Is A Business Mastermind or Accountability Group Worth It? (Part 1)
Here's what a mastermind group is, where they came from, and the benefits you can expect.
After running masterminds and group programs for more than ten years, I get a lot of questions about mastermind groups, facilitating groups, what they are, what they’re for, and how or when to join them. This is a two-part series. In the first part, below, I hope to provide a comprehensive look at what they’re for, the problems they solve, ideas for groups you can design, the benefits, and why entrepreneurs and founders specifically benefit from business masterminds.
The second part in the series goes over the key things you need to do to set up or run your own group. Early in my career, I ran facilitated peer masterminds for free with friends. After seeing the incredible value of the groups, and the labor required for running them, I started hosting paid groups. Today, I lead The Wise Women’s Council, our paid leadership incubator for business moms, based on many of the lessons learned from running groups over the last decades.
Also, if you want to know even more after reading these two essays, check out the private podcast sessions I did for paid subscribers on running group programs and how to design, structure, and price a group program, where I cover the exact details of how I designed my programs. This two part essay series is 20+ hours of writing and 10+ years of experience documented for you to learn and build your own. I hope it helps, and thanks for reading.
If you’re stuck trying to push through by yourself, pushing harder alone might not be the answer.
Working independently is an important mode of work. Writing, art, creativity, design, business, strategy—all of these require periods of deep work, often done independently.
But not all work is done independently, and often people get stuck when trying to do every single thing alone. There’s a reason why some of the best startup accelerators insist that you have a co-founder, and there’s a reason why the best books in the world are often revised multiple times. Working with other people can help us stretch our edges, generate new insights, and level up our performance.
If you’re in the middle of a project that’s stalled, if you’re having an awful time getting your writing work done, or if you’re plateaued in your business, pushing harder by yourself might not be the best strategy. In fact, you might need accountability in the form of a peer mentor or a mastermind group.
“No mind is complete by itself. It needs contact and association with other minds to grow and expand.” — Napolean Hill
What is a mastermind group?
A mastermind is, in simplest terms, a group of people coming together regularly who are dedicated to mutual growth and improvement.
The idea of coming together in a small, focused group to learn from each other isn’t a new idea. In 1727, Benjamin Franklin created a Junto, or a “club for mutual improvement” in Philadelphia. He organized twelve people into a group, or an assembly (based on the Spanish word junta, which means assembly). The members of the group “all shared a spirit of inquiry and a desire to improve themselves, their community, and to help others,” and had a dedicated purpose of debate and idea exchange. In The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, he describes the organization and purpose of the Junto:
I should have mentioned before, that, in the autumn of the preceding year, [1727] I had form'd most of my ingenious acquaintance into a club of mutual improvement, which we called the Junto; we met on Friday evenings. The rules that I drew up required that every member, in his turn, should produce one or more queries on any point of Morals, Politics, or Natural Philosophy, to be discuss'd by the company; and once in three months produce and read an essay of his own writing, on any subject he pleased.
Our debates were to be under the direction of a president, and to be conducted in the sincere spirit of inquiry after truth, without fondness for dispute or desire of victory; and to prevent warmth, all expressions of positiveness in opinions, or direct contradiction, were after some time made contraband, and prohibited under small pecuniary penalties.
Napolean Hill, an American self-help author who wrote the book Think And Grow Rich, first wrote about the idea of “Master Mind alliances” in his book, The Law of Success in 1928. In studying the habits of successful businessmen in the 19th and 20th centuries, he realized that many formed partnerships and groups to come together to learn, which was one of the keys to their success. “No mind is complete by itself. It needs contact and association with other minds to grow and expand,” Hill said.
What you gain from being in a structured group
✔️ SPACE TO UNPACK DIFFICULT PUZZLES
One of the key benefits of a mastermind is that it provides a space to unpack difficult puzzles and dig into the challenges you’re working through.
Michele, a social entrepreneur who joined one of the earliest versions of The Wise Women’s Council (Startup Parent’s leadership incubator), described the experience as “a space to ask yourself tough questions, to up your game, and learn from others’ journeys.”
The power behind a mastermind is in the way a group of people can “solve problems and take advantage of opportunities in a way that an individual person can’t,” said Taylor Pearson, who hosts regular monthly dinner meet-ups to connect authors and entrepreneurs.
✔️ MULTIPLE LAYERS OF EXPERTISE AND PERSPECTIVE
You can also tap into a much broader range of experience and insights by joining forces with other wise people.
“On our own, we can only ever have a limited amount of experience,” wrote Nathan Johnson for The Napolean Hill Foundation, while a mastermind group “allows us to draw freely from the experience, training, skills, and knowledge of others who align with our definite major purpose.”
“The resulting benefits include a magnification of the combined qualities of each member, as well as increased courage, faith, and a host of other positive advantages.”
✔️ INCREASE YOUR NETWORK TREMENDOUSLY
It’s not our direct ties, but the value of our weak ties and our access to networks that are some of the greatest predictors of our future success.
One thing that will always matter, regardless of what business or industry you’re in, is who you're connected to. Weak ties are the people we don’t know well but we’re loosely connected to. “For new information and ideas, weak ties are more important to us than strong ones,” according to BBC coverage of the Stanford and MIT reports on research on weak ties.
When you build key relationships with 8-12 people, you’re also tapping into their network of weak ties — if each person in your group has 150 to 500 weak ties, that’s potentially 6,000 more people that are part of your broader network.
Yet time and time again people invest in courses or materials, but not in connections with other people. Investing in your connections to others—through masterminds, accountability programs, and facilitated networking events—can help you expand the breadth of connections you can tap into.
For example, if you’re ever needing to hire folks, or you’re looking for a new job, or you want to source input for a survey or an idea—or do anything else that needs a wide net—then investing in groups is an important part of your development and your success.
Here are some of the benefits that masterminds can provide:
A confidential space to discuss challenges and problems.
Shared purpose and direction.
A structured way to make progress on your goals.
Accountability, support, and feedback.
A trusted circle of colleagues to help you make decisions.
A chance to learn from other businesses and leaders.
Regular connection.
Networks beyond your own to tap into.
A laboratory to learn and experiment.
A reflection of your own wisdom and expertise as you help others.
And potentially long-term friendships and connections.
Working with other people can help us stretch our edges, generate new insights, and level up our performance.
How masterminds are structured + designed
Generally, mastermind groups are either focused on each individual’s success, or on a larger collective project or goal that everyone is invested in. Often, there is a facilitator or guide to take you through a process, and you cluster around a common topic or journey—in some business masterminds, for example, you might be matched at income or revenue level, or by industry or geographic location.
If you’re starting a mastermind or joining someone else’s, here’s what to look for:
Major Purpose — A clear mission or purpose that answers the question: why are you joining together and what are your ideal
Outcomes — A shared agreement around what outcomes you’re looking for, and the rules that you’ll adhere to.
Size — Franklin’s first group had five members. You can form mini-masterminds with just a few other people, or create a larger group with 12-16 people.
Eligibility Criteria — If you’re a group of philosophers or poets, define the type of people you’re looking to commune with. Do they have a certain amount of experience? Are you brand-new or experts? Who qualifies?
Timeframe — The groups meet for a specific period of time, for several months or up to a year, with regular events to check in on a consistent basis.
Structure — Is there a clear structure and container? This includes meeting times, frequency, the meeting agenda,
Agreements — How long will the program last? What will happen if someone doesn’t show up or participate?
Facilitator — The person who is facilitating and organizing the events and meetings.
You can form any type of group or mastermind — about any topic that you want to dream up.
You don’t need to be an entrepreneur or a business owner to benefit from a mastermind, either. Parents can learn how to become better parents, athletes can join together to train and keep each other accountable towards growth, and academic students can create lifelong learning paths for a core group.
In the workplace, managers who want to elevate their leadership skills can come together alongside people in similar career trajectories. There are groups for Chiefs-of-Staff to share resources and ideas, places for CEOs to have confidential and candid conversations, and project manager groups to share learning and insights. Some companies even offer leadership training and coaching as part of their training programs for early managers.
What’s important is that you have a shared vision or common ground with the other members. Jessica Ashley, the founder of Divorce Coach for Moms (and a participant in one of my masterminds), explained that a mastermind group is “people who come together with a shared investment in digging in deep to goals, ideas, and ways to be even better at what we do.”
Lastly, let's take a brief look at how masterminds can directly help with your business.
How business masterminds and entrepreneurship masterminds can support you
Entrepreneurs are in the business of solving problems for others. But what we often overlook is how difficult it is, and how important it is to put structures into place to mitigate against the common challenges people face as entrepreneurs.
One of the hard parts of being an entrepreneur is the psychological weight of being the key decision-maker. Every decision and metric depends on you. Figuring out how to organize your time, stay accountable, and make everything happen without losing your mind is a real challenge. I don’t say this lightly: Not having people to talk to and bounce ideas around with can be one of the hardest parts of starting your own business.
Not having people to talk to and bounce ideas around with can be one of the hardest parts of starting your own business.
Private coaches and executive coaches can be pricey, especially if you’re in the first year or two of starting your business, of if you’re bootstrapping. Building your own mastermind, or joining a group, can get you the support you need.
Dacy Gillespie, a personal stylist and the founder of Mindful Closet, shared that "the hardest thing about running my own business has been needing to verbally process ideas without having a team to run ideas by.” For her, the solution has been an extremely committed in-person weekly mastermind group. For that reason, many entrepreneurs I know turn to mastermind accountability groups to help them stay focused and successful.
Mastermind groups can bolster a sense of connectivity and conversation, help keep your business moving forward, and they can provide critical insights for leveling up faster in your business. Having people around to call on when you need it is one of the soundest investments you can make. These are people you can call on to help you talk through tough decisions, and people whose businesses and lives you become a part of.
Joining groups can expand your a trusted circle of friends and colleagues to help you make decisions, it can keep you accountable on a regular basis, and it can be a place to learn, grow, and build your own skills. And, during the hard times, it can help you keep your chin up and persevere.
Know this, too: uncertainty and frustration in any entrepreneurial journey are the markers of growth, not failure — and having a community around us to witness our growth and struggle can make all the difference.
— Sarah Peck
CEO & Founder
Startup Parent
In the comments: have you ever been part of a mastermind? What worked well? What didn’t?
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