“When two or more minds come together for a purpose, the purpose becomes greater than the being.” Napoleon Hill
I recently took over an existing RYZE Network (the SHE Network) and renamed it HER Mastermind Network. The reason for the name change was to give the network a name that truly reflected our personality and what it is we do on this social networking site.
You see, I think of social networking as a sort of mastermind group. Although these types of forums tend to be much larger than a traditional mastermind, the idea is the same. To learn from a variety of perspectives, to get ideas from more people, to brainstorm ways to tackle everyday challenges... and more.
Here's my definition of a mastermind group: "it is a group of people who meet on a regular basis to exchange ideas, seek the advice of the group and solicit feedback from. It is a resource center of new ideas."
Many small business owners feel isolated and that no one really understands the challenges you face in your business. A Mastermind Group or Network will lessen that isolated feeling.
Over the yearsI have been involved in several masterminds. Some of them meet/met in person, some were and are online exchange between female speakers around the world. Some were started by others and I was invited to attend, some were co-founded by me.
Each of them have helped me both professional and personally, taking my businesses to new levels of success and helping me to crystalize what my purpose in life is. They have helped me to find out what it was I was really working toward, helped me set and achieve goals and offered the kind of encouragement that was necessary when things didn't always go my way. So I thought it would be a good idea to share some of the things I and others have discovered from participating in a mastermind group.
The first thing you need to do is know what it is you want from a mastermind group and what you can contribute to the group.
Highly successful mastermind groups work best when you follow a few simple guidelines:
1. When deciding who would best fit in your group, choose people who have specialized knowledge you lack. Enlisting people with very different outlooks strengthens a mastermind group.
2. Make a time commitment and stick to it. It doesn't matter if you meet once a week or once a month. The point is that when you decide the frequency, make the commitment, don't allow anything except serious emergencies to interfere with your date.
3. Create an agenda to follow. This provides a sense of order during your meetings. Sample agendas might include open discussion at the beginning of the meeting and then focusing on individual challenges for about 20 minutes each.
One of my in-person group (of 6) focuses on one member's challenge each meeting with the others offering their feedback or advice. Each member gets her turn to share. This is very powerful because each of us learns something from the other's challenge. My online group meets in a "chat room" and we each ask a question (there are 5 of us). The other 4 offer their responses. We meet for approximately one hour and we have open discussion at the end of the meeting if there is time.
4. Our in-person meetings are fun. We meet in a different place each month, and it has become as much a social event as an educational experience.
5. Keep it Small and Simple. If your group is too large you run into the challenge of everyone not having sufficient time to present their own challenges. Groups of 4 to 7 work seem to work best.
6. Decide on your rules of engagement in the very beginning. My in-person group openly discusses details of our companies with the understanding that our "inside" secrets" are never divulged outside of our group.
7. Depending on the nature of your group you might consider assigning a facilitator for each meeting to keep the group on target. You learn to facilitate by doing it.
Another key component I should mention is that a true mastermind has an accountability component - that means we help one another achieve our goals by asking how we are doing, offering encouragement and "holding our feet to the fire."
I love the interaction and dynamic flow of ideas that occur during my mastermind group meetings, and cannot wait to get to work on everyone's suggestions. It is exciting to see the results at the end of the year.
When you create your own mastermind group you will see an immediate change in how you approach your own challenges. And the other benefit is that it makes you really look at problems from a new perspective - you find that business owners are more alike than different even when we "sell" a different product or solution to our own target audience.
Being involved in mastermind groups for more than 15 years has been more rewarding for me than I could ever describe, in that I have received so much more than I could ever give back.
If you are not currently involved in a mastermind, I strongly suggest you begin by making a list of the people you would want on your team – I call it your "dream team" - to help your business grow. It may be the best step you take for your business this year!
Warmest regards,
Heidi
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