Business Masterminds: Three Must-have Elements For Success

Seems like nearly everyone is talking about business mastermind groups these days. If you are not familiar with the term, this simply means a group of business owners who get together regularly, either in person or on the phone, to support other members with the power of the group's collective wisdom.

If you see people who seem to be zooming past you in their businesses and you can't figure out why, chances are they are in a business mastermind.

You cannot be completely objective about your own business. No one can, as it's simply impossible. But when you work in a properly structured and trusted group business mastermind, that lack of objectivity is no longer an obstacle. Others in your group are able to be objective about your business and they can point out your blind spots, uncover potential problems and offer new ideas that you would never have come up with by yourself in a million years. And you, in turn, can offer this same gift to them.

I've been in several business masterminds over the years. The first one I tried was with a group of colleagues who agreed to meet twice a month over the phone to support each other. I was enthusiastic and committed but the group only lasted about four months. Why? Because we had no structure and no leader, no head coach. Plus, the group was free to join, so no one had any real incentive to make it work.

Later, I belonged to a paid mastermind group, one that had a head coach. Again, I was enthusiastic and committed, sure now that I was paying to belong and we had a leader, good things would come to me from being a member. Again, I was disappointed and I couldn't understand why the group did not work, after all, there were two elements of a successful group in place, a head coach and a monetary incentive to succeed.

But I later learned the third and most crucial element of the mix was missing, a proven and easy to implement structure that would give each member a laser-focused opportunity to be heard and to get feedback on challenges and opportunities with ideas and advice that could be acted upon right away, so progress could be made that day! Since then, I've had a chance to experience exactly that and my personal results have been remarkable.

So when you get an invitation to join a business mastermind or if you are thinking of starting one of your own, be sure to have these three elements in place: an experienced head coach or leader, monetary incentive to succeed and a proven and easy to implement structure.

With these three elements in place, your business mastermind has the best chance of success.