How EO Helped Me Achieve My Goals

By Martin Grunburg, EO San Diego member and COO of C3 Networx/Home2Office

While I joined the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) with serious intentions to grow our IT business, it wasn’t long before a series of environmental (internal and external) influences had our company on the ropes. The support from my Forum was invaluable! Hearing from so many of the best entrepreneurs recount their experiences and specific tactics about how they preserved their business – and even, in a few cases, how some coped with business loss – became priceless.

I am nearly certain that our IT business would not be around today without the shared experiences and guidance of my Forum members. While that sort of testimonial ought to be enough to convince any prospective entrepreneur about the incredible value of EO, the reality is, it’s only HALF of the story. The other part of the story is that, while the IT business was going through its challenges and a sort of resurrection, on a personal level, I found myself going through my own sort of reinvention. 

Even when the IT business was flourishing, the 60+ hours per week was not the lifestyle I had envisioned. The long hours combined with the mental stress made me feel out of balance, and my physical fitness was being neglected. I concluded that the best, most positive way to address these challenges was to meet them head on. With that in mind, I committed to a couple of significant endurance events: a 32-mile, open-ocean paddle and an Ironman-distance triathlon. I had no prior experience in either sport.

Fast forward a few years into my Forum experience, and our members were seeking a way to utilize the group and hold each other accountable when it came to individual goals. The discussion brought up the question of what process we should use. I shared the methodology I’d used to complete my own personal goals — the two endurance events – and offered it as a Forum-wide tracking tool. The Forum Moderator welcomed the idea, and it was agreed that everyone would utilize a tracking sheet I designed to help people focus NOT on “next steps,” but rather on core, routine behaviors (habits) required to achieve their goal. Thus, “The Habit Factor” was born.

We met 30 days later, and the response was very cool. In fact, it was pretty overwhelming. One entrepreneur called the process “magical,” while another said it was the most valuable thing he’d gotten out of EO aside from Forum itself. I’m pleased to report that many of the members hit their goals within the next couple of years, and the ones who didn’t demonstrated remarkable progress!

Based upon the Forum’s feedback and success testing and refining the methodology, I was encouraged to turn the tracking sheet into a mobile app. Today, the app is used by tens of thousands around the world and has even been featured by Apple and Mashable.com as a top productivity app. Check it out here.

Looking back, these accomplishments were only possible via EO and the Forum experience. Their incredible insight and guidance helped create such an effective app. Furthermore, the Forum encouraged me to write a book based on the science and philosophy around this innovative, goal-achievement methodology. I’m thankful for their support, and I encourage anyone who is an entrepreneur, or who is considering becoming an entrepreneur, to check out this wonderful organization.

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