I have been in numerous business groups over the years, and I've found it helpful to share problems, to share ideas, and to give and take suggestions and criticisms. When you work for someone else, you often have the opportunity to be mentored. But when you work for yourself, I find it's easy to feel tortured and alone. There are constant decisions to be made for which you may or may not have the appropriate expertise: value judgments, balancing responsibility to the company while being responsible to employees, difficult personnel issues, scary financial situations. Many of these things cannot be discussed wih employees -- either because they're involved in some way or because they, too, lack the expertise.

I started a new business about six years ago, that I ran for three years. It lost lots of money. I thought it was just a matter of time before it turned around. Had I been in a business group, I am confident they would have made me see the light. Unfortunately, the salesman part of me kept selling myself that I could fix it. I was delusional. It was an expensive mistake that I just might have avoided -- if I'd been sharing my experience with some other entrepreneurs. On the other hand, I've also seen situations where business owners have been emboldened by their colleagues in a business group to try to do things that they really weren't prepared to do. The consequences can be very, very serious. I've even seen it break up families.

Are you a member of a business group? Do you find it helpful?