Masterminds have had a huge positive impact on both our businesses. In this episode, we share what we've learned participating in various mastermind groups.

The Core

* Types of masterminds we’ve tried:

* Startup mastermind:

* Format once a week
* Officially 10 people but usually only 6 showed up
* Got a lot out of it in the first few months but felt there were diminishing returns
* Problems: businesses were too different, too many people, not everyone attended regularly, time zone issues (the reason why I ultimately left after about a year, when I went back to the US)

* Our WordPress mastermind, 3-4 people, weekly, then monthly, now semi-monthly
* DCBKK (http://www.tropicalmba.com/conference/) mastermind:

* One day
* People were matched up by the DC staff

* Heroic Escape (http://www.thrillingheroics.com/escape)

* 10 day retreat, luxury accommodation and activities in Ao Nang, Thailand
* Cody McKibben of Thrilling Heroics (http://www.thrillingheroics.com/reset)
* This group is 6 people, not sure what the maximum size would be, but guessing it would have to be kept under 10

* “Ongoing in-person mastermind”

* small group of people to talk business with / coworking

* Takeaways/advice:

* Find mastermind members in places like Matt Medeiros’ Matt Report Pro (http://mattreport.com/join/), Dan & Ian’s Dynamitecircle (http://about.dynamitecircle.com/tmba/), Rob & Mike’s Founder Cafe (http://www.micropreneur.com/)
* Twice a month seems to be a good balance, once a week is too often, once a month isn’t often enough
* Keep the group small (maybe 6 or less), otherwise everyone gets less time each call, or it takes too long to get a turn in “the hotseat”, it’s easier for people to skip in a bigger group because there are plenty of others
* Relevant businesses are helpful
* Structure is important