Nothing to Gain, Nothing to Offer
By Sean McCool

We’re talking all about the importance of freelancers and solo professionals working in groups this week.

Today, I thought it would be good to further define what a “mastermind group” is. Napoleon Hill, whom I mentioned in my last email, said it was:

“The coordination of knowledge and effort of two or more people, who work toward a definite purpose, in the spirit of harmony.”

Knowing that, who would keep away from working in groups? However, we often are fearful of the unknown—especially when it involves other people.

Yesterday, I wrote about the fear of losing your individuality. But in this message, I want to concentrate on …

Resistance Fear #2 – I won’t learn anything

Let me direct you back to the quote by Mr. Hill: “The coordination of knowledge and effort …” This is one of the most important benefits of mastermind groups.

No one has all the cards. No one knows everything about a subject. We all come from different backgrounds and have different experiences.

The beauty of meeting in groups is you can draw from the lives of others. You have access to their knowledge. Even if you just meet with one other person, you’ve doubled the amount of experience you can benefit from.

When gathering a group together, find people who are at your level or slightly higher—both in their success and skill.

Where do you find these people?

You could look online in forums, for one. You can also look in your area through resources like Meetup.com for groups. I’ve found several groups this way and hit it off with a few of the members. One group actually spawned a mastermind group that met every Friday for a year.

Bottom line is, if you’re willing to step out even a little bit, others will find you. As the old saying goes, when the student is ready, the master will appear. I think mastermind group members are much the same way.

And remember, everyone has something to offer, but you’ll gain the most from people who understand where you are and perhaps are a little past where you are.

Your partners should be from varying backgrounds. If everyone has gone through basically the same experiences, there won’t be much to learn.

And remember, you don’t always have to meet with the same people. One group might be great for brainstorming new ideas, another for collaborating on writing projects.

I’m an entrepreneur at heart. I didn’t finish college. I’ve worked as a salesman and had my own handyman business before I started a career as a copywriter. I jumped in and I’ve succeeded in this career.

My background is a lot different from somebody who went to college to study writing before becoming a copywriter. I could have a lot to learn from them, like genres, plot lines, basic architecture of a story, character development, etc. All of these things could be applied to copywriting. And from me, they might gain some sales and persuasion insights through my door-to-door and face-to-face sales experiences.

Find like-minded people with different backgrounds, and you will learn plenty. Feel free to post a comment below to start a discussion to help form your own mastermind group.

Tomorrow, I’ll be talking about working alone.