Oooo Masterminds! The most mysterious and often mis-understood of terms. You often hear really high performing people saying “My Mastermind helped me get here” or “I couldn’t have done this without my Mastermind!” You also see people leading them for top dollar, at very exclusive locations. Masterminds look so snazzy and classy!
But for the uninitiated, it can be sooo confusing! What exactly is a Mastermind? HOW do they work? How do you get one?
I am here to clear the confusion right out of the air. The simple, very boring truth, is Masterminds can look however you want them to look. Ugh, I know, right?
So, here’s the 411 on how to make them work for YOU – and how to make one, period. Because they ARE amazing, powerful tools for professional and personal growth.
There are for the most part, two types of Masterminds: peer + expert led.
If it’s expert led, it means there’s a super smart/savvy/wise person holding the space and acting as the leader of the mastermind. They generally have small groups of likeminded people get together in person a few times a year to dive into their brains. The goal of these is to get all that expert smarts + savvyness into YOUR brain and business.
BUT ELLEN, we can’t afford the $15K (or more!) pricetag to do these! {I am hearing you say this as I write to you. I can hear your cries, did you know that?}
I know, they can be priced really steep. So, here’s how to get the most out of your peer-to-peer mastermind!
Step 1: The Basics
Connect with a few other awesome business owners that are in a similar stage of business growth. See if they are interested in forming a Mastermind with you. Tell them you want a small tribe of people each dedicated to each others success.
Step 2: Logistics
Create a structure, how often are you going to connect with each other? How are you going to connect with each other? What’s the structure of your time together? Does one person talk per session, or do you rotate everyone through each call? Make it clear and write it on your calendars with sharpie.
Step 3: Hunger Level
This can be tricky – but I’ve found my most successful masterminds have been when everyone involved has had similar levels of ambition and drive. This can be an awkward conversation to have at the beginning, but it helps to se expectations and understand where everyone is, and where they want to go. Similar hunger levels (for success, growth, etc.) helps everyone support each other and get the most out of each other brains on your business.
Step 4: The Good Stuff
Figure out how you want to use that time together! For me, my mastermind has been invaluable for :
- Accountability (Hey! You said you were going to launch that free class, what’s up with that?)
- Helping me strategize around tricky situations
- Reminding me how great I am and how far I’ve come (that is SO important for us solopreneurs, we tend to get so obsessed on the future we forget how far we’ve gone!)
- Keeping my business flowing and moving forward
- Helping me think of better things than I could have on my own
And, because my mastermind is cool like that, every now and then we talk about our personal lives (boys, duh) instead of business, because life is about balance, yes?
The two most important keys to your success will be group commitment and really focusing on supporting each others success.
So, it can look however you want. I do have an official mastermind that meets once a week. I am also part of a small, wildly supportive facebook group that functions as an ad-hock mastermind. And I have a few friends I get together with regularly and talk things over with. The container and format can be tailored to YOU and how you function best.
But there’s no big secret, there’s nothing that you don’t have right now that prevents you from creating your own. So go out there, connect with some awesome, likeminded biz folks, and leverage your brains/energy/passion for greater success.
