Who would be interested in IH Mastermind groups?
I've talked with so many cool IndieHackers, I was thinking it'd be useful to try to organize small groups of people (3-5 maybe?) to keep up with, encourage, and help out. Would anyone else be interested in this?
I don't think it's as easy as finding 3 people interested and starting a group, and finding the right people would be useful.
I was thinking there might be a few questions to ask to find the right people, like:
- How much time are you spending per week, and what schedule conflicts do you have?
- Where are you in your entrepreneur experience? Eg starting, released, marketing, growing?
- What industry are you in? How open are you to things like testing new things, validating, marketing, etc?
- Are you willing to commit to a schedule/communication type to keep the group active and beneficial?
This is just a general idea right now. I wouldn't mind trying to organize this on IH, or building a small app (with 0 interest in monetizing, I really just want to find IHers to work together with) to try to filter and find a group.
Once groups are formed, it'd also be cool to have a nice list of free tools to use to communicate with each other. Maybe as simple as slack, but audio/video chats would be awesome. And some awesome project managers here might be able to help suggest effective communication strategies to keep the groups active.
Would anyone else want to join a mastermind? And if so, have suggestions for a process to do it?
I'm definitely in!
I'm currently trying to come up with an idea for a product and marketing strategy for it but my laziness is effectively preventing me from working extra hours. Having a mastermind group where you discuss your progress and ideas might be a good thing.
Regarding the communication issue: I think skype is the best solution for it and its free.
Yeah, it can be tough to find time for a project! When I had a day job, I was too burned out and tired at the end of the day to seriously work on side projects. Make sure to keep a list somewhere of every crazy idea that pops into your head :)
Regarding Skype, I think that could definitely be a part of it. I thought some people might want a weekly or twice-weekly video/audio chat. For me, that would be good, but also more informal chat for more off-the-cuff discussion would be good to really dig in on day-to-day stuff, which is why I mentioned slack.
May I suggest, instead of Skype or Slack, check out the Twist app by Doist. I've tried using it a bit myself, and prefer it to Slack. Not a fan of notification saturation!
I'd be ecstatic to join an IndieHackers Mastermind Group!
I've previously read "The Eventual Millionaire" one of my favorite all time books. It was there I was introduced to the concept of mastermind groups and the impact they can have on your overall success in life.
Since, I've been toying with the idea of joining or starting one but never taking the first steps. I think IH would be a perfect place to open that up for young and learning entrepreneurs.
Please keep me updated!
Stay creative,
Tim
Oh cool! I haven't read the book, but I heard her on a podcast and she had great advice. Even listened to her podcast for a while.
I'm not sure where to go from here. My first thought is to create a group somewhere so IHers can find and join a mastermind.
@taylorjacobson had some great advice above. I think there were too few responses to this thread for people to be able to find a mastermind that fits their goals and schedules, but I want to take this in some direction.
There have also been a couple of IH posts about creating daily standup meetings. It'd be cool to merge the 2 ideas and make it easy to find what individuals are looking for, just not sure how to do it :)
Hi Andrew, it's a great idea. I run mastermind groups for Venwise and also built my own. In both cases we meet in person once a month, and then engage in between using email, Slack, Google docs.
I would advise that it is critical to set up agreements up front. Don't think there's a right/wrong way but getting everyone explicitly on the same page helps. As you learn and want to experiment, try to make those changes explicit too and get agreement.
Other thoughts
All my groups are between 4-8 people and meet for 3 hours in person monthly. I think 5-7 is idea, with my recommendation being 5-6. Less than 3 hours can feel rushed, at least in person. More is impossible to schedule and exhausting, at least for a regular thing.
PS for day to day accountability please check out my own site, www.focusmate.com.
cc: @sonsi.
I love your last bullet point. I was hoping there would be enough desire for this that we could form groups based on different needs, like time commitment, communication methods, and also on personality.
I thought 4 or 5 would be the perfect group size for me, but no idea without actually trying :)
And I'll keep the focusmate link open and dig in a bit more later.
Thanks for the great advice!
I think I'd be interested. Accountability might be helpful for me while I'm embarking on some bootstrapped hardware development.
Hardware sounds challenging, and super fun!
I was hoping for enough interest to give people some options for starting groups based on where everyone is, how much time they'll spend, etc.
But if everyone here wants to start a group (4 people), we can try it out.
I would like a group where we have some status-style meetings, but also a live chat to actually talk during the day. It seems necessary to build rapport/trust to feel comfortable talking more openly.
I'm already informally having regular discussions over email where I'm bouncing ideas, mentoring and getting mentored by other fellow Indie Hackers.
I'd be open to more of this!
Maybe @csallen could run an IH discourse server or slack haha. Or one could be run independently. And then smaller private channels or groups could be formed.
There wasn't quite the response I hoped for from my post. I'm a bit surprised because I hear "entrepreneurship is lonely" from so many places.
To get things started:
I'd like to find a group of 4 or 5 people to go into more depth with. Discuss things like what we're working on, where we're struggling or procrastinating (and why), help bounce ideas off of, and keep each other on track and motivated.
IH is pretty great, but a smaller group where we feel comfortable discussing challenges, and growing together sounds amazing.
Wouldn't you feel comfortable discussing your challenges here :)? I think the topics on struggle and challenge are most valuable to this community. We all learn from each other.
Of course! I like to post challenges and successes here, and do what I can to help others!
But masterminds serve a different purpose. With a small group, you can learn the context and daily issues of others. It's easier to help and be helped, and to really get to know the people you're working with :)
The goal isn't to find a replacement for IH, but to get additional benefits from such a great community :)