Running a business? Join or set up a mastermind group!
Running a business can be a very lonely place. Everyone expects you to have all the right answers. You feel you can’t show any weakness in front of your investors, employees or clients. No one really understands the immense pressure you are facing…
Well, someone does. Fellow entrepreneurs, fellow CEOs.
When I started my latest business the initial progress was very slow, I felt I’m not moving anywhere. Two simple things completely turned this around.
- Listening to The 10x Rule by Grant Cardone — brilliant book and an excellent delivery — I’m not a huge fan of the American power style but in this case it’s exactly what’s needed.
- The second critical element of truly kickstarting my business was setting up a Mastermind Group.
Mastermind is a group of peers in similar situation who meet regularly and share their experiences and challenges to help each other progress towards their individual goals.
Mastermind is not a new concept in a way Alcoholics Anonymous or Toastmasters are a form of a masterminds.
When people think of a mastermind they might think of the main benefit being the insights and Advice from fellow members. While that’s also very valuable, for me the biggest benefits were:
- Accountability — When I say to someone I’ll do something, I’ll do it — not for them, but for myself, to be congruent with my values,
- Articulation of Challenges — What is exactly the main problem? Once you understand the problem clearly, solution is often obvious.
- Acknowledgement of Success and Progress — a CEOs to do list is always long and no matter how many tasks we finish it never shrinks. It is easy to feel like we are not moving forward when we focus on the things we still have to do. Mastermind group makes us take a moment and reflect on the wins and successes we’ve achieved — this is absolutely critical, yet often overlooked, activity.
When we go through the wins in my masterminds it’s sometimes really surprising how much have a person achieved — huge confidence and motivation builder which then translates in even greater performance going forward.
Often when I speak with people about a Mastermind, they love the idea and they ask where do I find one?
My advice? Don’t look for one. Set one up. How? I have summarised my experiences of setting up and running Masterminds in a separate article — How to run a Mastermind Group.
More info about Masterminds:
