Mastermind Brainstorming, Accountability, Agenda

I was reading Confessions Of An Entrepreneur this morning and came across a new post on Mastermind Groups. It discusses the importance of brainstorming and accountability as well as lays out a sample agenda for your Mastermind Groups.

On Brainstorming:

Spend a set amount of time brainstorming new ideas. If you meet weekly, have a place to jot down these ideas as they come to you throughout the week and share them with your mastermind group weekly. If you have a phone or pda or mp3 player that has a recorder built in, this may be an excellent tool to use especially if you are in your car a lot. You'll see something or think of something as you drive and won't safely be able to write this down, but if you have a digital recorder of some sort, use it to make yourself a note... or even call your voicemail and leave yourself a message. Not every single idea will be something you act on or will ever come to fruition, but your million dollar idea shouldn't be one you don't remember because you didn't make a note. So, weekly brainstorming, like 15 minutes... whatever, but make this a part of every mastermind.

On Accountability:

I am a starter... not a finisher. I have about 4-5 pretty solid ideas about how I could make a lot of money. However, the ideas alone without the actual "do" part are worth very little. That said, the mastermind is great if you set specific goals of who will do what and set a date for the completion of those goals. As much as I'm a starter, I'm a doer when others are depending on me. With the mastermind, I will have some accountability where as an individual, I'm too lenient on myself and don't demand of myself all that I could and probably should. So, for most entrepreneurs, the mastermind opens up the accountability avenue and also will many times introduce someone into the mastermind who is the finisher and could make up where (in my case) I lack.

Sample Agenda:

- Welcome
- Vision (re-affirm the vision / longer-term goals)
- Updates / report on previous week's goals / accomplishments
- Brainstorming / idea sharing
- Application to existing project (new ideas / tweaking)
- Determine goals to be achieved during next week / month, etc.
- Accountability: who is responsible for what?
- Refreshments