In this podcast episode, Shaun Whynacht introduces the timeless mastermind concept and explains how he and fellow small‑business owners have built a practical, low‑cost mastermind group for entrepreneurs. He outlines why collaboration matters, describes a quarterly framework (four 1‑hour Zoom sessions every three weeks, capped at ten participants), and details the hot‑seat format, confidentiality expectations, and the importance of commitment to three actionable items per cycle. Shaun emphasizes accountability, equal voice, and the value of authentic, confidential sharing, urging listeners to recruit five trusted peers and launch their own group. The episode also contains a promotional spot for Client Connector, a Canadian‑styled CRM offered by Blue Cow Marketing for $97/month, marketed with humor and a focus on personalized support.
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All right, so today I want to talk to you about a concept. It's not a new concept, it's, it's been around for quite some time. It's the mastermind concept. Now, if you do any type of Google search around mastermind, you're gonna, you're gonna find lots of different structures and formats, and some of which can be, I know, mastermind groups that you can join for, you know, a lot of money. Upwards of like $25,000 a year. Now, that's not what I'm here to talk about. What I want to talk about is the opportunity that you have in front of you. We as small business owners, as business owners, as professionals, are not alone in where we currently are in our business. There are other people in your community, in your province, in your country, in your state, wherever you are, that are struggling with different things in their business. No one is perfect, unlike what you see when you go on social media and you see only that 5% of the success that people tout as their 100% of success. So forget that. Now, why, why am I talking about this topic? Well, it's something that I have recently, as of today, as of the day of recording this episode, have created with other business owners a mastermind group in my area. Now, why did this come about? Well, it came about by joining a networking organization, and over time it evolved that those businesses— not everyone, but most of the businesses that I was able to connect to and align on the values and what we were looking for were missing that, that trusted business building element. The group was all about getting referrals and, you know, bringing more people and the mass in numbers. So, you know, we, we had left that group and we, we met each other and we banded together and we're like, what do we want to create with this? And, and after that call this morning where we developed the framework for this mastermind group I thought this was a great topic to bring to you guys here on this episode of the podcast. So let's look at this. What were we looking for? Well, as business owners, we wanted to work and band together and group with other like-minded businesses that want help in developing how they operate, how they work, how they set goals, how they develop their packages and their pricing their, their customer journey and their experience, basically the entire business process. Now this can work very well for existing businesses. In fact, I would, would say that it works much better for existing businesses because you've already been through some struggles, you've already seen what works, you know things that aren't working, may not have the solution for fixing those, but you have an understanding of, of where you want to go. This will also work for new businesses that come in because they can learn a lot from this and they can bring a different perspective. So we have decided that what we're going to do, and this is the structure of, of what it is, is that we are going in quarterly chunks and we are meeting every 3 weeks for an hour via Zoom, Google Meet, whatever online platform. And this structure works really well. And the reason we did quarter was it's all about commitment. It's all about, you know, being accountable and committing to yourself and to the group. You show up every time unless there's an obvious reason why you can't be there, but you show up 100% committed to the cause of making a change for yourself and being 100% there for your fellow masterminders. So we're going in a 3-month chunk, every 3 weeks. That gives us 4 1-hour sessions to do our mastermind. And we came together and we decided on, you know, the topic. And it's gonna be around, you know, setting those goals for the business. Where do we want your business to go? You know, where do you want your business to go? And that could be financially, it could be size, it could be service offerings. But understanding that that initial phase is all about that. And that's what we're gonna work through over that quarterly period. So each session, because we only have an hour, everybody at the beginning, and we have capped it at 10 people. And I would recommend you don't go over that because once you do, then there's a struggle for people to be heard. People to have the time to be seen. The time becomes diluted because everybody needs equal opportunity to speak and bring forth their progress. And within 1 hour, over 10, it's really hard with that. So the meeting will start and everybody will get 1 minute to talk about something that's working really well and just briefly say a struggle that they are focused on fixing. And then as we go through, everybody will go through and they'll get their hot seat time to talk about whatever that topic is for that meeting. And it could be setting your goal or setting your financial, what you need to make to have the lifestyle you want. So this is what we want. And then also what it is that is holding you back from that. Why haven't you been able to achieve that at this current point? And then there's 5 minutes there where the other people there can just ask questions. They're not giving solutions yet, right? They're just asking clarifying questions to get more insight. Now, what makes this type of group is a key factor. It is the confidentiality. It is the ability to be raw, the ability to feel safe, the ability to be authentic in the group. And that can mean that you, you know, that can mean, but that might mean that you need to have some kind of, you know, confidentiality agreement signed. Now we discussed this on the call, and you know, it's a testament to character that if somebody has a problem with signing a confidential agreement, an NDA, you know, whatever that is, then there's a reason for that and maybe they're not a fit for it. So the idea is that things will be discussed in those sessions that are very emotionally bound. They are very confidential. They may even discuss client details that cannot leave that group. And for that reason, I highly recommend those calls are never recorded. There are never any AI attendance in there keeping notes. It is a closed experience. So, um, I wanted to share that with you in this episode because what I think— and, and I will share this as we go through of what we're experiencing, again without talking about the details of who's in the room and what was brought up— but kind of the true experience of what this type of mastermind group can do for you is I guarantee that if you find people to band together and commit to this, you will see the growth in your business. I don't mean that by you're going to have an influx of clients be brought to you by these other members, but you will be more clear. You will gain that insight into the things you want out of your business because you're working on your business in these times. Now, coming out of those hourly sessions every 3 weeks, and you don't have to do it every 3 weeks, you can do it weekly, you can do it monthly, you can do it every 2 weeks. We just felt that 3 weeks was a good cadence for that, knowing that if you do it more frequently, you're gonna end up with more within that 3-month period. And the other way, if you go stretch them out, you're gonna have less, but 3 gave us 4 sessions that were in there. But the idea is that you are committing, you are vocally committing to the other members in the group that you are going to do and take action on 1, 2, 3 items, no more than 3, that came out of what you spoke of for your challenges that day. And that is what you are to work on over the next 3 weeks. When you come back, you will be held accountable. Your responsibility to report back as to how that worked for you. And it doesn't always have to be a success. It may be another struggle that uncovered itself because of that. But the idea is not to just sit, take in information, and do nothing with it. This is all about you committing to taking action. So what I want to do is challenge you right now to think about that in your business. Did you have a need? Do you have a need? Could you see the value in this? And if so, and you are an action taker, go right now to your LinkedIn profile, go right now to your email, go right now to your other social channels, whatever it is, and think of, you know what, 5 people that you already have a, relationship with in the business community that you would love to talk about this idea to and bring them together in the group. You know, the, the other thing just before we wrap up that was key in this was everybody has an equal say in what happens in that group, including who comes to the group, who is invited. We made the decision that We will not bring people in within the quarter. Once the quarter has started, we are locked down and committed to that group. Once we exit that quarter and go into the next one, we could decide to, you know, if somebody wants to leave or somebody wants to bring somebody else in, what we will discuss that as a group. And 100%, everyone needs to be on board with that new person. There cannot be any conflict from the past in there. If they don't know them then they need to learn more about who they are, but everybody needs to 100% be comfortable with them coming in because you are bringing them into your trusted circle. So think about it, mastermind. Can you develop this? Can you build something like this in your community? Go ahead and do it. It doesn't need to take a lot of time. It doesn't need to have any money involved. Ours does not have any money involved. It is time. And commitment and action and trust and loyalty and authenticity. All things that you cherish as a human being and in your business. So, as I leave you at the end of this episode, think about that. If you got any questions, please reach out to me, comment on this podcast wherever you're listening. As well, subscribe, share this, get it out there. I love doing these for you and And, uh, have a great rest of your week growing your business.
Looking for a CRM that's more Canadian than apologizing for apologizing? Meet Client Connector. Imagine HighLevel's genius now with extra Canadian politeness and a dash of maple syrup smoothness. Courtesy of Blue Cow Marketing's decade of wizardry in business automation, this is where tech meets Canadian charm. For just $97 a month, you're not buying a system, you're getting a hockey team's worth of support, minus the ice. It's all the CRM power you need with the personal touch of your favorite local diner. Ready to make your business as smooth as maple syrup and as efficient as a beaver dam? Paddle over to clientconnector.app and let's get your business saying sorry for being so awesome.
