Mastering Masterminds: Building Business Support Networks with Ashley Smith

Catharine O'Leary: Hey, everyone, welcome back to Kickstart The Conversation. And I have for the very first time and kickstart the conversation history, I have a repeat person coming on to share with us. And I love this because as we build our businesses and as we grow ourselves and as we help people and we more of our offers, and we get more education ourselves, oftentimes we start either adding on slightly different services and offers or pivoting a little bit, to be able to service people as opportunities arise. And I love that Ashley Smith, who is our social media guru, she has been doing social media since 2010. She loves technology, and loves translating that industry jargon into layman's terms. She is best known right now for helping solopreneurs small business owners and organizations leverage their social media to generate leads, close sales, gain visibility and grow their business. Her clients create dynamic content cut through the white noise online with a solid voice, which is very important. And open technology back door, which makes social media and digital marketing click. Now if you want to go back to Episode 13, and you want to listen to exactly how Ashley helps people do that, and how she and I talked about how quizzes can do that. Episode 13 is where you want to go. But that's not quite what we're talking about today. So that is the foundation of what Ashley brings to the table. But we are talking about a little bit of a pivot. It's not like you know, all of a sudden she's a neurosurgeon or anything like that. But she's pivoting a little and we wanted to kind of introduce exactly what that looks like. And, you know, let's start with Ashley, welcome to the program. Tell us a little bit more about the pivot that I've been alluding to.

Yeah, thank you, Catharine. Um, yeah, it's been super exciting. You know, 2024 actually marks 10 years that my agency has been in business, which I think is a huge accomplishment. It's kind of kind of crazy. What's happened over the last decade, just in the industry, not just as an entrepreneur. And I think one of those things, just personally, I've always wanted to stay challenged. And I've always wanted to try something new. I think one of the things that people are looking for when they're an entrepreneur is, especially now it's becoming very, very predominant in my world and in my universe, is how do I make more impact, still do a great job, provide opportunities for people, but still make a decent living and not of my time, and give giving to everyone outside of my home or even outside of myself. And so that's when, through some pushing and prodding of a really great friend of mine. He introduced me mastermind, masterminds, especially, I guess, for me, really started to take off during the year that shall not be named. And and it really kind of became a buzzword a lot online. So and I've worked and I've thought about it, and I brainstormed of trying to think of a different word that wasn't mastermind, because a lot of people think it's an individual, a lot of people roll their eyes, a lot of people, they have a lot of misconceptions, I think of what I what I define as a true mastermind to be, which is yes, you get results. Yes, you can make money. Yes, you can learn things, but it really is a really unique community and environment of people that show up and give just as much as they get. And it's, it's different in maybe a group program or training or coaching. They do. But it's different in that the people at the table, virtually speaking, in my case of physically speaking and others, they come together and it's a way to cut down time and get to answers. It's a way for support with people who understand what you're going through. You know, I didn't really quite understand the whole mantra of entrepreneurship as lonely until you know, my husband and I would go to friends and family gatherings and everyone is talking about their jobs or their boss or this or that and you start to not as a derogatory term, but you start to not necessarily relate to the W twos that are in the conversation. Because you're and you want to have other safe conversations. Me personally, an example is like, how do I get to seven figures? What kind of risks do I need to take? What kind of investments do I need to do? And it's really grant is it's a, it's a space where you're not, you're free to ask those questions, you're free to be vulnerable with people who understand who aren't going to judge who are there just to support you and help you and offer resources. But they're also not there to pitch you to, you know, because sometimes you have a genuine question, but I'm your content continuously receiving some sort of offer or sale. And this is genuinely, hey, this worked for me go check this out, or, Hey, I have the answer for that, and get through some challenges and things that come up as as we grow our businesses and as we grow as people. And so with that inspiration, and knowledge behind it, it was I want to create my own mastermind. And so that's essentially, what I spent the last year on, is is building up this group. Have it? Part of it is also there's a little bit of exclusivity in it meaning that you want to keep keep the caliber, and the candor at that high value. personal level, right. That's, that's one of the things that separates it from, you know, a standard networking group is what is what I would say there's, it's kind of like a mash up of all the best elements of things that we've experienced as entrepreneurs, or even as individuals, I'm kind of putting it all in one container, which is, I just love it. It's just fantastic. So my mastermind in particular is called your one thing. And so we focus as a group on each of our unique talents and areas of our work that light us up, that just get us energized and excited. So that way, every day, we can show up confident and present for our people, whether that's an audience, whether it's readers, if it's listeners, if it if it is our clients. And so the whole premise of the mastermind is to help build and design a business with all the things necessary so that each individual is allowed to focus and live in their genius, time, money, profit resources, best practices, what the whole works, because as I was brainstorming this, I laid out 14 Different quote unquote, hats that we as single entrepreneurs or solopreneurs, as kind of the street lingo. And it's it's law and marketing and sales and billing and taxes. And there's elements of health and wellness for life balance, and there's outbound communications, and there's all filing and operations and systems and all of these different things. And the, the true fact is that we are really great at one thing, and then we're probably pretty good at two or three more. And then the others we put on the hat and swap it on when we absolutely have to. And we just kind of scramble and make it work. And so

Catharine O'Leary: not always well, because if you're doing your own legal advice, probably not, you're probably not doing yourself any service.

Yeah, probably shouldn't be Googling law questions. You know, but if you had a trusted network or a cohort of people, or I guess group of people, Mark Cuban hates the word cohort, I, by the way, I found that out through my internet scrolling, but you have this group of people that you can go to and somebody is an accountant, somebody is a specialist in marketing, somebody knows all the tech in in and out systems and things like that somebody else can help you with organizational structure, someone else is going to help you with mindset. And the mastermind serves as that as that piece for continued support, and mentorship and education. Because that's, that's something too, that we all look for, is I think it's just an innate to keep seeking out those things. And the other part of it is, what I've personally found is the more time that I spend wearing one hat, of course, because only one head right? And I someone else, there's gonna be like, well, you can wear multiple hats, just stack them on top, and you can, but the more the longer you are

Catharine O'Leary: screwed, right? Like your, like your focus is like, you can only focus on one thing at one time. People like you can multitask, but you're not focused.

Right, right. And there's been a ton of studies out there about that exact fact of how multitasking makes you feel or gives you the illusion that you're being impressed that you're being progressive and you're getting a lot of things done and being productive, productive in that matter when you're real. will not. And so the more time we spend on wearing one hat, all of the other things start falling off like all the balls that you're juggling start to like lay on the floor. And, you know, I love, I love me a good book. I love an energizing in person events, I love it. But I've also wanted to be present. But that means that I have to set certain boundaries and things like that. And it's a lot of shuffling and drip juggling. And I'm sure somebody out there is just feeling exhausted, as we talk about this, but that's what this group is for is for you to stop having to do that. And I think one of the blanket pieces of advice people have is hire VA, get a team, take out a loan. You know, all of these things that some people are comfortable with, and some people aren't. And so this mastermind in this space is to really build that. And we focus on your one thing, your zone of genius, we focus on your overall goal of what you want to accomplish throughout the year long program. And we make I make sure as the facilitator of of the group, and of those meetings that we are moving you along there. And then what do you need to get there? And then it's my job to find those things that you need. Right? If it's a popup training, if it's an expert, if it's a referral to someone, and you can do a one on one, if it's different members that we can attract for a guest in the group, anything along those lines, that's that's my job is fulfillment is what resource Are you looking for? How can I help you? How can we get you to where you want to be. And so that's what's really kind of cool about this too, is because we've got one gal who acquired a new business and is, is needing to connect all of the dots together and systems. Another gentleman is finally branching out into our Learn about outbound networking, he's been 99% or 100%, referral based, another gal is getting ready to launch her own community. And course in programming, we've got someone else who is in between jobs and trying to discover what her next move is, if that is to launch her own business, or if that is to go be a W two, because the benefits aren't bad.

Catharine O'Leary: It is way easier to work for corporate than it is to be an entrepreneur. And I will like guys, like I'm telling you, the people that are out there and saying that, you know, be an entrepreneur, and in 10.2 seconds, you're gonna have, you know, seven figures like that, that can happen. But like, really, it's a unicorn moment. So if you're, you know, like entrepreneurs like we're, we're in it for the long haul, but it can be a long haul sometimes. And it's definitely a roller coaster ride. So sometimes, honestly, corporate is easier. So just, you know, just be be aware, be aware of what you're getting into now done not not to dismiss the benefits, because, I mean, the benefits are fantastic. But it is it is not for the faint of heart.

Well, and I think we're in de inundated, especially anyone who has a proper funnel or advertising process process in place where we see a lot of people have I made six, you know, I made six figures in one day, or I made $20,000 in one day, or I made nine, you know, $9,342 in an afternoon. And when you don't, it gets really frustrating. And yeah, and this is the kind of space and community and resource that I really wanted. Or now that I you know, you know when you know when you don't know what you don't know, but this is the kind of thing that I wish I would have had, because it absolutely would have propelled me much faster. It wasn't until your six, year six year seven of going out on my own that I made my first six figures. Yeah. And again, not to discourage anybody because entrepreneurship is wonderful for those who don't want to be confined

Catharine O'Leary: by like Yeah, absolutely. It's very much like, you know, overnight successes in the music industry. Well, an overnight success probably took 10 years. Yeah, right. It's just uh, you don't you don't see the 10 years beforehand or like, yeah, people say that they make six figures in a weekend. They don't talk about the six months it took to you know, coordinate and get the event up and running and fill the event and do like, yes, it's a six figure weekend, but there's six months of prep time to that. So, you know, like, let's, let's just give ourselves a little bit of a break, that we're not all like, you know, making seven figures in 12 seconds, right, like, like, just just take a step back from that, I enjoyed the journey. And I think that you'll enjoy the journey more, if you're able to focus on your zone of genius, which is what Ashley is talking about, that ability to really kind of be able to at least ask the questions from other experts, so that you are getting the resources that you need without having to do the trial, and you know, pay, you know, like, as entrepreneurs, I spent a ton of money learning what I didn't want to do, or what how I want to do things. Right.

And if they, if anyone is like that, here's a little bit of my story, and I'm talking about myself more so because I don't want to put anyone else on the spot. But I was a they call me a multimedia marketing manager. But essentially what I was doing was social media, marketing websites, email blasts, some light, very light tweaks with graphic design, and things like that. And I I was like, I started getting questions from people if I would do social media for them. And so, like, when I was younger, I was like, I'm gonna own a business, but I didn't know what kind. And then I think a lot of people fall into this other bucket where I eventually became worse, like, I'm gonna own my business, but I'm still kind of doing a job. I'm just a contractor. I'm just attending you nine at that point. It's not like, not waking up and being like, I'm gonna have a business, what kind of business do I want to have? Now, some people are like that, you know, some people are like, No, I'm gonna do this. And other people are just like, oh, well, I had five people that said, they were going to pay me to help them with their bookkeeping, and that happens to replace my job. So I'm just going to do that. And then you get into this world like, or have this experience like I did, which was, What do you mean, sales tax is different in every county in every city? And what do you mean? Because at the time, I also was living in a state that didn't have or Well, it was, it was South Dakota, so gotta call them out for that, where you had to apply sales tax to everything. Okay. So when I started to get clients from others, other states where that wasn't the case, it became into question, and then I moved on now in Minnesota, there's no sales tax on professional services.

Catharine O'Leary: So it's, it's it, I mean, it's a thing. I'm yeah, you come up to Canada, and you got GST and HST and like the like, it's, it's a thing, right? It's a business folks. Like, I mean, like, yes, it's a business. But what I love about what you're talking about, and I just want to clarify Ashley, because there's like the true mastermind, like true, quote, unquote, as in Napoleon Hill, you know, like, like minded people getting together sharing information. And then there's a lot of hybrid masterminds, where it's a mastermind kind of hiding an offer, right, like, kind of like with an offer, or some training and some, you know, more of a high end coaching program with a with a coaching group coaching call associated with it. That's called a mastermind, which is fine. Totally. Yeah. Because it sounds like almost like you're in between the two of them, actually. Because you facilitate people coming in and the experts coming in. So tell us a little bit more about kind of the structure of the mastermind that you're talking about. Yeah, so

what I'm doing because because I guess what I'm gonna say, because I know this is going to be out there in the world, which I love, but some things are subject to change. But absolutely, yeah, right now, with the people that are looking for to join the mastermind, not only are we the business owners, but we're also at least partially responsible for fulfillment, you know, so taking that into consideration. We meet every other week, instead of instead of weekly because I was finding in programs that I was in, I was in that was I couldn't implement within six days. It was too was too much of a challenge. So we do every other week. We have an hour to an hour and a half on that call. And we proceed to go through what is called a hot seat. So we add to the root issue that you're having problems with. We identify how we can how we can help as a group so we kind of go round Robin with anybody who has clarifying questions, suggestions, anything along those lines, so that way at the end of your term, you leave served in supporting. Now, if it extends off or branches off into something or is more personal and you don't want to share, necessarily share with the group, we, I'm available for that. Absolutely. And we can have a, you know, an offline conversation or something. But there's also been, you know, there's one of one of the big things was questions about marketing, and questions about branding. So another member of the group actually did a presentation and a training, okay, so they get to share off their expertise, share what they do, everyone gets to learn, we want to I want to create a space that has opportunities for generating and leveraging each other's networks to, I think that anyone who's and this is kind of where like, a BNI kind of comes into play. Or at least one of the concepts. And, and where it's, if you know what, cuz you and I, we met, we met at an event. Yeah, it was about masterminds. And so it's one of those where it just lets you expand your network. I know for one, it's kind of like that clout or that authority that you get when when, you know, I say, Oh, hey, I'm from Brad hearts mastermind, my email, or my DM has less likely of being ignored by someone. Yeah. Then, you know, by being like, Hey, I got this connection of this person that we both know, like, trust and respect. And they said that we could chat in and help out that way. So it, it's another great way to leverage and get access to some connections that you don't necessarily get in your pool. And even with the internet these days, trying to connect with a predominant figure, is it's challenging, because there's so many gatekeepers, you know, as being a professional gatekeeper for oh, gosh, over nearly two decades, you know, and jobs and stuff, like they have a good assistant or secretary or office manager is actively weeding out those things. So but if you can say, Hey, I know this person that also knows this person.

Catharine O'Leary: Yeah. So. So from what I'm understanding, and correct me if I'm wrong, it's it's sounding like you, you are creating a space for like minded people to collaborate to support each other. And to basically say, like, my zone zone of genius is this, your zone of genius is that let's help each other because we both need each other to grow our businesses, which is actually really like, in the vein of a Napoleon Hill mastermind, where it's, you know, colleagues getting together and, and hey, you know what, this funnel was really working for me, you might want to check it out. Or I just got off the call with, you know, a really great salesperson, if anyone's looking for a salesperson, you tend to get that kind of sharing in a corporate environment by the watercooler by you know, like, you have those conversations and, and sometimes we just need, we do need a little bit more structure as solopreneurs and, and entrepreneurs to be able to have those conversations, and I am all about masterminds. Everyone knows that J. Fairbrother, the mastermind guy and I have a mastermind called the table. Same same kind of, you know, set up as what Ashley is talking about it, a mastermind can actually can be the thing that propels your business to that next level. Because it's not about offers is it's not about learning, it's actually about supporting and that's a really big difference. Yeah,

and it's huge. It's huge on the mentorship piece alone. And, and that's really kind of where the grip is, is to a point protect it. Not to insult anybody, but it's not it's not a BNI in one, we don't force you to only refer people in the group. But it's not a chamber member ship where you're in a sea of 300 people.

Catharine O'Leary: No, this is very, very intimate. Very, very mean. It is exclusive. Because I mean, typically, I don't know how big yours is. Ours is only 12 people, right at any given time, like so once the seats are full the full until somebody leaves you like, you know, we don't have a seat, like depending on how you're running it like it's a tight knit group. And it's meant to that's what it's meant to do. Yeah.

And so the the premise for, you know, the 14 Hats is that's that's what I'm looking Yeah, that's we're gonna, I want one person with each specialty in one group or. And once we've reached that or have more interests, then there's nothing saying we can't start another one and maybe do some finagling, if people are up for it, you know, that kind of thing. So it's just, I'm so excited about it. I mean, masterminds have been fantastic. I've met people from all over the world, through masterminds, I have a new collaboration for a two day retreat. That that I'm going to be talking about launching soon. To help people get get media ready. I have, you know, your, I love the connection that I have with you, and what you do for people and how powerful quizzes of good quiz can be for qualifying and generating business. And I've met it and the thing is, as you get to know these people, I mean, I met and you get to travel. Last fall, I was in Cabo, Mexico, the two years prior, we went to London and Ireland. This year, I'm more domestic, which I'll take.

Catharine O'Leary: And you don't have to travel. Like it doesn't have to No, no, you don't have to, but it is fun. I'm gonna say, yeah, it's a lot of fun. So Ashley, how can people learn more about the mastermind. And what I want to actually before we get to that what I want to underline is, is that you haven't walked away from your social media agency you haven't walked away from, from helping people with social media, it's just that you are also now helping people with this container that you're creating, to really level up their businesses really help them get to that next step, with collaboration and conversation and mentoring. Is that Is that fair?

Yep, that's correct. There's a lot of things that I've wanted to do, the mastermind model is fantastic, because part of it is I have a full belief that we should make money in normal conversation. And the fact of the matter is, is that if you're not making money, you're not making a living and you can't support yourself, or and or your family, or your loved ones, or even just the things that you want. And so the mastermind model has allowed me to say yes to more people, and helping in different capacities that didn't fit under my digital agency. But the agency is still going. But what's nice is I am able to, I don't have to say yes to everyone, as much as I want to, I don't have to say yes to somebody that puts the monetary value of $100 to their social media marketing,

Catharine O'Leary: I do believe you get to be more selective about the clients that you take on in the digital space, because a stream of income, that is allowing you some flexibility, right,

right. And more time, a one to many, many, many, one to many model, right. allows me to have more time for other projects that I want to do, you know, building a community for di wires, who for social media and marketing. And I've talked about wanting to do YouTube for literally over 10 years, and it's just, it hasn't been something that's happened. So I'm, I'm super excited about it, not just for myself, but for everybody who's there, and how much how much more I can I can do and help and support.

Catharine O'Leary: It's really it's really leveraging your time, it's people's time. And I love I love opportunities that you can say yes. And so, you know, yes, I'm doing this, the digital media and I'm also able to, you know, do this. So it's actually freeing up time. So that's, that's amazing. So now, where can people find and find out more about your your mastermind and all the great things that you're doing?

Yeah, so the easiest, I think the easiest way for anybody is if you go to links, that Ashley Smith irl.com. That's li en que es.as H le YSMITH irl.com. There will be links to anything that I'm currently promoting. If you want to jump on a quick 15 minute call and learn more about your one thing. There's also a link to the business if you're more interested in having some help with social media too. So thanks. And

Catharine O'Leary: we will have that all in the show notes. Of course. Ashley, thank you again and thank you for being my first repeater.

That's so exciting. I didn't know that.

Catharine O'Leary: But for everyone else out there who is listening. Thank you so much for tuning in yet again to kickstart the conversation keep having those conversations keep connecting and we'll see you again next week