The single most powerful tool in my opinion for any entrepreneur looking to expand their business and achieve the growth they desire is the Mastermind Group. The “Mastermind Concept” is widely credited to Napoleon Hill, author of the all time bestselling success book, ‘Think And Grow Rich.’ In it he chronicles the common ideas and success strategies of several hundred great achievers of Hill’s time, including Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford, and Thomas Edison.
Hill discovered that Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone and Thomas Edison all had a formal “Mastermind Alliance,” and met regularly in away-from-business locations, to creatively brainstorm about all their businesses and interests. These men enunciated to Hill the belief that putting their three minds together in harmonious, progressive thought multiplied their power exponentially. Hill subsequently found the same principle at work in other “Mastermind Alliances.”
I have used this tool numerous times in my career as an entrepreneur and believe that it has been the most effective for me in regard to breaking through bottlenecks and achieving growth. It has worked so well for me that I now lead one for other business owners and professionals to help them receive all the same benefits that I have over the years. You can read about our Mastermind Group here
If you’ve never heard of the Mastermind Concept, grab ‘Think and Grow Rich’ and turn directly to chapter 10. The first time I was introduced to this concept was through Robert Kiyosaki’s book ‘Cashflow Quadrant.’ In it Kiyosaki makes the point that the five people that you spend the most time with are who you will become like. Kiyosaki references income as a quick measurement of how similar you and the five closest people to you have become. You would be surprised as to how this theory unfolds, not just in regard to income, but in regard to every area of your life.
For one friend of mine, I am the only one in his life that is not or has not been divorced. Everyone he is close to has been divorced. For me, the people I spend the most time with are all overweight, just like me. We are all between 35 pounds (me) to 65 pounds overweight and all happen to be working on reducing that, too, independent of each other.
You get the point. So with the Mastermind Group, having other like minded, growth and freedom oriented entrepreneurs to get together and share ideas with is a powerful thing. The only thing to watch out for is to keep from turning it into the ‘blind leading the blind.’ If you are in need of consistent, effective lead generation systems for your business, make sure someone else in the group has accomplished this or can bring in someone who has so that you are not all just guessing as to how to implement this in your business.
If you want to start your own Mastermind Group, here are a few groundrules to operate by:
1. Meet regularly. Once a month works great. We also meet for a full day (9am-5pm) without interruption. Focus is key.
2. Demand attendance. If someone misses more than one meeting every six months, they can be booted.
3. Demand transparency. There is not anything you can share in the group that would be stolen or implemented in a way that hurt your business. Collaboration always trumps secrecy and isolation.
4. Be flexible. You may get it started and then realize you are not getting anything from it. Do not feel guilty for bailing on it. It needs to be a clear win-win for everyone involved.
5. Do not let it turn into a leads group or book of the month club. Focus on what is relevant for each business involved to achieve growth and breakthrough.
