Mastermind - 5 People - 5 Guys Who Will Change the World

[Anon1351z]

I feel like there is a paradox involved in "mastermind groups"

So the concept is to get 5 people together weekly to talk about goals and ideas so you can all learn from each other.

But the only way to learn from somebody is for them to have more knowledge than you. So if you get 5 people together to learn from each other the smartest guy in the group will realize he doesn't learn anything from the other 4 and he stops showing up.

Do you seriously think that you have more knowledge than any individual in every single aspect of life or even business? Knowledge isn't linear...

 

[lewj24]

Do you seriously think that you have more knowledge than any individual in every single aspect of life or even business? Knowledge isn't linear...

Of course not. You can learn things from everybody.

But if you want to form a group to learn a specific topic like business I cannot see how that would work. You are going to find 5 dudes that have little to no knowledge about business but big dreams to change the world who end up learning nothing. Sure you can hold each other accountable and keep everyone motivated but actually learning useful things about business and changing the world won't work.

Here's how I imagine this groups conversations:

"Hey guys lets change the world!"
"YEA!!!"
"How?"
"Clean water for everyone!"
"YEA!!!!"
"How?"
"We have to make a process/plan and figure out how to fundraise money and research the industry etc.."
"Okay lets do that during the week and talk more about it next meetup"
*Repeat until infinity*

You guys mentioned Elon Musk. He's changing the world. Did he have a mastermind group? I'm pretty sure most of his friends told him not to do the crazy shit he's doing.

 

[ljb7]

I think you'll struggle to build the trust needed to discuss real goals and real ideas if you're only chatting once per week with your group.

I've been in a few mastermind groups. The majority have fizzled out for various reasons. However, the progress you can make in a successful mastermind is unreal, (and its invaluable if you don't have any sort of biz network around you in your day-to-day life). I can safely say my business wouldn't have reached the level it's at today without the mastermind group behind which it was formed.

The group I'm a part of had a slightly different to yours. We were all working on the same business model and talked frequently. Looking back we must've spoke daily for about 6 months.

You need to build trust with one another to the point where you're all transparent with your businesses (it takes time, yes). Without that, it's hard to give real actionable advice (especially if you're working on different business models and in unrelated industries). If all you end up doing is giving the motivational spiel to one another every so often, cut your losses and go watch Gary V instead.

My advice to you is-

• Don't let the group too large (people will take far more than they provide)
• Get everyone on a face to face... it builds instant rapport and trust
• Talk more than once a week at first, make it a habit
• Try Slack instead of Skype

 

[Andy Black]

I think you'll struggle to build the trust needed to discuss real goals and real ideas if you're only chatting once per week with your group.

I've been in a few mastermind groups. The majority have fizzled out for various reasons. However, the progress you can make in a successful mastermind is unreal, (and its invaluable if you don't have any sort of biz network around you in your day-to-day life). I can safely say my business wouldn't have reached the level it's at today without the mastermind group behind which it was formed.

The group I'm a part of had a slightly different to yours. We were all working on the same business model and talked frequently. Looking back we must've spoke daily for about 6 months.

You need to build trust with one another to the point where you're all transparent with your businesses (it takes time, yes). Without that, it's hard to give real actionable advice (especially if you're working on different business models and in unrelated industries). If all you end up doing is giving the motivational spiel to one another every so often, cut your losses and go watch Gary V instead.

My advice to you is-

• Don't let the group too large (people will take far more than they provide)
• Get everyone on a face to face... it builds instant rapport and trust
• Talk more than once a week at first, make it a habit
• Try Slack instead of Skype

Thanks for the heads-up - I've never used Slack and use Skype all the time. What's the advantage of Slack over Skype?

 

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[lewj24]

I'll give you a real life example. This actually happened in our mastermind.

WEEK 1
PERSON 1: My website is setup, and I'm running Facebook ads to it, but I can't get any traffic for some reason. I'm going to try Adwords instead.
OTHERS: No, don't try Adwords. Facebook is not the problem. You are. You need to stick to one traffic source until you figure it out. Try targeting more people.
PERSON 1: Okay, I'll do that and let you know what happens next week.

WEEK 2
PERSON 1: I'm still not getting any traffic. I'm going to try Adwords instead.
OTHERS: No, DO NOT go to Adwords. Marketers lose money when they bounce from one traffic source to another. Master one before moving to another. How high is your bid?
PERSON 1: My bid is exactly what they suggest.
OTHERS: Try bumping up your bid to $5 per click, and cap your daily spend at $25 so you're not charged $10,000.
PERSON 1: Whatever. *Extremely pissed at everyone for a few days*

WEEK 3
PERSON 1: I figure out that if you bid $5 per click for traffic, you only end up paying a little more than their suggested bid of $0.60 per click. I spent $25 per day and did $300 in sales.
OTHERS: Awesome! No increase your daily budget so you get more traffic.
PERSON 1: I can't because I can't spend that much money.
OTHERS: You just spend $175 and made $300. You're not spending money, you're making money.

WEEK 4
PERSON 1: I increased my budget to $50 per day and did $700 in sales.
OTHERS: Awesome! No increase your daily budget so you get more traffic.
PERSON 1: I can't because I can't spend that much money.
OTHERS: You just spend $175 and made $300. You're not spending money, you're making money.

*Scared to increase budget repeats for another couple weeks*

WEEK 7
PERSON 1: My budget is $1,000 per day, but it only lets me spend $500 for some reason. I'm doing $XX,XXX per week in sales.
OTHERS: Nice F*cking job! *Secretly wants to be person 1*

Okay. Well then my question is how do you create a successful mastermind group?

How do you know if kubbaaa would be a valuable member that would contribute? How do you know I would be? How did you know your group would be?

I just have this feeling that you will find tons of action fakers wanting to do this and end up wasting a bunch of time trying to find a perfect group of people.

 

[lewj24]

Just start?

It sounds like you're talking yourself out of starting.

If it's something you're interested in doing then just jump in.

You'll learn more by engaging your peers, in the same way you learn more about business when you engage your market.



I'm not in any "official" mastermind groups with scheduled calls or meetups.

I am, however, in various small groups or in 1-2-1 communication with people who I share ideas and get and receive feedback from.

How did these start? By helping people and by natural "elimination". You'll know soon enough who's got a similar work ethic and similar values.

I was never really interested in joining this. I have no value to bring to the table.