Benjamin Disraeli said, “One secret of success in life is for man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes”.

I would add that you must be able to see the opportunity when it arrives, or otherwise you won’t grab it.

Recently, a great opportunity came my way.

I had the privilege to sit on a four-person panel of experts to provide feedback to a new Belgian start-up. It’s one of the new darlings of entrepreneurial community across the pond and the CEO wanted advice from the minds of Silicon Valley.

I love these small group mastermind sessions because of the diversity of knowledge and expertise. These sessions are similar in quality to start-up board meetings I sit in where the participants range from venture capitalists, chief legal counsels, Google software developers and successful millionaire entrepreneurs.

Sometimes I’m paid and sometimes I volunteer, but I would pay significant money just to be part of these groups and learn from the collective wisdom.

In fact, I already pay to belong to an entrepreneurial mastery group of 93 start-up founders spread around the globe. We connect every 2 weeks for 2 hours on a live coaching call in which challenges and ideas are discussed with the help of a master coach and mentor.

This is an engaged and engaging group filled with generous, wise, and insightful entrepreneurs. The private email Google group provides deeper daily analysis of our discussions and accountability for action items.

I can see the enormous impact that being part of this group is having on my personal and business growth. Small elite coaching groups have catalyzed the success of Richard Branson, Bill Gates, and Warren Buffett, amongst other rockstar business leaders.
I understand that my growth and success are limited to my current level of thinking. To reach my goals I will need to surround myself with great business minds and to have my business scrutinized by those ahead of me.

The power of the collective brings:

• An immediate pool of expertise and resource focused on your business. You’re putting multiple minds to work on your objectives and challenges.
• An expanded perspective beyond your experience. It’s hard to see the picture when you’re in the frame.
• Identifies problems or potential problems beyond your sight-lines.
• Generates ideas, solutions, and strategies to overcome your challenges and deliver on your objectives
• Leverages resources, contacts and relationships in the broader network of each member of the group