Smart entrepreneurs know knowledge is power and speed is critical in order to run a highly-profitable business.  Equally important is associating yourself with other high-level performers, which is the essence of the mastermind experience.

Study any notable entrepreneur in the past or present and you’ll soon discover that many, if not all, have been a part of a mastermind group and owe a large part of their success to the principle of the mastermind.

Whether it’s my Elite Experience Mastermind Group (http://www.elitemmg.com)
or another top-level group, here are my top five reasons you must be a part of a mastermind group in 2011 if you’re hungry for new growth and income.

1. Brains Are Like Batteries…

… the more you have around you, the greater the power.

A mastermind group lets you add one plus one and get a sum greater than two because it’s a forum for synergy and multiplied brain power.

Very simply, “two heads are better than one” and a room full of “smart heads” is priceless!  The combination of brain power in a mastermind is a powerful force, and you can harness that force to grow rich. In order to succeed, you need to hang out with smart people. A well-run mastermind group, like the one’s I have run for years, is your opportunity to do that.

2. Shared Resources, Strategies & Shortcuts

Mastermind groups provide you the opportunity to ‘borrow’ winning practices that you can adapt to use in your own business. By discovering best practices in your mastermind group, you can apply them to solve similar problems rather than searching for solutions from scratch over and over.

Members of my mastermind groups have never left a meeting without a number of resources and profitable shortcuts for their business.  You should be spending your precious time growing your business rather than solving problems that have already been solved.

3. Form Profitable Strategic Relationships

A mastermind group is ripe for discovering joint venture partners and strategic business relationships.  I cannot count the number of times I have seen my mastermind members create new products together, use each other’s services and products and create lasting friendships.

It’s imperative to align yourself with smart entrepreneurs who are also striving for success. You’ll easily find the right partners in a mastermind group that has been put together correctly.

4. Friendly Competition & Tough Love

I’m certain you hold your team members and employees accountable. But who holds you accountable? No matter how self-disciplined you may be, there’s always room for improvement. The cooperative nature of a mastermind group generates a greater sense of accountability to the group which, in turn, gets things done.

Your mastermind peers are the least likely ones to “let you off the hook” and you need to be open to suggestions and input that may be a bit uncomfortable, but if acted upon, will help you grow in new and profitable ways.

By their very nature, masterminds create a friendly competitiveness among members. No one wants to show up to the group without having done the homework and without some success to show.

Athletes tend to play to the level of their competition. If you’ve ever played golf or tennis against someone who’s more skilled than you, win or lose, you probably played a better game yourself. The same is true in business. Mastermind groups accelerate success because of steep, but very beneficial, competition. In the mastermind experience, no one loses.

5. Create Memorable Experiences

While being part of a mastermind is one of the most sure-fire ways to grow your business and your wealth, there are plenty of intangible benefits as well. To start, it’s just plain fun to be around people who can expand your thinking and your horizons. It’s exciting and invigorating to enjoy a nice dinner after spending the day brainstorming each others’ businesses. Show me an entrepreneur who doesn’t need some outside inspiration on a regular business, and I’ll show you one who’s headed for failure.

Specific to my Elite Experience Mastermind Group, this group combines the power of the mastermind with unique business experiences.  In 2010, my members had behind-the-scene tours at Disney World, direct-response TV giant, QVC and the super-successful Zappos.com.  The lessons learned were priceless!

My Invitation to You

While mastermind groups clearly benefit each member individually, they also provide the unique opportunity to be a part of something much larger than simply advancing your own efforts and enterprise. Truly effective masterminds work to pay it forward and make farther-reaching improvements in their industries and communities. No matter what the topic of discussion or problem to be solved, there’s an ongoing spirit of adventure and discovery in a mastermind group.

In 2010, many of my members have experienced a tremendous year of growth and prosperity and I intend on keeping the track record going in 2011.  I invite you to learn more about my Elite Experience Mastermind Group on November 4, 2010 by registering for my live webinar at: http://www.elitemmg.com

Remember, even the most profound business genius cannot succeed alone. When you surround yourself with others who are striving for success, you put yourself on the right path to be successful and grow rich.

We held this meeting at Disney for this specific reason – to learn how one of the world’s greatest companies creates exceptional experiences for its guests.  While we learned (and relearned) many of the things that makes Disney great, I thought I would share the six that clearly stood out.

1) Ask for feedback (and capture contact info)
Within minutes of boarding the Disney Institute bus, all of us were asked if we would agree to fill out a short survey regarding our tour.  They did not give us the survey, but instead asked for our contact information to email it to us after our return home.

Two important notes – the interest and mechanism to get our feedback (and contact information) and second the baby-step to get our agreement to do it.  Rather than overwhelm us during the tour, Disney smartly got us to agree first and captured our email info for follow-up.

Surveys are a very smart way to collect information and marketing insights from your customers.  I love using surveys to capture open-ended comments about how my products and services help them.  I then use the exact words they share when writing copy for my business.

2) Create and share your story
Within minutes of meeting our mastermind group, our hostess Maggie told us her story and how she came to work at Disney.  This is a very smart strategy top marketers and speakers use every time they speak, present or engage with a customer.

People like to do business with people they know, like and trust.  Part of this relationship-building process is to let people know how you arrived to where you are today and why you are in a position to help them.

Story-telling is one of the most effective ways to connect with other people and carefully considering and crafting your story is a critical exercise for all entrepreneurs and business owners.

This topic of “your story” came up during several mastermind members presentations.  As a matter of fact, the group helped one of our members create the beginnings of an amazing story that he never even considered using in his marketing (which is typical since we all tend to be to close to see our own stories). In a previous life, Dave was a former Alaskan bush pilot where he flew in some of the most dangerous terrains on earth.  One of the nuggets the mastermind group gave him was how he could use this unique back story in his real estate business.

Over the next two days, I will share the other four strategies that you can take from Disney and apply to your business to make it exceptional.  For more information about my Elite Experience Mastermind Group, please email me at info@mikecapuzzi.com