A few years ago, I attended a two-day Mastermind meeting in Baltimore with Bill Glazer. This was significant for two reasons: one was the small group setting where there were only 7 of us sitting around a conference table engaged in and listening to advise from a multi-millionaire, and two because our chapter was recognized as one of the top ten chapters in the entire Glazer-Kennedy Insider’s Circle (GKIC) world.
On day one each Independent Business Advisor (IBA) got to stand up in front of the room for one hour and discuss what was working, what our challenges are and then ask the rest of the group for help and suggestions.
I was the third one to present and was only 10 minutes into my hour when Bill stopped me and said, “I have a huge idea and suggestion for you but I will wait until you are finished.” I continued a bit nervously and received terrific input and suggestions from the rest of the group. Preparing for my presentation and standing up in front of the room presenting and answering questions provided great clarity and focus for me and as the day went on and I saw the other IBA presentations and “hot seat” experiences did the same for them.
When I finished Bill ask me to summarize the takeaways from my “hot seat”. He then said to me, “since you have such great knowledge and skills about sales, sales training, and marketing why don’t you take what you are trying to teach companies and develop a ‘done for you’ business.” In other words, forget about teaching people how to do things and just step in and do it for them. He went on to say that there is much more money to be made in the ‘done for you’ business than there is in the information marketing business.
That one interchange lasted less than 120 seconds but will revolutionize my business and put at least $500,000 in my pocket in the next 24 months. Needless to say that one bit of advice was worth the whole trip.
Such is the Power of a Mastermind Experience
Like you I am too close to my own business, have my own biases based on personal history, and am not as objective as I need to be about what changes in strategy I need to make. Like you I am my own worst enemy – only I know it, whereas, some readers of this newsletter don’t know it or wouldn’t admit it if they did know it.
Unlike those who don’t REALLY get what GKIC is about, I am not closed-minded, nor am I arrogant enough to think that I have all of the answers, nor am I unwilling to borrow money to invest in my own growth and development, – FYI I borrowed money from my retirement account to invest and start this business and I continue to borrow money to grow this business – nor am I too ego sensitive and emotionally frail to spill my guts and stand emotionally naked in front of a group of peers and mentors for fear that they will find out I am not as cool or as great as they thought I was.
If you want to know what people value, ignore what they say and watch what they do. Especially watch what they do with their money. Where their treasure is there also is their heart.
A significant number of you reading this will drop by the wayside for one reason or another. Lack of desire, poor habits, ignorance, laziness, dysfunctional personal lives, poor work ethic, failure to face your own shortcomings, etc.
30 years ago when I was in Amway, Warner Heathman, a very successful dentist, and Ruby Direct Distributor said on a tape, “The weak never start, the cowards die along the way and only the strong survive.” Time will reveal to yourself which one you are. If these comments offend you dear reader I feel for you, but I don’t apologize for speaking the truth. To paraphrase what Nicholson said to Cruise, “Can you handle the truth?”