Entrepreneurs Need a Mastermind What exactly is a mastermind group? A mastermind group is a place to learn, teach, receive and give support, and brainstorm. The members of the group also provide accountability to each other. They often have weekly or monthly meetings. A mastermind group might be industry specific or diverse to draw wisdom across multiple business models. Either way, a mastermind can supercharge your business success. Mastermind groups are not a new concept; they were originally made popular through Napoleon Hill, the author of Think and Grow Rich. The Mastermind concept was inspired by Hill’s many conversations with the highly successful businessman, Andrew Carnegie, who attributed his entire fortune and success to his Mastermind group. Jim Rohn once said, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with”. Who you spend your time with influences the person that you will eventually become. The same applies to your business, as well. What to expect in a 90 Min Mastermind Session? Check-in. Discuss a business highlight or win you’ve had in the last 30 days? Accountability. Identify what is the most important steps in growing your business and build a strategy to accomplish these milestones. Regular check in on the progress of your goals. Did you do what you said you were going to do at the last session? Are you ahead, behind, or on pace with your number one strategic priority? Success is built on the follow up and follow through… Perspective. What progress do you need to make on your strategic priority in the next 30 days? What has to happen for that progress to occur? Do you have any blocks? How to overcome your own blocks and see how to safeguard your business from the pitfalls that others are experiencing. A wise man learns from his own mistakes, but a genius learns from the mistakes of others. Action items. Reverse engineer the process of success. Based on the perspective you received today, what are you going to do and when will you get it done by? Content. Value. Value. Value. Information and insights to make your business(es) better, faster, and more efficient. Consider these benefits of a mastermind group: New ideas. Two heads are better than one. Ten heads can be even better. If you need help finding a solution to a challenge, a mastermind group can be a great help. ● You can also learn from each other. Everyone in the group has something to teach the other members. ● Focus on quality over quantity. Seek a high-quality group with high-quality members. Support. Do you need emotional support or encouragement? Do you need an expert to help you with something? A mastermind group can provide that, too. Access to new partners. Maybe you need a business partner or a loan. Mastermind groups often have members that are looking for opportunities. Social circle of like-minded people. Many of your mastermind group’s members will be just like you. You all have a lot in common. You can add significantly to your social circle by joining a group. A new level of thinking. A mastermind group can expose you to others that have achieved much more than you have. All of a sudden, your goals might seem a little small and conservative. You will strive for greater levels of success when you are part of a mastermind group. Accountability. Everyone in the group knows what you’re working on. They’ll hold you to your plans. More importantly, you will hold yourself to higher standards. There are many mastermind groups already in existence, but it is important to find the right group for you. Take a look around and find the group that meets your needs. Mastermind groups are often hosted by a Mastermind coach or facilitator, and there is usually a cost to join—which is not a bad thing. When there is skin in the game, you are more likely to show up for yourself and your business. After all, “there’s a difference between interest and commitment. When you are interested in doing something, you do it only when circumstances permit. When you are committed to something, you accept no excuses, only results.” Art Turock Once you establish that level of commitment, A mastermind group can greatly speed up your progress, regardless of your stage in life or business. Get started with one today! To learn more about Rise Entrepreneurs or The Rise of the Serial Entrepreneur Podcast, check out and subscribe to our podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0zo8zhtJtTWju2DtJZQ7zU?si=_qoju6grTMOlgHy1V39xUA Follow us on Facebook and Instagram @riseoftheserialentrepreneur for updates and more tips for serial entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneurs are in a challenging situation. They have to be good at so many things but are strapped for time. Many entrepreneurs have good intentions to grow and learn, but if they aren't careful, they get caught in the act of shelf-development rather than self-development.

Create One Great Habit a Month and Have a Great Year You don’t need to have 100 good habits to make your life better. Just 12 habits are plenty to completely turn your life around. Of course, it’s important to choose effective habits. The right habits put your success on autopilot. If you’re doing the right things each day, good things happen. It’s as certain as gravity. "Wouldn't it be great to be gifted? In fact... It turns out that choices lead to habits. Habits become talents. Talents are labeled gifts. You're not born this way, you get this way." ~Seth Godin Use this process to enhance your life one habit at a time: Know your goals. You can’t choose the best habits to add to your life without knowing your goals. The best habits support your goals and make them much more likely to come to fruition. Make a list of your goals and prioritize them. Make a list of all the habits that would aid in reaching those goals. Take a look at your most important goals and consider all of the habits that would help you to reach those goals. List every possible habit you can think of no matter how small it might be. We’re not judging them yet, so list them all. Prioritize those habits. Some habits are far more effective than others. Take your list of habits and put them in order from most effective to least. Take as much time to do this as you need. Be honest with yourself. The most effective actions are often the least enjoyable. ● Choose the 12 habits that will make the biggest impact in your life over the next year. Make sure that you have these 12 habits in a logical order that makes sense for you. Make a plan. Start with the first habit and develop a plan for how you can implement it in 30 days. Let’s suppose that your first goal is to go to the gym each day for 45 minutes and alternate days between cardio and lifting weights. You might decide to proceed this way: ● Day 1. Find a gym close to the house that is convenient for me and affordable. ● Days 2-7. Go to the gym for at least 15 minutes. I’ll let myself do whatever I want when I get there. ● Days 8-14. Go to the gym for at least 25 mins. At least half of that time must be spent on cardio. ● And so on. Just be sure to be at full speed by day 30. Start with only one goal. Keep it to one goal. It might seem more effective and much faster to put all the habits into action at once, but it works better, and the results are more long-lasting to do it one at a time. Twelve good habits over a year are life changing. Put all of your energy and focus on that one goal. That one goal has to be a huge priority. This is your life you’re talking about. Be 100% determined to be successful this time. Do it daily. Daily actions are easier to turn into habits that things you only do a few times a week. Plan your energy. People often plan their time without considering their energy levels. For example, going to the gym in the morning is either much better or worse than going to the gym in the evening for you. Everyone is different. Plan your time, but plan around your energy. 6. Keep your eye on the big picture. These habits might not be enjoyable in the short term. However, if you keep your attention on the benefits you’ll gain, it will make things easier. 7. Track your results. Track your results. You might be tracking pounds of body weight, dollars, pushups, or hours of piano practice. Tracking your results is motivating. After 30 days, add another habit. Keep going until you’ve added all 12. Just 12 habits will make a huge difference. Instead of trying to change everything about your life at once, try tackling life one habit at a time. Which habit will you choose?

Wai-yee is an attorney turned multi-millionaire investor with a strongly diversified portfolio of active and passive investments ranging from real estate to equities market to direct investments in several tech companies. Wai-yee is a strategic advisor to algorithmic tech company Boon Logic, Inc. as well as a board member of property tech platform Maxcrowdfunding. Wai-yee is also the founder of Kings & Wealth Consulting LLC, a corporate consulting company, working with leaders and businesses to propel them into their fullest potential in identity, purpose and impact, creating a legacy of sustainability and permanence through business growth and wealth-building strategies. Her background is real estate and has been an active real estate investor since 2010 and has owned a successful flip business remodeling and selling apartments in Frankfurt, Germany.

Anyone can attain personal empowerment. It depends more on your actions than on the size of your bank account or the title on your business card. Do you want to be successful and experience more control over your life? Learn more about the meaning of true empowerment and run down this list of 10 simple things you can start doing today to build your competence and confidence.

7 Tips That Help You Make Connections at Work and in Life Work and day-to-day life are more enjoyable when you have meaningful relationships. It’s nice to have someone to talk to. And, the more people you know, the more likely it is that one of them will be able to help you out in a big way down the road. It’s not just about who you know, but that’s a big part of it. Who knows you can change your life! If you know the right people, big things can happen. It’s also important to connect with others for social reasons. Consider how much you would do for a good friend. Your relationships are valuable on multiple levels. Use these strategies to connect with the people around you: Be willing to start small. It’s unlikely that the CEO of a Fortune 50 company is going to join you for a burger and beer. However, it is important to reach out and connect, but do so by adding value. For example, participate in a corporate event, network at a industry tradeshow, or volunteer for a charity. Start by taking one small step. If that goes well, you’ll have the chance to escalate the relationship down the road one step at a time, but practice outreach, often. ● Ask a colleague to join you for coffee. ● Ask a neighbor if they’d like to play golf. ● Start a conversation in line or at a cafe. 3. Take advantage of opportunities. Office birthday parties, the coffee maker, water cooler, someone new moves into your neighborhood, the time before the meeting starts: These are all great opportunities to say hello and start a conversation. ● Most people are waiting for someone to talk to them. You can be that person. 4. Join organizations. Many workplaces have softball teams, volunteer organizations, or a Toastmasters Club. Get involved. Your local community has plenty of social opportunities, too. ● Be assertive and sign yourself up for something that interests you that will bring you into contact with others. 5. Show genuine interest. One of the best ways to grow a relationship of any kind is to show genuine interest in the other person. Use their name when you speak to them. Give them your full attention. Show enthusiasm when you see them. ● Remember the things they’ve told you in the past. For example, if they tell you Friday that they’re going to see a movie, be sure to ask them about it the next time you see them. 6. Use your lunch hour wisely. There’s a common saying in the business world - “Never eat alone.” Instead just sitting there and eating your lunch alone, spend that time sharing a meal with someone. 7. Be approachable. Think about the kind of people you naturally like when first meeting them. They’re probably in a good mood, very open, and smiling. We’ve all seen people that look very approachable. We’ve also all seen people that look very unapproachable. Be the former. 8. Be open and interesting. Have an interesting life and be willing to discuss it. Who wants to hang out with someone that just works and watches TV? ● Ask questions. People like to share. Ask the person you are networking with, what is most important to him/her. ● Find a way to connect deeper than the weather and sports team. Become a person of tangible substance. When building relationships in business, if you can impact someone's health, wealth, or family, you create value in that person's life. Being a person of value with exponentiate opportunities in business and Relationships add spice and stability to life. The people in your life can also potentially do a lot for you. It’s nice to have a ride to the airport, be invited to parties, or to be offered jobs that haven’t even been announced. Create connections with the people around you. You never know what might happen.

Conscientiousness is one of the most reliable predictors of success. There are plenty of intelligent and talented people that struggle with life. However, an average person that possesses a high level of conscientiousness can be incredibly successful. Conscientiousness is the quality of doing what needs to be done, when it needs to be done, and doing it well and thoroughly. Using these strategies will help you to be more conscientious: Start by planning your time. Make a schedule for yourself based on the most important tasks that need to be done. The crucial things will get done, and you’ll be much less likely to waste time. Schedule your life maintenance tasks. Being conscientious means taking care of your personal business. This includes all of those like maintenance tasks like paying bills, laundry, cleaning, shopping, and mowing grass. Have a schedule for all of these responsibilities and stick to it. Have a grooming routine. One pretty reliable way to determine if someone is conscientious is to look at their grooming and wardrobe. Maybe you can’t judge a book by its cover, but you can tell a lot about a person by their appearance. If you tend to look a little on the disheveled side, create a routine. Only wear clean clothes that fit and are in good condition. Get rid of the rest. You don’t have to be known as the best dresser at the office, but it may help to be in the top 25%. Declutter. Scale back on your possessions and ensure that everything that’s left has a place. Put everything back in its place when you’re done using it. This is enough to remove all the clutter in your life. Be on time. Conscientious people are aware of time and stick to their plans. They don’t make other people wait. Be prompt and courteous. Show yourself and others that you’re in control of your time and your life. Finish what you start. Those at the low end of the conscientious distribution have a habit of failing to finish what they start. You can’t win if you don’t finish. You can’t accomplish anything until you complete something. Develop the habit of seeing things through to completion. You can do this with any task in your life for practice. Go to bed and get up at the same time every day. Have a bedtime and stick to it. Get up at the same time every day. This takes a little discipline, but it’s worth the effort. Learn to control your impulses. Poor impulse control and conscientiousness do not go hand in hand. Conscientiousness is doing what needs to be done, when it needs to be done, regardless of whether or not you feel like doing it. Following an impulse is doing what you feel like doing regardless of any other concern. We all know that person with all the intelligence and talent that anyone could ever hope for, but for some reason they can’t live a successful life. The most common reason is a lack of conscientiousness. This can be a challenging quality to develop if it doesn’t exist in you naturally, but the benefits clearly outweigh the time and effort it takes to develop it. The best first step is to schedule your day and follow your schedule. Keep to the schedule no matter what. You can become a conscientious person! An easier, less stressful life is waiting for you.

The idea that someone can be afraid of success sounds odd to many people. Fear of failure is easier for most people to comprehend, but a fear of success? It sounds preposterous. After all, who wouldn’t want to be more successful? Perhaps you! Fear of success is a common obstacle to consistent and lasting success. People are often masters of achieving 90% of a goal, only to throw it all away at the last moment. Fear of success has multiple components and symptoms. Read on to see if a fear of success is an obstacle for you. The fear of success has more than one cause: Fear of change. Humans are programmed to avoid change. This is true even if your life is in the pits. Why would this be? Because, even if you’re highly displeased with your life, you’re still surviving. Your brain is concerned about what might happen if your situation changes. As far as your brain is concerned, alive and miserable is better than possibly happy and dead. Fear of greater responsibility. Success brings more responsibility. In many cases, you have to become more responsible to experience more success. When you’ve become successful, people expect more from you. Starting a business and experiencing success is great, but now you might have employees that rely on you. Building a real estate empire sounds great, but now you have tenants, debt, and complex taxes to deal with. Fear of standing out. Some people love attention, but many do not. People notice when you’re successful, and many will dislike you for it. Jealousy and feelings of mediocrity can bring out the worst in others. There are people that would prefer to just blend into the background than stand in the spotlight. Perhaps you feel this way, too. Those that fear success show several of the same symptoms: Self-sabotage. Everyone has experienced that before. You’re doing well and making great progress. Then, it seems like the wheels just fall off. You make silly mistakes. You make poor choices. This is easy to see in others but can be challenging to identify in yourself. Changing goals. You get close to achieving success and then suddenly decide to change your mind and do something else instead. If you keep changing direction, you’ll never make any real progress. Choose an appealing goal and stick with it. Procrastination. A sudden lack of motivation is a common sign that you’re afraid of success. Procrastination is a primary killer of progress. A fear of success can be managed. Try these techniques: Determine the cause. What are you actually afraid of? Determine the cause of your fear, and you’ll have a chance to work around it. You can’t defeat the enemy you can’t see. Notice how that fear changes your thoughts and behavior. What does that fear do to you? What are the symptoms of your fear of success? How are your thinking and behavior altered by this fear. Face, rather than avoid, your fears. Avoiding your fear leads to failure. Develop a strategy for working around your fear. Become more resistant to fear. Give yourself a pep talk or enlist the help of a friend. Do whatever you need to do to continue making progress. If you’re not sure why success seems to elude you, consider the possibility that you’re afraid of success. Do you have any of the symptoms? How successful do you think you’ve been to this point in your life? Are you underachieving? A fear of success makes sense when you consider the source of that fear. However, what makes sense isn’t necessarily the most desired option. Overcome your fear of success and achieve the greatness you deserve.

7 Brain Hacks That Boost Productivity Productivity is important because it relates to income and time. The more productive you are, the more money you can earn in many situations. You can also save time. That time can be spent on anything you like, including making more money. There are many obstacles to productivity, such as a lack of focus, a lack of intention, a lack of stamina, and too many distractions, to name a few. Hack your brain and increase your productivity with these strategies: Set an intention. Most people can’t focus because they’re not truly clear on what they want to focus on or for how long. Give yourself a fighting chance by choosing a specific task for a specific amount of time. For example, you might decide you’re going to work on your tax return for 30 minutes. Set a timer and do your best for those 30 minutes. Your brain will do its best to give you what you want if you give it clear instructions. Meditate. Meditation helps to build focus and calm your mind. Meditation is incredibly popular right now, so there is plenty of free information on how to meditate effectively. Educate yourself and get started. It’s simple and effective. Take regular breaks. Experiment with break frequency and duration. The best option for most people is either 25 minutes of work and a five-minute break, or 50 minutes of work and a 10-minute break. Discover what works best for you and then stick with it. Timers can be powerful tools. Avoid giving in to temptation. Most of us give in to the temptation of distraction far too easily. It’s a very difficult habit to break. We quickly go from feeling bored or stressed to amused. It feels good to check email or read a text. The most productive people are able to overcome the urge to break their attention from their work task. It’s important to avoid these distractions during your breaks, too. It’s too hard to get back on task, and your breaktime magically extends from five minutes to 25. Learn how to say “no” to your urges. Alternate high and low-focus tasks. Many people report greater productivity when they alternate between cognitively intense activities and those that require less intellectual effort. It’s similar to interval training in the gym. Lower-level activities might include returning calls and emails, or other routine work. The lower-level activities give your brain a rest and the chance to recover. Soon, it’s ready for another round of more intense activity. Drink plenty of water. Most people are partially dehydrated. The solution is to drink plenty of water. That doesn’t mean you have to be chugging 20 ounces of water every hour. But, a 20-ounce bottle of water every few hours would be beneficial to most. So many metabolic processes require water that you’re not at your best if you’re dehydrated. Develop a positive mindset. A positive outlook on life makes you more productive. Studies show that mindset affects productivity. Work on having a positive outlook and you’ll accomplish more each day. You’ll also be a lot happier. Productivity should be important to everyone. Time is your most valuable asset, so do what you can to maximize it. We can all be more productive, but it doesn’t happen by magic. It must be a priority if you want to see real results. Dedicate yourself to maximizing your productivity. Give your brain every chance to be your ally on this important journey.