Got a Mastermind?

I recently attended a conference in Costa Mesa, CA to build my business. It was wonderful. Not only learning about how to build my business but also being surrounded by enthusiastic, like-minded enterpreneurs. That's when I realized how isolated I was here in Atlanta, GA. And that I needed to do something about it--like starting a mastermind.

If you're feeling isolated in making your career transition, maybe you should consider one too.

A mastermind group is often made up of at least 6 – 8 members but you can create a mini-mastermind by buddying up with at least one other person or 2. Find someone else who wants to accomplish something (change careers, lose weight, go sledding in the Iditarod, whatever). Schedule a 2-hour call or meeting once a week. Set up at least a month’s worth of calls or just pick a day you’re going to meet each week and put it on your calendar indefinitely.

Here’ s a description of a typical meeting for a mastermind group from "Meet and Grow Rich: How to Easily Create and Operate Your Own Mastermind Group for Health, Wealth and More" by Joe Vitale and Bill Hibbler:

“Open the meeting, share success stories, mastermind time, share resources, close the meeting. The largest portion of the time should be for the mastermind time, when members take turns sharing their goals and challenges and everyone asks questions and gives advice to that member. This keeps the meeting from deteriorating into a chatty social session. Should the discussion become social, steer the meeting back to its structure. Each person gets about 10 – 15 minutes. Use a timer.”

At the end of each meeting, each of you comes up with your own homework assignments. You each have to report back at the next meeting about what you did or didn’t do and that creates accountability and a sense of urgency.

Best chance for success? Pick members who are positive, creative, and supportive!

What’s powerful about a mastermind group is that somehow when you get 2 or more people together, you get exponential results—both in terms of brainstorming and accelerating your progress. Working with others gets you out of your box and into action.