It is New Year’s week, and I am in Biwabik, Minnesota with five of my best friends. We are staying at Giant’s Ridge, a beautiful golf and ski resort in the northern part of the state. The drive up was spectacular – “Winter Wonderland” truly describes Minnesota. The camaraderie was fantastic. A great dinner, laughter, and companionship capped the first day of our three day trip. Today skiing is on the agenda. An amazing result of this wonderful start to the New Year is that our businesses will grow as a result of this trip!

You see, this isn’t just a circle of friends – it is a mastermind group. (Read Think and Grow Rich, by Norman Vincent Peale, for the definitive description of a mastermind group.) All of us are professional speakers and trainers. We meet on a regular basis to share ideas, discuss marketing, and offer honest, candid opinions on different facets of our businesses. We cooperate instead of competing to help each other grow. Make no mistake; we are six very competitive people, but we see each other as standards of excellence as opposed to threats or competitors. As a sales and marketing strategist this group is invaluable to me.

After our arrival at the resort, we took a quick walk around the property. Then we set up flipcharts in one of our suites and each of us built a list of what we would like to work on this week to help build our business in 2008. We prioritized the lists, and shared them with the group, with each of us taking notes of our thoughts on how we can help on another. Today the real work begins, as we tackle how we can achieve these lofty goals and ambitions. After lunch – we ski!

Steel sharpens steel, and professionals know they can learn from the colleagues and associates. Survey your professional relationships to see who may fit into a mastermind group that will benefit each of you in building your businesses. The more you give, the more you will get. You really can “think and grow rich.”

Good selling!

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This entry was posted on Thursday, January 3rd, 2008 at 8:10 am and is filed under Marketing Ideas, Practice Management. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.