How Do I Know If A Mastermind Group Is A Waste Of Time?

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1:55You can try it totally free. Just head to granola.ai slash MBA. That's granola.ai slash MBA to get your time back. Try it for free at granola.ai slash MBA. Today's Q &A Wednesday's question comes from Suzy, and Suzy asks, How do I know if a mastermind group is a waste of time? Nicole and I have been a part of many mastermind groups. We've started mastermind groups. We've been a part of mastermind groups together. We have a lot of experience with this and a lot of opinions. So this is a great question from Susie. But first, Nicole, can you share with us what a mastermind group is? Maybe you can give an example.

2:36Tell us a little bit about the format, what you do every week or month. A mastermind group is usually a small group of people that gather regularly to share ideas, solve problems, and to help each other with their goals. Yeah, it's very common in business circles to be part of a mastermind group. Yes. We're going to focus a lot on that last part, which is about helping each other move forward with our goals.

3:02Welcome back to The$100 MBA Show. I'm your host, Omar Zinhome, where I deliver practical business lessons three times a week, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to help you start, grow, and scale your business. hey if this show has helped you in any way leave me a quick review wherever you listen to podcasts this helps us reach even more people who need the same no fluff practical business advice it literally takes a few seconds but it makes a huge difference thanks for being a part of our journey to help others on their journey so give me an example of a group you're part of what's the format like what would somebody expect in a mastermind group i love this question because when I finally got into my mastermind group, I was so happy because for the longest time, I was a little bit jealous of you because you were a part of mastermind groups well before I was.

3:47And I saw the benefit that you got. And so I thought, oh, you know, hopefully one day I'll be a part of a mastermind. And I did. Eventually I got together with three other women and we ran our mastermind for five years, which I think when I would tell people that our mastermind was still running after five years, it was pretty impressive. So our format was we would meet once a month. We'd have a two-minute start at the beginning to share a win and give each other's updates on what had been happening in that month. And then we each had a hot seat item. So we spent 10 minutes going around sharing a problem, a challenge, or something that was going on that we wanted feedback in our business.

4:26And we each gave each other feedback on that. And then the last few minutes, whatever that was left, we'd use it to catch up. So who is in your group and what made it a good mastermind group? How did you know that this is a group for you? In my group was Kate and Cass and myself. Kate is in Puerto Rico, Cass is in the United States, and I'm here in Sydney. So we found a time that would work for the three of us. And what was really great about that mastermind was at the time when Cass joined, we'd never met in person. She was introduced through someone else brought into the group later on because Kate and I had first started off for a couple of months on our own.

5:03And then when Cass came in, she brought a different business because Kate and I both ran and were part of podcast companies, so running a podcast. Cass came in running a personal styling business. She's been on the podcast, so we know who it is. And so when she came in, she brought a different perspective. She was at a different stage in her business a bit earlier on in the business. And it was just a great dynamic. And I think what was one of the things that really stood out over time was how close we got. But we got very close because we were very committed. Like we showed up every single month without fail.

5:38And in the beginning, like we didn't really know Cass super well, but that friendship built over time. We ended up taking a girls trip together a few years later. Like a live mastermind group. And we did a live mastermind in Japan. It was such an awesome group. I have so much to say about that group. Yeah. And that group is no longer meeting, but you still got a lot out of it. Yeah. And that's, I believe, a mastermind group, you shouldn't last forever. You should outgrow this group at some point or everybody's needs starts to change as they grow. But one thing I want to stress is you mentioned you had mastermind groups before me, all that kind of stuff.

6:15I want to say that you don't need to wait to be invited or to be a part of a mastermind group or to pay for a mastermind group. You can create one for yourself. That's literally what happened with me. We went to a conference and I got along with three other people at this conference and we stayed in touch on WhatsApp. And then I just said, hey, do you guys want to meet every week and do a mastermind group together and hold each other accountable? And they're like, yeah, let's do that. And that was one of my mastermind groups where we just created it ourselves. You know, I took the initiative to say, let's do this.

6:48Like, you don't need to wait or pay or anything like that. You could just create one that works for you. I do want to stress that that group that I formed was good maybe for about, I would say, two or three months. But eventually, that group wasn't serving me anymore. I'm going to share with you how I knew it was not a good group to continue to be in. I love all these people. They're wonderful. And they're still friends of mine. But every time we'd show up to the mastermind, people would not progress or they would not actually do the things they said they were going to do last week, which was not a group that's very motivating because when you're just showing up and say, yep, I said I was going to do one, two, three, and I did one, two, three this week, this next week, my goals are this.

7:30And you're actually like committing to the consistency and hoping that they'll hold you accountable. But when they don't do their side of the bargain, it's kind of demotivating when everybody else is kind of like slacking off. You have to have a unified kind of energy. And at the same time, everybody's got to take it at the same level of seriousness. Like, oh, this actually matters. We were super organized. What we had was a, I don't know if you guys did this, but we had a spreadsheet. And so we would fill in the week before we were going to meet, everyone had to fill in their hot seat item. So it was one of those things that you could go in and you could see what the challenge was or the topic that was going to be discussed for each person a little bit beforehand.

8:08So you could kind of prep and have, at least have an idea in your mind what was going to be discussed. And having that spreadsheet, I mean, I sometimes go back and look at it because it's that record of the progression of our businesses, our challenges, of the things that we were dealing with at any given moment in time. But having that spreadsheet gave us that accountability of like, here is this thing that I'm going to talk about. We would have a column at the end too, where we'd write our little notes based on the feedback that we got from each other. We'd write down our action items as well, what we were going to do.

8:41And it was a record that we all could refer to. So it did keep us more accountable, I think, in that regard. just having that little level of organization. Yeah. So I left that group and joined another group and another group and another group. And I want to kind of lay out what I believe makes a great mastermind group, what you should look for, and then how to know or how to test the waters before you commit. So the first thing I believe a mastermind group should have is that when you're entering this group and you're looking at the members of the group, everybody in that group should be better than you at something.

9:14So they should be better at something like maybe they're better public speakers. Maybe they're better writers. Maybe they're good at social media. Maybe they have some success with a podcast and you haven't started one yet. Maybe they have success with YouTube. They're better at something that you are not so good at so you can learn, right? You can't be the smartest, most talented person in that room for everything, you know, or you're not going to get anything out of it. Also, you want to be able to contribute in some way so that you are a net positive as a part of the group. So you have to take a look at who's in this group.

9:45Can you learn something from them? Can you maybe extract something from them, ask their advice when it comes to some area? And when everybody kind of contributes something special, the group becomes really valuable. Would you agree with that? For sure. I think it's, yes, it's about being better, I guess, a skill set. It could be a different set of experiences that, you know, that business can bring to that person. I think maybe as an example, like with Kate and I, we both had, you know, we were both part of podcast teams. And so there was, you know, similarities there. They were a few years ahead in when they had started their podcast and Kate was really amazing at systems.

10:22I would really lean on her when we discuss different operating systems for the business, for the team. I saw her being ahead there. But then, you know, when Cass joined and she was really early on in her business, she had a completely different perspective that was super fresh. And I suppose, you know, yes, we were able to provide her with some insights, but then She was really good at other things that I wasn't good at. And even though maybe they weren't related to my business or what I was doing at that time, I was still learning every time watching her business grow and watching, yeah, like the things that she was doing that maybe didn't apply to me.

10:59But I was, you know, again, because I remember the point of a mastermind is to help people further along their goals. And I think that the nature of her business is a little bit different. She was selling high ticket services. So like you can learn from that experience as well. So even though she was maybe in the early stages, she was doing something different from everybody else so that you can extract that knowledge. So that would be the first thing, in my opinion. Self-directed investing, trading, full service wealth management, automated investing, financial planning, thematic investing, retirement planning.

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12:46I think the beauty of having a group to help you is to make a decision. You might be struggling with something that's happening in your business, a hire. Maybe you don't know how to price a product. Maybe you're just looking for feedback. But the point is, is that you should end the call with some decision because that will allow you to know what actions to take in the following week or month or whatever the cadence of that meeting is. And can you give me an example of a decision that maybe you had to make in your mastermind group or somebody else and you help them through it? Well, yeah. And I think that's where the format really helps, because for us, when we discussed our hot seat item, our challenge, we, you know, we made decisions in that moment of like, sure.

13:27OK, that sounds really good. That's what I'm going to action. And then when we'd come back the next month, when we do our win and our update, we'd refer to what, how, you know, the progress that we'd made with that thing that we were talking about. And it could have been something like I remember preparing for my first talk that I had to do on stage. And Kate, for example, had done a ton of talks on stage. She had a wealth of experience there. Cass had done media training, was really good on social. So I got their insights and, you know, they really helped me work through certain things. I remember even going through my slides presentation with them, which is super valuable.

13:59And then, of course, when we come, you know, I'm going to work on those things, take on their advice, work on those tips. You know, probably if I'm not mistaken, I would have done that talk by the time the next mastermind call came around and I was able to, you know, share feedback on how it went. And so, yeah, for sure, like we had to we gave, you know, our action items at the end. And then that win and update round that first two minutes at the beginning of every session was a way to recap and, you know, share like what we had actually done and moved forward with what we said we were going to do.

14:32So we're constantly holding each other accountable and ourselves accountable in that process. Well, that leads me to the third thing. So, I mean, the first thing we said is that, you know, there's a diverse amount of talent that you're learning from each other. Two is that there are decisions that are being made in the actual mastermind so that you can take action for the following week or month. And the third thing I believe is holding each other accountable. And I believe that this third element is what differentiates it from a mastermind and just like a hang session with your friends. It's like, are you actually holding each other accountable?

15:03So that next week comes around, that next meeting comes around and you say, hey, how did that go with that situation? Did you action that thing that you said you're going to action? You said that you're trying to lower churn in your business. What's the churn rate right now, a month later? Like, is that actually happening? And that's really what you need. You need somebody to put your feet to the fire and hold you accountable. And somebody that's going to kind of say, hey, come on, man. You know, you said you're going to do it. Let's do it, you know, and push each other. And you need to do that as well for your fellow mastermind group members.

15:35Yeah. Do you find that that was challenging? No, I think that that's where you make that decision and that call. Like I'm in the right group of people. I'm surrounded by the right group of people because that's what I want for myself. The whole point of you going into a mastermind is so that you're actively moving towards your goal and you're using the support of a group to help you do that. So by not committing even like to the group or committing to yourself, like what's the point in even? You're wasting your time. You're wasting your own time. So then that's where you make the call. Am I surrounded by the right group of people?

16:08Because if you met with people and that's what our mastermind lasted for so long and, you know, it was as successful as it was, was because we constantly recommitted every single time and we were following through. And as soon as you're in that group where you feel like, oh, there's not that follow through, that's when you make that decision to bow out or to have a chat. I mean, this is no shade on anybody, but I think that often in mastermind groups, one person will have something happen in their life. Maybe they're overwhelmed. Maybe they can't commit and they can't hold themselves accountable, hold other people accountable.

16:41And they kind of just say, hey, I'm going to bow out. That's actually the honorable thing to do to say, hey, I'm not able. I can't continue. Find somebody else to replace me, something like that. Because I believe that you're doing a disservice when not everybody's at the same level or energy level or commitment. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. So I definitely say that. So those are the three things I would recommend to look for. Now, you might be saying, well, how do I know this beforehand? Well, there's a lot of ways you can join mastermind groups. You could form master. You could start one, like I mentioned.

17:06And you could just say, this is just a trial. Let's try doing this for three weeks or three months or whatever it might be, whatever the cadence is, monthly or weekly. And in those three months, you can find out if this is for you. if it's ticking all these boxes. You know, we mentioned you can join groups and pay for it. Like, you know, there's Dynamite Circle. Yes. That's like a networking group we're part of where you can, I think it's like$750 a year, which is very affordable. And you're part of this forum, but they also curate mastermind groups for you so that you can be part of a mastermind group if you'd like to.

17:38So you can, you know, jump into there and go on a Zoom call and meet up with people in your time zone and see if this is right for you. But make sure it ticks all three boxes, I would say. There are so many out there. I think once you become aware, like I can tap into this and have this resource in my life because it's an incredible resource. I was talking to someone recently when we were traveling, who's running, who's starting a business. She's super new. You know, we were having these chats about her business. And then I mentioned to her, I said, do you have some people around you that you can talk to?

18:08And she said, no, my friends don't really understand me. I'm the only one in my group that's starting a business. And I said, well, you got to get yourself some mastermind friends. And then I shared with her Dynamite Circle because that's the first one that came to mind. But just from the last years in business, you go on LinkedIn, you go to, there's just so many opportunities. You have to just look for them. They can be paid or you can just start with your friends like we do. Like Kate and I were friends and then we brought in Cass. It was game changing. Like it really, really was something that I looked forward to every month and helped me so much along our business journey.

18:45Yeah. And a lot of these paid mastermind groups, they have some rules. They have some intention to make sure like, you know, there's no competing businesses in the same group so that, you know, IP is not being shared. There's rules about like a commitment and time and they set up like the Zoom calls for you. So if you want like an easy lift, there's ways to do that. Like we mentioned Dynamic Circle, but that's just one example. There's other ones you can look up in your industry, like if you're in software or SaaS. I know MicroConf does masterminds as well. So you want to be around other software companies.

19:18So, yeah, definitely that support group. And it also just normalizes success. Like, OK, it's normal to want to grow and be ambitious and all that kind of stuff. So there's definitely that code that you have to go into it with like what's, you know, discussed in the mastermind stays in the mastermind. Otherwise, no one's going to be vulnerable. You have to make sure that people feel safe to share their issues and problems. Yeah. Before we move on, if you are listening, if you are watching and you have not subscribed to the podcast yet, what is going on? Subscribe. We got an upcoming episode that I don't want you to miss.

19:51It's called Multiple Revenue Streams Will Kill Your Business. and this is a very, very important episode because a lot of people, they think that I got to build all these multiple streams of income in my business to be smart or to hedge my bets. That's not really applicable if you're making less than a million dollars in revenue and I'll explain why and what to do instead in that episode. So go ahead, hit subscribe because you don't want to miss it when it comes out. Can't wait for you to check it out. What's your opinion on being a part of multiple masterminds at one time? I'm not sure if I have the time for that.

20:24I think that's a big time commitment. I know that there's some people that do that for several reasons, but I do think that one good mastermind group probably is enough. I think the frequency is one thing to look at. Like, am I going to meet every week? Am I going to meet every month? What does it look like? Is this in person? Is this online? Most of them are online. So yeah, I mean, you have a business to run, so you need to be mindful of that. I was always surprised because even my group, I remember someone maybe was like in multiple masterminds and I know lots of people are in multiple masterminds.

20:56I think that's actually to close off the loop, like why it's not running anymore. There was a year that I did go into another mastermind, worked with an executive coach and I felt like I was getting a lot of input and I needed to take a break, you know, the following year and implement. So yeah, I do think that you can probably be overdoing it if you're in a lot, but it depends on the time in your business, what else is going on in your life. And the reason why I say this is because one of the things I really want to drill home is and to be balanced is that, you know, a mastermind group is not a magic room, right?

21:30It's not going to solve all your problems. You have to go in there with vulnerability, with the ability to be honest about your shortcomings and the mistakes you're making. You have to be willing to take on feedback and advice and see it as data points and not as criticism. You have to be able to commit to the things that you say you're going to do and you've got to do them. Like you have to implement those things, which takes time. So if you're taking it 100 % seriously and not just a way for you to learn or to kind of be around people that you admire, you know, if you're actually putting yourself out there and giving a hundred percent, it's going to take a lot of time and attention.

22:06So I do want to stress that like you're only going to get as much as you give. Yeah, 100%. Yeah. So to really put this all together, I would say to Susie and everybody was listening. If a mastermind group feels 100 % comfortable, it's probably not serving you. You should feel a little bit uncomfortable. You should feel a little bit like, oh, yeah, I'm not doing so good there. Or, you know, I have a tough thing to go through. Or even hearing people deal with challenges. If you're like, oh, that's cringe. I don't want to deal with that. Like, this is not for you then. You're in the wrong room if that's not happening.

22:39It should feel a little bit uncomfortable because you're getting through problems. You're getting through hurdles. You're solving problems as a group and problems are not fun. So you should feel a little bit not in your comfort zone. I'm not saying 100 % of the time, but like a good amount of the time because you're having tough conversations together as a group and you're working things out. So if you're looking for social hour, you could do that outside with your friends. There's no limit of having coffees or lunch or dinners or holidays with your friends. You could go and do that and they could be entrepreneurs.