Not matter what kind of business you’re in; the three most common issues I have seen in most, if not all small businesses and small business owners are:

1) Small business owners live in ‘isolation’.
 They have no one to talk to
 No one to bounce ideas off of
 No one to ask advice or brainstorm and problem solve with

2) There is no one to hold the small business owner accountable.
 It is easy to fool yourself; especially if the task is something you don’t like doing.
 It is much harder to fool someone else.

3) They have no “game plan”.
 No 90 day plan, much less a
 One Year Plan or a
 Long Range Plan (3 to 5 Years)

I will write about the first two in this article and I am addressing “game plans” in the planning series.

A support group is imperative in any endeavor we undertake. Who has gone-it-alone and I mean completely alone and been successful. If you’re honest with yourself – very few of us have succeeded all alone.

Support groups can
1. Help you problem solve
2. Brainstorm ideas or new avenues of attack on an issue.
3. Hold you accountable to do the things you said you were going to do.
4. Be there for you when things seem overwhelming.
5. Help you plan week to week, month to month and year to year.

Who wouldn’t appreciate having a group of similar-size, similar-type of business entrepreneurs there to help them overcome the obstacles that confront them daily, weekly , monthly and so on?

If you can’t find an existing group, go to your local chamber and ask if they have or would form such groups, form one of your own, get fellow like-minded business owners to join you once a month to problem solve, hold each other accountable, brainstorm, etc.

Contact me and I will send you an outline for running one of these groups, with tips, tricks of the trade and suggestions.

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