About Masterminds

What Is A Mastermind Group?

A Mastermind Group is 2 or more people who meet regularly to share their knowledge to support each other to achieve a purpose. It's sort of like, the group is greater than the sum of it's individual parts.

So...What's So Good About A Mastermind Group?

Have you read the book "Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill? If you haven't, go and get it. It is one of the classics and has been an influence on a high proportion of every successful person every interviewed. In fact, the book itself is the result of interviews with 500 successful people (turn of the century stuff so yes, they were practically all men). Napoleon Hill identified 13 steps to riches that every one of these people used, and identified "the secret" and "the law of attraction" decades before they were made popular through the movie "The Secret".

Well, he identified the 9th step that was essential for the attainment of riches, as "The Power Of The Mastermind".

Through the years, I have been part of numerous Mastermind Groups. Some have comprised only myself and one other person and lasted successfuly for years. Others comprised more people and were designed to last for a definite time period and solve particular problems. I am currently fortunate to be part of an international mastermind group of very successful entrepreneurs which has 9 members.

Through each of these I have been able to grow personally and professionally in ways that would not have been possible without the group. And it is not just me. Mastermind Groups have been shown through numerous studies to be key to success, and nothing could be truer for people working from home and in small businesses.

What Makes A Successful Mastermind - And What Doesn't

First, let's dispel a few myths about what makes a good mastermind Group:

1. Each person in the group must have the same level of experience (ie, don't mix experienced marketers with newbies)
2. Each person in the group must live close to each other so the group can meet easily
3. The group must be large so you have lots of new ideas
4. The group must be small and intimate
5. The group must all be working towards the one goal

All of these rules above are wrong. A successful Mastermind Group can take a few forms though there are a few things that I (and others) have found are essential for the group to work successfully. If you have any others to add, I'd love to hear from you:

1. There must be trust in the group. If you already know each other this is usually there from the beginning. If you don't you will need to discuss and agree that what ever is said in the group - stays in the group. You may even ask each other to sign an agreement to this effect.
2. Each member must be willing to share challenges as well as wins
3. There can be no passive members - all members must actively share ideas with the group.
4. The group must agree on certain rules, such as how often to meet, times to meet, structure of meetings and length of meetings - and stick to this. Agreeing to these rules and respecting them also shows respect for the time constraints every person is under.
5. New members can only be added to the group with every other members' consent

As long as these main rules are covered then you can be quite flexible. For example:

• Even though the main objective for each person in the group may be to build a successful internet business, they all don't have to be at the same level of knowledge. Without fail, each person has something unique to contribute. As I mentioned above, I am currently part of an international mastermind group. One of the members freely admits to being a total internet newbie. By learning about some of the approaches he has taken in his off-line business, I have been able to adapt them for the on-line market-place. He has given me a new way to look at what I do.

• You do not need to be in the same area and meet in person. In fact, with some groups I have been part of, even though we lived close together, we still met through telephone conference. It kept us focused and was more time efficient. Different time zones and countries don't really matter. We find that there is always a time that suits each person. It just means that some people get up early while others stay up late. It's worth the effort.

Different Mastermind Structures

As you may have heard - size doesn't matter. It just changes the way things are done (this could be a good quote for a bumper sticker!).

• If you only have 2 people in a group, then your relationship will probably be more of a peer mentoring or accountability partner. This is fine as long as you don't expect more than that from each other. For years I was in a peer mentoring relationship with another business woman. Each Monday we spoke for 30 minutes. We told each other our 3 goals for the next week and reported on the 3 goals for the previous week. It kept us both realistic. Once every few months we would meet for lunch and set long term goals and help each other with our business plans. This can be a good way for a group of 2 to work.

• For all size groups: If you meet every 2 weeks, for example, you may want to make your meetings the day after (or immediately after) the Wonderful Web Women live interviews. You may make the topic of each call based on the topic of each speaker and discuss how you can each implement those strategies into your own businesses.

• Instead you may decide to feature a different member each meeting. Each member can take turns presenting a project they are working on and get advice from the other members.

• If different members have different areas of expertise, you may want to take turns presenting and teaching the others about your topic.

• If you do live locally you may decide to make longer meetings every month or so or just meet socially so you can get to know each other better. If you don't live locally, hey what a great excuse to travel.

• These are just a few suggestions on how to structure your mastermind group. Let the group determine the best way to go, and be open to change. We'd love to hear your ideas.