Can a Mastermind for Entrepreneurs help you achieve success?

New year, new goals (and new lockdown) so I’ve been thinking of joining a Mastermind (to keep sane with homeschooling!)

A Mastermind for Entrepreneurs is designed to provide accountability from like-minded entrepreneurial peers. Done well – it’s a fantastic tool to succeed.

You meet every 2 weeks with like-minded people with similar business stage/ goals/ experience, encouraging each other to take action. If you’re ever not taking action – you have nowhere to hide – it’s incredibly powerful.

In my mind, it’s not about learning stuff, it’s about helping you Execute on the plan you have to achieve your goals. Have entrepreneurial people around you with a similar level of ambition can really drive you forward.

 

What kind of people do you need for your Mastermind?

If you have the right people that is.

I’ve probably been in 10 groups in the past and only 2 REALLY worked well for me and the others. It drove me to learn, challenge myself and succeed.

Since then, I’ve found personality clashes, egos and badly managed groups getting in the way of mastermind success.

Which is why in 2020 I was “not attached” to a group but achieve similar through 1:1 friendships (rephrase that sentence to achieve a poor dating analogy). This works up to a point but does not have the same pressure and motivation for me.

So I’m thinking about starting another mastermind, for 3-4 smart people looking to achieve goals and challenge themselves to grow.

The ideal person is someone on a similar level to you in terms of experience (not necessarily skills/ focus), someone who has similar goals, who is going to consistently turn up to calls to add value.

 

What is a good format for a Mastermind for Entrepreneurs?

A great mastermind for entrepreneurs format is meeting every 2 weeks for 1 hour, with a 5-10 mins update per person:
– Progress since last meeting,
– Current Problems/ blockers to achieving your goals and
– Plans until next meeting

At the end 1 person has the Hot Seat to discuss in-depth something important to them and get the group’s feedback to solve a problem.

You need 1 person to take ownership of running the group (nicely – it’s about facilitating not leading), which means sending emails, calendar invites, encourage note-taking of commitments you’ve made, calling out people who’re not executing on their own goals… tough love but good love.

If you’ve tried masterminds with fellow entrepreneurs, what has been your experience/ learning from them?

If you need to find a group, I can recommend Dynamite Circle where I’ve been a member for years.

Potential results from a group

When groups work, they can really work. Over the last 12 months for example, in our group:

  1. A member has bought a business and gone through the integration process (tons of learnings)
  2. A member has sold their business, is now relaxing and thinking about the next chapter, talking with the group
  3. A member has had offers for their business, but turned down as wanted to keep scaling
  4. A member has grown 5x their MRR, giving him financial independance
  5. A member has completely fallen out with their business partner – but got through it positively thanks to the group
  6. Tons of learnings for everyone, including a great tip from the group about applying for awards to build credibility

Clearly no results are guaranteed… but by being in regular contact with fellow entrepreneurs through a regular mastermin means you have a group of smart people pushing you on, you have cheerleaders when you’re doing well and you have a someone to talk through war stories.

Entrepreneurship is a journey and having a mastermind group makes it a whole lot more fun.

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