Virtual Mastermind

[zeloc]

The thought just occurred to me of forming a virtual Mastermind group through the Internet.

The reason I think it is possible is that I took a course about a year ago that was entirely virtual, with a professor in another state that we initially communicated through teleconferencing and next a message board and regularly scheduled chat room sessions. Although I knew some of the other participants before the course, I was amazed that I gained unique insights and felt like I really learned more about these individuals through the online course despite the fact that I had known them for years. Some of the discussions were quite stimulating intellectually.

The format of the course was regularly assigned readings (both paper-based and online) and a movie, with a weekly online chat room discussion. As there were 5 of us total, it was not overwhelming and we were able to discuss the readings as well as occasionally get into side discussions, with the professor moderating the discussion in case it ever got too far off track. We also had individual final projects that were published online and subject to constructive feedback from each other, and a collaborative group project.

How exactly a mastermind group would work I am not sure, as I have never been a part of one, but for those of you who have, I would be interested in identifying some elements and then applying them to a virtual environment. In addition to chat rooms and message boards, there is now teleconferencing and videoconferencing, plus conference calling, etc., and almost anything that could be needed to form a group. I feel that there is some benefit to forming a group as reading Hill's book he mentions Wrigley and Ford and a number of other highly successful people being a part of the same group.

If there is too much interest, we could even split it into multiple groups of 5 with each group contributing ideas on what is working and not working in their individual groups so that all of the other groups can benefit.

What does everyone think of this idea?

[sanjay71]

zeloc,

please clarify that for what purpose you wanted to make the virtual mastermind group. i am interested to participate but i do not know the subject of this group.

sanjay sharma, india

[Chris Cade]

I'm already in a couple of business-related virtual masterminds and they have not really been very successful, overall.

One of them got too large, and the other was too small (so people dropped out). It's a fine line to find the right balance of enough people to have the group be useful, but not burdensome... personal... yet not exclusive.

[erego]

I am interested and would also like to know the general purpose of such a group. More details of what we might do is also helpful.

[SimonaRich]

I would be definitely interested especially if it is about brainstorming new business ideas. Business activities should help raise consciousness. I have many ideas in mind and I could share them with other people in the mastermind group

I'm in!

[zeloc]

Several of you have asked what the purpose of this group might be. Feel free to suggest yourselves what you think the purpose should be...

I think it would very simply be for goal attainment. Napoleon Hill describes the concept in Think and Grow Rich of the Mastermind group although it's been a while since I've read that section and do not really recall the details; Erin Pavlina I know has written an article on mastermind groups. A while back I participated on a Tony Robbins message board and someone described a mastermind group they were a part of which was highly successful in which each of the members pushed the others to higher levels of achievement. It took the form of highly organized sessions including coaching and so on.

As I have mentioned I have not been part of a mastermind group but I have seen enough examples of them being successful and think it can be helpful to discuss goals, methods of goal attainment, give positive support, analyze specific goal-achieving techniques, et cetera.

For such a venue to be successful, we would have to determine in advance exactly how it would work and I am open to ideas. I don't actually have the Hill book but for those of you that do, we could try to apply those suggestions to a virtual environment. We could also choose a book to read chapter by chapter and meet after every chapter to discuss so that we would more deeply absorb its information and enhance its application. Books could include Think and Grow Rich, Steve Pavlina's new book, The Maui Millionaires, The Enlightened Millionaire, or some other self-improvement book. We could even start by going through a book and then expand our group to other discussions.

Let me know what ideas you have.