Mastermind groups for entrepreneurs instead of conferences and trainings: my experience
As I walk along the alley, two people suddenly come up to me.
They say - Well, give me your heart!
I'd rather run away, save myself
I'm not looking for my adventures at night.
(Civil Defense / A. Mashnin)
For professional and personal development, you need live communication with colleagues. How to organize such communication and where can I get it regularly? I know several such places, and if they are sorted by cost in descending order, the list goes like this:
The cost, as a result, can vary from a few hundred thousand to zero. Someone is lucky - and their friends or relatives are engaged in the same business as they are and therefore regular communication is in itself. Others have the ability and means to hire a personal coach or mentor for regular work.
')
But there is also a new (well forgotten) format called the “ mastermind group ”, the effectiveness of which is confirmed by many entrepreneurs in the West. This term was introduced by the writer Napoleon Hill in 1925 to designate a small group in which participants act as mentors, helping each other in finding solutions to pressing problems.
The implementation looks quite simple: four businessmen call up and discuss their affairs and problems within an hour. Such a format benefits no less than a personal coach or several consultants, because each participant has at least three personal consultants. Over the past few years I have participated in several such groups, and I want to share my experience.
The first group gathered spontaneously. During one of the trainings for entrepreneurs, a general chat was created. A few months later, after the end of the training, as is usually the case, everything gradually fell into rare messages and congratulations on holidays and birthdays. But one participant had a thought and he suggested: “chat is boring, but let's call up, who wants it?” We had a few people, we agreed on a convenient time and phoned all together. We talked for about an hour, remembered about the training itself, shared our news, agreed that “it would be nice to call each other regularly” and ... no longer called up. Before the discussion of the next call, the case has not reached.
The second group was international. I got into it after I met an article about the effectiveness of mastermind groups and left a request on a specialized British online site. I had to wait about 5 weeks before the group was assembled. Finally, all the members of the group received a letter with the contacts of the others and we began to call up regularly, once every two weeks. All members of the group were engaged in the creation or sale of software on international markets, all were with a technical background, and from different countries of Europe. All our communication was in English, as in a language that everyone knew and understood.
Everyone saw the benefit at once - we shared news, books read, experience of traveling to the conference, plans and even non-work related news. The exchange of experience with popular marketing tools and services turned out to be very useful. And although after three meetings, one of the group members stopped responding to the call (we even began to worry, but he sent a message saying that excuse me - this is not mine), we simply asked around for acquaintances, and as a result, instead of one left member, we have two new ones. So we talked regularly every two weeks for several months in a row.
But soon, due to personal circumstances, I first dropped out of the regime, but did not want to return. In a way, it seemed to me that we had already discussed everything that was possible. There was one more difficulty: due to the fact that the majority of the participants did not speak English as their first language, our calls stretched for 2 hours or more. I wrote to everyone that I was leaving the group and everyone reacted with understanding. We are still friends. The guys continued regular calls and then even got together offline after one of the IT conferences.
I got to the third group as follows: I saw an announcement by a familiar businesswoman that she was looking for friends to create a support group. The purpose of the group was to declare mutual responsibility in the planning and implementation of personal plans. Additional responsibility never hurts, we have written off and soon I participated in the calls. But after a couple of calls, I left the group. The reason for this was that it’s still uncomfortable to discuss personal plans with people whom you know little personally, as well as the fact that in this group I was the only man and because of that I felt insecure.
I decided to put together the fourth group myself. A month ago, I advertised in several Facebook groups about finding and collecting a group of entrepreneurs. The participants had the following requirements: experience as an entrepreneur for at least three years, they have been working on the product in foreign markets. Interest was unexpected in the first few days I received messages from more than 10 people from different cities and countries. Among them were entrepreneurs with companies and businesses of different sizes and working in different markets. Several people also showed interest, but expressed concerns about confidentiality: “how would you happen to share too much valuable information?”.
Of course, this format of communication is not suitable for those who are afraid to accidentally share a “secret” or “know-how”. So, after talking with everyone who wrote, it turned out that everyone has different interests and goals. Someone is just interested in a new social circle, others understand that support from colleagues in the market will not hurt, still others are looking for inspiration for new achievements. As a result, I found four entrepreneurs, of which our current group was formed.
We have already made several calls and so far all participants respond positively and find favor. I personally see the benefit in that you can discuss exciting things with colleagues and get feedback, or even just speak out and look at it as if from the outside. The most difficult for our group so far has been the coordination of the schedule of calls. We found a compromise: we decided to hold calls in the morning and limit time to one hour.
My conclusions about the mastermind groups based on the experience gained are:
And since I received a lot more applications for participation than I needed, I am currently thinking about creating an online service for organizing and conducting mastermind groups.
They say - Well, give me your heart!
I'd rather run away, save myself
I'm not looking for my adventures at night.
(Civil Defense / A. Mashnin)
For professional and personal development, you need live communication with colleagues. How to organize such communication and where can I get it regularly? I know several such places, and if they are sorted by cost in descending order, the list goes like this:
- Schools (as well as business courses, trainings)
- Associations and various associations
- Conferences, trainings, meetings, clubs, business breakfasts
- Coaches, mentors, consultants
- Online groups in social networks
- Friends
- Relatives
The cost, as a result, can vary from a few hundred thousand to zero. Someone is lucky - and their friends or relatives are engaged in the same business as they are and therefore regular communication is in itself. Others have the ability and means to hire a personal coach or mentor for regular work.
')
But there is also a new (well forgotten) format called the “ mastermind group ”, the effectiveness of which is confirmed by many entrepreneurs in the West. This term was introduced by the writer Napoleon Hill in 1925 to designate a small group in which participants act as mentors, helping each other in finding solutions to pressing problems.
The implementation looks quite simple: four businessmen call up and discuss their affairs and problems within an hour. Such a format benefits no less than a personal coach or several consultants, because each participant has at least three personal consultants. Over the past few years I have participated in several such groups, and I want to share my experience.
First experience: let's just get in touch?
The first group gathered spontaneously. During one of the trainings for entrepreneurs, a general chat was created. A few months later, after the end of the training, as is usually the case, everything gradually fell into rare messages and congratulations on holidays and birthdays. But one participant had a thought and he suggested: “chat is boring, but let's call up, who wants it?” We had a few people, we agreed on a convenient time and phoned all together. We talked for about an hour, remembered about the training itself, shared our news, agreed that “it would be nice to call each other regularly” and ... no longer called up. Before the discussion of the next call, the case has not reached.
Second group: English, motherf ... er, do you speak it?
The second group was international. I got into it after I met an article about the effectiveness of mastermind groups and left a request on a specialized British online site. I had to wait about 5 weeks before the group was assembled. Finally, all the members of the group received a letter with the contacts of the others and we began to call up regularly, once every two weeks. All members of the group were engaged in the creation or sale of software on international markets, all were with a technical background, and from different countries of Europe. All our communication was in English, as in a language that everyone knew and understood.
Everyone saw the benefit at once - we shared news, books read, experience of traveling to the conference, plans and even non-work related news. The exchange of experience with popular marketing tools and services turned out to be very useful. And although after three meetings, one of the group members stopped responding to the call (we even began to worry, but he sent a message saying that excuse me - this is not mine), we simply asked around for acquaintances, and as a result, instead of one left member, we have two new ones. So we talked regularly every two weeks for several months in a row.
But soon, due to personal circumstances, I first dropped out of the regime, but did not want to return. In a way, it seemed to me that we had already discussed everything that was possible. There was one more difficulty: due to the fact that the majority of the participants did not speak English as their first language, our calls stretched for 2 hours or more. I wrote to everyone that I was leaving the group and everyone reacted with understanding. We are still friends. The guys continued regular calls and then even got together offline after one of the IT conferences.
The third group: shy
I got to the third group as follows: I saw an announcement by a familiar businesswoman that she was looking for friends to create a support group. The purpose of the group was to declare mutual responsibility in the planning and implementation of personal plans. Additional responsibility never hurts, we have written off and soon I participated in the calls. But after a couple of calls, I left the group. The reason for this was that it’s still uncomfortable to discuss personal plans with people whom you know little personally, as well as the fact that in this group I was the only man and because of that I felt insecure.
Fourth group: help yourself
I decided to put together the fourth group myself. A month ago, I advertised in several Facebook groups about finding and collecting a group of entrepreneurs. The participants had the following requirements: experience as an entrepreneur for at least three years, they have been working on the product in foreign markets. Interest was unexpected in the first few days I received messages from more than 10 people from different cities and countries. Among them were entrepreneurs with companies and businesses of different sizes and working in different markets. Several people also showed interest, but expressed concerns about confidentiality: “how would you happen to share too much valuable information?”.
Of course, this format of communication is not suitable for those who are afraid to accidentally share a “secret” or “know-how”. So, after talking with everyone who wrote, it turned out that everyone has different interests and goals. Someone is just interested in a new social circle, others understand that support from colleagues in the market will not hurt, still others are looking for inspiration for new achievements. As a result, I found four entrepreneurs, of which our current group was formed.
We have already made several calls and so far all participants respond positively and find favor. I personally see the benefit in that you can discuss exciting things with colleagues and get feedback, or even just speak out and look at it as if from the outside. The most difficult for our group so far has been the coordination of the schedule of calls. We found a compromise: we decided to hold calls in the morning and limit time to one hour.
My conclusions about the mastermind groups based on the experience gained are:
- Such groups work and benefit.
- It is important that group members are from the same industry.
- It is important that the mood of the participants was not only to receive feedback, but also to share information and experience.
- Participation in such a group is convenient and you don't need to go anywhere on purpose: it’s enough that you have a phone, internet and headphones with you.
And since I received a lot more applications for participation than I needed, I am currently thinking about creating an online service for organizing and conducting mastermind groups.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/459743/
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