“You must learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t possibly live long enough to make them all yourself.” -Sam Levenson

As a kid, I loved to collect things: superhero comic books, baseball cards, and…acorns. Huge oak trees showered the schoolyard each fall with fat, brown, irresistible acorns. One day during recess, I followed an impulse and filled the pockets of my jeans. What was I thinking? Back in the classroom I sat down, and the acorns burst out of my bulging pockets, rattling across the wood floor. My face burned with embarrassment as the other kids laughed and the fearsome Miss Sampsel scowled.

Years later, as a business owner and employer, I realized that impulsive actions or decisions could have serious consequences. The “acorns” were now decisions like:

  • We’ve landed a big account, and we really need the boost in sales. But the credit terms they want could put us in a cash squeeze. What do I do?
  • A valued employee is lobbying for that new management position – but I think we need someone who already has a track record elsewhere. How do I handle this?
  • Our Sales Manager is pushing for a distribution center in Chicago – over 700 miles away -- to service a chain of convenience stores. What questions do I need to ask -- and answer -- to make a good decision?

Sound familiar? Do you have “acorns” ready to burst out of your pockets?

If I’d had an Advisory Board -- a trusted group of business owners facing similar challenges, for instance – I could have gotten “real-world” advice that might have saved me a lot of time, money and trouble. Maybe I wouldn’t have had to make the same mistakes that others had already made and learned from !

Such groups – sometimes called “peer advisory” or “Mastermind” groups -- have been around for quite some time. But with cash being tight, the cost of membership was out of my reach -- so I relied on my own judgment even when I was on unfamiliar turf.

Today, as a business advisor to entrepreneurial companies, I often meet owners who need that real-world perspective. Yet the franchised advisory groups require a substantial financial commitment that can easily exceed $10,000 a year. And so the smaller companies – including yours? – don’t get the support they need.

Until now.

I started my first business in my home and grew it to a 120-employee manufacturing, marketing and distribution company. On selling that company in 1996, I started my consulting practice, Constructive Business Solutions™, specializing in owners of small and midsize companies who wanted to get to the next level.

Now, for that underserved small-business market, I’m organizing Constructive Business Mastermind Groups™ in the New York Metro area. Members provide feedback and business advice to each other in a confidential setting, aided by a trained facilitator with “been there, done that” experience.

Interested in learning from the mistakes – and successes – of other business owners? Tired of “going it alone” all the time?

The investment you make in your business through use of either professional advisors or peer advisory (Mastermind) groups will pay back through accelerated problem-solving and achievement of business goals.

Have some difficult situations to handle and want to see how others have done it?

Get in touch for more information about Constructive Business Mastermind Groups™ -- see if it’s a good fit for you.

On the web at: http://www.constructivebusiness.info/MastermindGroups.aspx

By e-mail: MastermindInfo@ConstructiveBusiness.info

By phone: (845) 634-0076

Steve Caccavo, President of Constructive Business Solutions™, is the founder and former owner of The Well-Bred Loaf, Inc., a specialty wholesale bakery that invented “blondies.” He draws on his years of entrepreneurial experience to help owners strengthen and grow their small and mid-size businesses. Steve is the author of “What is Your Break-Even Sales Point,” published in the Spring, 2010 edition of Baker’s Rack. © 2010 by Constructive Business Solutions™, a division of Positive Employment Practices, Inc.