Why is Everyone Talking About Masterminds?

00:00:24 - Maelisa Hall
Welcome back to season one of the My Biz Bestie podcast. I'm Melissa Hall.

00:00:28 - Amber Hawley
And I'm Amber Hawley.

00:00:30 - Maelisa Hall
And today we are talking to you about masterminds.
Amber, are you excited to talk about masterminds? I couldn't be more excited. In fact, I have jazz hands going on right now. Yes, she does, people. She really does. Because we do this on video because we have to be able to see one another. Yes, so you can't see it, but I'm doing jazz hands.
I just did some jazz hands too, but they really sucked. They were like...

00:00:58 - Amber Hawley
That was your jazz hands? That was pretty crappy. I don't know what that was. It was very sad. That was like the Elaine version of jazz hands.

00:01:09 - Maelisa Hall
Oh, snap. Yes. I will admit that was true. But I just did them better. So, yeah, we had talked about a campaign for me to be on that voice show, whatever it is. The... The Lip Sync Show. The Lip Sync Battle. Lip Sync Battle. Yes. And those are not jazz hands that would get me on that show.
Anyways, back to masterminds and how exciting they are. So first off, what do you think is the difference between a mastermind and just having like a group of people that you meet up with? Because I feel like we have our own – we've talked about our group that we meet up with and – even though that's a really committed and awesome group, we think of it more as a tribe than an actual mastermind.

00:02:01 - Amber Hawley
Yes. Well, I think there's a couple of things, but even though we all participate regularly in that group, the small group that we're talking about, it's still a different level of commitment because in my mind, with a mastermind because you're, you know, whether or not you meet weekly or monthly or biweekly, whatever, whatever the schedule is for a mastermind, there's a level of accountability there that we don't require.

00:02:28 - Maelisa Hall
Yeah. Yeah. I think that's the big thing. There's no like required involvement in our group other than our weekly or annual week-long retreat really. And the minimal involvement that would be needed to help with like planning that.

00:02:46 - Amber Hawley
Maybe some support in between, but... Yeah, but even if we think about that Conquer Queens group that we're in, that's the small group of five of us that are all participating in Natalie McNeil's course, we have those monthly phone calls. And even then, though, if we talk about something we want to do, there's no consequence if we don't follow through on that.
There's no level of... Not that... Not that in a mastermind that there's a particular consequence, but in a way there is. The idea is you're establishing a goal and then you're meeting it. And if not, you're going to really talk about why. You're not just going to avoid or come up with some excuse.
I mean, it happens. But I think that's the beauty of a mastermind is there's a higher level of accountability and participation.

Because in our group, we might have some people who, you know, they might give feedback here and there, but they really don't post. their own stuff that often and that's okay. But in a mastermind, really everybody needs to be participating at pretty much a similar level.

00:03:53 - Maelisa Hall
Yeah, I would agree. I think that's the big thing is that you have, and you've all decided what that similar level is going to be, right? So for some people it's weekly, for some people it's not, but as long as you know what is expected of each of you in the group and then you're all following through, I think that's huge.

00:04:12 - Amber Hawley
Yes. And that's what helps. I think that's what makes them so valuable because you're actually following through and you know there's somebody else. And for a lot of people, they're motivated by, you know, the external consequences. They need to know, like, for whatever reason, it just popped in my head.
It made me think about Weight Watchers meetings. I've had so many friends that have done Weight Watchers. And then I remember saying they were having trouble with the schedule. I said, well, why don't you just do it online? Because I know they have an online component.
And they're like, no, it's all about showing up and having to weigh in. It's really about the weigh in because then somebody else is seeing if you're, you know, backsliding or on point. And so it's that same dynamic that you're going to, that other people are showing up and they have an expectation of you.

Right. And, and that's what makes it more difficult, more difficult to disappear, to kind of hide under the radar is what I mean to say.

00:05:09 - Maelisa Hall
Yeah. And you see that with so many of those weight loss groups. There is one online called DietBet that I've done before. And it's the same type of thing though, where you're with a group of people and you all have to weigh in. Literally, they have this process for you to weigh in every week.
And that's huge because you know that other people are going to see whether or not you got the results that you were seeking. And there's a competition aspect to that too. But I think with a mastermind, it should be the type of setup where you can go in and feel comfortable saying, hey, I'm really struggling with meeting my goal and I need help, but you're not comfortable going in there and being like, yeah, I just kind of didn't do much this week.

00:05:54 - Amber Hawley
Yeah. Yeah. And that's not an acceptable answer, right? You would need to go a little more in depth. And there'd be, of course, there are those times where you don't meet your goal, but it'd be, it wouldn't just be like, oh yeah, I didn't, didn't really have time, blah, blah, blah.
And then let's move on. That's not exactly how it's going to work. So yeah, there's definitely a higher level of commitment, but again, that's what I think helps people reach those new levels of success. And I think that's why so many people are talking about masterminds.
I guess if you think about masterminds, you, are there any criteria that you think are important for them?

00:06:30 - Maelisa Hall
I think that meeting is, Is huge. So, whether it's online or in person, but it's a regular meeting, and it's having a structured type of meeting too. Where whatever that is, if you all share wins, if you all share goals. If you have like a hot seat every week, or you have someone talk about, like, identified, who's going to talk each week.
However, that is, you have some kind of a set structure, and. and time around it so that everybody knows what's expected and it doesn't end up being small talk and catching up on things and all of that, you know, that that's stuff that would be done outside of that group.

00:07:13 - Amber Hawley
Absolutely. And so, you know, you shared two different, a couple of different structures. Like one is sharing, I know that there's a, there's a phrase for this that uses alliteration and I always love alliteration, but I don't remember it right now, but that win and that struggle, there was one that's like, it's like a win and a struggle.
Like everybody goes around and shares, you know, something great that happened and then a struggle they're having. And maybe it's follow-up about, okay, I said I was going to do X, Y, Z by this time. You know, how's that happened? That's part of it. But what would you, can you say a little bit more about the hot seat part that you mentioned?

00:07:49 - Maelisa Hall
Yeah. So I know like Pat Flynn, who I mentioned in the mentors episode, um, I think there was an episode where he actually shared one of his mastermind's meetings as an episode. And they use the structure where each week they've pre-identified somebody who's going to be in the hot seat.
So that person will go more in depth about a particular struggle they're having in their business. And then everyone on that phone call or in that meeting is giving that one person feedback. So I think there are different ways you could either have that predetermined or you could just say at the beginning of the call, like who wants to do that?
But it's a nice way to make sure that the focus is staying on problem solving and that the point of a mastermind is really to get information from different people, right?

Because we have the BizBestie thing going on, but like we've talked about, there's some things where it's great for the two of us to talk to one another. And there are some times where... we both recognize like, okay, we need to talk to somebody a little bit different, right?
And so you need, I mean, to me, that's a whole point of mastermind is getting multiple perspectives.

00:09:09 - Amber Hawley
Yes. And I think, you know, to that end, I think that size matters. I think the bigger the group, the more difficult to have the same level of efficacy. So I feel like that's an important aspect for sure. The other part that I think about is, so group size matters.
But then, okay, so I a little bit lost my train of thought there. But yeah, so size matters. But then what also I think is an important factor is that you are in a place in your business. And it doesn't have to be exact, but I feel like a mastermind...
where like you're at advanced, you've been doing this for a long time and then you're with a bunch of people who just started their business, that's not going to be a good fit. And so being in that similar, similar stage of business ship, if you will.

00:10:07 - Maelisa Hall
Yeah. Yeah. Because you're just on totally different levels and that's a good thing. And I think that's why you hear so many people talk about when they, reflect on their masterminds, like successful people, when you hear them talk about it, they'll say how they've all made this incremental progress together because they all have that same level of commitment starting out, but then they start in the same place.
And the reason they're still in the mastermind is that everyone in the mastermind has continued to grow and keeps moving up. So your mastermind's not going to work if two people you know, may have exponential growth and three people don't, and you're just going to be way too different, have different needs.

00:11:00 - Amber Hawley
Absolutely. And so if, I guess, if you talk about, there are a couple of different structures as well as, is it a paid mastermind or is it people that you get together with and, you know, there's still the same commitment and everything, but it's not paid.
It's just a collaboration.

00:11:19 - Maelisa Hall
Yeah, I think they both work. It seems like they both work. I've heard people have good experience from both. I think for me, I can even see the benefit of the paid mastermind a little bit more for me personally because I know that whole structure part of it is not where I shine, right?
So I am not good at being the one to say no small talk or we're going to make sure that we meet at this time and all of that. So I am happy to pay someone to take on that role and do that.

00:11:55 - Amber Hawley
That's so funny. It's a good point. I think about some of the networking meetings I've gone to. I'm okay with that part, like saying, okay, this is what we're doing. Or I get really irritated if people don't quote unquote follow the rules. It really bothers me.
And then I'll be irritated. And then therefore I'm not taking in information. But for me, I think the paid version would work better for me. partly because of the structure, but because somebody else is taking the reins and then I'm showing up and I'm kind of looking to them like, like I've, you know, that I'm, I'm participating, like they're the leader.
Like I like the idea of somebody being a leader and so that I don't have to worry about that. And I just show up and do what I need to do.

00:12:37 - Maelisa Hall
Yeah. Cause even, I can't even handle like creating all of the zoom meetings for our our tribe that we're saying is not quite a mastermind, you know? And even times when we've had scheduling conflicts and we're trying to figure out, okay, when are we all going to meet again?
Then it's like, who's taking the lead and making the final decision and all of that stuff. If you have somebody who is taking the lead in the group and, but you're all volunteer, then that's perfect. You know, like if you are fortunate enough to have, a group of people where you have those diverse skills.
But if you don't, if you're like Amber and me, then it can be worth paying for.

00:13:23 - Amber Hawley
Well, yes, that was what I was thinking. It's like, on one hand, we're both so organized and on top of stuff. And on the other, I really see that ADHD stuff showing up because when it gets really busy, that's just too much. It becomes overwhelming. Like, oh shit, I have to organize all this stuff.
I already have the stuff I have to do for clients or for my employees or for, you know, my kids or business or whatever. And so the thought of having to do that for another group would be so like, bleh, I would hate that. So yeah. But luckily for us, we do have people in our groups that are like, I think of Anna, who is kind of like a rock star on top of everything.
So we do have that, but I agree. I think for me personally, the paid one would be beneficial that way. That being said, I actually am starting another with another group of women who own group practices and we're starting, you know, it's going to be a mastermind and have a structure, but it's not going to be paid.

It's going to be, we're all participants in it. And so there are times where I would absolutely see the value in that. But I'm actually joining a paid one as well. So. now that I just said that, I'm doing both.

00:14:34 - Maelisa Hall
I know. You haven't told me about the volunteer one.

00:14:37 - Amber Hawley
I was like, that just started.

00:14:39 - Maelisa Hall
I was like, what, are they not charging for the paid one anymore? Like score.

00:14:42 - Amber Hawley
I actually, yeah, that became a new idea. I believe this happened over the weekend. So I wasn't able to fill you in, but yeah. And so at my networking thing today, I reached out to a couple of people and I'm going to do both. So I will have to report back to you like which one actually works better for me, which I do think is a personality thing, right?
But I'm really looking forward to the paid one as well because I feel like the person leading it She is, I guess she's kind of like that, that mentor status of she's someone who is further along and I value, I feel like I'm going to get a lot out of it.
And, but I also don't want to look like the weak link. So I'm going to show up and make sure I get my shit done because that would be embarrassing.

00:15:28 - Maelisa Hall
Yeah. Yeah. And you also like, you really want to learn from her, but then you also want to see what other people are doing. And even I know for us in particular, you know, Different states have different laws on things. So sometimes even if somebody's awesome, they don't know how employment stuff runs in California.
Yes. But that's an aside. But that's a really interesting point because you're basically starting or joining two masterminds about the same time that both have the same purpose. Like it's all about being a group practice owner. What is your goal with each of them?
Or I don't know, maybe it's the same goal.

00:16:09 - Amber Hawley
Yeah, I think it's the same goal. I feel like, I feel like I really want to, you know, in this next year, I want to make sure that, um, everything with my group practice is on point and really automized as much as possible. Um, I want to get it to a place where it feels like where, well, here's the issue.
The then I can see the results in my business, my group practice. Like if I'm not on top of hiring or checking in with employees or being on top of all of the pieces that go into running a group practice, then I definitely see the income levels wane a little bit.
And there's always ebb and flow because it's business, but a little too much.

And so I want to try to balance that out and make it feel like, there's more of that stability there and, and that the process, everything is just like, you know, all the T's are crossed and all the I's are dotted and feel like that that's really flowing and getting to a place where I can hire somebody who can manage more of the day to day so that I don't have to worry that if my focus is going elsewhere, that, you know, that ship is going to sink, so to speak.

00:17:27 - Maelisa Hall
Yeah. Because Amber needs an assistant too. but you know, I've been telling her that for a long time.

00:17:35 - Amber Hawley
I started the interviewing process.

00:17:38 - Maelisa Hall
I know.

00:17:39 - Amber Hawley
I mean, I started it and then literally that's it. Yeah.

00:17:41 - Maelisa Hall
And I need one too, but I'm, she's starting next week or I need increased hours anyways. So yeah, I think that's really interesting just how they're going to be two different groups, but I assume you're not having the same people in each group. So you'll sort of get these different perspectives from, And one of them's local and one of them's not, which I could see benefit from both.

00:18:05 - Amber Hawley
Yeah. The paid one is going to be virtual. And then it was funny. I was on the way to the event and I thought about, oh, should I tell so-and-so about this thing, this online thing? And I probably still will. But then the part of me was like, but I want to have different people in my groups because then you're learning from more people.
Not that I would like freeze her out or anything, but Um, but I know like the group, the paid one, they're going to limit it to seven people. So again, it comes back to the size, which I think, so if, you know, if you have two really small groups and you're overlapping people, I don't, I feel like there's an opportunity being missed there, but maybe I'm wrong.
Maybe I'm not thinking about that. Right. But yeah, no, I, I would agree. Yeah. And then the other, the local one will be in person. Cause I think there's so much value in that.

00:18:51 - Maelisa Hall
Yeah. And so really with the mastermind, you're trying to get part strategy and part accountability. Absolutely. I feel like accountability is one of those things that's touted as worth paying for. And a lot of times I will even have that rationalization of like, oh my gosh, that's so ridiculous.
And there are people who don't need to pay for accountability, but I think most of us do for a lot of things. Yeah. I know I do. Or at least I need to do things like if I email everybody on my newsletter list and tell them I'm going to do something, then I'll do it.
But if I just think about it and then even just tell you about it, it may not happen. Yeah.

00:19:36 - Amber Hawley
Yes. And that's, well, and I guess that depends on how you're, how you're motivated, right? Are you somebody who's intrinsically motivated that once you establish a goal for yourself, you just make it, you just get it done. And then there are other people that, you know, they're motivated, motivated by external things or, you know, this, you know, different, different things motivate different people.
Let's put it at that.

00:20:01 - Maelisa Hall
And we need to do an episode on that.

00:20:03 - Amber Hawley
Yeah, for sure. It's the whole Gretchen Rubin thing. the four tendencies. It's fantastic stuff. And the other part of that, though, is I feel like no matter what the motivation, so many of us nowadays have so much on our to-do list and our schedules that unless it's scheduled, it's not happening.
So for me, showing up for clients is no problem because they're scheduled. But everything else, I just think, oh, I'll fit that in. I'll then that's when it happens. So like, even when we, when we schedule these meetings to do our podcasts or talk about things, we're actually getting that stuff done.
But if we say, I mean, how many times has this happened where we're like, okay, by the next time we meet, we're going to do X, Y, and Z. And then neither of us do it. But the beauty is because we're both ADHD, we feel okay with that.

Yeah. But I think that's why we're like, eh, we're not going to really, there's no consequence. So I'll do it when we meet.

00:21:02 - Maelisa Hall
Yes. And that's why your biz bestie may not be your accountability partner. Amen.

00:21:06 - Amber Hawley
Amen to that.

00:21:09 - Maelisa Hall
Hashtag truth. Oh, my first hashtag of the podcast.

00:21:15 - Amber Hawley
Yeah. So I think, you know, this is kind of you know, some high level talking about masterminds. There's a lot of masterminds that I'm aware of that I'm really interested in doing. You know, a lot of the people that we follow either their podcasts or are in their Facebook groups.
There's a lot of amazing masterminds out there. So we definitely encourage you to seek some of them out. Our hope is to be interviewing some of these people who are leading or participating in Masterminds to get more information. To kind of help you decide where.
Which one might be good for you? And I imagine when people do masterminds, they end up creating these friendships because they are smaller groups and there's such a consistency in meeting and there's bound to be somebody that you connect with and then can cultivate that relationship further.

So in many ways, I could see doing a mastermind is leading to increasing the possibilities of getting your own biz bestie.

00:22:17 - Maelisa Hall
Absolutely. Yeah. And I think that's why, I mean, I know we'll, we'll talk in another episode a little bit more about the how to, but one thing you do, I think is a requirement in a mastermind for it to be really successful is that you really respect everybody in there.
And that's part of having that same level that you were talking about, because if you were a really advanced person and you're in a mastermind with newbies, you're not respecting the their opinion on certain things because you actually have information they don't have.
So you, it has to be with people that you, where you highly respect their opinion.

00:22:55 - Amber Hawley
Yeah. And you might not know these people, but I think where you can grow to feel that, yeah, these people are at the same level or I feel like if it, especially for paid ones, if there's some kind of vetting going on, I think that's important, an important piece.

00:23:11 - Maelisa Hall
Yeah.

00:23:12 - Amber Hawley
I would want to know. Absolutely. Because time is valuable, my friends.

00:23:19 - Maelisa Hall
So thanks for joining us today. And we hope that this was super helpful and got you thinking about ways that you can use a mastermind or who you want to seek out. And We also hope that you will subscribe if you haven't already. Make sure you don't miss out on future episodes where we will dig into the how-to and then talk with some more people about their experience of masterminds.
So subscribe and check us out on our Facebook page. You are welcome to share your own stories there. That is facebook.com slash mybizbestie. Thanks for joining us.