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

Mastermind Links For 2007-04-11

• Closely held businesses and transition issues - Connect with other leaders. You might join a Mastermind Group, a Vistage group or Young Presidents' Organization where you can continue to learn among a group of non-competing peers. Or consider forming an advisory board of business leaders with whom you can test ideas and be accountable for results, and from whom you can receive input.
  
  
• Has your experience with MySpace been {ahem}…less than positive? - Personal Development Partners is going to change all of that by providing a simple, yet powerful interface that will allow you to find and network only with people who are willing to work together in partnerships and/or "mastermind" groups so that everyone gets what they want out of that relationship.
  
  
• Master Mind Group for Real Estate Investors (santa cruz) - I am looking for like minded people in the SC and surrounding areas wanting to create a Master Mind Group or Success Team for Real Estate investing anywhere there is an opportunity.

Real Estate Mastermind Group

Marisa Ladd is a real estate agent based in Springfield, MO. She's recently put together a Mastermind Group at her office with some of the other agents.

The group will consist of seven RE/MAX agents from my office, each with a different offering to bring to the table. I'm thrilled at the opportunity to learn from some very talented and successful agents, as well as share some of my own ideas.

They are taking a more structured approach where meetings are held once a month for one hour. Monthly mailings are discussed for 15 minutes. Then they will spend 30 minutes on 2 special topics every month which will vary. For example, in the first meeting Marisa will discuss the topic of blogging while another agent will share tax tips.

From my experience, it's important to have structure in the meetings. It makes sure that people show up on time and get value from the session. Unstructured meetings can frequently end up in long discussions on unrelated topics, uncertainty in what is expected of each member and can often lead to a group falling apart.

At the same time you need to do your research and change the structure as needed. When we first started our Mastermind Groups we looked at the various successful ones out there to learn what they did so well. We incorporated those ideas for our first meeting. As the groups grew we always take the feedback of our members to make the meetings even better each time around. The structure changes slightly as we make improvements but we do keep a strict structure so that everyone knows what to expect and gets value from the meetings.

Mastermind Group For Real Estate Success

Reading Richard's post at Ask, Answer, Receive shows how the power of Mastermind Groups can be applied to any industry.

Darren, a real estate investor, realized that he

needed more than anything was a team of experts who could become our brain trust or as Napoleon Hill puts it our "Mastermind Group".

As a result of this realization Darren quickly formed a team which included a great real estate CPA, a forensic accountant and an SEC attorney. He now has much more confidence in a number of the real estate deals he is putting together. So much so that on December 15th this year he will be financially free and his wife will be pulling out of her work.

Whether your Mastermind Group meets to discuss your various businesses or are centered around a key theme such as real estate investment it's important to tap the minds and expertise of leaders around you to achieve joint success!