By Rob Nixon, an EO Brisbane member

I’ve been a member of EO Brisbane for more than three years, and in that time I’ve learned a lot. It has been an amazing journey so far, and I see my EO membership as an integral part of my life. Since joining the organization, I’ve been privileged to hold leadership positions (Membership Chair and Chapter President), and as a result of my keenness to learn, have travelled to seven different Global events.

It was at one of these events where I first heard about MyEO, EO’s innovative platform for members to personalize their experiences and maximize their memberships. I think of this program as a “customised EO.” Basically, you can create your own version of EO. MyEO is what you want it to be. Outside of your Forum or your chapter, you can create special interest groups, learning events or Forums.

I chose to engage MyEO by creating my own Forum. While I still have my local Forum, I was looking for more; specifically, business advice and experiences around businesses like mine. I own and run a “software as a service” business, which is quite unique. We afford clients access to software over the Internet for a monthly fee. It’s a subscription model that requires different skills sets, funding, marketing, sales and delivery models.

What I was looking for (and found) through MyEO were people who operated the same business model, only in different target markets. As I started to craft a new MyEO Forum, I determined set criteria for entry, including:

1. The business must be doing >US$1 million already; not a startup, nor a division of another business getting started
2. The intellectual property (software, platform or content) must be owned by the entrepreneur; not a reseller of someone else’s product
3. The model must be a monthly or annual subscription; not a transactional model, where the customer buys and leaves
4. The entrepreneur must be looking for a >US$100 million exit

With this criteria starting out, I only entertained serious players. After all, it’s my Forum, this is what I want … so why not hang around other EOers who want the same thing?

I started looking for Forum buddies around the global EO community. I advertised the Forum on the MYEO website, posted messages on some EO Facebook and LinkedIn groups, and started asking around. I had about 25 inquiries, selected nine and began the launch process. We held two conference calls to get to know each other and scheduled a two-day meeting in Hawaii, USA, which just recently wrapped up.

While in Hawaii, we set the constitution, meeting dates for 18 months in advance, created an accountability reporting system, and most importantly, hunkered down and got some work done. We each shared (in detail) our business models and what does and does not work. We also shared challenges and learned from each other’s mistakes and successes. And of course, we had a lot of fun!

Going forward, we have a schedule that includes monthly accountability checkpoints, experience sharing and learning conference calls, and we will meet for two days every four months around the world to engage in person. During these face-to-face meetings, we intend on visiting local, similar businesses, as well as bringing in expert speakers and sorting out our own businesses in pursuit of our goals.

Looking back, I can attest that MyEO is an awesome platform to supercharge your life. Those two days in Hawaii, hanging out with fellow entrepreneurs who run my type of business, were the best two days of EO learning I’ve ever experiences!

Want to discover how to personalize your EO experience? Learn more about MyEO!