Lately I have been thinking about the concept of masterminding. Jack Canfield talks about it in his book “The Success Principles”, and the idea goes all the way back to Napoleon Hill’s classic book “Think and Grow Rich”. Masterminding is an alliance of two or more like minded people for the purpose of accomplishing common goals.
There are some very powerful applications of this concept. One great example is that a friend of mine recently created a mastermind group on Facebook where over 60 people gather to exchange ideas on how to improve our mindset, develop our major definiteness of purpose, and encourage each other as we write books, implement effective marketing strategies for our businesses, and share our challenges. The breadth and depth of experience that each member brings is world-class, and we all help each other in the spirit of giving and creating a safe and positive environment to share our journey.
You may be wondering if it is helpful that everybody in a mastermind alliance is from the same industry or have the same types of experience. I would say it really depends on the goals everyone has.
If everyone is in the same industry, for example financial services, then the mastermind members can share strategies that work very well within their own industry to help their businesses and help their customers more effectively. If everyone is from different industries, then they can learn things that are work for people in other fields that they can apply to what they are currently doing—in other words, borrow from another industry. A dry cleaner may learn how to market her business based on what is working for a restaurant, for example.
Let’s talk about what happens in a mastermind meeting. The first thing that must be defined is how long your meeting will last. This will depend on the number of people in your group and how long everyone gets to share their victories and challenges. Everyone takes a turn at each meeting. It is also a great idea to designate a timekeeper. If you don’t do this, then some people will monopolize the time and others won’t get their needs met. As we all know, if our needs aren’t being met, we tend to disassociate ourselves at some point and the group will begin to fall apart. What is shared in the room stays in the room, so it is very important that people in your group are trustworthy. You can meet every week, or at whatever interval is most useful to all of the members. As each person shares and gets feedback from the rest of the group, you will be amazed at some of the terrific ideas that get generated. However, it only works if everyone is buying into the concept.
There are many reasons and many benefits to being involved in a mastermind alliance. The level of support and confidentiality you will receive from like-minded people is invaluable. Look for such a group as soon as you can, and if you can’t find one, then create your own and watch your business grow. You will be so glad you did.
Brian K Wright is the host of Success Profiles Radio airing each Monday at 6pm Eastern on the Rockstar Radio Network. The show is consistently ranked on the “What’s Hot on iTunes Top 120 List” in Careers and Self Help. To learn more about the show, or to listen to podcasts of previous episodes, go to www.successprofilesradio.com
