By Joanna Martin

Recently I wrote a blog about why the people you hang around with matters to the level of success you can expect to reach in your business… today I want to talk about how using the power of the people around you, you can grow your lifestyle business to even greater heights.

Mastermind TeamI’m talking about masterminding… specifically how becoming a part of a mastermind group allows you to bounce ideas and learn success strategies from those who have been there and done it already.

You see, nobody knows everything about running a business… you know what you know right? But when you get together with people who have experiences and expertise in other areas, you can gain valuable insights and find ideas that you may never have realised were possible.

Their expertise and insights can show you a different route towards building your lifestyle business and in turn, your unique skills could help others to grow their business too.

Napoleon Hill first referred to mastermind groups in his book “Think And Grow Rich” in 1937 but Wikipedia shows the more modern definition as;

“A small club of like-minded advanced talents who meet periodically for mutual brainstorming/accountability sessions.”

There are two ways that mastermind groups can be used effectively;

Focused on your success:
Bringing a group of like-minded entrepreneurs together to focus on helping you achieve your personal goals is not as difficult as you may believe.

Reach out to the entrepreneurs around you who share a similar outlook and ask if they would be able to offer feedback and advice on what you have achieved in your journey so far… and to offer insight into how you can improve your results or move towards a higher level of success.

It’s likely that many will agree as they’ll be honoured that you respect their input so much… if you know people who fit the bill then I invite you to go ahead and ask for their time… see where your request leads you.

Focused on the success of each of the members:
If you’ve joined any of my premium programs, it is likely you have already encountered this kind of masterminding in our private membership forums… every member in the group is working towards similar goals and the group members support each other in their journey.

Magnifying GlassNot all of these groups are given the title of ‘mastermind group’… the forums that are offered with my programs aren’t… but they do all work in a similar manner. The more advice and support you can offer the other members, the more you will receive in return.

You don’t need to meet with all members face to face… you can work together as a virtual group or you may choose to hold individual conversations with members via telephone or email.

Remember too that every member has their own network of contacts and experts… reaching out to one or more others for support can offer the ability to tap into their network too.

If I can offer one piece of advice for you before you embark on your search for mastermind partners or commit to making more use of a group you already participate in… you need to communicate clearly what your struggles are.

The more clarity you have around your own needs, the better your supporters can advise and support you.

Consider these two questions… which would you feel more able to advise on if you were asked these by a member of a group you belonged to;

Question #1:
“I’ve launched a new informational product but I’m not making any sales… where am I going wrong?”

Nobody knows your business or what marketing you’ve already tried. Which area of the sales funnel is not working for you? Have you split tested your methods and which provided the best results?

This vague question raises too many counter questions and will require far more digging from your supporters than should reasonably be expected of them. When you hear or see a question posed in this way, you immediately think “where do I start?”

If you offer more details up front, you encourage better, targeted questions in response.

Compare question one to this re-worded question which provides more information to work with… and poses a clearer problem that other members can offer solutions to;

Question #2:
“I’ve created a new informational product recently but I am struggling to make any sales. The product is being sold online and so far I have emailed my community of 200 people, posted regularly on my social media profiles and paid a telemarketer to call everyone who opened the email to follow up and try to convert the recipients into buyers.

Twitter BirdOf the 95 people who were called, 3 seemed interested but this interest isn’t converting into sales. I have a combined audience of 600 who follow me on Twitter and Facebook and while 12 of these have visited the sales page, none have purchased. What am I doing wrong?”

Immediately you begin to see where the issues could be arising… it poses questions such as;

– Did you do market research before creating the product to learn that your product solves the problems faced by your niche customers?

– Did the 200 people opt in to your community or is this a list you purchased?

– Did you have your copy professionally written? Is the copy putting buyers off?

– Do you already have lots of customers and raving fans? Are there enough people who recognise you as an expert who will see the value in what you are offering?

– Are you getting traffic to your sales page? Is it optimised for search engines?

Do you see? The clearer the question, the more effective responses you invite from the other members… and the more direct the route to the solution, the higher your success rate.

Are you a member of a mastermind group? How well has it worked for you in growing your business? I’d love to hear your experiences.