Why Your Organization Needs an Advisory Board

Posted on by Suzanne Lyon

John Francis Post

A word from the wise…

J.FrancisJohn Francis

Note: Although an advisory board can be very beneficial to your business, it’s important to understand that the board isn’t there for the business’ benefit – it’s there to help you, the business owner, achieve greater levels of success.

If after reading this piece you want to proceed to the next step, I welcome you to contact me by clicking on the “Contact John Francis” link in the upper left corner of the page.  During this free call, we’ll have a judgement-free discussion about the benefits that are most critical to you.

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If you want to play the bigger game, and are serious about building your business, you need an advisory board.

From giving objective advice to scouting the marketplace, an advisory board can give your organization the edge it needs to compete at a higher level.  This is particularly true if you have a business with over $1 million in revenue and either a business partner or ambitions of passing the business to your children someday.

Not to be confused with a Board of Directors, an advisory board is an informal gathering of well-respected individuals from the community whose primary purpose is to help your business succeed – not for their financial benefit, but for the mentoring, networking and social opportunities the experience provides.

It’s always a good idea to provide some compensation for your advisory board members; at a minimum this means paying for their meals during meetings, though many business owners provide a financial stipend, as well.  Typically, this small financial investment is well worth the benefits the advisory board provides.

The 8 Benefits of Having an Advisory Board

  1. The discipline of preparation – Prior to each board meeting, you’ll need to create an agenda with all the appropriate attachments such as financial statements, operations updates, marketing updates and current business issues. The process of preparing for each meeting in advance is incredibly valuable, as it allows for critical information about the organization to be evaluated on a regular basis.

  2. Increased credibility – Although an advisory board is strictly there to help you, the business owner, its presence can go a long way towards giving your organization increased legitimacy in the marketplace. In the long term, this legitimacy can actually improve your business’ chance of survival.

  3. Disaster planning/relief – If you’re suddenly unavailable to run your business, do you have someone who is knowledgeable enough to take over? An established advisory board understands your business and will be able to help keep the wheels moving in your absence. This can be a huge relief to your family members and employees if they’re forced to continue the operation without you.

  4. A bigger network – Your network increases dramatically through your advisory board – after all, your board isn’t JUST the board, it’s everyone the board knows. This makes your board a valuable resource when you need a new employee, for example. Through their own professional networks, they may know of the perfect vendor or management professional to join your team.

  5. A focus on the future – While you’re busy managing the day-to-day operations of your business, your advisory board can remain focused on the future. This allows you to rest more easily, knowing that you have a team of professionals out there who are looking out for your best interests while not in the day-to-day grind.

  6. Someone to blame – If you have a big decision to make, using the excuse that you need to “run the idea by your board” is a great way to buy yourself some more time (and make yourself sound more impressive). The “blaming the board” strategy can also work when you have a difficult decision to make. Need to replace a beloved employee (or family member)? Just saying, “the board made me do it…”(whether it’s true or not), can help remove some pressure or hard feelings and deflect blame to a third party they’ll never meet.

  7. More efficient – Instead of scheduling five different phone calls at five different times, your advisory board allows you to gather all of your most trusted resources in one room for a focused and collaborative discussion about your organization. This gives you the most leverage and value for your time – while still leaving plenty of time for the actual running of your business.

  8. Develop your staff – Asking key employees to make presentations to the board can be a great way to develop your staff and see who is ready for leadership. These presentations can be about anything they want – budgets, projects, results – the key is how well the information is delivered. Make sure your board is ready to ask questions and scrutinize the information being presented to them – it will show you how well your staff performs under pressure and help set expectations with accountability.

Additional Considerations for the Franchise Industry

If you are a franchisor or franchisee, an advisory board can add some additional benefits to your organization:

As a franchisor, an advisory board can add credibility to your organization and create confidence in the eyes of your franchisees.  It can also prepare you for growth, whether you’re seeking private equity funding, a merger and acquisition or brand development. Also keep in mind that if this board of advisors transitions into a more formal Board of Directors with fiduciary responsibility, you can add it (and the experience of its members) to the Franchise Disclosure Document for a further confidence boost.

As a franchisee, an advisory board can help you better see what your brand is providing – as well as where it’s falling short. Board members can also provide a great deal of experience to your organization when buying another location, selling a store or preparing for a merger and acquisition.

With so many benefits, it’s important to highlight that there truly should be no downsides to establishing an advisory board.  If you’re not seeing the benefits of your board members, or a member isn’t working out, simply make some changes or shut it down.  As the business owner, it’s up to you to set the expectations and manage the board in a way that serves your needs. When used effectively, an advisory board can become a great asset, adding an important contribution to the success of your business.

via Why Your Organization Needs an Advisory Board | John Francis.

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John Francis is a consultant, strategic advisor and keynote speaker who helps franchise organizations  “see what they don’t see” and achieve their highest levels of success.  In his 25+ year career, John has worked as a franchisee, franchisor, investor and Board Member for brands and organizations such as Cost Cutters, PostNet, Sports Clips, Office Pride and the International Franchise Association (IFA). To learn more about John, visit http://www.johnwfrancis.com.

Copyright © 2015 by John Francis. All rights reserved.

Do you have an “Inner Circle”?

Posted on by Suzanne Lyon

In The Spirit of “Recommended Resources”…Do you have an “Inner Circle”?

What is Inner Circle?

There may be many ways to answer this question but for me it is my trusted group of advisers and friends of over 19 years; I found them by joining the peer group Inner Circle  when I was a fairly green entrepreneur and they have been invaluable to me on my entrepreneurial journey.

Inner Circle is a good fit for those business owners who realize they can learn from experience – and it doesn’t have to be their own. They realize they don’t have all the answers, and need the candor, insights and energy that our facilitated meeting format and process can provide.

At an Inner Circle meeting you will be challenged, and you will challenge others. Our Members hold each other accountable to their stated goals and cheer them on to becoming more and more prosperous.

The benefits that Members derive from their Inner Circle membership are as varied as the business owners themselves and the topics they bring each month to their peer group.

Based on the feedback we receive from our Members, we classify their benefits in to these three categories:

Clarity. “Conversing with people outside of the profession has helped me think differently about our organization… I have made changes and decisions within my business that I did not feel confident enough to do before joining Inner Circle.”

End to Isolation. “What appealed to me about Inner Circle was the perspective of businesses different from my own. I had hoped to possibly blend practices of other areas of businesses in to my own, and it worked… I truly enjoy the sharing amongst the Members, learning from them and watching the success of other Members as they grow.”

Success. “My business has improved because I have become a stronger leader and have learned how to better manage employees.”

Straight from the members themselves…

“The Inner Circle experience makes a LASTING IMPACT. I have friends, clients and trusted allies in my life today because I joined an Inner Circle in 1988.”

“It is truly LIKE HAVING YOUR OWN BOARD OF DIRECTORS, each of whom is interested in you being successful.”

” You have a peer executive group that will CHALLENGE YOU TO GROW & HOLD YOU ACCOUNTABLE.”

“Inner Circle provides PRACTICAL ADVICE TO REAL WORLD PROBLEMS from people who have tread the path before. It provides me a trustworthy, proven network of resources.”

Get There Faster.

Would an Inner Circle help your business?

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Look into Inner Circle today!

Harnessing Entrepreneurial Manic-Depression: Making the Rollercoaster Work for You

Posted on by Suzanne Lyon

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The sky is falling!

Ever since the media’s Chicken Little response to the tremors in the financial markets, I’ve felt like shouting from the rooftops “now you know how it feels to be an entrepreneur!”

I just lost 9% overnight?! Fill a bathtub and get the toaster. I’ve had enough.
Wait… I actually gained 13% while in the bathroom? I’m f**king Superman!

This is a guest post on capitalizing on — vs. countering — the “entrepreneur’s disease” (manic depression) through 4 cyclical stages. This is done by pairing appropriate activities to specific — though not necessarily positive — emotional states…

The author is Cameron Herold, former COO of 1-800-GOT-JUNK, whose professional resume includes:

-Helping build revenues from $2 Million to $105 Million in 6 years (no debt or outside shareholders)
-Building a PR team that landed more than 5,000 stories in those same 6 years
-Hiring 220 people in 4 months
-Leading the sale, branding, and integration of 450+ franchise locations.
-Teaching his psychological theories at the Entrepreneurial Masters Program at MIT.

I first saw this presentation at an Entepreneurs’ Organization (EO) event in Omaha prior to my successful Warren Buffett quest at the annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting.

I [Tim Ferris] encourage you all to read this,

 

Cameron:

Marc Andreessen, co-founder of Netscape, once wrote:

“First and foremost, a start-up puts you on an emotional rollercoaster unlike anything you have ever experienced. You flip rapidly from day-to-day – one where you are euphorically convinced you are going to own the world, to a day in which doom seems only weeks away and you feel completely ruined, and back again. Over and over and over. And I’m talking about what happens to stable entrepreneurs. There is so much uncertainty and so much risk around practically everything you are doing. The level of stress that you’re under generally will magnify things incredible highs and unbelievable lows at whiplash speed and huge magnitude. Sound like fun?”

Many ultra-successful entrepreneurs are even clinically diagnosed as manic-depressive or bi-polar. Francis Ford Coppola has it. So does Ted Turner.

This article is about the emotional intricacies of being an entrepreneur – about what you’re going to feel during the journey.

The concept that we’re going to examine is called the Transition Curve. It resembles a rollercoaster.

Regardless of whether or not you believe you will ride an emotional rollercoaster running a business, you will. You have two fundamental choices: you can hold on and scream, or you can wave your hands in the air and have some fun.

I’m going to walk you through these different analogies, but let’s first look at the various stages of this process, which repeat.

 

* Stage 1: The first stage of the concept is called “Uninformed Optimism”. At this stage on a rollercoaster, just getting to the top of the rollercoaster, you experience feelings of an adrenalin rush, characterized by excitement and nervous energy.

* Stage 2: The second stage is called “Informed Pessimism”. As you ride over the top of the curve you now have a bit more information. Feelings of fear, nervousness, and frustration begin to set in. Perhaps you even want to get off of it.

* Stage 3 – The third stage is called “Crisis of Meaning”. You’re past scared. You feel despair. It’s as if you’re standing on the edge of a cliff ready to jump, and you begin to think “Today the rollercoaster’s going off the bottom of the track for the very first time.” You feel helpless and you’re both terrified and frozen.

* At this point, you face a critical juncture. You can come off the bottom of the curve and crash and burn, which is when your business goes bankrupt, you lose your marriage, you start drinking, or you end up in a doctor’s office because of stress. Or you can come around the corner because you’re getting support at “Crisis of Meaning” and you can enter an upward swing call “Informed Optimism”.

* Stage 4 – Informed Optimism. You’re calm. You’re informed. You might even say you are cautiously optimistic.

Capitalizing on All Emotional Phases — Activity Pairing

Here is the critical point – at each stage of the curve, you can do things to leverage the feelings and energy — positive or negative — that you have at that moment. Fighting against these phases is like working against a natural force.

Read the list of ways you can leverage this cycle by Cameron Herold