The ONE THING That has Created 90% of Our Success (+ How to Double Your Business in 2025)

You go from not talking about your goals, not even writing them down, feeling lost, feeling confused, not knowing where to go, to completely flipping it on its head, entering a room where you have the answers, you have the people, you have the motivation, the accountability. You have every single component that you need to follow through on a goal. So if your mind is blown right now, like, oh, my God, I have not done any of these things, and you're looking at a Jenna Kutcher wishing for her business. You're looking at our business wishing for our business. This is the exact paths of what has changed our life. Welcome back to the earn your happy podcast, you guys. Today I have my incredible husband on, Chris Harder. And as many of you know, he not only comes on the podcast, but we also do a lot of business ventures together. And this next year, I am joining my husband, Chris, who has his elite entrepreneur mastermind. I'm joining him, partnering up with, doing that mastermind with him. So with that, we really want to talk to you today about why we believe in 2025, you need a mastermind, why you should join a mastermind. Whether your business is up, whether it's down, whether you have an idea, we're going to share with you all of the ways that masterminds have changed our life and. And why you should join one. And we truly attribute, I would say, 90% of our success from being in rooms with the people who are doing what we want to do. And we've joined masterminds for as long as I can remember. And it's really where all of our momentum started from. So tune in. Whether you know that you want to join a mastermind or not, whether you want to join our mastermind. This is going to be loaded with tons of info for you on exactly how to create a plan for yourself in 2025. So let's get started. So, babe, here we are. We're sitting down, you guys. If you're listening to my show, welcome to the show.

If you're listening to mine, welcome to the show.

Welcome to the show. We're really excited for this episode because we wanted to dive in to the topic of masterminds. And so many people, you know, I assume that so many people know what masterminds are, and they still really, a.

Lot of people don't.

And I don't think a lot of people know that we've been doing masterminds. One of my first forms of a Mastermind was, like, 2014.

Yeah.

So it's been 10 years of me seeking out the room that's going to transform me, AKA a mastermind, and getting all of the info that I need to then turn around and go do the thing. And the reason that we want to share this with you is because whenever we get into these rooms, it's pretty much like a year's time before we're doing the thing that we want to do. And we're gonna break down today all of the reasons why that is that if you have a goal, if you have a pivot, if you have an idea, if you are feeling stuck in your business, we wanna talk about all the reasons why a Mastermind is for you. So let's talk about why you created the elite entrepreneur Mastermind, which give a little bit backstory of that, what it is and why you created it.

Yeah. You know, I would start by saying this. Masterminds are all about getting three things. Ideas, connections and accountability. Brand new ideas that you don't have otherwise, connections that you can't get to otherwise, and accountability that you're just not going to get when you're doing it on your own. And that is everything that I needed when I first joined Masterminds. Right. I had all these big ideas of my own, but I didn't have the right ideas of how to actually make them happen. And I didn't have the right people in my life yet to make them happen in the way that I wanted to make them happen. Right. AKA the connections. And I'll be real, I didn't have the accountability. I mean, pretty good for me with that, but I didn't have the real peer pressure to make them happen. It wasn't until I put myself in a room and had to claim in front of the room, in front of a group, I am going to do X where I actually felt like I had to then show up and do X before the next meeting or I was going to be the only room in a room full of high performers that didn't follow through. And nobody wants to be the only guy or the only woman in a room that didn't follow through when everybody else is a high performer. So it adds that pressure to then roll up your sleeves and make sure that, okay, when we get back together, I better follow through on what I said or I'm going to look pretty silly having claimed this and not falter. And the power behind that, Lori, is insane. And the power behind that is why we have accomplished so much of what we've accomplished in such a short period of time.

And not to mention putting the money down is a huge Financial pressure, especially because a lot of masterminds are higher priced and there is so many reasons behind that. Number one, they cost a lot to put on. But number two, when you put a lot of money down, you're going to show up like there were. So Chris and I are both introverts and we love people, we're great on stage, all the things, but in a big room of people all the time, like, we would rather stay home and sit on the couch. So if it wasn't a big amount of money that we put down, there were multiple times, if not every time, when we're like, oh, God, but I'm busy, but I'm tired. But do we have to go? Oh, I'm so uncomfortable making small talk the first day. It's so awkward. Oh, I hate it. And then you get there and because you put the money down, because you have accounts accountability in the groups and it turns out freaking amazing. So let's go back to before you joined one of the biggest masterminds that changed your life. I'm just going to jump to that one, which was Lewis Howe's mastermind. And you had mentioned that you didn't have kind of like the friends or accountability in your life before that. Can you go back and just tell me kind of where you were, what you were doing then when you joined the mastermind, kind of what opened up for you and what did you end up doing?

Yeah. That first year, make sure that I touch on what you just said about putting the money down. I don't want to freak people out, but the first mastermind that we ever joined was 75,000. Technically 74. $74,000. Remember that?

Yes.

And that was when that was. How do you forget sane amount of money to us, like a impossible. I can't believe we did this. Probably fiscally irresponsible type of commitment, but we gained some incredible lessons out of that one. And the irony is that wasn't even the good one. The one that you're asking about, Louis, is. I remember that was 50,000 bucks for you, me to join. And you asked where was I at in that time that we joined? Yeah, you were the person that was out front kind of being the star, if you will. Your fitness career had taken off, your monthly workout program was kicking ass. We had a lot of things going pretty well and I was behind the scenes. I had just sold my shares of my mortgage bank to my partners. I got out of that and I came home and I was quote unquote, helping you build your brand. And, you know, we had to work through the communication. We had to work through all these things, but at the end of the day, it was just you and I sitting on a couch together building your brand. Right. We also had Nick helping us, but that wasn't enough. We needed outside ideas and outside connections and outside accountability to be able to take what we were building for you to the next level. So I thought I was joining that mastermind with you so I could kind of get some new ideas behind the scenes. And I remember I had so many insecurities about joining that one because, well, I'm about to tell you the insecurities where I felt like you were the star and I didn't belong, yet somehow I got in there because of you. And so I was like, what am I going to offer these people? What. What do I have to contribute? I'm gonna sit here and feel like I'm just collecting ideas, but when it comes time to exchange ideas, I feel like I'm not gonna have anything to exchange. And the irony, I don't know if you remember this was by the end of that year, I was voted MVP as the person who added the most value to their peers. So I went into the room that year thinking, I've got nothing to offer. I guess I'm just here to learn. And I. I ended that year being voted MVP as having added the most value to your peers. So the first thing I would point out to people is, don't second guess your value totally. It's in you.

People stop.

Like, people get stuck knowledge. They need what you know. They need your accountability. They need your friendship. They need everything that you have to offer, even if you don't value it yourself. So don't talk yourself out of joining a room, because I almost did that. So also, where were we in that time when we made that financial commitment? It still felt like a hell of a stretch to get in, but we knew it would make us show up. Like you said, we're the introverts that would stay on the couch and just keep recycling our own ideas. Other otherwise. And when I got into that room, I had purchased the domain for my podcast, which at the time was called for the Love of Money. I had purchased that domain for $18,000 and didn't do anything with it for a year. Do you remember that? So, you know, the first one that we were in, I purchased it and then we ducked out of that one, and I didn't do anything with that domain. And you would. You loved to make fun of me. You're like, remember that time you spent 18 grand on Domain you didn't do anything with? You ever going to do anything with that? And it wasn't until I got into that room and where they broke us off into a group and, you know, they said, okay, tell the group your big audacious goal. So I'm like, well, I bought this domain for 18 grand. I want to start a podcast, but not really doing anything with it. And they said, oh, yeah, you want to start a podcast. When do you want to launch it by? I said, well, I would want to launch it by this date. Like, yeah, what steps would you need? And they made me list out the steps. And so what date will you do that by? What date will you do that by? What date will you do that by? And by the end of that session, I was like, oh, shit, I have to now launch this podcast that a year ago I bought this domain name for. Like, now I actually have to follow through. Cause I can't be in the guy in the room who shows up having not followed through. And my show, even though it's called something different now, today my show wouldn't exist, I'm sure, because I was, quote, unquote, being busy in my mind, wouldn't exist today without being in that mastermind where they made me choose those dates, made me lay out the map, and made me follow through.

And that was the segue into literally everything you do. Like, I even think about, you know, your app that you're launching and the way that you've gotten, you know, your friends and investors and even the people who helped you launch it, that all came from that room.

Yep.

Like, I think of your friend, you know, Bill Glaser, who. You guys just taught us how to raise money. Yeah. Taught you how to raise money. Showed you what was possible. Like, you really got us into this whole other world of having a different product outside of personal development or network marketing or fitness. It creates infinite possibilities for you because you can't be what you don't see. And it's not just what you don't see. You can't be what you're not physically in the room with.

Yeah.

And what these rooms do is they really bring people into the room and you get to have conversations with them. You get to actually be. Become friends with them. And once you have a friendship with someone who's doing something that you want to do, it now becomes a possibility for you. Because they can tell you how. They can introduce you to their network. They can introduce you to Their formulator. They can introduce you to their manufacturer, they can introduce you to their attorney that can help you raise money. And that's why this is so incredibly powerful.

And not only that, I want to add one more thing. When you become friends with the people who are already making it happen, it becomes real that you then too could make it happen. Not just because of everything you listed, but because it becomes normalized. It becomes no longer somebody who you hold on a pedestal that did well. Now, this is your peer, this is your friend. This is the person sitting next to you, and the person sitting to your left, and the person sitting to your right. And this person sit in front of you and the person sitting behind. They've all done these massive things. And so you're like, wait a minute, this isn't weird. This is now normalized. Everybody around me literally is doing these things. Why not me? And I think the normalization of a very large, audacious goal is what changes the trajectory for how you perform. When it's not tangible, when it's not normalized, it feels like the pie in the sky thing, and you kind of have an excuse to not go after it. But when everyone's sitting around you is performing at that level now, it becomes normal. And there's no reason why you can't do it.

You'll kind of see in throughout history and throughout your life, there has been groups of people. Throughout our lives, there have been groups of people and groups of friends. Whether it's in the entrepreneurial world, in the podcast world, in the celebrity world, in the YouTube world, what happens is these friendships are formed or these groups are formed, and all of a sudden you're like, God, that's so weird. Like, everyone in it is famous, or everyone in that YouTube group has millions and millions of followers. They didn't all happen that way. It's like, oh, weird, everybody. That group is a New York Times bestseller. It's because when it is around you and you hold each other accountable and then you hold each other to a standard, you're all going to rise up together. And, you know, I use this example from that very first Lewis Howes mastermind that we joined. You know, we just so happened to join with these people who were not the people that I'm about to name right now. We were all fairly new.

We were all brand new.

We had success in our own right in different things, but not in the way that people knew us.

We were all in, like, kind of year one. You know what I mean?

Yeah, totally. And it's Like, Lewis was even still pretty new. But he. His podcast had started to grow. I don't think he had his book out yet. So he was pretty darn new. I think School of greatness had either just happened or it was about to happen. For the first year, I remember.

I don't know why, but I remember he had 224,000 followers.

Yeah.

When we joined that mastermind, you know, he's got what, 10 million or whatever. So it gives you context of how new everybody was. We met Jay Shetty that year when he had 107,000 followers. You know, he has what, 20 million? Like, yeah, people were new. New. Jenna Kutcher was in there with us and she just. Her first course launch. Now she's the queen of courses. Jasmine Starr was in there and she was just kicking around the idea of should I call my social media social curator. Right. And now there's a legendary program that everybody knows her for. It goes on. Jim quick, remember, Jim was like just starting his. His whole like, memory and mind thing, and he had just come up with this way to memorize names. He shared it with us. Now he's the leading human being in that. So everybody.

So many people, right?

Everybody was in that group.

Yeah.

And here's the thing. I want people to realize, they look and they're like, how are you friends with these people now? How do I get into those groups? That's the wrong question. The question needs to be, where is the next group currently gathering that's about to pop off and how do I come up with them? That's the real question you should be asking yourself.

Totally. That's the reason we have these relationships is because we were there in the beginning. Like, we've just had so much time with these people and they know who we are and we've supported them along the way and they've supported us. So it truly is. We've put relationship capital in, as people have. They've just so happened because we chose a very high performing room and we chose to put a lot of money down. Those are your first cues that you're going to be in a room where these people are going to go somewhere is, I didn't put myself in a room where it was $500 for, you know, a day or a weekend, which that's great. Those things are important too. But there's not going to be a big loss. There's not going to be. It's. It doesn't necessarily attract the type of people who are like, I'm so serious. About this. Like, I'm not only serious about showing up for me with this money, but I'm serious about showing up for you. And that is proven to be true, that I would say masterminds. Like I feel like all the masterminds I've been in that 40 to 50% of the people I really see get somewhere pretty big.

The buy in creates the outcome. What I mean, when you're forced to have a larger buy in, you're forced to show up like you said. But beyond that, it's what makes you stick through the whole year because you have so much skin in the game. And beyond that, it becomes the barrier of entry. Like the really successful, really talented individuals, they're the ones that can write the checks for the bigger rooms. So those are the rooms you want to fight to get into, right? You always want to fight to get into the room that you can barely afford. Not that you can, that would be irresponsible, but you do want to go to the very top, top, top of your budget, maybe even then get on your tiptoes because that's the room where the next level of where you want to comfortably be, that's where you should be get, you know, fighting, clawing, scratching to get into that room. So the barrier of entry absolutely determines the quality and the outcome of the ideas that are going to be exchanged in that room throughout the year.

So for anybody listening, let's talk about exactly what a mastermind is and let's share a few of the different formats that we have learned about so they know exactly what they would be going into. Or you guys, if you're listening from the perspective of, hey, I've been thinking about starting a mastermind in my business. What does this actually look like?

Yeah, well, a mastermind is just any container where people gather in a very structured way for a structured period of time and promise to lock arms, exchange support, exchange ideas and exchange connections. That's all Mastermind is. So you can do that online, you can do that in person, you can do that in a six month container, you can do that in a one year container. But the key is this. The key is everybody has to be on board for those agreements. It has to, to go back to like making the investment in of your, both your time and your money. Everyone has to be on board saying, okay, I'm coming in here to exchange accountability, I'm coming here to exchange ideas, I'm coming in here to exchange connections in a formalized, curated way. And there's a lot of groups that call themselves masterminds and they fall short of being an actual mastermind because it's not curated in the way that some of these other groups are. The ones that we curate and the ones that we have joined. The curation of the mastermind makes or breaks it. Is it a container with strong rules, strong walls and strong exchanges, or is it kind of loosey goosey, first time? People are kind of figuring it out. People are one foot in, one foot out. Trust me, you want the highly curated with strong walls and strong rules version or you're not going to get your money's worth.

So how exactly is ours laid out?

Okay, so keep in mind we've been doing this for eight going into nine years, right? So we have this thing dialed in. That's a lot of years of not settling for good enough. It's a lot of years of like tweaking and tweaking and tweaking and getting feedback and adjusting again. And getting more feedback and adjusting again. So we have figured out these different pillars of impact that are guaranteed to move the needle for absolutely everybody. And by the way, when you hear this, this is not us selling ours. I want you to go, you know, shop everyone's masterminds and I want you to see if they have these pillars of impact. So the very first one is when you start with ours, you get a one on one strategy session with me. We spend an hour or so digging into your business and your goals for the year and working backwards from where you want to end up. Now that one on one strategy session is so important because number one, most masterminds don't have that. But number two, that's where I get to know you and I get to know your business on an intimate level so that I know what types of things we need to teach in there this year, right? When I've done that with everyone, now I know what the whole room needs. Now I know what the overarching theme is that everybody needs. Now we know who to go get as teachers throughout the year. So number one starts with a strategy session where we come up with a real strategy for you and I can intimately get to know you and your business. Then the second pillar of impact are the in person events. This is what everybody, you know, post about on social media. This is what everyone thinks is a, is a mastermind. This is just one very important component of the mastermind. The in person events. I use a 7030 formula. This is 70% very carefully curated exercises where you guys are working on each other's businesses. 30% learning from you and I, learning from our team, and learning from all of our incredibly successful friends that are kind enough to fly in and teach their area of expertise and answer questions about the members individual businesses. Right? So that 7030 formula, that's something we've dialed in over time at those live events to get it right. And the reason why it's 70 30, this is gonna shock people. The real value of a mastermind is not the shiny speaker, of course you're going to get value from them, but the real overwhelming value is the idea exchanges with your peers, the people that are on the front lines doing it today at about the same place that you're kind of doing it today. Right? It's the exchange with the Internet marketer when you're trying to get your ads right, is the exchange with the star podcaster when you're trying to get your podcast off the ground, is the exchange with the sales copywriter when your sales page isn't converting. So that in person builds that bond and creates all those curated exercises where they are working on each other's businesses. That's the second pillar. The third pillar of impact is the monthly calls. The working on each other's business doesn't stop in March and it doesn't stop in, in October. When we get together, it keeps going every single month where we get you together. And the way we do the calls is the magic. Everyone submits a question about their business if they have one that month, and then we work on it as a group. This is so awesome. It's not just you and me saying, well, here's what I would do. You might have input, I might have input. But then the other people in the mastermind who show up on the call, they have input as well. So, Lori, oh, you're stuck with your ads. I'm going to introduce you to, you know, add Adam over here. Oh, Lori, you're stuck with your sales copy. I'm going to meet with you offline. I'm great at sales copy. So everybody comes to your collective rescue on those monthly calls. You're not stuck waiting, trying to figure it out. It also continues to bond the group because when they get on and help each other out every single month, they don't forget how much they loved each other when they got together in March, when they got together in October. So that's that third pillar. The fourth pillar is the unlimited text support. Real time help. You can literally text me Monday through Friday, 10 to 5, wherever I am in the world and say, chris, I Have a question about my blink? Chris, do you know anyone who has blank? Chris, I'm stuck. Chris, my, my launch is going crappy. This happened on our honeymoon. It's our honeymoon. No, this happened on our anniversary. Sorry. We were in Mexico and one of the members did, I don't know if you remember this, she texted, hey, my launch is going really poorly. There's two days left and we are way off target and I'm panicking. I said, okay, tell me, how many emails are you guys sending? How many this, how many that, how many that? And in like a 10 minute exchange back and forth, I was able to remodel the last 48 hours of their launch. And they did about 105% of their goal. Now, remember, 48 hours before that, they weren't even going to get to half. But in that last 48 hours, by making the tweaks that we talked about, they got to 105% of their goal. And she was so freaking grateful. That's that real time tech support. And so that's the fourth pillar of impact. Then the fifth one is the community. This is where they continue to work together. It's so funny. We set up a slack every year for them and every year they kind of use the slack, but they really put together their own text thread and they are there kicking each other back into the game when they need it. They're there supporting each other. They're there showing up to each other's events and speaking. They're there promoting each other's book launches. It's that community factors, that fifth pillar of impact that makes such a difference on a daily basis for those 365 days that you're in a mastermind.

So you and I have been in a lot of masterminds. What do you think really does make our mastermind stand out or what makes a mastermind stand out?

The accessibility and care of the founders. You and me, right? We. We make it so that you can text me. You. We make it so that I do know your business very, very well. We make it so that Lori's there, hands on, working on your business when we're in person in March, we're in person October on the calls. She's literally giving you real time advice on your business, on the calls. So it's the fact that we're involved, we're not just like farming it out to some other individuals. That's number one. Number two, we are results oriented to the point where if each year, I always say the magic of our room is that everything you need that year is in the room or one introduction way. So each year our goal is, do we have the right diversity of businesses, the right diversity of ideas, the right diversity of skill sets in our room so that we can deliver on that promise that everything you need is in that room or one introduction away. That's why we make sure there's a small business attorney and there's a Internet marketer and there's a sales copy person, and there's someone with a CPG company and there's somebody with a brick and mortar gym, and there's somebody with a brick and mortar med spot, and there's somebody who. Right. We make sure that the diversity of idea sharing is so good because the real power happens when somebody who's not recycling ideas gives you an idea, but instead someone who's outside your industry looking in says, hey, in our industry, we drive people through the door by doing A, B and C. I wonder if you could try that. And you try it in your industry and that becomes the holy crap, I can't believe that worked. Revolutionary new thing. So it's the diversity of individuals in the room that sets a lot of magic. And then the third thing is this. The structure that we put behind it already gave the pillars of impact. It's taken us a long time to figure out how to leave no person behind. And the intimacy of the size of the room, the way that we cultivate connection. I mean, we literally, we don't just sit in a classroom and learn. We take you off campus and put you into really cool situations where you guys have to bond and help each other out in groups and do experiential things. I call it the Bachelor effect. We make everything so freaking awesome that you can't help but fall in love. It's like the show the Bachelor. Like the show Bachelor. Yep. Where, you know, you put everyone in mansions and helicopters and of course they're going to fall in love. We do that same kind of thing to bond people a little bit quicker.

There is so much research around how people who join, whether it's called a mastermind, an accountability group, anything like that, how they join it, and their percentage of their success rate goes way up. So you're 65% more likely to achieve your goals when it's shared with a group of people like that. Because not only are you writing them down, thinking about them, getting really clear, making sure it's aligned with you, but you're sharing them. You're creating moments of accountability. And, you know, we do this in this mastermind, you've done this for, for years. You've created major accountability, you've created contests around accountability and it says with you get a 95% success rate on your goals if you have regular check ins throughout the year. So you guys, you go from, you know, not talking about your goals, not even writing them down, feeling lost, feeling confused, not knowing where to go to completely like flipping it on its head, entering a room where you have the answers, you have the people, you have the motivation, the accountability, you have every single component that you need to follow through on a goal. So if you're, I want you to just think about a goal that you had that you didn't meet. You were probably missing majority of these things that we just shared with you. So if your mind is blown right now, like, oh my God, I have not done any of these things. And you're looking at the people, you're looking at a Jenna Kutcher wishing for her business. You're looking at our business wishing for our business business. It's because we not only put this on, we only started to put this on because this is the exact path of what has changed our life. And I'll say, like, I don't think we're like super talented, Chris.

Like, yeah, I know, I agree.

I, I think that we are just, we became really good at doing what we were told by people who had what we wanted. And you know, there was nothing about us that I thought was that different from other people like who just, you know, an average person out in the world. Except we had big dreams and we were willing to go and put some money down and then follow through on it.

Now I'll say this, what we became really good at doing is building a network where every single answer we needed was one text away. That's really what's come out of all of the groups that we've ever joined. And the real intention behind like investing and building our network is we are always one text away from every single answer. We need. Need to raise money, text Bill Glazer, need to write sales copy text this person need to do ads, text Andy. Need to write like there's nobody we can't get a hold of to get the answers that we need.

Yeah.

And I believe everybody is one idea away from doubling their business and they're one connection away from doubling their business. And for some people, you're just a little bit of real accountability away from doubling your business. Now what happens when you get all three of those things? Holy shit.

And it Doesn't. It's like sometimes the first year in a Mastermind is not necessarily your. It's not going to be this year where everything changes all at once. It can be. We've absolutely had that. But a lot of times the first year in the Mastermind, you get in there and you realize you've been doing things wrong in your business. You don't have the foundation that you need, you don't have the hires that you need. You're going for the wrong carrot. You're like, oh my God. Like, you just start working on your business instead of in your business. So the first year, that's why so many people stay in your Mastermind for like 3 plus years.

I'm actually proud of that. Every year we have a 55 to 75% renewal rate. That's insane. And people have been in there since year one. Some people have been in there. This will be their eighth or ninth year. Now that's wild.

Because you're creating consistent structure for consistent growth and because you do have a really beautiful vetting process. Like I've been in the room so many times where you've been on an interview call to see if it's a fit for somebody. Where you have said like, you know, I don't think this is a fit for you and you're amazing and here's what I think you should do. You usually give them some great advice and it may not be a fit because you know who's in the room or they're just not there yet or maybe their income is not there. So you do a beautiful vetting process to make sure there are the right people in the room and also that it's the right thing for them. Because sometimes you get on the phone with someone and it's actually not a good time for them and you're like, you know, I just think you're not going to be focused or this sounds like it's a bit too much of a stretch for where you're at income wise. So you really tell it like it is all the time.

Well, that's because I don't want to spend a year with somebody I can't help and then sit there with that torture and that guilt the whole time. Right. Like, there's too many other things I could be doing in life than to sit in a room with a handful of people knowing I can't help them. That would be the worst freaking feeling. On plan. I will not sign up for a year. So I'm actually going to err on the side of pointing you into another direction or pointing you into another room if I don't know for a fact that this room can't radically change your life for the better.

Okay? So I want to go back on my timeline to give people an example of putting myself in the rooms. So some of these were workshops, some of these were weekend retreats. Some of these were masterminds. But I want to show people how that this was, like, the beginning and trajectory of, like, the launch of my entire career. So when I was in my mid-20s and I wanted to do a fitness competition back in the day, nobody knew what the heck a fitness competition was. And, you know, I would say, like, I want to do this fitness competition. They had no idea. They're like, what are you talking about? They had no clue. And so I had this thing in my brain where I'm like, okay, I think I just have to find somebody who has coached people or who's helped people or I just need to find someone who's done it before. And so all of a sudden, your radar goes on and people. People and things. And, you know, these opportunities start coming in to your perception because now you're looking for it. So you guys are going to start seeing mastermind stuff everywhere after this, because now you're aware of it. So I was reading a fitness magazine while I was at the gym one day. You and I were there together. I was in the StairMaster, and I was reading an Oxygen magazine.

And in this Cardinal Fitness in Waukesha, Wisconsin.

Yes. This little tiny paragraph on a woman named Kathy Savage was having a fitness camp. And it said, for people who want to compete, it was going to be a weekend event where they were going to teach you how to do stage walks. And, like, you could talk about competitions. You're going to learn about diet.

How do you sparkle out your bikini, all.

All the things. And I was like, oh, my God. I jumped off the StairMaster. I ran over to Chris, and I was like, I'm going to this weekend retreat.

Which, by the way, took me by storm. Because you had never gone to anything like this ever.

I had never been on a plane by myself. I think I'm like, three flights at that point. I'm not kidding you. Maybe four. I don't even know. I think it was three. So I fly to Boston. I go to this camp, Midwestern girl in a room full of Boston girls. And I feel so overwhelmed, so scared. I'm freaking out. Like, I go into the room, and I feel like I don't Belong. And it's like looking back, this is stereotypical. This is exactly how you feel walking into these rooms. When you're in the right room. I have anxiety. I'm freaking out. I want to leave. Like, I was probably five minutes from leaving until I met someone. Right. So this is one of the things that we do in our rooms right away is we have you meet people right away.

Yeah. We make it comfortable.

We curate the room so that you're getting these connections that keep you from running out of the room because you're intimidated. Yeah, exactly. And so I spend the weekend going through this process of, like, learning and stage walks and meeting people and connecting and getting broken out in groups. And all of a sudden, a world that seemed completely impossible to me, I not only now know how to do it, I have. I'm leaving with a training program. I'm leaving with an accountability buddy where I got shown all of the places that I could go compete. We picked a date. We picked a location, a competition. We entered the competition. Like, I went from not knowing a darn thing to knowing who I'm getting my bikini from. I'm knowing how I'm going to practice my stage walk. I know my prep diet. I know my competition date. It's paid for, the money's down, and I have my accountability partner. Like, the whole world opened up for me. And with this particular group of people, I ended up staying in that team, which was a Kathy Savage fitness team. I seed with that for so many years, all through my competition years. But you guys, that got me from not knowing what the heck I was doing to winning three national world championships in one year. That has never been done before with the guidance, mentorship, and coaching of not only Kathy, but of all the girls that were in that room. A lot of my biggest breakthroughs came from fitness competitors who I called when I was struggling, who I was like, oh, my God, you know, I have my fitness routine in three weeks, but I injured this thing. What do I do? Well, I get on the the phone with this girl named Amber, and she goes, you're going to be great. In fact, you might be better. Instead of freaking out, throwing in the towel, which I was just about to do, she says, I'm going to teach you how to visualize your routine from start to finish, and this is what you're going to do every single day until you can practice it, like, twice, do it on the stage. And she goes, I promise you, you'll be better than if you would have, you know, practiced the entire Time, just physically. And that's exactly what I did. And she wasn't wrong. It was amazing. I was able to run the routine through in my brain over and over and do the steps that she said and lean on her through that whole thing that she got me through. And so this has continued to happen throughout the years in all of our masterminds. It's kind of like, who can you call? Who can you call when you need to get kicked back in the game? So I want to talk about the.

Can I just interject?

Yeah.

You just told a story where you got the three things that I said comes out of every single mastermind that was a fitness mastermind. You got the ideas and information. Number one, you got the accountability. Like, no, you're not ducking out of this. You're signing up and you got the connections. Here's who I'm getting my bikini from. Here's who I'm getting coached by. Here's, you know, Amber that I'm going to turn to when I'm about to give up on this whole thing. I'm telling you, this is the key. Get into a room and extract those three things. It's the ideas and information. It's the accountability and it's the connections. You can't fail when you do that.

So from that, you know, I was in fitness for. Had a nice, beautiful, long fitness career. And what I was finding in fitness was, you know, when you do something for a while, and especially if you do well at it, you start to crave more of a challenge in your life. And at this point, I was also working with a lot of clients in the gym that I had opened throughout that time period. And what I was finding is that I couldn't get people to their goal if they didn't have the right mindset. So no matter what type of meal guide, meal plan or workout they did, or no matter how much money they spent with me to work out if their mindset wasn't right and they weren't working with, like, a mindset coach or. Or they weren't in the place where they could be open and really learn about personal development, I couldn't change a darn thing because they didn't believe they were worthy of the goal or they didn't know how to break a family pattern or how to have hard conversations around boundaries, around food, around why they needed that change in their life with their family. And so I started to really get into personal development, not only for that reason, but also for myself. I started to feel like I wanted to share some of these messages that I had learned through competing and through discipline, you know, on stages. And when I thought of that I was sick to my stomach because I had massive anxiety and panic attacks when I would speak in front of groups. It didn't even have to be large groups. It was like I had developed this in my teens. Just massive panic around whenever I would have a group of people kind of looking at me and I, you know, I'd be the main point of attention. And so I thought, okay, well I'm never going to be able to do this, I'm never going to be able to do the next step in my goal if I don't go get some help. So I was like, what would I do if I wanted to get into personal development, I wanted to have events and I wanted to be on stage and speaking and insert an email that I got that I had signed up for from this famous public speaker named Jack Canfield.

Yeah, famous author.

Just happened to get on his email list because he came and spoke at one of our network marketing events. Got on the email list. I get this email that says he is hosting a train. The trainer program.

Yeah.

And that he is going to take three weeks. So one is going to be split into three different events. So one week per, three events throughout the year. And by the end of this, the promise was that you are going to know how to put on an event, you're going to be a better public speaker, you're going to know how to facilitate, you're going to learn all of these exercises, you're going to have this book that you get to go home with that essentially has all of these different breakouts, workshops, all the things you're going to teach people. Like you're going to actively be in person, live teaching people, not only learning but teaching people how to put on these things. And I was like, this is exactly what I need. I need real time. I'm such a hands on learner. I didn't just need to get like spoke at. Right. This is such a big difference in our mastermind too. I didn't just want an experience of a teacher on stage just telling me something, I needed to actually do it, try it on, talk about it, process it. And that's what this event was. So I take this big risk. This was really expensive for us. It was $25,000 at the time.

Remember it's a ton.

And I told you, I'm like, look, I need to do this, we're doing this. And essentially I promise you that if I do this. So I made another promise to you because of the money. I was like, if I spend this 25,000, I promise you that I'm going to do an event right after this, and I'm going to learn how to make money from this. And so that extra accountability, I go to the event, sure enough, I get all of the things. But I do experience the same feelings that I had when I went to Kathy's camp. So I get in the room, I remember wanting to leave because they had a cocktail reception the first night. And I was like, oh, my God, these people are authors. They're so much smarter than me. They're booking stages. I don't open my mouth. I'm, like, super quiet. I'm so shy. I want to go home. And I'm like, you better stick to this, Lori. You paid 25 freaking thousand dollars. You're going to learn from this. So the year goes by. My entire life changes just because I decided to commit to showing up and trusting the process of what this room in this container offered me and what the accountability of putting that money down, of what the accountability of telling you I was gonna do after it. And so this was another example of just a huge, pivotal moment where it changed my life. And right after I started the Bliss Project, which was kind of the event that put my career on the map.

Yeah.

In terms of, you know, then writing a book based off the Bliss Project, then creating a program called the Bliss Habit based off the Bliss Project that we took thousands and thousands of people through. And that was really what started the whole personal development career. Now, I'm just going to summarize these last two, because you're starting to get the point. But when I decided that I wanted to write my book, I was really in a place of being obsessed with this author named Gabrielle Bernstein. And her books were changing my life. And all of a sudden, I'm on the email list. I get this email that says, you know, if you want to write a book, if you want to be an author, if you want to infuse your current business with more spirituality, make more money, I was like, yes, yes, yes, and yes. I put myself in a new room of authors who were specifically trying to write and launch books and base their career off of that. And so I found the people who were doing exactly what I wanted to do. I didn't go and say, God, I wish I knew how to do this. This is so hard. Why can't I find the people? You have to seek out the Rooms get the accountability, put some, you know, money down, put some things on the line. And when people are in the room doing what you want, it all of a sudden makes it possible. So that was the book experience. Then when I wanted to create a product, I went and I found women. Instead of finding an exact mastermind, what I did for this one was I went and found different women who had done products. And I said, can I take you to dinner? Can I take you to lunch? Can we talk about this? Could I get a bunch of us in a room where we do hot seats and we mastermind where hot seat is kind of like, you know, for an hour you talk about all the needs of your business that you want and they weigh in on everything and try to help you and give the answers. So there hasn't been one experience in my life where I have not sought out the room to get the fast transformation and the massive accountability. And that's how it's all happened. So when people ask us, how do you do it? Masterminds are how we do it.

Yeah, fight your way to get it in the room where the answers are. I'm telling you, that's the shortcut. It's the answer to everything that you're struggling with. And I don't care if it's our room or somebody else's, just get into a damn room and make sure it's quality.

So let's get into the nitty gritty of exactly who our mastermind is designed for.

You know, ours is for anybody that has a business earning $500,000 or more. Most people in there are seven and eight figure type earners annually. But $500,000 a year in sales in your business gets you in. It gets you qualified to be able to apply. And I've got such great stories about that. Like, some people talk themselves out of it. They're like, oh, I don't want to be the smallest business in there. I don't want to be the new person. Just like me when I joined Lewis is like, oh, I don't have anything to offer, except that's the sweet spot to get into a room like that. And you know Miriam, who we just love to death, she texted me who.

I met at Jack Canfield, Jack Canfield's mastermind.

Oh my God, it's so full circle. She texted me the other day, the sweetest text message. I love when she shares her wins with me. And she said, chris, I just hit a big milestone. I just passed $5 million in revenue this year. And when I joined your mastermind just 3 years ago. I had barely squeaked in at the $500,000. So I have 10x my annual revenue in 3 years time. And we celebrated together and it was the coolest thing in the world. That is the person who I want to apply and be in our mastermind. And now, by the way, she leads everybody else and guides everybody else and helps everybody else with their courses.

You'll meet her if you're in there.

Oh, she's the best in the world. Has become a deal. Your friend. And it's that example of not talking yourself out of it just because you might be the smallest business in there. You want to be the person with the highest upside.

You want to be the person in the room who feels like you need to become a different and bigger version of yourself to add value and fit into the room. Because there are no other places in our life. If you're not getting to the places that, that you want, if you're not reaching your goals, it's because you're not around people in situations that call you up.

Yeah.

And without that experience of feeling really uncomfortable, of feeling like you don't fit in, you're not going to become the person that you want to become. So that you do.

Yeah.

So that you can add the value that you want.

And it's not just about you. Where are you at financially for qualifying? I want to explain the types of businesses in there. You know, remember, diversity of businesses is very important to. For me to fulfill that promise. Everything you need is in that room or one introduction away. And so we have everything from brick and mortars like med spas and gyms, to psychologists and psychiatrists to authors. You know, like, they're just career authors. Dance studios, huge dance studios, to famous podcasters to Internet marketers, to course creators, to agency owners. We have the whole gamut in there, and that's why all of your answers are in there. So if you've got a business, don't say, oh, mine probably doesn't fit. Like, fill out the application and I'll tell you if it's a good fit or not. Because remember, I don't want to spend a year with someone who's not a perfect fit.

So if it's our room or someone else's room.

Yeah.

What are some of the questions that they should be asking?

This is actually the trillion dollar question right here. All right, first and foremost, describe your business to the person who's running the mastermind and say, can you offer me examples of businesses like Mine and how they've performed in your mastermind. That question is key. Not just, hey, how's your mastermind work? Or hey, what do you think it work? Can you share examples of businesses like mine and how they've turned out in your mastermind?

Yeah.

The next question, can you explain somebody who ended up not being a good fit in the mastermind and why you think that was, or someone who didn't get good results in your mastermind and why you think that was? If they can't answer that question, that's a massive red flag. Because even ours, every year, out of, you know, 40 businesses, there's always one that for one reason or another, doesn't necessarily pop off the way we think it's going to pop off. And the founder, the person running that mat, should be able to answer why particular businesses didn't work out in particular years so that you can avoid that pitfall. And then this third question is absolutely key. Can you give me a reference or an introduction to somebody who loves your mastermind that has a business like mine? And could you give me an introduction to somebody who maybe left your mastermind that I would love to check on, you know, why it is that they left after one year, two years, three years, whatever it was. And if somebody can't give you referrals on both ends of the spectrum, and that's also a bit of a red flag is all as well. So you ask those three questions, you're going to make a great decision 99% of the time on choosing your right one.

Okay, so let's talk about who should join. Like, where are they at in life and in business right now? And then let's name a couple of our amazing friends, events and masterminds and a fit.

Totally.

Because, you know, even though we are coming out with something for people 500k and below, very soon, we may not be a fit for you guys. Like, maybe you're just like, yeah, they're kind of cool, but who else is out there? Yep. So let's start there.

Okay, so let's make just like, let's clarify and make it easy for people. You said, who's it a fit for? Listen, if you didn't grow significantly from 2023 to 2024, then you need to do something different. You need to go into a mastermind and get different ideas. That's the first sign, the second sign that you need one. If you are stuck and bored and frustrated and you're still doing the same ideas that you did in 22 and in 23. And in 24, you need to join a mastermind to get new ideas, new approaches because, man, marketing is changing quickly. I mean, with AI and everything. Oh, by the way, we have AI experts in ours. You have to be caught up on this stuff. What worked two years ago, three years ago is no longer working. And then the third one is if you're bored, if you're lonely, if you're like, where's the friends that are driven as me?

Where's the friends that fun in business?

Yeah. That like, get it? Yeah. Where's the friends that are big dreamers? That's a sign that you need to mastermind. So whether it's ours, remember, one of our Masterminds is for 500 grand and up. Most people are seven and eight figure earners in there. And then you hinted already we're going to be coming out with one that's 500 grand and down. But if it's not ours, here's some others that we love and totally trust. Melissa Hanault has an awesome mastermind. Check hers out. She's a LinkedIn expert, but they teach a lot of really cool business things in there. Brendan Burchard, he's got some great mastermind type programs that you can join. You name a couple. You got Lindsay, you've got Lindsay Schwartz.

Has a big event once a year that's so fun. I'm always there. Powerhouse women. She's also got something called an expanders retreat. Jasmine Star has a mastermind and she's incredible in the online space. And Amy Porterfield, the new course creators mastermind for creating courses is insanely amazing.

Yep.

So we have a plethora of people who you should be getting in person with if it's not with us.

And that's, I mean we even have more than that. That so heck, just DM us. Yeah. Like, if you have a question of, hey, here's my business, here's, here's where I'm at. What's a good mastermind? I'm happy to give you some really good fits of other masterminds that we know like and trust.

All right, so let's tell people how to apply for our mastermind.

Okay. In case ours is starting to turn you on, here's what I want you to do. I want you to hit pause and I want you to go to Chrisharder me forward slash mastermind. That is Chrishardter me forward slash mastermind. Read through it real quick. But more importantly, click apply and get that application in because I love doing the one on one Interviews to see who is a perfect fit. And if we are not a perfect fit, I promise I'll tell you and I'll even point you in another direction to someone's program who I think is a better fit. So you can't lose. Don't second guess yourself. If you're making more than $500,000 a year right now, go to Chrishutter Me Mastermind. Click apply. Let's get on Zoom together and see if it's a perfect fit.

Amazing. You guys. We are so excited at the thought of some of you, especially the podcast listeners or longtime podcast listeners. I know we've had them in the room where it's been so much fun that they've listened to the podcast for years. Or maybe they're new to the podcast and to finally meet people in person and get to just spend the entire year with people in their business. There's magic that happens in these rooms, not just because of what happens in your business and how you grow, but to have friendships that now you're not alone in. Like, there are lifelong friends and best friends that I watch come out of the Mastermind all the time, and it's like they always give us the crazy testimonials of, I can't imagine my life without this group of women or this group of friends. Like, my life is totally different. I'm not sad anymore. Like, this. This feels like something fun. My business has grown. I look forward to this. The hard times aren't as hard. Like you guys, when I say it's life changing, I want to advocate for it every day of my life because it's one of those things that you shouldn't have to do this alone.

Well, and I want to add, this year's gonna be the best year yet, because now you're running the same 5050 with me.

I'm so excited.

Like, new ideas, new ways of learning. You're going to add in this softer side. You're going to add in meditations. You're going to add in all these strategy and soul. Oh, it's going to be so good. So this is going to be the absolute best year to join.

I'm so excited, you guys. If you're interested, go ahead, click that link below. And we can't wait to meet you.