The Master-Mind's Guide to Master-Mind Groups

This guide is gonna assist you in applying the “master-mind” strategy toward excelling in your endeavors, because most likely, you’re working waaay too hard without seeing the results that you’re capable of.

Are you familiar with Pareto’s principle, the one that says 20% of your efforts bring 80% of your results? If you correctly apply the steps in this guide, you will be performing that “20% of effectiveness” (which will account for 80% of your results!).

What’s A Master-Mind Group?

Good question. It’s basically a group of people who come together to assist each other in achieving a goal. A wise man once described a master-mind group as “the coordination of knowledge and effort, in a spirit of harmony, between two or more people, for the attainment of a definite purpose.”

That wise dude’s name is Napoleon Hill. He’s the fella who first introduced me to the concept and since then, it’s taken me 5 years to find my master-mind group. I’m gonna show you why, and how to save those 5 years.

Homeboy Hill has some super interesting ideas on the issue. He says that essentially, a master-mind group has two natures inherent in it. This is a Sensophizer’s interpretation:

1. 1. Economic: advancement will occur when you surround yourself with a group of people who are wholeheartedly willing to help you. (Please note that the careful selection of members is critical!)
   2. Spiritual: when two or more minds are in “perfect harmony,” they collectively create an invisible and intangible force, which can be thought of as an additional mind. (This nature is much harder to comprehend because as a society, we don’t reward this abstract train of thought.)

Who’s This Hill Dude?

You may be wondering what the deal is with Napoleon Hill.

What authority does this dude have and why would you wanna listen to him? Here it flows:

Napoleon Hill was a journalist who Andrew Carnegie (of Carnegie Hall) took on as his protégé. For twenty years, starting in the early 1900s, Napoleon interviewed over 500 “wealthy achievers” to find out their commonalities. Sounds like my type of dude. He eventually compiled his findings into the classic book Think and Grow Rich which went on to sell 30 million copies worldwide.
I LOVE THAT!

Is A Master-Mind Group Right For You?

You can use a master-mind group to bring you closer to any dream you have. Here are a couple of ideas:

• Starting a new business (or improving an existing one)
• Running a blog / website (and making it profitable)
• Improving your diet and exercise
• Improving your dating and relationships
• Making an impact in the world
• Pursuing your passions
• Following your dreams
• Doing the “unrealistic”
• Writing a book
• etc…

We’ll get to the part about how to create a group in a bit. Once your group is established, you’ll assist each other with support, strategy, accountability, encouragement and more. You’ll have a positive and creative place to play mental ping-pong with ideas that you wouldn’t normally bounce around.

Don’t Be Convinced…

…yet! Allow me to elaborate.

My favorite part of sharing on Sensophy is speaking about the things I’ve experienced first-hand. So here’s how a master-mind group turned my world upside down and inside out.

Remember that little thing that happened earlier in the year — Gary Vaynerchuk taking me to a Jets game? Yeah, that wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for my Power-Posse. No way José!

How It’s Changed My Life

Enter John…

John and I had been chatting for 10 weeks on the Optimal Living 101 embodiment calls (which were strikingly similar to a master-mind call, although at the time, our master-mind group didn’t exist yet). Even though the course of the calls had ended, John and I kept in touch online. The guy is an amazing dude and even has a “HUG LIFE” tattoo across his belly. I mean, who wouldn’t want that in their life!?!

The days rolled on and I published “Why It’s Realistic To Be Unrealistic.” Being that John is a like-minded mega-terrific-smelling soul, he’s super inspired by it. Now, instead of calling it a day, dude takes it a step further and gives me a brotherly nudge, challenging me to do something unrealistic (and not just talk about it.) WOW! He even named the challenge.

Serendipitously, one of the first Sensophizers ever (named Nathan), took a big leap outta of his comfort zone. Did you notice I have my cell phone number on the contact page? Nate actually worked through his belly butterflies and decided to call me! What ensued was such an inspiring chat, that we decided we’d love to connect more often, even weekly.

Enter The Master-Minds… We were lucky enough to be part of a flourishing online community of philosophers and goddesses called en*theos. Since we’d all been chatting there for some time, we built relationships with other passionate people who were on the same page (pun intended.) The next step was natural, yet outside each of our comfort zones: a weekly chat. So, we assembled a group of 8 people, who would gather on the phone weekly to support each other in achieving an “unrealistic goal”.

Each week I spoke to 7 other people who not only didn’t think I belonged subdued with a sedative in a straightjacket, they actually thought me stalking Gary Vee was incredible! Imagine that. They gave me great guidance and inspired me with massive momentum while I was moving along. They also provided me with support when things weren’t looking promising — critical stuff!

I’m convinced the turning point of this spectacle was when my night-owl ass-kicking homegirl named Electra had hit me with some research she dug up. She sent me a video where Gary says, “You have to give a fuck.” That not only became the essence of my message to him, but it turned out to be the title of the email that I sent to him too! Next thing I knew, we were at the Jets game!

Your Favorite Bloggers

Some of your favorite bloggers (well okay, my favorite) attribute their success to master-mind groups.

• • Pat Flynn says “a mastermind group is mandatory to achieve online success.”
  • Corbett Bar says “the benefits have been extraordinary for all of us in the group.”
  • Everett Bogue created an “imaginary” master-mind group by following people who he admired on Twitter, and then he began to build relationships with them. That was, of course, in addition to his “real” master-mind group.

Creating Your Own Master-Mind Group:

So now you’re all master-mind horny

and can’t wait to wet your whistle. Not so quickly cowgirl! Let’s go over a couple of crucial steps to take toward not only forming this group, but getting the most outta your experience.

1. The Purpose

You have to have a purpose to this group. Get laser-sharp clarity on the reason for forming this bodacious bond. Make sure it’s not just to hit the telephonic bong. The more clarity you have on what you want from this group, the more results you will see. This is a crucial component.

2. The Roles

Although we haven’t strictly implemented this policy in our Power-Posse, it can help to define distinguished dedicated roles for what people will contribute. You can be guided in your choice of members by seeing what you need, and who can supply that demand. It may be strategy, experience, ambition, inspiration, money, resources, or even leadership. Keep in mind not to select a person just because they can provide a resource; they must also be in alignment with the group and its overall purpose.

3. The People

When picking people… discriminate! That’s right, I said it — and I know it sounds unfair, but it’s key. Imagine that you’re interviewing someone to be your personal assistant — all the niceness in the world isn’t going to make up for incompetence. Pick people for their ability to help you get where you’re going, not cuz they’re good conversationalists. There’s a strong chance that your buddies are NOT who you’re looking for in this group.

I’ve heard that 4 people provide a powerful dynamic.  Look for people who are ambitious and show promising potential. You can also look to find people that have already achieved something similar to what you’re looking to achieve. Remember, you won’t know who to pick if you don’t know what your purpose is.

As with all endeavors in life, I strongly suggest you surround yourself with people who are honest. In the long run, this will prove to pay off tremendously. During the chats, you’ll be sharing some of your best ideas with other members. You don’t want to feel like you have to hold back because your group is dishonest and may “steal your stuff.”

Here are a couple of ways to go about looking for members:

1. 1. Blogs: Familiarize yourself with blogs on the topic of your purpose. Pay attention to whose comments seem relevant and then reach out to them. Sensophy’s blog postings are a great place to start. Feel free to announce your interest toward joining a group in the comments section down below.
   2. Social Networks: Facebook and Twitter aren’t the only places people connect online. There is actually a plethora of powerful social networks starting to sprout on just about every subject possible. For instance, a community I belong to is called en*theos.me (an oasis for philosophers and goddesses — who would have thought?!)
   3. Meet-Up: You can search meetup.com as well. This option is unique as in you can also look for people in your local area and link up face-to-face in the flesh.

4. The Schedule

Next comes schedule. I found that a weekly “main call” lasting one hour at the scheduled time works well. Here are some tips to keep in mind:

• • Exchange email addresses and phone numbers so you can reach out to members to discuss sudden subjects that come up between calls.
  • You can use a service like FreeConferenceCall.com to chat together. You can also record the calls and download them to your iPhone or RSS reader.
  • Skype comes in handy too. You can sign up for unlimited minutes in the US for 3 bucks per month.

5. The Format

Select one member to lead the call and be conscious of time. This person can guide the group through the different stages and also chime in with “you have X amount of time left.” One format that seems to work well is this:

1. 1. Do a quick 2 minute check-in during the beginning of the call where each member says what they’ve accomplished last week.
   2. If people have questions or are looking for feedback after that initial time, you can make a list of topics to address and proceed to discuss them.
   3. Before the call is over, you will announce what you individually plan to have accomplished by next week and the group will hold you accountable. If you really wanna make sure you complete the task, agree upon a certain amount of money (possibly $25) that will go to charity if the task doesn’t get completed by the next call.

The Take Away

I’ll leave you with a final thought from Think and Grow Rich:

“Analyze the record of any man who has accumulated a great fortune, and many of those who have accumulated modest fortunes, and you will find that they have either consciously or unconsciously employed the master-mind principle.”

My recommendation would be to NOT put this on a list of things to do. Instead, take 15 minutes right now and strike up a conversation with someone who looks to have potential. Again, feel free to browse through the comments on Sensophy and if you want someone to hold you accountable — I can do that! 

To being and doing the extraordinary in 2011,

Jacob!

PS: You didn’t think I forgot, did you?! Shout out to Nathan for helping me piece together this puzzling master-post. Also, Electra, Eric, Jayne, John, Melanie and Vicky — I see you homeslices!

PPS: Much of this content was adopted from my personal experience mixed with the book Think and Grow Rich. You can get your free copy here: Dope Book! (Right click to “save target as”)

PPPS: Shout out to a special Sensophizer (Scout) and her son (Hyme Wilkins) for hooking us up with the images in this post! You can see more of his work here: Amazing Photos!