Integrating Two Mastermind Members At Once

Getting into one of our Mastermind Groups is a process. First everyone meets with me face to face. Then you have to prepare a one page bio which gets submitted to the group for review. Finally you are invited to the next meeting as a guest to participate and see how you get along with the other group members.

From there everyone decides if the new candidate would make a good member or not. Both the candidate and 100% of the existing members need to say yes for it to be a go. The entire process usually takes two to three months.

Typically we bring one new candidate in at a time to allow everyone to get to know each other. This past week was an exception.

We had two potential candidates for one of groups and the members decided to take the unconventional approach to bringing them both in at the same time. I was curious to see how it would work out and I was pleased to see that it went extremely well.

Here's what we did to ensure a smooth transition:

- Both new members were asked to introduce themselves at the beginning and give a quick overview of their businesses

- We then proceeded as usual and we went around the table discussing the challenges we were facing. The members all went first so that the new potential members could get an understanding of how our process worked. Each member also quickly introduced themselves before talking about challenges so the candidates knew who they were listening to

- The candidates were encouraged to provide feedback and help the members as they worked through their business problems. We were fortunate that both members were experienced and had valuable opinions to offer

- The two candidates were then asked to share their challenges after they had seen how the other members presented. It was a smooth transition and we gave both members a few additional minutes of time to allow everyone to get to know them better.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the process and I will be following up during the week to see if the new members will be invited to stay with the group. Regardless of the outcome, it was a positive experience that I believe benefited everyone and I would not hesitate to bring two members in at a time again if the group decided to invite them.

Evan Carmichael

Automate Your Mastermind Group

I currently run three Toronto based Mastermind Groups and while it could be a lucrative opportunity for someone to turn into a full time business, for me it is more about having fun and helping out other entrepreneurs. One of the useful tactics I have used to help the groups succeed is to automate many of the processes around them.

Automation through technology helps give a better experience for the members, reduces my workload, removes me as the bottleneck for many of the processes needed, and allows the meetings to run smoothly.

Here are 3 of the things that we do to automate the process:

1) Goal entry system
At the end of each of our meetings the members are required to set goals for the next 30-90 days. Goal setting is an important part of almost every Mastermind Group that I have seen but ours take it a step further and requires the members to enter their goals into a computer program that we built. The members are forced to come up with their goals for the meeting and are held accountable by committing to the other members. On top of the goal setting feature we require members to partner up and call each other every week at a certain time to follow up with each other on the goals they set and help each other move forward. They have to put into the computer program who is calling who, at what time, and at what number. Again, this creates accountability to a specific person and in front of the rest of the group to follow through on their goals.

2) PayPal meal subscription
Our groups meet once per month on a set Thursday with a starting time of 6:30pm. We have found this to be the most convenient time for everyone to come out. As a result everyone gets hungry and we have the meal catered by a local entrepreneur. The cost is $15 per person for the meal which usually includes a main dish, salad, and dessert. I used to collect cash from the members and pay the caterer but we ran into issues such as people canceling last minute for an emergency and not having exact change on hand. To fix these problems and automate the process we have all the members sign up for a $15 per month charge to their PayPal account or credit card.

3) Goal reminder system
You can have all the goals in the world but you need to follow through on them to create results for your business. As a follow up on the goals that the members set in point number 1, the members are required to call each other at a specific time every week. The day before the scheduled call our program automatically emails the partnered members a reminder to call including who is calling who, what number to call and a list of both members' goals. It is an automated process that removes the excuses members can make such as "I forgot that we had a call scheduled" or "I was not sure what your telephone number was" or "I forgot what my goals were and what my partner's goals were." By eliminating excuses and automating the process we have made a more powerful and effective system for our members.

Do you have any additional ways to automate some of your Mastermind Group processes?