It’s time to unlock your potential

By Emma Donovan, EOA Board Member and Co-founder of DAPPER

One of the core challenges many businesses are facing at the moment is due to increased globalisation; with multi-national companies paying higher salaries, it’s hard to retain your best staff. A looming recession also puts a lot of pressure on finances and business models, not to mention the constant monitoring of cash flow, dealing with impostor syndrome and fear of success or scaling too quickly for your processes.

But it’s not all doom and gloom. According to a Hubspot article, 68% of entrepreneurs worldwide are either somewhat or very optimistic about the post-pandemic future.

What does it take to succeed and scale your business?

There is no magic wand or formula, but there are a bunch of theories and frameworks out there to make the entrepreneurial journey a little easier – the trick is to choose the right one.

The next step is to find someone to hold you accountable to execute the vision of the business and the strategy set in place to achieve it, as well as a community of people with similar challenges you can talk to. And this is where it gets really interesting.

What does an entrepreneurial community look like?

It’s different for everyone, but in my experience, having an incredible business partner, solid team, and leadership coach is a game changer, but still not quite enough.

We have over 50 members, and also feel part of the broader global EOA network, with 198 chapters around the world, and over 14 000 members.

EOA’s mission is to empower entrepreneurs with the tools, community and accountability to grow and scale their businesses. Being immersed in an inclusive, high energy environment based on values of trust and respect; a thirst for learning; thinking big, be bold; and together we grow, has been instrumental to my personal growth and business success to date.

But that’s enough from me, let me share some of the experiences of fellow Accelerators, or Aces as we call them, from a range of different industries.

Provides a layer of professional learning and skills development

For some, EOA provides a layer of professional learning and skills development. For leadership development specialist and high performance coach, Heléne Smuts, founder of Credo Growth, the support has been instrumental in scaling

“I felt like I often just ‘winged’ business decisions. However, with the structure and support of the EOA programme, I could keep the agile flair that entrepreneurial businesses have, but coupled with learning how to strategise well, think differently about certain issues and find creative ways to solve problems,” she says.

Like Heléne, Eitan Stern, Founder and Director of Legalese, learned about the power of structure in business and life from the EOA programme.

“When I started my business I lacked structure. Not just at work but in life too. I felt like things were always just 'crazy'. So success, growth, slow times and failure all felt the same – crazy. Through EOA I learnt that you can add structure and stability to your business and your life. Plan ahead, celebrate the wins, keep calm in the tough times,” he says.

Garnett Thorne, Managing Partner at Woww Digital, highlights the community and networking opportunities the chapter has to offer.

“The EOA network provides a wealth of resources, from introductions to key suppliers and partners, to sharing of experiences of dealing with similar issues, to access to an international network of other EOA chapters. The content of the scaling up theory is also practical in building a resilient company.”

“When I joined EOA I felt motivated again (in a way I fell in love with my business again),” explains Chantelle Bowyer, founder of Metis Online, adding that EOA gave her a new way of looking at things, and being held accountable all helped tremendously.

Mirroring Chantelle’s view on accountability, Peter Magner, Sales and Marketing Director of Iridium Business Solutions, highlights the reason for signing up to the programme year after year.

”If I had to sum up the value I get from EOA, I’d say great content, a solid group of entrepreneurs and regular groups holding me accountable for goals.”

So if you’re an entrepreneur navigating this space, I can’t recommend having a community like this enough. You still need to buckle up for the journey, but you’re guaranteed to enjoy the ride a whole lot more than on a solo road trip. ■