Dave Ramsey is one of the best financial and managerial columnists around, especially since he’s broadened his focus to business and management issues.
He recently had a column in Epoch Times about entrepreneurship being lonely at the top.
He’s absolutely right.
I didn’t appreciate how true this was when I bought my first company.
When my partner came aboard, I had someone to talk to most of the time.
But when your name’s on the building, there’s still some loneliness.
There were days when I’d go down the parking lot to a little deli just to have lunch and have the owners to talk to. I’m sure the owners wondered why I was there, but that was the reason.
As Dave correctly points out, loneliness is the reason why business owner and CEO groups exist.
My banker in Reno formed a group for me and three or four other owners who didn’t have anyone to talk to, and it was like a breath of fresh air.
It’s one of the reasons I formed Solutions Forum, so other small business owners would have someone to talk to. Vistage and Entrepreneurs Organization focus on larger companies than we do, but we all solve the loneliness problem.
We host owners from around the Valley for a discussion. And it works. Members are happier.
We also do an online group for owners from around the country, and that works.
Interestingly, there’s also an increase in happiness in the physical group rather than the online group. Probably because humans are social animals.
We are concerned about female owners, though, because they mostly don’t join male groups.
However, NAWBO (National Association of Women Business Owners) is still out there.
And some civic clubs and other advisory groups have groups for business owners.
And we know from our licensees that there are groups around the country.
So, it needn’t be lonely at the top!