This post was originally published on September 17, 2018 and updated on April 14, 2020.  

Are you are serious about growing your business? Join a small business mastermind group.  This two-part blog explores what small business mastermind groups are and the top 14 reasons to join one. Hint: one reason is so you can achieve more in less time!

What are Small Business Mastermind Groups?

I first discovered the mastermind concept in Napoleon Hill’s book, Keys to Success.  He writes, “No one mind is complete by itself,” explaining that we need contact with others to grow and expand our minds.  He defined the term mastermind alliance as “two or more minds working actively together in perfect harmony toward a common definite object.”

Let’s put that into today’s language.  In the small business world, in its simplest form, a mastermind group is:

• a meeting of two or more people who share a common purpose (business launch or business growth)
• where each person is committed to helping every group member, including themselves, reach their common purpose
• a meeting where brainstorming, accountability, support, education, sharing of knowledge and resources happen, empowering all mastermind group members

In a well-facilitated mastermind group, your business grows as each member goes from being a single note playing alone to being part of a powerful, harmonizing orchestra. While you are working together, you will each be creating your own masterpiece…your small business.

Top 14 Reasons to Join a Small Business Mastermind Group

Hill’s core idea remains the same today – many minds are better than one when you share a common goal.  In our startup and growth mastermind groups, your goal is to either launch or grow your business. With an experienced facilitator and dedicated, open-minded group members, our mastermind groups can guide you to achieve more in less time. Specifically, we talk about achieving more in the next 12 months than you did in the last 12. You are challenged within a supportive environment.

With this background, here are the top 14 reasons to join a mastermind group, in no particular order. They are the “how” mastermind groups function to help you achieve more in less time:

Brainstorming (1) 

You need ideas and you need feedback!!  Are you wondering about your online marketing? You know you need to have a stronger online presence in today’s world, but what does that actually look like and how can you achieve it? How can you be strategic in your choices and make the best use of your limited resources (time and money!)? What are the best technology tools and platforms to use today? Are you bringing a new product or service to market, but want to talk it over with trusted colleagues, getting their feedback before you roll it out? Do you have a challenge that is making you lose sleep at night?  Or maybe you simply know something is missing, you know you can do better, but you’re not sure what is lacking.

Your mastermind group is tailor-made for all these situations. You build trust over time with fellow group members.  “Talking it out” with your mastermind group colleagues gives you new insights and ideas.  This is your safe place to explore new and old challenges, as well as seemingly wild and wacky ideas. It is all part of finding your path forward to building a stronger small business better equipped to withstand economic ups and downs.

Accountability (2)

Good intentions and a dream are meaningless without action. By ourselves, with no support, we often set goals and they wither and die. We don’t reach them. Your mastermind group works with you to ensure that doesn’t happen. You will create your Action Plan, and your group will hold you accountable.  And by the way, “accountable” does not mean judgmental. We are humans, and we naturally allow other things in our lives take priority. We also face fears and perfectionism, and they can stop us. In our groups, members help you set goals that are truly meaningful, goals you commit to achieving above all else. They also call you out when fear and perfectionism (and whatever else!) is intruding. You will constantly be checking that your goals are setting you up for success, not failure.  And then (again….drum roll, please) they hold you accountable.

Think Bigger (3)

This thread runs throughout everything that is done in our mastermind groups.  You know people who set goals that are ALWAYS achievable, right? They are safe, sure goals.  That is not what happens in our mastermind groups.  Your fellow group members will help you see the bigger picture, explore it, and establish goals that are often bigger than you might set by yourself, but not overwhelming (at least, not all at once!!).  They will help you think bigger and set up a plan to achieve your goals over time in bite-size pieces.

Support (4) 

Sometimes as a small business owner it feels like you against the world.  You love your family and friends, but they don’t understand anything about what you are doing or what your challenges are. They want to help, but they really don’t know how.  Where can you find a group of people who “have your back” no matter what is going on in your life and your business, a group who wants to hear what you have to say, and a group with no hidden agenda?  Your small business mastermind group, that’s where.

Next Steps

Explore the remaining 10 reasons to join a small business mastermind group in Part 2.  Then decide if a mastermind group is in your future! 

Also, check out our website for our virtual Rapid Launch Startup Mastermind Groups and Breaking 6 Figures Growth Mastermind Groups. New groups form on an ongoing basis. Email us at [email protected] for additional details, or schedule a free consultation and together we’ll discuss what is best for you.
______________

Robin Suomi, MBA, is an experienced small business expert and founder of Startup to Growth. She has worked with thousands of small business owners through coaching, mastermind groups, education and training.  Robin believes success is rarely accidental and her passion is to help her clients set and reach their goals. Working with clients remotely through video platforms, she helps clients answer their technical business planning questions as well as supporting them while they explore their potential. She encourages clients to dig deeper, dream bigger, and works with them to create their tangible Success Steps. Check out the website for ongoing virtual Small Business Coaching, Small Business Blueprint in 30-Days classes, Rapid Launch Startup Mastermind Groups, Breaking 6 Figures Growth Mastermind Groups, and virtual networking groups. Email [email protected] with your questions.