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Creating High End Mastermind Programs with Jay Fairbrother · The One Small Change Podcast

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Welcome to the One Small Change podcast. I am
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thrilled that you are on this entrepreneurial journey with
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me, a journey of exploration and transformation.
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I'm your host, Yvonne McCoy, and I've been an entrepreneur
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for almost thirty years. And so I have a passion for
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sharing experience and passing on, you know,
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the small changes that have they seem small
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at the time, but they can have a huge impact. So thank you for
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joining me. And this week, we are gonna be
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talking to the amazing Jay Brother.
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Jay, I already said to you that you have made a
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huge impact on my entrepreneurial career. So
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please tell everybody who you are and what you do.
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Thanks, Yvonne. I'm so happy to be here, with your audience
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today. My name is Jay Fairbrother, and I'm known as the
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mastermind guy. And the reason that I'm,
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known for that is that I help coaches,
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healers, speakers, and thought leaders to create
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their own high end mastermind programs so they
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can scale their business to a real sustainable
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business that actually pays your bills and,
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accelerates your your revenue beyond 6 figures.
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My, the reason that I do what I
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do is that I've been a serial entrepreneur for
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thirty years, and I founded, bought, and sold,
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companies and had some massive success and some
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massive failure along the way. But the
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most consistent thing I've done, at least for twenty five
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of those thirty years, has been my participation
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in facilitation of and creation of masterminds.
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So I am a huge believer in the concept of peer learning,
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and I think it's especially important for
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coaches, healers, speakers, and thought leaders to be able to
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create programs that go beyond
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training, group coaching courses,
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etcetera. And we can talk more about that part.
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Well, you know, there are a couple of things.
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I I think I created my business really backwards. I mean, it
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it's like if I it's one of those things. If I knew what I had
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known. You know? And so I think
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part of what you're saying that I think people need to know much
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earlier, I think, in their career is, one, is that
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you need to have a community to help grow your business, whether you're
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creating the community or you're part of a community. And
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so in terms of making masterminding,
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creating a community, what place in a
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somebody's entrepreneurial business does that happen at the right time? I
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the the model that I kind of use is is called best. It's
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like building your basic, expanding your essentials, scaling
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your success, and then becoming a thought leader. Do you
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have to have a lot of people on your list or a large following to
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do a mastermind? You actually don't. And
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that's one of the reasons that I love, you know, teaching this
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concept to people is because, you
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know, you don't need that big, huge, fancy sales funnel with all
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the branches and automations and that kind of thing. You, you
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know, are trying to create a group of ten, twenty,
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maybe 30 people in your Mastermind program.
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And so you don't need 7,000 people,
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you know, on an email list or or that kind of thing. You you need
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a couple hundred people, maybe even a hundred or 50 that
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you can talk to. And that, you
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know, move that will want to follow you in terms of your thought
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leadership, and and you can put them into
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that more intimate higher end program to
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scale your business. So one of the statistics
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that I love to throw out is that if you have a
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$1,500 course or a $1,500 coaching package,
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you need 67 clients just to reach 6
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figures in revenue. And to get 67 clients, you're
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gonna need a big email list, a fancy sales funnel.
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You can create 6 figures of revenue with eight,
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ten, 12 people in a high end mastermind
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where you get to work with them for longer
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periods of time. So instead of a six or eight week course
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or a three month group coaching program, you put people into a six
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or twelve month, mastermind program, and
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that's just their initial, commitment. If
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you design the programs correctly, you actually can keep
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people for years. So one of my
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signature talks that I do is how to attract and keep clients for
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three years, not three months. And that's all
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around how you create the mastermind and the container and the
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program so that you allow for that to happen.
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Okay. So, you know, I think a lot of
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you know, just the title mastermind. Right?
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A lot of people think I mean, a lot of the clients that I work
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with are you know, part of what I'm doing with them to
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attract their best client is helping them be more visible. And
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so, you know, there's a gap between where I
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am and where I think I'm gonna be a master, you know, to have a
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mastermind. How much of a how much of
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a deterrent is that?
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That's a great question. So you
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people have to have a reason to love you and a
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reason to think that you can help them in whatever
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part of the journey, whatever the next part of their journey
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is. But that doesn't mean that you have to
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be, you know, this huge authority figure, and
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you need to be a little further ahead than the people you're helping.
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But, really, it's about communicating
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how you can change someone's life, how you can
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help their business. And as long as
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you can articulate that and get people to trust you,
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and I what I I always talk about the difference between
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know, like, and trust and know, love, and trust. People
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aren't gonna spend $5.10, $20,000 a year
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in your program if they don't know, love, and trust you.
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So they're not gonna do you know, they're not gonna typically jump into a mastermind
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for six, twelve months at 10 or $20,000 after a
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single, you know, one on one, conversation. Right?
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You've gotta create some experience for them. You've gotta create something where
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they feel like they've gotten value and that they
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spend enough time with you to be able to trust you enough
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and think that you can really help them move forward.
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So I think a lot of the misconception out there is that,
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you know, like, you can only create a mastermind once you
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already have, like, a low a low end offer and a course and
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then a group coaching program. And then one day, you can graduate and have
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a mastermind. And it doesn't you don't have to follow that
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ascension, model that's so common in the
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thought leader industry. I have to tell you,
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you have dropped so many nuggets in that. So I wanna try to unpack a
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little bit of it. So the first one is
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that, in order
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to be an authority, you only have to
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be further ahead than the people that you're the authority
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for. And, you know, I found this so interesting because,
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for myself, probably the way that cleared this up the most was
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someone said there's what they call, like, the ultimate expert. The
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ultimate expert is you're one of five living presidents. And
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not you know, most of us are never gonna be in that elite
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or the majority that elite elite. You
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know? So don't make that the the bar that you're
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shooting for because it's so unrealistic. But
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you just have to be ahead of the people
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that, you know, that you're helping. Right?
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And I think one of the things one of the ways that causes
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them to love you is that you're imperfect, that you're not so
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shiny that they can see that they could actually do what you're
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doing kind of thing or use your solution. So that's one nugget
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that you talked about. Do you agree with me?
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Yeah. A %. You know, that's one of the
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reasons I love running a mastermind is because
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I don't need to pretend to be anything that I'm not.
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I show up with all my flaws and weaknesses.
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And when people are in a mastermind with me, they get
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to see all the mistakes I make. They get to see the times
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that, you know, I do something and it fails, but
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they also get to experience the successes and and under and get to
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learn the strategies and tactics that create the successes as well.
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So that's one of the most important things
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about, you know, being a thought leader in general. But especially
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with mastermind programs, it's like you get to just show
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up as you are and help people, you know,
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get further along in their journeys. And I
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think that that that, you know, kind of blends in what I tell people
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is, you know, your flaws and
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and the weirdness about you, your unique power is what makes
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you stand out to other people that they can relate to you
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and say, I did this too. I mean, one of the things that I
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tell people all the time is, you know, the our whole
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education process, from my perspective,
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was built on an industrial model, you know,
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so that you could be a follower and you could follow instructions. We don't want
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you to be an outlier. We want you to be in line.
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And that's you have to do the exact opposite of that.
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Right? So that people can go, oh, you're not so polished
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and stuff. And the last thing that I wanna say before I forget it is
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that you mentioned it earlier is people
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people don't need more information, you
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know, because you can get information anywhere. What they need is,
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how do I how do I implement this information? And a
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mastermind is a great place to go to bounce
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your ideas off of people and get feedback. I mean,
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if you're in a situation where and this
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happens all the time to me where I get excited about something and I go
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I say to my kids, oh. They go, please, mom. No business.
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Do you know? I mean, you need to you know, you need that community
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for people who can appreciate you and
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appreciate what your genius is and what you're doing, where your family
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typically, your genius is the thing that your family thinks makes you
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odd. Do you know? So I
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think that that's that's you know, a mastermind is a great you know, when
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you are in the right mastermind, this is what I
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found, that you feel comfortable. You can say you can
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blurt out anything, and nobody's not gonna take your head off for
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it. Yeah. Well and that's
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that's one of the nuances of creating a mastermind
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that will last for three years and and possibly even longer. I mean,
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I I was in one mastermind for seventeen years
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because every month for seventeen years, I got value,
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from participating in that group. And
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I'll I'll take the information piece a step further even
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because you're absolutely right. Like, in this age of AI, and
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and we're just getting started with that. I mean, you AI
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can teach you or train you on anything in the world for free already.
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And so every single day, the value of
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content and training and information goes down.
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But what AI can never replace is human connection.
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Yes. And that is the world is
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starving for human connection right now. Right?
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Like, the World Health Organization recently created an
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entire commission to address the global crisis
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of social isolation and loneliness. And
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when you create a mastermind, what you're doing is creating
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a safe container where people can show up, ask
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the stupid questions without judgment. You're creating
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a family of choice where the
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person organizing the mastermind hand selects
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the people that they allow into it. So it's not just
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whoever can write a check. And when you
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create that safety in the container, that's where you get
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deep human real relationships develop.
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So it goes beyond the transactional. Like, okay. You
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know, here's here's how I handle your situation or that
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kind of thing. Masterminds usually get very personal. Even if it's
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organized around business, a mastermind can get very
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personal very quickly if you create the container and
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allow for that vulnerability and trust to develop.
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And I I think that you don't get that, you know,
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in group coaching so much.
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At least not in the group coaching that I've been in and particularly not in
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big programs. Even in a small group coaching,
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you you tend not to you're you're you're kinda there and it's like, what
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can I get? What do I need? You know? Yeah. I would you told a
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story a while ago, about
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this has to do with the personal connection, about the long term connection you
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had. But something happened to a member, or I don't know if it
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happened to the member. It happened to you, and people from the mastermind,
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came to help, reached out. Well,
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yeah, that's part of my story. So, I'll
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give you the short version. So I my first
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company, I had built up to $10,000,000 in
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annual revenue, and I sold it back in 02/2004.
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And then 02/2008 came around and the world financial crisis
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began. And over the next several years, I lost everything.
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So within a few year period, I literally went from being a
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multimillionaire living in a mansion to living in my
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friend's basement, broke, bankrupt, divorced,
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alone, and ashamed because I had,
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for fifteen years, built this identity as this really successful serial
15:14
entrepreneur, and there I was sitting in that basement, didn't even own a car.
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The the support that I got from the I I
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was in a a couple of different masterminds over the course of
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that whole period. But the one in particular, the one I stayed in for
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seventeen years, the support that those people gave me, like, I can't even
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really articulate. It went way beyond financial support, you know,
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emotional support. I I mean, they literally
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carried me through the most difficult time in my life, and the
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people in that mastermind are lifelong friends, as a
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result. So it the the mastermind can have
15:53
that much power, but it's also a great vehicle
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just to, you know, fuel your business, grow your business, or
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work with clients for longer periods of time. So you
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can have masterminds of there are many different types of masterminds.
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There's different ways to structure masterminds for
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all different purposes. A lot of people think
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it's just for entrepreneurs, but a mastermind is a great
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vehicle for people who do personal development or healers
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because, again, you get to work with people in an intimate
16:28
container where you create the safety, but you get
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to work with them for six months, twelve months, or three years, not these
16:35
short periods of time that people, you know, go through your
16:39
program or or hire you. I
16:43
I one of the things that you said I that I
16:46
wanna highlight, I guess, is and you've
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said it in a couple of different ways. You've talked about, not
16:54
being transactional. You've talked about relationships.
16:58
You've talked about community. And I just have to
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say that,
17:07
I just wanna acknowledge you that at the beginning of my kind of
17:11
affiliate marketing and as I was changing the direction of my
17:14
business, I met Jay. And I have to say that
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he actually walks the walk, and he does
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what he says. He is probably one of the most generous people
17:25
that I have ever met. You know, he's very
17:29
successful what he does. He has a great program.
17:33
He's got a great gift for you. But he took the
17:36
time to help me when I really needed it the most. I mean, he
17:40
didn't know how badly I needed it. And so I think that's the
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other piece that sometimes we're missing as we
17:47
try to become an authority or an expert or stand out in the
17:51
crowd, is you don't have to give up your humanity or
17:55
the thing that makes you generous and helpful
17:58
in order to build your business. Because in a sense, I think as an
18:02
entrepreneur, you're also building your life. You know? You
18:06
don't have to be, you know, I win, you lose.
18:10
You know? Because that's I don't think that's sustainable. I
18:13
mean, at least not anymore when people are looking
18:17
for are looking for real connection. So I'm not gonna
18:20
I'm not gonna keep gushing, because
18:24
this is really No. Keep going. It's okay. No. This is this is
18:28
just really personal to me. And just
18:32
a very small thing is, when I was looking at at
18:35
being an affiliate and I was concerned about how people knew which client, you
18:39
know, who is the who the client belonged to. Jay said this to
18:43
me. First of all, I felt like I had said something really embarrassing, and
18:47
he was really quiet. So I was like, I stuck my foot in my mouth.
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And he said, the choice is always the
18:54
client. Who they go with when you're doing group things or affiliation
18:59
is strictly the client's decision. It's not ours.
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And when you deal with better quality people who are not dealing with
19:06
scarcity, you know, you don't have problems
19:10
like this. And so I wanna impart that wisdom as
19:14
well because it it totally changed
19:17
the the direction I was going in, and it changed the way that I
19:21
felt about myself too. So alright.
19:25
So Yeah. And and that touches on, you know, something that you talked
19:29
about at the beginning, which is just sort of the imposter
19:33
syndrome piece of it that that, you know, you don't have to be
19:36
this, you know, like, sitting on a mountain top as this, you
19:40
know, elite, person that is untouchable.
19:45
The you know, I've learned this in in business in many different
19:49
ways over the last thirty years, but you never know
19:53
who you're speaking to. So that person that you're willing
19:57
to help out when they're starting out, they could, you know, very
20:00
quickly surpass you on the mountain top, and you
20:04
don't know who you can't predict which are the ones that will do that
20:08
and which aren't. And you never know how somebody can help
20:11
reciprocate, for you in the
20:14
future. So, you know, thank you for having me on the podcast.
20:18
That's one of the ways you're reciprocating, for
20:22
me, you know, trying to help earlier. You know? And one of the things
20:26
I say is if you put yourself on a pedestal, you get a better chance
20:30
of getting knocked off. Do you know? I mean, that's the way
20:33
it is. Alright. So give us a couple of, actionable
20:37
steps that people should think about and, you know, things that they can
20:41
do. So the first thing,
20:45
that most coaches get wrong is, the whole
20:48
concept of niche and avatar. And while those are
20:52
important concepts, anytime you're putting yourself
20:56
out into the marketplace, they're even more important
21:00
with a high end program. So,
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you know, example would be if I wanna go out and create a
21:07
mastermind for entrepreneurs. Well,
21:11
that's what I call fishing in the ocean. What kind of entrepreneurs? What
21:15
size entrepreneurs? How long have they been in business? What industries are they in? You
21:19
know? And when you try to first of all, it's very hard to stand out
21:22
in the marketplace because you're marketing to all entrepreneurs or just
21:26
about any entrepreneur, anyone who's willing to write a check.
21:31
By niching down and figuring out
21:35
a a narrower net, what I call fishing in a pond or stocking your own
21:39
pond, that's where you start to stand out. And
21:43
then even within that, figuring out who your avatar
21:46
is in my parlance. That's your purple
21:50
fish. I was gonna say figuring out who your purple fish
21:53
are that are the clients that
21:57
you love working with. So, for instance, if you're
22:01
listening right now and you've had past clients, you have some current
22:05
clients, you have your past career that whatever you did to build
22:08
your expertise in, think about the people
22:12
that just lit you up when you got to work with them, collaborate
22:16
with them, you And these can be they don't have to be clients. They can
22:19
be former employees, former bosses, vendors.
22:23
And you look at creating a group and targeting
22:27
the people that you are thrilled to wake up
22:31
every day and help and work with. And if
22:34
if if we start there, then everything else gets easier.
22:39
And that's kind of what I say to people is is what is
22:42
it that you you know, in in
22:46
your program, you know, when you have a clients, what
22:50
they what they got is what you promised. But what was
22:54
it that they got that they didn't expect? That's your
22:57
unique power. Do you know? And that's the thing that makes
23:01
them walk away trusting and loving you.
23:05
Yeah. So alright. So we know we know who who
23:09
and and when you put I think the other thing is entrepreneurs don't
23:13
feel like they can say, no. You're not my right client. Because
23:16
particularly in the beginning, you're looking to get, you know Any client.
23:20
Right. And it and it will drain you. It will take energy out of
23:24
you. You will work much harder, and you will not get the results.
23:28
They're never happy. Alright. So that's one thing. Well, I
23:32
wanna add one clarification because it's important based on what you just said is
23:35
that that's why people are so resistant to getting
23:39
a narrow niche and and really figuring out who that purple fish
23:43
is because they think, well, I don't wanna, you
23:47
know, that I don't wanna only work with those people. And
23:50
and what they sort of misconstrue is
23:54
that you will still attract others
23:57
outside of that avatar or that pond that you're
24:01
fishing in. You'll still get other people, and it's fine to sell
24:04
them, you know, a course or a lower end program or even work with
24:08
them one on one. But for targeting
24:13
it, creating like a higher ticket program, which is
24:16
really the only way to sustainably build a
24:20
business is by having a high end program. We could circle back to that
24:24
one as the second point. That, you know, that's where
24:27
it's really important that you get as narrow as you
24:31
can in terms of who your right fit client is, who your
24:35
purple fish are. Okay. So I I
24:38
can't believe this. We only have a couple of minutes left. So I'm gonna
24:42
ask you to quickly give us a couple other tips and then tell us about
24:46
the you know, maybe the this is the thing. Here's the tip.
24:50
Go go go to the workshop. So talk about that. Talk
24:53
about the the the event, to make sure that people that's
24:57
an action that people definitely can take. Yeah.
25:01
So I do a three day virtual event called six figure
25:04
masterminds boot camp. We do it, three times
25:08
a year. And, any everyone listening
25:12
because you're a fan of Yvonne is
25:16
gonna get a free ticket to come to the next event.
25:21
In these three days, we help people understand
25:24
what masterminds are and what they aren't. We help
25:28
everyone conceive of a mastermind that they can create for
25:31
themselves that's unique to them because no one should create my
25:35
mastermind or your mastermind or Napoleon Hill's mastermind. You have to
25:39
figure out what are the pieces of the puzzle to put together, take advantage
25:42
of your superpowers, but more importantly, deliver the most results for
25:46
the clients. Then we start working on who are your purple
25:50
fish, who are those ideal right fit clients for you to
25:54
attract and invite into the mastermind program.
25:58
Then this is all still in the three day event. We help you create a
26:02
simple funnel for how you move people from know, like, and
26:05
trust to know, love, and trust so that you don't have to have that big,
26:09
huge email list or the fancy sales funnel with all the branches.
26:12
And then we help you start to be able to
26:16
talk about the program you're creating so that you could walk out of the
26:20
event and actually have a conversation with some people about the program
26:24
you're gonna be creating. And we give you a plan to what you're
26:27
going to do over the next ninety days to implement. So all of that happens
26:31
in the three days. It's my favorite thing that I do
26:36
is running this three day event. And I've
26:39
had more than a dozen people,
26:44
tell me, and and even put it in writing in video that
26:47
it's the best three day event they've ever attended. So if you
26:51
just take everything he said, those are all things that you need
26:55
to be looking at your pro whatever you're doing, what you need to be looking
26:59
at to see if you've got those pieces in your programs.
27:03
Okay? So alright. I can't believe it. We're out
27:07
of time, and I still have stuff to talk to you about.
27:11
So here's your question. When was the last time you did something new for the
27:14
first time?
27:18
So this is embarrassing. So
27:22
it's we we are recording this around the holidays. And
27:25
just the other night, I watched the movie Love Actually
27:29
for the first time. And I and,
27:33
I I kept so I started to watch it. I'm like, I can't believe I've
27:36
never seen this movie before because I know people talk about it all the time.
27:40
It's one of those movies people watch, like, six, eight, 12 times.
27:43
Mhmm. And the embarrassing part is that they
27:47
should issue, like, a warning or something. Like, do not
27:51
watch this movie if you're not in a relationship and
27:54
feeling alone at any point because I was, like, a bucket of
27:58
tears for most of the movie just watching it. But it's a great
28:02
movie. So I'm I'm glad I finally, stumbled upon
28:05
it. Oh, I am so glad you did too. Alright, guys.
28:09
This has been incredible, and we we've gotta call it to an end.
28:13
I'm so sorry. But there are a couple of things that I need you to
28:17
do. I need you to subscribe and engage on
28:20
social media and other podcasts. And, you know,
28:24
the reason that I do this is to help you to supercharge your
28:28
business through connection. And it's my way of trying to give back to
28:32
the community and help it be vibrant and to help you fuel
28:36
your quest for growth and for change. And
28:40
when you join me for the one small change, you're gonna get some tidbits that's
28:44
gonna help give you some kind of monumental transformation.
28:48
It's the little things that you know, it starts as a little shake and
28:52
it ends up as an earthquake. And so I hope that you will,
28:56
share this with other people. And if you haven't done it, you can go back
29:00
and see not only the first episode, but, all the other
29:03
episodes that are there that'll help you grow your business. So,
29:07
Jay, if you would want us to leave with a quote, what would it be
29:11
that we can remember you by or
29:15
a a nugget? Yeah. So,
29:19
I have so many. So
29:23
I think that the main thing to keep in
29:27
mind or or or let me put it this way. So many of
29:30
us, when we're trying to start a business as a thought leader or
29:34
grow a business or establish ourselves, we think
29:37
about, I've got twenty five or thirty years of experience doing
29:41
x. So what program can I
29:45
create? What package can I create that people will buy?
29:49
And what I challenge people to do is shift your perspective
29:53
and think about what is the program you would create that you
29:57
would be passionate about delivering, and more importantly,
30:01
who are the people that you wanna wake up every day and that you're gonna
30:05
be passionate about working with them and helping? Because
30:08
when you surround yourself with those people, everything
30:12
becomes easier. So true. So
30:16
true. Alright, guys. That's it. So I want you to
30:19
remember, we're talking about change, and change is simple,
30:23
but it's not always easy. It requires courage, resilience,
30:27
and a willingness to step out of your comfort zone. And sometimes for some
30:31
people, that can look kind of silly, but it's worth
30:34
it. So I hope you will join me on the one small change again
30:38
every week as we embark on a journey so that you can have a bold
30:41
vision and come up with innovative possibilities. And if you
30:45
haven't seen any of the other podcasts, you may wanna go do that.
30:49
But until you join me the next time, stay curious. Thank
30:53
you, Jay. Thank you.