Expand Your Fempire Podcast #143 Transcript

The Power of Masterminding for Women Entrepreneurs

with Caterina Rando

Welcome to Expand your Fempire with Caterina Rando, the podcast for women in business on a mission. Sharing ideas to support you to grow and thrive. Now here’s your host, Caterina Rando.

[00:00:00] Caterina Rando: Welcome back to another episode of the Expand Your Fempire podcast. I’m your host, Caterina Rando, and I am blissing to be with you today. We are going to talk about a very, very hot topic. One of the things I do is I take women on retreats and we use cruise ships for these retreats.

[00:00:50] Last year, I was leading my retreat program on how to do women’s retreats. We had activities planned to show all the different kinds of activities you could do at a retreat. We did a jewelry exchange, we did afternoon tea, we did karaoke in groups, many other things to Demonstrate activities.

[00:01:14] We also had sessions on how to fill your retreats. And sessions, on what to do to make everyone feel welcome and create community. And how to keep your clients coming back and all the many hot topics related to retreats.

[00:01:29] The ladies all had a great time. They got massive value. And at the end, I asked them, what part did you like the most? And they said the masterminding.

[00:01:40] Here’s what I want you to know. I scheduled 90 minutes for masterminding. We had so much to do. I put it in for one segment. We got together, women started to ask questions, people’s opinions on different things. People shared resources. That 90 minute session turned into a seven and a half hour session.

[00:02:09] We, we skipped dinner. We got room service and snacks delivered in the room. Seven and a half hours. That’s all they wanted to do was connect and share ideas and talk and brainstorm.

[00:02:24] And that’s when it became very clear, the power of masterminding as an ongoing tool for you to bliss and thrive and be more efficient in your business.

[00:02:37] I’m going to share with you right now, some of the great benefits that come out of masterminding. And then I’m going to share with you how you can make sure you’re having effective masterminding in your business.

[00:02:51] And for some of you, this may even be a revenue stream for you.

[00:02:57] What do I mean by that? Well, currently I have training program for speaking. We have six sessions before they come for their speaker retreat. And before that, for months during the year, and after that, for months during the year, we mastermind together every month.

[00:03:16] It is a great way for you to serve your clients. Okay, but we’ll talk more about that.

[00:03:21] Right now, let’s talk about why masterminding is so awesome.

[00:03:27] Well first, what is a mastermind? It is a group of peers, and everyone brings their varied and vast experience to the mastermind.

[00:03:39] You can have a group of seven. You can have a group of eight. I don’t recommend you get too big. Twelve is probably the max.

[00:03:48] And this group, has certain agreements, and we’ll talk about those a little bit, and together the whole focus of the group is to help everyone succeed more.

[00:04:01] When you come, you can talk about what’s going on with you right now, you can talk about some goals, and you’re going to gain insta feedback on whatever you put out to the group. They’re going to provide different perspectives, they’re going to share their experience.

[00:04:24] For example, I’ve done three retreats in Hawaii. If someone said, Hey, “I’m thinking about doing a retreat in Hawaii,” I’m going to tell them “great. Here’s all the things you have to consider to do a retreat in Hawaii.” And they probably are not aware of any of them, because I’m utilizing my experience to make my comments.

[00:04:47] By the way, I have hosted over 300 group programs. That’s, that’s at least, and I want to tell you that at this point, we are including the mastermind component in all group programs. Why?

[00:05:07] Because you want everyone to benefit from everyone else’s massive value. And this is going to help with your decision making. This is going to give you new ideas and insights and strategies because everyone else has tried all kinds of things and maybe they have a lot more experience at certain things than you.

[00:05:31] What happens when you come together with a group of like minded women on a mission, just like you, you’re going to naturally create collaborations, make friends, share resources, give each other solutions.

[00:05:45] It’s going to really significantly impact your success. And when I say your bliss, what I mean specifically is that when you have a business, you don’t bring your challenges to your clients, of course. You bring them to your coach, which is great. Or your mentor. Or your consultant, but that’s only one perspective.

[00:06:11] With a mastermind, you are having a trusted council that is advising you. And that is so exciting. And this is going to have you begin to think bigger and broader, and you’re going to learn about things you didn’t even know existed because the people in your group are bringing it to your attention. It’s going to expand your network. And these relationships are going to be significant for you. It’s going to create more momentum towards your goals.

[00:06:42] And if you like, it can add accountability. What that means is You say to your mastermind group, you say, “okay, I’m going to do X, Y, Z before our next get together.”

[00:06:53] Well, guess what? That’s going to put fire under your fanny. It’s going to create momentum for you. It’s going to create focus because you do not want to come back to your group, not having done what you said you were going to do.

[00:07:06] And all of this is going to energize your entrepreneurial journey. You are going to leave every mastermind more uplifted than when you showed up

[00:07:16] and all of this focus is going to improve Your leadership. It’s gonna make you more efficient.

[00:07:25] And if you’re not engaged in masterminding now I want to strongly encourage you to do it and there’s different ways to do it. You could start your own peer mastermind group with some friends, Business colleagues, whoever you like, and you just get together and you do it.

[00:07:42] Or you could facilitate your own group and you could have people pay you for the privilege of being in the group and you’re facilitating and holding the group and you could be a participant.

[00:07:55] Or you could offer masterminding to your current clients. Or you could include it in existing programs, which is what I do. We include it with sales. We include it with our speaker program.

[00:08:10] I want to also share with you that my experience with the gals on the ship, my awareness that they loved masterminding so much prompted my next big thing that I’m gonna tell you about right now, we are offering in April 2025, Amp Up: A Mastermind Cruise for Women, Podcasters, Speakers, and Business Leaders.

[00:08:37] And I am blissing to make this invitation for you. If you would like to come on a ship round trip, San Francisco, Seattle, Astoria, Oregon, Vancouver, Canada. as our ports.

[00:08:53] We’re going to have three days on the ship, we’re going to have afternoon tea, we’re going to do fun activities, we’re going to connect, and we’re going to do a lot of masterminding. If that sounds good to you, I want to encourage you to follow the link to check out Amp Up.

[00:09:11] We’ve already got several gals signed up and we are absolutely going to sell out. Our goal is 65 women on the ship.

[00:09:19] You know, here’s one of my secrets about cruise ships. Nobody can come late. Nobody can leave early. And even though there’s other people on the ship, you mostly spend time with your group. This is great for connecting.

[00:09:35] I have had women tell me so many times, “Caterina, I got more business done on the ship than if I was home or at my office this last week.” Why?

[00:09:47] Because business comes from relationships and being together on the ship with lots of amazing women is going to give you an opportunity to connect, collaborate, share ideas, make friends, get inspired, hopefully gain some clients, become a guest on podcasts, gain speaking opportunities.

[00:10:14] It is going to be such a rich environment. You’re invited to join us for AMP up. Bing, bing, bing. By the way, mention this podcast for a VIP discount.

[00:10:26] Right now I’m going to talk to you about how to thrive with your own mastermind groups. Now, if you’re already doing masterminding, this may enhance what you’re already doing. If you’re not doing any, this will give you great parameters to be set up for success.

[00:10:43] Okay, the first thing is you decide on the logistics. How many people do you want in the group? How often do you want to meet? For how long do you want to meet? Do you want to meet virtual or live and in person? I recommend live and in person for this. This is why, even with our virtual groups, we always have a live component because when ladies come together, when business owners come together, amazing things happen.

[00:11:10] Then you’re going to create your purpose for the group. For example, for our speaker mastermind, I’m very clear. This is a program for women who want to speak to grow their revenue and gain more clients in their service businesses. It’s not just a program on, “Hey, come in and become a better speaker.” it’s very specific and we have masterminding in that.

[00:11:37] What we want is we want the people that you want in the mastermind to say, “that’s for me,” and that will happen when you are loud and proud and put in writing your clear purpose of why the group is getting together and who is this group for.

[00:11:56] And by the way, I’m sharing with you how to get started.

[00:12:00] The thing to remember, and one of the guiding principles I’m hoping you’re embracing in your overall business, is always be upgrading. We’re always upgrading. You try it, doesn’t work, try something else. You said you’re going to meet for two hours, that’s not working, try 90 minutes. Maybe people want to get together every two weeks, with a half day, once a month. All kinds of different ways you can do it.

[00:12:28] And you know what? If you’re the leader of the group, then you’re going to do what works best for you. If you’re looking for a mastermind community, please connect with me, connect with us, but also ask people in your community.

[00:12:42] When you’re considering who to invite to the group, and I do encourage you to hand pick and personally invite the people you want to mastermind with, and you’re looking for a variety of experience, you’re looking for people that have been at it longer than you, you’re looking at people that Might have been at it less time than you, but they’re hungry, and they’re action oriented, and they’re motivated.

[00:13:10] You’re looking for not only professional similarities, but you’re also looking for certain values.

[00:13:19] I only want the positive gals, who are generous by nature. Who are committed to uplifting women through their work. That’s who I want to hang out with. Who do you want to hang out with? Get clear on those values.

[00:13:34] And of course, integrity is the number one thing.

[00:13:38] You want to make an agreement. Are we going to come when you want, or do we have to make this a priority everybody has to come every time? Now life is busy, especially for women entrepreneurs. I encourage you though, to have an agreement about attendance.

[00:13:55] And by the way, if you’re doing a peer group, you could even have an agreement about every time you get together, a different person is in charge of facilitating.

[00:14:05] Also food and beverage definitely contributes to successful masterminding. You could have a different person bring the snacks every time.

[00:14:16] Bing, bing, bing.

[00:14:17] Here’s what I want you to recognize. This next point is very important, probably in my opinion, the most important. Have a clear written down code of conduct and agreement for everyone that’s going to participate. Now, it doesn’t have to be a big, long thing. It could simply be bullet points.

[00:14:36] I’m going to share what I feel is very important with you right now. A willingness to share honestly and vulnerably at times, to leave your ego and your attitude at the door for having to be right, for having to look good.

[00:14:55] Authenticity is essential to effective masterminding and building trust.

[00:15:00] Perfection is not required, it is not encouraged, and it is not interesting.

[00:15:06] That means you don’t come to the mastermind group and just say everything’s wonderful. You ask and you share openly.

[00:15:14] When sharing, when giving feedback, We want to use affirming language, and we want to be inclusive and respectful of different opinions, life experiences, points of view.

[00:15:30] Next, all perspectives and all points of view are welcome. It’s a buffet of thoughts and ideas. And just like a regular buffet, you take what you like, you leave the rest.

[00:15:43] Most importantly, everything discussed in the mastermind group that is particular to an individual is confidential. Now, that doesn’t mean you might not share, “hey, we talked about this in my mastermind.”

[00:15:58] You might share resources, but you keep the people part out of any communication. Confidentiality is, of course, key.

[00:16:08] And by the way, here’s the thing. You don’t just send someone agreement. Okay, here’s agreement, sign it before you come to the meeting. No, you go over your agreement in your first meeting, make sure everyone is in agreement. And if they can’t be in agreement, they can’t be in your VIP group.

[00:16:25] Last year, I took amazing group of women on our bliss retreat for women leaders on a mission. We’re doing our next one in November. These women loved each other so much that it is more than a year later and they are talking still every single day on Facebook. We have a meeting once a month to share ideas and check in and the power of communicating after meetings, between our monthly meetings is so essential.

[00:17:04] One of the things, if you’re doing your masterminding right, and this is where women are really great is there’s a huge aspect of inspiration and encouragement.

[00:17:17] I want to strongly encourage you to have a way to communicate between your get togethers with your mastermind partners.

[00:17:27] Like we do a simple Facebook group chat. You could have a, a group on another platform. I know a lot of people like mighty networks, whatever works for you. But the point is that you have a way to communicate with the group, you could even have a group text between meetings so that you can share wins, celebrate what’s going on for you, ask a quick question, wish people a happy birthday. All of these things help you cultivate community and more connection between your mastermind participants.

[00:18:07] Now, let’s talk about the specific get togethers. I want to strongly encourage you to start on time. However, you may want to include as standard operating procedure, some visiting time before the official start.

[00:18:24] If you’re meeting live and in person, you could say, “please arrive at around noon and we’re going to officially start the meeting at 12 30.” Why? Time to get some snacks, time to get settled, time to visit. Socializing is a key part of a successful mastermind. Remember, the goal is not just great ideas. It’s connection, collaboration, uplift, inspiration, encouragement, and some visiting time is key for this.

[00:18:59] Okay, of course, the first time you get together, take extra time to have everyone introduce themselves and say what they want to get out of the group. After that, when you get together, always start with someone sharing a win.

[00:19:13] Notice I said a win, not 50 wins. Sharing a win and giving a check in, how everything’s going, and then sharing any hot topics that they want to put on the agenda. Then you keep a list, what hot topics are we going to talk about after everyone’s checked in? And then you go around, The room you have everyone check in and then you get into the hot topics.

[00:19:37] Now, here’s the thing. If you’re the facilitator, you got some hot topics ready to go, if nobody has hot topics. You will find though, after at least the first couple of meetings, people will be thinking about what hot topic they are going to bring to the group. And then you can go through each hot topic collectively with the group.

[00:19:59] That’s one way to do masterminding. Another alternative is you say, okay, we’ve got an hour left after check in. Or we’ve got two hours left, however much time you have. We’re going to divide that time between participants. If you’ve got six participants, and you got 60 minutes, everybody gets 10 minutes. This is another way to do it. Both are very effective, and you could even switch it up this time to that time.

[00:20:27] And by the way, it’s good to have people sit in a circle. Circles are best for connecting, not in theater style or classroom style. Never always in a circle.

[00:20:40] Before you conclude, you have everybody share any closing comments, what insights they’ve gained today, and what are their action steps that they’re going to take, and anything specifically that they want the group to hold them accountable for. Now, somebody’s got to be responsible for writing down what people are going to be accountable for.

[00:21:03] You may know we have a center in San Francisco, where I host retreats, where we do our speaker mastermind retreats and other trainings. We used to do big events in hotels. I have a very important rule, “no shooing.” No shooing doesn’t mean no shoes or, or fooling around with your shoes.

[00:21:26] No shooing means we don’t shoo people out of the room. Why? Because a lot of the connection happens after a lot of the sharing ideas, a lot of the collaboration after the meeting is concluded.

[00:21:41] So do not shoo people out of the room. Or even the venue. This is another reason why I’m a big fan of masterminding on cruise ships. No place else to go. You’re on the ship.

[00:21:55] This idea also of going away with your mastermind. You could go away for half a day in your geographic area. You could go overnight to a nice venue with your mastermind group.

[00:22:11] One of the things that facilitates masterminding effectively and one of the things that helps you get rejuvenated and unstuck and revitalized in your business is is getting out of your regular environment.

[00:22:27] That’s another reason why I’m a big fan of retreats and I’m hoping that you have at least a couple of those on your calendar each year and masterminding retreats. Either join me or host your own. These are great for you to get revitalized and for you to do all these other things we’ve been talking about. Make friends, create collaborations.

[00:22:55] And, you know, the other thing is a lot of healing happens when women get together. We acknowledge each other. We affirm and validate others decisions and choices. We we’re like good sisters loving on each other. That is a little bit tough when you are trying to fit that in before your 9 a. m. meeting. That is why I’m a big fan of getting out of your regular environment, going on a retreat, even if it’s a short one, overnight.

[00:23:31] When you have a mastermind group, make The people in the group important. Do social things, even if you’re all over the country, have virtual tea together, have virtual coffee break, get together for some co working virtual. These are things you can add with your mastermind group.

[00:23:52] Last year, I went for the weekend to Chicago. One of my fabulous clients said, “hey, who wants to come to Chicago for some masterminding?” Went to Chicago. Two other amazing friends and clients came. There was four of us. We were there for the weekend. We had dinner. We laughed. We did go to afternoon tea with fascinators.

[00:24:17] We went to the Cheesecake Factory and ate a little too much and enjoyed every minute of it. We went to get our nails done and we fit in a little masterminding. This one was not a ton of masterminding. It was great though. It was very cup filling. Because being together with other women entrepreneurs like you, other speakers, other women podcasters, other women leaders, amazing things happen when you’re in the same room together.

[00:24:52] I want to strongly encourage you to amp up your masterminding in your business and life. And again, let me invite you to join us for Amp Up: Mastermind Cruise for Women Podcasters, Speakers, and Leaders. Please connect with me. I would love to find out how you’re using this.

[00:25:17] Oh, I want to invite you to my upcoming free workshop. I always have one. The next ones are on sales. Some of them are on speaking. They’re on hosting retreats. We’re, we’re doing one on masterminding.

[00:25:29] I want to invite you to amplify your connections, amplify your time with amazing business women just like you, amplify your attention on getting away from your business sometimes for getting revitalized, rejuvenated.

[00:25:53] And I also want to remind you, you, my friend have massive value to bring. There is a lifetime supply of people to serve. Take these ideas, incorporate them into your business so you can sell more, you can serve more, and most importantly, you can uplift more lives with your business.

[00:26:21] This is Caterina Rando. Thank you for being with me on the Expand Your Fempire Podcast. Connect with me. We have a great Facebook group. We have great things happening in our community. I want to meet you. I want to support you to bliss and thrive more in your business. And Hey, come hang out with us on our AMP up adventure. Love to you.

[00:26:46] Bing, bing, bing.

We hope you enjoyed this episode of Expand Your Fempire with Caterina Rando.