155: What Happens When You Join Runway to Freedom?

Andrea Liebross: Welcome to the Time to Level Up Podcast. I'm your host, Andrea Liebross. Each week, I focus on the systems, strategy, and big thinking you need to CEO your business and life to the next level. Are you ready? Let's go.

Hello, my friends, and welcome back to Time to Level Up Podcast. I am thrilled you are here. I've got a fun episode ahead. I am recording this. It's the middle of November and at the very end of October, I met with my mastermind group. I call my mastermind Runway to Freedom. Inside of that group, there are eight women, eight business owners, eight entrepreneurs, seven moms, one amazing aunt, some pet lovers, they're people just like you.

What I wanted to do today on the podcast is talk about what actually happens inside a mastermind, what happens inside this particular mastermind, and not just have me tell you, but have them tell you. When we were together, I asked the participants a series of questions about the mastermind. I also asked them a series of questions about the retreat.

I'm going to talk about the retreat itself in a future episode but today I really want to talk about what has gone on for these women in this mastermind. Now some of them have been in there for more than a year, some just joined a couple of months ago, but we were all together in a beautiful house in New Hampshire, inside the fall foliage container on a lake.

This is part of what we do in a mastermind. We do meet together at least two times a year for several days where we get away from it all, we get away from our families, our usual environments, and even our business in this retreat. It creates space for us to look further inside ourselves and our business.

But that's what we're doing all year long. The retreat environment is amazing. Again, I'm going to tell you about it more in a future episode. But what really happens inside the mastermind, the retreat itself is just a microcosm of it. This mastermind gives these women the space, and I mean physical, I mean time space, I mean mental space to think about where they want to go and what they want to do.

Today I am going to answer a few questions for you as to what happens when you join a mastermind, what shifts occur, what problems you might be able to solve, what you might see different in yourself. You might already be experiencing some of these things, and I hope you are, but I just want you to also recognize how being part of a group like this fast tracks anything you're already thinking about or working on.

Now, again, these women are all business owners, they all have profitable businesses, all of their businesses are making well over $100,000. Some are in the millions, some are in the seven-figure mark. Some are in the six-figure mark. But regardless, they have reached a place in their business where they're ready to kick it up a notch.

I call this chaos, not chaos based off of confusion, but chaos based off of success. They have had a level of success. If you go back and listen to one of the episodes on fear, you know that there is a fear of success. There's also fear of failure. Now they've experienced success, and now they're ready to even grow and go further, and that can all be scary. It can all be scary.

Here's what I'm going to do today, I'm going to kind of walk you through a couple of different aspects of a mastermind, but I'm not going to do most of the talking. I'm going to have them do the talking. They're going to share with you their experiences because I think it's very helpful for you to hear that directly from their mouths and their voices.

They're all in different industries and they're all different ages ranging from 37 to probably 60, low 60s. They live all across the country. We've got people in here from Iowa, Texas, Boston, Chicago, New York, eight different places across the country. There are differences there. But the similarity is where they are, I call it the psychological factor of where they are in their business, what they're looking to do, and how open they are to growing.

A lot of this is coming into something like a mastermind, being in the right headspace, being open to growth, being open to coaching, being open to exploring. Sometimes we look at like, “Okay, what are the demographic, geographic, and psychographic characteristics or qualities of the client?”

The psychographic for them is very similar. The demographic and geographic is not, nor is the industry that they are in, their own different industries. But they're all ready to go into that next place, they've all experienced success, and they've all been profitable. Here we go. Ready? I love to say sit back, buckle up, and listen in to my conversation with these amazing women. But this conversation is going to be narrated by me.

Alright, here we go. First off, I asked them, “Why did you join the mastermind? What were you looking to do with your business or in your business, or with your role in your business when you joined?” I got a variety of answers. But they kind of all fell into I would say three different categories.

Number one, they were really ready to focus more on their business. They had felt as if they got their personal life a little bit in order, they were on stable ground there so they had received coaching prior, more of a life coaching bent, and they were now ready to focus more on their business. That's the first reason that they joined this mastermind.

Second, they wanted to have a guide to walk them through the next steps in their business, that next level in their business. They wanted the support that those big changes were going to require. They came to the mastermind looking for support in all forms.

Then the last common reason was that they really just wanted a push. They felt like they were maybe in a stagnant place. They knew that they needed something additional to get them to that next place. They wanted a push. Kind of someone who's going to push them, not just guide them but push them to the next level.

Alright, so why did these women join the mastermind? Number one, they were ready to focus more on their business. Number two, they wanted assistance walking through those next steps of their business and support making those big changes. Number three, they wanted a push. They wanted someone to challenge them to help them see what was possible. Okay. Here, listen in to some of their answers.

Aileen: Well, I connected with Andrea pretty much straightaway and I knew that she'd be able to really help me make changes, big changes in my business, and that happened pretty much right away. Then I see the current mastermind group as a brain trust of female entrepreneurs who I can depend on for best practices, advice, and support.

Jeani: I joined the mastermind because I had had a coach before. I felt like I had reached a point where even she had said, “I really think that you're kind of at the top of your game for I do,” and for where she was at, where the other people in the mastermind were at so it was time to move on.

I came across Andrea on a podcast, listened to her, and all the things she said really resonated. It felt like she knew how to get to that next step, that bigger thing. We had a conversation and I just knew quickly that she was not just the next level, that she was going to be a great fit for many levels to keep pushing me, which it felt good to be part of something that I knew I could grow with, I can immediately get results but that I was going to have a room to grow and keep growing and building connections.

Rebecca: I was in her first group and learned lots of things that were really helpful getting me unstuck. I had a lot of different projects at that time so she helped clarify some ways to do it that would work really well. Then this just seemed like the next right step to do.

It also seemed fun and more focused on the business stuff, because initially when I had joined Andrea’s group, I was trying to do a kitchen remodel, business stuff, and a couple of other projects and I was capable of doing that. But I wanted to make sure that I wasn't a little over my head and find more efficient ways of doing things. I did that and then when I was thinking about joining this mastermind, it was more focused on business and that's what I really wanted to do more of.

Sarah: I worked with Andrea before and I knew that she would be able to take me to this new business and get it all started. I've watched so many people go into masterminds and I'm like, “I want to do a mastermind.” It was all about, “This is my idea. This is what my new business is going to be about. I knew that Andrea would be able to take me through those steps.

Andrea Liebross: Alright, so next I asked them, “What problems have you solved or what's changed in your business as a result of being part of the mastermind?” Again, a variety of answers, but there were several different themes. Okay, here are the themes. Number one, they have figured out who they need to hire, when they need to hire, and how they need to hire.

They need to expand their business and they can't do it all alone. We have worked on solving the problem of their most valuable resource, time. How can they get more time into their business? How can they have more energy in their business? That's probably going to come in the form of other people.

Number two, some problem that they had solved or something that has changed. As they have now started to hire, they've seen themselves or think of themselves as more of a CEO, more of a leader versus a worker bee. That's been a change for them.

Number three, they have gained clarity. They have gotten clear on their offerings. They've gotten clear on their policies and procedures. They've gotten clear on what the plan is. Creating a plan that's going to work for them as they step more into the role of CEO, more into the role of leader, not just worker bee.

The third thing that I heard from them as a big category of problems that have been solved or what has changed in their business is that they have gotten or seen how support, encouragement, and guidance, when facing the unknown and when wanting to try new things, makes a world of difference. It keeps them moving forward versus stepping back into fear.

Okay, so number one is really the people, the hiring, who they are in their business. Number two is clarity, clarity in offerings, goals, a plan, and policies and procedures. Number three is support and encouragement when facing the unknown when wanting to try new things. I'm going to, again, have you sit back and listen to some of their answers around what problems have you solved as a result of being the mastermind? What's changed in your business? What's the tangible result?

Aileen: Well, the first thing that Andrea helped me solve is hiring more people to do the work that I didn't want to do and the work that they loved and they were good at. That has been a huge shift for me. Also, thinking about how I want to evolve the business in year two and thinking of myself as the CEO and leader versus the worker bee.

One tangible result is widening my network of support both from the mastermind group but also from vendors and other people outside the mastermind that help in growing the business. One thing when you start your own business, you just assume you have to kind of take everything on and do everything yourself. You really don't. There are so many experts out there that can help you as you're growing.

Jeani: I would say with working with Andrea, the problems that I've solved is getting more clarity about the specific types of offerings, the value of those offerings when you look at my business as a whole and a package, and then really those things that sometimes are hard when you're in the weeds of your business of how you're going to step outside and make a plan to get there, sometimes that's really hard and you have to have something that pulls you out to do that.

Rebecca: One of them is just more clarity on like they don't teach us in grad school about how to run your own business or anything like that. I had started and had done well, but taking it to the next level like what are my goals in three years, five years, ten years? How am I going to make sure that happens instead of just hoping that happens?

Basically a plan for each of those years, three years, five, seven, ten, and hiring, what are my procedures, policies, procedures, lots of different things with that, utilizing YNAB, and more of like the Full Focus Planner, just making sure I'm getting my big three daily, weekly, quarterly, yearly.

It is balancing life and business but I guess that's probably the best way to say it, balancing life and business but not in the cliche way of like people say balancing life and business because it's always going to kind of do this, sometimes it's higher or lower but being able to stay grounded, centered, what are my goals even in the highs and the lows.

A lot more growth, things have happened outside of my control, and talking with her in the group about it of like, “I want to do this but it's scary,” and just some of that support and encouragement of like, “Remember, scared doesn't mean bad, it just is the unknown and we can figure this out.” Just like some of those reminders, the things that you know but you need somebody else to tell you that you can do it. Let's talk through the details, figure out a plan, it's doable, don’t just get paralyzed by the fear, no analysis paralysis.

Sarah: The problems I've solved are basically just staying in that planning present stage and to solve that, I can get the teaching going because that was a big issue for me to start teaching again. It felt like I was going backwards but now that I have this whole plan, how am I going to teach? What does it look like? What do the sessions look like? What do the pre-recordings look like? I feel more confident that it’s like I've already done it, and I'm already there, and it's already happening. That feels really good. I think the tangible is that now, the website is going, I have an assistant, I've done some workshops already. Things are actually in motion happening.

Andrea Liebross: Okay, here's the third thing. I didn't ask them what changed, but I asked them what had shifted. This is more of just turning the dial a little bit. Inside a mastermind, you have the space to try new things on. I call it like trying a new dress on, seeing how things fit.

This is like a little bit of turning the dial. You might not like 95.5 so you switch the dial to 98.2 and you listen there for a second. That doesn't work, you might switch it to 99.7. Same sort of thing. What's shifted for them as a result, or since joining the mastermind.

Again, three themes. What's shifted is that they are now focusing on bigger thinking. Bigger thinking beyond the here and now. Big thinking about what they truly desire. Opening themselves up, this is kind of number two, opening themselves up to what is possible, exploring those things. In the process, knowing that they can wait, they don't have to act on things right away. There's time to be had in the future and they don't have to do everything all at once.

These were subtle shifts in their thinking. So thinking bigger, not just playing small, thinking about what's possible, so opening themselves up to new possibilities, and knowing that even if they have 10 amazing ideas, they don't have to act on them all right now. Listen in to what they had to say.

Aileen: Thinking big. Thinking bigger about JobLink than I would have thought possible and really focusing on what I want to do as the CEO of the business and what activities around job really energized me versus what I can sort of give to others on my team.

Jeani: Since joining the mastermind, I would say I've had a big shift in what's possible and what it will take to get there. I think it's really exciting and liberating to know that I can set bigger goals and objectives and also feel like life can still feel even more manageable and not overwhelming at the same time.

Rebecca: I have a different network of people. I have like a support group or support of other therapists like where I live in other states, but to have other entrepreneurs in different fields has been really cool and helpful, like how do they think, how do they do things? Ways that I never thought about just from all different places. Noticing those ideas like, “Is that something I could do?” just outside of my field, talking with people outside my field has been really helpful.

Sarah: So what shifted for me since I joined mastermind is the way I think, the way I set things up. Instead of I always have ideas and I often think, “Okay, I got to do it. I gotta make it happen and I make it happen,” I'm always running after the next thing as opposed to planning things out. Certain things do get planned out, but there's always a great idea that I feel like I need to act on now. Now I don't have to act on it right away. I could plan to act on it and it's not going to go away.

Andrea Liebross: Alright. The next question I asked was “What surprised you most about your experience in the mastermind?” Two themes. Number one, what surprised them the most was the acceleration of their business, how quickly things could change and did change for them. Again, masterminds put you on a fast track.

Number two thing that surprised them, the other women in the group, being part of something bigger. Number three, taking time for themselves is okay. Actually, when you take time for yourself, that's where your own thoughts and thinking appear the strongest. That's when the great things happen. That's when the magic pops out. That really became apparent for a lot of them at the retreat. That's the next question I asked them and I want you now to listen in to their answers.

Aileen: I think the quick acceleration of the business since engaging in this mastermind has really surprised me. Now it doesn't surprise me anymore, but in the beginning, it did.

Jeani: The best part of being here at the retreat with Andrea and all other mastermind members has been the time to work on stuff perfectly balanced with also energizing activities, building some camaraderie with peers that get what you're going through, also hearing what they're going through, hearing what they're building. Even though it's something completely different, you can find great inspiration in that, excitement, and ways to collaborate with each other, which really can accelerate your business and make it so much more fun to go through this journey.

Melanie: What surprised me is that something that I value the most in my business is something that I need to pause for now in order to do it more later. I need to pause something now in order to focus on parts of my business that need my attention so that I can fully focus on it later and bring it closer was surprising to me.

Andrea Liebross: Alright, here's how I want to end. I asked them what surprised them the most about themselves. Thinking back to their experience in the mastermind, what has surprised them the most about themselves? Two themes. Number one, they can create a business they love and make decisions in it. They can be an entrepreneur.

A lot of them, this isn't their first rodeo and they have worked for other people in the past. But now they're entrepreneurs and this mastermind has solidified and has given them the confidence that they can do it.

The second theme, what surprised them the most about themselves is that they don't have to be like they have been in the past. They can be a new version of themselves in the future. Even if they love something in the past, they don't have to love it moving forward. The mastermind has given them that opportunity and permission. Let's see what they have to say in their own words.

Aileen: I could indeed be an entrepreneur. I'm generally a more risk-averse type of person. The fact that I jumped off a cliff and my business is surviving and thriving is a huge surprise for me.

Sarah: I can be that organized and plan ahead. Over the past few days is really coming with not even knowing what I was doing or where I was going. I had no plan. I knew I just needed to show up. I have a plan. I have a whole-year plan and I have an outline.

Rebecca: I never considered having a business before. Having that was already initially growth and then like, “Oh, I can add people and I can do well with that and I can create a course,” all these things I had seen lots of other people do and starting to do that myself and it go well has definitely surprised me.

Andrea Liebross: Okay, my friends, I hope you enjoyed listening to some of this. I hope it made you think about whether or not you would want to be part of a mastermind, what you might gain from it. Are the things that these women have experienced things that you want, that you desire?

Because here's the thing, I know you are worthy of it all already. But sometimes we need someone else to remind us of that and I hope by listening to their responses, you were reminded that you too are worthy of all of this. Just being surrounded by the energy, that in and of itself is priceless.

The doors are open right now for the Runway to Freedom Mastermind. This is the perfect time of year to join us as we head into 2024, being part of a mastermind in the new year will give you a whole new view of yourself and your business. This is the perfect time.

If you join now, you are going to have access to our planning session that we are doing in January and you also will receive a ticket to She Thinks Big Live workshop and conference happening in January. That's all part of the mastermind package among other things.

If this is something that you desire, if you see yourself in some of these women, if you want to get to that next level where you're having the same feelings, these same shifts, these same changes, you want to solve some of these same problems in your business, come join us. Why not? The doors of the mastermind are open.

All you need to do is head over to andreaslinks.com, book a call. We'll hop on a call, you and me, we'll discuss where you're at, we'll make sure that this is the best fit. If it is, we'll get going.

Now I have a whole other episode, Episode 95 that's about the mastermind. You can also go listen to that. My mastermind does evolve as months go on. Just want to tell you that maybe not every single detail in Episode 95 is still relevant, but I think you'll also get an idea by listening to that episode in conjunction with this episode where there are real live voices as to what it's all about. It's what it’s all about.

If you're a business owner, if you are profitable, if you are wanting to get to that next level, those multiple six figures or even seven figures, if you want support and encouragement and you want someone to help you get super clear on what's next, if you want someone to help you expand your three most valuable resources: time, money, and energy, and if you want to find more freedom in your business, then this is for you.

I'm right here ready to help you make it all happen inside the Runway to Freedom Mastermind. Book your call, the call is complimentary. Maybe we'll figure out that this isn't for you and I will hopefully point you in the direction of what you do need. There's no harm in this call. It's just a phone call where we kind of consult, we figure out what's best for you moving forward. We do a little strategy.

These calls in and of themselves I think are worth like thousands of dollars. I've had so many people say that to me. In fact, I had a client message me on LinkedIn. She wasn't the client actually, we had done one of these consult calls and she decided not to move forward at that time, it was about a year ago.

But she messaged me on LinkedIn and said, “I just want you to know that our conversation during that call was life-changing. Since we talked about a year ago, I have quit my job, I have started my own business, I am making money, I am in a relationship I love, and I am an entrepreneur. Even though I didn’t work with you at that point, that call was what triggered it all.”

So come experience the call. That’s the first step, andreaslinks.com, book a call, or you can go right to my website, let’s chat, my friends. I will see you next week if I don’t see you before. Remember, this is your time to level up. All of these eight women, they are leveling up, no doubt. You can too. Let’s do it.

Hey, listening to podcasts is great. But you also have to do something to kick your business up a notch. You need to take some action, right? So go to andreaslinks.com and take the quiz. I guarantee you'll walk away knowing exactly what your next best step is to level up.