What’s a mastermind group? and more related questions.

Lots of you had mastermind questions after I posted about FinCon, so even though this is a little off-topic, I’m going to answer them here.

What the heck is a mastermind group?

Mastermind groups are not unique to blogging. In fact, the term/idea goes back to 1925, which is quite some time before the internet!

The basic concept is mastermind is a group of peers who meet with and help each other.

Getting an expert to teach a group can be expensive and also a little difficult to pull off.

Bringing together a group of peers, however, is a lot easier and a lot less expensive.

How did you find your mastermind group?

My current mastermind group actually found me!

I’d been a guest on the 2 Frugal Dudes podcast several years ago, which is hosted by Kevin and Sean.

So when Sean started a mastermind two years ago, he invited me to join, and I’m really glad I said yes.

How does the mastermind group meet?

We use Skype and we meet for an hour every other week.

Since it’s a pretty small time commitment, it’s a lot easier to stick with it (I’ve been a member for two years now.)

All of us miss meetings occasionally (rarely are we all there at once), but there are enough of us to make a good group each time.

What do you do in a mastermind group?

This varies depending on the mastermind, but in ours, we have two people on the hotseat each week (30 minutes apiece).

The people on the hot seat:

• share a useful tool
• report on their last accountability goal
• ask for help with a problem
• set a new SMART accountability goal

(What’s a SMART goal? It’s one that is Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Relevant, and Time-limited.)

Since we have a large group, we each usually have a few months to work on our goals before we are in the hot seat again.

Oh, and we all take turns moderating the group, so the responsibility doesn’t fall on one person.

Do you think a mastermind group is worth it?

I’ve been in a number of groups over my years in blogging, and I’d say the answer to this question largely depends on who runs the group.

Sean from 2 Frugal Dudes is the one who heads up our group and he is really good at keeping us on track and making sure we know who’s in the hot seat and who is hosting.

You can have a group full of talented people with great ideas, but if no one keeps things rolling in an organized way, the group will not be very fruitful.

What have you gotten out of your mastermind?

My mastermind has helped me get a whole lot more connected to other people in the online creating community.  I was sort of a lone island before!

They’ve also given me some great ideas to help me run my blog better and more efficiently.  On my own, I’m very good at writing post after post after post, but there’s a lot more to running a smart blog than just writing.

Plus, our group is made up of people who have a wide variety of skills, so we are all able to contribute different things to the group.  My mastermind group gives me a much more varied array of advice than I’d get otherwise.

Also, it’s really nice to have a group of people who cheer me on and who also understand what it’s like to be an online creator.

Even in 2019, blogging and creating other online content is still sort of a weird job*, but in my group, it’s completely un-weird.

*A lot of times when I meet people out and about and they ask me what I do, I just explain that I have four kids and I homeschool. Because explaining about blogging feels too hard, and once people hear you have multiple kids and you homeschool, they usually have no more questions about how you spend your time. 😉

Of course, my mastermind group is the reason I went to FinCon, so that’s another benefit.

Whenever I meet online friends in real life, I am always reminded that real friendships can indeed be forged online.

When you know someone well over the internet, the transition to real life is pretty much always seamless.  Yeah, I only met these people in real life a week ago, but they are most definitely my friends.

How can I find a mastermind group?

This was the most-often-asked question I got!

And the best advice I’ve heard is that if you want to be in a group, you should start one yourself. That’s what Sean did!

Find a group of people who do whatever it is you do, and ask them to join you.

Alternatively, reach out to some of your peers and ask if they know of any masterminds with openings. You won’t know if you don’t ask. 🙂

Did I miss anything? If you have other questions about mastermind groups, let me know in the comments.