8 Great Reasons for Creatives to Join a Mastermind Group
Mastermind groups are not just for million-dollar CEOs and internet marketers
You’re at your desk, alone, struggling to transfer your thoughts into meaningful creations.
It’s just not happening. Something is wrong, and you don’t know what.
If only you had someone you could talk to about the problem. Someone who understands what you’re going through.
That’s the basic idea behind mastermind groups. They are people who know you and your business, and can help you think up solutions to problems.
Traditional mastermind groups are oriented toward business owners and CEOs. But a new crop of masterminds are springing up that are geared toward solopreneurs. They are great places for individual creatives to find camaraderie and understanding. And, of course, to grow their business.
I’ve been in many masterminds over the past 30 years. They range from my earliest local writer’s group, to my current self-improvement group. Here’s why I believe in them so strongly.
Reasons to join a mastermind group
#1: Accountability
The biggest reason to join a mastermind group is the accountability. You make a promise to these people at the end of each meeting, about what you will do by the next meeting. Knowing that they’ll be calling you on it gives you great motivation to get it done.
I joined one mastermind group specifically for people writing non-fiction books. We were following an outline of what steps to take to write, publish, and launch the books.
Every week, we filled in a spreadsheet showing where we were at. Green for the goals we had met, red for the ones we had missed. You could use yellow if you’d partially met the goal. But you had to justify why you hadn’t completely reached it, and the group could down-vote your yellow to a red.
There were many days when I felt like skipping some of the tasks.
Writing was easy. I’ve always loved doing that.
But actually producing a book involved interviewing editors and hiring the right one. Going back and forth with potential cover artists and making a final selection. Researching and deciding upon the final trim size of the book. Ugh!
On those days, it was that spreadsheet that kept me going. I couldn’t bear the thought of a red square next to my name, for everyone to see. I had to at least try to get it done.
Would I have finished the book without the mastermind group? Maybe. After all, I’d written over a dozen fiction books by that time.
Would it have become the Amazon #1 bestseller in its category? No, it would not.
Because it was the hard stuff that made it that good. And the hard stuff is the first to go without accountability.
#2: Connection
Another popular reason to join a mastermind group is for the connection. Especially for solopreneurs, it is extremely valuable to find a group that gets them. People who share the same challenges make it seem less like you have to do everything alone.
When I first moved to Colorado, I tried out a women entrepreneur’s mastermind. Members ran everything from a dog-walking service to time-sharing legal services. There were also a fair share of creatives, such as website designers and graphic artists.
It wasn’t worth the hour and a half commute for me to attend, but the women who were local valued the camaraderie. Being a female entrepreneur comes with specific challenges, and everyone there understood them.
#3: Challenge
Other people enjoy the challenge of being part of a mastermind group. When you see what everyone else is able to achieve, you are inspired to up your own game.
In a writer’s group, seeing your fellow authors entering (and winning) contests can spur you on. You break past the fear (what if they think I’m no good?) and take the plunge.
You can also fight off perfectionism by seeing how many pages members can write. And how good they are! Instead of agonizing for hours over the perfect word, you get a first draft down and done. Only then do you agonize over the edits.
This article is itself part of a 30-articles-in-30-days challenge. Meeting that challenge is the entry criteria to join David Majister’s mastermind group.
#4: Networking
Still others take advantage of the networking opportunities. They may find new business partners or joint venture partners in the group. Or, they can leverage their group members’ networks when they are looking for skills.
When my kitchen recently flooded from a burst pipe, I reached out to someone in my mastermind group. He buys and upgrades properties, so he has many contacts in construction. He was able to give me names of reliable painters and contractors.
I used to belong to the Hard Lemonade Science Fiction Society. We were a group of writers who would gather to critique each other’s science fiction and fantasy. Most of the members moved away, but I still get invites to write for the small press one founded.
#5: Objectivity
Objectivity is another highly valued benefit of a mastermind group. These people have no ulterior motive to their feedback. Impartial evaluation of your options can lead to better decision making. And impartial evaluation of your work is imperative for creatives to improve.
It was my writers group that first steered my writing toward erotic romance.
I was writing what I thought was a sweet, wholesome scene where the heroine was making meatloaf. One member blushed so hard, she pulled her sweater over her head to hide. Another ducked under the table.
This was objective feedback at its finest. I might have thought the passage was sweet, but that was clearly not how it registered with others. (I still don’t understand why they thought that…but that’s not the point.)
Their feedback steered me into a genre where people would appreciate the way I already wrote.
#6: Focus
Having a limited time to explain your biggest problem also helps your focus. You have to distill the issue down to its core elements, giving you greater clarity.
In my current mastermind, we each get 4 minutes to describe our wins and losses during the past week. If there’s something you want help with, it’s part of that 4 minutes. So you have to really narrow down your description to exactly what is most crucial to convey.
In respect for each person’s time, suggestions from members are also distilled down. This helps you to quickly grasp what impact their suggestion will have for you.
#7: Growth mindset
Being surrounded by peers with a growth mindset helps you to stay in a growth mindset. Instead of thinking “I can’t” you think “I need to learn how”. Fortunately, you are also surrounded by people who may know how to do the exact thing that’s troubling you.
Many mastermind groups sponsor visits from experts in what members want to learn. That’s what the writers groups I’ve been in have done. Another benefit of this is that groups can exchange members — our expert talks to them and their expert talks to us.
Other masterminds read and discuss books on various subjects the members are learning. My current mastermind group, with its emphasis on self-improvement, does this. We have a list of books to read for the month, and discuss them at every meeting.
In another group I was in, members were assigned to go learn about something. (You could also pitch a topic you were interested in to see if the group was also interested.) Then they would present what they had learned to the group at a later meeting.
#8: Ideas
Finally, you will gain an abundance of new ideas. They may be things that other people are implementing in their own businesses. Or they may be solutions that the group brainstorms specifically to help you.
Because your work impacts your life and your life impacts your work, ideas can be for anything.
When we were discussing the book Tiny Habits, our mastermind group went crazy! Suggestions for how to eat slower, spend quality time with family, or relocate easier. Everything was fair game for a Tiny Habit creation.
Join or Create a Mastermind
If your business can support it, you can spend thousands of dollars to join a mastermind group. If you’re new or still struggling, there are plenty of free or low-cost mastermind groups.
Writer Rosemary Richings offers step-by-step instruction in joining a creatives mastermind on Facebook. It boils down to finding the communities sponsored by bloggers you already follow.
If you’d prefer an in-person mastermind with fellow creatives, consider starting your own. Austin Bollinger has a great description of how he formed his mastermind group. So does Cat at the Indie Design Company.
The common points are to start small, agree on the purpose of the group, and set ground rules for behavior. There are also penalties established for people who break those rules. Penalties might be a fine, or it might be expulsion from the group for serious infractions.
Whether you choose to start your own or enroll in an existing mastermind, I hope you join one. The benefits are too great to turn down.
Conclusion
Masterminds are groups of growth-minded peers meeting regularly for mutual support and improvement. They are especially useful for creatives and solopreneurs, who otherwise are alone.
I’ve been in mastermind groups for 30 years. I’ve highlighted 8 of what I consider to be the best benefits.
You can find free or low cost mastermind groups. There are also mastermind communities on Facebook. Or you can start your own.
I hope you are able to soon start experiencing the benefits of a mastermind group for yourself.
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