As you’re reading this blog post, the chances are that your staff are on duty, there are customers in the bar (hopefully) and more on the way. You’re hoping for a busy weekend and a Superbowl that pulls customers away from their in-home entertainment centers like never before to sample your offerings.

All going to plan, you’ll meet, serve, work with and even throw out hundreds and thousands of customers this week. Yet it’s the loneliest business in the world.

Staff will form friendships and alliances with each other, they’ll help cover each other’s back, clock in for each other and serve each other when off duty (even if they shouldn’t…); your customers will form groups and mini communities and will hang it out as long as the beer is cold and the food is hot; yet both the customer and the staff member will move on at the first sign of a new, hipper, cheaper, nearer bar and you’ll be the one left at the helm. Again. The loneliest business in the world.

It can be tough being in charge of this social empire where everyone has a good time and someone to share it with, but for you at the top, you often make your decisions alone and without advice or assistance. You’re the only one who has to worry about revenue and rent, costs and cockroaches.

Who do you turn to when the fuses blow, the snow is too deep for your staff to come to work or the bar next door is undercutting you by $1 a beer? But you push yourself and you carry on because nobody else is going to do it.

I think I’ve really brought down the mood so far, so here is a suggestion that has helped me as a business owner working for myself: Make time to hang out with other business owners in your area – they don’t have to be bar owners, just business owners who GET what you mean when you talk about the challenges you face.

I do this at least once every couple of weeks and it has given me a lot more insight and confidence to deal with the problems I would otherwise face alone.

Is it any wonder that the Nightclub & Bar Show is such a success year after year for 25 years? It’s one of the few occasions when you get to hang out with thousands of other bar owners who get what you do, who walk the same road and party just as hard!

Do yourself a favor this year. Don’t be alone in your own business. Form an informal group of business owners and meet for breakfast, a coffee or a beer. Then book your flight to Vegas to the Nightclub & Bar Show and that fuse box and snow storm won’t seem as bad…at least not for a few days anyway! I’ll see you there!

The value an outsider can offer to you as a business owner is immense. An outsider can be a new customer trying your food for the first time or a friend from a different line of work commenting on your business model.

I recently sat down with five great guys who have achieved successes in their various businesses over the past few years to share stories and wisdom. None of them were in the bar or restaurant business and our only uniting factors were that we all lived in the same city and worked for ourselves.

However, listening to how other people run their businesses, the tools they use, the marketing efforts they employ, the successes and failures they’ve had can teach us a lot about our own business and plant seeds of though and idea that could grow into something big.

I left that meeting with a laundry list of “to-dos” and have been introduced to others in my industry by these connections.

Your task for the week is to organize an informal get-together of like minded individuals for a coffee or a beer and talk about what works and what doesn’t work in your business. You might be surprised what will come of it.

I’m typing this at 30,000ft en route to San Antonio in Texas. It’s the fourth time this year that I’ve made the trip to the lone star state with one goal in mind: To find new ideas and ways to grow my business.

How does it work you might ask? Well, me and 17 other business owners have signed up to be part of a business mastermind led by an entrepreneur who has taken her business to a huge level already and is now facilitating a forum where we can all benefit from her knowledge and experience, but more importantly, to put our business models, processes, systems and ideas on the table for everyone else to pick apart, critique and of course congratulate where necessary. It’s quite a humbling experience and you need to leave your ego at the door if you really want to get the most out of it.

I have benefitted hugely from masterminding with a group of peers that “get me” and understand the challenges and hurdles I face in my business.

Some of the advice that I received has really allowed me to take my business to another level and I know that some of the advice that I have given to others in the group has helped them with their challenges.

The life coach and personal growth expert Tony Robbins credits his successes to always being part of a mastermind group. In his words “Always hang around with people who are smarter and richer than you”. That way you’re always learning something.

So, my question is this: who do you get your advice from?, who challenges your business every day?, are you willing to be critiqued and reviewed?

You may have a family friend or associate whose opinion you value who can do this for you or you might pay a consultant to review your business periodically.

Think about how you can utilize someone elses viewpoint and experiences to YOUR advantage.

We are currently considering setting up an online mastermind group for a select few bar and restaurant owners interested on driving their business forward through mutual sharing and coaching. If this is somethng you think would benefit your business, post a comment here and let us know.