Masterminds: Leveling Up Your Consulting Game with Aïko Thurlow

Instead of having everyone work in a silo to figure out what needs to happen and how, isn’t it amazing when you can actually just put all that brainpower together and work collectively on a mission. -Aïko Thurlow

Masterminds: Leveling Up Your Consulting Game with Aïko Thurlow

Ever feel like you're on an island, trying to figure out this whole business-building thing on your own? Well, shake off that isolation, because we're diving into the world of peer masterminds – where "yes, and" thinking meets the power of collective wisdom.

In this episode, we're joined by Aïko Thurlow, an experienced mastermind facilitator who's helped many entrepreneurs grow their businesses. Aïko's sharing insights on how these small groups can significantly improve your consulting practice.

Key Highlights:

• Why flying solo is so 2019 (and how masterminds can be your secret weapon)

• The art of curating a kickass mastermind group (hint: it's not just about finding other consultants)

• How to create a vibe where vulnerability isn't just okay, it's celebrated

• Structured chaos: Aïko's tips for meetings that actually get sh*t done

• The facilitator's toolbox: Techniques to keep your mastermind humming along

Whether you're new to masterminds or looking to improve your existing group, this episode offers practical advice to help you build the support system your consulting business needs.

So grab your favorite note-taking tool (we won't judge if it's a cocktail napkin), and let's explore how peer support can fuel your growth. Your future self (and your bank account) will thank you.

00:02:33 The Role of Masterminds in Business Growth

Aiko Thurlow from infounders discusses the importance of masterminds for entrepreneurs, emphasizing mental health, knowledge sharing, and getting unstuck.

00:05:02 Benefits of Masterminds

Aiko elaborates on the benefits of masterminds including building deep relationships, knowledge sharing, and personal and professional growth.

00:07:42 Developing Trust and Vulnerability in Mastermind Groups

Jess explores the importance of trust and vulnerability in mastermind groups and seeks advice from Aiko on finding the right facilitator and building trust with peers.

00:09:16 The Importance of Trust in Mastermind Groups

Trust is foundational in mastermind groups, creating a safe space for vulnerability and growth. Building care and seeing each other as humans fosters generosity and meaningful transformations, facilitated by a skilled leader.

00:14:28 Commitment, Prioritization, and Accountability in Mastermind Groups

Structured programs with defined schedules and facilitators ensure commitment and accountability. Consistent meetings, prioritization, and frequency play key roles in the success of mastermind groups.

00:16:16 The Importance of Commitment in Mastermind Groups

Commitment is key for successful masterminds, rooted in historical examples like Benjamin Franklin's Digiunto group. Emphasizes mutual empowerment, accountability, and understanding peers' busyness for commitment to show up.

00:20:30 Personal Insights and Reflections on Balance

Discussion on decompressing, balancing work and motherhood, and cherishing time with children. Emphasizes self-kindness and finding fun in parenting. Reflects on the importance of precious moments with children.

00:22:37 Structuring Effective Mastermind Meetings

Exploration of mandatory aspects like commitment, group curation, and hot seat preparation. Detailed overview of a typical mastermind structure, including kickoff, Gestalt methodology, high and low check-ins, hot seats, and feedback sharing.

00:26:49 Challenges of Post-Mastermind Accountability

Discussion on the importance of post-mastermind accountability to ensure follow-through on commitments. Reflects on the need for structured post-meeting accountability to track and follow up on action items born during the mastermind gatherings.

00:28:13 The Importance of Accountability in Mastermind Sessions

Discusses the accountability process in mastermind sessions, emphasizing the importance of setting smart goals, regular follow-ups, and personal accountability for progress.

00:31:41 Adapting Goals in Mastermind Groups

Explores the concept of holding onto the end goal while being open to changing paths based on opportunities and feedback, highlighting the flexibility and adaptability within mastermind groups.

00:32:58 Organizational Focus in Mastermind Clients

Details the shift towards working with organizations in mastermind sessions, offering insight into facilitator certification and the benefits of more mastermind groups in different settings.

00:35:06 Navigating Mastermind Costs and Value

Addresses the topic of pricing in mastermind groups, comparing free peer masterminds with paid facilitator-led sessions, and raises questions on how to determine the value of high-cost masterminds.

00:36:15 The Value of Mastermind Groups

Exploration of different types of mastermind groups, from celebrity masterminds with high price points to regular masterminds for high-level business individuals.

00:40:27 Peer Learning and Business Confessions

Discussion on the importance of learning from peers in mastermind groups and sharing business confessions for personal growth and connection.

00:41:05 Imposter Syndrome in Facilitating Mastermind Groups

Insight into experiencing imposter syndrome while running mastermind groups and the continuous self-work involved in personal transformation.

00:43:07 Connecting with the Host

Information on connecting with the podcast host on LinkedIn or their website for further content and support in starting or joining mastermind groups.

Find Us Online:  https://www.confessionswithjessandcindy.com

Connect with Aiko:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aikothurlow/ 

Website: https://www.infounders.org/ 

Connect with Cindy:

Cindy Wagman Coaching: cindywagman.com

Fractional Fundraising Network: fractionalfundraising.co/

LinkedIn: ca.linkedin.com/in/cindywagman

Connect with Jess:

Out In the Boons: outintheboons.me

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jesscampbelloutintheboons/

Transcript:

[00:00:00 - 00:00:03]
Welcome to the Confessions podcast. I'm Cindy Wagman.

[00:00:03 - 00:00:11]
And I'm Jess Campbell. Where two former in house nonprofit pros turn coaches and consultants to purpose driven organizations.

[00:00:11 - 00:00:20]
After years of building up our separate six figure businesses from scratch, we've thrown a lot of spaghetti at the wall and lived to see what sticks.

[00:00:20 - 00:00:30]
We're on a mission to help other nonprofit coaches and consultants looking to start or scale their own businesses past the six figure mark by pulling back the curtain.

[00:00:30 - 00:00:51]
Whether you're still working inside a nonprofit and thinking of one day going out on your own or you've been running your consulting business for years, you understand that working with nonprofits is just different. We're giving you access to the business leaders who serve nonprofits as their clients. You know, the people who truly get it.

[00:00:51 - 00:01:10]
No more gatekeeping, no more secrets. This podcast is going to give you an inside look at what running a successful nonprofit coaching and consulting business looks like. Basically, we're asking people how much money they make, how they get paid, and what has and hasn't worked in their businesses.

[00:01:11 - 00:01:27]
Listen in as these leaders share their insights, their numbers, and the good, the bad, and ugly. When it comes to building a nonprofit coaching or consulting business, we're going to empower you to make the power moves that give you the income and freedom you set out to create from day one.

[00:01:28 - 00:01:30]
You ready? Let's go.

[00:01:31 - 00:01:32]
Hey, Jess.

[00:01:33 - 00:01:35]
Hello and happy summer.

[00:01:35 - 00:01:56]
Happy, happy summer. We are recording this a week and a half before we meet in person for our mastermind retreat. I'm so excited. I feel like our audience, if they've been listening, that's like, sick of hearing about it. It's a little, anyways, so exciting. It's definitely a highlight of my year.

[00:01:56 - 00:01:57]
Same.

[00:01:57 - 00:02:33]
And because we get so many questions about our mastermind, today's conversation, we've brought in an expert on masterminds and someone who I first met when I was in an accelerator program. So I'm really, I think we're going to dive into a lot of juicy stuff for people as you, our audience, think about how to make this a meaningful strategy for your business. So with that, it's a pleasure to introduce Aiko Thurlow from infounders. Let's start, Aiko, tell us a little bit of what you do.

[00:02:33 - 00:04:23]
Yes. Well, first of all, thank you for having me. Super excited to be here. It's lovely. Yes. So what I do, I run masterminds for a living. So good that this is a topic of interest. Good that this is something that you both have been experiencing and that you're about to go on a retreat. So, yes, for anyone who might not be aware, masterminds are small, behind the scene groups that are very intimate, where you get together with peers and have discussions about your businesses, which sometimes can also go onto the personal side of your life because business and personal tend to merge even though we want them to be separate. That being said, yes. So I've been running mastermind since 2017. Prior to that, I was an entrepreneur myself, and I think I just saw firsthand just how hard solitary, lonely, anxiety filling being on the entrepreneurship path wise, it's something that's super lonely. And when I came across a group of amazing people with whom I just thought, okay, how do we keep on meeting? What happens past the first coffee date? Someone suggested a mastermind. I started exploring what it was, and that was really the start of my deep and genuine interest into that topic. So much so that the group that we started casually on the slide became something that actually helped transformed a whole lot of people's businesses who were in that group. I started really getting interested in that topic, reading everything that was available on the topic, interviewing everyone that was out there doing it, to then leave the project that I was working on to devote myself fully to running a mastermind business. So since then, we've been doing this at scale. And, yes, as Cindy mentioned, yes, we met when New York University was running an accelerator program, and I was running their mastermind. And I love doing this. So, yeah, it's really passion project also, for me, also happens to be my bread and butter. But most of all, it's something I.

[00:04:23 - 00:05:02]
Love doing that is so great. I just love, it's so niche. I'm, like, a huge fan of just getting really niche with what you do and who you serve. And who would have thought that there's actually a business in running and helping people with masterminds? So, um, you mentioned the experience of loneliness as an entrepreneur, and that's part of your story. But I I suspect there's almost like a business case to be made for masterminds. Can you tell us what other reasons people might want to think about or convince them why they absolutely need a mastermind?

[00:05:02 - 00:07:41]
Oh, I can go on for hours. Yes. And I'll try to keep this brief. So, obviously, there is a whole mental health aspect of it, right. And I think, especially nowadays, we live in a society that's very isolating. There are a lot of very shallow relationship, but very few deep relationship. And because of that, a lot of the time we scroll social media or might look at the word around us and there's that sense of comparison and stress and anxiety to think, wait a second, everyone is rocking it. What about me? Little me, right? And even if it's not a self pitying thing, it is something that might cross through our mind of imposter syndrome or anything like that. And that's true not just in entrepreneurship, also elsewhere in terms of other benefits. Well, and I was just going to say, just to wrap up this point, actually, when you are with people who experience something similar, as you have similar aspirations as you just the relationships that can just build in there are beautiful, amazing, and you just have the impression that you found your people. The other part is that obviously in terms of knowledge sharing, whenever we are on a similar path as our peers, instead of having everyone work in a silo to figure out what needs to happen and how, isn't it amazing when you can actually just put all that brain power together and work collectively on a mission? So that becomes so rich in terms of sharing, what are people discovering? What's out there that they might not have seen learnt lesson from successes, but also from failures that can be learned in that group. And another big chunk is also to look into. So there's obviously elevating our businesses or elevating our project that we're working on, but there's also getting unstuck when we are stuck. So the getting unstuck part, that is a big part of a big component of the mastermind and the way a mastermind works usually is to have people come up and share what their challenges are and to have their peer support on thinking differently about this challenge and also looking at maybe new perspective, new options, new ways of solving it that they might not have thought of. And so this is just an overview of what this is. But I would say high level. I've seen people say that they are significantly in a better place from a business standpoint or a work standpoint with their mastermind, but also that comes and affect them personally. Where on the personal side too, there are the benefits of having more confidence, having better accountability, having just being clearer on what they're working on. And that 80 20 of what's really productive for you, having a group to talk about it is amazing because we all don't have enough time and being able to reprioritize, regain focus is priceless.

[00:07:42 - 00:09:15]
So absolutely, and I know Cindy and I both like can directly equate the wins, the successes, the financial upswings in our business because of our mastermind group, which is so powerful. You just spoke about getting unstuck, and as you were saying that, it was reminding me of just a lot of conversations. I host a community of about 150 nonprofit consultants, and the theme of 2024 is just that this year has been extremely tough. And I think for a lot of different reasons, people are feeling quite stuck. And then that drew my line of thinking to vulnerability and how to really become unstuck. You do need to be vulnerable, which requires trust. To be able to be vulnerable in front of people requires trust. And so I'm sitting here wondering, what are your recommendations for how you either surround yourself with a peer mastermind of people you trust, or what are some pieces of advice you have as far as finding a facilitator, maybe someone like you, that is in alignment with your values or your methods or your styles? These things take time, and so I'm just wondering what you suggest for someone who's out there. Okay, I want to do that. And I. Okay, now you're asking me to get unstuck and vulnerable with a bunch of strangers, perhaps, or people that maybe I'm, like you said, surface relationship with, not deep relationship with. So what's your advice for that?

[00:09:16 - 00:14:27]
So, I love that you bring up trust because it is the bedrock of everything, right? So even for ourselves, whenever we start mastermind groups, we have a set of values, and trust is really foundational. It's the one value that you need for anything else to happen, because this is a non judgment place, right? This is a place where you can show up and say, hey, you know what? You've seen my profile on LinkedIn. You've seen me on the public sphere. Let's just peel up the veil. And this is really who I am, and this is what feels really uncomfortable about my situation. What should I do? And that takes a whole lot of guts to do that, right? So, obviously, to be in a place where you can have this super important personally, what we've done is that we've come up with a methodology where we. So. And Cindy has gone through this. Obviously, when we start our sessions, we actually go through, first, an overview of what this mastermind will be, how it's going to work, the one on one of it. But then afterwards, we also go through an experiential icebreaker, which is not what's your favorite color? But something that actually invites people to really open up on something that is highly personal, and by having everyone show up very humanly to something. So not the. This is what. This is who I am. This is my business. Card, but rather the actually, this is me, the human, and this is what I find important. And this is what has affected me deeply in my life. We start seeing each other very differently, and that actually builds a foundation not just of trust, but actually of care. And that, to me, has been the secret recipe of our mastermind. It's that by first building care, where people get to see each other as humans, that allows for actually what this will do is that first people start seeing each other as competitors, or as I need to impress them, but just as fellow humans. And that creates an outpour of generosity. All of a sudden they are in a room with people that they care about, that they want to help. And hopefully there is a facilitator that's there. And this is why I'll have to say, some people say you don't really need a professional facilitator. I'm a little bit more biased, not just because I run a business, just because I've seen both sides, but I would say that's where having a good facilitator will not just help make sure that moment gets created, but also will really push towards having the opportunity to guide that generosity so that it is hyper productive. Because otherwise conversations will go in tangents. Conversation might. Someone might start opening up on a topic, and there's a lot of nonverbal to be noticed, but people who might not have the habit of it might skip it. Or at times people will ask a question around the challenge, but that's not the real challenge that they need to talk about, right? As a group, we need to dig deeper to unveil that. Actually, behind this, my team is not productive. Maybe there is a little bit too much of micromanagement that's going on, and maybe that's the real thing to explore and look at. And where does that stem from? And that's when there's really deep, meaningful, transformational changes that happens either in someone or in their business. But having the opportunity to go there, I would say, is what a little bit of practice helps with. Which is why having someone who's skilled can help with. If you don't have that, I would say it's still better to be in a group than to be alone, right? So I would still encourage people to come together, Uniteveregh and talk, and I'm more than happy to support. Maybe this is me needing to write a few blogs to support your community and tell them how to start on their own. But yes, I would just say that the level of sophistication of the experience might just be different, but obviously, there's still value in coming together and talking as a group of what's hard, what's complicated. But, yes, I would say back to the original question of how do you build trust? So, first, I think one of the things that helps is to not have direct competitors in the room, because if you have a direct competitor in the room, that might make it really hard to open up. Right. So making sure that you curate properly. The other part is that in the curation of the group, what we look for are similar levels of expertise. So this is not a mentor mentee relationship with someone that is really senior coming in with someone really junior. Instead, we're really looking at people who are peers, and because they are peers, they understand like no one else what they're going through, what they're experiencing, all of that beauty that is really foundational. But then the other part is to say, as we. So as we are creating this group, championing and celebrating the right values when we see them. So let's say one of the values that we have also is humility and courage, right? So if I see someone being really open to receiving feedback and really taking people's questions not as something that they need to defend against, but something that helps them reflect further, I will definitely make sure to mention this. Right. And say, oof, that's good. Right. I could have seen this go either way, or the courage to open up, you will see and you will feel. Some people have a lot of courage and are either born with this or are wired that way or have learned to be that way. But for other people, it takes a whole lot of effort to open up. But I think to really make sure that is noticed, celebrated, and also that as the person who's putting on the mastermind, even if you know, you're putting on your own group, that you exemplify these values, you champion, you celebrate them. That makes a huge difference.

[00:14:28 - 00:16:16]
I love that you talk about courage when really, it sounds like you're talking about overshares, which I am one. So, like, I love that you just have such a nice framing of it for people like me who are just like, blah. Here's everything and anything about myself and all the vulnerabilities on the table. So I love that. Okay. One of the things I really noticed in having a. Both a facilitator and having a very defined program of the mastermind, where the schedules are all mapped out, hot seats are all mapped out, and all of that is there's very little room to drop the ball. And what I mean is, you got to show up. It has to be a priority. Like, when I was in the mastermind, I was like, I felt really bad if I couldn't be there because I'd commit to the program and all of that. And there's a facilitator, you noticed if I wasn't there. And I've seen in people setting up their own, like, peer masterminds without that structure. It's, oh, let's squeeze this in when we have time, or let's meet once and then we don't meet again. And I know even, like, for ours, where we've been very, we've prioritized it, it can still feel like a lot like our mastermind right now. We meet monthly. When I did the Ella program, that was every other week, and that felt so overwhelming at the beginning. But talk to us a little bit about that commitment, prioritization, accountability, and even frequency, and why those things are important to actually making this work.

[00:16:16 - 00:20:25]
So, yes, super good points, and I love that you were talking about commitment because that's a really key one. You will not have a successful mastermind if people do not commit to showing up. This is a space and time that works because everyone says, you know what, we are all important enough that we will all show up. And I've heard of groups where people flew back, right? They were at conferences and they flew back to attend, back when things were a lot more in person to attend their mastermind, because it does become that important for them. The other thing to think about is that. So I'll maybe jump a little bit into the history of masterminds. The history of masterminds, actually. And the reason why I'm going there is because it has a lot to do with leadership. So Benjamin Franklin had a group called Digiunto, and he was meeting up with people, and this was really an opportunity for them to go deeper into topic, to talk about ethical moral behaviors, but also to talk about how to support one another, right? Mutual empowerment, accountability, amazing things. And then afterwards, Napoleon Hill went into tagging along people like Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, JP Morgan, all big names now that represent massive brands. And these people were in their mastermind. And that's really when he discovered that these were people who were insanely busy, right? Insanely busy. I don't think that anyone can argue with this, but the reason why it was so valuable, it's because they also understood that their peers were equally busy and that if they were not committing their own time to it, then why would the other show up. So there needs to be this pact and disagreement when this happens, that people will show up for one another, because if you are super busy, you are in a room with peers, your peers are equally busy. Right. And so just having that respect and that understanding, that's also that foundational trust. If you have a group where three people show up and you're supposed to be six or eight, that makes a really big difference in the dynamics of it. Not to say that exceptions cannot happen, but usually groups are fairly tight on that. That's around commitment. And also, I'll say, in our years of doing this, we've had kind of tests on earlier ons. We hadn't realized to what extent commitment was important. And I know firsthand that it is just a critical factor. I know this from, yeah. Groups that I wish would have gone better and did not. The other thing that I'll say is that in terms of accountability, well, one of the brilliant things about masterminds is that it's always easier to solve someone else's problem, obviously, because we don't have the emotional strings and we don't have the emotional attachments and all of that. But at the same time, it's also so much easier to be accountable to others than to ourselves. So notice how often you will get things done. If that someone is waiting or even you just said out loud, I will do this, and people listened, they might not even check on you. But the fact that you said this out loud completely changes the game. And a lot of the time when we have our own personal to do listen list of 50 different things, and then one thing that we owe to someone, we will likely start with the one thing that we owe to someone because we feel that that obligation. So having a space where that is also part of the equation is a complete game changer. Yeah. Which I think changes the dynamics of it. And hopefully, in a really good mastermind, a challenge is brought in. The whole circumstances of it are explored, the potential solutions are explored. People will share personal stories that can help and support the person who's navigating this complex situation. But also the group will hopefully ask this person, where are you at right now? After this whole hot seat, where are you at right now? What are your takeaways from this? Help this person digest a little bit, and then finally say, what can we hold you accountable for? Because that last chunk of accountability is the whole difference between you attending an amazing conference, taking tons of notes, but never doing anything about it, compared to being in a room with people super tailored advice, feedback, stories, you know, personal exploration, but also walking away with having digested and a level of clarity in terms of what you should be expecting to do next. And then hopefully, the next meeting starts with, did you do that? Right. So, yeah, that also creates an amazing setting.

[00:20:30 - 00:20:34]
All right, we are back for another round of rapid fire questions. You ready to play?

[00:20:34 - 00:20:36]
Yes. I hope so.

[00:20:37 - 00:20:47]
Okay. You just mentioned that you are a cell phone proclaimed introvert person who enjoys being alone. What's your favorite way to, like, decompress?

[00:20:47 - 00:20:51]
Hang out by yourself, be in nature? By far.

[00:20:51 - 00:21:01]
Nice. And you also mentioned that you are a working mother of two little ones. What is your best advice for balancing the two?

[00:21:03 - 00:21:51]
Take deep breaths. Yeah. And also don't be too harsh on yourself. I think there's such a. The reality is that life is different after having kids. It's not just the interim of, I will give birth, I will prepare them, and then, no, it is different. And I think they are part of your life. And that's beautiful. So I think just being kind with ourself, but also finding fun ways and making this happen. And I think back of Cindy actually revealing some things a little way back of when it's time to go, let's put on music that can get us in the mood or things like that. Sorry, Cindy. But yes, just small things that make life easier and more fun with kids. I'm like, yes. Like, this is not just time that we're waiting on. This is precious time. And this is their childhood that is being built. And it's so important, so non negligible.

[00:21:51 - 00:21:59]
Yeah, absolutely. Final question. If you could host a mastermind anywhere on planet Earth, where would you go?

[00:22:00 - 00:22:26]
I think in a really old castle somewhere where there's just. I'm imagining the. There's something about a mastermind where it, like, leads to deep conversation, it leads to intimacy. It leads to. I'm like, yeah, let's bring a few bottles of scotch and find a really cozy old castle somewhere and just do this, right. Yeah. Old furniture, like the pastry, like, hang on the wall. Yeah, I would love that.

[00:22:26 - 00:22:29]
Yeah. Maybe add that one to your vision board.

[00:22:29 - 00:22:29]
Okay.

[00:22:29 - 00:22:30]
Thank you for playing.

[00:22:30 - 00:22:31]
Thank you.

[00:22:37 - 00:23:08]
Love that. And you started to talk about some of the structure of how these mastermind meetings go. I love to dive into that a little bit deeper because you have seen what works and what doesn't work. And I think, I know for us, like, when we started, we were just like, let's hang out. And then just, like, we chat about work. It's like a social thing. Now we've become much more structured, and it's been so valuable.

[00:23:08 - 00:23:08]
Valuable.

[00:23:08 - 00:23:23]
But you have structures that work. What are your things that absolutely. You implement in every mastermind? And are there any things that are, like, optional that you can add, but not everyone needs to.

[00:23:23 - 00:26:47]
Great questions. Yes. So some of the things that are mandatory is really around. So commitment, group curation, also having a structure of knowing who's going to be on the hot seat when, so that people come prepared, that is super helpful, because at the end of the day, the time when we are all together in their meeting, that's the time that's super valuable and important and that we need to maximize. Right. So if people show up and they're like, I'm not really sure of knowing what to ask today. I'm not really sure on why we're meeting or how this is going to work that's going to be different. Is it helpful for me to walk you through a typical mastermind structure? Yeah. Okay. So in a typical mastermind, the way we would start is that we would have that kickoff. That first meeting is very different. That kickoff. Usually there's an overview of how the mastermind is going to work, the activities that we're going to have in there. There's going to be that deep icebreaker. We also debrief on why we went there. So we explained that talking about the real things are real problems, the real challenges will help get us real solutions that will completely transform us. This is our goal again. If we stay surface level conversation, we're going to have solutions about things that are surface level. It's not really helpful. That's really the opportunity to practice this and to show people how potent it can be when everyone shows up that way. The other part also then is to say, great, let's do a demo of how this works. And in showing how this works, we use a methodology to support one another called Gestalt. So Gestalt is that if someone has a challenge that they bring up our tendency as human is to say, oh, I know the answer, this is what you should do. And Gestalt is actually around resisting that urge. So it is to say instead, but first, let's explore the problem together. And then afterwards, and I can go into this further later, but then afterwards, let's go into. So exploring a problem means asking questions, understanding where this comes from. Afterwards, let's go into exploring options. A lot of the time, that's where people have aha. Moments. There are options and solutions that maybe they dismissed. They didn't think of all of that. That's what's really amazing. And then also peers will share stories that this person can relate to. Right. So instead of saying, you should do this, it's rather to say, I've been in a situation that was similar in this way. This is my story and see if there's anything from there that you could take. So structuring it this way completely changes how people support one another. It's not the instructive, this is what you do. Instead, it's the I trust you to take a decision yourself. Hopefully our conversation helped clarified. Here are additional options, and now afterwards we bring it into so how do you feel? Where are you at? What next steps do you want to take? So usually in the kickoff, that's going to be the typical setting. All the other meetings have a very similar structure where we start with a high and low. So checking in with everyone, where are you at? What has been great for you in the past since we've last met? What has been hard for you, both business and personal? We then go into so shorter versions of a hot seat where people have short asks that they can ask their peers, and then also one longer hot seat per session, usually. So that's going to be one person who gets a whole half of the meeting and we go really deep with them. And there's also another portion where we actually share best practices, tips, feedback. So, yeah, so that's going to be what a typical mastermind structure would look like.

[00:26:49 - 00:26:50]
Very helpful.

[00:26:50 - 00:26:51]
Thank you.

[00:26:51 - 00:28:13]
I'm wondering if maybe this is like ordering some free coaching, but I would say I'm here. One of the things that I would say our peer mastermind is maybe lacking a little bit is the post mastermind accountability. For example, we all met in January. That was last in person meeting. And as Cindy mentioned, we do meet monthly. So we have, and then we have like a slack channel where we share daily on just like random things happening in our business. But I wouldn't say that, at least I feel like I remember for even myself, let alone my peers. What? Like the, the thing I want to stay accountable about was back in January. Like, I would have to do some deep research in a notebook somewhere tucked away, probably. So I'm wondering for your advice, because as you host them and then they come to a conclusion like what's next? What is your recommendation for post, either in person or mastermind meeting? And then, yeah, I guess I'm wondering what you suggest for helping keep people on track for the accountability part of whatever is born out of that gathering.

[00:28:13 - 00:31:39]
Yes. So what we would usually do is that at the end, so mostly the person who's held accountable usually would be on the seat. Right. So after every session, there would be one person who's held accountable for what we, what they came out from with the hot seat, what they want to act upon. At the same time, if someone else is, oh, you know what, I really need to eat this frog. I need to do this thing that I've been delaying for the longest time. Please hold me accountable to this 100%. So usually the facilitator for our cohorts would actually just keep note of that thing that the person would do. Also, we make sure that's a smart goal. So don't just tell me you're going to write more, just tell me. Exactly right. I'm going to start three different campaigns for email marketing and. Yeah, so something that is very clear and concise. The other part is that also we start the following meeting and depending on your interval, whether your meetings are every two weeks, every month, start the following meeting with that. So hopefully you who said that you were going to be accountable for something, you've noted this down on your end because obviously you are on the, everyone's going to check on you in this. Also, the facilitator will then start the meeting with, hey, I had this note from last time. Right? The last note from the last meeting is what you start the next meeting with to say this, and this happened. Where are we at? Right. What happened? And the other part is that, I'll just say accountability is tough. It's super, super hard. So a whole lot of things that we've tried over the years in terms of accountability, we've had some groups, especially earlier stage businesses, where folks don't necessarily have, they're still at a point where their business is not advanced enough to push them. So it's not that the clients are pulling them forward. They need to put the effort forward and they need that self motivation. A lot of them need a lot more accountability in these earlier stages. We've tried spreadsheets, we've tried all kinds of different things. And to a certain extent, the more complex it gets, the less it works. And also, the other thing is that there are also bigger things. Right. In terms of what's going to be your six month goal. Great. What does that mean in terms of smaller milestones? Therefore, in one month you will be where it can work. If you have the type of business, the type of personality, where you are really good at tracking things and at staying on course. But I would say for 90% of people, something in their life will change where by the time you check in again, they're like, no, my six month goal is not really valid anymore because I have this better, more amazing opportunity that showed up and they're super excited about this next thing. And sometimes it is true. It's on your path to point a, you're going to discover point b, and point b is so much more amazing, sexier, easier and achievable. And it makes business sense. But I would say that depends. So to be tested. So that's why I would say for us, what has worked best by far is really keeping it really short to one person or anyone else in the group that has something urgent and to move ahead this way. But it's not accountability for small things. I would say it's accountability for things that usually are on your personal radar. Right. Again, something that is not an accountability, that's external. I will write to a client, you will do this no matter what. But it's usually something that is, yeah, more on the personal end where your group will really make a difference because otherwise it goes into the not urgent important list of Stephen Covey's quadrant and never gets done.

[00:31:41 - 00:32:57]
I love that. I've heard, I can't remember the exact same, but it's something like hold on to the goal, but recognize that the path together can change. And I feel like that's what you're talking about, which is, and I see that a lot with our peers and myself. It's like we kind of experiment and play and there's lots of changes in the actual path of getting there, but we're still really, we hold tight to that end goal. And last was a really good reason to change. So it's not we might play around or my goal might have been to test a webinar, but I had a really good conversation and we're going to do a podcast instead, and. But the goal is still to enroll people into this program or to get these clients or what have you. So I feel like that's resonating. Okay, I want to ask because you. I just. What you do is so unique. If someone's listening, I really want to mastermind. I feel lost and overwhelmed by creating it or understanding and hearing the value of having a professional facilitator tell us a little bit about how you actually work with people. Do they join one of your existing masterminds? Do you customize and facilitate where people come together on their own? How does it work.

[00:32:58 - 00:35:06]
So that might be a little bit of a bummer there and apologies in advance. So most of my clients organizations, right and ill just say all my clients are organizations. So we started off actually with a b, two c model where it was. Instead the entrepreneurs would come to us, we would curate them in groups, all of this. And ill just say the business person in me was like wow, isnt it so much easier when you actually go towards a program where every single year they have cohorts that would benefit from being in mastermind and thats just repeat business and repeat groups. And it not only elevates their programming, but it makes my life way simpler. So hence most of my clients are on that end. The other part however, is that just recently we started offering facilitator certification. So if someone seriously wants to go all in into masterminds and wants to start this, maybe as to engage their community as a side thing for their business, then 100% come see us and we can definitely train you to be a facilitator. And in that case you can run this on your own, you can go see organizations and run this for them. There's a whole lot that can happen, but I'll just say the world benefits from more masterminds. I wish I was out of job because this was just happening naturally, but the truth is that yes, more can happen should happen. This is just a different way for people to communicate and it's a really good one because it's so rich and engaging. The other thing I would say is that if you are just, you know, really curious at this point of just wanting to start a mastermind, there are also, and I wish I had this planned out better. There are some books that are out there on how to start a mastermind that I am happy to reference to. It's general information on how to start a mastermind. But I would say most of it is something that would fit within, you know, a blog article. So I would also say don't hesitate to look on Google to look this up. But yes, if you are on the side where you're overwhelmed. The other thing that I would say is that there are also organization where part of their membership is to offer a mastermind. So don't hesitate to look for maybe a chamber of commerce or something else who might offer that. Or if you are part of one, tell them that they should hire us so that we can offer this for your members and then that can become just an easy one for everyone.

[00:35:06 - 00:36:14]
Okay, one thing that we haven't talked about is price. And Cindy and I have talked many times that we are involved in a peer mastermind which doesn't have a cost in terms of hiring a facilitator, although we have talked a lot about what would it look like if we all want to dive into a specific topic to hire an expert to come and teach or blah, blah, blah, and that's less actually part of the mastermind and more part of a retreat. And at least in the online world, I see people facilitating masterminds for as much as $3,000 to 30, 5100 thousand dollars. And I just, it's just hard to know. Like, how do you know that a hundred thousand dollars mastermind is more valuable than the 3000? Like, how, I guess for people out there that are like, how do you wade through? Or what should you be looking for? Or what question should you be asking the potential host when you're looking to make this level of an investment?

[00:36:15 - 00:40:27]
Absolutely. Such a good question, because underneath it are tons of things. First of all, so there are different things are being called masterminds, and masterminds can have different formats and all of that. There are some well known people who will have their own masterminds. So the way they structure this would be, let's say I am mister or Miss well known. You will come hang out with me maybe four times a year, twice a year, something like this. And during this time, I will spend my very valuable and expensive time with you and with this group of other wealthy people who all want to spend their money and their time with us, and we will talk through things. And one of the big benefits is that I give you my expertise. So this turns into kind of a celebrity mastermind, where, because you have the name of someone and that person's hourly rate is very high, then it turns into 100, $200,000, right? There's no limit to the price of this. And the benefit there is that, obviously, it gets you in very close proximity to someone who is a big shot. You might have absolutely unique, tailored, specific expertise, and who knows, the opportunity to develop a friendship with the amazing people that are there for the rest of us, folks who are not necessarily in the celebrity world. A regular mastermind will also depend, because, so masterminds are especially popular in our world at very high levels of business. So there are organizations like EO entrepreneurs organizations or Ypo Young presidents organization. Where to join is maybe $5,000. And then on a yearly basis, it might be another $5,000 or $10,000 or more to be part of these groups. But also, there are other criteria, like your business needs to be making in the millions of dollars to be eligible to join. So because masterminds have this kind of high end, highly privileged, how can I say, aura around them, they tend to be associated with a very high price point. But the other thing is that think about it. If you are a CEO and you have 10,000 employees that are working for you, your time is hypervaluable. You will want to be part of an organization where you know that you can be in the room with other peers like you. That is worth the money. And it's less the organizational part, it's more your time well spent in the quality company, and that is hugely valuable. If this is what you are aiming for, then I think that price point makes sense, right? Because also a lot of the time, the business will pick up the tab for it, all of these things. But you're paying for the exclusivity of being with people who like you can understand the reality that a handful of people in the world can. Again, for the rest of us who are not in these spheres, then I would say what you want usually is to be with peers and to have someone who's skilled enough to make sure that you have an amazing experience. So if you two options, either you can just hire a facilitator on a per hour basis, depending on who this person is. I've seen something at price points between, I don't know, maybe $150 per hour, up to $400 per hour, right, to just facilitate cohorts. If this is someone who's putting on their own masterminds, then likely they need to also coordinate everything that's in the back end. They are maybe looking at this as a business opportunity, and they have likely priced this so that their time is well compensated, that they have the expertise, hopefully needed to be able to run a really tight group. And also it makes it super valuable for everyone. The one thing I would say is that being part of a group where people are just showing up, where there is no financial commitment, can come at a risk if you don't know the other people in the room. Because to a certain extent, putting out some money will guarantee that people show up, usually. And commitment being one of the criteria for failure. If you don't have that, it can be a little bit tough, right? But it's not to say that it's something that needs to be expensive. It just has a reputation, or how could I say, a history of being fairly high end. And I'll be honest. That's why I've started my business. It's because I'm seeing there's a whole middle market that is not being served, and that has the benefit to benefit from it, right? Massively so. And, yeah, tons of opportunities there.

[00:40:27 - 00:41:04]
Yeah. No, I think those points are so important. One is you're paying for your peers. It's a way to screen, to be like, yes, these are people who are at the same point in business. We're willing to make that commitment. And again, are you there to also learn from someone who is facilitating specifically? Okay, you also run a business. And our favorite question on the confessions podcast is to ask for a confession. So tell us something about running your business or being a business owner that maybe you've been reluctant to share elsewhere.

[00:41:05 - 00:41:11]
Great. Well, so it's funny when you mentioned it, I'm like, do I go there? Do I not go there?

[00:41:11 - 00:41:11]
Go there?

[00:41:12 - 00:41:14]
Now I'm thinking, I'll just go there.

[00:41:14 - 00:41:15]
Sydney's.

[00:41:15 - 00:42:47]
Let's just go there. So I have to say, the big irony for me running mastermind groups is that I'm someone who tends to not be a very. A very social person at all. Right? I'm an only child. My parents had a business. So that means that I've spent a lot of my time alone as a kid, just reading books, being quiet, preparing dinner, just because they were so busy. And they were very much in survival mode and doing things mode, which is completely normal. But there's still. And that's the funny part. I talk about the benefits of masterminds and the benefits of how it helps tackle all of these things that are, a lot of the time, the inner growths that are stopping us. And I would say I am the first one to say I have imposter syndrome, being in masterminds, because at the end of the day, it's. Even though I've been in these groups on and on, and it seems like imposter syndrome is the thing that comes up the most, that everyone most relates to, even though this feels like a therapy for me to hear this every single time. But there's also this part of me where I'm looking at this group gather around me, and I'm like, oh, my goodness, am I worth everyone's time? Right? And that's the part where it feels odd to be thinking this. You would think that it just, like, washes away with time. But that's also where I think our self work is so important, because it's so deeply rooted in us, right? These things that shaped us. And obviously there's personal transformation. Huge believer in that. But I also do need to acknowledge that I'm not foreign to that. Far from it. Right. And it's still work in progress.

[00:42:48 - 00:43:06]
Yeah. I feel like we all experience imposter syndrome, but also I think your experience and your. The qualities that make you feel like maybe it's not the right thing actually make you a really good facilitator, because you're really good at listening and putting the spotlight on other people, which I think is what's important.

[00:43:06 - 00:43:07]
I do it.

[00:43:07 - 00:43:13]
Yeah. So I love that. Okay, aiko, where can our listeners connect with you?

[00:43:14 - 00:43:58]
Yes. So feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn. That might be the easiest one. Otherwise, feel free to just go explore our website in founders.org dot. I would say if there's anything that you are curious about. So I currently have two young kids, and I'm slowly emerging from them, starting to be slightly more autonomous. A two year old and a four year old. So, yes, my goal is to produce more content coming up, but if you have ideas of content that you want to know, we're talking about. If I don't necessarily have the funds to start my own mastermind, but I just want to get started on my own. What does that look like? Anything like this? Send me an email and maybe that can just create part of a, that can just become part of a blog that I. That I put out there for you. So I would be more than happy to support in any ways possible and just happy to get to meet your community.

[00:43:59 - 00:44:00]
Thank you so much.

[00:44:00 - 00:44:01]
Thank you.

[00:44:01 - 00:44:02]
Such a pleasure.

[00:44:02 - 00:44:06]
Yeah, same here. Thank you so much. Absolute pleasure.

[00:44:08 - 00:44:20]
Thank you again for listening to the Confessions podcast for nonprofit coaches and consultants. If you enjoyed today's episode, which I sure hope you did, you can show your support in one of three ways.

[00:44:20 - 00:44:28]
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[00:44:32 - 00:44:38]
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[00:44:39 - 00:44:45]
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[00:44:45 - 00:44:53]
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[00:44:53 - 00:44:54]
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