Why I need my own "Board of Advisors"

 

I am currently taking two courses in entrepreneurship, one through BYU-Idaho and another through the Kauffman Foundation, sponsored by a local non-profit. In both classes this week, we touched on our “Board of Directors” (BYUI) and our “Advisory Board” (Kauffman Foundation). This never even crossed my radar until really pondering it this week.

I’m a solopreneur. I’m not going to have employees! I’m not going to have shareholders! What is the purpose of this exercise and why does it even matter?

I realize that it will be important to have other friends, trusted family, business friends and colleagues to bounce ideas off of. It will be important to make connections not only for referrals, but as way of serving. If I know somebody who is struggling with downsizing their elderly parents, I know I can refer them to Heather who has that process worked out to a science. If I know someone who is having issues with malware or internet security, I know that Dan is going to take good care of them.

I got to be a part of this "brainstorming process" in my Kauffman class last night during our weekly Zoom meeting. Another one of my classmates is involved in starting up a subscription-based handyman service. It was stimulating to listen and contribute to aspects of his business that he had not previously considered. Because there were 8 of us to throw ideas around, lots of lightbulb moments were happening. It was exciting to witness. I am really glad to attend this class with these people – we are all in totally different startups but we have the “learning” in common and now that we’ve spent time together, we will be able to continue growing together. People like to work with those they know, like and trust. There are 8 people who didn’t know each other 6 weeks ago, but now know and understand a lot more about each other, what the work we do is, and how we contribute. I am already looking forward to recommending, if not hiring myself, some of my new friends. I know I can ask them what they think about things that relate to running a successful business.

We are also meeting other people to include in our "Advisory Boards" - professionals like attorneys, bankers and insurance brokers who have lots of experience working with small businesses and these connections will also be important members of our Advisory Boards.

Our exercise in my BYUI class was to make up a Board of Directors with a Chairman and 5 board members. These could be anybody, living or dead. So we were free to create our own "Dream Team" so to speak. My choices may seem far-fetched to some, but this is my Dream Team, so I get to pick who I want. My Chairman would be God the Father, I mean -- who else could give me more expert advice than Him? At my right is my Savior Jesus Christ. Father and Son will work in tandem to give me the perfect advice and counsel. To my left is my husband who has always supported me. To round out my board, I've chosen a gal by the name of Abbey Ashley who runs a successful training and marketing empire that is all about Virtual Assistance. Then last but not least, I picked Walt Disney due to his creative genius (don't we all want that to rub off on us?) and my loving, intelligent, common-sense Gammie. I don't think she ever gave me bad advice, and she always made the best snickerdoodles - we'd have great snacks at board meetings.

Back to reality, I now realize this is something that every successful business person has - a core group of people that has your best interest at heart and vice-versa.