Mastermind Your Way to Small Business Success - Part 2

When you engage in a coordination of knowledge from people who are united in achieving a defined goal, the outcome can be so powerful and riveting. I’ve been a part of and have facilitated many Masterminds over the years. After just one year in one of my Mastermind programs, one of my clients remarked how it got her out of debt and into a 200% increase in her income in just one year.

When run well, a Mastermind gives you many things including:

• Peak levels of performance.
• Feedback and personal improvement.
• Critical knowledge in how to do business in this new marketplace.
• Strategically advanced sales and marketing systems.
• Focus on the strategic elements of your business in order to take it to the next higher level.

If you’re feeling like you’d rather skip going to your Mastermind and do something else instead, you’re probably not in the right Mastermind. By being a part of the right mix of people, you receive unrestricted access to well-connected and collaborative partners who have their own secrets to success. It may have taken them decades to master those success principles, but you get to implement them in your business right away helping you save time, money, and grow exponentially.

In my experience in creating and facilitating Mastermind Groups, I’ve found these tried-and-true principles that leverage the power of Mastermind groups to create accelerated success:

1. Be a part of the right mix of people. It’s important to have the right mix of people who can trigger those out-of-the-box ideas that will pump new energy into your business. There are two tools that can help in selecting the right people. Over the years, I’ve hosted year-long Masterminds and have used these two tools with tremendous success:
• Motivational-Based Tools. Over the years, I’ve found that everyone has their own unique set of motivational drivers (or hardwiring). When you get the right mix of people with their unique set of hardwiring, this brings exponential synergy to the sessions. Each member’s natural hardwiring, combined with experience, creates unimaginable idea generation and implementation. Some people are natural idea generators, others are implementers, and still others are relationship drivers. When the right mix is combined in a group, you get a set of perspectives that help you to anticipate situations before they arise. Additionally, your own unique mix adds value to the other Mastermind members.
• Interview Process. One of the most important parts of the process is to conduct interviews. An interview helps both parties decide if the Mastermind is the right fit. Each person comes with their own set of ideas or expectations on what they want to get and give to the Mastermind. Understanding upfront whether or not there is an alignment in those expectations helps to avoid any mismatch later.

2. Set ground rules. Ground rules are governing principles of conduct and become important to the group’s sustainability and success. The ground rules should be written to encourage positive behaviors and limit unconstructive ones. Consider and discuss specific kinds of behaviors that will or will not be acceptable, formulate ground rules governing those behaviors, and establish consequences when those ground rules are broken. Consider discussing these key meeting criteria:
• Meeting frequency and absences. Discussing when you’ll meet and when and how many absences are acceptable might sound elementary, but it is vital to the success of any Mastermind. Define consequences for members who break them and enforce them consistently. Early absences or tardiness are indications of a mismatch or lack of commitment.
• Meeting structure. To avoid any one person from taking all of the time, it is important to have an Agenda for the Mastermind, define the timeframes, and hold to those timeframes. This aids in everyone benefiting from the session.

3. Commit to the Mastermind. There’s nothing more important than commitment. Once commitment starts to stray, address it head on. Once you commit and immerse yourself in the Mastermind, the experience should help you stretch personally, include advanced strategies, and provide ongoing support. It’s not always about what you can receive. It’s about what you can give. A fully cycle of reciprocity will help the group continuously thrive.

In today’s changing marketplace, you cannot possibly know everything you need to know to be successful. When you leverage the power of the Mastermind, you don’t have to know it all. Once you are a part of a successful Mastermind Group, using the full power of the group, you’ll be positioned to anticipate business and financial challenges becoming much more successful quicker than you imagined.

Imagine being able to avoid problems before they occur, foresee problems, and play bigger and more focused achieving more than you ever dreamed. That’s the power of a high-level mastermind. It is one of the best investments you will make in yourself and in your business.