Any kind of coaching or use of an outside advisor is a great idea for advancing your business and staying at the top of your game but there are many choices in how you do it. Much depends on what your goals are as well as how you particularly respond to getting help.
Some people would rather the total privacy of 1 on 1 situations. Of course you will certainly pay for that kind of luxury, but it's well worth the money for the results you get. The coach you are working with is completely dedicated to you during your time together and their only goal is to move you from point A to point B in the straightest line possible every time they interact with you.
Your coach should have a lot of connections so to put you in touch with to attain your goals, but unfortunately there is no true networking aspect to 1 on 1 training.
Some people like a group setting for the camaraderie and networking with trusted individuals. This group is made to be a board of directors (that can't fire you) and a sounding board all in one. The facilitator, who should be a business coach/advisor, also puts their 2 cents plus in and keeps the others focused on the concern on hand.
Some groups are set up for only those in a certain industry and others are a hodge-podge of different industries. Either way, these groups are not made to promote conflicts of interest. If it's a local type face to face group, nobody will represent the same business that you do. A larger geographic group that meets only a few times at a central location or those that meet regularly by phone may have some overlap, but the geography should avoid a conflict.
As a matter of fact an overlap in a geographically diverse group could be a great thing to find out what others that are in your field have done to get past the problems you are having. It's all about openness, sharing and keeping a lid on everything said. Your fellow members will adhere to these rules or they will not be welcome in the group.
On another note, brainstorming and networking is the key to a group run by a coach versus just you and a coach. In additional, a well facilitated group also has a much desired educational portion to it that you often don't see in a 1-on-1 setting.
By the way, the beauty of a well run Mastermind Group is that you will have 1 on 1 opportunities and pay much less for it since it comes as a package deal. Can you really beat that kind of ROI?
Don't forget how lonely it is at the top. A dedicated group can do wonders. It certainly does for me.
If you haven't done so already, look for a group to join as we come to the end of 2008 so that your 2009 gets a true jump start.
So why would I choose this particular title? Well, for two reasons actually.
First, many business owners come to me with the misconception that their only real need for help is in beefing up marketing, which will then increase sales and make them more money. The reality on this is two fold.
First of all, marketing prowess and then hopefully increased sales, will only result in a better "top line". How you have your business structured will actually determine what your next "only problem" is in running your business.
Increased revenue actually brings about a huge change in any business. It causes the need for more employees to handle all of the additional work, if not contractors of some sort. Will you have the time and upfront money to handle the sudden need for more people? Do you have the ability to hire the best people possible in what is often a very short time period since you didn't already plan for this need?
You now also must have in place a way to handle your finances through systems and possibly accounting/bookkeeping help. Client management will also now be on your plate so your newfound customers are happy and stay with you as well as your original customers.
Sadly, without the right infrastructure, you could end up like many who experience a growth explosion in their business. It actually causes them to lose money or sadly altogether causes the business to implode.
The second main reason I chose this particular subject/title was to point out that marketing is often the only thing an entrepreneur will admit to not knowing. And that's frequently because nothing else has been a major issue yet due to low sales or they are just fooling themselves into thinking they are great managers with all the knowledge they need about handling employees, financials, clients, etc.
Very few people are born into being good at every aspect of running a business and even if they are, there will always be other things to get help with from others as well as a knowledgeable facilitator. Maybe all you need right this moment is marketing help, which a well-run mastermind group will provide. But more importantly, a mastermind group will keep you on track with the other parts of your business as well as give you other entrepreneurs that understand what you are going through to communicate with.
Even for the best of the best business owners, it's lonely at the top. Just having other like minds to talk to makes a mastermind group worth its weight in gold. And that's why thinking there is no need for a mastermind group when only marketing help is needed will be a huge mistake for any entrepreneur to make.
For this post I'm talking about the age old problem that most business owners have. They think that the only thing missing in their business is well developed and executed marketing. Although this is a big issue, marketing is only a piece of the entire puzzle to have a business that really clicks.
Mastermind Groups are a source of education, planning, implementation and accountability to get things done. When you have an entire business and everything that makes it click to think about, this type of resource for an entrepreneur becomes even more important. But many entrepreneurs still think that all they need is someone to tell them how to market their services and products, which makes them also think that any type of help with anything else in their business is a waste of time and money.
At least these business owners realize they need some kind of help but this limited thinking couldn't be further from the truth, my friends.
Let's put the big picture in place: First off, if you already have a decent amount of clients you have already worked with, then Client Management is more important than marketing to new clients. It's the easy pickings with a lot less work involved than getting new clients and allows you to not need as many new clients. It’s simple to see when you sit back and reflect on it for a second.
Next, the main culprit that business owners get bit by after marketing is Time Management. Solving or at least lessening this problem would give them more time to market to new prospects and current clients. Oddly enough the biggest excuse I hear about marketing is not having the time to do it. Now how does that make sense?
How about Metrics and Financials? These are foreign or scary terms to many business owners but are the keys to effective marketing. Amazing, but so true.
Guess what happens when your marketing really starts to kick in? That's right, you will need help from others so Employee and Contractor Management comes into the mix. I can't tell you how many businesses I've seen take a dive not long after big money started rolling in. Believe it or not, like many, they were ill prepared to handle the increased revenue and the responsibilities that come with it.
So, do you still think you may only need help with marketing and not belong to a well rounded mastermind group?
There are so many ways to connect with groups of people that can help you out in different aspects of your business that sometimes it's hard to choose which ones to go with. Knowing the difference between each and testing them out, just like with any other thing worthy of trying in your business, is the only way to do it.
There are a variety of different venues available for entrepreneurs today. They include online forums, networking groups, business/technical associations, round table groups, and mastermind groups. For today, I want to give you some insight as to the difference between networking groups and mastermind groups.
Let's start with networking groups. This goes for the big national/international associations as well as local groups and chambers of commerce. They are built to encourage referrals, most add in some general business education, and none do anything for implementation and accountability.
That leaves a big hole in the business fabric for any entrepreneur in any industry since implementation and accountability are use the real crux of most business issues. Yes, even marketing and sales.
Most entrepreneurs that decide to join a networking group or chamber do so because they want to create new business. Well, I have to tell you from experience that you are much better off sending a salesperson to these groups than yourself as the owner.
As entrepreneurs, we all know that it's lonely at the top. Even more so if you have a micro business since you spend most of your day never interacting with people on a social level. Here comes the problem.
With no water cooler time outs, networking groups turn out to be a social event for you. Sadly, those groups sometimes are already run like a social group at the meetings and the functions they sponsor. It's nobody's fault, it's just human nature.
Having a solid relationship with people is important when you want to be able to refer them to others and vice versa, but at one point things can turn more social than business like. At this point, your ROI for the group has just turned sour on you.
Often times to make matters worse the bigger the group, the more social cliques end up forming. This is a major drawback especially in chambers of commerce. They draw you in making you think you can do business with 100's of other business people. What they fail to tell you is that there are 20 other people in you field there and most of your networking is going to be finding a little group within this big group that will let you into their fold. Not fun and a huge waste of time.
If you are going to involve yourself with a pure networking group, stick to that conduct a business like meeting and don't let businesses overlap each other to create unnecessary competition. If you feel compelled to join a chamber, stick with a town chamber to avoid huge numbers of members that are probably in direct competition with you and participate in a small offshoot group within the chamber to network with a smaller bunch of people that will actually pay attention to you.
So why join a mastermind group instead or as a combination to your networking groups? Well, it's all about those missing links. The truly successful people in business have a strong network, but also constantly educate themselves, expose themselves to new ideas, implement what they learn, and understand that you need someone above you or at the same level as you to make sure you are accountable for doing what you said you would accomplish.
Mastermind groups are good for networking, depending on if it's an industry based group or not, but they are built to be small and powerful as well as having a true facilitator to keep things in order. You would be amazed at how much business can be referred to you by a group of 5 to 15 people that know you inside and out.
My final thoughts to you are to keep track of your networking group ROI and get out if you are wasting time and money. Do the same with your mastermind group. At some point there comes a time when you need to move on from any group, teacher, or advisor when you have reached your goals or they are no longer being met.
EvanCarmichael.com is the world's #1 website for small business motivation and strategies. Evan also runs a series of successful Mastermind Groups in Toronto for entrepreneurs.
Guest Contributor: George J. Sierchio
