Often when I set an intention, everything I need to accomplish it seems to fall into place. The latest example of this involves the formation of a new mastermind group, using “Book Yourself Solid”, by Michael Port, as the foundation of the group study. I’ve been a proponent of this book for the past couple years. It is designed for service professionals and helps you create a target market of your ideal clients. I used it last year to create the structure of my consulting services offered to solo and small firm attorneys. This mastermind group based on the book is helping me take my consulting services to the next level.
The structure is simple, but the results have been powerful. While the group can be any size and made up of any professionals, four seems to be the best number to accomplish what you need to in a one hour setting. 
Our group is made up of four professional service providers (attorneys) and a coach who works with attorneys. We have a weekly call with the group members and report on what value we found in the chapter for the week, and the corresponding exercises. We also brainstorm around any areas where we find ourselves “stuck”. It’s not just the built in accountability or the relevant exercises that have made the difference for me. I’m already familiar with the material, and I am already in another mastermind group focusing on a different topic, and have other accountability partners in my life. It’s the synergy I feel with these participants, that makes this study unique.
For some reason, I was drawn to this group and these participants at this time. The three other participants are people I’ve worked with or collaborated with in some way before and I have natural synergy with them. To use some terminology from the book, they are what you might think of as “ideal clients” who inspire and energize me whenever I collaborate or consult with them.
I’m glad I followed my intuition about forming this group, because the group brainstorming exercises have already produced results for me. In week one of our group call, they suggested I provide a survey to past clients to determine some current needs, and offer to fulfill those needs as a follow-up package to my initial consulting services. While this sounds fairly obvious, it hadn’t occurred to me to do that. I did want input from past clients, and I did want to offer additional services, but I wasn’t quite sure how to go about it. I followed the advice of my group members, and got helpful feedback from the past clients I surveyed.
Intention + Action + Accountability = Successful Results
It’s a simple formula, but one that has proven to be reliable. All the elements must be there to see the results.
Intention:
Without an intention to offer more services to past clients, I would have missed an opportunity to be of further value to them. However, intention alone is not enough. How many times have you seen your good intentions fall by the wayside? Without follow through, intentions never get off the ground.
Action:
Without taking action to find out what needs existed from past clients, I may not have offered them something of value which was in line with their needs at that time. To achieve the end result you want, the action steps should be broken down into several small steps. Think of the action steps as your roadmap along the journey to your goal.
Accountability:
Without brainstorming about the idea with the other group members and letting them hold me accountable for my action, I might have dropped the ball. A key component of effective follow through is accountability. If no one knows your goals, it is easy to talk yourself out of the necessary work to bring those goals to fruition. Or we can forget the goal entirely through distractions, interruptions, or lack of focus.
Successful Results:
If any one of the above elements was missing, I would not produce the successful results that are meaningful to me and my consulting clients. I’m still in the process of bringing about the successful results, because multiple action steps and accountability will be required before the goal is achieved. Round one was already successful.
This formula has proven reliable for me in many areas of my life, whether it’s a fitness goal, a business goal, parenting strategies, or creating something for myself. The end result is always better when I collaborate with other supportive people.
Have you had a similar experience? Do you typically set and achieve goals alone, or do you involve other people in the process? What goals are you working on now that could be enhanced with the supportive input of others?
