Business owners

SME Think Tank

One hour, online, with other business owners. Bring one real problem and leave with either an answer, a person who has the answer, or a next step you did not have an hour ago.

Already submitted and set a password? Sign in to read what other business owners are facing, and answer the ones you have been through.

What the Think Tank is

A room of business owners working on each other’s real problems. You bring what is actually in your way; other owners tell you what worked for them.

  1. Submit your challenges. Answer the questions below. That is what gets you in.
  2. Bookmark this page. You will want to come back to it — this is where you and your challenges live.
  3. Add more challenges whenever you like. One submission is a start, not a limit.
  4. Other business owners and members see your challenges and respond. If someone has already solved what you are stuck on, they can tell you how.
  5. Go and read theirs. On the you can see what other business owners are facing and answer them — if you have been through it, you are the person best placed to help.
  6. We work through them together in the sessions. The Think Tank hour is built around the challenges people have raised, and the successes behind them. Over time that is how a business owners’ community that actually supports each other gets built — not by announcing one.
  7. Answers come to you by email. When another business owner responds to something you posted, we email you. You do not have to sit watching the page.
  8. A business project manager looks at your challenges too. Not to answer them — the answers come from business owners. It points you at things that already exist and might help: sessions you could attend, modules you could take, tools you could use. Those show up on your profile.

Book into the next Think Tank →

The solutions on the Solutions page are written by other business owners facing similar issues. They are not advice from ARC, and the decision to try any of them sits with you.

What it is

Not a webinar, and not a pitch.

The thing a business owner cannot get alone is other people who are actually in it — who will tell you the truth, and who have already solved the thing that is currently stopping you. Most business owners are surrounded by people who are either working for them, selling to them, or politely impressed by them. None of those can help with the decision you are stuck on.

A think tank is a room of peers with a structure. The structure is what makes people willing to say the difficult thing out loud, and it is why this is not simply a call.

The four questions

Every session runs on the same four. They are the spine of the hour, and they are also the beginning of your Business owners Futures diagnostic — so nothing you say here has to be said twice.

What challenges are you facing?
What resources do you need?
Who do you need to be connected to right now?
What advice are you seeking?

There is a fifth, asked every time: what did you achieve since the last one? The four never change — that is deliberate. They stay the same because the focus stays the same as you move forward: you solve one thing and the next one is already waiting behind it. What changes is your answers. If one of them has not moved in a fortnight, say no change and spend the time on what did.

Come to the next one

Answer the four questions now and the room starts working before you arrive — the session is built around what people actually raise, and your answers carry into your diagnostic.

Checking whether you are signed in…

Been before? If an answer below has not changed, write no change and move on. If it has moved, say how — that is the part worth the room's time.

How the hour is structured

It runs the same way every time, because a predictable shape is what makes people willing to say the difficult thing.

10 min
Where everyone is
One sentence each. Not introductions — position.
15 min
What is actually stopping you
The four questions, worked live.
20 min
The room answers
The part that matters. Other business owners have solved this — some of them solved it last month. This is where a think tank stops being a meeting.
10 min
Guest input, when the room has earned it
Specialists brought in to speak to the issues actually raised — not a slot booked in advance for someone with something to sell.
5 min
One commitment each
What you will have done before the next one.

What you leave with

The sessions

SME Think Tank

One hour, on Zoom. Three sessions every fortnight — pick whichever suits you.
Monday
2:00–3:00pm
Every second week.
Wednesday
5:30–6:30pm
Every second week.
Friday
11:00am–12:00pm
Every second week.

All times Sydney. Each day runs on a fortnightly basis, so there are three sessions to choose from every fortnight. The booking page shows the next available date for each.

See the times and book →

What it asks of you

Three more steps you can take

Once your challenges are in, these are open to you. None of them replaces the Think Tank — they follow on from it.

Register for a free ARCverse profile

Free. Takes a few minutes, and it is what opens everything else.

More features, tools and resources for growing your business — and, importantly, a Facilitator and a business project manager alongside you for the rest of your owner’s journey. The Think Tank works without one; it works considerably better with one.

Register for a free profile →

Three free sessions with Stuart Black

One to one, an hour each. A separate calendar, run by Stuart himself.

Stuart has your challenges in front of him, so you are not starting the conversation from scratch. If you would rather begin with one conversation than a room, begin here.

Book with Stuart →

The Business owners modules

A separate programme. Work through it at your own pace.

Structured material on the things business owners keep getting stuck on. Where a module matches something you raised, it will be pointed out to you.

See the modules →
ARC · Business owners Futures · Business owners programme · Build Your Room · Services Hub Collab