How I Built a 24-Person Mastermind That Members Call “Life-Changing”

Dustin: [00:00:00] everything that we did in the Mastermind in person. Was in the spirit of how do I simplify things in my business and that was awesome. And so we had sessions on money management and lead generation and offers and kind of operations, like anything you can think of to affect your business.
Dustin: but all through that lens. Of simplicity scales
Intro: you are listening to the seven Figure Leap podcast. We're here to leverage rich relationships and smart strategies to take your business to the next level. Here's your host, Dustin Reman.
Dustin: What does it really take to run a successful mastermind program? I'm really excited to take you behind the scenes and show you exactly how we run the Seven Figure Leap Mastermind. So I've been running this mastermind for
two and a half years. We have a 90% retention rate. It's awesome. So it's like my [00:01:00] favorite thing, honestly, that I get to do in the business.
Dustin: and it's also highly profitable. So what I'd like to do is give you a bit of an origin story of like, how did this come to be? And then I will zoom in a bit and tell you, uh, who it's for, who's in it. and then I'm actually gonna go through and tell you exactly like how we run our meetings, the in-person components.
Dustin: I'll even tell you about the pricing. this is definitely one of the top questions I get and it's not something I've ever talked about publicly. And I got more questions recently because, I did a, an episode, talking about the, front end core and continuity offers. and. This is our continuity offer, what we call the long offer.
Dustin: If you wanna check out that episode. So, where did this come from? So, as you may know, our core offer, the main thing that we're known for in the front door for all of our clients is called the Podcast Profits Accelerator. That program, started in the fall of 2022, and when we first started [00:02:00] that it was a 90 day program.
Dustin: And at the end of 90 days, it was like, Hey, uh, nice knowing you. I'm glad you got the results you were looking for. And then we would start the next cohort. And after three cohorts, the, the chorus grew pretty loud of like. Some of the people wanted to keep going, and then people started to say like, how do we know the other people that had been through this?
Dustin: Right? Because at that time, we had no community at all. it was just a Slack channel, and Zoom meetings. It was still really effective. And, everyone got amazing results and we, you know, met all of our, promises, but there was no community component outside of the cohort itself in the accelerator.
Dustin: So. That brings us to spring of 2023. After the third cohort. the demand was clearly there for people to at least want something to continue, right? And so what I decided to do, and I think this could be a great, principle for you if you're considering something like this. I said, Hey, let's try something right with no commitments from me or from [00:03:00] them.
Dustin: I said for the summer of 2023. Pay me, I think it was like $500 for like three months. Like it was a very low price, but it gave them skin in the game. And then we had 10 founding members. And I said, I think this is what this will be. We're gonna meet on Zoom, we're going to pick up where we left off in the accelerator, and we're gonna get to know each other better.
Dustin: And so there were several people from each of the first three cohorts and we created the founding Mastermind. And in fact, when we created it, it was not called the Seven Figure Leap Mastermind because this company was
not even called the seven Figure eight Mastermind. And. Part of this origin story is trying to name the mastermind.
Dustin: I work closely with, uh, a couple of the members, specifically Cassie Shay, who's been featured here on our show multiple times. And we tried to come up with like, what is this mastermind for? Like what are we trying to accomplish? Right? And the ethos of that, continues today and it's really about.
Dustin: Assembling a group of really high quality, high value online business owners who are [00:04:00] building a seven figure business that is in alignment with their own personal mission. Like that's the really simple way to say it. And so we have these people that come through the accelerator, often doing multiple six figures by the end of that.
Dustin: And they really want a seven figure business, but they don't want it. With a huge team and a bunch of complication. They want like a simple business that's based on their expertise. And so we said that's what this mastermind should be first and foremost centered on. So seven figure was sort of like a natural part of this.
Dustin: And then the leap part was my own experience in that, up to that point and running the accelerator. And a lot of the experiences from our clients were
people said. I took a 10 x leap, I took a quantum leap, and I'm like, that's really what this Mastermind is. It's the ability to get to seven figures and do it, not only consistent with your value in a way that's fun to you, but in a, in a leap, like right, in a step change in the growth of your business.
Dustin: So Seven Figure Leap was actually originally the name of the mastermind that was birthed in the summer of 2023. As like a beta group. [00:05:00] ultimately, as you now know, it's the name of this podcast. It's also the name of our entire business. but the Mastermind actually had that name first, so that's where it came from.
Dustin: After that, we continued to grow. We added several more members, we increased the price, and we effectively locked in at a founding rate, up until recently. Along the way, we would add like three spots and we'd fill them up and we'd add another couple spots and we'd fill them up. Right? So that's, and I'm gonna tell you more about the present day version of this.
Dustin: Uh, but that is how this started, how it evolved over the first year or so of its existence. So that's what it is and where it came from. what do we actually do in the Mastermind? So from a high level standpoint, what we do is we grow our businesses through relationships. Right. And that does not mean this is a networking group.
Dustin: We certainly do networking and we do referrals and all that stuff, but I've been in other masterminds where it's sort of transactional. You show up and they say, gimme three names of people that will buy my stuff. Right? And [00:06:00] I hate that that is not in alignment with my own values. So this is building our business through relationships, and it's just a natural extension of what we do with podcast guesting in the accelerator.
Dustin: so that's number one. Number two. We have a very strong theme of constantly getting more clarity and confidence in our businesses, and taking action from that. So clarity, confidence, and action or momentum are sort of our core. Operating principles. And then the final thing is identity expansion toward a million dollar CEO identity, right?
Dustin: So a big part of how you actually get to seven figures and beyond is you have to shift your own mindset and identity. To enable that and to empower that. And so that's a another thing that makes us unique, right? So it's a very unique mix of business owners from all different industries. Um, but those are kind of the three guiding principles under that big, uh, umbrella that I described earlier.
Dustin: So that is a. Who we are. And currently we have [00:07:00] 24 members and we have everything from financial advisors to marriage coaches to business, consultants, operations consultants, social media experts. They're sort of, uh. Sort of all things represented, which is awesome because what we've evolved into in the present day is not only all the things I just said, but we also operate as an extension of each other's teams.
Dustin: And I think that's also extremely valuable and important and unique. everyone is there to serve everyone else, including me. I'm serving everyone else. I'm the leader of it, of course, but you know, people also help me. Right? And we are in many ways peer to peer. Extensions of each other's teams, and that is pretty awesome.
Dustin: but that's who we are and how do we function? this is probably the number one question I get asked because people hear the term mastermind. It means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. people have spent a lot of money on masterminds and in some cases had amazing results in some cases have been [00:08:00] burned.
Dustin: and they're like, people seem to really like yours. They talk about yours. They post about experiences that they've had on social media and things like that, and. We've had people leave. Right. You know, so it's not as if it's the same people all the time, but it is like a 90% retention rate. So almost every one of our founding members is still in it.
Dustin: And a lot of the people that we add just continue to stay in because you know, they're getting the value. It's a, it's a pretty simple equation. So what makes it valuable? Well, I think the structure is part of this. And so, we meet every Thursday, which at first can sound like a lot, and we meet for 90 minutes, which may also sound like a lot, but not everyone makes every meeting.
Dustin: And each meeting has a specific form and function, which I think also adds a ton of value. And we did not start here, trust me, but we've evolved, through member input and we've gotten a lot better over time, but in a nutshell, in a given month. The second and fourth weeks of the month are hot seats and [00:09:00] something called, leap Pods, which I'll, I'll explain here in a second.
Dustin: But that's the structure of those two meetings. The first week of the month is a what's working now session and the third. Week of the month is our, expert lab. we're just renaming it, uh, but it's probably called Expert Lab, but it's a community wide event that's actually led by our mastermind.
Dustin: So lemme walk through each of those meeting types for you so you can understand what I mean by that. So week one, what's working now? I lead those sessions. Something we've learned over time as the members really like it when I tell them what we're actually doing to grow this business. and I should say
also, our members range from.
Dustin: Six figures, multiple, six figures, seven figures, and multiple seven figures. so while we're all on the seven figure leap, mission, and we're in very different parts of that spectrum, so it's not like people all have a seven figure business to be a member, but that is typically their aspiration.
Dustin: And that's important because in this, what's working now. Format. One of the things I've been told is, [00:10:00] we like it when you teach us stuff that's actually working in your business. And so that's what that session is all about. I break down a strategy, something I've done recently, a TA tool, but usually it's a strategy and I teach it to the group.
Dustin: I give them every possible shortcut. I can swipe files or or whatever is most appropriate. And then we have a large group discussion about that topic and often the members expand upon what I've. Shared, and I learn from them and they learn from me, and it's a very rich session, but that's typically the first week of the month.
Dustin: Weeks two and four are the more traditional mastermind format. They're hot seats, so members raise their hand ahead of time and they are looking to solve a problem in their business or maximize an opportunity. And we have a very specific structure for how we do that. So typically we're gonna have three to six hot seats.
Dustin: we can break out into rooms as necessary to do that, for the first hour of the call. and then, so that's an hour is hot seats. And then the last 30 minutes [00:11:00] we do this really unique thing that's a fairly, new evolution we call LEAP Pods. these are originally accountability pods, but again, as all this stuff, has done, they've gotten better and we've gotten more clear about the best way to utilize that time.
Dustin: And what this is, is an opportunity to be in a group of four people. And the whole group of forests focused on a common, goal for the quarter and the big rock for the quarter. They all have something in common. And part of my, masterminding about the Mastermind is like, I like to put. People in part based on intuition and cross pollination of networks and things like that.
Dustin: So like I'm choosing who's in these four person groups. We have 24 people, so we have six, four person groups and every quarter we rotate who's in those groups. So you get to know and build deeper relationships, with different people each quarter. And so we have dedicated time in the second and fourth, meeting of each month or week of each month to, break out into those four person groups.
Dustin: So that's. It's been fantastic. And then the third week [00:12:00] is, like I said, this expert lab, this expert session. So a different topic for the, the full community. So as a reminder, if you haven't heard this before. We have a community of about 250 people at Seven Figure Leap. That community are all alumni of the accelerator.
Dustin: So I mentioned the accelerator, it's our 90 day program after 90 days, you're part of the community. You're actually in the community during the 90 also. But basically everyone in there has been or is in the accelerator and there are 24 Mastermind members come from that same community. Right?
Dustin: So the idea on the third Thursday of every month is we have a community wide event. So everyone's invited. They're gonna learn. Sort of a what's working now, they're gonna learn in a deep dive strategic session from one of our mastermind members. So learn about tax strategy or learn about LinkedIn strategy, or learn about StoryBrand messaging, right?
Dustin: So every month we have a whole different topic and what's really unique is that it's led by a mastermind member. sometimes I lead those [00:13:00] also, but typically a mastermind member is the expert. Who's teaching the whole community, and then we have plenty of q and a time. So that does a lot of things for us.
Dustin: For one, it's an amazing community event. It's a great value add to the whole community. Two, it. Enables our mastermind members to be mentors to the community, which is one of the things that we all really want to do. and third, for the person in that hot seat or not in that hot seat, in that presentation seat, they get really, it's usually a fresh presentation, like a fresh workshop that they're leading.
Dustin: So they get the. Gift of clarity to be able to pull their knowledge together and deliver it in a workshop and to get leads, right? Because people in the community are like, oh, I need to go deeper on this. Can you help me with that? and so that's the third session. Um, so when I say we have a mastermind meeting every week.
Dustin: The third week is a combined with the community. so that's, that's our basic structure. When we have a fifth Thursday, we do a deep dive on a special topic like [00:14:00] AI or something like that. But, you know, that's just a few times a year. and then the final thing is, I'll say about our meetings is the first
week of a quarter.
Dustin: So four times a year, right? First week of the quarter, that meeting's special because we do a 90 day strategic plan together. So I lead the entire group through a 90 day strategic plan. so they have a 90 day game plan for exactly what they're gonna accomplish in their business for that quarter. And that is, that informs who goes into what LEAP pods, right?
Dustin: So we start every quarter. In other words, with the strategic planning session, And then that formulates, delete pods. And then from there forward, we have hot seats, leap pods, round tables or expert sessions on the third week. And then. The first week thereafter, until we get to the next quarter is, uh, what's working now.
Dustin: So it might be a little confusing. It's a lot easier to, to see it on a calendar. Uh, but basically we meet weekly on a virtual basis, on live meetings, and I lead those sessions. So that is like the core [00:15:00] part of how we communicate, live with each other. And as you heard there, it's. Definitely a mix of modalities.
Dustin: there's different purpose for each of those types of meetings. and so it's, it's not boring, right? It's not like the same broken record. It's very unique every time, and we continue to evolve it as our members evolve. So I'm very proud of our virtual meeting structure. In between meetings, we have our own special.
Dustin: Area of our circle community. So again, all of our mastermind members are in the community at large with the other 250 PPA or accelerator alumni, but we also have our own private area, and that allows us to deep dive on things that are coming up in our meetings. We have a live group chat in there, which is kind of fun.
Dustin: It's kind of coming a group text, but without the. Obnoxiousness of it on your phone. It's, it's housed in circle. and of course we keep all of our meeting recordings and things like that private in there. So we have our own circle area that we're able to communicate in between meetings. that's been powerful.
Dustin: That is the virtual part of the [00:16:00] mastermind. The last thing I wanna talk about as far as structure is. What I think most members would say is, is the best part. and it is our in-person retreats. So spring and fall we do an in person experience as a group. and so the locations vary. we typically end up in Nashville in the fall, and then we re rotate our locations in the springtime.
Dustin: And we've been to Orlando, St. Augustine, Florida. Uh, our next ones are gonna be in my hometown in St. Louis in a really cool historic area. Called St. Charles, Missouri, where Lewis and Clark, uh, started their expedition. So,
but each one is in a unique location. It's typically in just a kind of a cool, relaxed,
Dustin: environment with some, you know, coworking space and things like that. And we have a Wednesday afternoon session all day together on Thursday and then Friday morning, then we break at lunch on Friday. and that way if someone's visiting and they wanna like hang out in the city, you know, for the weekend, it's an easy way to do it.
Dustin: So we basically, it's like a two day [00:17:00] retreat, broken over three days. Uh, but it is truly a retreat. So the idea is it's a place to. Step away from your business, from an operation standpoint. Work on your business, think strategically, connect with people in a really deep human way. and we mix in all kinds of stuff.
Dustin: So we have a, a very robust, Mix of modalities is kinda a theme of our mastermind, right? And so I really think it's the best practice for an in-person event like this. Uh, so out of our 24 members, we typically get 18, 18 ish, uh, 18 to 20 members coming in, in person for those days. And we will do.
Dustin: Everything from walking club early in the morning. we typically have some sort of fun entertainment at night, like pickleball or escape rooms or something like that. the middle night we always host a big group dinner. We'll invite some local, master or, uh, entrepreneur friends from the area if that's applicable.
Dustin: A lot of people bring their spouse, uh, not so much to the actual mastermind day, but for that group dinner and for any other activities, and we invite them to do that [00:18:00] and we, we love that. and then during the day, during those main times, we're doing a variety of things, group discussions, mini masterminds, walk and talks.
Dustin: we'll do peer led, what's working now sessions, so. What makes it unique though is we always have a theme and the theme we don't really determine until usually about two, three weeks before the retreat because we really want it to be the vibe of what's going on in the Mastermind and in the community at large.
Dustin: So as an example, our last retreat, the theme was simplicity Scales. So everything that we did in the Mastermind in person. Was in the spirit of how do I simplify things in my business, right? and that was awesome. And so we had sessions on money management and lead generation and offers and kind of operations, like anything you can think of to affect your business.
Dustin: but all through that lens. Of simplicity scales. And so each retreat has a unique theme. We provide a workbook. we typically provide some cool swag. we're having a lot of dinners [00:19:00] together. We're mixing up who's with who throughout the three day time, so everyone gets to know each other in a deeper way and really connect and bond.
Dustin: And, and what's really been special to me is when people show up at an in-person retreat, and it's their first one because they're a newer member, mean, it's amazing. Like people are so vulnerable and so open and honest, like from the get go and like to me that is a testament to the quality of the group and the way that we structure things.
Dustin: Um, so those in-person retreats are really special. And something I think that's, that's worth me pointing out here before I get into sort of the cost and, obligation and things like that for our members. So retreats don't actually cost anything for our members. They cover their own travel and lodging.
Dustin: Other than that, I, or, you know, the company covers everything and so. Their monthly membership fees already include the retreats. And I think that that is, it was not by design. The, the retreats sort of like, uh, became a thing over time. and I was like, Hey, I'll just cover this. Right? And then [00:20:00] it's grown and I continued to cover it.
Dustin: But, it's been probably one of the best business decisions I've made, even though it's effectively a loss on paper because. It's the best thing ever. Very high retention from it. When people come, they're completely transformed and you know, it, it is literally an inflection point in people's businesses when they come.
Dustin: And so removing the barrier of like a financial decision is like, well, you already paid for this. You should come. Uh, and I think that's why we get so many people that are able to come and really just enjoy themselves and, uh, let us take care of the logistics. So. And retreats included in the price of the Mastermind.
Dustin: So you're probably like, oh man, this must be a really expensive mastermind. and it's not, it, it's not. So, uh, our current rate is $1,500 a month, or 15, you know, thousand if you wanna pay for the year. So you basically get two months for free. Our founding rate, For the majority of our members was a thousand dollars a month and their grandfathered in forever.
Dustin: So as long as they don't leave, they get to keep that rate. and I hope what you [00:21:00] hear is it's really an incredible value. 'cause we have all of our virtual meetings, the mentorship and the community, obviously all of the, uh, the interactions that we have, relationships and all the, the business help we provide and to in-person retreats all included for that.
Dustin: And here's the other kicker that people think I'm really dumb for. From a, a business standpoint, there's no, contracts, there's no obligation. Like you could literally sign up, assuming we had, capacity. And I talked to everyone before they come in. So it's not like you just sneak in. Um, but theoretically you could sign up the month before a retreat.
Dustin: Uh, pay for one month, come to the retreat and cancel, and we'd be cool with that because my deep belief in this sort of business, in this long part of the business model especially, is that people should be excited to renew each month. It shouldn't be like, oh gosh, I meant to cancel this. You know? It's like, no.
Dustin: Every month I am like excited to pay this member's fee because I'm getting so much more than that back in value. And [00:22:00] I think one way to prove that is to not have a contract and an obligation. So we do have people that pay annually, typically after they've been in a while, right? They're like, yeah, this is totally my jam.
Dustin: I'm gonna pay for the year because I saved money. but a lot of our members are month to month, quote unquote. They rarely ever leave, uh, which I'm very proud of. And, you know, something I don't take for granted. We work really hard, uh, to, to make this successful. So hopefully that gives you a good feel for, how to run an effective mastermind.
Dustin: And some of the best practices that I've learned in doing this for two and a half years, I did not set out to be. for one, an entrepreneur, two, a coach, three, a podcast guesting expert, or a group coaching expert. And certainly not a mastermind leader, but you know, this is where God's put me in this stage of my life.
Dustin: And I'm extremely grateful for the gift of the members of our mastermind that continue to not only trust me and invest in, in this belief, in this system that we've created, but they really believe and support each other. And we literally are like an [00:23:00] extension of each other's business teams. therefore we're really invested in each other, right?
Dustin: So investment in the sense of like spending money to be in a mastermind is one thing. And, uh, like I said, I really want people to feel great about that and not feel any long-term obligation. I want them to continue to get that value. And, and most importantly though, I want them to feel invested in and invested from the other members because we are literally all in this together as a small group.
Dustin: So, if you're curious about. being a member of this, um, we're currently full, so, uh, certainly no pressure there. However, what I will say is 90% of our members come through the accelerator. So almost all of our members first come through the 90 Day Podcast Profits Accelerator that you've probably heard me talk about multiple times here.
Dustin: And then as part of that experience, they realized. This is a community I love. These are people I love. I'm getting a ton of value and I want to keep going and I wanna go deeper, and I want to build a seven figure business beyond the the [00:24:00] six figure growth promise that we have with the accelerator. So it's a natural extension for the right people.
Dustin: Uh, we do have a few members though that came directly into the mastermind, basically because. Podcast guessing just wasn't part of their desire of their business model, and they were endorsed by another member. So there is a, a direct way in, but it's kind of rare. so yeah, the best thing I would say is if you're curious about our group, uh, every quarter we typically have some sort of enrollment period.
Dustin: It may be one spot, could be a couple spots. and then of course we have our retreats. Uh, this year they're gonna be in. April and September. and so one of the things I've considered is maybe allowing a couple people to buy direct
access to the retreats, uh, before they become a member. they would not come for free.
Dustin: They would be paying for that. but it would be a great way for them to experience it, get to know the people, and then hopefully they'd decide to stick around and be part of the, uh, the mastermind officially. So no decision's been
made on that, but if you're curious about. what the Mastermind is all about, like, shoot me an email, you know, [00:25:00] dustin@sevenfigureleap.com and I'm happy to have a chat with you about the, uh, the Mastermind.
Dustin: Put you on a wait list if appropriate. Uh, maybe talk about one of these upcoming events, if that's something that you'd be interested in experiencing. So, yeah, shoot me an email. We can talk about the Mastermind, but the, the big idea here wasn't to sell you on the Mastermind. It's not even open right now for enrollment, but it was really just an opportunity for me to reflect on.
Dustin: What have we done here? What's working? How is this structured? Uh, how have we made some of these really unique, decisions, as a mastermind group? And, uh, you know, what, what's the future look like for us? And I'm, I can say the future looks extremely bright. I'm extremely, uh, just grateful to be in, in community with these folks.
Dustin: So that's, the seven figure leap mastermind. I hope you found a lot of value today in a behind the scenes look at what, uh, what this really takes and what this is really like if you're doing it at a high level.