Evaluating New Members - Business vs. Life Experience

We had a new potential member create his one page profile and submit it to my Mastermind Group that met last week. He is a very early stage business - in fact he currently has a full time job and is working on his business part time. One of his goals is to transition to full time and continue to grow his company.

Usually such a candidate is not ideal for our Mastermind Groups. Most of our members are beyond the startup stage and have between $100,000 and $2,000,000 in annual revenues. They have hit a ceiling and need help getting to the next step. This new member, however, was referred by an existing member and I always meet with someone who was referred.

I'm glad I did.

What the new potential member lacks in business experience, he has made up for in life experience. To protect confidentiality I cannot go into detail in this post but the candidate has definitely seen a lot in his life to last three lifetimes. He could offer some valuable insights to the rest of the group and definitely bring a different perspective.

The group read his bio and agreed to meet with him for his test meeting next month. Whether he gets accepted into the group or not depends on how he interacts with the other members and if everyone feels like there is value being created but it was a valuable lesson to learn that life experience can sometimes be just as important as business experience when you are looking at adding new members to your group.

Evan Carmichael

Beware of who you bring to your groups

If you do not have the right members around the table it does not matter how good a system you have in place, it will not be a success. I personally interview with each potential member before they are brought to a trial meeting with a group.

The first thing I check for is to make sure that the person is not coming for the wrong reasons - to try and sell the members of my group on their products or services.

Whenever you have a group of entrepreneurs, people are going to be interested in coming to pitch their products. Anyone who sells business to business products could potentially be a problem member.

Insurance salespeople, financial advisers, real estate and mortgage brokers often require extra scrutiny to make sure they are interested for the right reasons. We also have not had a member who is involved in network marketing (one member switched her business from a service business to network marketing and was asked to leave the group).

I do not rule anyone out because of their industry alone - people can surprise you and you never know what they might bring to the table. That being said, be very careful as to who you let into your groups because one bad member can bring down the entire group.

The members who do make it through your thoughtful interviews will appreciate the process and will be better qualified for your groups.

Evan Carmichael

How To Select New Members Into A Mastermind Group

The Mastermind Groups that I run typically have between 4 and 8 members. We start with 4 as a founding group and build up to a maximum of 8. You want enough members so that there are a number of opinions to solve the members' challenges but not so many that the individual members do not get enough time to talk about their problems.

Adding new members can be a tricky process. You always want to make sure that everyone is compatible because if two members are constantly add odds with each other it will bring the whole group down. Here is what we do when a new member is interested in joining an existing group.

1) Face to face meeting
I personally meet with every candidate face to face at a local coffee shop. I want to make sure they understand the concept of the Mastermind Group and that they are not there to just sell their services. While many sales do happen between members, the point of the group is to have an advisory board for your business rather than a group of people to sell to. I answer any questions they might have, learn about their businesses, and see if there might be a fit with one of the groups based on my knowledge of the members and the various challenges they are facing.

2) Written, one page overview
Assuming they are interested in joining a group and I think they would be a good fit, the candidates would prepare a one page overview of themselves and their businesses. It usually comprises of a background on the entrepreneurs, their relative skills, company histories, and a list of the challenges they are currently facing. This one pager would then be shown to the members of the Mastermind Group with the best fit. The existing members read the overview and discuss if they would like to learn more about the potential member. Some of the usual issues that come up are if the new member is a potential competitor / client / supplier of an existing member, if the new member can add value to the discussion, and if the industry that the new member represents would be a missing knowledge base for the existing members.

3) Trial meeting
If the existing members agree to learn more about the new potential members, they are invited to a meeting as a trial. The new members have to sign the non disclosure agreement and they participate in the meeting as a full member. They get to meet the existing members and see how the meetings are run. They then get the opportunity to discuss their companies and the challenges they are facing to get the feedback from the other members. After the meeting is over I will follow up during the week with both the new potential members and the existing members. If everyone agrees that the new members brought in value then they are added. Similarly the new members have to have found value from the meeting and from the existing members to want to stay.

The key I have found really is the screening meeting at the coffee shop. I do most of the eliminating because I know what the groups are looking for and who makes a good member. By the time the new members get to submitting the overview and coming to a trial meeting they are usually accepted in the group.

Oops!! There is no fit here

Guest Contributor: Reg Gupton
Reg's Posts - Reg's Blog


A while back my Master Mind Group decided to expand our number. We had been stable for quite some time. A person we met at a networking event found out that we had a group. He indicated that he was interested exploring the benefits. We were open to exploring his joining the group. We hadn't been for a while.

We had previously established a protocol on how to integrate new members. We had brainstormed and discussed the options that we arrived at as a group. We decided the following: The potential member is invited to attend from 2 to 4 meeting while we get acquainted. We each determine if there is a good fit.

Both of us is on probation for these first few meetings. At the first meeting we explain and discuss the expectations and agreements. The potential new member can say that s/he has no interest and we can do the same. Hopefully there are no hard feelings.

The existing members are looking for intellect and clarity of thinking from the new members . We have challenges to solve, opportunities to explore, projects to move forward and we, like all people, need an additional perspective or point of view that we don't already have. We can offer the same things to a new member.

The first potential member began attending meetings. After a minimum of meetings we extended an offer to join the group permanently. It was accepted. We have a great fit. He was bright, thoughtful and brought a new, interesting point of view that we had not experienced before.

Subsequently, a past member referred a friend to us. I did an initial phone interview and invited her to the initial series of meetings as outlined above. The new member attended her first several meetings. She asked great questions. We taught a lot.

No contribution from her. No value added. No clarity of thinking. No perspective that we did not have from an existing member. Not a good fit. Our view is that these meetings contain both problem solving for each person and contributions, too.

This person needed a less sophisticated group or a mentor/coach. We are not set up to do this. Lots of learning needed to take place. We were not in a place to deliver the required teaching.

The person was called and a very gently uninvited. We were very specific about what we thought would be a better course of action for her.

I hope she finds what she needs. I believe she will.