One of the best parts of being on Facebook is having easy access to creative mastermind groups; However, if you’ve never been part of a mastermind group before, you might be wondering what it is.

Fortunately, the Success Alliance offers the following definition:

Mastermind groups offer a combination of brainstorming, education, peer accountability and support in a group setting to sharpen your business and personal skills.

The focus on support is crucial because let’s face it, the entrepreneurial life can be isolating, but it doesn’t have to be that way!

Because social media will amplify your reach by over 1,000 times, mastermind groups will inevitably make the freelance life a little bit less lonely. 

Today I’m going to give you an insider take on what these groups are really like.

1) Constructive Criticism

Although creative masterminds are generally a pretty friendly environment, they’re also places where people are there to help each other, so constructive criticism is inevitable.

But why is this the case? Because the typical mastermind conversation is stuff like this:

And also this:

Mastermind members are there to learn from each other; If someone challenges your take on things, keep in mind that they’ve probably struggled with similar things, and want to share what they’ve learned from their experiences.

But how do I know that? Because the rules are strict, and you have to send out an invite request, and be accepted by the group’s admins to join these groups.

For instance, here are the rules of the Think Creative Collective mastermind that I’m currently part of:

Anyone that doesn’t follow these guidelines gets their access to the group revoked. Mastermind groups enforce these rules in order to protect members from spammers and trolls.

2) Job postings that aren’t advertised publically

Remember how I said that Masterminds are invite-only and private?

The reason why this is so amazing is because people often post independent contractor job opportunities, and sometimes even full-time jobs, that aren’t available to just anyone.

On mastermind groups, there are two kinds of job opportunities. Offers, such as these, where an independent contractor is posting on behalf of their client:

And offers from independent contractors, such as these, who just want to hire someone to help them get their work done:

Although getting new clients via Mastermind groups can be a competitive process, it’s better than Upwork, and also offers better opportunities!

3. Diversity

All of the masterminds  that I’ve joined thus far encourage members to introduce themselves when they join the group for the very first time.

As a result, the one thing that I’ve noticed more than anything is extreme diversity. And I don’t just mean diversity in terms of where people come from. I also mean diversity in terms of levels of peoples’ levels of experience and specialties.

Diversity is important for self-employed creatives because it’s far too easy to get far too caught up in your own head. For instance, it took a year for me to transform my website into what it is today, and the only assistance that I had was the web design platform that I used.

Then the group’s admin gave me this handy bit of feedback that helped me figure out what I needed to work on:

I’m not a web designer, but I do write and edit web copy. However, Leah is a web designer who is used to working with people like me, so I learned a lot from her feedback. That’s exactly why participating in a mastermind group can be extremely helpful.

4) A steady increase in your web traffic

If you actively participate in mastermind groups people will take some interest in your work and want to learn more.

If you want people to feel compelled to learn more, help others, and use what you know to make their lives a little bit better. You should also make sure that they know who you are, and what you do.

That’s a strategy that I used while being part of a few different mastermind groups, and this has caused Facebook to be one of my top sources of traffic this month:

 5) A lot of support

The internet isn’t always the friendliest place to put yourself out there, but creative mastermind members are by far the nicest and most open-minded people I’ve ever talked to online.

The vibe is a bit like everything from Pride Parades to fan expos because everyone is there to celebrate and support each other’s similarities and differences. It’s also extremely safe because of the strict rules that you have to follow to be part of these groups.

But just how supportive are these groups anyways? So I was browsing one of the Mastermind groups I’m part of and found a post from a member that was really struggling with her business and going through a bit of a slump.

Instead of being all like… “poor me,” this is what she said instead:

And there were a ton of comments that all said something along the lines of: “you go, girl, I’ve been there! You can do it!”

The reason why I used this example, is because that’s a sentiment that’s extremely common in creative mastermind groups.

In fact, every time I open up about one of my triumphs or struggles there’s always at least someone who cheers me on because they’ve definitely been there.

So what are you waiting for? Why not sign up for your first creative mastermind? And after you do that, feel free to share your experiences with being a member of a mastermind in the comment sections below.

If you’re interested in being part of a Facebook mastermind group, but not quite sure where to start, stop by my blog next Tuesday, for my step-by-step guide on how to find the perfect mastermind group for your business.