This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
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A mastermind, like basically a group of peers in your industry, this can be a free and formal group, or it can be a profit center for the right person. You can actually get paid for setting up this group, maintaining this group, bringing people together, hosting meetings and such. How would you do that? Like, how would you set up a mastermind group that makes money? Welcome back to Side Hustle School, friends.
If you ever thought about sharing your expertise and building a community at the same time, that's what we're gonna hear about today in today's listener question. Comes from a business coach who basically wants to do exactly what I just said. That's why we're talking about it. She's looking to form one of these groups to empower more entrepreneurs in her area. So this is Grace in Greensboro, North Carolina.
She's pondering the best way to structure and price her idea effectively. So if you like the idea of building and forming community, or specifically one of these paid mastermind groups, or even just joining one, perhaps this episode is for you. I'm always interested in helping people find different ideas to make money to improve themselves. So let's look at this one. Quick shout out to our sponsor, and then Grace's question, how to set up a paid mastermind group.
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Hi, my name is Grace from Greensboro, North Carolina. As a business coach, I've successfully assisted several small business owners, but now I wanna expand my reach. And after listening to another podcast talking about paid masterminds, I'm thinking of setting up one for entrepreneurs in my area, providing them with a platform to brainstorm and grow together, you know? However, I'm not quite sure how to structure it or how to price it effectively. Could you shed some light on how to run a paid mastermind?
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Hey, Grace, let's go through a couple of steps here. And then I'm also gonna mention something that I think is really important, just kind of big picture. So first of all, the steps, what kind of group is it going to be? Who is the audience? These groups tend to work best when they are focused on entrepreneurship, like bringing together other entrepreneurs who are trying to build platform, increase their profile and so on.
Then they're sharing specific tips and strategies, forming collaborations. That is by far the most common because it's easy to put a value on that kind of information and connection. So it could be something else, but that's probably the most common. And I think that's what Grace wants to do. She wants to bring together small business owners.
So that's good. Then you wanna establish a structure. Typical mastermind group meets, like once a quarter or something, could be more often. It could be like a monthly virtual meeting perhaps, and then a couple times a year at least, if not four times a year, you're actually getting together in person for a full day, sometimes two full days. But you just wanna do something that is like providing enough value over time that is consistent, but doesn't become overwhelming 'cause the whole point of the group is to be helpful, not to become a burden, right?
Especially if people are paying for it. And so speaking of that, okay, what do you charge? Well, look at what other groups are doing. Look at what they're doing, think about the value, think about the personal attention that you'll be able to give to it, think about the group size. That's something that usually is pretty significant.
It's not a big conference. The mastermind group is typically like six to eight people or maybe 12 to 15, maybe up to like 20 or so, but it's really not much more than that. It's supposed to be small and intimate. As part of the structure, you wanna establish a code of conduct. Make sure everybody is aware of the rules and agrees to them.
It typically has to do with privacy and just kind of maintaining confidentiality of what's discussed because if it's a good mastermind group, you're actually sharing some really valuable stuff that isn't available elsewhere or you're helping people fast track some of their business growth. So those are your basic steps, Grace, but I wanna say something else here. I think it's really important to not just kind of go out there and announce it without any certainty of who's going to sign up, okay? So I would say you need to seed the group somehow. You need to kind of like line up, you know, three to five people in advance who you're like certain are going to commit.
So you're obviously having like pre conversations with them and you're like, hey, I'm starting this group. You know, would it be of interest to you? And here's what I'm thinking. Just so you can kind of go out there and say, okay, the group is actually forming now. And it's not just me.
We've got so-and-so, we've got so-and-so. Just to kind of have some social proof and testimonials for it before actually launching it blindly, I think that's gonna help you have much better odds of success. So this can definitely work for the right person. I've never been part of a paid mastermind group. I have been part of a couple of ones that are just kind of friends and it's mostly an informal basis.
But you know, I know there are lots of these groups out there and obviously some people do very well with them. So Grace, everybody else, I'm wishing you well. Cheering you on. Excited myself to get on the road next week for my new book, Gonzo Capitalism. I'll share it more with you as we go.
If you have a question, comment, sidehustleschool.com/questions. Of course you can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Completely free, all the archives free, 2400 plus episodes. And I'm excited to make more for you. So stay tuned.
More is coming up. My name is Chris Guillebeau. You're listening to Side Hustle School. [Music]
- From the Onward Project.
