Mastermind as a List Building Resource

When I mention social networking, most of you probably think of Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and a dozen other popular websites. But what I am talking about in this article is actual social networking in real life--specifically Mastermind Groups.

Mastermind groups were an invention by Napoleon Hill in his wonderful life changing book Think and Grow Rich. He theorized in pre-Internet days that groups of like minded people need to come together to share knowledge on wealth building and marketing techniques. He envisioned groups all over the world who would congregate in different areas and then once a year they would all get together for a big meeting. He makes it all sound like a marketing "secret society" and was actually on to something brilliant: list building.

Not only is this a great way to build your opt-in list but also creates a forum to share ideas with fellow marketers in your niche and forge long lasting friendships. By getting together in real life, you help each other push your businesses forward to the next level. The idea of the group is that multiple people working in the same niche will be able to figure out problems and generate better ideas as one Master Mind rather than on their own.

These groups are not easy to find but trust me, it will be worth the time and effort once you find a good one. They can be life and business changing. If you can't find one nearby you can always start one.

There are two main places you can look for publicly advertised mastermind groups. The best one I think is the mastermind events sub forum on Warrior Forums. If that turns up nothing in your niche, then I would also check meetup.com and see what is there. Warrior Forum mastermind groups are going to be mainly IM related but meetup groups vary and you could find groups from any niche.

Some mastermind groups have requirements before you can join them. Others you will need to pay to be involved. Some Internet marketers speaking at seminars will offer paid memberships to their mastermind group exclusively to people at the seminar. Just keep in mind all the factors, like time commitment and money exchange, before you decide to join a paid group.

Mastermind groups are one of the best ways to share info related to your niche and also to build traffic to your squeeze page resulting in a successful list. You can network at mastermind groups and greatly increase your online business. I hope you find a mastermind group that appeals to you. You will not be let down and all the effort will be worth it. The rewards are countless.

Whether you are trying to survive failed businesses, botched partnerships, heavy credit card debt, or bankruptcy, Matt Bacak offers firsthand knowledge on overcoming the hardships of a business. As an accomplished and established Internet millionaire and best-selling author, you might be surprised to learn just how much his startup business was like yours a few years ago.

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Start a Mastermind Alliance

The President of the U.S. has a cabinet and every CEO has a board…you need a mastermind alliance. One important thing a mastermind group will do is cover the blind spots of each member, and to gain unbiased, independent and objective advice. Just find up to seven people who share your goals or have goals similar to yours and recruit them. Find members who have the skills, experience, education and/or contacts that you would find helpful. (Of course, you help your members too.) Look up all the people you have ever known who could help. Have your membership think of other good potential members too.
Get unanimous approval from your membership before you actually invite people to your forum.

After you have found members, go to Yahoo, MSN or MySpace and form a CLOSED Yahoo or MSN or MySpace group. Invite your members to the group and begin work. Keeping records should be extremely easy using any of these group sites. Also, you don’t have to meet at the same time at a physical location or run up phone bills.

Now, what do you do? Decide on your group’s definite major purpose and construct a plan to accomplish it. Give everyone in your group a job. Remember, success is usually cooked in a crock pot, not a microwave. Don’t expect success overnight. Just keep striving towards your common purpose and help each other in a spirit of unity and harmony.

Other things you can do are: review each other’s business plans, resumes, web sites, e-books, share information, brainstorm, send traffic to each others web sites and keep each other motivated. You can put class notes or any relevant data in the files section of the Yahoo or MSN group. The possibilities are unlimited. You can read more about mastermind alliances in Think and Grow Rich, by Napoleon Hill.