Remind me - What do I need you for? Oh, right!

Guest Contributor: Debbie Lousberg
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Prior to my weekly small business Master Mind group this week, I was struggling with what to ask for support with. Each week, every member has 10 minutes to talk about current challenges and how specifically the group can support them. So, as I drove to the meeting, I thought, "Things are going really well - training programs and workshops are underway, individual clients are showing up, contracting opportunities are coming together. What do I really need help with?" Then it occurred to me - now that these things I've pined after are actually here, I need Master Mind support more than ever with managing myself!

So that's what my valued group of advisors helped me with - finding answers on how to stay clear and focused with all the excitement that's coming my way. They offered some great ideas - time management tips, taking time off to clear my head, prioritizing and planning, and keeping the funnel full with a prospecting strategy that's always working in the background. And I love the one question our facilitator asks when things seem muddled: "What's important about that for you?" That cuts to the core and gets me back on track every time, keeping me focused on my goals.

As entrepreneurs, we wear so many hats, it can overwhelm us and feel like constantly trying to keep plates spinning on poles up in the air. Plus, it's easy to put off the day-to-day necessities while business is booming. Bookkeeping details still have to be entered, business cards have to be scanned, reading needs to be kept up with, and so on. Once you've secured the business, use your Master Mind support to help keep all the plates up in the air. Just when you think you don't need it, you need it more than ever!

Starting A Master Mind Group

Guest Contributor: Kayleen Reusser
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Since starting a Master Mind group, I've learned to appreciate how things work together to accelerate one's career and life. For instance, I first learned about Master Mind groups last fall when I attended a Toastmasters (public speaking) meeting of which I'm a member. I joined Toastmasters because I want to promote myself as a speaker in order to tell more people about my writing career and perhaps to teach people about writing.

At the meeting, I listened to another member give a speech about the book by Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich.

I had heard of the book, but didn't know much about it. The Toastmaster giving the speech was articulate, used visuals, and showed enthusiasm for what the book, written 80 years ago, had done for his life and career.

At the end of the speech, I wanted to read the book and start utilizing its concepts in my own life.

After reading that book, I began to think of starting a Master Mind group. I knew of none in my area and didn’t know how to find one. So I decided to form my own group.

A couple of people in my writing support group came to mind. They were interested once they heard what it was about, and the three of us put the group together in January 2007.

Already, through the encouragement of the members of my Master Mind, I've felt compelled to work on my goals as a freelance writer and set steps of progress in my life that has put me miles ahead of where I was last year.

For example, one of my goals from meeting with my Master Mind group is to send a tithe, or tenth, of my writing income to a children's home in that my church has supported for years. We know the parents in the home are doing an excellent job. The children there are approaching college age.

Having graduated from college and worked in a college for several years, I would like to encourage these students to attend college and reach for careers they could never have otherwise. They just don't have the funds to do so.

In his Laws of Success series Napoleon Hill encourages giving it others without thinking of receipt. I'm following up on this concept and loving it!

In order to send the amount I've privately pledged, I will have to work harder than ever to earn enough dollars from my writing. The motivation of giving to the children's home is paying off with me sending pitches to editors of major magazines for articles, which I’ve never done before, and then receiving the go-aheads from them. The pay is much more than I was earning writing for my local newspapers.

This is exciting and something that is possible for me at this stage of my development as a writer because I’ve got the experience and the skills. I just never felt challenged to use them.

The Master Mind group is challenging me to stretch. That's a good feeling. Last week I made my first payment to the Mexican children's home. I can't wait to make the next one even bigger and to think about what could be around the corner with future meetings of my Master Mind.

8 Steps To Changing Your Life

Khiem is the blogger behind Kiss n' Tale. His most recent post was on How to be Happy and Change your Life. In it he has 8 strategies including:

1. Spend more time doing what you want and what you like.
2. Relax! Concentrate on what you can control, not on the things you can't control.
   
3. Love yourself.
4. Show some self-respect.
   
5. Act on opportunities that present themselves to you.
6. Be grateful.
   
7. Do more, think less.

And my favourite, in at # 8 is:

Surround yourself with people who inspire you. Whether they are friends, family, lovers or mentors, find people who can help you develop and expand your horizons. Humans are a social specie. We like to exist for people and through people. Be independent in your desires and wants, but become interdependent in executing and achieving your goals. If you've read "Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill, create your Master Mind Group.