On June 25th, 2009, Bay Area Mastermind had a great networking event at the Decathlon Club in Santa Clara!

We want to extend a heartfelt thank you to all of who joined us for an evening of networking and a presentation on what’s been happening in the economy and 7 Tactics for Marketing in a Recession.

The meeting was packed full of small business owners coming from all parts of the Bay Area.  During the networking portion of the meeting, many cards and joint ventures possibilities were discussed among the attendees.

Robert Estupinian’s insight into the economy and the current market conditions was well received and Jeremy Shapiro tactics for marketing in a recession sparked many an idea in the group.

We’ll see you next month for our next networking mixer on July 30th on the topic of Internet Marketing and How the Rules are Changing. For more information, visit our Networking Events page.

By Robert Estupinian

In all areas of life, world-class performers always have coaches. Even Michael Jordan needs a coach. In business, too, you will find that every top-ranking performer has a coach and a mentor.

Well it’s one thing to get personal, customized advice from one expert. It’s even more powerful to have a mastermind alliance where a handful of people gather together, form vital friendships and calibrate their skills once each month  throughout the year.

We’re half way into 2008 now. In the Rest of This Decade and Beyond, Will You Suffer, or Prosper?

Right now we live in, for the most part, a fantastic economy. Sure the media is talking about all the problems around us like the Sub-prime debacle. But the truth is that money is flowing faster than ever before in history. People who haven’t got the foggiest clue about anything are becoming millionaires (geez!) just because they bought a house in the right neighborhood five or ten years ago. The business environment has never been better for making huge amounts of money. And I know you’ve made huge strides yourself. But there’s never any guarantee things will stay the way they are now. The Wall Street journal reported that there are more millionaires today (3.2 million as of 2007) and the numbers are expected to continue to grow to not only here in the United States but globally for several years to come.

Today, knowing what I know, knowing what you know, there’s no reason whatsoever for you or I to go hungry, or ever experience any kind of difficult circumstances. The tools and know-how are available to all of us, such that we can prosper regardless of the outside conditions.

Nevertheless, things can change. The other day somebody was on the radio talking about how the savings rate in the USA has dipped to Below ZERO percent. Yes, below Zero. And this commentator had the audacity to say this was good because it meant American consumers have confidence in the economy.

Excuse me, but when people have less than zero in reserves, it means that they are borrowing beyond their means . Imagine what happens when the slightest tremor occurs, they can’t borrow anymore on their house and then go into sheer panic. With no reserve, ‘consumer confidence’ is an illusion. When people panic, things can get ugly, real easy. I wanted to scream, There is nothing good about Zero percent savings!

I’m an optimistic guy and I don’t worry too much that the sky might be falling. But you and I should always be asking the question: What if things do change? What if the economy takes a nose dive? What if money gets tighter? What if competition in your market doubles in the next year? What if the upward trend, that has increased so many peoples’ net worth, heads the other way?

If the next 10-15 years brings a crushing baby-boomer burden to the Social Security system and the health care system, where will you be? What if politicians, driven by greed and desperation, slap us with tons of new taxes?

(It would be naive to think they wouldn’t, or won’t.)

Will you have sufficient funds to ignore the chaos, dismemberment and despair that’s going on outside? More importantly, do you right now have a reserve of intelligence, strategy, eyes and ears and brainpower that will power you through the low spots?

I Invite you to take a look at the power of the Mastermind by going to www.BayAreaMastermind.com

By Robert Estupinian

Most business people and  entrepreneurs have heard of Napoleon Hill’s Mastermind concept –great minds join together to craft their plans and hone their skills. Iron sharpens iron. Million dollar ideas are swept off the table to make room for billion dollar ideas, and other concepts like these.

But have you ever actually been in a really good mastermind? One where everyone is razor sharp, and committed to contributing to one another?

Very, very few people have.

But I’m here to tell you, it is mind blowing.When everyone’s on the same wavelength – when group members show up from points far and wide, with one purpose in mind – to contribute to the synergy of group experience, to challenge, motivate, and inform; to listen, understand and respond – it’s a genuinely amazing experience. It’s some of the best time you spend all year. You come home refreshed, activated, energized.

(I speak from personal experience, not only because of the Mastermind groups I host, but the ones I participate in. I sharpen my axe too – and spend more than $20,000 each year doing so.)

When you come home from seminars, you have a list of 100 fantastic ideas and probably only get three or four implemented.

Right?

But when you come home from a mastermind, it’s totally different. Rather than a firehose of ‘cool ideas’ you may come home with a list of 11 or 12 things you’re going to stop doing – and you free up more time for yourself, so you can do the five or six higher leverage actions you identified in the Mastermind meeting.

How liberating is that!  So take a moment and check out www.BayAreaMastermind.com