[Greatest Hits] People Power in Business with Sigrun Gudjonsdottir, Author and Creator of SOMBA

Welcome to this edition of the million Dollar Mastermind podcast. This is where we pick the brains of high achievers from all walks of life and get their hard earned real world insights on winning. I'm your host, Larry Wydell.

I'm kind of curious, have you found other entrepreneur marketing? Because the networking events where you can go to see a lot of those people in a short period of time, you know, business support groups of all time, you know, like Dennis has, you know, it's great to get it all clustered up in one spot. And so that's one convention that you go to. Any others in the United States or Europe that you find they're particularly valuable.

Social media marketing was the biggest, I think at the peak before we had the pandemic was probably up to 7,000 people. So at some point it becomes a little bit too much. So then the other place where I have made the best connections are masterminds. So not about attending more and more conferences. There are many great conferences for online entrepreneurs or anyone who wants to be in entrepreneurship, but being in a program that you pay for, you make great connections. And typically these are one year programs and the groups are anywhere from 10 to maybe 50 people. And so this is where I make deeper connections also. I meet people that I can interview on my podcast, but also deeper connection people you can call on to hop on a quick call and maybe brainstorm a solution for your business. So just finding these masterminds that there are many of those and before you go to maybe a high end or expensive mastermind, there are just online courses. So I attended B school with Marifolio in 2013 and I just heard recently that 70,000 people have gone through her online course from 2011 till today. Back in the days when I attended B school, there was a Facebook group. So if you bought the program, this was an eight week online course. You went into a Facebook group and you met all these amazing people and the Facebook group was, you know, you were in the group for years, it was lifetime access. But at some point it became too big because the group was huge. They closed the Facebook group. So the people who join your program today, they do not have this benefit any longer, I'm afraid.

Yeah. And where, where did you find the mastermind program from going? I guess you found out from going to the social media marketing world and you find out all these opportunities.

Actually more from, if I look back, I met so many great female entrepreneurs, mostly female entrepreneurs through, for instance, this Facebook group with Marifolio before she closed it down. Doesn't exist anymore. And from there I'm Facebook friends with a lot of people. And when I was looking for my first mastermind, it was more like these random connection. Someone is in a mastermind. Oh, that sounds like a great mastermind. So people posting pictures of them being on a retreat with their mastermind group that would alert me to a group that I want to be a part of. The first mastermind group I joined was actually someone who had sought my advice through Facebook. And then I realized, oh, okay, I was coaching her and I knew that she had a mastermind. And we did a switch. This is very unusual that you have been clients of each other. And then I found another group through someone posting online about their group. And then you ask around and there comes a point when you have a multiple seven figure business, the air is thinner at the top. There is less masterminds for that level of business. And so, yeah, you ask around, you ask other people that you know are similar revenue levels and you ask them where are they going for masterminding.

And so what do you get from other than the contacts, what are you getting from the mastermind group? Because I think a lot of business owners are looking for things that can cause them to catapult up the charts. You know, they're working hard, they gather education, they're doing well, they've got good reputation, but they're looking for ideas and contacts that would catapult them up the chart. And it's not everybody can put together a little nice little package and get on shark tank and hook up with one of those people. But a lot of people in business wish that they had access to those kind of people. And they don't know how to get that and they don't know what they would get in return. And so that's why I'm kind of pro, you know, pursuing this a little bit.

And I get it. Because masterminds, you know, it depends on the quality of the people in the group, how great the group is. And also a coach will attract a certain level of people. So you gotta do your due diligence and ask around and see testimonials before you join blindly a mastermind group. And I've been fortunate enough to that I am happy with all the masterminds I've joined so far. I've been running my own mastermind since 2015 and now I have a mastermind where people have to be making 250,000 annually and I help them get to a million. I decided to stop at the million mark. I Will not throw them out. But my sweet spot is zero to seven figures. And so I have three levels. And typically people will go and move on from the first program to the next one to the top. And I think what happens in a mastermind, it's no longer about coaching. The coach is no longer the center of attention. They are a facilitator. They attract people and they need to make sure that there are the right people in the group. So sometimes even if someone fits the revenue level and if they're not a perfect fit for the group, you have to say no. It cannot be about just like, oh, I can sell another spot. The group is really has to be the right group. And the right group can do amazing things for you. Like I attract people from different countries so they're not just from United States or Germany. You know, I also have people from Czech Republic and Sweden. So if people are looking for an international group, great. They are in the sweet spot with me. If people are looking, let's say like you said, for connections, I want to move my business forward. I have a local business in California. They should look for a local mastermind in California. You know, you have to know what you're looking for and make sure you ask around before you join a group. So that's why often the participants in the masterminds are really the advocates for other people to, to join or not join.

How do you organize? You know, I'm sure you can't be in. There's a limit in how many mastermind groups you can be in at once. And how much of a time commitment is that for them to get involved in these things? People are considering it. What kind of time commitment are they are. Should they think about?

Yeah, so there are groups that, that only meet online once a month. So and that's great if you just like, you know, are looking to get some basic help with your business. But if you really want to truly benefit from a mastermind group, they will have retreats. So in my high end mastermind I will have four retreats. So that's a big investment in terms of time. And people are typically not in another group. That being said, myself, I am in two mastermind groups and then I'm in a third program. So I mean I'm in three groups. They do not all take a lot of commitments. So one group is about four hours every six weeks. Another group is two hours a month, you know, and one group has retreats and the other ones don't. So all of it works out. And I'm looking for different things in different groups. But typically, yeah, you shouldn't necessarily be in too many groups. Some groups are just networking groups because they're too big a true mastermind. I prefer my masterminds are not more than 12 people because I want the true connection. I've been in Masterminds that are 25 people. I don't get really to know everyone closely when the group is big. And then there are some people that call their group a Mastermind and it's 50 people. And I'm like, that's not a mastermind. That is a networking group right now.

Talk about how, what do you get from it? I mean, what do people get from yours? And then what do you get from, from these others? Because it's like at some point you got to feel like you kind of know the game, you know, and so. And also doing one keeps you fresh, you know, and so, you know, in a teacher. Teachers learning situation, the teacher learns. So. Yeah. So but now you're going on and doing so you've got to be getting something. I'm just wanting to get specific about this because it's things that we don't get specific enough about on this podcast. So I'm using you to nail it.

Great topic. I love masterminds. I've been running masterminds, as I said, for eight years. I've run all sizes of groups. I've had them three months and six months and nine months and 12 months. And then I have masterminds that, you know, I charged way too little when I started out, you know, and now I've reached a level where my, my top tier Mastermind, it's a 50k investment. You know, this is not for the faint of heart you need to have.

That's a year. That's 50k a year.

One year. And it includes retreats. So. And I am the one running it. So it's my time and I cannot charge less for it because it's my time.

And that's four a year. That's four retreats a year. Right. Probably two or three days. Is that about right?

Yeah, it's like it's three days.

Yeah, it's three days. And they have to pay their travel and lodging and all of that.

One of them is fully included and is a six day retreat in Iceland. Ah, yeah. Because I have to show people my home country. I cannot not show them my home country. I'm so proud to be from Iceland.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, now. Now what? You know, let's just say you get your group in there. There's very few people I could tolerate for one day, much less three days, much less six. You know, I've got a friend that I invited back when the last time I played golf in a guest member tournament out here at the golf club. I invited him down and I said, you got invited because you're just, you're, you're one of the few people I could ride around in a cart with golf cart with for two days in a row and not pull my hair out. You know.

It is a great friendships that get created and of course it's, the burden is on me, the coach, to figure out will this group fit together. And you know, and with all these years that I've been doing this, I, I, I think I'm doing a pretty good job because we have about 60% renewal rate, which means people repeat, they, they, they go for another year because they see the value of the group. And they see the value not just being in a group, facilitated by me and getting all the wisdom from me, but the group itself pulls them in to continue being on this journey together.

So what do you do? I mean, here's what, I'm just really confused by this because entrepreneurs are loners, they're singular, they're quirky and they got their own way of doing things and they're weird. And so one thing is they've got a short attention span. In fact, my cousin, who's one of the smartest people who ever lived, said that an entrepreneur is always a little bit manic depressive and usually a lot manic depressive, super excited, super depressed and short attention span. And that allows you to kind of get to the point in a hurry like this is going to work or not. We got to change this. And easy to focus. And so when you get entrepreneurs in a group, it seems like they would be to me, it just seems like I'd be going out of my mind. To me, hell is the idea of going on a cruise. You know, that's to me an idea of hell is I'm on that boat and what am I going to do? You know what I'm saying? I've got to get all kind of activities. Yeah. But I'm stuck on the boat and so I'd have to have a helicopter. And so I know I'm not the only one. So you got a little bit of that going on. And you know, if you're a school teacher, hey, let's go to a retreat for six days, you know, you know, it's better than Working and back when I was running training centers for years that the people who were there the earliest and enjoyed the meetings the most were the people who never worked. You know what I'm saying? Let hey. Cause they felt like, hey, I'm at the meeting in the office and this is working. It's like, no, this is not working. Yes, working is when you leave, you know, working is when you're prospecting in front of a, where you, you know, you're doing something that could result in income, make a sale, move forward. And so how do you get gung ho people like that and keep them entertained or interested? To where? Because you know, I've, I've been to a million, I've done a million retreats where after the first hour, you know, you've got a hundred, two hundred people in the room. Like after the first hour everybody's buzzing and they can't wait to get home and go on the attack. You know, they've heard ideas but now they want to go. But I could, I just can't get into my mind where you know, you would go for, you know, at first. The other thing is I can't sit. For me to sit in a room and listen to somebody else talk is just, you know, torture.

Well, you, you are probably not the ideal client for I don't think.

No, no, but, but I know so many, so many. I know I work with million dollar earners, you know, and people are on the way to, to the million and it's just the people like that, it just seems most of them are stir crazy basically, you know, they're on the attack, they've got ideas, you know, as soon as they hit the kind of, kind of person Sigrid, where you tell, you know, like you've done this, you have people that you could tell them a thousand times what to do and they'll do it one time. You can tell them a thousand ways how to do something and they'll do it one time. And then there's the other person. You tell them one time how to do something one way and they go do it a thousand times. Those are the people.

That's exactly the people that go into a high end mastermind.

Right. Explain to me the dynamics, action takers.

But the thing is they are busy in their business. So the retreat takes them out of their business. They can kind of look a little bit like the big picture versus the details. And they are so excited to learn from each other what is really working and actually work like on their business. So I have them do some exercises. Often it's like visioning and learning how to lead a team and scale up their business, scaling strategies, lead generation activities, creating new programs. And then because they know I am in masterminds too, I come often with fresh insights like, hey, I've just learned about this and this and that. Maybe it's a new tool or whatever. But the core thing that we really do at all retreats are hot seats. Each each person has their hot seat and they come into the retreat like, I need an answer to this question. I really have been struggling with this in my business and I just need an answer to this now. They could just contact me and we could have a coaching call, but they want to get the brainstorming. They want ideas from everyone. And I just came back from a retreat in Australia. I flew all the way from Zurich, Switzerland over Bangkok to Sydney, Australia and I went to retreat and I had a question in my mind on my way like, yes, this is what I want solved and could I have to solve some other way possibly. But I went in with this question and boom, the answer was there and I flew back and said yes, this was worth my time.

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