The Brilliance of a Mastermind!

Is your business where you want it to be? Or how about your personal life? If both these areas have no room for improvement, then you don’t need to waste your time reading any further. This article is for those of us who know there is still room for growth and know there is a need to push the envelope both professionally and personally.

Last week I drove to Austin, Texas from Dallas to participate in my first mastermind group. As I drove I began to have some of the following thoughts…

1. I’m not smart enough to be in a mastermind group. I mean everyone else is smarter than me.
2. I don’t have all my financing in place
3. I don’t have anything to contribute
4. And then there were arrogant thoughts like I know enough to do this by myself

If you have been in real estate for any length of time you know of the ‘gurus’ out there that charge thousands of dollars to be a part of their program. This is not what I’m talking about. Although to participate in a mastermind group may cost some money, the difference is an on-stage personality that you probably don’t have access to, to a group of people that collaborate to accomplish something much bigger than the on-stage personality or what they could do individually.

A mastermind group is a concept that has been around a long time, but Napoleon Hill made the idea popular in the early 1900’s in the classic book, Think and Grow Rick. Very simply put, a mastermind group is the collective intelligence of other people that are participating. Ken Blanchard has said, “None of us are as smart as all of us.” King Solomon also said in Proverbs 27:17, “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.” All of us can use a little sharpening at times.

In most cases a mastermind group is the joining together of people that are wanting to improve and most likely are wanting to move in a similar business direction. In my case this was especially true. We were all investing in residential distressed assets across the country. 

As I drove toward Austin I asked myself, what does it take to be a part of a mastermind group and how could I walk away from the time feeling like it was worth the effort? Here is what I came up with and what I came to Austin committed to. The mastermind group that is helping me take inventory of my note investing business. Raising the bar to take it to the next level. Who’s in your mastermind group challenging you?

• First, I would walk into every session and conversation with a teachable spirit. I came willing to learn and committed to ask questions of those further down the road than me.
• A humility to admit that I don’t know everything and a willingness to admit it. This is hard to do for me, because I like to present the imagine that I know what I’m doing and that ‘I got this’ when I know I don’t.
• A willingness to make changes. I knew if I kept doing the same things I had been doing I would get the same results which wasn’t working too well. This meant I needed to implement, take wise action.
• A willingness to get out of my comfort zone. All of us have different comfort zones that end up killing our passions. I determined ahead of time to get out of the ones I was aware of.
• I also came with the idea that someway I wanted to add value to conversations, to discussions, and to people. This is not about knowing it all or needing to have all the answers. It was about working to make others feel valued. Everyone wants to feel valued and I knew that was at least something I could do.
• Finally, I also came knowing that I wanted to connect with people. Like everything in life, business ultimately boils down to the relationships you build on the journey.

Some of these things I did better at than others, but here is what I came away with and why you should consider joining a mastermind group.

If you’re not part of a mastermind group either professionally or personally I would encourage you to take the next steps to find one. You can do your business and your personal life much better if you’re not in isolation.

Remember the 3rd Act is about to happen.