Lewis Howes

Lewis: This is episode 728 the power of mastermind. Welcome to the school of greatness my name is Lewis Howes, a former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur and each week we bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness. Thanks for spending some time with me today, now let the class begin.

Hey everybody welcome to this episode I’m super excited about this because it’s all me talking, every single week I get you guys St. Louis we want to hear more from you, we want to hear just your strategies, we love the big celebrities and business icons and world class athletes that you bring on we love those stories, but we also want to hear more from you. So, we’re doing that right now, I’m gonna do more of this as well because I got to give you what you want and this one is all about the power of masterminds. Now why am I doing it on this? Because it’s one of the single most important things that’s help me build my business and my relationships in life is mastermind.

I want to talk about the strategy of it throughout this entire episode, I want to talk about how to find the right mastermind, why? It’s the thing if I could go back at the beginning of my business and only do one thing why I would join a high level curative mastermind. I want to talk about all this stuff in this episode and if you’re not in a mastermind right now then you’re gonna want to look for one, it could be one locally in your community, city, region or it could be national or international one. I have one called greatness mastermind and its greatnessmastermind.com and they’re 7 figure earners, they’re influencers with a half a million to millions of followers and we help the double, triple quadruple their income in 12 months and help them make a bigger impact in the.

That’s the mission if you want to check it out you can go to greatnessmastermind.com but only apply if you’re making 7 figures a year or if you have millions of followers or if you have a large audience close to that because that would be something for me to look at. We’ve had over 500+ people already applied we’ve turned down almost all of them, you know we take a very small percentage of the top of the top and bring them into the mastermind group because I’m looking for the right people that I want to work with, that I want to coach for an entire year and that I think would be a great fit culturally for the energy and environment we’ve created as a group, we’ve had 40 powerful people from 2018 who just have grown and thrive in massive ways in their personal life and business and I want to continue to thrive with that small community of people who are really stepping up to a whole new level.

So that’s what this episode is all about and I’m super excited about it make sure to share with a friend lewishowes.com/728 tag me on your Instagram story, let people know about it the power of mastermind.

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All right guys super excited about this, let’s dive into this episode on the power of masterminds.

This episode is a solo round with myself all about the power of masterminds and if I look back at the last 9 years of myself in business being an entrepreneur and growing my business over the years, creating multiple companies, selling companies, dissolving companies having business partners, having affiliates all these different things that I’ve done if I look back over the last 9 years when I got started and I think about what’s the one thing that’s transform my business the most? If there was 1 thing I can think off or if I could go back to the start and start doing one thing over again what would that be?

Without a doubt the answer is masterminds and I got fortunate I feel very lucky that I got fortunate and found out about masterminds early on, I read thinking go rich someone recommended it to me back in 2008 I was doing like a book kind of weekly book club and we were going over the book and there was this idea about masterminds and at the time I was a younger guy, very green I didn’t know much about anything in business, I was just kind of figuring it out as I went. I was on my sister’s couch at the time just trying to make a little bit of cash and this idea about proximity who you spend your time with, the mentors you’re surrounded by and the peers in your industry who are experts who have access to resources, who have access to information, who have access to leverage and connections and being in proximity of influential people in your space and those who have already created what you want to create. Having access to that type of group is one of the most powerful things that you can have and if I could go back and start all over again I would find a mastermind ASAP.

In this solo episode I’m going to talk about the 6 keys to looking for a powerful mastermind what he needs to have, what you should be looking for and how to know which one is the right one for you. Now, why should you be looking for a mastermind in the first place? Some of you might even think about that what is it? Is it for me? Is it right for me? Am I ready for one? Here’s the thing when I started out I was constantly travelling a different industry conferences, I was going to these events flying around the country, I was taking greyhound buses actually my first few events because I didn’t have any money, I was sleeping in hostels one night the hostel they gave up my bunkbed which had puke on it the first time I went to a hostel, then the 2^nd night they gave up the bed for some other European person that was in the town and so I had to take my bags and walk around the city and I found someone at a bar and convince them to let me crash on their apartment, a complete stranger this is kind of what I did early on when I had no money, no resources nothing.

I was going to industry events and I was meeting influencers, I was meeting experts who had information that I wanted. I was building affiliate partners and joint ventures through this professionals and peers at this different industries and that was extremely powerful having access to the right people, being able to text someone and call someone, reach out to someone for feedback or advice. To accelerate anything that was holding me back that was what I was looking for and that was great until I found one influencer who invited me to promote one of his kind of online programs and he ask me to promote his program this was a bigger influencer big in the online marketing space and he said ‘Hey, the top 10 people who get the most sales I’m going to host a private mastermind for those influencers, the ones who generated the most sales from my product.’ And so I got really excited about this because I saw all the other people who are going to be at this event, this little private mastermind and I was aware of most of them they were very influential in our industry, in the online marketing space they had made 100 times more money than I was making at the time, they had thriving business, they had large email list and audiences and I was like if I can get that room I think I could create some magic from that room. So luckily enough I got 10^th in terms of generating sales for this program for this contest he was doing and I got invited to my first mastermind. Now, I was kind of like expecting some weird wizardry stuff to happen because I don’t know what a mastermind is so like speak easy like you need a secret password to get in, it was just like what is this thing and I was so nervous the first time I went to my first mastermind and I realized it’s just a room full of people it was just like a private small event. But they discussed was things I had never heard before and that’s where my mind open up because what I heard in this group was extremely insightful, I mean they were probably like 6 or 7 different things I took in a 2 day 9 to 5 type of experience of this mini event. It was about 15 people eventually that were there, probably 6 or 7 different things that I learned that helped me multiply my income over the next few months and over the next few years that I still use those strategies today.

Then the next month I had built 5 key relationships out of this 15 person room, 5 relationships where all 5 of this individuals we got along, we got a lot in common and they wanted to promote the product that I had which was at time was a LinkedIn course a LinkedIn marketing and advance things to strategy and this individuals all promoted my course via a webinar to their audience, to their list. I generated over $250,000 over the next month because of this 5 relationship. Now the whole year before I had only done almost a half a million dollars in sale busting my butt day after day, week after week, month after month for the whole year we generated almost half a million dollars in sales. Then we go to 1 mastermind we meet 5 relationships and within 30 days it’s generated $250,000. Now we generated $250,000 from 5 key relationship in the mastermind because it was very specific, I also got again 6 or 7 different ideas in ways to optimize my business and ways to save time, save money accelerate growth that I implemented and it did something else for me, it created a sense of accountability at a level I’ve never faced before because now I’m in a room full of peers, now I was at the bottom of the room essentially in terms of credibility and results and success. But it created a sense of accountability for me that I’ve never had before, where now I was surrounded by a group of peers that I highly respected and a facilitator who was coaching all of us and guiding all of us that I really respected and it made me level up the way I thought, the way I acted, the way I took action, the way that I believe in myself more than I ever had before, and that’s when the moment I realized I need to be a part of mastermind and more and more, because it generated $250,000 in direct sales from 5 relationships I built from this in 30 days afterwards. It’s generated over a million and a half dollars over that year in sales, this is my 2^nd year in business I only done maybe 6 or 7 months of business before this.

Then the next year went to 2 million and then 2 and a half and continue to grow and every year I was a part of at least 1 or 2 different masterminds and again if one relationship generated 6 figures out of the mastermind, if 1 idea generated 6 figures for me, if one moment of being accountable to take action on something generated 6 figures for me then it was worth the investment I was paying to be a part of this masterminds. And many of them are 20, 25, $50,000 and it seemed like a lot of money up front but every time I went to one of this private speak weekend experiences where I was getting coach and learning all the industry secrets from everyone else in group and getting feedback and getting inspired it elevated my business, it elevated me and that proximity and those relationships are so much more valuable that anything I ever spent in order to get there. So for me a lot of people ask ‘If you could go back and do 1 thing Lewis what would you start with?’ And if I could do one thing from the beginning to do something now, now that I am you know achieving incredible financial results. I keep doing this, I keep looking for masterminds and core groups of individuals who are excelling far beyond what I’m doing, who are achieving far greater results than I’m achieving and I’m learning from them, it’s part of the reason I have this podcast is that I seek out the most brilliant people in the world to teach me, to teach me how can I continue to grow, how can I evolved and become a better person, how can I build my business, how can I do all these things to improve and get to where I want to be. So if you are at a place right now where you want to grow you’re business, you want to grow yourself personally then you’ve got to be looking for this core groups you know in the industry people call them masterminds, you can call them a core group you can call them an accountability group you know it doesn’t really matter the name but in the industry a lot of people call this masterminds.

I want to talk about the 6 things you should be looking for when wanting to join a mastermind, I’ve already set the stage and let you know that you need to be a part of one and you need to be a part of something where there’s a community that are creating similar results as you if not more results of you if you want to support your growth even more and that’s what help me grow my business the fastest in proximity to the ideas, the people, the partnerships and the information that I need to accelerate my growth. Some people have a 1 on 1 coach and that’s great as well because a 1 on 1 coach who will support you in personal accountability but you’re limited by one person’s accountability and one person’s coaching and ideas and feedback as opposed of being in a group of people, peers and an abundance of ideas, an abundance of accountability. So with 1 on 1 coaching you get that 1 on 1 accountability, that intimate support maybe but you miss out on the abundance of partnership opportunities the abundance of joint venture opportunities and higher level accountability. So here are the 6 things you need to look for when joining a mastermind:

• Number 1 the coach or facilitator or the person who has the mastermind needs to be extremely credible and you need to aspire if you want to learn from them. So they need to be someone who’s extremely credible in your industry, whatever industry you are in it doesn’t matter, they need to be someone whose created results that you want to learn from, you want to achieve certain results that they achieve it doesn’t mean you have to be them, doesn’t mean you have to copy them, it just mean you want to aspire to learn from them and they have to have credibility in their industry and there was, a lot of people early on that were just crushing it in kind of the online business world that I was not doing and I was just like let me learn from all these people. You got to make sure they live by a certain level of ethics and values that you also want to be a part of because you could join a mastermind where someone is making 10, 20 million dollars a year. But if the person is very unethical or all they do is focus on making money but they’re hurting their customers then you don’t want to be a part of a group like that because that’s not going to rub off on you in powerful positive way. So you got to think about that.
• Number 2 is the content and the industry right. So there might be a mastermind in the car the auto industry or the beauty space or the financial service space. And I might look at them and say ‘this is cool.’ But I’m not in the auto industry I don’t sell cars. So you got to make sure that the content fits exactly what you’re looking for don’t just join a mastermind because of you know 1 person ask you to or something, you need to make sure that the content fits your model, your business, your content model as well. So number 2 is the content and the industry, is it the right fit moving forward.
• Number 3 is the structure work for you? Most mastermind will meet in person a few times a year as a group, they’ll do group calls there might be some 1 on 1 coaching there might be some different things. Is the structure work for you and your lifestyle? If it’s constantly travelling around the world on retreats and exotic locations maybe that’s the most exciting thing for you and you need that. But if you like to be in your hometown then maybe you just want to stay in your city and don’t want to travel as much. The content might be right, the industry might be right but the structure doesn’t work for you, so you got to find a structure that works for your lifestyle your business as well. So number 3 is structure how often are they meeting, talking.
• Number 4 is the group right? Meaning is the people in the group the types of people that you also want to learn from that you also want to be inspired by not just the facilitator, the creator of the mastermind, but are the people in the group could they potentially support you? Could you partner with some of them potentially? Could you learn from them as well? Are you inspired to be around that group or are you gonna be the smartest person in the room? You know you don’t want to join a mastermind where you’re the smartest person in the room. It’s okay if you’re the smartest at one area of something but you want to also learn from other people and make sure that they are really smart, talented people who are also thriving and successful in that room. So ask the facilitator, the creator who are the other people in this group so you make sure that you are inspired by them as well and on a similar level.
• Number 5 is accountability. Is there accountability in place in order for you to have marks along the year, most masterminds are 6 months or a year is there accountability in place whether it’d be monthly or quarterly that allows you to set goals so that you can create big results on at least a monthly or quarterly basis. So that by the end of the program the yearlong program you have created incredible financial results, your goal is to create an abundance of wealth in your business or in your industry which ever type of mastermind you are joining. You want to have accountability in place and structure whether it’s a system, it’s a structure whatever it may be to make sure you are setup for success and that’s what you need is consistent accountability at the highest level. Is the mastermind that you want to be a part of creating that for you?
• Number 6 is it coaching you to play bigger. So you don’t want to join something and invest in something that’s gonna keep you in the same level, that’s just gonna maintain you might as well not do anything at all because you can maintain where you are at without any coaching and any inspiration and any powerful mastermind group that you are a part of. I believe you want to be a part of something that’s coaching you to play bigger that the coach doesn’t allow you to play small, that the other members of the team don’t allow you to play small, and that people don’t sellout on you. That’s what you need to invest in because you’re probably one of the smartest people in the room right now, you’re probably someone who’s got lot of the answer that people come to you, if that’s the case you need to be having a beginners mind again you need to constantly clear your mind and be open to new possibilities and that’s the power of being in a mastermind. In my mastermind the greatness mastermind the members, I’ll do a 1 on 1 call with the members at the beginning of the year and they’ll tell me their financial goals for the next 12 months and sometimes the goals are kind of actually like too big based on where they are at this last year to where they want to be. Sometimes I actually got to like pull people back a little bit because you don’t want to say ‘Okay, I made a million dollars this year and I’m gonna make a hundred million in the next 12 months.’ And I say okay, you know in a world of possibilities anything is possible but tell me how exactly you’re gonna do that? And if they don’t have a clear action plan of how they’re gonna do that, I say ‘Okay, why not go for 10 million instead.’ Whatever maybe based on they say their action step gonna be, they say I’m going to make hundred million working 2 hours a week, unless you tell me the game plan of how is that possible let’s create more realistic goals for you that are also crazy that seem crazy based on where you are right now. So, I focus on that but a lot of people they play too small they’re saying they made a million dollars last year they say “I want to make 3.3 million dollars.’ And I looked at all the things they did all the actions they took and I can see what’s possible for them. I am seeing the masterpiece that’s available at the end of the year for them typically, and most of them aren’t seeing it for themselves for whatever reasons. We have blocks, we have doubts that hold us back and for whatever reason that is a challenge, we need to eliminate those challenges.

Again those are the 6 main points to cover when joining a mastermind when looking for a mastermind. Definitely do your research, do your due diligence, feel free to ask people who’ve been a part of that mastermind previously about their experience of course and when you feel comfortably ready then you can dive in. I’ve got my mastermind which is called the greatness mastermind, if you go to greatnessmastermind.com you can learn more about mine, you can apply there if you’re a 7 figure earner entrepreneur or if you have a massive audience, if you have hundreds of thousands of followers and you feel like you’re not making the type of revenue you want to. Maybe you are making a half a million dollars a year and you got a million followers, you should be definitely earning multiple 7 figure and there’s lots of people in our group over the last 2 years who have done that with larger audiences, really figuring out the systems in place and the actions to take week by week, month by month to get clear on how to generate those revenue goals.

My mastermind is all about impact and income. How do we build more impact in our own personal lives and the life of our community or audience our customers, how do we impact humanity through our message through our work, service our product and to our customers and how do we earn more income in the process because with income creates resources and those resources allow us to put us back into more impact.

I hope you guys enjoy this episode this solo round, if you want more from me if you want more content like this where I’m diving in the strategy inside my mind on what I’ve done to build my business, my brand, my lifestyle, my habits, my success strategies. If you want more, then just let me know send me message over on Instagram take a screenshot of this and share with your friends Lewishowes.com/728. Be a part of the community spread the message of greatness by sharing this with one friend, share this on social media, put it anywhere it makes sense but get the community involve in our community of greatness, we’d love that that’d be the best way to support us. If you’re interested in being a part of the greatness mastermind then go to greatnessmastermind.com but remember only apply if you’re ready to commit because it’s a big investment and if you’re ready to go all in this next year on your goals financially and on your impact goals. If you are ready to dive in with the community of high earning achievers who are constantly looking on making a big impact and apply only if that’s you. I say no to a lot of people that do apply so just don’t waste our time unless you’re ready to go all in and if not there’s other great mastermind for you as well as mine is not for everyone. I hope you guys enjoyed this one, again a big thank you to our sponsor netsuite.com/greatness and everlane.com/greatness make sure you guys check them out.

I love you guys so very much and I want you to reflect on this I want you to reflect on what are your big dreams next year. What is the thing that is burning in your heart that is yet to do? I want you to think about it, I want you to imagine it and feel it. Next year is all about creating the environment in your life to attract those dreams, you must build the environment around you to cultivate the energy that comes in your life when you’re taking those actions. I did a video recently where I talked about on Facebook and Instagram where I said the biggest crimes we can commit is going to bed without a dream and waking up without a purpose. It’s your job to dream big, it’s your job to go to sleep with dreams and wake up with a purpose so that you can pursue your life with 100% passion, love and energy. I love you guys so very much and you know what time it is it’s time to go out there and do something great.