What Needs “Fixin’” Now?
How the Dinner You Sit Down to This Week is Similar to Your Mastermind Group
Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at View From The Top! As we here in the USA gather around a table filled with delicious food, I can’t help but think of what makes a wonderful Thanksgiving meal. It’s loaded with things that make an incredible experience, when put together properly.
In our mastermind groups, we just finished reading “The Vision Script” by Michael Hyatt. It shows leaders how to build an inspiring vision. Part of the process Hyatt recommends includes writing “statements” to describe the desired future of your team, products, marketing and impact.
Do you have such a vision for your online mastermind group? Let me tell you, having a vision for these key areas leads to success!
Think about preparing Thanksgiving dinner without a vision. You may think this is dramatic, but stay with me. Would you find satisfaction in giving your guests any old turkey? What if the mashed potatoes were so-so? If you baked an average pie, would it sit right with you? And if you hosted an average Thanksgiving, would that make you proud?
I sure hope you answered “no” to those questions.
The real problem is mastermind groups online that deliver a half-baked experience. They don’t take time to think of the experience they want members to have or how to deliver it. They seem happy to feed people a stale, flavorless plate.
One of our values at View From The Top is “Make It Amazing.” For your mastermind, there’s a recipe that’s sure to give you an amazing finished product. The Mastermind Playbook will tell you the ingredients you need and the steps to take to create an outstanding mastermind group.
Why You Need to Plan Your Menu and Your Preparation
Have you ever seen a holiday meal almost magically come together? I don’t know if you’ve ever been in the kitchen during a big gathering. It’s just as busy as the most successful mastermind business! The things you coordinate so all the dishes are hot and fresh is mind boggling!
This is no accident. You can bet, the person tasked with presenting a great Thanksgiving experience has planned it out well in advance. If you’ve ever been disappointed with the big meal, you know what I’m talking about.
There’s the turkey, the potatoes, the stuffing, the cranberry sauce. All equally important. But which one is most important? That answer is simpler than you think: iIt's whatever you need to fix or prepare at this moment!
If you can prep the turkey in advance and let it cook for a few hours, that gives you plenty of time to peel, mash, and whip up potatoes.
I can see you’re getting hungry, so I’ll spare more food examples. But can you see how this is the same outlook you need for your mastermind group? If your team is doing great work, you probably don’t need to focus on their future as much as how you’ll drum up new business.
If you know the impact you’re going to create, maybe you need to spend some time creating new products or services to bring that impact to life. If Thanksgiving can teach us anything (other than how much we have to be thankful for) it’s that great things take care and attention.
You know what else took care and attention to create? The Mastermind Playbook! Hundreds of hours and countless intelligent people brought this work of art together. All in the hopes that mastermind group leaders find value in its contents.
How to Know What to Work on Next
What do you fix next? With the Thanksgiving meal, it’s easy to know. If you understand how long each dish takes to make, you’re off to a good start. Once you know this, you can work out the timing, from prepping to cooking to serving.
But what about the parts of your vision for your mastermind? Even though these pieces aren’t as tangible and often lack a recipe book, all it takes is a good look at your ingredients. How likely they are to create the dish you desire?
That’s my way of saying you should work on the portion of your mastermind group that’s most important to bringing your vision to life. Fix portions in the order that either provides the most impact or creates the most efficiency NOW.
You can always work on other things that don’t take as much effort, like the cranberry sauce, a bit later. At this point, it’s all about making sure the bird’s in the oven! Let’s take a look at ways to discover what you should be working on right now.
- Consult your short-term vision script
In “The Vision Script,” Hyatt recommends a vision of where you want to be 3 to 5 years from today. It’s far enough ahead to be inspiring, but close enough to not seem impossible. By knowing where you’ll be in a few years, you can clearly see which portion of your online mastermind group you need to work on first.
If an improved offering of business coaching services will bring more value, start fleshing that out. If a bigger team will free you up to spend more time with the members of your mastermind group, start building one. If improved marketing would fill your group with your ideal member, get on it! It’s easier to know where to start when you know where you want to go.
- Look at other mastermind groups and innovate
In any business, you don’t want to be a copycat. There’s nothing wrong with doing what other successful people do. But if you spend all of your time trying to be identical to them, you can bet it won’t work. Families hand down Thanksgiving recipes for generations, but each generation puts their own special “twist” on how it’s done.
- Ask for input from others
No one is an island. Yet it’s easy to feel that way, especially when you’re the leader of a business mastermind. Don’t think you don’t sometimes need to be the patient, when you’re normally the doctor. Sometimes it takes another set of eyes to see what you need to fix.
You can’t fear asking for help if you want to be an effective mentor coach. Someone probably taught you how to cook a turkey. Why can’t someone provide guidance for leading your mastermind group effectively? Isn’t it authentic to have business coaches of your own, if you’re going to ask people to take your advice?
The recipe you’re looking for is The Mastermind Playbook. It’ll give you a taste of the right elements, the proper steps to take, and a satisfying end result. Go ahead, eat it up and digest everything you need to create an amazing mastermind business!
