Do You Have A Mastermind Group?
I never realized how important it is to have a mastermind group of like minded people when you are trying to accomplish something. Over the past 5 years of my full time internet marketing career, I had basically been living in a cave. I would work on our private projects and not interact with anyone besides by business partner.
Sure, I would read the occasional blog post or participate in a couple forum posts here and there, but I just never got too involved with other people who did the same thing I was doing. My wife has absolutely no idea what I do for a living and most of my friends, neighbors and family all have typical 9-5 jobs, so I couldn’t exactly talk with them about my latest split test results or sales letter copy.
In fact, teaching my buying and selling websites training class over the last 2 months has been the first time I’ve really been super involved with people who love internet marketing. Not only have I been sharing my knowledge with the students, but I’m also learning a lot from them as well. Everyone has knowledge and experience to bring to the table.
That’s another good lesson you should take away…becoming friends with your customers is a GREAT way to become more and more successful online. Your customers are your market. They know other people in that market. When you treat people right and make friends in that market, the word starts to spread and before you know it, your business grows dramatically as a result.
Aside from working closely with my training class students, I also recently joined a smaller, closed door mastermind group of internet marketers. There are a total of 7 of us, each in a different niche market, but all working on the same goal (generating money online).
This is an informal mastermind group that we put together. Nobody paid anything to get into it, but I think it’s one of the most valuable things I’ve ever been a part of. Since there are only 7 of us, we can be completely open about all aspects of our businesses without worrying about someone stealing our ideas.
We share exactly what we are working on, what we are testing and what we are having trouble with. Since we meet on the phone every Wednesday, it also keeps us accountable for our actions (if you report that you didn’t do anything since last week’s call, you feel like a complete moron)!
Our mastermind group has one person from California, one in Washington, 3 from Canada, myself in North Carolina and one in Australia. All we do is get on a Skype conference call for 2 hours on Wednesdays and chat about business. It’s absolutely incredible the amount of great advice you can get in that short amount of time.
Finding a mastermind group isn’t all that difficult. You can go to any forum in your niche and find people interested in the same things as you. Put up a post asking if anyone wants to join your mastermind group. You can filter out the responses based on the type of person you are looking to mastermind with.
If you can find people that are more experienced, smarter, or have more contacts than you, then that would be great. You should probably avoid a mastermind group if everyone is a newbie and nobody has ever had any success (unless you are all willing to work hard and share with each other what is working vs what’s not).
Sometimes it just takes an extra set of eyes on your website and with a couple changes, you could go from making $20 a day to $100 a day literally overnight.
I’d HIGHLY recommend starting up some kind of mastermind group if you want to make money online. The key is you all must stick to it and the conversation must remain positive & optimistic. You also need everyone on the call every single week for it to work. Everyone holds each other accountable, and that’s where the success comes from.
Go out and find 3, 4, 5 or 6 people to mastermind with. Report back here after your first call and let me know what you think.
Max, I think that’s a really great idea. One of the things I like most about internet business is the people.
Max, you can use your blog as a great mastermind. For example if you need advice on a product name, just ask you readers in a post. (you can even turn it into a contest)
So it’s like a digital version of “Business Luncheons”? Pretty neat.
@Vlad: I think doing it blog style makes a whole lot of sense since I know I don’t have two hours during the week to spare… but maybe that’s why I’m still working and Max isn’t.
It’s a lonely life being an internet marketer. Blogs are our retreat
I’ve heard of mastermind groups before but never really took the time to really look into it. Chancing upon your blog reminded me of its benefit. I sure would like to join one. If you don’t mind, may I ask how you were able to find a group? Sure, sound you are learning a lot from each other. Thanks.
I am looking for some fresh ideas on how to best market (launch) a mastermind group for internet marketers as a subscription based product. I have a theory that using testimonials from other clients that have participoated in mastermind groups in which I have been a facilitator might be a good place to start. I have a large list to market to and can get the message out by email, podcast, web 2.0 and even having a FREE session. I just need to develop out my marketing message and funnel.
Joyce, I think you’re initial ideas are a good place to start. Letting your prospective customers try something for free (the free lesson) is always a credibility booster. With something like a Mastermind Group, I would focus more on the benefits of being around like-minded internet professionals as opposed to the features of the group. People understand what a mastermind group is, the challenge is presenting it in a way where they know their businesses will be better, generating more revenue, and ultimately making them more money.