If you are a business owner, you probably have areas where you don’t have all the answers. There are times when you need another perspective. It is easy to think that you can’t form a team to brainstorm, problem-solve and provide feedback because your internal staff is small – or might be just you.
That doesn’t mean you have to do everything on your own or that you could or should have all the answers. Instead, it means you need to build a team of people who are willing to provide you with advice, input and support. You may need to hire someone to help, like a business coach, but you may also want to find a group of like-minded people who support each other.
Remember, even big companies with many talented people, will bring in consultants to solve problems or make improvements. This is a normal part of being a business owner.
I am involved in a number of networking groups, and I approached another member of a team and asked him about creating a mastermind. Together, we brainstormed until we had the right combination of people for our group. If you are interested in creating a mastermind group, first figure out ideally who the group members would be. Then go and ask them. I try to look for people who have different areas of expertise than I do and people who have a high level of success in their business.
There are five people, including me, in our mastermind. We are all business owners. We are in different phases of our businesses and we bring different talents and abilities. We meet every other week for an hour to talk through celebrations and challenges. We also have the ability to text or email if there is a need that won’t wait until the next meeting.
Here is an example of how the mastermind group helps me with challenging decisions. When I get a new graphic from my design team that I’m not sure of, I run it by my mastermind team. I can discuss my business fundamentals and get feedback on the changes I’m considering. I know that I can trust these people to hold my confidence, as they often know what I plan to roll out before I do it.
Research shows that our success tends to align with the people we spend the most time with. I like to spend time with people who encourage me with their presence and abilities, to step up and do more.
I also employ experts in things where I know I don’t have enough information. You’ve heard me talk about my bookkeeper but I also have a CPA, a marketing firm and a business attorney. It is good to have a team of experts who keep me from making costly mistakes.
None of us can see ourselves or our business from the outside perspective because we are caught inside. As difficult as it can be to hear, I get real and specific feedback about the places I could improve from my team members. I always have a momentary butterflies in the stomach feeling but I know these people have my best interests at heart. When I listen to understand and then examine their feedback, I’m able to make good improvements in my business.
One of the hardest things, I think, is coming up with new content all the time. Whether it is a weekly social media campaign or it is what to say in a weekly meeting, there are times when you just don’t have any good ideas. I speak about my business for 30 seconds a week in my BNI chapter. I have a call the night before with another member nearly every week. We have both been doing this a long time and sometimes struggle with what to talk about. I can usually make a good suggestion for her and she can usually make a good suggestion for me. It is a valuable service that we provide each other.
The point of this is to go build a team for your business. Don’t struggle alone and don’t feel the only team members you can have are employees. In fact, I’d encourage you to consider what problems your employees are qualified to assist you with and what things would be better handled by someone with different experience.
Not sure how you could do this for yourself? Consider a free strategy session. In 30 minutes on Zoom we’ll brainstorm how you can build the team that supports you!
Charlise Latour a business coach and owner of Accelerate Your Success. She works with each client to determine what their goals are and create a plan so they can achieve them. She is actively involved in Dancing & Singing With The King which raises money to promote dance education including working with local schools to offer dance classes during the school day. This is a natural fit as she is an avid ballroom dancer.
