Forming a MasterMind group

“Listen to advice and accept instruction, and in the end you will be wise. Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails.”- Proverbs 19:20-21



I don’t think I’ve talked much here about my involvement with a Master Mind group during the past year. A Master Mind group was something I first heard about a year ago when a member of my Toastmasters group gave a speech on the book, Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill.

It was an interesting speech. Later, I checked the book out of my public library to read. In the book Hill, a writer from the early 20th century, mentions the important of forming a Master Mind group for success in life. This is a group of like-minded people who are willing and committed to work together on individual goals for their lives and careers.

As a writer, it is sometimes a lonely lifestyle, working on projects by myself all of the time. Most of the time I love being by myself and having quiet around me. But I do enjoy talking with people. I also needed a boost in my motivation and knowledge of how to grow my writing career.

So at the next writing meeting I attended, I looked around at the other people there and wondered if some of them might be interested in forming a group. A couple of women had been friendly with me before and after the meetings. Neither was a full-time writer. One was a lawyer and the other, a therapist. They wanted to know more about writing for side projects and possible future careers.

When I talked to them about the idea of meeting monthly for discussions about how to get our careers jumpstarted through a Master Mind group, they enthusiastically embraced the idea. Both read Hill’s book and understood what we may be able to accomplish by working together.

Since January 2007, we have met monthly to update each other on our progress and goals. No doubt this has been a significant year for all of us, due to our Master Mind group. My friends have both initiated new businesses with products they created. While they are continuing their regular careers, they are actively pursuing other avenues of income and learning much about the process of marketing and selling. I’m proud of them and enjoy our meetings together.

On my end my writing has been elevated several notches through their encouragement and practical advice. By their willingness to meet to listen and suggest ideas of story ideas, I’ve been in new magazines this year, including Indianapolis Monthly (3 stories!), Outdoor Indiana, cover stories for Business People Magazine and Fort Wayne Magazine, and 2 Chicken Soup books. This is besides my regular assignments in other publications.

Also, as a result of having formed a Master Mind group and writing about it in this blog, I was asked to contribute monthly to a great blog created by Evan Carmichael.
(http://www.evancarmichael.com/Mastermind-Group/labels/kayleen%20reusser.html). This is an informative and exciting website for entrepreneurs. I encourage you, no matter what field of endeavor you are pursuing, to go to this site and study it. There’s something there for everyone.

While we have read that an ideal Master Mind group is between 6-8 people, the three of us are content growing our group slowly to ensure that the people who join will be committed and willing to help others. We all have profited from joining a Master Mind group in 2007 and I encourage you to think about doing the same in 2008.

It may take a while to find people who are interested and you will want to allow time to do some reading on the subject to be prepared for goal-setting, adjustments in your thinking, etc. It has made 100% difference in my thinking and way of life. It’s exciting stuff!

Other helpful authors are Jack Canfield (The Success Principles), Anthony Robbins, Zig Ziglar, and Mark Victor Hansen.

Let me know your thoughts on this subject, especially if you are already in a Master Mind group. How has it made a difference in your life?

Take care and have a good weekend!

Written a Good Book Lately?

“Praise to God for a Living Hope, Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,”- 1 Peter 1:3

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For years I’ve struggled with the idea of writing a book. I’ve always loved writing magazine articles – the research was fun, but when it was done after a few days, I was ready to move on.

I’ve done fairly well in this area with 1,500 published stories in nearly 100 publications, including three Chicken Soup books -- for the Christian Soul 2, Coffee Lover's Soul, and Christmas Soul. The last 2 are being released in fall 2007. The other was released in 2006.

Yet it seemed writers were better off if they wrote books. Every time I went to a writer’s conference that’s all the people there were talking about – writing books.

The problem is, I’ve never wanted to write a book, even though I read dozens each year—mostly fiction. I admire fiction writers for their ability to create plots and dialog and characters. It really amazes me how it all comes together!

All right, I told myself recently, I’ll at least think about it. I'm even praying, asking God if He has a book for me to write. It would have to be non-fiction as my mind does not come up with plots.

Thus far, nothing has come to mind, so I'm not pushing it. I figure better no book than a bad one.

But I'm reading about how to put a book proposal together at least so when it comes time, I'll be ready. It’s Terry Whalin’s

Book Proposals That Sell: 21 Secrets to Speed Your Success (Write Now Publications).

I dreaded picking it up, thinking it would be like learning another language and that I would not understand it at all.

But having read Whalin’s blog (http://terrywhalin.blogspot.com/) for several years and profited from it as a writer, I was willing to try. He is a great writer and very easy to understand.

Glory be, at least within the first few pages, I was thrilled to see I knew much of the information! Perhaps that comes from studying the craft of writing for 15 years. (Maybe this is a clue I’m closer to writing a book than I had thought!). Whalin's book held additional information that was new to me and valuable.

Now I’ll read the rest of the book and think seriously about this project of writing a book. I know the work is not over when the book is published. That is when I have to be available for marketing it. But if I’m excited about the book and believe in it, it makes sense that I would want to promote it, right?

That means book signings, radio, print and possibly TV interviews, and a multitude of other guest appearances.

Thankfully, with my involvement in Toastmasters within the past year, my fear of public speaking has nearly dissipated. Recently I’ve stood and introduced myself to networking groups, given an impromptu speech, and volunteered to lead a Bible Study. Those are all activities that would not have appealed to me, or been as easy, one year ago before I started in Toastmasters.

So I’m growing and learning in all of these good areas and have to believe it will all come together when I do decide to write a book.

Have you thought of writing a book? Fiction or non-fiction? If you’ve already started, how far along with it are you?

Any thoughts you want to share about this would be welcome.

Take care,