What is a business or entrepreneur community and why does it matter?
There have been countless books written about the power of community. So many that trying to convince you the benefits would be redundant. Instead, what I hope you take away from this is how having or being part of a business community will create positive change and eventually transform your business. When you’re surrounded by like-minded entrepreneurs who are all waking up and doing the same thing as you everyday, it makes growth seem more attainable. It makes setting BIG goals more realistic and it allows you to feel safe knowing that you have people just like you to share your wins and your challenges.
A business community is defined as: “A group of people who have the same interests”. One of my favorite leaders, Zig Ziglar said; “You can get everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” Being part of a strong, growing and high functioning community involves equal parts giving and receiving. Communities grow then people show up. Showing up means helping your fellow community members hit their goals, overcome internal and external barriers and learn from each other.
The #1 takeaway I can share after coaching hundreds of home service entrepreneurs over the past 10 years is this: The power of perspective. In any community, you’re guaranteed to have members with varying degrees of superpowers. Some will be experts at sales, others automation, operations, marketing or leadership. You too have a superpower to share!
Hearing a business owner’s perspective on something that relates to their superpower is undeniably profound. I’ve been fortunate enough to be in a room where perspectives were shared resulting in a lightbulb moment that completely changed the trajectory of another business’s growth. Your beliefs become behaviors. Sometimes two people can believe something the complete opposite to be true. It’s only when the victor shares their story, the community learns their perspective.
As an example, some home service entrepreneurs walk up to a massively huge project and start salivating knowing they’re going to get this job. They bid it correctly, create the relationship and have an industry leading closing percentage and average ticket. Others walk up to the same job, get super nervous, underbid the job, present themselves as scared and have a lower success rate than average. It’s all about perspective! Why can one person have the confidence to sell at a higher rate than the other? The right community will give you the confidence to believe in yourself just as others in the community believe in themselves.
Different types of communities to consider:
here are a few considerations when identifying the right community for you. Some are based on the size of your business, some are open and free, others are paid. There’s franchise communities, licensee communities, specific industry and general business communities. What matters most is you find a group of people or a community that is inline with your business goals, personality, beliefs and as a bonus, a group that shares your core values. Most importantly, a community you believe in, can contribute to and one you can meet their time and financial requirements.
As these questions before joining a community:
- Who are the members?
- What industries do the members represent?:
- How long has this group existed?
- What is the group looking for with its members?
- What are the time and financial commitments?
Different home service business communities:
Franchise organizations: It might come as a surprise to those that know me well, but I am a believer in the franchise model. My time in franchising taught me SO much about leadership and scale. With the advancement of online training and software, franchises might not have the allure or uniqueness they once did. However, if you’re someone who wants to buy into a system over building a brand from scratch, there’s nothing better than a franchise. If you’re interested in learning more about franchising, franchise opportunities or home service franchise brands, to me the gold standard is Neighborly.
What makes franchise systems unique is the exclusivity of each brand. A franchise organization is essentially a collection of people all using the same brand, software, systems and services to grow together. The members (franchisees) are all in it together knowing that the more franchisees their are and the more successful the brand is, the more value their franchise holds. It’s a brilliant concept that will cost you. According to small business trends, the average cost to purchase a home service franchise location is $59,000. Much higher than starting something on your own.
Free groups: Free groups are equally fantastic and risky. There’s nothing in existence that spawns more trolls, opinion heroes and terrible opinions than the WRONG free Facebook group. If you want to have your questions answered with condescending sarcasm, start here. Don’t take this the wrong way, I’m part of plenty of incredible free groups. It’s just hard filtering through the infinite abyss to find the gems. Here are a couple of my favorites
- The Growth Value: For Home Service CEOs
- Home Service Expert (Hosted by Tommy Mello)
- Sales Boost / The Science of the Sale
- Bookkeeping, Beer, and BS Group
- All Things Click Call Sell
Besides social media groups, there are also standalone and self-found or created communities. I’ve been part of a mastermind group with my best friend who owns an 8 figure company, another friend who owns a recording studio and my cousin, who spends 8 figures per month on digital marketing media buying. We’ve met quarterly for around 4 years. It’s not formal, but something we all look forward to sharing progress. And over the years, the history and growth of all of us has been incredible.
Paid groups: I have no idea who to tribute this quote to so I’ll just say Brandon Vaughn and Joshua Latimer. “When you pay, you pay attention.”
In my opinion and experience, there is no greater expense for your own personal development than the right mastermind group. Admittedly, I’m not nearly as involved in mine as I want to be, but even with my lack of involvement at times, I’d gladly pay well above the $1,497mo. to my mastermind. The entire community consistently shares and even overshares secrets to success, winning perspectives and their proven roadmap to scaling.
Items to consider when joining a paid mastermind group:
- Who are its members? Specific to your niche, general business, etc.
- What is the size of the groups members? You migh think you want to be with much larger businesses, but trust me, you might feel weird with a potential lack of being able to contribute.
- How often does the group meet?
- What obligations do I have as a member?
Personally, I prefer to be part of no more than 2 masterminds at a time.
- A niche mastermind where I can grow together with similar like minded entrepreneurs.
- A general business organization where I can meet other entrepreneurs outside my internal circle of influence. Something similar to the Entrepreneur Organization (EO)
I’ve been a certified coach with the CONQUER™ program which is a community for home service business owners for 3 years and love every minute of it. Over this time, I’ve worked with dozens of entrepreneurs who have scaled their businesses and changed the trajectory of their family tree. If you’re interested in learning more about the CONQUER™ program, click here.
Finally, take the leap. Join a group, any group just to see how it goes. What’s the worst thing that can happen? I’ll tell you. You leave the group, learn what you don’t want and try again. And remember to surround yourself with people who are already doing or have already done what you’re doing!
Comment below if you’d like more information about mastermind groups.
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