As professionals, networking is key to helping your business grow. I’ve found it immensely important and belong to several groups of varying sizes. Many of us belong to a quilt guild filled with both professionals and everyday quilters. This type of group is valuable for the leads it might generate, as well as the inspiration we get each month.

Beyond this, though, we need to find groups of like-minded professionals. This could be a group of longarm quilters or art quilters who appreciate each others’ businesses on a deeper level and can offer support and guidance. These groups can be locally based or regional groups of larger organizations, such as the local SAQA chapters. I recently attended the local longarm networking group as a guest, and I regularly attend meetings of the Mason-Dixon Quilt Professionals Network. We all share information and experiences and learn from each other.

On an even smaller level is your mastermind group, a gathering of two or more people who help each other focus on goals, provide support and encourage each other to stretch, both personally and professionally. I belong to a very small group; it’s just two of us. My mastermind partner is a quilter, though that is not her business; it’s just a nice coincidence. We used to meet informally for tea periodically and found that we were sharing marketing and business ideas for our respective businesses. At some point last year we decided to make our meetings more formal, and our group has evolved over time. The mastermind works with the idea that two or more heads are better than one and that really big things can happen when you bounce ideas off each other. I’ve become more focused in my approach, and I know some of my business growth could be attributed to this. I also like the accountability this requires: Are my actions taking me closer to my goals? Am I meeting my goal deadlines? And, it’s great to have an extra cheerleader for my successes.

The Professional Quilter has had several articles over the years on networking. The most recent is “Networking: In Praise of Small Groups” by Mary Kerr in Issue 100. Mary is in a mastermind group with two other quilters and shares their experiences.

If you want to set up your own mastermind group, here are some tips:

1. Keep it small. Our group is just two, though we have talked about adding people. Anything up to six is workable.

2. Determine your goals, personally and for your group. When we started our mastermind group, I was first to share where I was in my business and what my goals were. I have that as a backdrop to my actions. I like to think of this as my annual goal setting meeting. We also outlined what we wanted the mastermind to accomplish for us as a group; this continues to evolve.

3. Meet regularly. We talk on the phone once a week sharing our successes, challenges and our agenda/goals for the rest of the week. We limit this to half an hour. We also e-mail once a week, closing the loop on what we discussed earlier in the week. This helps each of us stay on track and lets the other know if we have challenges to work through.

4. Treat the mastermind group seriously. It’s not a coffee klatsch or social gathering. The more serious you are about this group, the more each of you has to gain.

5. Hold each other accountable. Ask: “Does that get you closer to your goal?” “When will you get this done?” Verbalizing your intention really does help me.

I’d love to hear from anyone who is in a small mastermind group. Please share by commenting right here.