This month, photographer, business coach and HoneyBook member Kyle Goldie is answering your most pressing mentorship and mastermind group questions in our Ask An Expert series. Have a question? Ask Kyle here.
Your Mentorship and Mastermind Group Questions Answered
Hey, what’s up everybody? My name’s Kyle Goldie and I’m coming to you for the HoneyBook Ask an Expert series. And what I’m going to be doing is helping guide you through the somewhat complex process of finding mastermind groups, coaches, course creators, and just the best education out there that you can possibly find to level up whatever area of your business that you are trying to level up.
So,the very first question that came in was…
What should you look for when choosing a mastermind group or one-on-one mentor and what’s the first step?
So here it really just depends on what you’re looking for. Because let’s say you’re looking for SEO help, I would want you to use Google and search for SEO courses, SEO, coach, SEO coaching program, mastermind, etc. If you’re looking for a business coach in the photography realm be really specific because the types of strategies out there are somewhat different for portrait photographers versus wedding photographers. So again, get really specific on exactly who that type of person is that can help you succeed with what you’re trying to do. So, that’s where I recommend that you start.
If you’re not sure exactly what to Google for, just take to some Facebook groups that you’re probably already in. Post your request inside of those groups. See what people have to say. There’s going to be some really great recommendations from people. There’s going to be some not so great recommendations from people.
So here is where your due diligence comes into play. Because an educator is only as good as the results that they get their students. And by this I mean I don’t care if an online educator is hitting $200,000 a year if their students are nowhere near that. I want you to be buying into masterminds, coaching programs, courses that are all about getting their students results. So, when you are doing your due diligence go onto these websites, go check out their landing pages, go onto their webinars, but really pay attention to the reviews, case studies and testimonials from their students. Because that is the absolute number one most important thing.
How should you approach someone that you want to mentor you?
So here again, it’s really all about building a connection with people. Let’s say hypothetically that you’re going after a low ticket coaching program or a low ticket course. (And by low ticket I mean typically under $1,000 because under $1,000 usually, not all the time, but usually it’s more of a DIY type of course. You might have some level of support within a Facebook community but it’s primarily DIY.)
And in those types of programs what I want you to at least try to do is to reach out to the educator him or herself. Because if you reach out to them, let’s say through email or through Facebook, it would be fantastic if they practice what they preach about communication, especially if it’s a business coach. If they are going to be opening up a really honest and transparent dialogue with you to see if you’re a great fit, they’re going to let you know firsthand and hopefully they’re going to be truthful about it if you really are the great fit for that program or not.
If you’re going for a more high ticket one-on-one type VIP experience or a mastermind event (and high ticket for me by the way is $3,000 to $5,000 or more; some of the mastermind groups that I’ve personally participated in in the past were up to $18,000 for the single mastermind), but in those scenarios, I would really hope that again you can reach out to the educator him or herself. The higher ticket, in my experience, you typically get transferred over to a salesperson.
But that said, I would really, really, really highly recommend to really chat with the educator him or herself if you possibly can because it’s just going to give you a much better insight as to the level of support that you’re going to get, the types of answers that you’re going to get to your questions, and just the amount of support that you’re going to have throughout that mastermind course or coaching program. If you can’t get ahold of the educator for whatever reason again just rely on those testimonials that you found because those are really, really, really helpful.
And the third and final question for this particular video is…
What expectations should you have of your mentor?
And so for this particular one, it really really depends on that conversation that you’ve had or the website that you’re going through and reading about that particular program. But setting the right expectations is so important because when people hop into a mastermind group, or a coaching program, or a course, it’s the one determining factor of if that person is going to be happy or not.
Setting the expectations with that is going to say, “Hey it’s typically going to take you this long. Hey, this is the kind of support you’re going to get or not get. This is how much it’s going to cost. This is where the access to the program ends or you get lifetime access to it. And if you have further questions you can post them here or you can opt in for let’s say the one-on-one coaching program.” Whatever it might be for that particular coach.
They’re structured in different ways but again, this is where it’s really important to get very clear on the expectations of that particular program and that’s why having organic conversations with these educators can be really, really, really helpful.
Ready to get started? Let’s recap.
So to recap, what I recommend you do is:
- Really focus on reviews, testimonials, and case studies.
- Try to have authentic conversations with these educators themselves.
- Set expectations for yourself on the level of support that you’re going to get. And if you really do want more of the one-on-one type of support long term, just be understanding that it might cost more than what you might pay for a course for example.
If you have any more questions about this, please, please, please feel free to reach out to me. I’m always available to hear and answer your questions.
Have a question?
And be sure to tune in every Friday this month for more.
Additional Resources
Want to learn more about growing your business with mentorships and mastermind groups? Get our Ultimate Guide to Mentorship and Mastermind Groups here.
Did you miss last month’s Ask an Expert series? John Branch answered your most pressing questions on video marketing here.
