[This transcript has been automatically generated by a digital software and will therefore  contain errors and typos. Please kindly take note of this and only rely on the digital transcript for reference.]

00:00

Hey guys, this is Ted, your friend and host speaking and welcome back to the TED to business Show. Today we’re talking about masterminds and I have my friend Liz Sculley, who is an expert on this subject. This is a booming industry veteran who has spent over 20 years working on big Hollywood films, and she’s won an Emmy and her work is multi Oscar nominated today. This is a business strategist and mastermind coach as she teaches other entrepreneurs and how they can run their own masterminds. On today’s episode, Liz shares, what is the mastermind group and the benefits of joining one tips and curating and running a mastermind group and how one can get the most out of it. Now, this has been super kind and generous because she has offered some of her free resources on www dot rethink central.com slash Ted. Now as always, all shownotes tools and resources are available online@tattooer.com that’s tt.com. And if you’d like to support the show, then the best way to do this is subscribe to the show, leave a review and share the show with someone who will find it useful as well. Now as a way to say thank you and to show my appreciation to you guys. If you actually do subscribe and leave a review on Apple iTunes by the end of September, then you stand a chance to win $50 worth of gift vouchers from Amazon. Now let’s dive right in. Hi, Liz, thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you for having me. This let’s start with a very simple icebreaker so grant all get to know you a bit better. Could you share with us? Who is this galley when she isn’t working?

 

01:20

Blimey, that’s a big question. I am Irish nomadic when it isn’t a time of plague. I have an English accent which is extremely confusing for everyone, most of all for me. And I worked in the film industry for 20 years. So I’m a cinephile on the quiet.

 

01:37

So this let’s dive right in. I know you’re the only person in the world right now who is currently teaching how to mastermind professionally. So let’s break it down. Could you tell us what a mastermind is? And what is it for?

 

01:48

Well, masterminding, is for everybody. There are a few other people that teach masterminding, but they mostly teach how to sell them. What I particularly specialize in is the community around them. And that’s the heart of a mastermind. So it is a small group of people that meet many times, or they meet once for a deep dive. But they meet and they make a commitment to achieve something by the next time they meet. And during their session together. It is unlike any other form of coaching, it is many minds together. That’s where the mastermind comes from because together we produce something that is bigger than ourselves.

 

02:28

Let’s let’s drill into this point a little bit more. What are the common misconceptions of what a mastermind group is? How is it any different from a networking group or a community?

 

02:37

Well, it’s a great question because unfortunately, there’s no governing body for masterminds. So there is a certain wishy washy ness about what is an isn’t a mastermind, but classically, a mastermind is a group of the same people that meet many times, so that you get to know people. So it has longevity, you are definitely going to achieve a goal that doesn’t happen in the networking group, you make a commitment that by the next time we meet. And because there is a pressure of the group expect, excuse me, because there is a pressure of expectation that you will do that. We I think we all work better when there’s people we don’t want to let down. So you make a goal is somewhere that you can be very vulnerable, because these people see you week after week, Time after time. So we become involved in each other’s businesses and a networking event that might happen. But it’s not really the same. Same if you’re being coached, it’s just you and the coach, and in webinars and training, it is one person sharing their opinion, one too many, a mastermind is this really special little space, where we’re all together. And we’re guided towards a common goal of helping each other.

 

03:46

So this if I understand you correctly, there’s this idea of accountability and goal setting for a mastermind group. And the idea is that every individual in a mastermind group sets their own goals, but they help each other and themselves achieve these goals along the way. And this is not something that’s present in a normal networking group or a community. But less here’s my next question. How is having a mastermind group actually potentially more beneficial to an individual as opposed to having a direct one on one coach?

 

04:11

Well, once you want to teach it is amazing. And it is something that we all benefit from, but it is very personal. It’s very internal. And a mastermind is very much about asking a group of people that you trust for input. So one of my coaches always says you can’t read the label inside the jar. And that’s why it’s great to have a coach, but to have four people suggesting things for you, people who know you, people who have seen you through the tough times and the tired times and the times when it didn’t quite work. They will suggest things and in a sort of 360 view that you’re never going to get just from one person and just on your own. I really do think masterminds work really well alongside one to one coaching and in some cases, if it’s a really well curated group, it can be even better than one to one coaching.

 

04:59

So the If I understand you correctly, being in a mastermind group actually provides you with the additional benefit of exposure to other individuals in the group and they are different industries?

 

05:09

Absolutely. Well, you can actually have them in the same area as long as there’s no difficulty with people poaching clients from each other. So say you were doing all dentists, all realtors, or all lawyers, you could do that if everyone was in a slightly different area, or if everyone is in the same area, but geographically in a different place. So you could do I know, five star hotel owners, one in Miami, one in Florida, much in the same place. But what am I me, one in Cancun, one in New York, that would work. But really, they work best when the mix is is not necessarily different people in different industries, but different types of people. So you have a mix of the impacts, you know, the the impressed us, and the people who are much slower thinkers than people who are much clearer thinkers. Because together, you will get a completely different picture

 

06:02

this thank you for actually explaining to us what is a mastermind and the benefits of joining one. But let’s take a step back. You actually mentioned that you were in the film industry for about 20 years, and I know that you were actually involved with physical effects and special effects in the industry. Now, could you explain to us how you became such an expert in masterminds? And how did you build a business around helping artists with their masterminds?

 

06:23

Absolutely Well, I realized it does sound like a very odd move from blowing things up in movies to working in strategy, but there is a surprising thru line for it. So first of all, strategy wise, the film industry is about telling good stories, and managing large groups of people and huge, huge budgets and very nervous clients, which puts you in a fantastic place to be working with entrepreneurs, who are also hopefully, working with larger budgets, they are dealing with very stressed clients. So there’s that through line, I have spent most of my adult life putting out fires and calming people down. But the film industry itself works in small, very collaborative cells of people. And that’s really masterminding because for many, many years, they would put, you’d have to put a crew together, and they’d throw us in a room with a deadline and say, Get on with it and get on with each other. And all of those people are used to being right, and that paid a lot of money to be correct. And those skills of calming people down and weaving together a good crew, it was almost if I could have built something that would have made me perfect that mastermind it was just I couldn’t have done better.

 

07:43

So you lose, you share that you spent a large part of your career putting out fires by thought you actually started that, you know, given that you’re in physical.

 

07:53

True, sadly, the sort of fires, the fires you work with are very different. But we’re used to the image. The image that we used to use in film was that everyone is basically running around with their hair on fire. And the only reason they’re not bursting into complete flames is that they’re moving so. So you’re in this very, very high stressed environment. As long as we just keep moving, everything is fine. But quite patently, nothing is fine.

 

08:19

So this you just shared your time in the film industry gave you the skills and experiences to manage large groups of people and to get the most out of them. But how did you make this transition from being a film industry veteran to actually becoming a mastermind expert?

 

08:33

Well, when I left the film industry, which I did, because after 20 years, I mean, I really could just couldn’t do those hours anymore. Because as you would expect you work seven days a week, 18 hours a day. And that’s not really sustainable and full. I am I thought I should become an entrepreneur. It will be less work. It’s ridiculous. Nope, indeed. So I left this very collaborative world. And it’s just me t rex typing away in my room. And I’m working the same stupid hours the same long days. And I miss those other people. So I read about the mastermind concept and at the time, I was living in India because I’d be working for DreamWorks there. So I imported the idea of masterminds to India. I then set up a company to run them and started with no skill or ability to run masterminds. So a part of why I feel I’m in a very good place to teach them is I have made every mistake you possibly could. Making masterminds truly I have, I have, I am ahead of everybody on the I can’t, you know I can avoid I can help people avoid those errors, because I’ve made them myself.

 

09:46

What makes really good mastermind is the people in it. They’re very well curated. They are people that are moving at the same speed that had the same goals that are also a good mix of people so they’re not all introverts or extroverts but All at a similar kind of level and moving at the same kind of speed towards their goals. So it’s a good mix of people. And that is about curation. And one of the things that is very hard about curation is if you are in a mastermind, you never see the people who didn’t get into that mastermind you only see the people in the room with you. So being very strong about curation is very helpful. Because that means you get the best people in the room, which makes everybody feel good. So curation, say no to the wrong people, and yes to the right people. And that’s harder for us. And that’s why a lot of masterminds are very badly curated. Because if someone’s waving money at you, it can be very hard to say, No, you will not a good fit for this mastermind. Take your money and go. So obviously, you do everyone nicely than that. But yes, that principle. So to the right people in the room, you’re all united around a common theme. So it’s not very disparate goals, you’re all kind of moving in the same direction. And the people who are running the mastermind, is gonna sound very self serving, but the people running the mastermind have had some training, they actually know what they’re doing. Because part of why I train people in masterminds is that for a long time, in January, in February, when a lot of masterminds start, my friends would contact me and go, so I have a mastermind starting, and I have no idea what to do with them.

 

11:29

Can you show me now this the curation of a mastermind group is clearly very important. But what do you mean by that the individuals have to be at the same level? Can you explain this a bit more? In the context of an entrepreneurship group? I assume that the entrepreneurs inside it should have the same levels in terms of both their business and their individual skill sets as entrepreneurs, am I right?

 

11:48

So at the same level, actually, oddly enough, it doesn’t have to be that their skill sets are the same doesn’t mean that everybody has the same skill set. Because that would make a particularly good mastermind you want you want people to have, yeah, but that if I have a hole in my knowledge, if we were in the same mastermind, you have that skill set that would fill that gap for me. And if you needed something, I would be in a position to help you with that. So a good group is blended by the things that I’m missing I can, and the things that the group needs I can give to them. And so you have this feeling of I’m giving as much as I’m getting, because I think that’s very important. But there’s also that you want people that understand at the same level. So if I was just starting a business, but I had already run businesses now, I would be in a good position to be with people who are quite experienced. But if you had a, an utter noob, with someone who’s been doing it for 15 years, that wouldn’t be as helpful.

 

12:48

Okay, I see. So if I was an entrepreneur who has exited two companies before, and this is my third startup, I’ll be in a very different position, both in terms of skill set and development as compared to a new entrepreneur who’s starting up your very first startup.

 

13:02

Exactly. So even though we’re both starting, you’d be in a much better business, because much better place because you have backing behind you know where you’re going. But there’s also that the new would be probably horrified to spend time with you because it would feel like they were wasting your time. And they didn’t know that they couldn’t ask them the really basic questions they need, you probably feel intimidated as well. Yeah. And for the more senior person, they’d be like, why am I here? I’m wasting my time.

 

13:27

So this part of the curation process involves saying no and rejecting individuals who may not be the best fit for a particular mastermind group. Do you have any tips on managing this process? And Has anyone actually taken this a bit too, personally?

 

13:39

Well, fortunately, I’ve never had anyone turn nasty, because at least I hope it’s because I manage it well. So I wouldn’t say to someone, no, you’re just you’re just completely the wrong person. What I would normally say is that the mastermind that is starting right now, you’re not a good fit for it, let me put you on a waitlist, assuming that they are a good fit generally for masterminds, meaning they’re sociable, they like helping people, they have a nice set of skills, and they’re kind of a warm person. Some people don’t like groups, some people are better fitted to one to one work, but they’ll normally tell you that, that they want to have all of your attention for the whole time you’re together. For those people, I would move them towards one to one coaching. Or of course some people want things that that isn’t the focus of what you do if someone came into me and wanted to start a podcast. It’s not really my skill set. Although I could support them through it, I will be much more likely to send them to someone that was a podcast specialist. So one of the delights of my business is that because I’ve trained lots of people, I know lots of people who who do exactly that. Yeah. So it’s very easy to to send people to other people. And I think it’s something that when you’re just starting out, people are quite cautious of referring out, but it’s actually super good for your business. It’s great for you and that Work people remember that you’ve sent them a client. And it’s just a nice thing to do. Plus it makes you look well connected and like a nice, kind, generous person, because you are.

 

15:10

So this from your experience, what is the mindset or approach that an individual should take when they join a mastermind group to get the most out of it? Of course, it goes without saying the individual should not be a passive learner and they should be very active and contributing to the group. But how should they prepare for this? And how can they contribute to the group to make the most out of it?

 

15:28

So the most important thing is the heart of a mastermind is that you have time in the spotlight. Depending on the mastermind, that might be once a month, or it might be over a weekend, or it might be every other week, but you have a time when you can ask the group that you trust, a question. So I call that an ask to make it different from just a question. So to come to a mastermind with a very clear ask, I would like information about x, what do you think about why I have this thing I need to show you and I would love your feedback. So if you come in with a very clear question, and then frankly, you are then quiet, after you have asked the question, and you take on board the thoughts you’re getting, because sometimes people will ask their question, and then in the nicest possible way, just sort of waffle on, like no quiet time now. You are exactly but you’re also not there to broadcast, you’re there to ask your question, and then absorb the incoming thoughts. And often with a mastermind. It’s the it’s the smaller thoughts that are most useful? Because obviously, sometimes you’ll come out and think right, I you know, I needed a quite an answer to my question. I’ve got a perfect answer. I know exactly what to do. But sometimes it will be a throwaway thought that someone who knows you well will say something like, I’m surprised you’re asking this because I know you know the answer to that. How about you think about it like this. And it’s those little moments of validation of being seen totally in a different way. And sometimes people don’t have a clear question. Because if if you’re working together for a year, say, there will be moments where you actually don’t have anything to say, you know, I know what I’m doing and where I’m going. And at that point, I will lead the mastermind to give input to give thoughts, just reflection. And those are often the best times because people will say, you know, you have tenacity, which if you are simply struggling with something, it doesn’t feel like tenacity, it just feels like I’m pushing a rock up a hill every day. So to have someone else say, you’ve got tenacity, you’ve stuck with it. That’s really impressive.

 

17:35

And coming from someone who actually knows you for a period of time and has worked with you, it probably means a lot more as well.

 

17:41

Exactly. Exactly. And if I may, that, that that’s one of the things that is most useful about a mastermind, which it doesn’t sound like it’s going to be a benefit. But it’s this, that you begin to think about the other person’s business almost as much as your own. And while you’re thinking about it, you’re not tied to the same way of thinking that you would be about your own business. It’s not full of comments, and I shouldn’t and that’s not a good thing. Because for them, you’re thinking only from about their abilities and the most generous thoughts. So time and time again, I have seen people give advice to someone else in a mastermind. Beautiful, modulated lovely. Have you thought about doing this? And they’ll stop halfway through and say, oh, maybe I should do that in my own business. Because we because we can’t be can’t read the label inside the jar. Yes, exactly. And it’s also it’s exactly the same way. You know, you can look at someone else’s love life and think, oh, they should not be together. No, no, no, no, no. Well, you, you can do the same thing for someone else’s marketing, but you can’t see it in your own stuff. But your mastermind buddies can now this

 

18:56

can you share with us? What’s the difference between a paid mastermind and a free mastermind? While I assume that night is automatically good or bad? Can you share with us how the experiences would tend to differ?

 

19:05

So as you say, they can both be amazing. And I have been in free masterminds that have lasted for years, and everything’s great. But the real problem for most people with a free mastermind is that they don’t have that breadth of curation. They’ll ask a friend who’s available on Tuesdays, they’ll ask another friend who’s a bit of an entrepreneur, and that level of curation isn’t there. But also in the group. If it’s a six person group, and the six of you, there isn’t one person who is doing all of the facilitation. And there is quite a shift between, you know, come on now you’ve been speaking too long. And the Oh, I’m now in the hot seat. So having someone else do the facilitation is really useful. But a paid group is more than that. It’s not just that you have someone facilitating you have somebody who who has more oversight, who knows more About you then then the rest of the group who can bring out those parts who can coach a little bit. Because I think for a lot of us, we tend to sort of gloss over some of our more fabulousness. Because most of us don’t really like to go on and on about how great we are. If there’s someone else there who goes, Oh, hang on a minute, you I mean, I have I have a friend who’s a brain surgeon, and he tells people, it’s just like plumbing? No, it isn’t. It’s nothing like plumbing. And if we were in a mastermind together, I would make sure that he he was just being modest. So it’s making sure that the best of people is brought out, you are guiding the conversation, watching the body language of the people there to make sure that nobody is being how people can get very excited, oh, you should do this, you should try that, I’ll be great. And if you don’t watch the person very carefully, you might miss the fact that they don’t want that at all. So part of my job, or any paid mastermind coach, is to make sure that is this the kind of stuff you want to hear, are we moving in the right direction for you? So you’re, you’re creating that space, when I don’t really like the term holding the space. But it’s very true that you are making that attention, very clear. The attention and the intention. Yeah, you’re like, this is a space where we come together to do this one thing, and very easily free masterminds sort of end up as this lovely little chat that you will have every two weeks, which is not really the same thing.

 

21:27

And that’s when it becomes a networking group, right?

 

21:29

Yeah. Or just a wine and dine, where people just whine about all the horrible things going on in their lives.

 

21:36

So this, where can we find a good mastermind to join? Is there a poker organization we can approach?

 

21:41

Well, sadly, there aren’t very many. There are there aren’t many, to be honest. But if you are in a successful business, there are some of the larger companies like the young presidents organization, or eo, if your business is making serious bank, you can contact them when you join them as masterminds involved. Otherwise, it is quite tricky. But I would start by asking your your friends, you know, what, who do they know? Because that’s that’s your best bet. That Yeah, I can’t say unfortunately, that isn’t a hub to find out a lot.

 

22:15

So this is the million dollar question. Why should an entrepreneur start a mastermind apart from the fact that he can learn so much from it?

 

22:22

Well, if you run a paid mastermind, yourself, it is super lucrative. It is very time efficient. So you can spend time with other people. My groups, the way I teach people to run them is two hours every two weeks, so it’s four hours a month. And once you’ve kind of got Yeah, exactly. So with very little time, great results for the clients, when you know what you’re doing, you can guide people to really big results. And you can easily charge between 10 and 30,000 US dollars for it. So depending on how long it is. So it’s a good moneymaker. It’s really good fun. There is no work to do after you’ve been in the mastermind. And I find that I spend all of my time listening to smart entrepreneurs talk about growing their businesses. So I’m sure my business has grown quickly because I spend all day hanging out with smart people.

 

23:20

So there’s if an entrepreneur wants to start up their own mastermind, could you give us some tips or resources on what they should be looking out for when you’re planning this

 

23:27

show, I have lots of resources on my website. I know at the end, we’ll be sharing those those links, so I can leave those for you. But basically, the framework that I teach most people to start with, is to run a three month mastermind just to see if you like it, do it every two weeks. So that’s 12 sessions, and then add a bonus session at the end, which is a gratitude session, where you remind people how far they come on what they’ve achieved, because one of the things entrepreneurs, what we tend to do is, is just remember the things we haven’t done, not the good stuff that we have achieved. And in those two, two sessions a month, they are two hours each. And ideally, if you have six people in the group, because I would keep it quite small, have six people in the group. Then you have three people do a quick check in and then you do three half hour hot seats, which is when you get to ask your question, you get the input from the group. And if you have really tiny ones, it’s sort I run, which are four people, you have four hot seats twice a month, so everybody gets to hot seats, or everybody gets one hot seat. And with that simple structure, you are going to be in a position to really help people and obviously my my masterminds are entrepreneurial, but you can run a mastermind for pretty much anything, any goal that you work with your clients. Whether it’s journaling or grabbing a baby or building or building a house might be a bit weird that way You can do anything, anything that has a specific goal, you make sure that everybody gets a hot seat. They make a commitment to what they’ll achieve next time. And then you check to did you do those things you said you were going to do? And what’s your question for this time? And that’s all you need.

 

25:15

So this, let’s say, I’m a customer, they approached you, what kind of services or help Can you provide me?

 

25:21

Glad you asked, because I have a course on how to run masterminds. But I also have lots of free resources on my website, because I am, as you can tell, evangelical about masterminds. And there were a lot of terrible masterminds out there. And they’re terrible, because people have no idea what they’re doing. They’ve taken the word and tacked it on to whatever they happen to be doing. So I love to I’d love for people to run masterminds, because they’re great for great for their business. They’re great for their mindset. And lucrative and like I said, they’ve helped my business. So I think everybody should read masterminds from free resources to paid resources, I would, if I may check my website. It’s a really good, it’s a really good spot for lots of places about mastermind.

 

26:06

Thank you. This is very generous of you. Now, could you share with us some of your future plans?

 

26:11

Well, I’m launching a new brand called evil coach, which offers many of the same things as rethink my main brand, which is one to one coaching intensive half days and masterminds but it just has a very silly brand. So it’s, it’s me kind of having fun, really.

 

26:31

So this if our listeners only remember one thing from today’s conversation, what would you like it to be?

 

26:37

Well, can I have two? Can he of course. So one would be if you are joining a mastermind, make sure that the person you’re joining has some experience of masterminds, either they’ve had training, or they have run them before and speak to some people who have been in those groups, make sure that you feel good about it. So that so there’s that. And if you are thinking of running a mastermind, do it like just do it. Ideally, join a mastermind first. So you don’t know what they’re like. But those two things, if you’re thinking about it, do it. And if you think you’ve joining one, do it just masterminds

 

27:11

do it. So there’s How can the listeners get in contact with you if they want your help?

 

27:15

Well, I am going to make a lovely page just for your listeners, which is at rethink central.com slash

 

27:21

Ted, this. Thank you so much for the offer and for joining us today. It’s been such a pleasure. Oh, thank you so much, guys, thank you so much for joining me in this for today’s episode, and to learn about what is a mastermind and the benefits of joining one now the shownotes tools and resources are all available on my website at Ted Teo calm and if you’d like to support the show, then don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review and share the show with someone who will find it useful as well. And don’t forget about the Amazon gift voucher giveaway. If you do subscribe and leave a review on Apple iTunes by the end of September. Then you stand a chance to win $50 worth of gift vouchers from Amazon. That’s all for me today. I’ll see you next time.

 

[This transcript has been automatically generated by a digital software and will therefore  contain errors and typos. Please kindly take note of this and only rely on the digital transcript for reference.]

00:00

Hey guys, this is Ted, your friend and host speaking and welcome back to the TED to business Show. Today we’re talking about masterminds and I have my friend Liz Sculley, who is an expert on this subject. This is a booming industry veteran who has spent over 20 years working on big Hollywood films, and she’s won an Emmy and her work is multi Oscar nominated today. This is a business strategist and mastermind coach as she teaches other entrepreneurs and how they can run their own masterminds. On today’s episode, Liz shares, what is the mastermind group and the benefits of joining one tips and curating and running a mastermind group and how one can get the most out of it. Now, this has been super kind and generous because she has offered some of her free resources on www dot rethink central.com slash Ted. Now as always, all shownotes tools and resources are available online@tattooer.com that’s tt.com. And if you’d like to support the show, then the best way to do this is subscribe to the show, leave a review and share the show with someone who will find it useful as well. Now as a way to say thank you and to show my appreciation to you guys. If you actually do subscribe and leave a review on Apple iTunes by the end of September, then you stand a chance to win $50 worth of gift vouchers from Amazon. Now let’s dive right in. Hi, Liz, thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you for having me. This let’s start with a very simple icebreaker so grant all get to know you a bit better. Could you share with us? Who is this galley when she isn’t working?

 

01:20

Blimey, that’s a big question. I am Irish nomadic when it isn’t a time of plague. I have an English accent which is extremely confusing for everyone, most of all for me. And I worked in the film industry for 20 years. So I’m a cinephile on the quiet.

 

01:37

So this let’s dive right in. I know you’re the only person in the world right now who is currently teaching how to mastermind professionally. So let’s break it down. Could you tell us what a mastermind is? And what is it for?

 

01:48

Well, masterminding, is for everybody. There are a few other people that teach masterminding, but they mostly teach how to sell them. What I particularly specialize in is the community around them. And that’s the heart of a mastermind. So it is a small group of people that meet many times, or they meet once for a deep dive. But they meet and they make a commitment to achieve something by the next time they meet. And during their session together. It is unlike any other form of coaching, it is many minds together. That’s where the mastermind comes from because together we produce something that is bigger than ourselves.

 

02:28

Let’s let’s drill into this point a little bit more. What are the common misconceptions of what a mastermind group is? How is it any different from a networking group or a community?

 

02:37

Well, it’s a great question because unfortunately, there’s no governing body for masterminds. So there is a certain wishy washy ness about what is an isn’t a mastermind, but classically, a mastermind is a group of the same people that meet many times, so that you get to know people. So it has longevity, you are definitely going to achieve a goal that doesn’t happen in the networking group, you make a commitment that by the next time we meet. And because there is a pressure of the group expect, excuse me, because there is a pressure of expectation that you will do that. We I think we all work better when there’s people we don’t want to let down. So you make a goal is somewhere that you can be very vulnerable, because these people see you week after week, Time after time. So we become involved in each other’s businesses and a networking event that might happen. But it’s not really the same. Same if you’re being coached, it’s just you and the coach, and in webinars and training, it is one person sharing their opinion, one too many, a mastermind is this really special little space, where we’re all together. And we’re guided towards a common goal of helping each other.

 

03:46

So this if I understand you correctly, there’s this idea of accountability and goal setting for a mastermind group. And the idea is that every individual in a mastermind group sets their own goals, but they help each other and themselves achieve these goals along the way. And this is not something that’s present in a normal networking group or a community. But less here’s my next question. How is having a mastermind group actually potentially more beneficial to an individual as opposed to having a direct one on one coach?

 

04:11

Well, once you want to teach it is amazing. And it is something that we all benefit from, but it is very personal. It’s very internal. And a mastermind is very much about asking a group of people that you trust for input. So one of my coaches always says you can’t read the label inside the jar. And that’s why it’s great to have a coach, but to have four people suggesting things for you, people who know you, people who have seen you through the tough times and the tired times and the times when it didn’t quite work. They will suggest things and in a sort of 360 view that you’re never going to get just from one person and just on your own. I really do think masterminds work really well alongside one to one coaching and in some cases, if it’s a really well curated group, it can be even better than one to one coaching.

 

04:59

So the If I understand you correctly, being in a mastermind group actually provides you with the additional benefit of exposure to other individuals in the group and they are different industries?

 

05:09

Absolutely. Well, you can actually have them in the same area as long as there’s no difficulty with people poaching clients from each other. So say you were doing all dentists, all realtors, or all lawyers, you could do that if everyone was in a slightly different area, or if everyone is in the same area, but geographically in a different place. So you could do I know, five star hotel owners, one in Miami, one in Florida, much in the same place. But what am I me, one in Cancun, one in New York, that would work. But really, they work best when the mix is is not necessarily different people in different industries, but different types of people. So you have a mix of the impacts, you know, the the impressed us, and the people who are much slower thinkers than people who are much clearer thinkers. Because together, you will get a completely different picture

 

06:02

this thank you for actually explaining to us what is a mastermind and the benefits of joining one. But let’s take a step back. You actually mentioned that you were in the film industry for about 20 years, and I know that you were actually involved with physical effects and special effects in the industry. Now, could you explain to us how you became such an expert in masterminds? And how did you build a business around helping artists with their masterminds?

 

06:23

Absolutely Well, I realized it does sound like a very odd move from blowing things up in movies to working in strategy, but there is a surprising thru line for it. So first of all, strategy wise, the film industry is about telling good stories, and managing large groups of people and huge, huge budgets and very nervous clients, which puts you in a fantastic place to be working with entrepreneurs, who are also hopefully, working with larger budgets, they are dealing with very stressed clients. So there’s that through line, I have spent most of my adult life putting out fires and calming people down. But the film industry itself works in small, very collaborative cells of people. And that’s really masterminding because for many, many years, they would put, you’d have to put a crew together, and they’d throw us in a room with a deadline and say, Get on with it and get on with each other. And all of those people are used to being right, and that paid a lot of money to be correct. And those skills of calming people down and weaving together a good crew, it was almost if I could have built something that would have made me perfect that mastermind it was just I couldn’t have done better.

 

07:43

So you lose, you share that you spent a large part of your career putting out fires by thought you actually started that, you know, given that you’re in physical.

 

07:53

True, sadly, the sort of fires, the fires you work with are very different. But we’re used to the image. The image that we used to use in film was that everyone is basically running around with their hair on fire. And the only reason they’re not bursting into complete flames is that they’re moving so. So you’re in this very, very high stressed environment. As long as we just keep moving, everything is fine. But quite patently, nothing is fine.

 

08:19

So this you just shared your time in the film industry gave you the skills and experiences to manage large groups of people and to get the most out of them. But how did you make this transition from being a film industry veteran to actually becoming a mastermind expert?

 

08:33

Well, when I left the film industry, which I did, because after 20 years, I mean, I really could just couldn’t do those hours anymore. Because as you would expect you work seven days a week, 18 hours a day. And that’s not really sustainable and full. I am I thought I should become an entrepreneur. It will be less work. It’s ridiculous. Nope, indeed. So I left this very collaborative world. And it’s just me t rex typing away in my room. And I’m working the same stupid hours the same long days. And I miss those other people. So I read about the mastermind concept and at the time, I was living in India because I’d be working for DreamWorks there. So I imported the idea of masterminds to India. I then set up a company to run them and started with no skill or ability to run masterminds. So a part of why I feel I’m in a very good place to teach them is I have made every mistake you possibly could. Making masterminds truly I have, I have, I am ahead of everybody on the I can’t, you know I can avoid I can help people avoid those errors, because I’ve made them myself.

 

09:46

What makes really good mastermind is the people in it. They’re very well curated. They are people that are moving at the same speed that had the same goals that are also a good mix of people so they’re not all introverts or extroverts but All at a similar kind of level and moving at the same kind of speed towards their goals. So it’s a good mix of people. And that is about curation. And one of the things that is very hard about curation is if you are in a mastermind, you never see the people who didn’t get into that mastermind you only see the people in the room with you. So being very strong about curation is very helpful. Because that means you get the best people in the room, which makes everybody feel good. So curation, say no to the wrong people, and yes to the right people. And that’s harder for us. And that’s why a lot of masterminds are very badly curated. Because if someone’s waving money at you, it can be very hard to say, No, you will not a good fit for this mastermind. Take your money and go. So obviously, you do everyone nicely than that. But yes, that principle. So to the right people in the room, you’re all united around a common theme. So it’s not very disparate goals, you’re all kind of moving in the same direction. And the people who are running the mastermind, is gonna sound very self serving, but the people running the mastermind have had some training, they actually know what they’re doing. Because part of why I train people in masterminds is that for a long time, in January, in February, when a lot of masterminds start, my friends would contact me and go, so I have a mastermind starting, and I have no idea what to do with them.

 

11:29

Can you show me now this the curation of a mastermind group is clearly very important. But what do you mean by that the individuals have to be at the same level? Can you explain this a bit more? In the context of an entrepreneurship group? I assume that the entrepreneurs inside it should have the same levels in terms of both their business and their individual skill sets as entrepreneurs, am I right?

 

11:48

So at the same level, actually, oddly enough, it doesn’t have to be that their skill sets are the same doesn’t mean that everybody has the same skill set. Because that would make a particularly good mastermind you want you want people to have, yeah, but that if I have a hole in my knowledge, if we were in the same mastermind, you have that skill set that would fill that gap for me. And if you needed something, I would be in a position to help you with that. So a good group is blended by the things that I’m missing I can, and the things that the group needs I can give to them. And so you have this feeling of I’m giving as much as I’m getting, because I think that’s very important. But there’s also that you want people that understand at the same level. So if I was just starting a business, but I had already run businesses now, I would be in a good position to be with people who are quite experienced. But if you had a, an utter noob, with someone who’s been doing it for 15 years, that wouldn’t be as helpful.

 

12:48

Okay, I see. So if I was an entrepreneur who has exited two companies before, and this is my third startup, I’ll be in a very different position, both in terms of skill set and development as compared to a new entrepreneur who’s starting up your very first startup.

 

13:02

Exactly. So even though we’re both starting, you’d be in a much better business, because much better place because you have backing behind you know where you’re going. But there’s also that the new would be probably horrified to spend time with you because it would feel like they were wasting your time. And they didn’t know that they couldn’t ask them the really basic questions they need, you probably feel intimidated as well. Yeah. And for the more senior person, they’d be like, why am I here? I’m wasting my time.

 

13:27

So this part of the curation process involves saying no and rejecting individuals who may not be the best fit for a particular mastermind group. Do you have any tips on managing this process? And Has anyone actually taken this a bit too, personally?

 

13:39

Well, fortunately, I’ve never had anyone turn nasty, because at least I hope it’s because I manage it well. So I wouldn’t say to someone, no, you’re just you’re just completely the wrong person. What I would normally say is that the mastermind that is starting right now, you’re not a good fit for it, let me put you on a waitlist, assuming that they are a good fit generally for masterminds, meaning they’re sociable, they like helping people, they have a nice set of skills, and they’re kind of a warm person. Some people don’t like groups, some people are better fitted to one to one work, but they’ll normally tell you that, that they want to have all of your attention for the whole time you’re together. For those people, I would move them towards one to one coaching. Or of course some people want things that that isn’t the focus of what you do if someone came into me and wanted to start a podcast. It’s not really my skill set. Although I could support them through it, I will be much more likely to send them to someone that was a podcast specialist. So one of the delights of my business is that because I’ve trained lots of people, I know lots of people who who do exactly that. Yeah. So it’s very easy to to send people to other people. And I think it’s something that when you’re just starting out, people are quite cautious of referring out, but it’s actually super good for your business. It’s great for you and that Work people remember that you’ve sent them a client. And it’s just a nice thing to do. Plus it makes you look well connected and like a nice, kind, generous person, because you are.

 

15:10

So this from your experience, what is the mindset or approach that an individual should take when they join a mastermind group to get the most out of it? Of course, it goes without saying the individual should not be a passive learner and they should be very active and contributing to the group. But how should they prepare for this? And how can they contribute to the group to make the most out of it?

 

15:28

So the most important thing is the heart of a mastermind is that you have time in the spotlight. Depending on the mastermind, that might be once a month, or it might be over a weekend, or it might be every other week, but you have a time when you can ask the group that you trust, a question. So I call that an ask to make it different from just a question. So to come to a mastermind with a very clear ask, I would like information about x, what do you think about why I have this thing I need to show you and I would love your feedback. So if you come in with a very clear question, and then frankly, you are then quiet, after you have asked the question, and you take on board the thoughts you’re getting, because sometimes people will ask their question, and then in the nicest possible way, just sort of waffle on, like no quiet time now. You are exactly but you’re also not there to broadcast, you’re there to ask your question, and then absorb the incoming thoughts. And often with a mastermind. It’s the it’s the smaller thoughts that are most useful? Because obviously, sometimes you’ll come out and think right, I you know, I needed a quite an answer to my question. I’ve got a perfect answer. I know exactly what to do. But sometimes it will be a throwaway thought that someone who knows you well will say something like, I’m surprised you’re asking this because I know you know the answer to that. How about you think about it like this. And it’s those little moments of validation of being seen totally in a different way. And sometimes people don’t have a clear question. Because if if you’re working together for a year, say, there will be moments where you actually don’t have anything to say, you know, I know what I’m doing and where I’m going. And at that point, I will lead the mastermind to give input to give thoughts, just reflection. And those are often the best times because people will say, you know, you have tenacity, which if you are simply struggling with something, it doesn’t feel like tenacity, it just feels like I’m pushing a rock up a hill every day. So to have someone else say, you’ve got tenacity, you’ve stuck with it. That’s really impressive.

 

17:35

And coming from someone who actually knows you for a period of time and has worked with you, it probably means a lot more as well.

 

17:41

Exactly. Exactly. And if I may, that, that that’s one of the things that is most useful about a mastermind, which it doesn’t sound like it’s going to be a benefit. But it’s this, that you begin to think about the other person’s business almost as much as your own. And while you’re thinking about it, you’re not tied to the same way of thinking that you would be about your own business. It’s not full of comments, and I shouldn’t and that’s not a good thing. Because for them, you’re thinking only from about their abilities and the most generous thoughts. So time and time again, I have seen people give advice to someone else in a mastermind. Beautiful, modulated lovely. Have you thought about doing this? And they’ll stop halfway through and say, oh, maybe I should do that in my own business. Because we because we can’t be can’t read the label inside the jar. Yes, exactly. And it’s also it’s exactly the same way. You know, you can look at someone else’s love life and think, oh, they should not be together. No, no, no, no, no. Well, you, you can do the same thing for someone else’s marketing, but you can’t see it in your own stuff. But your mastermind buddies can now this

 

18:56

can you share with us? What’s the difference between a paid mastermind and a free mastermind? While I assume that night is automatically good or bad? Can you share with us how the experiences would tend to differ?

 

19:05

So as you say, they can both be amazing. And I have been in free masterminds that have lasted for years, and everything’s great. But the real problem for most people with a free mastermind is that they don’t have that breadth of curation. They’ll ask a friend who’s available on Tuesdays, they’ll ask another friend who’s a bit of an entrepreneur, and that level of curation isn’t there. But also in the group. If it’s a six person group, and the six of you, there isn’t one person who is doing all of the facilitation. And there is quite a shift between, you know, come on now you’ve been speaking too long. And the Oh, I’m now in the hot seat. So having someone else do the facilitation is really useful. But a paid group is more than that. It’s not just that you have someone facilitating you have somebody who who has more oversight, who knows more About you then then the rest of the group who can bring out those parts who can coach a little bit. Because I think for a lot of us, we tend to sort of gloss over some of our more fabulousness. Because most of us don’t really like to go on and on about how great we are. If there’s someone else there who goes, Oh, hang on a minute, you I mean, I have I have a friend who’s a brain surgeon, and he tells people, it’s just like plumbing? No, it isn’t. It’s nothing like plumbing. And if we were in a mastermind together, I would make sure that he he was just being modest. So it’s making sure that the best of people is brought out, you are guiding the conversation, watching the body language of the people there to make sure that nobody is being how people can get very excited, oh, you should do this, you should try that, I’ll be great. And if you don’t watch the person very carefully, you might miss the fact that they don’t want that at all. So part of my job, or any paid mastermind coach, is to make sure that is this the kind of stuff you want to hear, are we moving in the right direction for you? So you’re, you’re creating that space, when I don’t really like the term holding the space. But it’s very true that you are making that attention, very clear. The attention and the intention. Yeah, you’re like, this is a space where we come together to do this one thing, and very easily free masterminds sort of end up as this lovely little chat that you will have every two weeks, which is not really the same thing.

 

21:27

And that’s when it becomes a networking group, right?

 

21:29

Yeah. Or just a wine and dine, where people just whine about all the horrible things going on in their lives.

 

21:36

So this, where can we find a good mastermind to join? Is there a poker organization we can approach?

 

21:41

Well, sadly, there aren’t very many. There are there aren’t many, to be honest. But if you are in a successful business, there are some of the larger companies like the young presidents organization, or eo, if your business is making serious bank, you can contact them when you join them as masterminds involved. Otherwise, it is quite tricky. But I would start by asking your your friends, you know, what, who do they know? Because that’s that’s your best bet. That Yeah, I can’t say unfortunately, that isn’t a hub to find out a lot.

 

22:15

So this is the million dollar question. Why should an entrepreneur start a mastermind apart from the fact that he can learn so much from it?

 

22:22

Well, if you run a paid mastermind, yourself, it is super lucrative. It is very time efficient. So you can spend time with other people. My groups, the way I teach people to run them is two hours every two weeks, so it’s four hours a month. And once you’ve kind of got Yeah, exactly. So with very little time, great results for the clients, when you know what you’re doing, you can guide people to really big results. And you can easily charge between 10 and 30,000 US dollars for it. So depending on how long it is. So it’s a good moneymaker. It’s really good fun. There is no work to do after you’ve been in the mastermind. And I find that I spend all of my time listening to smart entrepreneurs talk about growing their businesses. So I’m sure my business has grown quickly because I spend all day hanging out with smart people.

 

23:20

So there’s if an entrepreneur wants to start up their own mastermind, could you give us some tips or resources on what they should be looking out for when you’re planning this

 

23:27

show, I have lots of resources on my website. I know at the end, we’ll be sharing those those links, so I can leave those for you. But basically, the framework that I teach most people to start with, is to run a three month mastermind just to see if you like it, do it every two weeks. So that’s 12 sessions, and then add a bonus session at the end, which is a gratitude session, where you remind people how far they come on what they’ve achieved, because one of the things entrepreneurs, what we tend to do is, is just remember the things we haven’t done, not the good stuff that we have achieved. And in those two, two sessions a month, they are two hours each. And ideally, if you have six people in the group, because I would keep it quite small, have six people in the group. Then you have three people do a quick check in and then you do three half hour hot seats, which is when you get to ask your question, you get the input from the group. And if you have really tiny ones, it’s sort I run, which are four people, you have four hot seats twice a month, so everybody gets to hot seats, or everybody gets one hot seat. And with that simple structure, you are going to be in a position to really help people and obviously my my masterminds are entrepreneurial, but you can run a mastermind for pretty much anything, any goal that you work with your clients. Whether it’s journaling or grabbing a baby or building or building a house might be a bit weird that way You can do anything, anything that has a specific goal, you make sure that everybody gets a hot seat. They make a commitment to what they’ll achieve next time. And then you check to did you do those things you said you were going to do? And what’s your question for this time? And that’s all you need.

 

25:15

So this, let’s say, I’m a customer, they approached you, what kind of services or help Can you provide me?

 

25:21

Glad you asked, because I have a course on how to run masterminds. But I also have lots of free resources on my website, because I am, as you can tell, evangelical about masterminds. And there were a lot of terrible masterminds out there. And they’re terrible, because people have no idea what they’re doing. They’ve taken the word and tacked it on to whatever they happen to be doing. So I love to I’d love for people to run masterminds, because they’re great for great for their business. They’re great for their mindset. And lucrative and like I said, they’ve helped my business. So I think everybody should read masterminds from free resources to paid resources, I would, if I may check my website. It’s a really good, it’s a really good spot for lots of places about mastermind.

 

26:06

Thank you. This is very generous of you. Now, could you share with us some of your future plans?

 

26:11

Well, I’m launching a new brand called evil coach, which offers many of the same things as rethink my main brand, which is one to one coaching intensive half days and masterminds but it just has a very silly brand. So it’s, it’s me kind of having fun, really.

 

26:31

So this if our listeners only remember one thing from today’s conversation, what would you like it to be?

 

26:37

Well, can I have two? Can he of course. So one would be if you are joining a mastermind, make sure that the person you’re joining has some experience of masterminds, either they’ve had training, or they have run them before and speak to some people who have been in those groups, make sure that you feel good about it. So that so there’s that. And if you are thinking of running a mastermind, do it like just do it. Ideally, join a mastermind first. So you don’t know what they’re like. But those two things, if you’re thinking about it, do it. And if you think you’ve joining one, do it just masterminds

 

27:11

do it. So there’s How can the listeners get in contact with you if they want your help?

 

27:15

Well, I am going to make a lovely page just for your listeners, which is at rethink central.com slash

 

27:21

Ted, this. Thank you so much for the offer and for joining us today. It’s been such a pleasure. Oh, thank you so much, guys, thank you so much for joining me in this for today’s episode, and to learn about what is a mastermind and the benefits of joining one now the shownotes tools and resources are all available on my website at Ted Teo calm and if you’d like to support the show, then don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review and share the show with someone who will find it useful as well. And don’t forget about the Amazon gift voucher giveaway. If you do subscribe and leave a review on Apple iTunes by the end of September. Then you stand a chance to win $50 worth of gift vouchers from Amazon. That’s all for me today. I’ll see you next time.