AL Health professionals Marketing Mastermind Group

I posted awhile back regarding my invitation to join a Mastermind Group for Health Professionals. What is a Mastermind Group? It was first defined by Napoleon Hill (inspired by one of my favorite risk takers Andrew Carnegie) as a coordination of knowledge and effort, in a spirit of harmony, between two or more people, for the attainment of a definite purpose.

Purpose.....as I grow older I like this word more and more. When I was an inexperienced businessman and naive graduate student/teacher I had joined groups and affiliated myself with people that talked a lot of inspiration but lacked that product delivery. Growing into my late 30's I realized that it wasn't my affiliations that lacked purpose, it was me. I brought nothing to these relationships but a lot of inspiration; inspiration that was too cowardly to deliver a product with a purpose. You can't rely on people to do your work for you; also, you can't rely on a particular affiliation to an individual or group to do your work for you.

Mastermind Meeting Notes
This meeting was very worthwhile; as our meeting mentor stated: Everyone needs a coach. There was plenty of discussion regarding meeting times, definition of the group, number of member invitations/limitations, and how each member would present the meeting agenda at future meetings. There was a sharing of ideas from the start; marketing ideas that worked and ones that were not so hot (I have plenty of these in my briefcase). The meeting concluded with each member developing their needlemovers.

Needlemovers
Needlemovers are similar to goal definition. I was in agreement with the mentor that goals do not work; what happens when you reach that goal? In the ideal situation, the needlemover is always progressing upward, like the volume button when the stereo is cranking that familiar jam. Think of it this way...your business is not going to stop when a goal is attained, you must keep working.

Our mentor asked us to define and provide short term (1 month), moderate term (2 months), and long term (3 months) needlemovers. It took me about 5 seconds to develop all of my needlemovers. Each one of my needlemovers had a connection with some form of work already in progress or completed to attain that next level.

Failing to plan is planning to fail
During the long drive home from Birmingham I meditated through the previous 4 hours. My mind reverted back to an ESPN special (viewed earlier in the week) commemorating the life of the great coach, John Wooden. In a segment which included Bill Walton and his three sons it was mentioned how Bill would write messages and include them in his boys' lunches for them to read at mid-day. The message one of his boys' mentioned was "Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail". A message delivered directly to Bill from Coach Wooden during his playing days at UCLA.

Define your needlemovers. How long does it take you? Is your needlemover already a work in progress? If not, get busy and define your needlemovers on a set date in the near future.