Why I go to mastermind events
And what I learned from 3 days in L.A.
This past week, I was in L.A. to attend a business conference, specifically a mastermind conference.
I’ve previously written about the pitfalls of the “business of entrepreneurship,” but what distinguishes masterminds from other types of events and conferences are typically 1) the attendees – often vetted or invite-only, and a 2) business-focused agenda.
A third qualitative factor is the opportunity to connect with like-minded people to learn from and help each other solve, or get solutions to business problems.
This was mostly an invitation-only event, attended by people from all walks of life and a cross-section of industries.
For example, there were folks in e-commerce, consumer packaged goods (CPG), food and beverage (F&B), music, entertainment, and gaming and alternative currencies like crypto.
There were life, business, and relationship coaches, and people you’ve seen on TV or in magazines.
There were tech and V.C. investors, AirBnb arbitrageurs, financial powerhouses, doctors and wellness experts, marketing gurus, psilocybin and marijuana advocates, and people who want to live forever.
There was a lot of talk about different marketing software, and the power of A.I. not just for content creation, but also for sales and problem solving.
Most everyone in the room had succeeded and/or failed in a major way, blown up a business, or fallen and got back up again.
But everyone came with the following:
Humility
Desire to learn
Desire to meet and help people
Move over, malaise
Since February when I fully exited my company, I’ve experienced a tailspin of emotions, both personally and professionally.
While I’m incredibly grateful and fortunate to have time to recuperate and reconnect with friends, family, and loved ones, I’ve also experienced malaise and anxiety about what to do next, and when.
The day I deleted Slack on my iPhone was surreal; can you imagine deleting the one app you’ve relied on every day, for years, to communicate with the most important people at your company?
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The one app that was both a blessing and a bane to your existence?
Therapy has helped and reminded me to keep things simple; to acknowledge my professional achievements and be mindful. To take a beat and just check-in with my gut, intuition, and how I’m feeling.
I do my best with a daily gratitude practice and review and write down time-based goals regularly.
And when I was ready, the one cadence I’ve been able to commit to is writing this newsletter on a weekly basis.
It’s funny, as the former founder and CEO of a content agency, you tell your clients all the time to “pick a content cadence and commit to it.”
It’s way harder to do this yourself.
As the conference wound down, I was still digesting the takeaways. Three things are apparent.
3 mastermind event takeaways
There’s a lot of money and opportunity in the world, no matter the economy, war, or peacetime
Self discipline, focus, and execution are key
Put yourself out there and keep showing up (for events, at work, in the gym, on social media, with different marketing tactics); eventually you’ll get lucky 😉
How are you resting, recuperating, or working this summer? Hit reply or comment with your thoughts!
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Until next time,
Shindy
On Instagram + TikTok
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