THE FRASER PRACTICE

Home

Network

Field Notes

Work Together

Independent · Curated · Dubai & beyond

Independent second opinions for

life's biggest decisions.

Career. Business. Money. Health. Relationships.

A curated advisory practice. Every problem starts with one independent conversation to understand it properly - then the right experience is assembled around it. Often that's working directly with me; where a challenge calls for it, we can draw on a trusted network of specialists still operating at the top of their fields.

Book an Exploration Call

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

Who we are

The Fraser Practice isn't a faceless firm - and it isn't one person claiming to know everything. We begin with independent counsel, and where a problem runs past any single perspective, we can draw on a network of experienced operators across disciplines like leadership, business, construction, health and performance. The value isn't just expertise - it's knowing who should be in the room.

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

What this is

It isn't one thing. It flexes to what the situation actually needs.

A second opinion

An informal, straight conversation to get your head clear - without burdening the people too close to you, who often doubt you, can't see your position, and advise you through their own preconceptions.

A professional guide

Structured, experienced help from someone who has actually sat where you're sitting and done the thing you're facing. The Field Notes show the kind of ground that covers.

A referral network

When your problem runs past us, we say so - and bring in a trusted specialist rather than wing it. Knowing who should be in the room is half the value.

There's a name for why the outside view works: Solomon's paradox, after the king who gave wise counsel to everyone but himself. We all reason 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 head with no stake in how you got here.

It sits somewhere between a quick gut-check and a months-long mentorship with real targets and accountability. It will not be a therapy session - and if that's what I think you actually need, I'll tell you so, plainly.

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.
Explore More ↓
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.
Explore More ↓
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.
Explore More ↓
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.
Explore More ↓

What WE 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.
Explore More ↓
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.
Explore More ↓
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.
Explore More ↓
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.
Explore More ↓
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.
Explore More ↓
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.
Explore More ↓
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.
Explore More ↓
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.
Explore More ↓

Field Notes

The practice, written down

Field Notes is the practice, written down. Not marketing and not thought leadership - the same straight second opinion you'd get on a call, only free and out in the open. Every piece takes one of the eight areas above and works through what it really costs, what nobody quotes you up front, and what we'd say if you were sitting across the desk. If an article saves you a call, it has done its job.

Career, Leadership & Enterprise

Turnarounds, starting from nothing, and the AI your staff already use - the operator's view, not the consultant's deck.

Sales, Bids & Negotiation

Five hundred deals' worth of what wins work and what quietly loses it - from both sides of the table.

Money & Markets

The fees nobody quotes and the products built to part you from your savings - written by someone who paid for the lesson.

Dubai Setup & Relocation

Rents, schools, free zone versus mainland - and who probably shouldn't come. Eighteen years on the ground, not eighteen months.

Property - Buying & Renovating

What a villa renovation or commercial fit-out actually costs - the real AED numbers, and why the cheapest quote is just the least complete one.

Health, Fitness & Longevity

A framework for where to start, not a protocol to copy - and how to advocate for yourself when the system says wait.

Employment, Hiring & Dismissal

Packages, gratuity, grading exercises and end-of-service - read from both sides of the desk before you sign.

Relationships & Family

Divorce, dependants and the decisions that arrive uninvited - what it costs beyond the legal fees.

Read the Field Notes

How it works

01

Get Started

Tell us 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.

Outcomes

A new practice, built on two decades of doing exactly this. These are the kinds of outcomes the work is built to produce - real client names will appear here, with permission, as the first engagements complete.

Promoted into senior leadership after years stuck at middle management.

Career & Leadership

Avoided a costly acquisition following an independent feasibility review.

Enterprise & Strategy

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

Setup & Relocation

Negotiated a significantly improved employment package.

Negotiation

Turned around a struggling business unit inside eighteen months.

Turnaround

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

Property

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

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.