mentor board

[Canucklehead]

Fellow RFD business and soon to be business people....I read an article in Profit magazine (June 2006) (http://www.canadianbusiness.com/entrepreneur/columnists/jeff_dennis/article.jsp?content=20060602_153645_5468) about successful businesspeople having an advisory board (as opposed to a board of directors). This advisory board would advise a business person at the strategic or macro level.

I want to create the same thing online with "experts" in various fields - kinda like favorville (http://www.favorville.com) with a twist. Purpose is NOT to solicit business (although that may happen due to the networking) - it is to HELP people succeed in business by sharing your particular expertise.

Any thoughts? Anyone interested? I'm going to create a forum and maybe a wiki on this.

Respond here or PM with your comments/interests.

Hope this is not considered advertising since it's a free venture!

[that_staples_guy]

Sounds great, it'll help people such as myself just starting off.

[Rehan]

Is it a peer-to-peer group that you have in mind? I'm not sure how you would get real "experts" involved unless there is something significant in it for them ($$ or otherwise).

[Squiggles]

Just as a reference, here is info on RFD's advisory board.

http://www.redflagdeals.com/deals/main.php/info/pr/redflagdeals_announces_all_star_advisory_panel_new _office/

[Canucklehead]

Is it a peer-to-peer group that you have in mind? I'm not sure how you would get real "experts" involved unless there is something significant in it for them ($$ or otherwise).

I want to take the concept of mentoring from a few-to-one standpoint and utilize the reach of the internet to make it a many-to-one relationship. This way you get the world's best in class perspective - granted they won't be the finance ministers and international financiers of the world but everyone knows a little about something right?

I firmly believe that all of us like the idea of helping others - otherwise we would not be sharing hot deals on RFD!

If we can get lawyers, marketers, accounts, tax experts, salepeople, customs brokers, freight forwarders, osCommerce whizzes, graphics artists, printers, telephone experts, human resources specialists etc.... actively contributing to helping a business grow, it will be a win-win. The business benefits from having some great minds providing advise or opinions. The contributors benefit from sharing their experience with others and EVERYONE benefits from reading the postings (including the soon to be business people).

I'm a consultant that charges relatively big bucks - I don't run a charity! However, by tapping into my experience and expertise, a business can benefit by 10-1000x the cost! As far as wanting big bucks everytime I contribute something....it ain't gonna happen. Also, I get tremendous satisfaction making someone else's life easier, pointing them in the right direction and seeing them succeed. I'm sure that is the key "what's in it for me" benefit. Those that want to hoard information are not the target market in this case.

One observation to support this is the relatively high activity on the Computers and Electronics page. There are literally TONS of people helping other people fix their computer, tweak and configure things, download drivers, offer advice on what to buy and what to stay away from etc. Future Shop charges $50 to crack open your computer. Any of us could say "hey I'll help ya for $10-$20" but I really have not seen anyone doing this. Why? Because it feels good to help someone and in a way, it's an ego boost to see that someone implemented your recommendation.

Squiggles - thanks for the link. You see the guys on the advisory board? They all benefit in some way.

Jay Aber - President, 24/7 Canada - more revenue if they help RFD do it right.

Jennifer Evans - President, Sequentia Communications - same thing. They have their OWN advisory board! They help with marketing communications - probably with getting the RFD shopping search thing growing?

Chris Carder - CEO, ThinData - ditto.

Helen Hawketts - Director, Online Publishing, Rogers - they get consumer insights and "a pulse on what's happening" that they can then use in their online publishing properties - where did you read about the new Google Calendar beta? I read it here first. Same thing with moola.com!

Bryan Segal - Director of Business Development, comScore -they measure real-time internet activity - who benefits? Ya think they have access to the data that RFD accumulates because they are an "advisor"? How fast does news travel from a pricing error at Staples until it's fixed? How fast does a product become OOS when it is initially posted here. Does price point make a difference? What are the comments posted when it is an MIR instead of a straight discount?

Ken Wong - Professor of Business, Queens University - you read about him all the time in the paper. A professor's value is determined by what they contribute and getting written up and being seen as the "expert" in a particular field ups their speaking engagement fees and consulting dollars. He can say "I'm an advisor for RFD, the industries fastest growing forum blah blah blah" - as an advisor, he can take some credit for it's success! Aligning with a good site like RFD looks good on him too!

Okay - starting to sound like a rant so I'll stop! Hopefully I can convince people to come on board to help others by utilizing their experience.

[cdnNick]

Sounds like a great idea.

It would be kind of a give and take relationship, maybe I can help you out in one area and maybe you can help me out in one area. I would hope that is the way it would work.

If you need a place to host the site send me a PM.

[Canucklehead]

cdnNick - that's exactly the way it would work.

As a businessperson, I want to benefit from someone's guidance and experience. I can also help others by sharing my own experience and network of information.

In traditional business, many things happen because people know how to get things done correctly - it is rarely documented! Companies have a board of directors that are all connected to other sources of information and revenue.

Thanks for your kind offer to host the site - I'll let you once I finish the quasi survey of the folks here!

[cdnNick]

I think its a good idea, as long as its done right and the people that join truly want to share their knowledge.

[Canucklehead]

Being "done right" will depend on the mentors that help out eh? lol

[spiderviper]

Canucklehead,

I'm curious....what kind of consultant are you? How long have you been a consultant and where did you learn your expertise?

[Canucklehead]

Canucklehead,

I'm curious....what kind of consultant are you? How long have you been a consultant and where did you learn your expertise?

Hey spiderviper,

I'm a sales and marketing consultant. I've been doing this for about 6 months now and have clients from various fields (retail - hardware/automotive; commercial - safety, cleaning, printing; industrial -cleaning).

My experience was gained through many channels: 16+ years of marketing and 6+ years of sales for large national and multinational companies, volunteering my expertise on various industry associations, committees and boards (i.e. United Way, Daily Bread Food Bank), teaching Marketing at a community college, taking advantage of numerous opportunities for self-development (leadership training skills, management skills, negotation skills etc) and successfully going through an MBA program at York (aka Schulich).

How about yourself?

[wheel]

This is an absolutely fabulous idea - but I'd much prefer if it was face to face rather than online. My best friend pays $5k per year to belong to such a club - other business president's that get together once a month and solve each other's problems. I personally belong to my local chamber of commerce. Unfortunately while many chambers do provide the kind of services you're talking about, my local one doesn't. They spend their time organising the local Christmas parade and stuff. :(.

I do a variety of related things; internet marketing, search engine optimization and search engine marketing (PPC stuff) and work a lot in the insurance field in these areas.

[wheel]

I note that I would prefer it to be face to face for a couple of reasons. One being a matter of trust. I'm not likely to talk hardcore business specifics on an internet forum. But if we've met a couple of times and I trust your judgement I'm likely to both be a bit more open in asking for opinions as well as providing feedback.

FWIW, I belong to a similiar type of online mentoring community - but it's a closed community. All of the members met offline at industry conferences and continue to do so. We use the online venue to stay in touch between conferences.

What about this idea? Organize a mentoring meeting at a pub some evening for say 2-4 hours. Structure it a bit, but not overly. Maybe have everyone introduce themselves and discuss what they do and generally their problems. Then have one member talk specifically about how they can help, or have a few members talk specifics with the rest of the group offering feedback. You can then work in a closed forum as a way to extend that contact between meetings.

You're near Toronto, I'm near KW and could travel to Toronto for such an event. As an example, I'm pretty good with Google adwords and could talk about how to use that specifically (and better, happy to provide free expert advice to folks I know). Alternatively I always welcome feedback about a variety of business ventures I run or am involved in from people in similiar circumstances.

How does something like that sound?

[Canucklehead]

That sounds like a great idea - you make very valid points on taking someone's advice on face value (no pun intended). I would be interested in participating/facilitating something like this. Your suggestion to start it as an open forum and then continue as a closed forum makes sense.

Pros:
- addresses trust issue
- advice may be more pertinent as most participants are from the same area
- easier to expand the mentoring community through word-of-mouth

Cons:
- limits mentoring to those physically able to meet in a central area
- does not fully leverage the ability of folks from all over Canada (and possibly international) to share their skills
- lack of geographical diversity may reduce the "quality" of the contribution

What do the rest of you think?

[cdnNick]

Both ideas could work together. The people that can meet for a face-to-face meeting should and then maybe share something that they learned with the rest that are not able to make it to the meetings. Which is where the forum could come into place.

The forum could be used for Canada wide discussions and such. If someone wants to have a private chat about a topic they could using email, PM, IM or even phone each other.

If the board ever got big enough maybe there could be "chapters" such as GTA, Ottawa, Vancouver etc.

[airodus]

i'd be interested

i think with the internet group, you're better off going strictly through online means. that way, you won't fragment the group into a GTA vs the ROC sort of thing (which will happen if you have face to face meetings with the GTA group). if people want to meet up unofficially, that's fine... but officially it should be internet only if you want to make it a nationwide thing.

primarily you will want to use a message board to communicate. this will allow for 24/7 posting and is timezone independant.

every week you can arrange a short conference call so people can have a bit of back and forth between one another. i guess since we're all pretty computer saavy, you can use some online chat tool (skype, teamspeak, etc...) and get this done for free. a lot of the tools can also record the meeting which can be made available for download.

---

personally, i spent several years working IT support during university (Comp Sci). when I graduated, I joined a software firm in Toronto as a support/implementation specialist. eventually I became a director in charge of a number of fields: technical sales, consulting, support.

last year, i left and started my own business doing consulting work in a related field (health care IT). i've since branched into other work (i manage an office for CN Rail), but the health care IT is still my bread and butter.

my finances are in good order (money is unbelieveable). i do good work and make my clients happy. but starting and running a business has been a bit of a headache. before i was just happy doing work and getting a paycheck... now i have to think about...

- contracts
- protecting myself and my company
- my employees (well just one guy so far)
- soliciting new business
- diversifying
- managing existing wealth

etc...

anyways, toss me a PM if you do decide to set things up.

[wheel]

Both ideas could work together. The people that can meet for a face-to-face meeting should and then maybe share something that they learned with the rest that are not able to make it to the meetings. Which is where the forum could come into place.

The forum could be used for Canada wide discussions and such. If someone wants to have a private chat about a topic they could using email, PM, IM or even phone each other.

If the board ever got big enough maybe there could be "chapters" such as GTA, Ottawa, Vancouver etc.
Ooooh! Like Fight Club!

The first rule of the mentor club is WE DON't TALK ABOUT THE MENTOR CLUB.

[Rehan]

Here are a couple of links that describe a similar initiative in Toronto:
http://www.evancarmichael.com/Business-Growth/Small-Group-Networking-Entrepreneurial.htm
http://www.evancarmichael.com/entrepreneur-mastermind-group-toronto/entrepreneur-mastermind-group-toronto.html

[Canucklehead]

Great links Rehan - thanks as always! Where do you find this stuff? Where do you find the time? LOL

The principles are pretty consistent with what Brian Scudamore says in the article. One of your questions in the past was about people wanting $ to share their ideas...to quote from the article (http://www.evancarmichael.com/Business-Growth/Small-Group-Networking-Entrepreneurial.htm) :

"Peer groups are all about giving—giving of your time, talent, expertise, and support. The irony is that this kind of giving is also the best way I know of for getting—getting the support, information, and resources you need to build a thriving business."

I think keeping it online and having the opportunity for a face to face will address most of our needs. If we can keep the bureaucratic stuff to a minimum it will allow us to focus on what is really critical - getting what we need to succeed.

For the truly confidential stuff, I can have a confidentiality agreement template drawn up for interested parties and then it could go to PM or IM.