I’m much smarter in a room full of people! As I work with small to mid-size businesses, I struggle to convince the business owner that he or she would be much better off with an advisory team.  As business owners we think we are pretty good.  We are!  That’s how we get to be business owners.  But that sense of confidence can also be a deterrent to business owners increasing the owner’s equity in their organizations. A client once said to me, “I can’t talk to my employees, I can’t talk to my spouse, I can’t talk to my banker, who can I talk to about my business challenges?”  This is a problem in a lot of smaller organizations and the answer is “your advisory board”. For most advisory boards of smaller companies the board members are volunteers.  For starters, I recommend inviting your banker, your lawyer, your CPA, and old sage (retired) business professional you know, maybe from your church or Rotary Club, etc.  In my experience an odd number of members is best for voting and I would keep it small to start, seven members at most.  These people may not know your business as intimately as you do, but […]