Brief Overview

Being an entrepreneur is full of ups and downs and challenges. I have been an entrepreneur since 2002, and one of the biggest challenges I faced that nobody ever talks about is loneliness. When you’re running a business that nobody in your family understands and nobody in your community really gets, how do you get beyond that loneliness?

Recently I got back from a week away in Orlando, Florida where I was a part of a paid mastermind hosted and run by Jeff Walker. In this episode, I am going to talk to you about masterminds as the antidote to loneliness that can provide you with a trusted group of people who can guide, support and encourage you to take the next step in the right direction.

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Big Ideas

Peer Mastermind as a Way to Surround Yourself with Great People [4:06]

There are two masterminds you can consider to fight the loneliness of entrepreneurship. The first one is a peer mastermind where you get together with a group of peers. Typically, these are great when you’re starting out and don’t have money to invest in yourself. More often than not, it’s going to require you to take on a leadership role and get a bunch of people together. A peer mastermind is typically free for everybody that’s part of it, and the only thing that you chip in for are any expenses related to the mastermind. I’ve been in one where we would fly to a certain location three times per year, rent a house to bunker down in and spend three days masterminding. The challenge with a peer mastermind is that you have to have somebody to lead and organize it, otherwise there will be no consistency in meetings.

A peer mastermind allows you to get going and get surrounded by great people. The best time to form it is when you’re already with amazing people at a conference or an event. For example, Tribe Live is a great experience because you meet incredible people, but you don’t have to let it end there. Instead, you can extend that experience by forming a mastermind.

Get Access to the Biggest Minds at a Paid Mastermind [6:42]

The second option is a paid mastermind. The biggest benefit of a paid mastermind is learning so much from a group of people you would normally never have access to. 

Some of the greatest moments in my career have come from the support of people in a mastermind. The one that stands out is Reid Tracy, the CEO of Hay House, a big publishing company. He is the one who changed the trajectory of my career by contributing over $100,000 to our charity, pending I taught people in the group everything I knew about membership sites. That was literally the beginning of Tribe and our company. Thanks to paid masterminds, I’ve also built tremendous friendships with people like Michael Maidens, Victoria Labalme and Mastin Kip.

There is usually a leader who leads the paid mastermind which provides structure and organization. And the longer you are part of an organized mastermind, the deeper the relationships go and the more benefit everybody gets because you get to know each other on a deeper, more intimate level.

A Chance to Join Impact Mastermind  [11:54]

The mastermind I run, Impact Mastermind, is targeted toward people who have high six to eight-figure membership sites and/or businesses. The group gets more valuable the longer people stay together, and its members have become some of my dearest friends. Finding a paid mastermind is usually harder because good paid masterminds are not advertised or promoted, as the core group of people will stay together year after year. However, this year I have a few openings for Impact Mastermind, so you can email my assistant Summer at [email protected] if you are interested.

3 Things to Look for in a Paid Mastermind  [13:43]

When you’re looking for a paid mastermind, there are a few things I encourage you to look for. Number one is values – if your values don’t line up with whoever is running the mastermind, you’re going to feel all kinds of friction and it won’t be a fun place to be.

Number two is trustworthiness. I was sharing what we were about to do for an upcoming promotion at one of the peer masterminds, and less than a month after that particular meeting, one of the team members created a competitive product together with a guest from the same meeting. I left the mastermind abruptly the moment the trust was broken, because that’s when the whole thing starts to crumble.

The third thing that makes a great mastermind work is when people in the group have drive and ambition. A great mastermind is not all business, it’s about supporting each other to improve in all areas of our lives. There’s a spinoff group that we created at our Impact Mastermind for those who want to improve their exercising habits. The level of exercise has drastically picked up just by bringing that into focus. It’s inspiring and motivating to be surrounded by people who have drive and ambition, because it encourages you to do the things necessary to get yourself to the next level and improve in all areas of life.

The True Benefit of Masterminds [17:49]

Masterminds are one of the greatest things that you and I as entrepreneurs could be part of. It provides you encouragement and support, as well as a ton of ideas, insights and strategies on what people are doing that is actually working to grow their business. With growth and opportunity come challenges, and instead of only having one mind or your team, you now have an outside perspective of a whole bunch of people who can pour into you and help you get to the next level, battle through those challenges and succeed in all areas of life.

Memorable Quotes

“The longer you are part of an organized mastermind, the deeper the relationships go, and the more benefit everybody gets because you get to know each other on a deeper, more intimate level.” – Stu McLaren

“It’s inspiring and motivating to be surrounded by people who have drive and ambition, because it encourages you to do the things necessary to get yourself to the next level and improve in all areas of life.”  – Stu McLaren

Resources

Impact Mastermind – email my assistant Summer at [email protected]

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