How To Launch A Mastermind To Grow Your Business

So today I'm going to talk about a topic that is super exciting, and it's a mastermind and how to host a mastermind for your community. And so the first thing is, what is a mastermind? And honestly, I'm Spanish, so the first time that I heard the word mastermind, I had no idea what it meant. It sounded to me like a video game. And then I started to do some, some research, and I saw that a lot of creators were hosting masterminds for their communities. They were hosting these groups where people would discuss, where people would exchange ideas. But I did a little bit more digging because I'm a very curious person, and I wanted to understand where does this concept of the mastermind come from, who created it. And I actually bumped into this guy. Have you read this book from Napoleon Hill? Think and Grow Rich sold over 15 million copies, and he's really the first person who launched and coined this term of a mastermind. And what it really means, even though it sounds a bit of like a fancy word, is get people together to share, to brainstorm, to troubleshoot, to exchange ideas. And as a result, everybody wins. And everybody grows because the whole idea is that when you put 2 brains or 3 brains together in a constructive way to share, to troubleshoot, to exchange, there's more innovation, there's more perspective, there's more encouragement as well. And so it's this idea that the whole, the sum is bigger than its parts. So I love this concept. I think it has everything to do with collaboration. I think it has everything to do with community. And it's a great way for us to go from just this solopreneur to how to create together, because as a solopreneur, it can feel very lonely. So this is a little bit about the origins of the mastermind, and this was in the past century. So what's happening today? And I'm going to tell you what's happening in my community. I've been a creator, a writer, a public speaker for 2 and a half years, and it's been a journey. I started from zero. I had no idea what I was doing. To be honest, I'm still figuring out what I'm doing, but every day I have a little bit more clarity. And one of the things that I realized at the beginning of the year— I always take the beginning of year as a moment to kind of pause, to look back, to celebrate, but also to be very humble and look at the things that are missing and things that I can do better. And I encourage everyone to do the same exercise. I do it every month as well, by the way. I look at what have I done, what is there to celebrate, but also how can I keep improving. And one of the things that I realized very candidly is that even though I always talk about community, and I do put a lot of effort into my community, I have webinars, I have a group chat that is super active and most of it is free if you would like to join. And I have sessions like I'm doing today. It's really, really an open forum. And so I used to throw the word community out there like most people do. But the reality is that one big piece that's part of being in a community is not just talking to people, but talking with people and creating a space where everybody can learn and share from each other. And up to that point, so January 2025, what I noticed in my community is that I was very often the leader. I was very often the one talking. I was very often the one presenting. In the webinars, it was very much one way, and then people would ask questions. And so I started to ask members in my community, what would you like more? What is missing? Where do you feel there is a gap? How can I help you? And I think these questions, they really help you understand who is on the other side of the screen, because very often we're only guessing, to be honest. And there was one word that kept coming back and back again. And this word or this term was, I would love to have a sounding board. And so I found that very interesting. So I started to dig a little bit deeper, like, tell me more about it. What do you mean? And the reality is a lot of people work alone. We are creators, so we spend a lot of time with our ideas, turning them sometimes into something, sometimes into nothing. And we don't really have this team that we work with. We don't really have the pantry that you have in the office. I used to work in the corporate world and you go there, You exchange a couple of ideas, you have a bit of banter. And this is something that most of us don't have as solopreneurs. And we need it, to be honest. You might have an idea that you think is great, but actually getting another set of eyes would make you realize that maybe there are a few blind spots or maybe there's something that, that you hadn't considered. And so this idea of creating this virtual sounding board sounded super interesting to me because it's honestly something that I didn't have. And so I put myself out there, I put my big— there's something that you hadn't considered. And so this idea of creating this virtual sounding board sounded super interesting to me because it's honestly something that I didn't have. And so I put myself out there, I put my big girl pants on and I said, okay, let's try to host the first mastermind. And I wanted to host this session because hosting the first one of anything is very intimidating. And it was definitely very intimidating for me. to go out there not knowing what a mastermind really was and to try to figure things out. And so I started to analyze, I started to look at how people were hosting their masterminds. I started to look at platforms and technology. And then what happened? Analysis paralysis, which is very often what happens when we try to do something perfect and that is completely figured out. And so I went back to the basics and I said, look, Veronica, stop trying to be perfect. Go back to your vision, go back to your why. And my why was very simple. It was, I want to create a forum for people to be able to share what problems they're having, for them to get another perspective on something that they're trying to launch, to get some help, to really have a group of peers that they can get inspiration from. And so I went on with that and I said, okay, I'm gonna schedule my first mastermind and I will figure things out from there. And so a little bit about the journey. I launched the very first one in January this year, and I launched it only for my founding members. And you don't have to do this, but To give the context, the reason why I did this is because at the time I already had a decent community in terms of size of a few thousand people. Out of those, I had a few hundred paid subscribers, which was going to be too much for a mastermind. And then I had a smaller batch of around 60 founding members. And so I decided that I was going to start there with my most loyal members. And so that would be my message. When you're thinking, who can I invite to my mastermind? Think about the people who support you the most. It doesn't have to be the paid subscribers. It could be a group of people who are also creators. They are your peers. They're always interacting with you. So think about who is that group who could really benefit from that session. And so I started there. I had no idea if anyone was going to show up, but it was fantastic. I had around 8 people or so show up. And so I will start there. What is a good size for a mastermind? And this is not a playbook, it's not prescriptive, but in this case, Smaller is better because having a huge group has a lot of risks. People might not participate, they might not feel comfortable, and so what will probably end up happening is that you go by default into presenter mode, which is exactly what we're trying to avoid because that's called a seminar or it's called a webinar or a masterclass, and that's not what we want. So try to keep it small. In my case, I had around 8. Since then, I've hosted them every 2 or 3 months more or less, I started to do them more frequently because my community really saw the value in them. But the first one, try to keep it small. The second thing that really helped me is to keep it targeted, because if you just say, let's have a mastermind, it can go in so many directions. It's going to be very difficult to ground people. So one thing that works extremely well for me is to pick a topic every time, one specific topic, and I'm going to give you some examples. One of them was about collaboration. How can we be better collaborators in the digital world? Another one was about how to create a digital ecosystem. In my case, I write books, I have courses, I'm a public speaker, I do webinars, so it was very targeted topics. But I went a step further, and you don't have to do this, but it also helped me to get people already not only on the same page but really in the same direction. And I usually ask the participants to prepare 2 or 3 questions or talking points so that they know what we're going to be talking about. For example, in the case of collaboration, I ask them something like, what is one collaboration that you have had in the past? What is one type of collaboration that you'd like to do in the future? And what's holding you back? And that gets people thinking before the session. So that is not just a blank page. It also allows you to say, hey, I asked you to do a bit of homework, so now it's time to go around the room. And that allows you to kick off the conversation because one of the most dreadful things is that you are the only one talking in a mastermind and no one is talking because then it's not a mastermind, it's a solo mind, and we're not here for that. So making sure that the group is prepared, they know what to expect, it makes sure that you also stay true to the promise and everyone comes with the same expectations. Another thing, so now people have come during your mastermind and what do you do then? One of the things that I'd like you to think about is what is your role as a moderator in a mastermind and how do you set yourself up for success? And you really have to change the mindset. I've hosted many of them, whether it's in person, webinars, masterclasses, and there in a way it's easier because you're kind of hiding behind the presentation or the slides, or even if you just have A script because you have a flow that you follow. And so that gives you a sense of comfort because you know exactly where you're going. The tricky thing in a mastermind is that you don't really know where it's going to go. And that's the beauty because it's not about you creating. It's an exercise of co-creation. Everybody has to participate. Everybody has to add in their 2 cents. Everybody is questioning, is adding value, is challenging. And so that means that your role is much more of a moderator. And so think about how you have to change mindset, how you have to change hats and act as a moderator. And so what does the moderator do? And I'm just going to give you some ideas on things that I have done that work well. So first is creating a space that feels safe, that everybody feels that they can participate, that everybody feels that their idea is welcome. So little things like knowing people's names or knowing something about them Like, hey, Tom, let us know what's happening in your community, and you mention the name. So little things like these make it super human, make it super personable. Also, if someone has a good point, don't just brush it off. Like, hey, Anna, that was a great comment that you made. Can we, can we build on that? Would anyone like to add something on top of that? And so your role is not to share, is not to spread wisdom, is to really create this space, be this catalyst for people to be very comfortable exchanging. And sharing, and so that really helps. Be very positive, being very encouraging, and making sure that there is a conversation happening. What are some of the challenges that can happen in a mastermind? And I'm gonna talk from experience, firsthand experience. The first time, I wanted to be super nice, and so I wanted to make sure everybody felt super welcome, and so I invited the participants to speak. It was eight or nine of us, and so I. invited each of them to introduce themselves. And what do you think happened when you ask people to introduce themselves without a lot of guidance? It went on and on and on. So half the session was people introducing themselves, which is a lovely exercise if you're just doing a roundtable to get to meet the creator. But that's not what I was trying to achieve. I was really trying to go into a mastermind. And so the second time, what I did is I asked people to introduce themselves in the chat, and I mentioned at the beginning the why. I think positioning what you're going to do is so important. So today we're going to have a mastermind session. We're going to keep the introduction super short. You can put them in the chat because the purpose of today is to discuss collaborations. It is to discuss ideas, to troubleshoot, to talk about how we can have better collaborations in the digital world. And so you position what you're going to do so that you can really set yourself up for success. And instead of spending half the session with introductions, you can spend the entire session talking about the specific topic. One more thing that can be a challenge is that we can't control what people are going to say or where the conversation is going to go. But what you can control is how you frame that conversation. And one thing that I learned in my days at Apple when I used to work in the corporate world is that positioning things and setting collaborative ground rules at the beginning can go a very long way. And what I mean by this is before the meeting starts, you can very briefly mention and invite people to add what are the rules that we want to follow during this meeting. Very simple: no interruptions, every idea is a good idea, I want to hear from every single person. I mentioned this at the beginning of the mastermind, so it's a gentle warning. I let people know that everybody will speak because that's the point. And I also mentioned that I'm going to ask everyone to make a commitment at the end of the session because a mastermind, yes, starts with the mind, but from the mind, which is the software, we go into the action, which is the hardware. And so I will go around the table, the virtual roundtable at the end, and make sure that everyone makes a commitment on the specific topic. So collaborative ground rules can be very helpful to make sure that everybody is on the same page. It's also very helpful because sometimes what happens is that the conversation can derail. And so you can have one person who starts sidetracking the conversation. With positive intent, and they're starting to talk about their life and something that starts to be completely unrelated. And so I always say that it's important to be kind and empathetic, but also firm. And so sometimes I say, hey, Billy, lovely story, but I'm going to bring you back. Let me remind you what we're here for today. We're talking about collaboration. So bring it back. What specifically can we do about collaboration? And so it's very important that you take this role of moderator with everything that it entails. It's about keeping people together and it's about bringing people back because it's to stay true and to respect people's time is to stay true to yourself and to your promise. So that can be very, very hard and it takes a lot of practice, but if it comes from a positive place and from positive intent, people will appreciate it. And so this is a little bit about the mastermind. Start with why. It always helps instead of going crazy with the technology, and trying to make it perfect. Bring it back to your why, your vision, your purpose. And at the end of the day, it's about bringing people together to have a collaborative discussion where we can all troubleshoot, we can solve problems, we can grow together. So start with your why. Then think about the people that you'd like to invite. You don't have to have a huge community. If you have a smaller community, then you can start with the people who are closer to you, with the people who often comment. If you have a bigger community, it's a great way to monetize your your work, maybe something that you offer to your paid subscribers, perhaps to your founding members like I do. And then once you are into the session, the key things for you to remember is to keep it targeted, because otherwise it's just going to go everywhere and it's going to be very difficult to land the plane and keep it very specific and granular. Make sure that everyone has a chance to collaborate, and that's where you really have to be like the orchestrator. You have to invite people, You have to have a lot of active listening, see who is talking a lot, who is not talking a lot, what can you do to encourage that person to speak up without feeling intimidated. So that's probably one of the hardest parts about it. And then when you're about to wrap up, try to— and if you want to take a pen, I always write some notes down— take the key ideas, make sure that you are this moderator who is able to bring everything back, because what we want, as I was saying, is turn this great discussion into something specific. And that is going to look different for everyone. So that's why personally, I love going around the table at the end and say, okay, what are some commitments from today? Or what are some takeaways? Or what is a key learning or a key step that you want to take after today's session? And that way you make sure that you go from this conversation that is up there to something very specific that is going to help you move forward As a creator, as a solopreneur, as, as a business person. So I hope today gives you a little bit of an idea on how you can get started with your first mastermind. I know that it can sound a little bit daunting, but it's all about practice. And to be honest, the most important thing is the mindset, is going with this positive mindset of I'm here because I want to help, I want to support, I want to create a great space where people feel that they can share. And they can collaborate. So if you have questions about today, feel free to put them. I have some questions. How long is your mastermind session? This is something personal. I tend to do them one hour because, as you can tell from today, I'm a rather concise person, and I very often find that less is more. I don't want to rumble around. I don't want people to have a hundred ideas. I want people to leave with one idea and one step that they can execute. So I usually host them for. 1 hour. I know that some creators do them a bit longer. So my next mastermind session will be in September. I'll do this for the founding members in my community, and the topic will be about public speaking because I do think that public speaking is this incredible tool that is very often underused as writers and as creators. And there's so much opportunity with public speaking, whether it's hosting your mastermind, whether it's doing live sessions, speaking and getting paid engagement. It could be webinars. There's so much more that we can do with public speaking. As an author, I do a lot of public speaking on podcasts and literary festivals and, and so on. So I hope that from today, you— I planted a little seed for you to at least consider your very first mastermind session. And if you have questions, you can always put them in the chat or you can also DM me. It was great to see you enjoy the session. It was Great to see so many of you, and we'll catch up soon at the Lemon Tree Mindset.