--- title: Why the Best Business Decision I Made Was Getting Into a Room With Other Owners Who Were Further Ahead Than Me description: Discover why a peer advisory group of owners further ahead beats going it alone, and how to choose a room where your excuses don't land. image: https://www.elev8os.com.au/hubfs/AI-Generated%20Media/Images/Collaborative%20Business%20Meeting%20With%20Charts%20And%20Laptops.png --- [Skip to content](https://www.elev8os.com.au/blog/why-the-best-business-decision-i-made-was-getting-into-a-room-with-other-owners-who-were-further-ahead-than-me#main) [ELEV8Elev8 Strategic Partners](https://www.elev8os.com.au/) - [The Boardroom](https://www.elev8os.com.au/boardroom) - [The Method](https://www.elev8os.com.au/#method) - [How we work](https://www.elev8os.com.au/#how-we-work) - [Results](https://www.elev8os.com.au/#results) - [Insights](https://www.elev8os.com.au/blog) [Book a discovery call](https://www.elev8os.com.au/book) [Book a discovery call](https://www.elev8os.com.au/book) [ELEV8Elev8 Strategic Partners](https://www.elev8os.com.au/) - [The Boardroom](https://www.elev8os.com.au/boardroom) - [The Method](https://www.elev8os.com.au/#method) - [How we work](https://www.elev8os.com.au/#how-we-work) - [Results](https://www.elev8os.com.au/#results) - [Insights](https://www.elev8os.com.au/blog) [Book a discovery call](https://www.elev8os.com.au/book)[Get your Elev8 Score](https://www.elev8os.com.au/score) [The Business Partner Review](https://www.elev8os.com.au/blog) / [Advisory Boards](https://www.elev8os.com.au/blog/tag/advisory-boards) # Why the Best Business Decision I Made Was Getting Into a Room With Other Owners Who Were Further Ahead Than Me [![](https://www.elev8os.com.au/hs-fs/hubfs/Blog/The%20Business%20Partner%20Review/joshua-lawrence-author.png?width=40&height=40&name=joshua-lawrence-author.png) Joshua Lawrence](https://www.elev8os.com.au/blog/author/joshua-lawrence) 12 August 2026 · 10 min read ![](https://www.elev8os.com.au/hs-fs/hubfs/AI-Generated%20Media/Images/Collaborative%20Business%20Meeting%20With%20Charts%20And%20Laptops.png?width=1600&height=900&name=Collaborative%20Business%20Meeting%20With%20Charts%20And%20Laptops.png) *By Joshua  Lawrence · 13-minute read* You run a $1M–$5M service business, and you make most of the big decisions alone. Your team looks to you for answers. Your partner hears about work more than they'd like. Your accountant gives you numbers, not perspective. You read the books and listen to the podcasts, but nobody in your world has actually been where you're going. That isolation is expensive. It slows your decisions, hides your blind spots and lets your excuses survive far longer than they should. The best fix I've found isn't a course or a coach. It's a **peer advisory group**: a room of owners who are further ahead than you, where your numbers are on the table and your excuses don't land. That lesson is the foundation of the **Elev8 Boardroom**, and of the **Elev8 Operating System (Elev8OS)** we install in every business. ## I Was the Bottleneck in My Own Business I've built and run businesses across fitness, training, barbering and security, and I've sold more than one of them. In every one, at some point, I was the bottleneck. I made the decisions, held the relationships and carried the problems. The businesses grew until they hit the edge of what I could personally manage, then they stopped. I wasn't short on effort or ideas. What I was short on was **perspective from people who had already solved the problem I was stuck on**. Working alone, I couldn't see my own blind spots. I kept solving the same problems the same way, because that was the only way I knew. That's not unusual. The [Australian Bureau of Statistics](https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/economy/business-indicators/counts-australian-businesses-including-entries-and-exits/latest-release) counts more than 2.8 million actively trading businesses, most of them small and owner-led. Most of those owners are making their biggest decisions with nobody at their level to test them against. What changed things for me was sitting with operators who were further down the road, and listening. ## Why Business Owners Stay Stuck When They Work Alone Being a business owner is isolating in a way that's hard to explain to anyone who hasn't done it. You can't share every worry with your team. Your family has heard enough. Friends who aren't in business don't really get it. So you carry most of it yourself. The [Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman](https://www.asbfeo.gov.au/) regularly highlights the pressure small business owners face, including wellbeing and workload. Isolation makes that pressure heavier, because there's nobody to share the load or sense-check the decisions. Isolation also distorts judgement. When you only hear your own thinking, your assumptions go unchallenged. You overestimate some risks and ignore others. You put off hard decisions because nobody is asking why you haven't made them. The cost isn't just emotional. It shows up in slower growth, missed opportunities and problems that drag on for years. ## The Room Where Your Excuses Don't Land The first thing you notice in the right room is that your excuses stop working. You explain why you haven't hired a manager yet, and someone who's done it three times asks what you're actually waiting for. You explain why you can't raise prices, and someone who did it last quarter tells you exactly how it went. That's uncomfortable. It's also enormously valuable. [McKinsey's research on decision making](https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/decision-making-in-the-age-of-urgency) found that for big decisions, the quality of discussion and debate is one of the strongest predictors of good outcomes. A room of experienced owners is a debate you can't have on your own. In the right room, people don't just agree with you to be polite. They challenge you because they want you to succeed, and because they'll be checking next month whether you did what you said. That combination of candour and care is rare. Once you've experienced it, it's hard to go back to deciding alone. ## Someone Two Steps Ahead Shows You What's Possible The real power of the room comes from owners who are a stage or two ahead of you. They've already faced the problem in front of you. They know which solutions work, which ones look good but fail, and what comes next. Harvard Business Review published Larry Greiner's classic model of [how organisations evolve as they grow](https://hbr.org/1998/05/evolution-and-revolution-as-organizations-grow). Each stage of growth brings a predictable crisis. Owners who have been through your next crisis can help you prepare for it, rather than stumble into it. They also show you what's possible. When you sit next to an owner who takes six weeks off a year while their business keeps growing, your sense of what a business can be changes. The ceiling you'd accepted suddenly looks like a choice. The right distance matters. Too far ahead and their advice doesn't fit your situation. Two steps ahead is the sweet spot: close enough to relate, far enough to lead. ## Accountability That Actually Follows Up Most owners already know what they should do. The problem is doing it consistently while the business keeps pulling them back into the day-to-day. Good intentions fade within a week of any workshop or podcast. A room changes that because someone follows up. What you committed to last session gets checked this session. If you didn't do it, the room asks why, and helps you work out what's really in the way. Harvard Business Review's classic [Management Time: Who's Got the Monkey?](https://hbr.org/1999/11/management-time-whos-got-the-monkey) describes how leaders end up carrying problems that should belong to others. A good peer room does the opposite for owners: it makes sure the commitments you've made stay yours, and stay visible. Accountability without follow-up is just conversation. Accountability with follow-up is how things actually change. ## Why Most Peer Groups Don't Deliver If peer groups are so valuable, why do so many owners leave them disappointed? Usually, it's because the group lacks structure. Meetings drift into general chat. Members are at wildly different stages. Nobody brings real numbers. Commitments get made and forgotten. Trust matters too. Research in Harvard Business Review on [the neuroscience of trust](https://hbr.org/2017/01/the-neuroscience-of-trust) links trust with higher engagement and performance. In a peer group that's too large or too loose, members never trust each other enough to share the real problems, so the advice stays superficial. The groups that work are small, curated and structured. Everyone is at a similar stage. Every session follows an agenda. Numbers come first. And someone in the chair makes sure commitments are tracked. The difference between a talk shop and a room that changes your business is almost entirely in the structure. ## What Makes a Peer Advisory Room Worth Joining If you're considering a peer group, mastermind or advisory board, look for these qualities. Rooms with all four are rare, but they're the ones that deliver: - **Small and Curated:** A handful of owners at a similar revenue stage, so trust builds fast and advice applies. - **Numbers on the Table:** Every member shares real financial and operational data, not just stories. - **Someone in the Chair:** An experienced operator who facilitates, challenges and follows up. - **Commitments Checked:** Every session reviews what was promised last time. People matter as much in a peer room as in a business. [Gallup's research](https://www.gallup.com/workplace/247391/why-great-employees-leave-trillion-dollar-fix.aspx) shows that people disengage and leave when nobody talks with them about their progress and future. Peer rooms work the same way. The ones that keep members are the ones that keep the conversation focused on each owner's progress. ## How to Get the Most From a Peer Advisory Group Joining the right room is only half the job. Here's how to get real value from it, session after session. 1. **Bring Your Real Numbers:** Share revenue, margin, cash and your key operational KPIs every session. 2. **Bring Your Hardest Decision:** Use the room for the call you've been avoiding, not the easy ones. 3. **Listen More Than You Defend:** When someone challenges you, ask a question before you explain. 4. **Commit to One Specific Action:** Leave every session with one clear commitment and a date. 5. **Report Back Honestly:** Share what you did, what you didn't and why. 6. **Help Others the Same Way:** Give the candour you want to receive. The room only works if everyone does. McKinsey's work on [untangling organisational decision making](https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/untangling-your-organizations-decision-making) shows that clear processes for big decisions improve both speed and quality. A well-run peer room gives an owner that process for the first time. --- **Ready to stop being the bottleneck in your own business?** The Elev8 Boardroom gives $1M–$15M service business owners the tools, accountability, and operator community to install a business that runs without them. [Book a complimentary strategy session](https://www.elev8os.com.au/apply) to see if you're a fit. *No pressure. No hard sell. Just a straight conversation about where your business is and where it needs to go.* --- ## Peer Advisory Groups: Questions Owners Ask These are the questions owners ask when they're considering joining a room of other owners. Each answer stands on its own. ### What is a peer advisory group? A peer advisory group is a small group of business owners who meet regularly to review each other's numbers, challenge decisions and hold each other accountable. The best groups are curated by revenue stage, follow a structured agenda and have an experienced facilitator who tracks commitments between sessions. ### Are peer groups worth it for small business owners? Peer groups are worth it when they're small, structured and made up of owners at a similar or slightly more advanced stage. They reduce isolation, sharpen decisions and create accountability. Loose, large or unstructured groups often become talk shops and deliver far less value. ### How is a peer advisory group different from a business coach? A coach works one-on-one and usually sees your business through you. A peer advisory group puts your real numbers in front of several experienced owners who challenge you and follow up. Many owners use both. Practical basics, such as reviewing pricing at least once a year as [business.gov.au](https://business.gov.au/products-and-services/develop-a-pricing-strategy) recommends, often get done faster once a room is checking. ## The Elev8 Boardroom: Built on That Lesson The Elev8 Boardroom exists because of what that room did for me. It's built around the four qualities that make a peer room work: small and curated, numbers on the table, someone in the chair and commitments checked. Each room has **four owners at a similar stage**, matched by revenue. I sit in the chair. Sessions follow a set agenda with numbers first. Between sessions, a monthly one-on-one **Director Debrief** goes deep on each owner's numbers and decisions, and the **Elev8 OS Platform** tracks plans, actions and KPIs. It isn't a networking group or a mastermind. It's a decision-making room. One of our core messages puts it simply: **not a coach, a board.** And because owners at the same stage face the same problems, the advice applies. Benchmarks like the [ATO's small business benchmarks](https://www.ato.gov.au/businesses-and-organisations/income-deductions-and-concessions/small-business-benchmarks) tell you how you compare on paper. The room tells you what to do about it. ## What Happens When Owners Get Into the Right Room The results show up in the businesses, not just the conversations. **Kingdom Barbers** reclaimed more than 10 hours a week within 90 days through team systems, KPIs and a dashboard. **Advanced Security Group** improved its net financial position by 250% within 12 months through systems across operations, workforce structure and financial reporting. **Cannon Accounting** unlocked operational capacity within 90 days by eliminating duplication. Each of those owners had the ability to make those changes before. What the right structure gave them was clarity on what to do first, someone two steps ahead to show the way, and accountability that kept the work moving. The financial levers follow. [McKinsey's analysis of pricing](https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/operations/our-insights/the-power-of-pricing) found a 1% price improvement can lift operating profit by around 8% in a typical large company. Owners in the right room actually pull those levers, because someone is asking whether they have. That's the real value of the room. It turns what you already know into what you actually do. ## Stop Deciding Alone The best business decision I made was getting into a room with owners who were further ahead than me. It ended my isolation, exposed my blind spots, killed my favourite excuses and gave me accountability that actually followed up. You can make the same decision. Find a room that's small and curated, where numbers are on the table, someone is in the chair and commitments are checked. Bring your hardest decisions, listen more than you defend and report back honestly. Picture making your next big decision with three experienced owners and an operator beside you, instead of alone at your desk at 11pm. That's what the right room makes possible. **[Book a complimentary strategy session](https://www.elev8os.com.au/apply) to see if there's a seat for you in the Elev8 Boardroom.** Topics - [Advisory Boards](https://www.elev8os.com.au/blog/tag/advisory-boards) - [Systems & Operations](https://www.elev8os.com.au/blog/tag/systems-operations) - [Strategic Partnership](https://www.elev8os.com.au/blog/tag/strategic-partnership) - [Growth & Scaling](https://www.elev8os.com.au/blog/tag/growth-scaling) - [Owner Independence](https://www.elev8os.com.au/blog/tag/owner-independence) Share - [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.elev8os.com.au%2Fblog%2Fwhy-the-best-business-decision-i-made-was-getting-into-a-room-with-other-owners-who-were-further-ahead-than-me) - [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.elev8os.com.au%2Fblog%2Fwhy-the-best-business-decision-i-made-was-getting-into-a-room-with-other-owners-who-were-further-ahead-than-me) - [Email](mailto:?subject=%3Cspan+id%3D%22hs_cos_wrapper_name%22+class%3D%22hs_cos_wrapper+hs_cos_wrapper_meta_field+hs_cos_wrapper_type_text%22+style%3D%22%22+data-hs-cos-general-type%3D%22meta_field%22+data-hs-cos-type%3D%22text%22+%3EWhy+the+Best+Business+Decision+I+Made+Was+Getting+Into+a+Room+With+Other+Owners+Who+Were+Further+Ahead+Than+Me%3C%2Fspan%3E&body=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.elev8os.com.au%2Fblog%2Fwhy-the-best-business-decision-i-made-was-getting-into-a-room-with-other-owners-who-were-further-ahead-than-me) ![Joshua Lawrence](https://www.elev8os.com.au/hs-fs/hubfs/Blog/The%20Business%20Partner%20Review/joshua-lawrence-author.png?width=72&height=72&name=joshua-lawrence-author.png) [Joshua Lawrence](https://www.elev8os.com.au/blog/author/joshua-lawrence) Founder and Lead BP Strategist at Elev8. Background spanning multiple business builds and exits across fitness, education and professional services. Our team embeds inside businesses as fractional operators focused on one outcome: building something genuinely worth owning. In this article The Elev8 Boardroom Stop running the business on your own. Four owners at a similar stage, one chair, fortnightly. Start with your Elev8 Score or book a 60-minute discovery call with Josh. [Book a discovery call](https://www.elev8os.com.au/book) [Get your Elev8 Score](https://www.elev8os.com.au/score) Get new articles ## Keep reading - ![](https://www.elev8os.com.au/hs-fs/hubfs/AI-Generated%20Media/Images/Modern%20Boardroom%20With%20Data%20Charts%20And%20Greenery.png?width=800&height=500&name=Modern%20Boardroom%20With%20Data%20Charts%20And%20Greenery.png) Advisory Boards ### [What Actually Happens Inside the Elev8 Boardroom (And Why It's Nothing Like a Business Coach)](https://www.elev8os.com.au/blog/what-actually-happens-inside-the-elev8-boardroom-and-why-its-nothing-like-a-business-coach) 8 Nov 2026 - ![](https://www.elev8os.com.au/hs-fs/hubfs/AI-Generated%20Media/Images/Modern%20Conference%20Room%20With%20Diverse%20Business%20Owners.png?width=800&height=500&name=Modern%20Conference%20Room%20With%20Diverse%20Business%20Owners.png) Advisory Boards ### [Owner-Dependent Business: Why Your $3M Company Needs You](https://www.elev8os.com.au/blog/owner-dependent-business-why-your-3m-company-needs-you) 4 Nov 2026 - ![Topics for a small business board of advice](https://www.elev8os.com.au/hs-fs/hubfs/Blog/The%20Business%20Partner%20Review/topics-for-a-small-business-board-of-advice-featured.jpg?width=800&height=500&name=topics-for-a-small-business-board-of-advice-featured.jpg) Advisory Boards ### [Topics for a small business board of advice](https://www.elev8os.com.au/blog/topics-for-a-small-business-board-of-advice) 20 Oct 2026 ELEV8Strategic PartnersElev8 Strategic Partners The Elev8 Boardroom. 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