Why I Stopped Hosting Masterminds

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I’ve never liked the phrase, “you can’t have your cake and eat it too.” Even as a child, I bristled whenever I heard someone say it. I didn’t understand how humans had gotten this idea that only one option was possible. Why not open up to the whole cornucopia of possibilities we could craft a life from? Why couldn’t I visually enjoy the cake in my hands and delight in the flavors exploding in my mouth and satiating me? 

My special genius has always been to revel in “and.” 

I refuse to let anyone or anything tell me (or anyone I care about, including clients) otherwise. And I’ve made a career and a very successful business out of showing powerful CEOs their version of living in the “and,” too. F what everyone else in your industry tells you you can or can’t do.

But a few weekends ago, as I was hosting a client for her own custom retreat in the luscious forests of Puerto Rico, the lesson of owning your “and” dropped in even deeper.

It was the end of Day 1, and a strange expression came over my client’s face. “What is it?” I asked.

“I feel anxious. We only have two days left, and what if I haven’t accomplished enough today? What if I run out of time?”

I chuckled and spent the next five minutes listing all we had accomplished that day. Tweaking her branding and messaging even further (the refinements we’d already made last year had already helped her cross her revenue plateau and generate $450,000 extra!). We generated a solid visibility strategy to continue to draw new leads into sales calls with her, and created a list of 27 videos and reels, with precise outlines for each one. So all she now had to do was press “record” and post videos we’d so cleverly crafted to be great content AND establish her as THE expert in her space and call in even more of the right clients (I’m a big fan of this “feeding two birds with one hand approach”). 

We did all this while eating delicious food with ocean views, laughing, and drinking custom teas at the gorgeous retreat center I’d completely rented out just for her. After I finished rattling off the complete list of what we’d done that day, she looked at me wide-eyed and said, “wow, we DID get a lot done. But it all felt so easy, spacious, and delightful, that I told myself we must not have done much because it didn’t feel hard.”

“That’s interesting. So unless it feels hard, it doesn’t count as “work”?” I asked. Boom. That kicked off a revolutionary conversation for the rest of the evening. 

This particular client had hired me six months earlier because she’d been at a plateau for the last seven years after crashing from burnout when her company had achieved revenue shy of a million. She’d hired me so she could scale to that level again (and beyond) WITHOUT the burnout. Without the fear that scaling meant she’d just get sick again. 

And here we were, confronting the core belief that had caused it all to come crashing down seven years ago. It’s a core belief that commonly generates two thoughts in the minds of most CEOs like you:

“Scaling is HARD, and if it doesn’t feel hard, does that mean I’m unknowingly causing my business to slow or stagnate?”

Or 

“If I want to scale, I have to triple my workload, use scaling tactics that are hard. I am already so burned out; I can’t see how scaling is possible for me.”

If you’ve ever had any of these subconscious thoughts, you’re not alone in this. The last three years have caused us CEOs to do some real reflection on how we want to BE in our businesses long term. Is the dream the internet has sold us actually aligned with our unique design? So many of you have told me you’re realizing much of what you learned isn’t actually sustainable or desirable.

And if you’re reading this, I know that when you ask yourself, “what IS aligned for me?” and go searching for answers…all you see available as a “solution” is either “hustle harder and if you can’t, you’re a failure and don’t deserve success.” or “divest from all hustle and just flow.”  Neither of these extremes is the way to successfully run a business that can grow and scale for years to come. You can’t solely self-care and ritual-bath your way to big visibility, profit, and impact (and those who say you can are hiding all the work that happens behind the scenes of that perfect self-care Instagram post.) And you definitely can’t get there with a “non-stop hustle” that depletes your relationships or physical, mental, and emotional health. 

So what’s the middle ground? That’s the sweet spot I’ve specialized in for the last 14 years. I’ve helped clients step into their power as CEOs and create wildly profitable businesses that AREN’T draining AND feel like, “wow, was that ‘work’? That was challenging AND so fun!”

AND. AND. AND

Get it? That’s the sweet spot so many CEOs desire yet can’t seem to find easily. 

Ever since I announced our new mentoring mastermind, “Visibility Vortex™,” many of you reached out, and we’ve had excellent DM or Voxer conversations. Everyone I’ve spoken to has said the same things.

“I just want to generate even more profit AND have more leisure time, joy, and delight.”

“I want epic growth AND peace at the same time.”

“I want to double my profit AND have more spaciousness in my days so I can step into more visibility.”

I’ve been teaching my clients an entire framework and system for how to do this for the last 14 years. But it mostly happened in the context of my 1:1 work, or in my past masterminds. In 2020, when the world shut down, so did my masterminds. I slowly lost the joy of leading masterminds. I could see and feel something in my clients, and the industry was shifting, so I needed to take a timeout on the whole “mastermind” thing.

I’ll also add that I have a slight allergy to the word “mastermind.” Because so many clients have shared mixed-review experiences of being in other masterminds. And I feel that word now leaves a bad taste in many people’s mouths.

Though I’d been running masterminds for a decade, I needed that time away to think of what would serve my evolving clients’ needs. I needed to shake up the whole structure of a “mastermind” to make sure it delivered to the kind of CEO I work with privately- someone who needs custom, nuanced solutions that are aligned with THEIR version of “AND.”

I spent the last 3 years intensively researching and mining my own customer data and analyzing what created the most success in past masterminds and groups I created. With the help of my team, I dove deep into what clients like you were needing NOW (not what was trendy three years ago.)

And we ended up creating something NEW that pulled back the curtain on all the work I’ve done privately with my 1:1 clients, who I’ve helped scale into multi-six figures all the way up to millions- without burnout or overwhelm. 

After all that intensive research and deep soul-searching time, Visibility Vortex was born.

I call it a “mastermind” so that you and I are speaking a common language. It’s a high-level group mentoring experience with 1:1 components, but I actually think of this as a “mentormind”. It’s better than a traditional mastermind. It’s a powerful mentoring experience for the CEO who is ready to fully own their “AND” and revel in it. And the structure of this program is truly unique and has layers of support I haven’t yet seen combined in one advanced-level CEO and business mentoring program.

I’m so proud of what we’ve created. It’s designed for you – the busy CEO who wants group support AND 1:1 touch points for private business questions you don’t always want to ask in front of the group. It has mentor interviews on grown-up CEO topics like high-level negotiating skills for big deals with corporations and media conglomerates, or how to build million-dollar referral networks.

And so far, it’s really resonating with you. Because in just one week after I announced it via email, we sold out of the first five bonus spots. 

But don’t worry. We’ve added a SECOND bonus if you missed the first one (I’ll tell you all about it if you request a brochure). And we’re extending the pre-sale price (of up to $3600 off the regular price) until the end of February. 

If you’re ready for a truly different experience that will provide nuanced, advanced-level solutions and your business earns between $10,000-$30,000 a month in revenue, just reply to this message and tell me you want to learn more. I’m happy to send you the brochure if it feels right for you. 
And even if you aren’t sure WHAT you need but you know you need some kind of support, send me a reply saying so because I can help you figure out via DMs or voice notes what would be the right thing for you. I am in this with you.