mentor board

[airodus]

i'd be interested

i think with the internet group, you're better off going strictly through online means. that way, you won't fragment the group into a GTA vs the ROC sort of thing (which will happen if you have face to face meetings with the GTA group). if people want to meet up unofficially, that's fine... but officially it should be internet only if you want to make it a nationwide thing.

primarily you will want to use a message board to communicate. this will allow for 24/7 posting and is timezone independant.

every week you can arrange a short conference call so people can have a bit of back and forth between one another. i guess since we're all pretty computer saavy, you can use some online chat tool (skype, teamspeak, etc...) and get this done for free. a lot of the tools can also record the meeting which can be made available for download.

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personally, i spent several years working IT support during university (Comp Sci). when I graduated, I joined a software firm in Toronto as a support/implementation specialist. eventually I became a director in charge of a number of fields: technical sales, consulting, support.

last year, i left and started my own business doing consulting work in a related field (health care IT). i've since branched into other work (i manage an office for CN Rail), but the health care IT is still my bread and butter.

my finances are in good order (money is unbelieveable). i do good work and make my clients happy. but starting and running a business has been a bit of a headache. before i was just happy doing work and getting a paycheck... now i have to think about...

- contracts
- protecting myself and my company
- my employees (well just one guy so far)
- soliciting new business
- diversifying
- managing existing wealth

etc...

anyways, toss me a PM if you do decide to set things up.

[wheel]

Both ideas could work together. The people that can meet for a face-to-face meeting should and then maybe share something that they learned with the rest that are not able to make it to the meetings. Which is where the forum could come into place.

The forum could be used for Canada wide discussions and such. If someone wants to have a private chat about a topic they could using email, PM, IM or even phone each other.

If the board ever got big enough maybe there could be "chapters" such as GTA, Ottawa, Vancouver etc.

Ooooh! Like Fight Club!

The first rule of the mentor club is WE DON't TALK ABOUT THE MENTOR CLUB.

[Rehan]

Here are a couple of links that describe a similar initiative in Toronto:
http://www.evancarmichael.com/Busine...preneurial.htm
http://www.evancarmichael.com/entrep...p-toronto.html

[Canucklehead]

Great links Rehan - thanks as always! Where do you find this stuff? Where do you find the time? LOL

The principles are pretty consistent with what Brian Scudamore says in the article. One of your questions in the past was about people wanting $ to share their ideas...to quote from the article :

"Peer groups are all about giving—giving of your time, talent, expertise, and support. The irony is that this kind of giving is also the best way I know of for getting—getting the support, information, and resources you need to build a thriving business."

I think keeping it online and having the opportunity for a face to face will address most of our needs. If we can keep the bureaucratic stuff to a minimum it will allow us to focus on what is really critical - getting what we need to succeed.

For the truly confidential stuff, I can have a confidentiality agreement template drawn up for interested parties and then it could go to PM or IM.