Ever wondered if YOU have what it takes to lead a mastermind? Honestly, I think masterminds are the direction that so much of this digital education space is heading. You know I love me some digital courses, but there’s something special and impactful about getting a group of doers and dreamers together in the same space to sprout new ideas, troubleshoot roadblocks, and lift one another up in high-vibe kinda way.
I think that so many people have this idea about masterminds that it needs to be held at some fancy destination and charge $25K a pop for attendees to participate. While there ARE large-scale masterminds like that, they can also be way pared down and simplified. You can get 7 local entrepreneurs together once a month, charge $50 a person, gather at your favorite coffee shop to work toward a dream together, and call it a mastermind!
The thing that makes masterminds WORK is more about getting the right people together and working toward a collective goal, not about making it this hoity-toity, 5-star, posh get-together with a million bells and whistles. But maybe you’re like, Hang on, how can I tell if I have what it takes to lead a mastermind? Don’t I need to be an expert in something or have some sort of teaching experience?
Being a great educator and leading a successful mastermind isn’t about having all the answers, a ton of experience in the online education world, or thousands of followers. Nope, it’s more about creating a prime environment for collaboration and demonstrating that you can get other people results. So where do you begin? Let’s walk through how to create your own mastermind in four steps!
4 steps to create your own mastermind
01. Extract your knowledge.
The first and most important step, really, in creating your own mastermind is determining what gifts or superpower you can offer others. Most people immediately seize up and shut down with this step because it’s often natural to automatically discount your abilities, knowledge, and experience rather than leaning into those unique competencies. So do a little exercise with me to extract your superpower, okay?
I want for you to sit down and write down (yep, like pen and paper baby!) all the things that come naturally to you. They may be learned through your education or work experience, or they might be talents and capabilities you were born with. Think big here, so not just skills and what you can do, but even personality traits, lifestyle habits, and efficiencies that you’ve tapped into to make your world a little better or more joyful in some way. You can think about it like this: What comes easily to you?
Write down everything, like brain dump all these things, big and small, that you’ve acquired through the years of learning, working, expanding, and just simply living. Now after you’ve jotted them down, I want you to go back through and circle 3 to 5 things that you know so well, through and through, that you could easily teach others about it. Maybe they’re work-related, maybe they’re lifestyle-related, maybe it’s just something personally useful in your day-to-day life or that brings you joy. These are your superpowers, and these are what you can lean into when leading your own mastermind group.
02. Get people results for free.
Now if you’re getting anxious about the aspect of going from just discovering your gifts to teaching them to a group, hang on for a hot sec. While I totally believe you’re capable of facilitating a stellar mastermind group, that’s not the automatic next step. Instead, I want you to start creating content with tips and advice around the superpower you’ve chosen. Start offering up FREE, tangible advice to others on social media, your email list, or any other platforms (blogs, podcasts, etc.). Begin helping them to get results you’ve already gotten yourself.
I also recommend offering up a few free, 1:1 consulting calls with your community. You can post on social media and say something like, “I’m testing and working on getting people X results that I’ve honed and gotten myself, and I’d love to help YOU get the same results! I’m offering five FREE 30-minute coaching calls, shoot me a DM if you’re interested in learning about my process!”
This will do two big things for you! One, it’ll get the wheels turning for your audience to know that you’re an expert in some area and you’re working on streamlining a process to teach to others. It just gets the message out that you’re the go-to person for this certain skill set or superpower and plants seeds within your audience. And two, it’ll get you some traction and success when you speak with and lead others through your process, guiding them to the same result you’ve gotten yourself.
03. Host a small group.
After you’ve worked one on one with a few members of your community or audience, next up is the fun part! It’s time to lead a one-time small group in a mini-mastermind. Now the whole reason I think that literally anyone, no matter your following or experience or background, can host a mastermind is because it’s less about teaching and more about initiating conversation and igniting action.
So it’s up to you: you can host the group digitally on a platform like Zoom or locally at a park, coffee shop, or even a meeting room at your local library. Get a group of 5 to 10 people from your community and charge a low entry fee, I’d say between $10 to $20 so it’s a small barrier to entry BUT enough that it gets people financially invested, and therefore more likely to apply what they learn. And then… Facilitate! Talk through the experiences you’ve had and how you’ve gotten results, and then open up the discussion to the group.
Ask students to bring their questions, issues, and blindspots surrounding the focus of the group. Ask for feedback and ideas from the group regarding the subject. And send attendees off with some sort of assignment to be able to get them the results you have experienced for yourself.
04. Scale into a larger mastermind group.
By the time you’re ready to host a full-scale mastermind group, you’ll have experience leading others, facilitating a group, and getting people solid results. Your confidence will skyrocket with the knowledge that your methods actually work not only for yourself but for several other people, too! You’re fully equipped to teach the masses, whether it’s online or in-person, and you are absolutely capable of being an excellent educator.
Now it’s time to round up a larger group and create your mastermind, which can be another one-time event or an ongoing gathering that continues supporting the group as everyone applies the knowledge and experiences new challenges and growth along the way. You can host it monthly, quarterly, biannually, or as often as you think is necessary depending on the group’s needs and the subject matter.
Remember: hosting a mastermind is less about YOU and more about the group becoming invested in a collective goal, cheering each other on and lifting one another up. So once you’re super clear on that goal and attract the likeminded folks who are ready to work on it together, you’re all set to have meaningful, impactful gatherings with your mastermind group. And I know you’re going to kill it!
You have everything in you to create your own mastermind.
And KBB is THE course of all courses to help you extract what you know and teach it to others!
