Any entrepreneur knows that you have to continually work on your business as well as in your business in order to keep it thriving and growing. Letting things stagnate can come back and bite you in the ‘you know what’ if you let it.
I meet monthly with a group of Virtual Assistants. All 6 of us started our businesses as “Virtual Assistants’ but we have each grown and created a niche so that we now are more “Virtual Professionals” each specializing in a certain area of business. Monthly we gather to share our successes and struggles and ideas. Sharing and supporting one another.
Every September (well this will be our 2nd September this year) we set aside 3 full days to work on our businesses. And work we is what we do – for three days straight we start at 9am and finish at 5pm talking only a small lunch break in the middle. We plan for relaxing evenings (check out the sunset on the lake the house backs on and we just hang out – de-stressing. We plan for only one night out to enjoy the local area.
We have dubbed ourselves a Mastermind group and continue to connect on a regular basis.
Napoleon Hill, author of Think and Grow Rich, first defined the mastermind as
“a coordination of knowledge and effort, in a spirit of harmony, between two or more people, for the attainment of a definite purpose.”
This is definitely what happened with the six of us. A Mastermind group is something I highly recommend to all small business owners and especially the solo entrepreneur. You don’t have to go away every year as we do, but somehow find a trusted group of people and create your own support or Mastermind group. It’s good to find people of a similar business but can be hard to find people with whom the competitive factor does not affect how you can relate and assist one another. We are lucky that our virtual world makes it possible to do what we did without any competitive fear.
Three Benefits of a Mastermind Group
Staying Motivated
Many entrepreneurs tackle their work and business alone. Motivation can be difficult if you get bogged down with the responsibilities of running your day to day operations. Don’t let your business suffer. Engaging on a regular basis with a group of like-minded business owners can help keep your motivation levels at a place where you still have the energy and passion needed to keep you in business and excited about your business.
Shared Experiences & Perspectives
As a group you will bring many skills to the table, these experiences serve to benefit the group as you meet and discuss plans and operations. You can often save yourself trouble by learning from the group’s experience. You will also discover many new ideas and a fresh perspective from a group you trust.
Accountability
Plans, we all make them, the trick is keeping to our commitments. A Master Mind group can be a great way to openly state your plans and deadlines and your group will keep on top of you to keep you accountable to your plans.
Do your business a favour and find (or create your own!) a Mastermind group, after all what business owner couldn’t use more motivation, inspiration and accountability to help propel the business forward?
