanics are learnable. We work your actual situation: how to run a sales process without being pushy, how bids and tenders are really won and lost, how to set and hold your number in a negotiation, and the high-ticket tactics that turn a maybe into a signature. We'll also build your executive presence — how to pitch to a board, command a room, and carry yourself so people back you. Two decades doing this for real and 500-plus complex deals closed — I'll show you the moves, then you run them.
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Money & Markets
Money & Markets
Budgeting, saving and investing in Dubai without lifestyle creep eating every pay rise. ETFs, stocks, crypto and FX explained in plain terms — education, not financial advice.
Most people here earn well and still feel behind — every pay rise quietly gets spent. We cut through it: how to think about saving and investing in this market, how the platforms and account types actually work, and the plain-English version of ETFs, stocks, crypto and FX so the jargon stops intimidating you. We also tackle the expat-specific traps — making your tax-free income actually count, the pension you left behind at home, and what to sort before you ever leave. The aim is that you understand the system well enough to make your own decisions, and to ask any paid advisor the right questions before you hand over a dirham. Education only — never financial advice.
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Setup & Relocation
Dubai Setup & Relocation
Where to live, real rents, the scams to dodge, schools and budgets. Free zone vs mainland licences, and keeping a business setup lean enough to prove the concept first.
Arriving or setting up here is a maze, and most of the "help" is overpriced. We cover where to actually live for your budget and family, real rents versus the glossy listings, the agent and deposit scams to sidestep, schools, and the true cost of the move. For business: free zone versus mainland, which licence fits your activity, and how to keep the setup lean enough to prove the idea before you pour in capital. And the part nobody prepares you for — the human side: building a life and community here, beating the isolation, and the honest "is Dubai still right for me, and when do I leave?" question, repatriation included. Eighteen years in, I've watched how that one plays out. Honest about what you can simply do yourself.
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Buying & Renovating
Property — Buying & Renovating
Buying off-plan or ready, which areas hold value, mortgages explained, and the expensive traps to avoid — from someone who's done it several times. Renovation and fit-out too.
Property is where the biggest money mistakes get made here, and the market is built to part you from yours. We go through it straight: how to read areas for real long-term value versus hype; the honest differences between off-plan and ready, including the off-plan risks nobody flags — handover delays, developer track record, payment-plan traps. On the mortgage side, we decode the jargon — fixed versus variable rates, what pre-approval actually involves, and whether a mortgage broker earns their fee or you're better off direct with the bank. I've bought several times here and made the mistakes so you don't have to — and I can introduce you to brokers, owners, developers and agents genuinely worth dealing with. Renovation and fit-out — contractors, quotes, BOQs — is on the table too.
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Health & Longevity
Health, Fitness & Longevity
Cutting through the conflicting noise on training, nutrition, sleep and supplements toward what actually moves the needle — plus resilience, stress and burnout, from lived experience.
There's more conflicting health information than ever, and it's exhausting. We focus on the basics most people skip — training, nutrition, sleep and stress — and what genuinely moves the needle for your goals, time and budget. I took myself from over 30% body fat to 12%, so the body-recomposition side isn't theory. Just as important is the inner game: building real resilience, managing stress and spotting burnout before it flattens you — the mindset that carried me through loss, divorce and health scares. And if you or someone close is facing a tough diagnosis: how to be a sharper, calmer patient, and how to find genuinely good people. Shared from lived experience — never medical advice.
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Employment & HR
Employment, Hiring & Dismissal
From either side of the desk: contracts, notice, gratuity and end-of-service; hiring, firing and redundancy done properly; where unfair dismissal stands under UAE law.
Whether you're the one being managed out or the one doing the restructuring, UAE employment law catches people out. As an employee: how to read your contract, what notice, gratuity and end-of-service you're genuinely owed, what counts as arbitrary or unfair dismissal here, and how to handle a redundancy without leaving money or leverage on the table. As an employer: how to hire cleanly, structure contracts and probation, and run a termination or redundancy properly so it doesn't become a claim. I've sat on the hiring-and-firing side of teams from five to five hundred — orientation and lived experience only, never legal advice.
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Relationships
Relationships & Family
Family dynamics, friendships, your love life, and meeting people as an adult abroad. And when it breaks down: separation, divorce, custody and staying a present father through it.
Relationships make or break a life abroad, and nobody really coaches you on them. We talk through all of it: family dynamics and the strain distance puts on them; friendships that have drifted or run their course; your love life; and the awkward reality of meeting people as an adult in a transient city. And when things break down, that's here too: navigating separation, divorce, custody and guardianship in the UAE — the realistic costs, amicable versus contested — plus the part few people help with: staying a present father through it, co-parenting once the dust settles, and holding yourself together emotionally. I've lived all of it. Orientation and lived experience only, never legal advice.
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The network

Some problems don't need advice — they need the right person in the room. Tell me what you're trying to do, and I'll get you in front of people who are usually impossible to reach: vetted operators, specialists and SMEs built up over twenty years of doing this across the region.

Warm introductions
The Right Person
A trusted, warm introduction to someone who can actually move your problem forward — high-ticket sales, suppliers, specialists — not a cold name off a directory.
Some problems don't need more advice — they need the right person in the room. Tell me what you're trying to do, and I'll make a warm, direct introduction to someone genuinely worth talking to: a vetted operator, supplier, specialist or decision-maker built up over twenty years of doing this across the region. Not a cold name off a directory.
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Mastermind
The Room
For the bigger calls, a small panel of the right specialists assembled around your specific problem — input that usually costs a fortune, or simply isn't available to outsiders.
For the calls that matter most, I'll pull together a small panel of the right specialists around your specific problem — the kind of combined input that usually costs a fortune through normal consulting channels, or simply isn't available to outsiders at all. Useful for bigger decisions: a venture, a partnership, a major commercial commitment.
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Typical asks: high-ticket sales strategy · renovation & landscaping support · introductions to property developers, brokers & owners · commercial property technical & power-supply review · operational feasibility on taking over an existing space · licensing, gas & electrical sense-checks. Introductions and reviews only — final professional sign-off always stays with the qualified, licensed specialist.

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How it works

01

Get Started

Tell me where you're stuck and what "sorted" looks like for you. A few lines is enough to start.

02

Book your Exploration Call

Secure your slot for AED 150. It keeps the calendar serious — and it's fully redeemable against any future engagement.

03

We work

A Fixer Call, a Mentorship block, or a Custom Advisory engagement — whichever fits what you're actually facing.

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Track record

20+

Years across the ME region

500+

Complex deals closed & won

8 figures

New business built in 4 years

18 mths

7-figure loss to net profit

50+

Fit-outs — villas to Michelin kitchens

5–500

Team sizes led

/ 07

Outcomes

Real situations, worked through together. No names, no case studies sold back to you — just what changed.

Promoted into senior leadership after years stuck at middle management.

— James

Avoided a costly acquisition following an independent feasibility review.

— Faisal

Successfully relocated a family from the UK to Dubai, first attempt, no false starts.

— Sarah

Negotiated a significantly improved employment package.

— Priya

Turned around a struggling business unit inside eighteen months.

— Omar

Cleared months of decision paralysis on a property purchase, in one session.

— Arjun

Limited spots

No pitch. Just a straight conversation.

I take on a limited number of people at a time. Book an Exploration Call and I'll tell you straight whether I can help, and how. AED 150 to book — fully redeemable against any future engagement.

Book an Exploration Call

See the topics

The Fraser Practice

Independent second opinions for life's biggest decisions

Mentorship and general information only. Nothing on this site or in any session is medical, financial, legal, or tax advice, and no professional relationship is created. Discussions on health, hormones, supplements, investing, divorce or custody are shared from personal experience to help you ask better questions and find the right professionals — clinical, investment and legal decisions must be made with a qualified, licensed expert. Sessions are independent and confidential.