27 July 2023

Candid Reflections of My First Mastermind (What Worked and What Didn’t)

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10Insights

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Insights & moments

The myth-busts, hot takes, explainers, and tools worth keeping.

Myth Buster· 1

Myth Buster03:58

You Are Not Behind—You Are Simply Starting

Jasmine challenges the belief that starting a new business initiative later or with less experience means being behind. A new project places everyone at a starting line where improvement becomes possible only through action and iteration.

New initiatives contain unknowns that cannot be resolved in advance.
Comparing your starting point with another person's progress creates the wrong mindset.
Action generates the information needed to improve.
Repeated attempts create opportunities to amend and enhance the work.

“You are not starting from behind. You're not starting from in front. You're not starting to the side. You're just starting.”
Jasmine Star · 03:58

“You don't know what to modify until you actually do.”
Jasmine Star · 03:58

#mindset#comparison#starting#iteration

Hot Take· 1

Hot Take14:24

You May Fear Change More Than You Fear Staying Stuck

Jasmine recounts challenging a member whose contractor relationships were draining her but remained unchanged. The confrontation reframed inaction as a choice, prompting the member to replace the contractors with an in-house team and improve both launch performance and workload.

Repeated complaints without action can indicate acceptance of the status quo.
Fear of change may outweigh dissatisfaction with a current arrangement.
Moving work in-house can improve clarity and culture when contractor relationships fail.
The member later achieved a launch more than four times larger while working less.

“it's telling me that you're actually okay with how things are and or you're more afraid to change things than being afraid of where things…”
Jasmine Star · 15:17

“She's like, Jasmine, I'm working less now in my business than before.”
Jasmine Star · 16:20

#change#contractors#in-house-team#fear

Explainer· 2

Explainer10:15

How an Operations Leader Frees the Founder to Be the Visionary

Jasmine explains the integrator or right-hand role as the person who turns the founder's plan into scalable operations. One member installed an operational CEO, freeing herself to focus on her strengths and create a new mastermind revenue stream.

The operational leader coordinates execution and scale.
Delegating operations protects the founder's visionary role.
High personal capacity can conceal the need for leadership support.
The shift created room for an additional revenue source.

“This person is going to do the operations. This person is going to be like, You tell me the plan and I'll figure out how…”
Jasmine Star · 10:15

“And it leaves the CEO in the visionary role.”
Jasmine Star · 10:15

#operations#integrator#delegation#leadership

Explainer19:59

A Mastermind Multiplies Perspectives Instead of Delivering Coaching

Jasmine distinguishes a mastermind from one-to-one coaching and host-led accountability. Its value comes from participants asking one another for insight, accountability, and candid views drawn from many different businesses.

A mastermind is not inherently one-to-one coaching.
Members must actively ask the group for help.
Peer accountability should be requested rather than assumed.
Multiple business perspectives can produce more value than a single expert answer.
Watching peers execute reveals what may be possible.

“So it's not one on one coaching, and it wasn't accountability.”
Jasmine Star · 19:59

“It's one plus one equals 15. Right? Because when you go and ask a question to the mastermind, you're not asking of a business coach.…”
Jasmine Star · 22:01

#mastermind#peer-learning#accountability#community

Story· 2

Story06:41

A Course Launch Became the Foundation of an Entire Product Suite

One mastermind member began with the goal of creating an online course but first hired support and developed three newsletter-growth mechanisms. Looking beyond the initial launch allowed her to map a complete product suite for the future business.

She made her first hire before expanding the business.
Three aligned lead-generation mechanisms added hundreds of subscribers.
The email audience was built around the value offered by the future course.
The original course goal expanded into a broader product-suite strategy.

“What she did was map an entire product suite to build her future business.”
Jasmine Star · 08:28

“So she sat and had a big goal in mind and in six months said the first big chunk is going to get done and…”
Jasmine Star · 08:28

#online-courses#email-list#product-suite#hiring

Story12:06

Why a Founder Rebuilt Her Team After Downsizing to One

A founder who had previously felt exhausted managing more than 20 people initially wanted to remain solo. She later hired 11 employees, but this time aligned them around her vision, clearly defined their roles, and judged results instead of micromanaging activity.

A bad team experience does not prove all team growth is harmful.
Small or carefully structured teams can support ambitious goals.
Clear roles reduce the founder's need to micromanage.
Vision alignment changes how employees contribute.

“But here's the difference between the employees that she hired now versus the ones before they bought into her vision.”
Jasmine Star · 12:44

“I don't have to micromanage. I only get to judge results.”
Jasmine Star · 12:44

#team-building#roles#micromanagement#scaling

Takeaway· 4

Takeaway09:18

Build a Business That Serves Your Life

Commercial success and personal time are presented as compatible rather than competing goals. Jasmine describes a member who followed her strongest course launch with a month-long sabbatical and used the space to reconsider success and shape a premium offer.

Business growth should support life rather than consume it.
Rest can create space to redefine personal success.
A sabbatical does not automatically stop strategic progress.
Downtime helped produce a framework for a high-ticket offer.

“Not at all. Like, we want to build businesses that serve our life, not a life that serves our business.”
Jasmine Star · 09:18

“I need some time to recalibrate. I need to redefine what my success is.”
Jasmine Star · 09:18

#sabbatical#success#lifestyle#rest

Takeaway23:46

The Missing Ingredient in an Over-Orchestrated Live Event

Jasmine's wedding-industry background led her to schedule the mastermind event minute by minute. Participant feedback revealed that a polished agenda still needed open time for informal conversations and relationship building.

Operational polish does not replace informal connection.
Attendees wanted time to sit and talk without a programmed activity.
Small conversations can be a core part of an event's value.
The next event would expand from a day and a half to two full days.
The revised schedule would include deliberate pockets of downtime.

“But one of the people like what people said was just like, I just wish that we had time just to like, sit and talk.”
Jasmine Star · 23:46

“but we're going to have pockets of time just to like sit by the water and like hang out and just those small micro conversations.”
Jasmine Star · 24:43

#events#community#networking#experience-design

Takeaway24:43

Great Groups Depend on Complementary People, Not Identical People

From more than 2,200 waitlist sign-ups, Jasmine's team selected 15 people with different but complementary capabilities. Members quickly began exchanging specialist knowledge, arranging individual calls, and organizing their own local meetups.

Group composition can determine the quality of collaboration.
Useful diversity includes complementary operational and functional expertise.
Members formed direct relationships without waiting for the host.
Strong curation created opportunities for mutual problem-solving.

“if we get the right people in the room, the success will come.”
Jasmine Star · 24:43

“And so what we did was we orchestrated a group of people who were all very different from each other, but had very complimentary things.”
Jasmine Star · 25:36

#curation#community#networking#collaboration

Takeaway26:17

Move From Anonymous Surveys to a Culture of Candid Feedback

Anonymous surveys helped Jasmine collect honest reactions and improve the first cohort. Her mentor challenged her to build a stronger environment in which people can attach their identities to direct feedback because mutual love, respect, and receptiveness are already established.

Anonymous feedback can be useful during an initial program.
Feedback only creates value when leaders act on it.
Mature cultures make candid feedback safe without anonymity.
Leaders must be able to receive criticism without defensiveness.
Respect should govern direct feedback in both directions.

“And then based on that feedback, we would make changes.”
Jasmine Star · 27:17

“But what a good and true leader does is that they set an environment where good and candid feedback is not a bad thing”
Jasmine Star · 27:17

#feedback#leadership#culture#trust