When Napoleon Hill talks about creating a mastermind group in his book “Think and Grow Rich” he talks about the POWER you have when you are surrounded by your mastermind.

The power to excellerate you in success, because all of a sudden you have many great minds contributing to your success. Your Mastermind are your BRAINS-TRUST. Another group of POWERFUL brains you can tap into to create your success - so choose them wisely.

We have all had times when we have taken “bad” advice and lost money, friends or our chance at moving forward. Let me re-cap on what makes a good mastermind and go through the MUST HAVES and the WARNING SIGNS.

SURROUND YOURSELF WITH PEOPLE WHO EXPECT MORE OF YOU THAN YOU DO OF YOURSELF.

The opposite of this is surrounding yourself with people that think mediocracy is ok. They think if they can blame it on someone else, and not take responsibility then thats ok.

People that expect more of you know your values and your ethnics and will not except anything of you other than 100%. They will question you when you don’t deliver on your word.

The will push you to “make that call” when you are scared. They will give you examples of others that have achieved what you want to and show you the path. They may not always be a great shoulder to cry on. There will be others in your life for that. These people will pick you up, dust you off and push you out the door.

SURROUND YOURSELF WITH PEOPLE YOU LIKE AND RESPECT.

I always say, there are people in business you like, but don’t respect. Lovely, kind, even funny people, but get them to deliver their product or service in a professional way - that’s a whole other issue. There are people in business you respect, but don’t like. Incredibly successful, smart, good at what they do. But quite frankly not very nice people. Perhaps they are ruthless, or mean to their staff. It’s usually a judgement call on your behalf. You just don’t like them.

Then there are the wonderful people you come across who you LIKE and RESPECT. You could sit down and have a coffee or a drink with them and laugh about life. In business, you know they will always be a true professional and deliver what they promise. It’s a pleasure to do business with them. It’s a good day at work. You don’t mind referring business to them, because you know they will look after people.

SURROUND YOURSELF WITH PEOPLE THAT MAKE YOU ACCOUNTABLE.
This is a great one. I know of one mastermind group that make plans and goals, and then put money on the table. If they don’t achieve what they plan to do, the money goes to charity. And I don’t mind telling you it’s in the thousands of dollars. No wishy washy talk. Do what you say, and be accountable. This is why so many diet companies have huge success. They make people accountable for their actions by turning up every week. Can you do that for someone? Can someone do that for you, without you making excuses?

SURROUND YOURSELF WITH PEOPLE THAT ARE BATTING AT YOUR LEVEL OR HIGHER.

We’ve all seen it. The businesses that sit around and talk about how “slow” everything is. I urge you to “walk away” from these conversations. Find people that are doing well. Hang out in their crowd. FIND OUT WHAT IS WORKING. and then COPY IT.

I will admit you may feel a little uneasy at first surrounding yourself with these types of people. My advice is to just listen and observe first. There is nothing worse than some eager beaver bugging you over every little thing. Choose your questions wisely and just watch. I’ve had some great learning experiences by volunteering for some people I really admire when they are speaking at conferences. Learning how these people run their business behind the scenes is an amazing experience. Later I have been involved in mastermind groups that they have created.

Once you have established the types of people you want, start looking where they hang out. Conferences, seminars, networking groups. Invite people for coffee that you are interested in forming a group with. Or start an on-line programme. I am personally involved in about 5 mastermind groups. Some meet monthly, some meet quarterly. Some are via phone, some are face to face. Some I have to travel by plane for hours just to see them.

I use to think they had to live local. But not anymore.

Some points to remember:
Purpose. What do you hope to achieve? Is it self development, networking, brainstorming, problem solving?

Format. The format I have enjoyed most is going around the group and each person states an issue they are having in about 3 minutes. Then the group has about 3 minutes to clarify the actual problem. Then, one by one each person has 3 minutes to give a solution to the problem. If you get the group of people right, this is incredbily powerful.

Amount of people. I find less than 20 is good. I am involved in 1 that is over 200, but we have break-out sessions that work well. My favourite group is about 5 people. It incredibly honest and motivating.

Guest Speaker Great way to keep growing as a group is to have new ideas presented to the group. A mix of personal growth and business growth issues works well.

When we start off in business we have to do EVERYTHING ourselves.

However there will come a time when you need to make the decision to grow and take on a staff member.

There are some indicative signs that you may need more staff:-

• If you feel the work is coming in faster than you can physically do it, it
may be time to get more staff.
• If your back log of work is weeks or even months long, it may be time
to get more staff.
• If you are finding you are missing opportunities or turning ‘profitable’
work away because you don’t have time to do it, you may need more
staff.

Note that I say ‘may’ need more staff.

Often you can address some of these issues by just systemising what you do.

I have made the mistake in the past of employing people because I was overwhelmed with the workload.

I have made the mistake in the past of employing people because I was overwhelmed with the workload.

Once I was caught up and had time to analyse the situation, I often realised
I was just not organised to start with. This often led to having to fire a good
staff member, because they were not needed any more. No one likes to fire staff,
especially good ones.

There are too things to consider before you make a decision.

1. Is my business organised and systemised?(this may cut down the workload for you)
2. Can I half afford a new staff member the way things are? (if you can, then their output should make up the difference in wage)

Before you even consider hiring staff, you must have a few crucial things in place. You need to know what tasks you do, and what tasks you can get rid of. The best way to do this is to create a JOB DESCRIPTION. Job Descriptions are not just for big companies. I promise this will make your life easier. Below I have listed a few task that most people do in small business so you can work it out.

Have a look at the list below and take a moment to work out what tasks are
being done by whom it your organisation. Work out how long it takes each week or month to do each task.

TASK

Goal Setting
Business Plan
Budgeting
Writing Systems & Procedures
Trouble Shooting
Insurances
ACCOUNTING
Profit & Loss Budgets
Cash Flow Forecast
Accounts Payable
Accounts Receivable
End of Month Duties
GST - Business Activity Statement
TASK ME OTHER WEEKLY TIME
Company Tax
Other Taxes.
Balance Credit cards
Balance all accounts
PAYROLL
Wages/Salaries
Payroll Tax
Superannuating
Workers Compensation
Fringe Benefits Tax
Annual Leave Records
Sick Leave Records
HUMAN RESOURCES
Preparation to recruit (write ads)
Read Resume
Interview
Employee training
Performance reviews
Team building
OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH &
SAFETY
Policy Statement
Risk Assessments/Management
First Aid
Accident Reporting
OPERATIONS
TASK ME OTHER WEEKLY TIME
Purchasing Stock
Receiving Stock
Construction or making product
Dispatching of goods
Stock control
Vehicle Fleet Maintenance
MACHINERY/ EQUIPMENT/TOOLS
Purchasing
Maintenance
MARKETING
Research & Development
Marketing Plan
Preparation of Material.
Measuring Response.
Distribution
Design
Meeting with representatives
SALES
Creating Leads
Quotes
Follow Up
Closing Sales
Staff Training
HOME DUTIES
Cleaning House
Ironing/Dry Cleaning
TASK ME OTHER WEEKLY TIME
Preparing Meals
Mowing Lawns
Washing Dog
Child Minding
Pool Cleaning
Car Cleaning
Cooking

Still think you need someone?

Great!

The next step is to write a job description. The job description should
include:
• TITLE.
• SKILLS REQUIRED.
• ATTITUDE REQUIRED.
• KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS.
• RESPONSIBILITY. THIS IS WHAT TASKS YOU EXPECT DONE. This could
take different forms of responsibility under different headings. For
example Sales Responsibility, Dispatch Responsibility. Cleaning
Responsibility.
• WORK UNIFORM.

What to pay?

If you are unsure, go onto a recruiting website and get a bit of an idea of what people
are paying. Don’t be afraid to put a package together. Especially for sales employees. A flat wage with great bonuses, a car or extra holidays could be just as appealing to high dollars. Once you have worked out what wage you
will pay, you need to work out what REVENUE, you need to pay for the new
wage.

For example. If the new wage is $50,000 per year, and your profit margins
is 30%. You need to turnover approximately another $150,000 a year to
cover the new wage.

Ask yourself is this feasible? Do you think the
company could generate that much extra? Do
you have the half as excess at the moment?

I often find breaking it down
into monthly amounts also helps. Could the new person help generate
another $12,500 per month. Or another $2885 per week. Could they help
generate half of that?

Remember these figures are just covering their wage.

You need to generate more than that to make a profit. We do not employ
extra people, just to cover wages.

If the answer is yes, then go for it.

If the answer is maybe or NO, there are other options.

Remember,there is someone for every job.

I would suggest you revisit the part about systemising and outsourcing for
your business.

Also consider part-time workers. There are some brilliant
staff about that are uni students, mums, or older workers that are keen for
part-time work.

If you are willing to be flexible in the work-times you offer
you could find a very loyal and keen worker is this market.

Rude customers slow your business down. They are toxic to you and your staff.

Hands up, how many times have you wasted hours or days on a customer that is really not one you would want to deal with anyway?

I give you permission to ‘fire them now’

Focusing your business on the customers that make you money and are pleasant to deal with is the fastest and easiest way to success. Remember, at Madame Marketing we are all about finding the easiest way to get a sale.