Keith Cunningham, my business coach, mentor and good friend. Keith has a truly incredible ability at helping people identify blocks in their business, and giving them the tools to break through and improve not only their business, but their lives as a whole. I am currently fortunate enough to be involved in Keith’s top level program, which he called Board Of Directors. Essentially, it’s a small group of like-minded entrepreneurs who act as each other’s Board of Directors, with Keith as the Chairman. I have 7 other guys in my group, all of which I respect and admire greatly. Every few months, we get together and pound each other’s business, trying to find the holes and help each other find out “What Don’t I See?” That’s the catch phrase Keith always uses, and it’s so powerful, because it’s true – what kills you in business is what you don’t see. We also have conference calls in between our meetings, and we email back and forth when we are facing a decision or issue we need help with. The benefit of having such a great group of people to bounce ideas and problems off is immeasurable. The key things, these are “friends” who are afraid to hurt your feelings! Everyone knows their role is to make each other’s businesses better, and that doesn’t happen from sugarcoating issues or not asking the tough questions. The heated debates and discussions we’ve had in our Board of Directors have made each our of respective businesses better, and made each of us better business people as well. If you’re not already involved in a Mastermind with like minded people, I strongly encourage you to do it! Always strive to surround yourself with people who you admire and you want to emulate. I’ve always found that when I spend time with people who I deem as more successful, more experienced, or at a level where I want to eventually be, it’s amazing how quickly you rise to that level. The sports analogy is playing great competitors. You will always rise to a higher level of competence if you compete against talented competitors, whereas if you compete against mediocre competitors who don’t challenge you, you won’t develop to your maximum as a result. There are thousands of resource sites on the internet that give you all the tools and knowledge to put together a successful Mastermind group. Simply go to Google and search for “creating a mastermind group”.]]>