If you own a small business, you need to become
part of a network, period. All of the most successful people in
business have been part of networks and you should to. You can't do it
all alone and the benefits are amazing. Read on to find out about the
power of the mastermind in networking.
There are three main pillars to a successful small business network:
1.
The pillar of service- This is where you unconditionally help other
members of your network so that they can grow their business.
2.
The pillar of referrals- This is the goldmine pillar where you give and
get free business by referring clients to other members without
expectation of reciprocity.
3. The pillar of the mastermind- This
is the basis of this article. The mastermind is the principle that a
group of people working together towards a common goal is more powerful
than each individual working towards it.
This principle was
coined by Napoleon Hill in his world famous success book called "Think
and Grow Rich." Hill used the term Master Mind. In the book he explains
to us how the great, successful business owners of the past have used
the mastermind principle to achieve unheard of goals against unbeatable
odds.
Well, you can use the power of the mastermind as well. Once
you establish your small business network, you will select a smaller
group of people that you will be able to completely confide in. You
need to make sure that these members are dedicated towards helping you
achieve your small business goals. In turn, you will become part of
other mastermind groups dedicated towards helping others.
Once a
group of business owners take their individual expertise and put it
together to help others, their power to come up with ideas and
solutions is amazing. It's like taking the best part of each person's
brain and mashing together to create a better brain, a mastermind.
Your
mastermind group should be relatively small. There needs to be limit of
4-8 people so that ideas will not start to clash together. It's the
same principle as having too many cooks in the kitchen. Your actual
business network can have hundreds of members, but the mastermind needs
to be a very small group, a chosen few. This group of people will stick
with you for a long time. There are cases where these groups have
stayed together for the life of the business.