Importance of Having a Circle of Influence

To be successful in life and business you need to have a circle of influential people in your life who are aligned with who you are and your values. Their talents and personalities will compliment you and you them. What made me think of sharing this is I am in the process of creating this with some fabulous, smart women in my circle. We are calling ourselves "Leading Ladies". The three of us have known each other professionally for about three years and I have introduced the other two to each other. One is a business consultant/tax expert, one is a financial advisor and I am the executive/business coach. We meet weekly to get our momentum going, creating our plans, and getting clear on each of our expectations of this relationship. We will be adding a few more influential women to our mix within the month. We need a female attorney and someone in the insurance industry.  The purpose of our group is to use each other as referral sources, helping each of us create success.

We are getting really clear in what each of us brings to the table and how we compliment each other. We have specific goals for 2013 and by creating this group, plan on utilizing our expertise and connections to help each other reach our goals. It's interesting that each of us is very different in how we lead our lives but we have deep respect for each other.

I bring the soft skills to the relationship through deep listening, asking though provoking powerful questions, acknowledging people, getting curious about what is being said, holding people accountable and  providing exercises to get some clarity on challenges we may face. One team member is really good with creating wealth and the other is a strategic thinker who knows how to grow a business quickly.

If you are trying to grow your business or freshen your perspectives by creating new ideas or change your business model, think seriously about creating a relationship with others who are in your circle of influence to help each other with this. It works especially if you get really clear of what everyone's expectations are. January 2013 is the perfect time to think about this valuable proposition. Who knows what coud become of this type of team.  You can't do it by yourself.  I am excited to see what evolves with "Leading Ladies".