Circle of Wisdom A 30 Day Guide to Launching a Mastermind Group Learn. Listen. Launch. Lead. Jonathan Milligan JonathanMilligan.com
Week1 The next best thing to being wise oneself is to live in a circle of those who are. - C.S. Lewis Learn Know Your Ultimate Objectives The single greatest success factor for me in the past 18 months has been mastermind groups. I hope by the end of this 30 day launch plan you ll believe this to be true for yourself as well. At the beginning of 2013, I found myself becoming increasingly isolated. The more my online business began to grow, the more I found myself working from home. Don t get me wrong, working from home is great. However, I found some challenges that I hadn t expected. One of those challenges was the lack of a sounding board. I needed to create a circle of wisdom and create my own mastermind group. In just a few short pages, I m going to share with you how you can do the same. 1
This simple guide will help you to get off the ground in 30 days or less. I m not going to go into why you need a mastermind group or the history of mastermind groups. My goal is make this short guide an action packed resource. Week 1: Learn In the first week, I want you to get your thinking cap on and learn a few things. You can do this by answering the following questions. Where am I headed? You may know the answer to this question, but it is vital before you begin to add members to your group. You will be tempted to want to add anyone who has an interest in joining, but don t do this! For your mastermind group to work well, you need people heading in a similar direction. This doesn t mean that every person has to be exactly the same, but you do want similarities in vision, values and purpose. The similarity for my mastermind group is that each of us are entrepreneurs looking to grow our platforms online. Not all of us blog or podcast about the same topics, but each of us have a goal of growing our online presence. Knowing the direction you want to go will help you in knowing: Who the ideal members for your group should be Where they are hanging out so you can invite them What the structure of your meetings should be to benefit everyone Do you know the direction you are heading? It is important to answer this question. Where do I need to grow? This question is for you big givers out there. It can be incredibly satisfying when we add to the lives of others. At the same time, you don t want all of your members to be behind where you are. Please don t misunderstand me. I don t say this in a egotistical way. The truth is if all your members are behind where you are heading, you should be charging them for group coaching. You need growth friends in your life. 2
You need members who are more successful than you in areas where you are currently struggling. Before we begin to add new members into our mastermind group, we need to jot down a few areas we need to grow in. Want to publish a book through a book publisher? Be on the lookout for a member who has done it. Want to launch a speaking career? See if you can be on the lookout for someone who has done it. Want to host your own seminar or workshop? Surround yourself around others who have done this. Take a moment and think about the experiences and skills you have that can benefit the other members in the group. Knowing this will also help you as you talk to others about what some of the benefits are to joining your group. Week 1 Action Starters 1. The ultimate direction I want to head in is... 2. The specific areas I need to grow in are... 3. The specific areas that I can help other group members in would be... Before you think this is narcissistic thinking, remember that the whole group benefits when we draw in the strengths of each member. We will be talking more about this later, but for now ask yourself, where do I need to grow? What do I have to give? The last question we must ask in week 1 is: What do I have to give? The goal is not to form a group so it just benefits you. The goal is for everyone to benefit. Later I will be talking about the importance of being the biggest giver in your group. 3
Week 2 You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. - Jim Rohn You should have some clarity by now by answering the questions from week one. Now, we want to move into adding the right people to your group. Listen Add the Right Members to Your Group Selecting the right people to your group is so vitally important. The more effort you spend on the front end of this process, the easier to is to manage in the weeks, months, and years to come. You are not getting warm bodies together as much as strategically forming a team. A circle of wisdom that provides endless benefits to all. You might be feeling a bit of pressure at this point and that is good. I want you to be thoughtful in who you add. However, don t over-analyze this process either. If a member is not right for the group, most of them will bow out or fizzle out anyways. The goal is to do our best to have a strong core that we can build on. 4
I am going to challenge you to answer 3 critical questions. These questions are going to require you to get your listening ears on. All great interviewers are good listeners. They know good talent when they see it. They can identify the go-getters. Where are my ideal members hanging out? The ideal members of your mastermind group are probably people you don t know yet. That doesn t mean you can t add people you already know, but we do want to discover new, inspiring members. In light of the direction you want to go, where are your ideal members hanging out? A few possible places might be: A local business networking group A paid membership site A discussion forum online For me, I found the majority of my mastermind group in the discussion forum of a paid membership site. Here are a few reasons why this was ideal for me: 1. They were interested in investing in their personal and professional growth. 2. They were there to build their online platform presence through writing, speaking, and coaching. 3. They likely held the same values of the owner of the membership site. Those were just a few reasons, but as you can see, they are very powerful. From there, I posted a call out in the forum to those interested in joining a mastermind group. I created a simple Google Survey in Google Docs and asked a few simple questions I thought were important. I received many responses and then called the ones I liked best. Would I consider them to be a growth friend? Set up a 30 minute phone conversation with those you liked from your survey. Do your best to add people to the group who challenge you. Maybe they are better than you in many areas. Maybe they read more than you read. Maybe they are a better leader than you are. In Brendon Burchard s bestselling book The Charge, he outlines what a growth friend is by using the following questions: Is this a friend you re excited to speak with every week or every month? 5
Is this a friend you see being an important part of your exciting future? Is this a friend who exposes you to new ideas and adventures? Is this a friend who introduces you to other quality people? Brendon goes on to share a few other questions, but those 4 questions are great to use when evaluating who should be in your group. What strength do they bring that can benefit the group as a whole? I also like to listen to strengths. What makes a mastermind group so powerful is the collection of various personalities, perspectives, and strengths. A good number to start with is probably between 4-8 members. You can always add more people later. Once you ve decided on the people you d like to join your group, send them an email about a start date. Let s go launch our group! Week 2 Action Starters 1. The place where my ideal members are hanging out is... 2. The prospective members of my group would be a growth friend because... 3. The strengths of each potential member of the group would be... You get to borrow these strengths in areas where you are weak. For example, if you re strong at planning and thinking, you need a group member who has permission to challenge you to take action when necessary. Strengths are easy to spot by looking at what they ve accomplished, what they are doing now, and where they want to go. 6
Week 3 It s in the small, committed mastermind groups that I have received encouragement, instruction and advice that opened the doors to my success. -Dan Miller, NY Times Bestselling Author You know where you are headed. You ve got the right members in your group. Launch Set Up Your Group for Success Now what? When launching your group, keep this one principle in mind: simpler is better. It s easy to complicated things because you want to please everyone. Before you know it, scheduling of meetings becomes complex, meetings go too long, and you require too much of your members. Placing a focus on only the essential will benefit the entire group. It is the 80/20 rule in full effect. While I attempted to keep things simple, there were clearly some adjustments I had to make in the beginning. My goal is to help you by avoiding a few of these mistakes. 7
In order to launch a successful group, you need to do 3 things well. 1. Simple online collaboration 2. Simple meeting frequency 3. Simple meeting structure Let s dive into each of these in a little more detail. Simple Online Collaboration Regardless as to wether your group meets online or in person, you need to establish a simple way to collaborate online. If you don t choose a central place to hang out online, it will default to email. Email is not a great collaboration tool. Announcements, ideas, events, and requests all get lost if you re trusting in email. Our group uses a private Google Plus Community page. It is online, but no one can see it except for members of the group. We have a central place to: Share new ideas we ve recently had Get feedback on projects we are working on Ask questions about areas we are struggling in Add new documents or PDFs that can benefit the whole group Just kick back, joke, and have fun with one another. All of my group members are super busy. Having a central place online allows us to check in when we re able and still never miss a beat. Simple Meeting Frequency This is an area I made some mistakes early on. I attempted to use an online group meeting scheduler to find the best time each week to meet. We use Google Hangout for our meetings, which makes another good reason to use a Google Plus Community Group. Because I was trying to find the best time for each week, our meeting times varied. They were not always at the same time of the day nor were they even on the same day. This became more and more complex as the weeks went on. Fortunately, we changed course quickly. We used the same online group meeting scheduler, but in an entirely different way. We asked everyone to pick their best day and time based on their ideal week. Share new resources we ve come across 8
Thursdays at 4:00 became the new time. Now, moving forward our group members were able to adjust their schedules to accommodate a time the whole group agreed to. Simple Meeting Structure I could write an entire report on this topic alone. There are many things you can do during a meeting to make it profitable for everyone. I m going to share with you what we currently do. Note: Regardless of what you choose, it needs to be simple and you should probably mix it up every once in a while. Sharing Highs and Lows (15 minutes) We start each meeting by taking turns sharing our highs and lows from the week before. This simple exercise allows us as group members to: Celebrate the successes of members Understand the struggles of members See bad patterns that need to be broken Better connect with each other The highs and lows don t have to be just business-based. Sometimes what is going on at home affects what we do at work. The Hot Seat (30 minutes) The genius of a mastermind group is the ability for each member to draw on the wisdom and experience of others. Each week we place a member of the group in the hot seat. The hot seat is not a bad thing. It is an opportunity for the person in focus to share a challenge or opportunity with the group and get feedback. Many of us lack feedback in our professional lives. The hot seat experience is what allows you to live in a circle of wisdom. The One High Leverage Activity (15 minutes) We end each call by having each member tell the group the one high leverage activity they are going to do in the coming week that they want to be held accountable for. It s funny how this works. Many of my group members have shared how this one simple exercise has helped them become more productive. They might even spend the day of the next 4:00 call doing the thing they said they were going to do. 9
Value accountability in your group. Positive peer pressure is a wonderful thing. We also document our high leverage activity in a spreadsheet so we can bring it up on the next call. The important point to remember is to keep your meeting structure simple. If you try to add too much, you will go over on your time commitment. We keep our meetings at 60 minutes and we are pretty disciplined at not going over. Finally, let s talk about how to best lead your group to success. Week 3 Action Starters 1. The simple way we will collaborate online is to... 2. The simple way we will meet each week is by... 3. The simple way we will structure our meeting is by... 10
Week 4 They did not know it was impossible, so they did it! -Mark Twain If a group has any hope of survival, you as a leader are going to need to model care, community and core purpose. We do this by making generosity the currency of our group. Lead Make Generosity the Currency of Your Group The only way to make generosity the currency of your group is for you as the leader to start. From the very beginning, I wanted my group members to know that I was more interested in them. My only aim was to become the biggest giver. You can become the biggest giver by: Answering questions your members have Sharing lessons you are learning Communicating with them on a regular basis Listening to their needs, desires, and goals. Introducing them to others that can help them 11
When you begin to model generosity, it becomes contagious. Members begin to let their guard down and decide to jump all in. It is amazing to watch. As a leader, I want to encourage you to value 3 key areas. 1.Value Care When generosity becomes the currency, care naturally begins to happen. Jonathan, if you ever need me in a crisis, I d drop what I was doing and drive 8 hours to come see you. When a group member told me that, I knew we had reached a new level in our group. As a group, we know the names of our spouses, how many kids we have, and where we like to vacation. Model care in your group. Don t let it just be about business. 2.Value Community While we do want our meetings to be profitable, we enjoy ourselves in the process. We have inside jokes, competitive competitions, and the ability to laugh at one another. I tell the members of my group all of the time that our one hour together on Thursday is the highlight of my week. If you view your mastermind meeting to be similar to a meeting at work, you have the wrong idea of what a successful mastermind group looks like. Secret: It s okay to have fun. 3.Value Core Purpose At the end of each year, I give an anonymous survey to my group. I want them to tell me what our purpose is for meeting along with a few other questions. This helps me to see if we have unity of purpose. I believe each mastermind group ought to have a core purpose. Something you are striving for as a group. You can even be in different markets but you should be still heading in the same general direction. Having a core purpose also offers the opportunity for group members to collaborate with one another on future products, services, and events. Nail down the core purpose for you group in the beginning and then revaluate how you are doing along the way. 12
Get feedback from individual members offline as to ways you can benefit the group as a whole. Forming a mastermind group is one of the single best things I ve done in years. It is rewarding, challenging, inspiring, and fulfilling. My business income doubled last year and for that I give much of the praise to my circle of wisdom, my mastermind group. Want to learn more about Mastermind Groups? On Thursday, September 4th, I ll be releasing an entire online video course on mastermind groups. This brand new course will outline for you my exact system on launching and leading a mastermind group. Learn. Listen. Launch. Lead. After interviewing over 600 entrepreneurs, I asked John Lee Dumas of Entrepreneurs on Fire what the single greatest success factor was. His response... They were in a mastermind group. Follow me at JonathanMilligan.com or be on the lookout for an email about this exciting new course. Thanks! Jonathan Milligan 13