Many solopreneurs or business owners with small teams are stuck between a rock and a hard place—they’re excited about their goals and dreams for the business, but can feel isolated and stuck doing it solo.
And that can be detrimental to reaching their business goals. We know the power and benefits of community at work and how important it is to share ideas to boost innovation—success is hard to come by without a community of support around you.
That’s where a mastermind program comes into play.
A mastermind program is a group of like-minded entrepreneurs and professionals who regularly meet together to support, encourage, inspire, and challenge one another.
Troy Jacobson, executive coach, business strategist and co-owner of 3 Pillars Mastermind, currently hosts a group right here at The Post. We recently sat down to learn a bit more about his background, what a mastermind is, and who could benefit from it.
Here’s what he told us.
The Post: You’ve had a very interesting career path. Can you tell us a bit about where you came from and how you became an executive coach and mastermind group facilitator?
Troy Jacobson: I’ve been an entrepreneur and small business owner starting at the age of 21 for a career spanning over 30 years now.
It started in connection with my love for endurance sports and performance training. I entered the world of triathlon racing back in the late 1980s and raced professionally through much of the 1990s, finishing the IRONMAN World Championships in Kona HI several times, among dozens of other races in North America.
At that time in the early 90’s, I also started an endurance coaching company to help athletes compete at higher levels of performance called Fax a Coach. This expanded over time into a coaching organization called The Triathlon Academy with a team of 50+ coaches. I also ventured into retail, eventually opening two brick-and-mortar stores in the mid-Atlantic region. Furthermore, I started a company that made indoor cycling exercise videos for triathletes and cyclists called Spinervals Cycling, which became a category leader globally with worldwide distribution. I also dabbled in commercial real estate and opened a small fitness center as part of my entrepreneurial journey.
After a time, I was headhunted by a large publicly traded national health club company employing over 25,000 people and with over 120 locations at the time, where I joined them as a senior national leader. They ended up buying my company and I worked there for 10 years, learning how big business works and honing my leadership skills in the process. It was a great period of personal growth, going from small business ownership to corporate life.
After 10 years in that role, I went on to take the next step in my personal and professional growth and development around the age of 50. I decided to leverage my small business ownership and corporate team leadership background to help others and got into executive coaching and business consulting, which is where I am today. I absolutely love helping business owners and executives level up!
What does your coaching and business consulting work look like? What are you doing here at The Post?
First, The Post is a great place to office in terms of access to first-rate conference rooms, private office spaces, and more. I love the flexibility and community. Part of our practice at 3-Pillars Performance is Vistage CEO Group Chairing. I am one of about 600 in the US who host peer mastermind groups, and I co-chair several groups both in Tucson and Phoenix with my business partner and co-founder of 3-Pillars, Steven Weaver.
Vistage is one of the world’s largest CEO and executive networks, but it’s a higher level of entry to gain membership (i.e., annual revenue over 1 million dollars). At the 3-Pillars Performance Group, which consists of a network of professional consultants, we also help companies grow through our Strategic Planning and executive leadership training services.
At The Post, we’re offering a business acceleration program for small business owners and executives we’re calling The 3-Pillars Entrepreneur Mastermind—the 3-Pillars of any successful business are Leadership, Culture, and Strategy. We’re creating an opportunity for small business owners or solopreneurs to benefit from a mastermind group of like-minded professionals, with training and education from experienced coaches and mentors. Eventually, as they scale, there’s the opportunity for them to join a Vistage CEO Group and the worldwide network it offers to its members.
Our 3-Pillars Entrepreneur Mastermind at The Post is a great opportunity to have people join a group of like-minded people where they get a lot of ideas, support and best practices from other business owners. Everyone in the room is dealing with similar challenges related to growth. The group helps members prioritize what’s most important to reach their goals, expands perspectives, teaches leadership and strategic planning skills and drives accountability for performance.
It’s a group where people can share their victories, their challenges and opportunities, and get other people around the table to share their experiences and ideas about how to solve problems and grow faster.
We’re seeing a lot of people in NW Tucson gravitate towards the mastermind because it’s a way to expand perspective and learn new things from other local leaders. When you have a chance to get together with other small business owners, you get a chance to share your struggles and challenges and to receive great feedback and support from others’ experiences. This, combined with the educational topics we cover and the accountability from others in the group is a true game changer.
What can someone expect if they join the 3-Pillars Mastermind at The Post?
It’s a personal and professional development program, so we start off with the underlying foundational concept that the first person you lead is you. So, if you’re not leading and taking care of yourself, you’re probably not going to be a great business leader.
The other big thing we work on is helping leaders become better team builders. After all, the best leaders surround themselves with team members who are aligned to the organization’s vision and are empowered to do what it takes to succeed. Not everyone has leadership or team-building skills but almost everyone can acquire them through training and exposure to other strong leaders.
The third key pillar we work on is strategy. We talk a lot about business strategy and tactics—what do you need to do today in order to achieve your goals one, three, and five years from now? Most small business owners are so ‘in the weeds’ running the day-to-day operations, they neglect thinking strategically about how to scale and grow the business. The 3 hours per month invested in attending the mastermind sessions give members a chance to engage in and develop their strategic thinking ‘muscles’.
On the more practical side, we have a different business leadership topic for every meeting that’s our focal point. As the coach, my job is to facilitate learning and lively conversation around the topic. I do this by breaking people into small groups or using other proven teaching strategies to get the conversation and knowledge transfer flowing.
Accountability is key to what we do as well, so at the end of each session, we give key takeaways from the session, and commit to actions to move the ball forward. Everyone has to offer a nugget of wisdom or some kind of strategic tactic they’re going to deploy. They share this with the whole group and report back later. That month-to-month accountability creates traction over time and gives you the mindset to achieve long-term success.
There’s a lot of discussion and sharing, so we do ask people to sign confidentiality agreements before joining the group. This provides that safe place to discuss everything in your personal and professional life to really grow and develop as a leader.
How can someone join your mastermind?
We’re currently running the Northwest Tucson group here at The Post, and we also have one in Vail AZ, hosted at the Chamber of Commerce. We’ll be expanding to other areas throughout Southern and Central Arizona, as well as offering a virtual program.
Becoming a member is a simple and streamlined process. Head over to our 3 Pillars Mastermind website and click “free trial session.” Anyone can try it out with no obligation to see if it’s a good fit.
Any growth-minded entrepreneur, solopreneur, executive, or small business owner are welcome to join us. The membership requirements are having P&L responsibility of less than $500K and fewer than 5 full-time employees.
Our whole concept for the group is that we get better together—iron sharpens iron. Masterminds are the way to level up your business goals and strategies in a community of like-minded professionals.
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If you want to learn more about Troy’s work, visit him at 3 Pillars Mastermind or check out Vistage. You can also connect with him over email at troy.jacobson@vistagechair.com, on LinkedIn, or by phone at 410-404-4197.
And if you’re looking for a productive workspace to connect with other like-minded professionals, you’ll find it at The Post. Contact us to book a tour today and see what we’re all about.