Steve Price, founder of BWP Inspire accounting firm, has been in Charlie's Trusted Team mastermind for two and a half years. He joined skeptical but found the cross-industry conversations sharpened his leadership and gave him tools he actually used. The group even connected him with people through shared interests in endurance sport.
My name's Steve Price and my company is BWP Inspire. We're accountants based in Manchester and I've been part of the Trusted Team group now for about 2 and a half years. So I ran into Charlie at the National Accounting Convention down in London. It was a chance meeting really, and Charlie put a proposition to me that I wasn't really looking for. I didn't really feel it was what I needed. And then I had a good think after our conversation because I've been part of mastermind groups for a long time and they've all been within the accounting sector. So we talk to each other about all good things accounting, but what I didn't have was a perspective from outside the accounting sector. And there's a lot of ideas that we can draw into general business, or at least professional services run businesses that us accountants aren't doing. And so I just went along and I thought, well, We'll give it a go, we'll see what, we'll see what's happening, see who I can meet and see some of the ideas that they're talking about. When I got there, I then became involved in a group, obviously, of like-minded professional people from all different sectors, and immediately the value of being in a group like that hit me. It was fantastic to just get some of the thoughts and perspectives that I've never considered before, having been, if you like, sheltered within my own sector. And naturally That group is one of the things that I enjoy about being in the Trusted Team. A group, a community, a mastermind group is its people, right? The value is in the conversations we have with each other. However, I have to say it's not the most valuable part because Charlie, Charlie is a leader of the group. Charlie is so influential. I've picked up so much and sometimes it's the big things, But very often it's the little things. It's the things that I didn't know I was looking for. It's the answers to questions that I wasn't necessarily asking at the time. Charlie has a brilliant way of being able to switch our minds onto subjects and then take us into places where at the start of it, we didn't see where we were going at all. And for that, I'm really grateful because as a business leader, I think we all need an element of that. We need to Okay, it's a cliché, but we go outside of our comfort zone in order to learn things, not necessarily just because we have problems, but because we're able to seize opportunities that we weren't necessarily thinking about before we had that conversation. But another point I'd like to mention is that Charlie is really good at structuring the meetings as well. So one thing I'm a big believer is, is that sometimes we can be inspired by something. Sometimes we can gain insight into something, But it doesn't actually make an impact in our lives or in our business unless we go, we go out of the group, we go back to our own business and we do something about it. The key, the value is always gonna be in implementation and the way Charlie structures the sessions, we always get a takeaway. We always get something to take away, ready to implement into our own businesses. And that, that is really valuable. And so I have to say, being a member of the Trusted Team, makes me a better business leader. It gives me the insight, but also it gives me the tools so I can implement new ideas. And that's my role here at Inspire. So it helps me to perform my role. And in doing that, I think, I know it makes Inspire a better business. But it's not just that either. It goes beyond business and it goes into our personal lives. I share hobbies and interests with Charlie in endurance sport, and we talk just as much about that as we do about our, our businesses. And so again, I'm able to take insight and I'm able to take value which I can carry into my personal life. I truly believe that I'm a better person for being part of the Trusted Team Mastermind Group.
