Team Up for Success

By Sam Wieder, MBA

Have you ever heard of anyone climbing a mountain alone? This may be possible, depending on the size of the mountain and the skill of the climber. However, mountain climbers generally work in teams—and for good reason. It's simply too hard to climb a mountain without a support team to help you overcome the challenges you're sure to encounter on the way to the top.

Building a speaking business can be the same way. Those who try to do it all by themselves soon discover that this is no easy task. There are some steep slopes to scale in becoming a successful professional speaker. Along the way, you may lose sight of the summit or stray off course. When the slopes get too slippery and your energy starts to fade, you may even begin to question if you have what it takes to keep going.

It doesn't have to be that way. You can eliminate much of the struggle if you are simply willing to seek out the help and support that you need.

One powerful way to gain needed support is to team up with other speakers to form a mastermind group. This is simply a group of individuals who meet regularly to help one another overcome obstacles and achieve goals more quickly and easily. This group might be seen as a cross between a brain trust and a cheerleading squad, offering both practical guidance and emotional support.

What exactly can your mastermind group do to help you to achieve more with greater ease? Here are several possibilities.

1) Clarify your goals: When you are absorbed in meeting the day-to-day demands of your life, it is easy to lose site of your big-picture goals. In fact, you may not even be taking the time to set clear goals. And when you're unclear, your results can be equally vague and unimpressive. A mastermind group can sharpen your focus by helping you identify what is important to you and what you are really trying to achieve.

2) Find creative solutions to your most pressing challenges: When you are struggling with a problem, you are usually too involved in it to see the full range of possible solutions. New possibilities emerge, however, when you bring in the fresh perspectives of other minds. People in your mastermind group may have already solved a similar or identical problem. Add to this a healthy dose of brainstorming, and you can quickly generate creative solutions that you never would have considered on your own.

3) Share resources to propel you forward: You probably aren't aware of everything that could help you achieve what you want. Maybe you could benefit greatly by making certain business contacts. Perhaps there is a new accounting software program that would save you time, or a top-notch graphic designer who could add new sparkle to your marketing materials. Maybe you could learn something valuable by reading a particular book or attending a certain workshop. Your mastermind group members can often connect you with these types of helpful resources.

4) Fine-tune your approaches so they really work: Do you ever find that something you are doing just isn't working and you don't know why? Do you have ideas or plans you want to implement, but you question how well they will really work? By using your mastermind group as a sounding board, you can avoid a lengthy ordeal of trial and error. With the feedback you receive from your group members, you can quickly improve what isn't working and transform your new ideas into ones that work well from the start.

5) Hold you accountable to take action. When you are accountable only to yourself, it is very easy to put off taking the simple but important steps that will advance you toward your dreams. But when you must report your progress to others, you tend to take your commitments much more seriously. Through the power of positive expectations, your mastermind group can help you stay motivated, on track, and moving ahead.

So if you sometimes feel overwhelmed by the challenges of building the speaking career of your dreams, keep in mind that this isn't a mountain you need to scale alone. With the help and guidance of a mastermind group, you can harness the support that you need to climb your way to the top.
 

© 2006 Sam Wieder
www.JetToSuccess.com

Sam Wieder is a success coach and mastermind group leader who works with business owners and professionals who want to achieve more with greater ease. An experienced speaking coach and author of the “Speak and Get Clients” action guide, he also runs coaching groups to help professionals learn how to attract clients through public speaking. To learn more, contact Sam at Samsalive@aol.com or visit www.JetToSuccess.com.


 

These articles may be reproduced on your website so long as these four conditions are met:

• The articles are reprinted in full with no editing.

• The byline  is left intact.

• The copyright information is included at the end of the article, preserving the website hyperlink.

• Send an email to articles@nsapittsburgh.org letting us know the URL on your site where the article appears.

Read More NSA Pittsburgh Articles