It's lonely at the top:
Getting advice when you need it
By Jounice Nealy • Bankrate.com

So what, exactly, does your brother-in-law know about worker's compensation insurance? It won't matter -- unless you are a small business owner seeking advice after a worker has filed a claim.

Most owners have a small group of people they turn to when they are confused or overwhelmed.

Such an informal advisory board may consist of an attorney, an accountant, family members or friends, but it is usually far less sophisticated than a big-time corporate board of directors.

The stern, suit-and-tie set may not be required, but something certainly is. Consider finding a peer group that can offer advice.

Sharing with peers
Irene Hurst, director of the Small Business Development Center at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Fla., last year set up a peer group for women who owned small businesses. It is a free service and has served as a model for a group for men that started one this year, with less success.

The men have been less inclined to participate on a regular basis, Hurst says.

Both groups discuss the intricacies of inventory and personnel issues, and the like. But Hurst says she started the first group specifically for women because she knew they had different experiences and might only be comfortable talking about them with other women.

"They feel free sharing stuff that some men wouldn't put up with," she says. "We talk a lot about balancing work and home life. That's apparently a big challenge. They won't discuss it in front of a mixed crowd."

On the national level
Those whose needs are more far-reaching might want to consider joining a national online network of peer advisory groups.

The Alternative Board, based in Denver, assembles groups of noncompeting small business owners and experts to discuss a variety of topics, including human resources, marketing and sales. There are groups in 72 areas of the United States and Canada and the network is still expanding.

Allen Fishman started TAB in 1990 in St. Louis with a group of 12 people. He knew there were lots of small business owners who needed help. "Generally speaking, (they) had ineffective boards of directors ... They had spouses," he says. "I can think of one lady who had her husband, her CPA and her attorney on the board."

Each TAB group is led by a facilitator with at least 10 years of experience either as a business management consultant or as the head of a company. They receive six months of training before they are allowed to buy a TAB group franchise. Their income is derived from a portion of the fees members pay.

Monthly membership dues vary, but start at $295, and entitle a member to meet privately once a month with a facilitator and meet monthly with 11 fellow members who are local company owners or presidents. Group members are screened to make sure they will be compatible with other members and to make sure their company does not compete with another group member's business.

Virtual business groups
Members also can plug into virtual TAB groups on the Internet to exchange ideas. "They can tap into another 1,500 individuals for advice, but in return they're expected to give advice," Fishman says. "We do not want any member who is just there to get advice. You must be able to bring something to the party."

Evelyn Brown, who owns a commercial cleaning service, Contract Services by Brown Inc., joined TAB in Albuquerque, N.M., early in 1998. Until then, the board consisted of Brown, her husband and her daughter. But she didn't feel the accountability to them that she does to her TAB group.

"If I go back the next month, I haven't done those things, they let me know that I'm not being mature," says Brown, who has owned her business for almost 20 years.

She has been able to contribute to the group by helping other entrepreneurs settle employee disputes. Her fix? Call both parties into the office for a talk.

An exchange of business savvy
Bob Maxman, a principal at Century Consulting in Orlando and Gainesville, Fla., is a TAB facilitator who says members put high value in having access to ideas from owners who operate in different business cultures. Everything discussed at the meetings is confidential.

Maxman says that, after 20 years, one TAB member had perfected his plan for paying commissions and bonuses to his manufacturing representatives. "He was able to tell his TAB members the kind of formula and logic that he uses. That particular idea is in use by at least five other companies who are nonmanufacturing representatives, who took it and modified it for their own situation," Maxman says.

"The guy at the top is kind of lonely," says Bill Harding, a TAB facilitator in Indian Rocks Beach, Fla. "He or she needs somebody to talk to."

Jounice Nealy is a freelance writer based in Florida

-- Posted: July 22, 1999