Running a small business is no easy task. It's messy and thrilling, and terrifying all at the same time. But no matter what, it's definitely a journey worth taking. As a mom of two littles, I know the daily struggles, and I'm here to walk this journey with you. If you're ready to feel empowered, encouraged and on fire for the things you truly love, then you're in the right place. I'm Rebecca Rice, a pizza loving hot chocolate drinking family photographer and educator. And this is the business Journey podcast.
Hey, friends, welcome back to another episode of the business Journey podcast. I'm your host, Rebecca. And we have a really fun topic today. Today we're talking all about masterminds and whether or not you should join one. So before we get too far, I wanted to let you guys know about a free class that I have that is brand new, we just started it a little bit ago. And the feedback that we've heard has been amazing. And so I wanted to share it with you guys. It is a class all about posing for families. So it's called keys to effective family posing. And I just was blown away with the feedback of students that loved it. And were able to take the things that they learned and apply it at their very next photo session. So if you want to sign up for this free class, you can today, just head to Rebecca rice photo.com/posing-class. That's posing dash class and we will link it here in the show notes for you to have it but just wanted to kind of give you that opportunity in case you missed it when we did it, you know a few weeks ago that you can jump in and join us in this class. So let's get into all things mastermind, if you're not familiar with what a mastermind is, basically, it is a type of group coaching program, where you have anywhere from like four to maybe 12 Members, I haven't seen any mastermind with more than that. So that's pretty typical four to 12 range. And the style of it is you have a mastermind coach or the person that's in charge. And they sort of facilitate this ongoing discussion in this group coaching style. And so it could be teaching every week or every other week, there could be hot seats where you get to really dive in as a group to the other businesses that are represented like there are so many different variations of masterminds. I have been a part of masterminds in the past, I have done three masterminds in the last few years, and they have been honestly the best investment that I've ever made in my business. Like I see the most growth. I've done like my fair share of courses and stuff. And next week, we're going to talk about like courses versus masterminds and how they're different and which one would be for who but you know, I've done my fair share of courses, and they're great, but man, the stuff that I gain from being in a mastermind is just like on another level. I mean, in case you didn't know I host a mastermind we are just finishing up we have a couple months left in our current round and I'm about to open up applications for our next round of masterminds. So if you want to check that out, join the waitlist, you can go to Rebecca rice photo.com/mastermind. Today in this episode, I really want to dive into how do you know if you should join a mastermind because typically, the investment is a lot more than a course and so it can be intimidating and you're like I don't know if I'm like ready for this thing. And so I wanted to kind of walk you through a few things that I look for whenever I'm looking for the right people to you know, be in my mastermind and things like that to kind of give you a baseline of like okay, is this something that I should even consider? Am I ready for a mastermind so the very first you know sign that I look for for you know, to know if you're ready for a mastermind is that you've got the basics down, so you know how to shoot. Typically you have a website, you're getting bookings from paying clients. If you're not in those three things. If you don't know how to shoot yet, you're still trying to familiarize yourself with your camera. That's okay, that's totally fine.
I think maybe a course would be a better use of your time and your investment just because there's a lot of like nitty gritty basics and you don't need a group coaching format for something like that. If you know how to shoot have a website, you may hear it several schools of thought on this have some people are like, Oh, you don't need a website. You know, the world is run on social media, blah, blah, blah. I'm under the impression that if you're going to be a professional photographer, you do need a website that it just gives you a home base for you to send potential clients to to house a portfolio and it just adds like a level of credibility for pets. Henschel clients, and so that's something that I look for that you are not at the place where you have a website yet, then a mastermind may not be the best fit for you yet. Now, that doesn't mean that it can't be down the road, for sure. But I think that that definitely needs to be in place first. The third thing I said was that you're getting bookings from paying clients. So if you have paying clients coming in now, I'm not saying you have to be fully booked by any means. You know, a lot of the students that I work with in masterminds are not fully booked that that's their goal, they want to be fully booked, but they aren't yet. And so we're able to, like really dial in their processes and workflows and, and their marketing tactics and things like that to get more clients in the door. But a good like starting place is that you are working with paying clients. That's a sign that you're ready for a mastermind because the investment is larger. If you're not having paint clients come in the door, then you're gonna have a hard time like balancing out that investment. Do I believe that you would make the investment back of course, but I think for a cashflow purpose, like I'm a big believer, like you shouldn't go into debt for things like a mastermind. And so for cash flow purposes, you want to make sure you're having money come in the door to help like balance out that cost. So the first thing sign that you're ready is that you have the basics down. And another reason for that is masterminds are typically designed to go deeper into things like marketing and client experience, and all these other things that you really need a solid like foundation already set before you can add on to your foundation through something like a mastermind. So having the basics down is very, very helpful. I know for me, I've been a part of masterminds where there were other mastermind members that were honestly not quite ready for the mastermind that we were in. And, you know, they struggled most of the time where they were having a hard time implementing because they just didn't have the foundational pieces. And some of that, I think is like the coach needs to be really strategic and intentional in the people they let in. And so for me, I don't let somebody join my mastermind, if I can see that they're not ready, because I don't want somebody to get overwhelmed and just know that they have all of these other things to do before they can even implement what we talked about in the mastermind. So that's something that I have conversations with students that are you know, interested in joining, if you are interested in joining, or my mastermind, join the waitlist for sure, check out the application, but then have a conversation with me that way I can like help you. And that's why I do an application process for my masterminds. Because I want to make sure that this is the best fit not only you know, for me working with you, but the best fit for you working with me that you feel like you would get the most out of the experience in being in a mastermind. And so, you know, the the group that I have right now is just an incredible group of women. And they were all hand selected. And they just mesh really, really well together. So I had a mastermind coach in the past that said, masterminds are like made or broken by the people that are in there. And you know, if you have the wrong combination of people or whatnot, then it's just not a great fit. And so I'm really intentional about you know, who we select. And so the application process is an important process to make sure that you know, you're ready for that kind of investment. Because if you're not, I'm not gonna let you give me money. I'm not that kind of person that's like, oh, sure anybody that applies gets in like, I don't want to have you give me money to teach you something that you're not quite ready to learn yet. So have the basics down. If you do, then that's a sign that you're ready for a mastermind. Another sign that you are ready for a mastermind is that you know where you want to be. As a coach, it's hard to get somebody where they want to go if you don't know where they're going. So imagine we're driving in a car, and I am you know, steering the wheel, I'm the driver, I have my foot on the gas pedal, I'm adding fuel to this thing so we can go faster. And you are the navigator, right, you own the car, this is your business, you are the navigator telling me where to go. If I'm driving, and you as the navigator are not telling me where to steer this thing, then we're gonna have a hard time getting anywhere, because I don't know where I'm going, you know, for me,
I am not good at directions. And so my husband is always the one helping me try to figure out where I need to go and things like that, because I'm just awful at directions. I have no idea. You know where I'm going most of the time I have to use my navigator. So, you know, the same goes for you as a business owner, if you're not sure where you want to go. Me as the mastermind coach is going to have a hard time getting you there, right? One thing that I always look for in students that are wanting to join my mastermind is ask them where do you see yourself in your business in the next year like in the next 12 months? Where do you want to be and if somebody does not have a good like solid answer for that then I know that It's probably not the best fit, because I'm gonna struggle helping them to achieve their goals if they don't know what their goals are. And so I think if you do know where you want to be, maybe you are part time in your photography business, and in the next 12 months, you would love to go full time. Awesome, I can help you do that, right. Or maybe you are like I was you were part time and had no interest in going full time. But you want to maximize your profits, and you know, hit a certain revenue goal, but still spend plenty of time with your family or whatnot. Like I can help you do that. So it's really important that you know, where you want to be in the next 12 months, so that we can maximize our time together. And I can direct you in the ways that you need to go to get to that destination, right? Super important that you know where you want to be and where you see yourself. Another sign that you're ready to join a mastermind is that you know, what you're struggling with. A huge part of masterminds is the one on one aspect where as a student in a mastermind, you have access to the mastermind coach that most people don't have. And so for like our mastermind, my girls have Voxer access to me which and slack. So Voxer is like voice messaging, and they can Vox me questions and all kinds of stuff. And we can have like personalized feedback. And during our calls, my girls are able to ask really good questions. And so as I'm teaching, you know, we have a mix of calls with teaching calls with hot seats, all kinds of stuff. And so the questions that they ask, really are going to direct where the conversation goes, and how I teach. And so, if you're not sure what you're struggling with, then you're probably gonna have a hard time asking the right questions to help get you where you want to be. It all flows together. So you know, the students that know what they're struggling with, you know, I've had students say, Man, I know that my shooting is great, I have a great portfolio, I struggle with marketing, I don't know how to get more clients in the door. Perfect. I do, and I can help you get there. But if you don't know what you're struggling with, then I don't know how to help you. Right? I do ask that on my mastermind application to have like, what are your biggest hang ups? What are your biggest struggles. And so whenever you see application questions like that, whether you're applying for my mastermind, or any mastermind, don't see that as like, oh my gosh, this person is going to, you know, think less of me, if I list all these things that I'm struggling with, honestly, it's the opposite. I see, you know, a business owner, whenever they a photographer is telling me the things they struggle with, I see somebody who has clarity in their business that knows you know, where they want to be the roadblocks that are in front of them. And I'm able to help that person way more than somebody that doesn't know what they're struggling with or chooses not to share those things. So just keep that in mind. And the last thing that I want to mention that's a sign that you may be ready for a mastermind is that you like or want personalized coaching and accountability, that if you're the kind of person that really prefers a more intimate setting a one on one kind of thing, or one on, you know, eight to 12 however, many people are in a mastermind, just a much smaller group where you can get that personalized coaching than a mastermind may be for you. And I'm gonna get more into this next week. But for a course, for instance, you don't get that kind of one on one interaction that sure we have a student group and my student group is amazing. And I try to, you know, pop in there whenever I can and answer questions, but it's just not the same as having a mastermind coach where you can send me a Slack or a Vox and we can chat about whatever it is specific to your business in that moment. And there's also this level of accountability that comes with a mastermind group that when you're, you know, learning with a small group of business owners that are in the same season as you, you're able to hold each other accountable to the goals that you have in place, or to the things that you say you want to see happen. So like, for instance, let's
say somebody is wanting to raise their prices. And we've had this in my current mastermind group where we have students that want to, you know, do something like raise their prices, but they're nervous and scared, and they're not sure if they can do it. And the other members are there to like, hype them up and give them that encouragement of like, you can do it, like tell us whenever it goes live so that we can cheer you on, right? And so you can't just like let it go by the wayside and like, Oh, I'll never raise my prices. Because when you're in a group like that, you have people that are going to ask you Hey, how did that go when you raise your prices or you quoted that one person your new pricing, then you know, you have these other business owners that you're kind of held accountable to not in like a scary way of like, oh my gosh, you know, they're gonna look down on me blah, blah, but there's just something that happened. And when we say something out loud to other humans that can hear us that there's this level of accountability that we just get things done. So I have students all the time, you know, in my masterminds that accomplish way more than when they take even a course of mine, because there's that level of accountability that they are like, okay, we're in this together, let's do this thing. So it makes a big difference. And, you know, another level that masterminds bring is also this, like close knit community, that you have this small group of people that you're learning and walking aside, you know, alongside for, say, six months, like my mastermind, is six months long. And so you have this built in community of people that if you're struggling, or you need encouragement, or maybe you want to celebrate a win, and you're like, don't really have a space to do that, a mastermind is a really great place to be able to celebrate, I know for me in the mastermind, I was a part in all last year, it was an incredible group of people. And I would have like super big wins that I either like, couldn't really say publicly or, you know, I couldn't share with my, you know, my parents, my family, it was just a little personal if I had like financial winds and stuff, and it's like kind of uncomfortable, you don't really know the space to share that, I would share that in that group. And that was a group of people that like I could be really open with and celebrate things and not feel, you know, judged or, you know, misread or anything like that, that they would celebrate wins with me. And so that's what a mastermind brings is that, you know, personalized coaching, the accountability, but also this like tight knit community. If you're a person that's wanting those kinds of things, then you could be ready for a mastermind. If you are looking for a mastermind to join you listen to this, you're like, oh my gosh, that sounds like me, that could be me, then I highly encourage you to join my waitlist for our mastermind, because applications open next week, and the application will be sent to my waitlist first and spots will start filling. And so the way that I do it is I open up applications to my waitlist, first people will apply and spots will start filling if there are any spots left, then we open it up to the public at that point, but you know, our waitlist gets priority for you know, getting their application in. So if you want to be a part, the link again, is Rebecca rice photo.com/mastermind. And you can apply and you know, what's the worst that can happen? Like, if you are not sure if this is a good fit for you and you apply, then maybe it's not the right time. And that's okay. But you know what, what if you do get in, you do get selected for a spot, I like to have like eight to 12 members in my mastermind, I don't like to put like a specific number on it. Because, you know, some sometimes we may only have eight that are a great fit. Sometimes we do have 12 that are a great fit. But either way, like what if you apply and you get one of the spots and you're like selected, then that's I mean, that's amazing. And I would love to walk alongside your photography journey with you in a really personal way. And so if you're not sure, go ahead and join the waitlist. Rebecca rice vo.com/mastermind. When applications go live, you can go ahead and apply and see what happens from there. But guys, I'm just like, so excited to be even like talking about masterminds because I have seen just such big growth in my own business when I have taken masterminds and it's been so fun to be able to offer that to my students and see just the transformations that we've had from, you know, students being a part of masterminds. So definitely go ahead, join the waitlist, and I will let you know when applications go live next week. That's all I got. Join us next week if you want to hear me chat through the difference between a course versus a mastermind and you know, further decide if this is the best fit for you. But we will. That's all I got. So I'll see you this time next week. Bye guys.
