Company Timeline
A walk through time
In 1999, charged with energy and a motivation to act after reading the words of author Michael Gerber in his mega-best seller, The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It, Bob and Susan Clements set out with a desire to define their own success by enabling other business owners to succeed. Within weeks, Susan (twice a former business owner and very passionate manager) and Bob (a not-so-mild-mannered-and-also-very-passionate business lawyer) began training as E-Myth Coaches at E-Myth Worldwide headquarters in Santa Rosa, California. It was an odyssey that unveiled the most extraordinary system for transformation of small business they had ever experienced—a powerful, effective, practical, doable, affordable system able to reach and touch every small business owner in even the most remote locations. On top of that, the system they experienced, called E-Myth Mastery, created completely customized results for each business owner! The whole experience was extraordinary, transformational, exhilarating and fun, all at once.
If that weren’t enough, the E-Myth odyssey brought Susan and Bob the most stunning experience of all as they began to work with small business owners – E-Myth Mastery really worked! As their business owner clients were guided systematically through the E-Myth business development processes, their way of thinking changed, the way they worked changed, their businesses changed, and their lives changed. What’s more, it didn’t matter what kind of business it was or where it was located. Only one thing mattered: the commitment of the business owner to do something different—to apply themselves putting E-Myth to work in their business in order to achieve a different result. With that one ingredient, E-Myth Mastery and the E-Myth Coach cleared the path for success.
In close collaboration with Michael Gerber, Bob and Susan set out to design a prototype E-Myth Coaching Center, hiring, training, and mentoring business coaches. From those beginnings, E-Myth Iowa, as Benchmark Business Group was first known, opened its coaching center in Des Moines, Iowa.
In 2005, Benchmark began to collaborate with a major multi-line insurance company to transform the small practices of a number of their agents into thriving producer organizations. This initiative produced such remarkable results, serving the insurance and financial services sector has become a major specialty of the Company, with hundreds of insurance and financial services agents and managers from several companies now having experienced the power of business development coaching. It also led to the creation of the Optimal Outcome Coaching Program, a proprietary business development process designed specifically for the insurance and financial services industry.
In 2006, Benchmark became the only globally licensed provider of E-Myth coaching services and began coaching business owners across the United States and in several foreign countries. Not only did it expand geographically, it developed additional consulting and coaching services including consulting for systems design and documentation, creating systems teams in an organization, strategic Executive Coaching and solutions-based Results Coaching, along with a myriad of tools and templates for more effective and efficient business development.
To complete the suite of services, at the beginning of 2011 Benchmark capitalized on a longtime strategic relationship with The Henderson Business Group, the most successful business brokerage firm in Iowa and surrounding areas, by acquiring the essential assets and name of that company. Now, along with business coaching and business development services, Benchmark is also in the business of listing and selling businesses, assisting buyers in seeking out and acquiring businesses, and providing a host of succession planning and exit strategy advisory services.
Benchmark Business Group represents the ultimate experience for business owners committed to designing a business that fulfills their entrepreneurial dreams, or ready to transition their business and realize the value they have created. Benchmark employees are committed to pushing their personal envelopes and exploring the boundaries of their own abilities, to provide the most unique experience to our clients.
We welcome you to a world of possibilities, where true value is realized—Benchmark Business Group!!