Why join EO?

Wondering what exactly EO is?

Not sure if it is right for you?

My name is Toby Strong and I’ve been a member for 6 years. Let me tell you about my experience with EO, from beginning to now, which should help you to understand a little more about the organisation.

Let me start with why I joined. I had some early success and hit $1 million in sales pretty quickly, but I knew I had a huge knowledge gap to be able to grow my business to $5 million and beyond. My life was already dysfunctional at $1 million, choosing to prioritise work over friends, family and personal health. But none of this really bothered me at the time - business success was what I cared most about. What I was struggling most with was how could I possibly push myself any harder than I already was!?

One night I started googling information about mentors, because I figured the best way to learn was from someone who had already done what I was trying to do. I didn’t have much luck finding a mentor, but I did find a few organisations offering support for business owners.

I shortlisted 2 of them but found there was a huge price difference between the two. One of them, EO, was below $10k a year to join. The other, $20k plus. After digging in further I found that EO was a non-profit organisation with all the funds going back into to organisaiton for events and speakers etc. The other was run more like a business - profiting from members’ annual fees. This was enough of a reason for me to put EO at the top of the list and I started making some inquiries.

Shortly after, I was invited for coffee with an EO member. It was great to be able to have all my questions answered, but nerve racking as I knew at the same time I was casually being ‘interviewed’ to see if I was the right fit for the organisation. An organisation known for rejecting candidates who didn’t fit their core values.

During the meeting I learnt that there are around 60 EO members in South Australia but 14,000+ members globally. The 60 local members regularly catch up at non-compulsory learning events and workshops often facilitated by international speakers. However, the real value came from what they called ‘forum’. This is a group I would join if accepted, which has 6-9 members who meet monthly for around 4 hours and encourage/support each other to tackle our most challenging issues.

This sounded perfect for me. Instead of getting one mentor like I was looking for, I would gain 6-9 mentors and act as a mentor myself for others. Now I just had to wait and hope that they were as excited about me as I was about them.

A few weeks later I found out that I was in – what a relief! Within a few months I did my training and was placed into my forum. Meeting my group for the first time was like reuniting with an old best friend I hadn’t seen for years… they got me!

Even though we ran completely different businesses in different industries, I quickly realised we all face the same challenges. Like that knot in your stomach when things are moving in the wrong direction, throwing up in the work toilet when delivered crushing news, but also that amazing feeling of accomplishment when a good strategy is successful. We all had very similar experiences and to be able to share these with a group who had felt all the same highs and lows was an amazing feeling.

The first 6 months was like trying to drink water from a fire hydrant – there was so much valuable information being shared from forum members and at events that I struggled to manage it all. But over time, I developed systems to pick out just a few key takeaways – instead of trying to implement 10 different things at once.

I enjoyed the events but the real value, for me, was in forum. At the time there were 7 others in my group and it was amazingly beneficial to be able to ‘look under the hood’ of others’ businesses to see what was working and what wasn’t. The best part was the variety of positions the business owners were in. Some were going through huge success phases and it was inspirational to see them making millions in profits when I was barely breaking even. Others were on the verge of losing everything and it was really rewarding to help get them out of these positions, but also to gain insight into what got them there in the first place so I could avoid it.

My forum is what has kept me sane over the years. From multiple years managing 100% growth to our biggest customer going insolvent – owing us $500k and nearly bankrupting us – my forum has helped guide me and make sure I don’t go off the rails. I share every aspect of my business with my forum – my biggest challenges, my deepest fears, my biggest faults, and mistakes. In turn, they share the same with me and we navigate the maze of business success together.

I originally joined for business purposes only – neglecting friends, family, and personal health at the time. But EO encourages us to become more rounded and focus on ‘EO360’ – the whole package. This quickly made sense after witnessing another business owner who had neglected his family, to focus on the business, have everything fall apart and the business fail during a nasty divorce.

I started incorporating more family and personal goals into my life thanks to EO – which probably saved my marriage and has resulted in a better life overall. Because what’s the point of having a successful business if you are unhappy in the other areas of your life?

Most importantly, EO quenches my thirst for learning. My business has gone from one employee, myself, to now over 50 staff. To navigate this has taken a huge amount of self-development. I have had to stop micromanaging (not an easy thing to do for someone who is OCD), I have had to delegate, and I have had to create systems to automate the business. Instead of being the centre of the business –the one having to solve all the problems and put out all the fires – I now have a Leadership Team who do this for me. I have EO to thank for this.

There is so much more to EO – like the global network, global events and other benefits I can’t fit in now. Apply to join and if you are accepted hopefully we’ll meet one day and I can tell you more about my story. In the meantime, I’ll leave you with some words from someone else who has received immense value out of EO over the years…

If you’re ready to take your business and life to the next level, fill in the below for more info…