MasterMind Group Basic Explanation and Agreement
By: Stan Barnes—President of Barnes & Barnes Consulting Group
stan@barnes-barnes.com   www.barnes-barnes.com

MasterMind Groups Overview: Where did this powerful concept begin?  A man named Napoleon Hill, who interviewed well over 500 self-made multi-millionaires for almost a decade, in the early twentieth century, discovered this concept to be an integral part of each of those multi-millionaire’s business lives.  He then devoted an entire chapter in his most famous book, “Think and Grow Rich” to this critical success factor.  He said a MasterMind Group is… “The coordination of knowledge and effort, in the spirit of harmony, between two or more people, for the attainment of a definite purpose.”

Throughout this chapter and within his entire book, Napoleon Hill further stresses the synergy effect of such groups and “like minded people” working together in business support groups.  In addition, he states that… “The more powerful a MasterMind Group becomes, the more synergy it produces.”  He then adds… “Do not wait; the time will never be ‘just right’.  Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along.”

Napoleon Hill stated further that power and wealth are created by organized knowledge that is manifested in definite objectives and goals, action planned and then implemented. He broke knowledge down into these categories:  (1) Infinite intelligence each member brings to the MasterMind group (2) Accumulated experience each member brings to the MasterMind group, and (3) Experiment and research knowledge each member brings to the MasterMind group.  As your facilitator, who has worked as a business and sales consultant for many hundreds of companies and organizations, close up, since I began my business in 1983, I will be bringing a wealth of information and support material to your group.  You in turn will do the same and everyone benefits greatly.

General description of a MasterMind Group: This is a group of like minded, positive, supportive people who meet on a regular basis (some groups meet once a week, some bi-monthly, some once a month) to discuss how they can help each other “get out of life what they are seeking”.  Groups I’ve seen and groups I have been involved with over the years can range in size from as few as two to four people, up to ten, twelve or even higher.  In fact, Andrew Carnegie, the billionaire steel magnate of the early twentieth century, had a MasterMind Group of 50 people!  However, most veteran people of MasterMind Groups today will agree, once you get into the teens in size, the group tends to have turnover, fringe commitment by some, and otherwise be unmanageable in today’s fast-paced world.  A good guideline to follow is to set a size goal of your group before you start your group because you could keep adding people and end up with a gangly, unmanageable group.  In addition, you do not want people coming and going in your group either, because this disrupts continuity.  You need your members' total commitment from the start.  The average group size worldwide is five and counting me as the facilitator, the groups I facilitate total six people.

This is not a board of directors or a quasi board of directors.  It is a business support group.  In addition, it is not a CEO Roundtable.  Objectives, Goals and Dreams are discussed and supported; brainstorming happens often, and the group participants must have total trust of each other.  This total trust is required because it is common to have disclosure of private business items which are discussed and shared in these meetings. 

Some informal groups choose not to have a facilitator.  Quite frankly, that was how I got started doing this in the 80’s and early 90’s and it did work.  However, it is a good practice to at least have someone who acts as the coordinator of meeting dates and other important information in general.  The worldwide trend for some time now, in order to be more effective, is to join a MasterMind Group like I formulate and facilitate.  These groups are formally coordinated and facilitated by business consultants like myself. 

Usually, although this is not a hard fast rule, the length of time for the meetings will run about an hour and a half (with a definite start and end times so people can properly schedule around those meeting times).  Live, face-to-face meetings had been the most common way of holding MasterMind Group meetings until the coming of the Internet age.  In this day of technology and busy, successful people, who are pressed for time, telephone conferencing combined with an Internet meeting (that include voice and computer data sharing), are becoming more and more prevalent.  This is the kind of MasterMind Group you are being invited to join with me as the facilitator. 

As I stated earlier, from the start-up of the group, total commitment to the MasterMind Group is required of participants.  In addition, it is a Critical Success Factor (CSF) to have people in particular groups who are: (1) Similar in some way, gross sales wise and/or career level attainment wise. (2) Have a “fire in the belly” burning desire to become world class at what they are doing and break through from a good, to a great level organization. (3) Possess a definite positive attitude and are extremely enthusiastic. (4) Do not fear change.  (5) Accept input from their group partners about their blind side characteristics and traits that might be holding them back. (6) They really do want to ask for as well as freely give advice, help and support. (7) They keep in mind that while there are some hard fast rules to follow with MasterMind Groups, the group dynamics begins like soft clay on a potter’s wheel, and new ideas for improvement are developed along the way.  For example, because of the Internet, I believe MasterMind Groups today are far more efficient in time spent, than in Napoleon Hill’s time.

Specifically, here is how my Web based Internet MasterMind Groups Function:

1. I send invitations out to a number of “Like Minded” people who are not in competition with each other (or if they are, they are at least 500 miles distant from each other but I avoid this when I can), and then accept five (5) people in that group on a “first come-first serve” basis.  Because of the way we do these Internet based meetings, anyone can participate in a group with anyone else, regardless of their location in the world. 
2. I will be the MMG screener prior to inviting anyone to any specific group.  However, I do not pretend to know everything about everyone and there are going to be times where one potential participant would not feel comfortable in a group with someone else they know very well.  When this occurs, I ask the initial person bringing the problem up if they will wait for another MMG to form rather than ask the member already accepted, to bow out.
3. Once interest is definitely shown, I sign this Microsoft Word agreement and send it to each participant as an attachment.  That document/agreement needs to be filled out, signed and either faxed or scanned and sent as a pdf file to me.  At that time, I will also send a request for required business and personal information that will be shared with all the participants, prior to the first meeting.  In addition, and I will ask for credit card information because there will be a charge in advance, each month, of $125.00 per participant.  This will be handled by my secure, hacker safe, website you will be directed to.  Standard Computer Company of Grand Rapids, Michigan, a long time networking friend and client, is my designer and host for all my website work, as well as my security company.
4. There will be one “Get to know each other meeting” on the Internet with teleconferencing (I have a monthly/yearly unlimited Internet service that can handle 16 people at anytime, whereby all participants can go to a site and exchange information and display information freely).  I am the facilitator and my computer screen is first displayed on everyone else's computer screen, once you join the meeting on the Internet.  However, once you join the meeting, if requested, I can have any of the members run the meeting and display their computer screen information.  However, I would always have control over the entire process and be able to return to my screen being viewed at any time.
5. At the first meeting, we will determine a good time for everyone to meet on a regular basis.  Some groups meet during the day, some early in the morning, and others at night (if they are evening people).  Significant time difference groups will avoid early morning meetings.  This is up to the group.  It is best to set a fixed time throughout the year and flex only when needed because once we start trying to adjust meeting times for six people (five participants and myself), I have found it to be difficult at best.  However, those situations will arise and the group members and I will work to accommodate others as best as possible.
6. Because this is an Internet based process, you can be traveling on the road, and even be on vacation, and if you have access to the Internet, you are all set.  At times, a participant will only have telephone access, but that is not a problem and anything material wise that needs to be forwarded to that participant will be taken care of by me after the meeting.
7. There are twelve (12) meetings scheduled for one year.  Towards the end of the fiscal year start of a group (i.e. let’s say a group starts up in September and schedules until August of the next year), I will begin to get agreements on continuing forward with the existing participants and secure the meeting dates and times again.  If you have Outlook and use it, it is a real bonus because I can schedule our meetings for one year and handle particular scheduling changes.
8. Keep in mind, it is not my practice to baby-sit or keep reminding a participant that a meeting is coming up.  Having the telephone and Internet code will allow you to join the meeting at any time but we ask that you arrive a few minutes ahead of time.  A verbal announced roll call and bell ring, alerts others you have arrived.
9. Except for general public domain information I share with the participants out of my extensive library of electronic and hard copy files (and other participants share with each other), all other information shared will be considered confidential.
10. Agendas belong to the group, and are therefore designed and formulated as such.  Prior to each meeting, I will issue the updated agenda as an attachment to an e-mail in Microsoft Word.
11. Subjects covered range from brainstorming, to increasing sales, to honing a marketing/advertising campaign, to creating new and improved products and services, to employee, vendor and subcontractor concerns, time management, computer hardware and software recommendation, boosting profits to the bottom line net; you name it….the topics are wide open.  Religion, politics and any other controversial subjects should be avoided at all costs.
12. Rather than cover a ton of details, if you have any additional questions, e-mail me or call me and I will respond as soon as I can.  Thanks.  STan