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Do you ever wish you could get free business advice from someone in your industry, or who has been through what you’re going through now? The answer may be in joining or starting a mastermind. What is a mastermind, and how do you run one? Great questions, which we’ll answer in this episode.

Yury: All right ladies and gentlemen. Welcome back to the Fast Forward Maine podcast, where my good friend, mentor, and a successful entrepreneur, Rich Brooks, and your humble servant, Yury Nabokov, Customer Experience Manager at Machias Savings Bank, get a great chance to interview successful leaders in the space.

Today, we have a very interesting episode that is going to be delivered and presented to you by my good friend, the one and only, Rich Brooks. I’m sure you guys already heard multiple times about all of his accomplishments ranging from running a successful marketing agency here, Portland, Maine, to publishing one of the best-selling books on marketing and lead generation through digital marketing. He’s also a “tech guru” on 207. So if you have any gadget, weird gizmo related questions, he is your guy.

But today we have a very interesting topic that I’m going to learn from Rich. And I’m actually going to ask a lot of questions on this topic. So without further ado, let me introduce you to the topic of today’s conversation, which is masterminds. I know that Rich, you’ve been a part of multiple masterminds, private, public, paid, free. So without further ado, what do business owners need to know about masterminds and what is a mastermind?

Rich: Well, first of all, are, I want to thank you for that introduction. I’m going to bring you along for every cocktail party I ever go to just to have you introduced me as I walk into the room. That’d be fantastic, I appreciate it.

Yeah, so masterminds have been a big part of my growth over the years. And generally speaking, masterminds are really just about people coming together, but the idea that more than one mind or multiple minds working on the same problem are going to solve them more quickly.

And so the idea of a business mastermind, at least the ones that I’ve been involved with in the past have been getting together with like-minded people. Either people in your industry or not always, but people who maybe share a certain topic or theme or idea, and getting together on a regular basis and just kind of working through some of the problems that you’re facing so that you can learn from other people who maybe have already taken that path and already figured out these problems. And also so that you can lend your ear and your advice to somebody else’s journey as well. So it can be done – as you mentioned – there are free ones, there are paid ones.

So I do know that there are many successful business people who are running paid masterminds where they basically handle all the logistics and you pay a fee for a given period of time or like six months or a year or perhaps per session. And then the ones that I’ve been involved with have always been free, and I’m happy to talk about the differences and what goes into those as well.

Yury: We’ll definitely talk about the difference at a later part, because I have a specific question on that. But before we get into the next question, I also wanted to mention that I’m sure a lot of the listeners are familiar with name Napoleon Hill. He is a famous author of Think and Grow Rich. And in his book, he actually defines a mastermind as “a coordination of knowledge and the effort in the spirit of harmony between two or more people for the attainment of a defined purpose”. Has that definition changed over the years, or would you add something to it based on your experience? Or do you think it’s just a fundamental that’s what it is?

Rich: I think that’s a pretty accurate definition. You know, the only thing that I would say is that kind of makes me sometimes feel like it’s a group of people who are working together for one cause. And the masterminds that I’ve been involved with are often around a theme, but the cause or the reasons may be very personal.

So for example, I have a friend who owns a manufacturing business and he has found a number of other business owners in other parts of the country he doesn’t compete with, and they get together I think a couple times a year in person at one of their factories and really open up the books. And they usually focus on the person they’re visiting, but it’s really everybody opens their books, they share ideas, all that sort of stuff. So I wouldn’t say that they are trying to reinvent or have the purpose of improving manufacturing in general, rather that they share the desire to improve their own manufacturing businesses. And by sharing these ideas and sharing your problems, they’re all going to grow the idea of, ‘all ships rise with the tide’.

But I do think that Napoleon Hill’s original definition is where all this comes from, and certainly was the inspiration behind the initial masterminds that I became part of. And I think still drive a lot of what business masterminds are all about.

Yury: And I feel this spirit of the masterminds has been not just popularized by Napoleon Hill, but by a lot of very successful entrepreneurs who are known throughout the history of this country.

One of the very interesting ones that I found while I was preparing for this interview with you Rich, was the Vagabonds. It was a very extraordinary group of men that formed a mastermind group around 1915, and the group included Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone, and Thomas Edison. They were all extraordinary men in their own right. And one of the most important reasons why they want it to do that was to collect input from the others and they would look forward to it, and they were looking forward to spending time together because it was kind of like a road trip for those guys. They would get together and travel through rural parts of the country while they’re talking and discussing their ideas and generating ways to address the issues that they were dealing with. So it’s pretty awesome how the traditional concepts don’t really change because the times are changing,

Rich: Yeah. Well, it’s definitely something that’s been around for hundreds of years, or at least a hundred plus years.

And I would just say to anybody listening, you don’t have to be the Henry Ford of your own business today to take advantage of this. You can find people around who you can connect with, who are also passionate about an element of business or an industry that you’re part of. So, I mean, don’t be necessarily thinking that you have to be Henry Ford or Thomas Edison to create something like this. This is something that anybody listening today can start and start to take advantage of.

Yury: So it sounds like in a sense we’re talking about the benefits of being part of a mastermind. So are there any specific benefits that everyone needs to be familiar with that will allow them or incentivize them to join one or form one?

Rich: Yeah. I think there’s a number of them right off the top of my head. One big one is accountability. So the bottom line is, some people are incredibly self-motivated and if they say that they’re going to drop 10 pounds or increase their sales by 25% in the next year. That’s all they need to do is just set those goals and are off to the races. But for us mere mortals, I think it’s really helpful to have somebody who holds you accountable. And when you are saying in a mastermind that you are going to do X, Y, and Z to help you accomplish those goals, and the next time you show up and you haven’t done it, they’re going to hold your feet to the fire. They’re going to hold you accountable. And just that one element of masterminds, the accountability element, it can be incredibly hard for you really to grow your business.

The other thing that I would say is, you’re going to learn from people who maybe have already gone through this. And I can speak from experience with my own masterminds that I’ve been part of, is very often I will raise a question or concern and somebody has already run into that six months a year ago, three years ago, and they have a solution. So rather than me reinventing the wheel or spinning my own wheels trying to find the right connection, they’ll be like, “Oh, you should actually speak to this person over here”, or, “This is a great book that I have read that really made a difference to my career and so I recommend it to you”, or whatever the case may be.

Also generally, even though the mastermind group definition says “as few as two people”, often the group is a little bit bigger than that. So having people bounce ideas off of each other can also be beneficial so you get more than one approach to a solution, so you can kind of create a hybrid that’s most appropriate for you.

And the other thing that I would say is it also helps you because when you are providing advice, solutions, recommendations, to somebody else, it feels good. It feels like you’re giving back a little bit, but it also helps kind of solidify some of these things in your own mind. And I’ve always said, you can’t really say that you understand something until you’ve tried to teach it. And it’s very similar in the mastermind. So if somebody comes to a mastermind and they’ve got a question I’ve already dealt with, my ability to explain to them how I came to the solution, who I talked to, what resources I used, what the outcomes were, really helps solidify that idea in my own mind and makes it easier for me to then maybe implement that approach again in my own business.

Yury: Well, you know, these are remarkable benefits. So for those who listened so far, and are like, “All right Rich, I’m sold, I’m excited. I believe in everything you said, and it sounds like you are benefiting from it quite a lot. How do I find the mastermind to be a part of?

Rich: Yeah, that’s a great question. So I guess the first thing is I have been approached once or twice to be part of a mastermind. Which is great.

Yury: You said someone reached out to you and said, “Hey, we have a group that you may benefit from”?

Rich: Exactly. So a couple of cases, I was in one that was for people who put on regional events, like for the Agents of Change. Somebody who put on a similar event had pulled together some people who are doing similar things and we got together on a monthly basis to discuss that.

And then there was another time with some social media experts had gotten to know me and they thought that I would be a good addition to the group, and so they reached out to me. So you can certainly wait to be invited and there’s nothing wrong with that.

But you know, if you’re sitting here listening to this podcast right now and you feel like, wow, this is what I really think I need to kind of get to that next level in my own business. I would say, don’t wait. I would actually say, just start one, and assuming that we’re talking about the free ones, we’re not talking about you creating a paid one that people have to pay you for.  I think it just comes down to, I’m not the mastermind expert, I’m just somebody who has leveraged the benefits of mastermind. So I really am speaking from my own experience here.

But for example, it was interesting. I was having a very not heated conversation, but passionate conversation, one day at Sugarloaf with another business person about business. And we were just so excited about talking about business that I had been hearing about masterminds, had some of my friends talk about the benefits. And I said to him, let’s find one more person and let’s just start our mastermind. He was not in my industry, it was just a group of business owners that wanted to talk about what it was like running a business. And we found one other person. Ultimately we did add one more person after that, but we would get together every two weeks via phone and we would just basically kind of go through that. So I invited those people.

I also created a more recent group that is for digital agency owners. And these are people who I’ve met over the years. This was all invite only and we basically, I knew a couple people I wanted to connect with, they ran agencies that did not compete with mine. They’re not in the Northeast. And so we basically just started this group and that one’s been going on for a couple of years now and that’s been very successful.

So I’ve started ones that are about entrepreneurship in general. And then I’ve started one that specifically deals with the trials and tribulations of running your own digital agency. 

Yury: And you also have been invited.

Rich: And I’ve been invited as well. That’s that was my first experience. I’ve been invited to two and I’ve started two of my own as well. Actually I started three of my own, but one I kind of ended because it wasn’t going the way I wanted it to.

13:04 Yury: All right. So you still committed to the other three. So it sounds like you have

Rich: one of them kind of, and this is an important thing to know, and this is true with not just masterminds, but also with I find business coaches and consultants as well at a certain point, there’s a law of diminishing returns.

I don’t know that every mastermind is meant to last forever, some last longer than others. Um, but I have found that after a certain period of time, you just find that you’ve had all the conversations that feels like. And you’re just kind of doing a retread. And at that point it might be time to leave or disband the group.

Um, the, the regional event planners one just started to dissolve. And then one of the key people just said, I don’t think I can do this anymore. And he was really the person who kept on, um, who kept us all together. So once he left, I think the group just kind of disbanded very quickly after that. Uh, so there really is kind of a concern.

Sometimes there is a point where it just doesn’t make sense to continue. Cause you’re not getting anything out of it.

Yury: You’re right. Sounds sound sounds really interesting, Rachel. Thank you, so, okay. So, how do you run a mastermind? Huh?

Rich: You, you know,

Yury: what does it typical session look like? Tell us more.

Rich: Yeah.

So I’ve been in a couple of different ones and there are a couple of different styles, but I’ll tell you the one that I’ve settled on that I think is most effective. And, uh, you know, everyone I’ve ever been has been remote by the way. So we never get together. And a lot of the people who I’ve talked to are not anywhere near me.

Um, the one that I’m doing right now at the digital agency mastermind that one and most of them. It’s an hour. And in this case, we meet every two weeks and we meet via zoom or go to meeting. Um, and that’s because sometimes it’s very beneficial to see the other person and the way that we’re running this one is, uh, more often than not now that we’ve been doing it a couple of years, we don’t always follow this, this exact protocol, but we do a 10 40 10.

So we do 10 minutes of, um, wins. So we try and set. The tone for the meeting, talking about what did we accomplish since the last one that’s really beneficial. Maybe you landed a new client, or you got a new speaking gig or whatever the case may be. But you know, you spend two or three minutes each just talking about some things that went really well for you in the past couple of weeks or less since the last meeting.

Then we do 40 minutes of what’s called a hot seat. And generally what we do is we rotate around. So everybody gets a turn. So if there’s four people in the group and you’re meeting once a week, once a month, you get your chance in the hot seat and you bring a problem that you’re facing to the group. And you might speak for one minute.

You might speak for 20 minutes, but you just kind of lay out. What’s going on in your business and why you’re stuck. And then people can ask you questions. They can provide feedback. So basically for about 40 minutes, the entire group is trying to really hone in and help advise, make recommendations, breakthrough, that problem that person’s having.

And the thing is a lot of times you may say, Oh, well, if I only get like 100 for one out of five, one at six, depending on the size of the group, chances to sell, you know, and, and if we’re only meeting once a week or once every other week, that doesn’t sound beneficial, but I promise you. But sometimes the best sessions are the ones where you’re not in the hot seat, where you’re the ones trying to come up with a solution, or you don’t realize you had the same problem with somebody else and they’re naming it.

You’re like, Oh, wait a sec. I’ve had that same problem with a vendor or a client or an employee. And I’m just realizing now they put a name to it. And so that can be very beneficial as well. So that’s usually the hot seat. That’s the bulk of the PR the, the item, uh, bulk of the session. Now I will say, like I mentioned earlier, With my digital agency mastermind group, because we’ve been together for so long.

Sometimes we don’t do that. If nobody feels like being in the hot seat that week, we’ll often just come up with a topic, like, we’ll talk about how do you package up your goods? How do you create more recurring revenue? How do you handle this or handle that? And we’ll all come to the table with some ideas.

And then the last 10 minutes is goal setting. So we talk about this, the accountabilities we talk about what are we going to do for the next, um, Week two weeks till the next session, what are we going to accomplish? And it could be, I’m going to call up these 10 clients that I mentioned, or these one client that I mentioned, I’m going to do this.

I’m going to do that. Um, or I’m going on vacation. I’m not going to think about new people for another week, whatever it is, it’s all fine. But it’s about, you know, setting goals and what we’re doing with this group, which I strongly recommend is we have a shared Google doc and every session that we do, we rotate through one person is the moderator.

And one person is the note taker. And so we basically just have this and we’ve got this long Google doc that we can go through, you know, if we ever want to go see what we’ve done in the past. Um, but we take turns. So everybody’s responsible. And as the moderator, you’re the one watching the clock. Telling people like, Hey, you got to wrap up now or we’re about to do this.

We’re about to do that. And there’s the note taker you’re just responsible for taking copious notes and it’s important to kind of rotate through that. Well, people will be like, Oh, I’m happy to take notes and I’ll do it every time. Okay. It’s important. I think, to make sure that everybody gets a chance to do to moderate, and everybody gets a chance to, uh, take notes and that everybody gets a chance to just sit back and relax.

So, um, and usually. If somebody is in the hot seat, they’re not doing the moderation or the note taking it’s, you know what? Other than that, you know, that is one way to run it. That’s a popular methodology to run it, run it, but ultimately you’ve got to decide what’s best for you. I’ve been in ones that do use video.

I’ve been in ones, just use phone calls. I’ve been in ones that are weekly. Biweekly and monthly. Um, so it really just depends. The one piece of advice I can give you is on the size of the mastermind for me, the perfect size of the mastermind has been four people any less than that. And if somebody has, uh, somebody gets sick, Or, or something comes up, it’s just two people left in the group.

And I don’t feel that you get them. I know you can have a mastermind with two people, but, uh, I feel that you get a benefit when that magic number hits at least break. The opposite problem is I was in a mastermind where we had about six people in it. And when you get six people in there, what happens is you’re like, you know, what, if I don’t show up for this meeting, it’s really not going to be that big a deal because there’s still five people left.

But what happens is a lot of people start feeling that way. And you suddenly find that a lot of the, even though you’ve got six people that should be showing up often only two or three show up. And that was a problem with that particular mastermind, which is one of the reasons why I left. So,

Yury: all right.

So you said, you know, four to six, you know, six is kind of like extreme four is, you know, the, the sweets, but, but how do you, like, you know, if you’re a former in the mastermind or, you know, want to join a particular mastermind, how do you peak the people that you have? I want to be a part of that group.

Rich: Sure. It’s a good question. So yeah. For me when I started the second version of the digital agents mastermind. Cause it wasn’t the first, the first one I abandoned being for a few reasons I don’t need to get into, but when I decided to, when I decided still needed this, even though the first one didn’t work out, I pulled one person from the previous group who I knew really wanted to do this and was very committed to it.

Um, and then I had a couple other people who I’d met through networking through social media marketing world, through agents of change. Who ran agencies. And I said, this is what I want to do and what I, and that was very clear the second time around. So this is a good lesson. The first time I was so excited to be talking to other digital agency owners.

I didn’t really like vet them. I didn’t really push commitments. And we said, let’s all do this together. There’s nobody leading the group. It’s just kumbaya. And it didn’t work. When I started the second one, I said, I’m going to be a benevolent dictator. Okay. And we are going to meet every two weeks and it’s going to be via zoom and we’re going to do, and here’s how the things are, are done.

And you have to commit to every two weeks, you’ve got to be there. You know, if something comes up like, yes, family stuff may come up, emergencies may come up, but like, don’t schedule a client meeting. If we’ve already scheduled a mastermind, like let’s come up with a time each in this case every other week.

And that time is sacred. Like almost nothing should ever interrupt that. And I would say that we probably only have to reschedule one a year when it comes to that group, because we have committed to that time. As we’ve gotten to know each other better, we can be a little bit more flexible. Um, but I think it was really important for me to kind of lay down the rules.

So I knew people, I reached out to them and occasionally, like, we’re actually in the process now because we have one person who’s out on maternity leave. Not sure if she’s actually going to come back where we’ve actually started to reach out, to find another person to join our group. So we’ll either be at four depending on whether original member comes back or not.

Hm. And so with that, we actually reached out to our networks because we were like, why don’t we try and. Cast a wider net, maybe somebody who we weren’t friends with. Um, and we’ve, we’ve gotten a few people who basically filled out an application form. We were very clear. At this point to say, here’s what we’re looking for.

You know, we’re looking for somebody who can commit to twice a week, you’ve got to be an owner. You’ve got to have employees that turned out to be a big thing for us. It’s like we all have employees or 10 99. And a lot of times we talk about dealing with those people who are underneath us, who, who report to us.

So we want somebody in the same boat. We had a range or at least a minimum of what you make every year in revenue, because what we do, they didn’t want us to have somebody who just started. An agency, maybe with one employee, they’re not going to add anything to the group and we’re not really going to be able to help them either.

So you want to find people. I’ve heard. You want to find people who are always a little bit ahead of you, so you can learn from them. I feel that’s a little unfair, but you usually want to have one or two people might be a little ahead of the group and maybe somebody who’s just on their way up, that usually makes for a nice mix as well, but trying to keep them within some sort of range.

So you’re not talking with them billion dollar company and somebody making $40,000 a year in revenues. You know, they’re never going to be able to help each other. There’s no mastermind in that group.

Yury: Well, that sounds like, you know, a mastermind, you know, to bridge the gap. So, you know, there are definitely need to go through the tears of my masterminds before they get to the $1 billion Mark.

Right. Exactly. So, you know, everything that, you know, we talked so far sounds. You know, it sounds amazing. And you know, the, the example that you just gave, you know, with, you know, the application, the vetting process, you know, the structure that, to me, it feels like a, like a basket case, or almost like, you know, like, you know, Topia that, you know, everything is just rainbows and unicorns and everyone is, you know, raking dough every day.

Right. But

Rich: what happens, you know, when you get

Yury: to a point when potentially mastermind like. Working for you, do you just, you know, quit or, you know, if you have a, like a person that may not necessarily be contributing or just

Rich: kind of like Willy nilly, you know, like how do you, how would you, I suggest, you know, to

Yury: retire that personal

Rich: relationship

Yury: and

Rich: that relationship.

Sure. So let’s talk first about the scenario where you realize that maybe you’re not getting as much out of the group as you used to. Uh, I think it’s just. And almost sometimes a little slow to do this because more than once I’ve said I’m going to quit this group. And then like, I have one session with them where I get a contact that turns out to be very valuable, like it was worth it.

Um, but I think you’ll start to see that with certain groups there’s a, that law of diminishing returns come in and whatever your line in the sand is, you got to remember that when you take an hour out of your day, once a week, or once a once a month, But that’s an hour that you could have been putting towards something else.

So you have to measure that and say, am I still getting the value out of this group that I used to? And sometimes the value may just be to be connected with these people because they can build your network in a very positive way. Even if you’re not getting something out of every single session. Or the value is

Yury: being the provider and giving back to the people.

Right. You know, like, like you were talking about earlier about the bank benefits,

Rich: although I would still say in that case, maybe it would make more sense for you to try and find somebody to mentor officially if you’re really looking at that. But again, you know, that’s just what we’re going over. Option.

Now, if you have somebody who is not really contributing, I think you have to ask yourself, why is that person not contributing? Is it because they are so far ahead of you? And I’ve been in a mastermind where we had somebody whose business basically blew up right after they joined the mastermind it and where we were, wasn’t where they were.

And they just needed to go on their own path. Um, or you might find that the person’s not contributing a lot because they have nothing to offer. And, or it may be that they keep on coming up with excuses, why they can’t make the meetings and any one of those reasons or reasons to have a conversation with that person, if somebody is really above and beyond you, I might have a private conversation with them and say, do you feel like we’re holding you back?

Like, I don’t know that you’re getting much out of this group anymore and we’re not going to be offended. If you say, listen, I need to go find another group because. No, I’m tired of being the smartest guy in the room, so to speak. Um, if you have somebody who is really contributing, cause maybe they shouldn’t have been part of the group at the beginning, it’s a difficult conversation to have, but you may just want to say to them, look at, you know, I feel like this group, isn’t the best fit for you.

We’re talking about these kinds of things over here, and you’re talking about hiring your first employee and we just were not able to help you and you’re not contributing to the group. So I think at this point, maybe it’s just best that we part ways. But if things change in the future, if all of a sudden you find yourself with six employees struggling with the same concerns we have, you know, check back in with us.

So that might be one way also, but if it’s that, they’re not showing up. And they’re not opening up during the things. Then you have to have a conversation with them. If they’re not showing up, you just got to say, look, we all are committed to this group, but the only way this group works is if we know you’re going to show up for every single meeting now in a year 52 meetings, you might not make every single one vacation, whatever the case is, but we really need to see you at, you know, like 90% of the sections.

And if you don’t think you can make it, that’s fine, but we’re going to go find somebody to take your seat. Um, and so. Or if they’re just not opening up making any advising or anything like that, you know, it could be a different kind of conversation where you just say, look it, if you’re not going to open up, or if you’re not going to offer any suggestions, I don’t really think there’s a value to be having you in the group.

So, you know, consider this to be noticed, like either jump in transparent, be helpful, or let’s just part ways. And it doesn’t have to, you know, I always think back to like rock bands, you know, sometimes rock band just. Breaks up and it wasn’t because anybody did anything wrong. It’s just, that was the end of the life cycle for that, for that rock band.

So the bottom line is it may just be that this person’s no longer, right. Doesn’t mean that, that person’s bad. It just means that they’re not a good fit for the group. And the group has to decide whether or not they want to keep that person.

Yury: Wow. I mean reach, you know, we can talk about mastermind, you know, for days I personally liked the topic and after, you know, doing my own research and, you know, learning about all the benefits, you know, from you and, you know, seeing the, the people that, you know, formed masterminds, you know, before

Rich: bef

Yury: before our time, when the, the contributions they made on the, uh, the success of this nation, I feel like, you know, there’s still something that I think you can share or maybe give kind of like a final advice, you know, for those business owners that are looking forward to setting up their own the masterminds.

Do you have anything else

Rich: to add? Well, I think we covered a lot, but I would just say, you know, if this sounds like something that would be beneficial and maybe it’s not in your budget to hire a business coach or consultant at this time that a mastermind can be really beneficial. What you need to just kind of keep in mind is who do you want?

Like who’s going to help you get to that next level. And who are you going to feel comfortable enough to be transparent with your books? Like we open up our books and we show what we make and what we earn and what we lose. And we talk about warts and all, and you’re not going to get better unless you’re willing to.

So for some people that may be about finding some local people that they can really connect with. For other people that may be going out and finding people that are doing similar things in other parts of the country where you would never compete with them. So that’s a really important thing. So the makeup of that initial group is critically important and the bottom line is you can go on LinkedIn, no matter what you do.

You know, maybe you’re a. Uh, you own a car dealership. Uh, maybe you’re a consultant, whatever it is, you can go to LinkedIn and you can find people in other parts of the country and connect with them. You can join Facebook groups, whatever, find those people, just get them on a zoom call, feel them out. And if you feel like there’s a connection there, see if they would be interested in doing this.

And so find that first group of three to four people and just play around with it. And like I mentioned, my first digital agency mastermind blew up after just a few months. We didn’t get a lot out of it. I basically. Killed it off in like a Phoenix rising, recreated it. Right. Much more beneficial. So, uh, you don’t have to get it right the first time, but it is really beneficial.

I know a lot of people who have blown up their business by doing this, and it doesn’t cost you anything, but an investment in time. So, yeah. Don’t wait, go ahead. Find that the first group of mastermind participants and start your own

Yury: mastermind. Well, rich, this is, you know, this is a beautiful message, very encouraging, especially right now, when, you know, we are all, you know, in a sense, you know, working from home or remote.

So we are, it feels like, you know, people are a lot more open to, you know, jumping on zoom or, you know, having like a, you know, a zoom conference call with, you know, a couple of other people. So, yeah. Well, I, I think, you know, the, you know, the timing is, you know, perfect, you know, Outside of all the context is going on.

So, you know, better to capitalize on what we’re dealing with and, uh, you know, benefit your business and, you know, your, your personal self rich, um, You know, that’s not a surprise. You know, we were at the end of the show and, you know, we always ask our guests, um, you know, either they work to change one thing in the ecosystem of the state to, you know, to move us forward, what would it be?

And I know that you gave us, you know,

Rich: fairly

Yury: awesome answers in the past, but you are a guest nonetheless, and I don’t want to deprive you of that beautiful opportunity. So. Well,

Rich: I hope I don’t. Yeah, I hope I don’t repeat myself because I honestly don’t remember what I gave as an answer back in episode 51 or two or whatever it was.

Um, I would say right now, I think one of the most important things, and this is influenced by COVID, but it was conversations that I was having beforehand. Anyways, it’s we really need to get broadband throughout the state. And yes, it’s expensive and it’s an investment. Um, but that’s exactly what it is.

It’s an investment. I think you have broadband throughout the state. We’re going to get two huge benefits out of it. One, we’re going to get people who are tired of living in crowded cities who want to move to rural areas, but require. High-speed connections to the internet. Uh, that’s one thing. And then the other piece of it is it will allow current businesses and employees to be doing better work here in the state of Maine.

So there’s a lot of benefits to that. Yes, it’s an investment, but it’s the kind of thing that we need to do to be able to bring, uh, people to Maine, to work and keep people here in Maine who want to work and really want to grow their business.

Yury: Well, rich. I sincerely appreciate you taking the time today to share the insights about the masterminds, as well as, you know, putting this message out there in the, you know, in the, in the universe, hopefully those who are listening to our podcasts are in position to, to, to make that impact and deliver on your requests to improve the broadband across the state.

So, but. Rich, you know, for those who may not be familiar with you

Rich: or off to right. Surprise,

Yury: uh, there, there, I don’t think there are people like that out there, especially here in Maine, but anyway, Those who would like to learn more about who you are, or, you know, learn about the, the services that your company

Rich: offers.

Yury: How, how would you encourage those people to get in touch with you?

Rich: Well, if they’re interested in learning a little bit more about my digital agency flight, new media, they can visit, take flight F L Y T e.com and. Take flight or flight. New media is we provide digital agency services, such as building websites, SEO, social media, content marketing, if they like podcasts.

And I certainly hope they do. They can check out the agents of change.com, which is my own personal podcast, where I interview digital marketing experts. And you can find me anywhere online. If you just want to hit me up and start a conversation. I am the rich Brooks on every single major social platform.

So just feel free to reach out. I’d love to make a connection.

Yury: Fantastic. Thank you so much. The rich Brooks and all the listeners. So basketball remain podcast.

Rich: We’re zooming in. Here we go. Well, that was a great episode with a really handsome guests. No, I’m just kidding. Uh, but this is rich Brooks and it was a lot of fun to talk about masterminds.

If you want a full transcript of today’s episode, you can head on over to our website at fast-forward maine.com/sixty, and we’ve come to the part of the show where we do our fast takes. And so right now you’re real ask you, what was your fast take for today’s interview?

Yury: Well, thank you. Rich. The surprising, yeah.

Fast state for me was, is the, the number of benefits that come with joining the mastermind. And I also, I, and I, and I want to repeat those, uh, the benefits that you’re shared with us earlier, the first one is accountability. The second one is. You are getting an opportunity to connect with people who’ve been there and done that.

So you’re actually, you know, you’re being the hero of your own story, but you’re being guided by a trusted, uh, you know, advisor in the sense also it’s a great place for ideation and, you know, getting to the point where you can, you know, break through your, you know, Business constraints or you’re kind of like, you know, mental mind blocks.

And the last one is the kind of like a self fulfillment by being in position to share the insights and the successes of your own journey with people that may be just getting to that point. So those are the, uh, that that’s my fast day, uh, on the benefits of joining the mastermind or starting a mastermind, but bridge, what is your fast day?

Rich: Well, that’s a challenge because obviously I was the guest today. And so a lot of what I shared, I already knew most of what I shared. I already knew as a matter of fact. So I guess my fast take was I had given you some idea about the kind of things that I would feel comfortable talking about with masterminds, but you took things to another level.

And you brought up Napoleon Hill who basically invented the phrase mastermind and the Henry Ford story as well. And, uh, I just want to say that my fast take is you’re an excellent researcher and a great interviewer URI. And I don’t know that I always recognize that, but I wanted to, now that I’m on the receiving end of it, I just want to tell you what a great job you’re doing, do it.

So thanks URI. That was my best day for today. Well,

Yury: thank you. Rich, you know, episode 60. We’re finally getting to the point where

Rich: I’m starting

Yury: to learn new things and imply it’s, you know, in the, in the world. We do. So. Thank you. I appreciate that.

Okay.

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