I launched my first Group Mentoring Program in 2018. Three very genial male business owners joined the program and we had a great year together. The program was based around the top 10 Small Business Essentials that I have learned MUST be in the foundations of a small business for it to achieve consistent growth.
The top 10 Small Business Essentials are:
The top 10 Small Business Essentials are:
* WHO are you? Your IDENTITY and VALUES
* WHY this Business? Your PASSION
* WHAT do you do? Your MISSION
* WHO do you do it for? Your MARKETING plans
* HOW do you deliver? Your BUSINESS MODEL / STRATEGY
* HOW do you win? Your SALES Process
* WHAT do you measure? Your NUMBERS
* WHO helps you? Your TEAM
* HOW do you train your team? Your PROCESSES
* WHAT is your Exit Strategy? FUTURE PROOF yourself
The program and the delivery were excellent. Each month participants received a 25-minute video which explained the key issues around the topic. I also created a 5 – 10 question PDF which helped them to think about how the issues raised related to their situation.The starting point was different for all of them. E.g. they had never realised the connection between themselves and their business. Throughout the year in our 3-hour group session, the participants were continually challenged and informed and found valuable things to implement in their business.My lessons learned:
- Group mentoring programs are hard to sell, even with greatly reduced fees compared to my one-on-one mentoring. I was hoping for 5 – 10 participants. Others looked at it but decided they could not afford the time or the money to do the program. My marketing will need to improve a lot for me to do this again.
- The program confirmed my hunch that many business owners do not spend much time thinking about how to do business better. They are busy with all the things they deem to be important, mostly responding to urgent demands of clients. There is very little time or focus working on the business. These are hard-working people who really have a very busy job. The idea that they could have a business that works for them was not in their thinking.
- They all struggled to implement more than about 30% of the information given. These guys were so caught up doing the minutia of day to day business. They struggled to invest more than an hour per week beyond our group time to implement changes into their business. This surprised me at first, but it did not seem to trouble them. I’m not sure if I should have pushed them harder. My expectations changed over the 10 months, and a couple of them began to do more as the program went on.
The good news is that everyone finished the program. We did not have any dropouts. And the feedback sheets at the final session were all very encouraging. They have valued the program, the learning, the group interaction, and the business support. All have had some very good wins throughout the year.
If you would like to know more about my Group Mentoring Program and how you could be part of it, click here.
