It’s lonely at the top.
Verne Harnish still remembers the day in 1985 when a rather beleaguered Steve Jobs, who had just been ousted from his own company, came and spoke to Harnish’s Association of Collegiate Entrepreneurs. A group of more than a thousand under-30 entrepreneurs found themselves riveted by Jobs’ words, and when he was finished speaking he stood alone in the corner.
“I was reminded of my mentor [CEO Clubs International founder] Joe Mancuso’s line, ‘It’s OK to be independent, but there’s no reason to be alone,’” Harnish says.
The idea that entrepreneurs have unique challenges and personalities that leave them feeling there’s no one with whom to relate was the guiding principle on which Harnish founded ACE and would go on in 1987 to start EO (the Entrepreneurs’ Organization), which today boasts more than 18,000 members in 76 countries.
EO is designed exclusively for business owners whose companies bring in at least $1 million in revenue per year. It’s not for hired guns, Harnish says: entrepreneurs only. EO programming brings together those sometimes-lonely leaders for experiences that go far beyond professional development — essentially becoming a global support group with 220 chapters, one of the newest of which can be found in the Badger State.
Scott Bushkie, CEO of Green Bay-based Cornerstone Business Services, sought out EO after learning about it from a colleague in Tennessee, who said it was a great networking resource. When Bushkie called around to find out about sponsoring EO Wisconsin, he learned the organization was brand new and didn’t really need sponsors — it didn’t even have any members yet. But after digging in on what EO had to offer, Bushkie threw out his idea of sponsoring the group and instead pursued something he thought could be more powerful: EO membership. He became EO Wisconsin’s founding president in 2019 and has played an integral role in growing the chapter ever since.
“Only business owners can be part of EO, and a group of all business owners in a room really intrigued me,” Bushkie says. “The other thing that intrigued me was that it wasn’t just about building your business. It was also about your family, your personal mental and physical [health] … getting the most out of life possible.”
Lake Geneva-based entrepreneur Troy Migut is EO Wisconsin’s current president. He says the organization’s biggest challenge to growth is basic awareness of EO and the fact that the Wisconsin chapter exists. But there’s also that Midwestern sensibility that helping others is great, but asking for help for yourself is not.
In EO, Migut says, “you’re asking people to get down to a level of vulnerability,” which can feel uncomfortable at first.
“But once you start talking to people in the organization, you realize there’s zero judgment,” he says. “We all understand we’re going through something similar. It’s getting down to that 5% of things you might not feel comfortable sharing with others and setting aside that time to work on yourself. It’s just helped me be a better person, and it definitely makes me a better business owner.”
Bushkie says it’s no coincidence that his company has shattered growth records every year since he joined EO. “I’m just working so much smarter than I was three or four years ago, and I owe that to EO,” he says. “It’s changed my life.”
And while local chapters offer programming and small group resources, Migut says the global reach of EO is another major membership benefit. When visiting another country, EO has been a great way for him to get in the know and connect with local resources.
For Harnish, EO is more than just a business network. It’s a movement he’s proud to have helped start. One of his earliest goals was improving the reputation of entrepreneurship as a profession, starting with outreach to President Ronald “It’s the economy, stupid” Reagan.
“[Before then] no president had ever used the word entrepreneur in any speech that we could find,” Harnish says.
“I do think there’s a difference between owning a business and being an entrepreneur,” Migut says. “Something very different about [EO] is that it’s people who are excited and curious and looking to capitalize on that next opportunity. And it’s a network that isn’t looking for handouts or interested in ladder climbing. It’s a group that really wants to help each other out.”
On the web: eonetwork.org/wisconsin
