1) The Business Model
Pick Your Colleagues’ Brains
This model is based on a group being formed to discuss common business problems. It can be from all within one industry, one region or with some other kind of commonality.
Mastermind groups involve people who are usually at a similar level in their career or business. They come together regularly to share knowledge, experiences and referrals, and help one another advance their businesses, motivate each other and solve problems.
Getting the Group Together
Getting a mastermind group together can be as simple as asking all your friends, or asking the more interesting people you meet at local meetings whether they want to start one. You may find other ways of contacting a number of people you think would be joining such a group. There aren’t hard and fast rules about how often to meet, who should be involved, or the topics to address, but here are several tips for making meetings effective and productive.
- Mutual benefits: To be sure a group is beneficial to all, invite members with complementary skills and experience. Be strategic about your selections. If your aim is to add a new specialty to your business, by all means, get involved in groups outside your field. But don’t mastermind with the competitor next door because the free flow of ideas will be curtailed. There’s more sharing when you’re not competing directly with one another. If members are outside your immediate area, you’ll feel comfortable telling them what you’re doing, and they will too.
- Get divorced: Don’t keep the exact same group together for eons. You need an infusion of new blood and ideas. Although some groups stay together for decades, other groups find that people often drop in and out, and that it’s important to keep looking for new people to invite. Conventions and business and association meetings are prime hunting ground for new members.
- Focus on your weaknesses: Determine where your weaknesses are and seek a group that will help you.
- Know when to pack it in: When you start hearing the same topics over and over or you become less of a listener and more of a leader, it may be time to move out and find a new group.
- Tap experts: If you need some expert advice and you can’t find it within your group, hire an outside speaker to do a presentation.
- Frequency, length and venue: How long, how often and where you meet depends on the group. Some meet monthly or every two weeks for an hour or so, and others quarterly. The meetings can take place anywhere members are comfortable — lunch meetings at a restaurant or in a conference room at a member’s office. Others have a regular time for a conference call or get together at national or franchise meetings. The length of meetings depends on the topic you’re addressing. If someone is giving a presentation on a computer program that requires three hours, it may not be a good idea to break up the topic into two sessions because you’ll loose momentum. The key is to meet regularly.
- Topics: Block out time to brainstorm the ideas and the issues you’d like to address. Mastermind topics can include anything having to do with the business, from e-mail marketing, technology Web site development to hiring and keeping staff, and reducing overhead.
What are some of the tangible benefits of mastermind groups? “Accountability,” says one participant. “We challenge each other.” He offers an example of one of his fellow mastermind members in Washington, D.C., who, when he mentioned his problems with prospecting, challenged him to make 100 prospecting calls before the next meeting. During the next meeting, the woman asked how he did. “You have three choices — wimp out, lie or do it,” said the member. He made the calls. “If you don’t do it, you’re not going to grow.”
Reaching beyond the industry
Another offshoot of mastermind groups is business networking groups that include people outside your industry. People from different professions — an accountant, financial planner, real estate practitioner, Web designer, hairdresser and writer, for example — meet regularly to share ideas and techniques (marketing and customer service, for instance) from their professions that easily apply to the others’ businesses.
Who is a candidate for involvement in mastermind groups? The resounding answer is everyone. “There’s always something new and you have to stay up on everything that’s happening in business and know — and apply —what others are doing. You can’t help but learn from these groups and get better if you use what you learn. No matter what level you’re at — if you’re new to the business or a top performer — you’re going to learn from your peers and figure out how to grow your business.