"They offer insights I couldn't get anywhere else."

They say three times is the charm. It definitely is for Vistage members. According to Vistage’s numbers, the businesses of Vistage members grow three times faster than those of their competition. A charm, indeed.

These, however, are incredibly challenging economic times. Many CEOs aren’t thinking about growth, they’re just trying to lose money as slowly as possible until things turn around. So the obvious question is, does this 3X number still hold true? Well, I can only speak for my own advertising agency, and I’m not totally privy to how the ad shops down the road are faring but anecdotally, I think my ratio actually exceeds the three times ratio.
 

While virtually every other similar company in town is either laying off, cutting hours or hemorrhaging cash, Spark is coming off back-to-back record months, thanks in large part to my involvement in Vistage.

Yes record months …in the field of marketing…in a recession…in Florida!

See there, Mr. Williams, my 1988 guidance counselor, I’m not going to be driving a school bus when I turn 40, after all!

When others are holding on for dear life, I’m able to grow. Even better, with my fellow Vistage group members by my side, I’m moving forward with starting a second company (which I mentioned in last month’s blog). Now, that’s not to say if you join Vistage, the path before you instantly changes to gold, and rainbows start sprouting all around you. There are members in my own group trying to do business where customers simply don’t exist any more. It’s tough out there. Yet, even they know, that being a part of Vistage gives them the best odds of living to fight another day. I’d venture to say three times greater odds that they’ll be successful.

I just mentioned that I am starting a second company. (We’re going to make educational videos for parents of special needs children and distribute them online.) I promised to chronicle how my Vistage group and chair were helping me get things going. So here’s your update.

Before I was a member, I made nearly every decision as an island, going on gut instinct alone. The upside was that decisions were made quickly and without having to really argue my point. The downside was, many of those decisions were, well, really bad. With my group and chair, I believe….correct that…I know…I’m making smarter decisions this time around. And when you’re starting a company, those initial decisions can have an impact for years, maybe even decades that follow, so it’s important to get them right.

At this point in starting my first company, I was relying on miscellaneous websites for research. Now I’m turning to fellow CEOs who are at the top of their game and can look me in the eye with confidence when providing their input. It’s improving the way I’ll distribute my product, build a following and expand.

I’m especially excited about the benefit I’ll receive from a guest speaker we have coming in next month, too. Our next speaker is talking about…as good fortune would have it…online marketing. These days every business should be leveraging the Internet for growth but for a company that plans to run a business solely online, like my new company will, this couldn’t have come at a better time. It’s eerie how Vistage speakers always seem to coincide with an immediate need I have for expertise...but maybe I’ll save that eeriness discussion for the Halloween blog.

Backto the subject at hand.

Being in marketing myself, I’m pretty well versed in online marketing. Yet Vistage speakers often even teach the experts a thing or two. They’re that good. Plus, as my brother constantly reminds me, even Tiger Woods has a golf coach. Not that I’m the Tiger Woods of marketing but the idea is those outside experts really are needed no matter how much you think you know.

Once I have that information in hand and finish developing the product for the new company, I’ll have more to report.

In summary, I think it’s fair to say Vistage has given me tremendous value for my membership dollar. That brings me to my final point that can’t be measured through any economic data spreadsheet. I’d venture to say most Vistage members are probably about three times happier being CEOs than their non-Vistage counterparts. At least I am. And I know you would be too. Thanks for reading and until next month…


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