After being a part of 30+ masterminds, starting over a dozen of my own, and helping thousands of others create and fill their own masterminds over the past decade, I’ve come across 11 common questions that almost everyone has before starting. 

The answers to these questions are literally the difference between success and failure in starting your mastermind group. They are the difference between a mastermind full of happy, paying clients, and endless struggle that leads to giving up and justifying failure. 

I want people to build awesome masterminds that help people, so without further ado, here are the answers: 

1. What IS a mastermind group?

A mastermind group is a group of individuals who share common values, goals and are working together to get clarity, stay accountable, and take action so they can stay in momentum in their lives and businesses. 

They can be anywhere from 5-25 people before it starts to make sense to bring on additional facilitators and experts. The largest one I’ve ever been involved with was 1700 members with 3 tiers and global membership (and it earned $4.5 M USD/year) and I’ve been a part of another that cost $100k a year to join, but was limited to 100 people, earning $10M a year. 

It can be run by a guru or by a facilitator. The difference is subject matter expertise. There are multiple formats and no ‘one way’ is correct, it really comes down to who is in it and what do they need to solve their problems. 

Anyone can start a mastermind group with the right guidance. 

2. How do I get the right people in my mastermind? 

It really comes down to being clear on a few things: your niche, your offer, and the transformation -- the problem that your mastermind solves. 

All of that starts from being clear on what your values are. When you are clear on who YOU are and what you value, you can then more easily select and align with others who share those values. 

Even more importantly, you can keep those who do NOT share those values out of your mastermind, making it a much better fit for everyone who is in the mastermind. 

3. What if I’m not an expert? 

That’s great! I was not an expert when I started either, and I’ve run several masterminds where I was merely a facilitator. I brought the people together, sold the spots, marketed the group, brought the experts, and made the lion’s share of the money. It was actually better for me that way, I got to create mastermind groups around skills I wanted to learn (marketing, sales, ecommerce, real estate, investing and more) and got paid to learn while smarter people than me asked a ton of great questions and took better notes than if I had hired those experts myself. I even got to travel for free and got my education paid for, leading me to create 3 million dollar plus businesses. 

So NOT being an expert is a perfectly valid way to start. You just have to be committed to learning the skills, and solving people’s problems. With a little practice and some guidance, you can start your own mastermind group in record time, WITHOUT having any expertise in particular. 

4. I don’t feel confident. How can I run my own mastermind group? 

Confidence is a result of having evidence. But you need evidence to feel confident. It’s one of those paradoxes of life. But you can get around this simple chicken and egg dichotomy by asking yourself one simple question. 

“Who has the confidence I need because they have the results that I want?”

Once you know someone like that, do whatever you must do to gain the knowledge they have. Read their books, buy their courses, attend their seminars, hire them as a coach, or enroll in their programs. 

Simply put, invest in them so they can invest in you and you can BORROW their confidence (and resources, and reputation) until you have built the evidence you need to have your own confidence welling up like a babbling brook and eventually a waterfall inside you. 

5. How do I craft an irresistible offer for my mastermind group? 

Simple, it comes down to being clear on WHO the offer is for, WHAT problem it solves, and WHY it needs to be solved. 

This allows you to quickly identify who you should be talking to, what market research questions you need to ask them, and then create features and benefits that are irresistible because they are tailored like a $10000 suit-- perfect for that perfect person. 

Effective market research is the basis of creating offers that stand head and shoulders above the competition and allow you to dominate the market or niche you occupy. 

6. How do I create the right culture/environment in my mastermind group?

Once the values are clear, the next step is to work on your own leadership skills and enroll your team (if you have one already) to make the environment as conducive as possible to learning, growth and personal/professional development. 

On an in person mastermind, there are so many things you can do to set up the space for success, from simple logistical things to hanging the right signs in the right places (bathroom, food, take off your shoes, which is the garbage and which is the recycling, where to park, clear directions etc) , to setting the tone and mood of the space with the right colors, candles, comfy places to sit, drinks, snacks, notebooks, pens etc. 

For virtual it’s even easier, but you overdeliver by making it more of a physical experience by sending care packages along beforehand with workbooks, books, goodies, snacks and even doing a virtual ‘check-in’ like they would experience at the actual event. Then you have Zoom which can be great to help facilitate recordings, screen shares and break out rooms for your group. 

7. How do I make money with my mastermind group? 

Ah, the million dollar question, literally. I’ve seen mastermind groups that make no money or struggle to do so, and I’ve seen them make $3M, $4.5M all the way up to $10M a year. 

The difference between success and failure with monetizing masterminds is first having the right offer for the right person, but then deciding on the marketing and sales systems/strategy that you will use to get there. 

You have to nail the model before you can scale the model. 

It’s really 5 steps in total. 

1. Dream It

2. Research It

3. Test it

4. Nail it 

5. Scale it

We teach our students exactly how to do each of these in our Build A Mastermind program and we touch on them in our book too. While it’s not THAT complex when you know what you are doing and you have the right guidance, unfortunately in a short article such as this one, we can’t go as deep as we would need to go in order to teach you everything you would need to sell and market your mastermind. But we have multiple levels of offers to go farther faster on all these topics, from our book, to one off courses on specific topics (sales, marketing, challenges, masterclasses, trainings) to our full Build A Mastermind course where you work with us for 6 months to build and scale your mastermind group to the six figure mark or beyond. 

8. How can I streamline my mastermind group so it doesn’t take up too much time? 

Systems. It’s all about the right systems. I once heard you have a choice in life, between a framework, and hard work. The framework/system works when you work it. 

Marketing systems, lead generation systems, sales systems, delivery systems, tracking systems, feedback and accountability systems. If there’s a thing that needs to happen, there’s a system for it. 

So if time is valuable to you (it should be, if you value life, because time is what life is made up of) then you should consider heavily investing in finding the right systems for the outcomes and results you are looking for, then work the system! 

Be willing to figure them out from scratch and use more time, or invest in those who have already figured them out and can teach them to you! 

9. How do I choose my mastermind niche?

What have you always wanted to learn about? What are you already an expert in that others might want to learn? What problems do you like to solve? For whom? 

What’s your why? Here’s a question to help you hack this: What’s something you’ve been through or had to learn the hard way that you would NEVER want someone else to have to do like you had to? If you could make their lives easier, how would you do it? 

Niches that always work and have endless demand: marketing, sales, systems, leadership. 

A mastermind is an incredible vehicle to do so, and when you get it working correctly it’s not unrealistic to say it could replace/add a lot of current income in less time. 

10. What about virtual mastermind groups? 

Virtual mastermind groups are actually easier to build than physical ones. Logistics being the prime reason. It’s just easier to get a lot of people on a zoom than it is to get them all in the same room at the same time. It’s much easier to get experts to come speak, and doesn’t cost a lot of money to put on. We added a bonus chapter to our books detailing exactly how I got 500 new members in my mastermind group in just 2 weeks with step by step instructions for beginners, intermediate and advanced folks. It’s plug and play. 

11. How do I find the right process or system to follow to build my mastermind group? 

We’ve done our best to provide you with answers to the most common questions we get in this article, and we hope you have found it valuable. 

But even the most comprehensive article can only do so much. 

If you require more assistance getting your mastermind going, we have a great book on the subject and other resources available as well. 

The book is called The 8 Minute Mastermind and it’s an international bestseller. We have a free plus shipping offer going on right now and we’ve added some incredible bonuses in as well to help you get your mastermind up and running in record time. 

That’s right, we bought the book for you, you just pay whatever it costs to get it to your door. 

Check out this offer before copies run out. 

https://8minutemastermind.com/free