How To Get Into Insiders

During the Insiders' open enrollment period, I had hoped at least 20 members would join -- and I said in the first round I wouldn't take more than 50. During the two 48-hour open periods, 46 people signed up. And as of this writing, they're all still there! The feedback from those early-in members has been fantastic, too.

But much more exciting for me: one of the members -- after getting help from the other Insiders and from me -- has already launched a new Mastermind group! And he wasn't even part of the initial Charter Insiders membership -- he came in late! (Are any of you business owners in the Albuquerque area? Get in touch with me and I'll forward your info to him so he can contact you.)

Already, my goal is starting to be realized: I want others to get the huge benefit I've gotten from my Mastermind group. And it's working!

My "core articles" series -- the "home study" articles sent out when you sign up for the e-mail list -- gives a broad overview of what's needed to start a group. If it has been enough for you, great! (Please tell me if you have started a group too!) But others want or need more information -- more depth on the points the articles made. And that's what the Insiders group is for: getting help from me and your peers to get your questions answered, get the details filled in, and get feedback on how to set your group's focus and "pitch" it to prospective members. (And, of course, where to find those prospective members!)

As I said in an earlier blog post, I am so excited about this stuff I want to share it with everyone! But I know I can't: I'm only one person and can't work directly with very many people, even if I wasn't so busy already. And while the articles I've been writing for the Insiders are really meaty, the real action in Insiders (just as in every other Mastermind group) is in the group discussions, and there's a limit to the number of people that can comfortably fit into a group (yeah, I've written an article on that, too!)

Thus, I don't want another big influx of members. If I do another "open enrollment" period, I'm pretty sure I'd get more people than I could handle. So, what to do?

Well, I already know the answer to that -- I've been leading Mastermind groups for 14 years now, after all! I'll just do what I've done in my main group for years: take applications, and choose the best people who would fit in well with the members who are already there.

Who I'm Looking For

I'm not just looking for people who can see the benefit of Mastermind groups: frankly, that should be all of you! I want to go beyond the "I see what you mean, that would be cool!" folks and move straight to the "I can see this clearly, and definitely want to move forward!" people -- those who are truly serious about starting a group, and want to get moving toward that goal.

As I've said all along, you do not have to own your own business! This works for salaried professional types, too -- even doctors. I did give some examples of the sorts of people who are already in the Insiders group in an earlier blog post, which you might want to see for some examples.

Clearing Some Confusion

Anytime someone unsubscribes from the mailing list (where you get the articles), they're allowed to make a comment or give feedback. Recently, Rich in Arizona unsubscribed, and this is his feedback:

I have, and continue, to follow your writings. However, the makeup of your Mastermind group really wasn't what I could contribute to. I am a real estate investor with a deep base of experience looking for peers. Best wishes to your group. I know it is strong and will do great.

I told Rich thanks for his kind words, but I told him I didn't follow his logic. The article series is exactly the way to find -- and then work effectively -- with peers. He replied:

Then please forgive my ignorance. I read the articles you sent with much pleasure, however, I am confused. In article #13, you said:

Key Concept: Having something in common is a must but, paradoxically, diversity is also incredibly important. That's what makes designing the group membership requirements so hard.

So what do I mean by diversity? Ideally, while you want your Mastermind group members to have something in common, you don't necessarily want everything in common. I didn't want my group to all be e-mail publishers because that would limit my vision: I wanted to associate with experts in web sites, because I knew mine had to be good, and I wanted to learn about them from people who knew more about them than I did. I wanted people who were supported by advertising, since that would surely be an important part of my business. I wanted people who shipped actual products, because part of my business plan was to have book compilations of my weekly columns, and I needed to sell them and ship them to my online audience. I wanted someone who also syndicated to newspapers, too, since I wanted to do that more. And those are just several examples: there's more in my group.

All of those people helped me expand my vision of what it was I could do. And, at the same time, they learned from me how to use e-mail newsletters to promote their own businesses, to keep people coming back to their web sites again and again, even if that wasn't a part of their original concepts.

Diversity creates synergy. We helped each other expand and grow, and prosper much more than if we were all working alone.

I totally agree with the synergistic value of diversity. However, I want to be around people that have some kind of common link to investing, more particularly, real estate investing. How do I relate to members of your Mastermind group when they know little about my business and I know little about theirs?

Am I missing the boat here because I truly would like to be associated with a group of people that are do-ers rather than wannabes.

Thank you for your help in clarifying this for me.

Ah, I suddenly realized where Rich's confusion was: this site and the articles aren't about trying to get people to join my "Internet Hotshots" Mastermind group, the group of my business peers, it's about how you can start your own group, with your own peers. Hotshots is full; I'm not looking for any of you to join it, even if you do have a successful online-based business. Of course Rich wasn't going to relate to the people I have in my group! But he'd certainly relate to the people in his, since he would choose what the group focus is, and the requirements to join. That all are real estate investors is a given. He'd probably even want to specify individual investors (vs corporate, REITs, etc.) See?

As for diversity, I don't mean he might want online publishers in there. I mean he'd want people who have interest and experience in residential rentals, condos, commercial buildings, storefronts, tax liens, foreclosure sales, etc., so he can pick and choose from their experience what might be useful to him. That's the type of synergy I mean. Not surprisingly, when I told Rich this, he quickly replied:

OHHHHH, I get it!! Duh on me. So, I need to find a Mastermind group in which I have an interest. I really don't have time, or desire, to start one myself. I have run plenty of real estate groups over the years, and know the amount of work they take. The money that can be made from running one is not significant enough to go to the work. But, I would be happy to pay the fees to join a new, or existing, group.

And also not surprisingly, Rich asked me how to get back on the mailing list. He immediately signed up again. Good, because Article #14 is specifically about whether you should try to find a group to join, or create one of your own!

While this site is about why and how you might wish to start your own group, I do understand that not everyone wants to do the work of a group leader, as Rich said. Over time, I'll be teaching the Insiders strategies for group management that won't take so much time or effort, so that impact is probably not as big as Rich might think. (And seriously: you could easily make five figures a year as a successful group leader. Might that be worth five hours of work a week? That's about how much time I put into the management of Hotshots. If you're asking "How?", then you haven't read the Dues Report, which is still available for free!)

I know, even people who do have time for it may not be cut out for running a group, and that's fine. Then the hard part becomes finding a great group to join. In the long run, as the Insiders start more and more groups, I'll be creating a directory of groups which accept applications to help match people up.

So If You Are a Leader

So if you are a Mastermind group leader (or want to be!), and are really serious about pushing ahead toward creating a truly great group, you are the kind of person that would benefit from the Insiders. I'm taking applications starting now. As of this writing, there is some space in the group, but not a lot -- I'm certainly not going to accept 46 more people in the near future. When I see someone who is a good fit and I have space, I'll send an invitation to the applicant to join. If I have more applications than space, I'll hold the application until I can accommodate someone. Each time there's space available, I'll choose one of the applicants and put out an invitation. If they accept, great! If not, I'll move on to someone else.

That, I think, is a sustainable way to work things. As I've said, as of today all 46 Insiders who joined in those two, two-day open enrollment periods are still there, but realistically that won't be the case forever, so I do expect openings here and there over time in addition to my capacity to take on a larger group. If you urgently wish to join, then do a great job saying so when you "sell yourself" in the application!

Here's the link to the Insiders Application.

Questions? Comments? Fears? The comments form is immediately below. Ask away!