Self Employed Success

Starting a Mastermind group will help create SUCCESS in your personal and professional life.

Create a mastermind group for yourself, or increase your income by offering mastermind groups to your clients. Your clients will love you for it!

There is synergy of energy, commitment, and excitement that participants bring to a Mastermind Group. The beauty of Mastermind Groups is that participants raise the bar by challenging each other to create and implement goals, brainstorm ideas, and support each other with total honesty, respect and compassion. Mastermind participants act as catalysts for growth, devil’s advocates and supportive colleagues.

In this 3-week teleclass you will learn how to:

• Help people distinguish between a mastermind group, group coaching, and training classes
• Pick what type of people should attend your mastermind group
• Choose to facilitate, participate, or both
• Select your mastermind group’s niche and type
• Decide where to hold meetings
• Determine if your group should be free or paid
• Create meeting agendas
• Write group guidelines
• Prepare for your first meeting
• Choose among basic masterminding techniques
• Determine why mastermind groups fail

FOR MORE CLASS DETAILS AND TO REGISTER ONLINE:

http://www.MastermindGroupToday.com

This teleclass series begins February 23, 2010

• Feb 23
• Mar 2
• Mar 9

All teleclasses are 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM eastern

Classes will be recorded, so if you miss a session, you will be able to download the audio recording of the live class and listen to it at your leisure.

Fee: $129

Instructor: Karyn Greenstreet. I’ve been starting and running mastermind groups since 1994. They are your greatest resource for creating success in your personal and professional life!

Quick reminder: there are only TWO seats left in the upcoming Mastermind Group Facilitator Training which begins February 4.

Register today to avoid disappointment.

This class is for people who are ready to take their mastermind group facilitation skills to a whole new level.

In this 9-week teleclass you will learn:

• Your role and responsibilities as a mastermind group facilitator
• Facilitating skills for mastermind group facilitators
• How group dynamics impact your group
• Creating trust in your group
• Using the six mastermind process techniques
• Helping members make decisions and choose a course of action
• Enforcing group guidelines
• Handling problem members
• Tracking group member progress
• Using the Mastermind Success Journal with your members
• Creating and using Prep Forms, Dashboards and Group Evaluations
• Group voting: when and how
• Lifting energy levels and sparking creativity
• Closing your meetings
• Dissolving your mastermind group

Three Bonuses!

• PLUS: Get live practice with your mastermind skills!
• PLUS: Get five printed copies of the Mastermind Success Journal to use with your mastermind group members
• PLUS: View videos of me leading a mastermind group meeting, with pros and cons of each video segment so you can learn by watching

For more class details, and to register online:
http://www.thesuccessalliance.com/facilitator

I’m facilitating the largest mastermind group ever, at the ICF Conference in December!

The ICF called me a few months ago and asked me to conduct a three-hour breakout on Friday afternoon entitled “Call To Action.”

It’s about choosing your most important, passionate goals, sorting through everything you learned at the Conference, masterminding a strategic Action Plan, and finding mastermind accountability partners to support you in your implementation.

Are you going to the ICF Conference this year in Orlando? Hope to see you there!

Is a mastermind group right for you?

My NEW Mastermind Groups promo video on YouTube can help answer those questions. We filmed in in August, then did a lot of brainstorming about what to include. I think the video folks did a great job! What do you think?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boGSOmzGCgo

I was a guest speaker on the ICF Teen SIG today, where we talked about coaches starting their own mastermind groups, the differences between group coaching and mastermind groups, and some of the steps to getting started with your own groups.

The audio is available here:

http://www.thesuccessalliance.com/resources.html

I will be speaking to the Teen Coaching SIG on Tuesday, October 6 at 10:00 AM eastern about “Beyond Group Coaching: How to Create and Run a Mastermind Group.”
 
I hope you can join us! Please feel free to pass this to coaching colleagues who may be interested in this topic.
 
Dial in info:  1-212-457-9879,  PIN: 700827#
 
There is synergy of energy, commitment and excitement that participants bring to a Mastermind Group. The beauty of Mastermind Groups is that participants raise the bar by challenging each other to create and implement goals, brainstorm ideas, and support each other with total honesty, respect and compassion.
 
I will be discussing in-person, online and telephone-based Mastermind Groups, and how Mastermind Groups are the natural next-evolution to group coaching.
 
Come learn how creating and offering Mastermind Groups will enhance your business and your life.
 
You will learn:

•  The difference between group coaching and mastermind groups
•  The extraordinary benefits of mastermind groups
•  How to choose a niche for your mastermind group
•  How to screen participants
•  Where to hold meetings
•  How to create agendas for the meetings

Special Note: I *will* be recording this. I’ll post the link to the recording on my blog once it’s ready. 

I’ve been running mastermind groups for 15 years and I’ve seen groups of all sizes. There are some questions you need to ask yourself before deciding how many members should be in your mastermind group:

1. How much total time is available at each meeting? Meetings need to have a begin and end time, and many meetings that run over 90 minutes can run out of steam without frequent breaks. Yet breaks also cause interruption of the energy levels. So first decide how long each meeting will be, then go on to Question 2.
2. How much time should each member get to be in the “hot seat” to talk about their problem, challenge or decision? Members need time to first verbalize their situation before masterminding can begin in earnest. Some members are quick and can sum it up in five minutes or less. Others need 10-15 minutes just to set the stage. THEN you need time to mastermind after that. We did an experiment in one of my mastermind group meetings recently: we had a non-timed meeting, just to see what would naturally occur. Thirty minutes per member was our average time for each hot seat.
3. What other items are on your agenda? Remember that your meeting typically includes some sort of opening and closing, as well as possible guest speakers, training or other events. Allow time for those in your agenda, then plan accordingly.

In my mastermind groups, I tend to look for 4-6 members per group. Less than four and the energy level can drop (though I know several very successful mastermind groups with three members in them!), and more than six members will probably cause you to run out of time. However, if you’re doing half-day or full-day meetings, you may be able to include more members.

For more articles about mastermind groups, visit www.TheSuccessAlliance.com

In the 1960s, Napoleon Hill, author of “Think And Grow Rich” appeared on a series of television shows, talking about his principles of success. Even thought Think and Grow Rich as first published in 1937, the ideas are as fresh today as they were then. (Truth is eternal, eh?)

The first nine of these TV shows are posted them on my website (below). I believe there are 17 of these TV shows in all, but the additional ones are not on YouTube yet. As soon as they become available, I will post them on my site, too.

http://www.thesuccessalliance.com/resources.html

I’ve been teaching my basic Mastermind Group class for 3 years, and I’ve asked all my students, “How can I make these classes better for you?”

Many students asked me for a class specifically about marketing their mastermind group, finding new members and managing the administration part of the group.

In addition, EVERYONE said, “Please give us more tips on facilitating a mastermind group!”

Here’s what I’ve got for you – three new mastermind group classes (woohoo!):

• Class 1: Start Your Own Mastermind Group (class begins November 5) – If you are new to mastermind groups, this class is for you. This class focuses on all the preliminary details of starting your first group.
• Class 2: Market and Manage Your Mastermind Group (class begins December 2) - If you have already developed your mastermind group concept and need to find new members, this class is for you. This class focuses on letting people know about your group through powerful marketing techniques, selecting the best members, communicating with members between meetings, using teleconferencing services, and handling mastermind group administration.
• Class 3: Mastermind Group Facilitator Training (class begins October 5) - If you want to take your mastermind group facilitation skills to a whole new level and really help your group members be successful, this class is for you. This class is limited to a small number of students so that everyone gets a chance to practice their mastermind facilitation skills with the group.

For more class description, specifics about topics we will cover, and registration details:
http://www.thesuccessalliance.com/classes.html

I did an interesting test over the past few months, with astonishing results.

I sell an ebook about mastermind groups on three of my sites. I’ve been tracking the sales results for 4 years, across three different sites. Conversion rates (the percent of people who purchase as compared to the total number who view the page) ranges from 2% to 14%, depending on which site.

A second edition of the ebook was launched this year, and on each site I used this book cover graphic, with the “second edition” graphic on it:

Six weeks ago, I ran a test, removing the current book cover graphic and replacing it with the exact same book cover, but WITHOUT the “second edition” graphic on it, like this:

An amazing thing happened: conversion rates FELL by 75% using the plain book cover without the “second edition” graphic.

I did not change the book cover graphic on the other two sites, and their conversion rates remained stable.

Conclusion: People who visited the article page felt more trust when an ebook was in it’s 2nd edition, deducing that an ebook that had been updated was a popular ebook that contained up-to-date information.

As we know, trust is a key element in marketing, especially ecommerce. What are you doing to instill trust in your site visitors?

You can see the new graphic in place in the article, here:

http://www.passionforbusiness.com/articles/mastermind-group.htm