How you can channel expertise to help your business grow
No one can succeed in business 100% on their own. For one thing, you need clients. But more than that is understanding the key role that relationship building plays in business growth and success. In other words, people alone don’t drive new sales and profits; relationships do.
A board of advisors is just one way to formalize the supportive relationships a business needs to thrive. Here we’ll cover the role of mentorship and how to create a board of advisors that will ensure long-term success, no matter your industry.
Why mentorship matters
Jay Abraham has mentored many, many people over his career, but he’s also been mentored (the same goes for Tony). No matter the context – business or personal – mentorship lets us learn from those around us who have more experience and knowledge than we do. While most of the time mentors are older than we are, age isn’t everything: shifting into a new industry or focusing on a new skill set can mean finding mentors who are younger than you in terms of years, though more experienced in that domain. Mentors can act as sounding boards, help you make better decisions, even give you guidance as a template of success themselves.
Mentorship is the main purpose for a business’s board of advisors. Members of your board of advisors (or advisory board, mastermind group, brain trust… whatever you want to call it) usually have no legal responsibility for your business’s operations nor own shares in your company – that’s board of directors territory. Your board of advisors is there to help you solve the problems your business encounters; they’ve got the inside track since they’ve already overcome the same problems (or at least similar ones) themselves.
How to create the best board of advisors
Jay says there are at least three types of people who should be on your board of advisors (though these categories apply to your general personal network too).
- People with answers: If they don’t have the answer, they can connect you to others who do.
- People with resources: These can be tangible or intangible resources; do you need more space, equipment, money, time, access, or something else?
- People with specialized task performance: They can perform these tasks better than you or anyone who works for you.
For Jay, another key element for an excellent board of advisors, whether formal or informal, is speed. These are people you can call on whenever you need and they will help you solve problems and seize opportunities better and faster than your competition.
Leveraging your board of advisors for long-term success
This group of trusted mentors and advisors should include people who, collectively, have already laid the foundations for hundreds of successful, preeminent companies themselves. Experienced mentors can help you realize, and then leverage, your deepest inspirations, greatest personal strengths and even better understand the tasks you instinctively enjoy doing. Name a preeminent business and we bet their founder had (at least) one quality mentor helping them along the way. The economist Benjamin Graham mentored Warren Buffett, Warren Buffett has mentored Bill Gates, and so the chain will continue.
Draw on the power of a collective board of advisors to get strategic advice, correct mistakes before they become too costly, and generally make sure your financial and strategic marketing plan is on track. Need help? Find the best people you can and ask for it. We bet you’ll find resources beyond what you could have hoped for along the way.
About Jay:
Jay Abraham is a proven business leader and top executive coach in the United States, and a close friend of Tony Robbins. Jay has spent his entire career solving complex problems and fixing underperforming businesses. He has significantly increased the bottom lines of over 10,000 clients in more than 1,000 industries, and over 7,200 sub industries, worldwide. Jay has dealt with virtually every type of business scenario and issue. He has studied, and solved, almost every type of business question, challenge and opportunity. His principles can be the difference between mediocrity and a business that generates millions of dollars in additional revenue.
The best board of advisors will complement your strengths
Take Tony Robbins’ Business Owner Evaluation today to uncover the strengths and weaknesses of your business to create a customized strategy for success.