By Mark Tepper, an EO Cleveland member and president of Strategic Wealth Partners 

Your participation in clubs and organizations shouldn’t end in high school. Joining a professional organization of like-minded businesspeople can do a lot for your business and your personal livelihood. Here are just a few benefits of joining an entrepreneurial organization:

• Networking: Most entrepreneurs know that business begins and ends with relationships. Expand your network (and, hopefully your business) by developing genuine friendships with other entrepreneurs.

• Ideas: It’s inspiring to hear what other people are doing and thinking. Joining a peer group can get your entrepreneurial gears in motion.

• Motivation: If you’re like most entrepreneurs, you probably have a healthy dose of competitive blood in you. Seeing the success of others can push you to do new things with your own company.

• Speaking Gigs: It’s not uncommon for CEOs to hire experts to speak to their employees. Perhaps you’ll be able to expand your speaking experience by connecting with other entrepreneurs. This can add credibility to both your business and your personal brand.

• Exit-Planning Advice: The benefits of joining an organization for businesspeople extend beyond your time in the office. As I write in Walk Away Wealthy, Tiger21 and the Institute for Private Investors are two great organizations for this purpose.

So where should you start? Below are some of the most popular entrepreneurial organizations out there today:

• Entrepreneurs’ Organization
• Young Presidents’ Organization
• Young Entrepreneur Council
• Vistage
• FoundersCard
• Small Giants
• TIGER21
• Institute for Private Investors

I’m an active member of both EO and Vistage and can tell you that participating in these two organizations has done a lot more for me and my career than National Honor Society did back in the day.