How To Know If A Mastermind Is Right For You

The Soloist Life

Choosing a mastermind may well be one of your biggest investments as a business owner—and yet the right one will repay that investment many times over. How can you decide if a mastermind is right for you?

In this solo episode, I explain:

The three contributing factors that will impact the success you experience with any mastermind.

Why you never want to join a mastermind where you’re the smartest person in the room.

How to evaluate the mastermind facilitator (and why your spidey sense can be a good clue).

Three types of masterminds for business owners and how to experience full value from each.

LINKS

The Soloist Women Mastermind (Apply January 2024) A structured eight-month mastermind with an intentionally small group of hand-picked women soloists grappling with—and solving—the same kinds of challenges.

Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

TRANSCRIPT

00:00 - 00:33

Rochelle Moulton: Most experienced facilitators won't let you in if you're dramatically behind the group. But the idea is to find a group where you're literally the dumbest person in the room and think about that for a sec. Like how cool would it be to be in a room where everyone has been where you are now and sprinted past it, right? This is a room that's hard to get into, but if you do, it's a room where you want to listen far more than you speak. It's also a room where you have to maintain your equilibrium when you're surrounded

00:33 - 01:15

Rochelle Moulton: by people operating at a higher level. Hello, hello. Welcome to Soloist Women where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I'm Rochelle Moulton and today it's just us, no guests, just some straight talk about 1 of my favorite ways to learn and grow masterminds. Now full disclosure, I run the Soloist Women Mastermind which is open right now for applications. So obviously this topic is on my mind. But what I want to talk to you about today is how to know if a mastermind is right for you. Because masterminds, mine or anyone else's, are

01:15 - 01:54

Rochelle Moulton: not the right choice for everyone. In fact, there's a bit of an art to choosing the right mastermind, which is what I want to explore with you today. So let's start with a definition, because I've seen a lot of programs called masterminds, but they don't really operate as what I think of as a classic mastermind. So a mastermind is a small group of peers, could be from the same industry and or with the same goals, who come together to brainstorm ideas, provide peer support and accountability, and offer a safe, constructive place to communicate. So even when

01:54 - 02:40

Rochelle Moulton: they're facilitated by an outside expert, the members are the main focus of discussion. It is not a place where you're being taught or coached by 1 person. Every member's input and participation is equally important. Now if you decide to explore choosing a mastermind, think of your decision as having 3 contributing factors, you, the facilitator, and your peer group. Now, first and foremost is you. To get full value from a mastermind, you'll wanna have some sort of identified challenge that you'll work on during the mastermind, which means you've got to set aside actual time to work on

02:40 - 03:17

Rochelle Moulton: that and attend the meetings, plus some headspace to work on the feedback you'll receive from the group. And you'll also want to be in both giver and receiver mode. And by that, I mean you want to be wired to do both in your mastermind, to give constructive and supportive feedback to your fellow members, and be willing to hear and work with the constructive and supportive feedback they give you. You don't ever want to join a mastermind where you feel like you'll be doing mostly giving because you're so far ahead of the others. It's not fair to

03:17 - 03:58

Rochelle Moulton: you. Instead, search for 1 that has your true peers. Ideally, your mastermind facilitator curates the group to ensure you get roughly equivalent amounts of giving and receiving, but it's something you want to pay attention to. Notice if your Spidey sense feels like maybe it's not quite the right balance for you. The second factor in choosing a mastermind is the facilitator. This is the person who will be responsible for ensuring that you get your needs met, that the container is a safe and constructive place to learn and grow, and that the peer group is truly a peer

03:58 - 04:37

Rochelle Moulton: group. So you want to choose a facilitator with experience working with other people like you. Now you might choose someone with experience in your vertical or your area of expertise or the kind of business you run. There is literally an infinite variety of choices. Now you'll also want to be aware of buying from what I call the sage on the stage and that's a leader who is more about pontificating a particular point of view than meeting you and the group where they are. Your leader needs to sublimate their ego to run a successful mastermind. And the

04:37 - 05:10

Rochelle Moulton: last factor in choosing the right mastermind for you is the peer group. Who will you be matched with? And when you're joining an existing group, it's fairly easy to shush this out, but it's a lot harder when you're joining a new 1. You may have to rely on the choices made by the facilitator, and you won't always know who will be with you until you've bellied up to the bar and committed. So in this case, you want to have mega trust in your facilitator. Okay so those are the 3 parties if you will in every mastermind

05:10 - 05:44

Rochelle Moulton: you, the facilitator, and the peer group. But there are also different ways you can use a mastermind and friend of the show Shannon Weinstein did a great episode on her Keep What You Earn podcast on the 3 situations when it makes sense for you to invest in masterminds. It looks like we're on a theme of 3 today. So the first type of mastermind is probably the 1 you were thinking about as you were listening to this so far. It's where you go to learn to practice to stretch to grow in a group with others in the

05:44 - 06:19

Rochelle Moulton: same stage as you. It's very much about the peer learning experience. The second type of mastermind is filled with people who are ahead of you. Now, this 1 is tricky because most experienced facilitators won't let you in if you're dramatically behind the group. But the idea is to find a group where you're literally the dumbest person in the room. And think about that for a sec. Like how cool would it be to be in a room where everyone has been where you are now and sprinted past it, right? This is a room that's hard to get

06:19 - 06:55

Rochelle Moulton: into, but if you do, it's a room where you wanna listen far more than you speak. It's also a room where you have to maintain your equilibrium when you're surrounded by people operating at a higher level. It's not the place to be shy or intimidated, but to soak up and learn and focus 100% on that. Now the third type of mastermind is with a group of your ideal clients. Now this is a way to hear about their challenges in an informal way to understand how they think and act as well as the language they use. Now

06:55 - 07:27

Rochelle Moulton: it can be pure gold just not in the usual way that you might think of masterminds. Now the other side of that coin is you'll be able to build some strong relationships with people in your target market and they may well sing your praises to the other folks they know or even wind up hiring you afterwards. So can you see how Any 1 of these 3 kinds of masterminds could be right for you at any given point in time. It comes down to this. What do you need most right now in your personal or business development

07:27 - 08:03

Rochelle Moulton: and who is the right facilitator with the right peer group to get you there. Now there are free masterminds and paid masterminds. There are low cost masterminds and high cost masterminds. You can even start your own. You want to decide which has the most value to you and your current situation. The general rule of thumb with paid masterminds is to get into the most expensive group you can afford to join that will also welcome you. The theory being that that's the room that will push you forward the fastest. But of course the devil's in the details,

08:03 - 08:43

Rochelle Moulton: so take a good hard look at your readiness and your commitment, the demonstrated skill of the facilitator, and the level and experience of the peer group. The right mastermind can literally catapult you into new territory when you're ready to do the work. So before we say goodbye today, if you are a soloist considering a mastermind, be sure to check out the link to my soloist women mastermind in the show notes. The next cohort starts February 8th 2024 and you can apply through Wednesday, January 31st. That's it for this episode. I hope you'll join us next time

08:43 - 08:46

Rochelle Moulton: for soloist women. Bye bye.