Bonus #18

Ellen Yin44min

Ellen Yin

00:00

Hey welcome back to cubicle to CEO, the podcast where we ask cessful entrepreneurs the business questions you can't google. I'm your host, Ellen Yin. And this week on the pod, we kicked off a brand new mini series called retirement for entrepreneurs. We're showcasing how entrepreneurs from various industries and business models are utilizing different investment vehicles to plan and fund their retirement. And on this topic of conversation about investing, I thought it would be interesting to also look at investment from the standpoint of not just using money to compound money, but how we're investing to grow ourselves as leaders, as entrepreneurs as people.

Ellen Yin

00:46

So I actually posed this question to my community a while back, I asked them to weigh in on their experience being in masterminds and whether they found paid masterminds more valuable, or free peer led masterminds more valuable. And about 20 people answered, it was quite interesting to hear their responses in terms of why I'll quickly just share the high level data. So you know, what we're working with, like I mentioned 20, people answered 14, so the majority of people shared that they preferred paid masterminds, five people voted for both. And then there was one person who actually advocated for peer led unpaid masterminds. So I collected some of the best responses from the people who had weighed in. And I'll be sharing some of their thoughts with you here today, as well as sharing my own thoughts and experiences in participating in both types of masterminds, both paid and unpaid, and sharing how my view on investing in myself has changed a little bit in this current season of business that I am in.

Ellen Yin

01:54

So we'll start with the data from the community, and then we'll go to my own thoughts on this. So first, let's talk about the people who said paid like I said, this was the majority group. And there were a couple couple, you know, key responses around why they believe that free masterminds or unpaid masterminds don't work. And I would say the consensus for most of these individuals is that there's that lack of follow through or long term sustainability with 100 masterminds. So for example, Natasha with @shinewithNatasha said, "I have been in two well intentioned peer led masterminds that were unpaid, and they both fell off after the excitement wore off, it was hard to have any buy in and be incentivized to show up." Tiffany, from @theTiffanyCoyle, said "when it is peer-led or unpaid and life gets busy. Your focus and priorities go to your family, your job and anything you've invested in."

Ellen Yin

02:56

Her response really stood out to me because I find that to be very true. You know, when push comes to shove, and you have limited capacity, you're typically going to prioritize the things that you've paid for over the ones that you haven't, right. We know this to be true. Even in our everyday adult lives, or if your parents with your kids, right, like if you sign someone up for a free, I don't know, a free volleyball camp. Versus if you're paying, let's say for ballet class. And let's say your your child only has the ability to go to one or the other in a period of time, most likely you're going to be taking them to the paid ballet classes and not the free volleyball camp. And I think it's that age old adage that when you pay you pay attention, right when there's skin in the game, people are more likely to show up. So I tend to find Tiffany statement. Very true.

Ellen Yin

03:49

Now, Erica from @EricaPowellandCO said "I have tried both and I have personally found that peer led masterminds are best for people who want friendship and emotional connection. But every peer led mastermind that I've been in, has fizzled out within several months." So very similar to the sentiment that Natasha @shinewithNatasha shared and then Erica continues. "I'm intentional about my mentors, and I choose someone who is perfect for the season or year I'm in I find someone who has knowledge and has cultivated skills and strengths. I don't yet have I invest and I do the work to get results." I picked her response here because I wanted to highlight what Erica has said about it's not just about making the investment and showing up and being part of a mastermind, but what you get out of it is really what you put it in, right. So I invest and I do the work to get results. So it's both right. It's not just oh, if I'm here and I'm present, all these amazing things are going to come my way you actually have to take action on the things that you may be learning from the mastermind or may be exposed to from the mastermind. So I thought that was important to include.

Ellen Yin

04:56

By the way, I want to also give the disclaimer here I realized, as we're talking about this topic that it could be, it could be construed that this may lead to an eventual discussion of like, Oh, I'm opening my own mastermind come apply. That is not the case for this episode, just in case you're wondering, I've actually never hosted my own mastermind paid or unpaid. So I am not planning to do that anytime in the near future. I think if I were to ever host my own mastermind, it would not be a year long container or six month container, but rather like one weekend retreat, or something very time specific, where I'm just bringing together a group of people on a specific topic. I actually kind of alluded to this in my income report, I believe, because some people have asked me before, like, Would you ever host a mastermind, I would love to be part of yours. And I said, you know, if, if I were to do one, it would just be like a two day thing about one specific topic. And the topic that's most relevant or that I've been getting the most requests on are how to structure high end partnerships, how to structure high end brand partnerships. And that is something I'm interested in, but not not for 2023. I don't believe so. Anyways, all this to say no mastermind to apply for not going to sell you anything at the end of this episode. I just thought I should preface this conversation.

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