Networking Groups Vs. Masterminds Groups

Guest Contributor: George J. Sierchio
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There are so many ways to connect with groups of people that can help you out in different aspects of your business that sometimes it's hard to choose which ones to go with. Knowing the difference between each and testing them out, just like with any other thing worthy of trying in your business, is the only way to do it.

There are a variety of different venues available for entrepreneurs today. They include online forums, networking groups, business/technical associations, round table groups, and mastermind groups. For today, I want to give you some insight as to the difference between networking groups and mastermind groups.

Let's start with networking groups. This goes for the big national/international associations as well as local groups and chambers of commerce. They are built to encourage referrals, most add in some general business education, and none do anything for implementation and accountability.

That leaves a big hole in the business fabric for any entrepreneur in any industry since implementation and accountability are use the real crux of most business issues. Yes, even marketing and sales.

Most entrepreneurs that decide to join a networking group or chamber do so because they want to create new business. Well, I have to tell you from experience that you are much better off sending a salesperson to these groups than yourself as the owner.

As entrepreneurs, we all know that it's lonely at the top. Even more so if you have a micro business since you spend most of your day never interacting with people on a social level. Here comes the problem.

With no water cooler time outs, networking groups turn out to be a social event for you. Sadly, those groups sometimes are already run like a social group at the meetings and the functions they sponsor. It's nobody's fault, it's just human nature.

Having a solid relationship with people is important when you want to be able to refer them to others and vice versa, but at one point things can turn more social than business like. At this point, your ROI for the group has just turned sour on you.

Often times to make matters worse the bigger the group, the more social cliques end up forming. This is a major drawback especially in chambers of commerce. They draw you in making you think you can do business with 100's of other business people. What they fail to tell you is that there are 20 other people in you field there and most of your networking is going to be finding a little group within this big group that will let you into their fold. Not fun and a huge waste of time.

If you are going to involve yourself with a pure networking group, stick to that conduct a business like meeting and don't let businesses overlap each other to create unnecessary competition. If you feel compelled to join a chamber, stick with a town chamber to avoid huge numbers of members that are probably in direct competition with you and participate in a small offshoot group within the chamber to network with a smaller bunch of people that will actually pay attention to you.

So why join a mastermind group instead or as a combination to your networking groups? Well, it's all about those missing links. The truly successful people in business have a strong network, but also constantly educate themselves, expose themselves to new ideas, implement what they learn, and understand that you need someone above you or at the same level as you to make sure you are accountable for doing what you said you would accomplish.

Mastermind groups are good for networking, depending on if it's an industry based group or not, but they are built to be small and powerful as well as having a true facilitator to keep things in order. You would be amazed at how much business can be referred to you by a group of 5 to 15 people that know you inside and out.

My final thoughts to you are to keep track of your networking group ROI and get out if you are wasting time and money. Do the same with your mastermind group. At some point there comes a time when you need to move on from any group, teacher, or advisor when you have reached your goals or they are no longer being met.