Are free Masterminds any good?

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Are free Mastermind groups any good?

This is a bit of a loaded question because, obviously, I train Mastermind coaches and I run Masterminds.

But I’ve been in a lot of very poor Masterminds. Because how can I be certain that my method, and my Masterminds, are the best if I haven’t been in lots of them? So I’ve been in many of them. When I was just starting out I was in many free Masterminds. And they were, frankly, dreadful. Not all of them, but most of them.

All of my high falutin’ coaching colleagues are all in Masterminds. Some of those are free, some of them are peer-led and they are fantastic. And, obviously, when I’m in a Mastermind group, I don’t charge my colleagues to be in it. But I do end up running it. So yes, it’s free, but it’s run by a Mastermind coach.

The problem with free Masterminds is that often the most important bit doesn’t get done.

I’m talking about curation. Carefully choosing people that are a perfect fit, that are all at the same level, that are all moving at the same speed towards great goals that all kind of mesh together. Instead, in a free Mastermind, often, the only requirement is ’are you free on a Wednesday afternoon?’ That does not lead to the best Mastermind.

And many times a free Mastermind falls apart after 3 months. There seems to be some magic amount of time, how long people will give it before they go, ‘this is completely useless.’

So, yes, a free Mastermind can work and if you put one together, you can get it to work – particularly if you’ve got Mastermind training and you know how that works. But the key is curation. If you’re asked to join a free Mastermind group, find out who else is there, and find out why the other people were asked. And be very clear about what you want to get out of it.

The other problem with free Masterminds is that often the person facilitating is rotated.

So you’re not getting someone who is a specialist at timekeeping, at facilitation, at being able to deal with it. Running a Mastermind is a learned skill. So some people are better at it than others. And if it’s moved around from different people, you get various results. They’re not going to be the same or equally as good.

So, if you have one person who’s doing the facilitation, as I do when I run a Mastermind group for my friends, then that person needs to have skills at it. And that person in a free Mastermind can get quite annoyed because it’s quite a hard job. It’s not impossible, but it is work.

One of the things that’s very strange is to go from running a Mastermind to being in the hotseat. When I’m facilitating a Mastermind where I’m actually going to be part of it as well, I have to kind of change gears to get the results I need within my own hotseats.

So all of this means that yes a free Mastermind can sometimes work but the odds of it working are very rare.

Whereas when you pay to be in a Mastermind, if you’ve got one that’s well-curated, the curation is done for you, the coaching is done, the support is for you, the onboarding, the making sure that the mix and the facilitation is done. All of that is taken care of by somebody else. And you can focus on simply getting the absolute best out of the group.

So, for me, I feel paying actually gets you into a different mindset.

I have some clients who have been in extremely expensive Masterminds. I have several friends, who are in Masterminds that are a hundred thousand US dollars for the year. Think how motivated you would be in that group. You wouldn’t miss your goals. You wouldn’t be late. You wouldn’t skip a session.

Also, you’re with a group of people that can afford to drop that kind of money on their training, on their Mastermind. You’ve got an elite group of people.

Think about the mindset that chooses to spend larger amounts of money, who’s investing in their future.

Then consider the people that have just cobbled something together on a Tuesday afternoon. Yeah different, huh?

So, yes, a free Mastermind can work. Do I think you’ll get better results in a well-run, massively managed paid Mastermind? Of course! Do I think you should have a look at my Masterminds? Hell, yes!

And if you have questions about your own business, come along to one of my regular Q&A sessions. There’s a box below, just drop your email in there. And it would be lovely to see you.

Next live call is October 10, 2023 - Noon Eastern / 6pm UK.
Come along to ask your questions about launches, strategies for marketing, Masterminds or whatever you're stuck on in your business.

Add your email below and I'll send you the zoom info for the calls. See you there!

Or come say hello on Instagram here.  I microblog daily.