Masterminds: Help or Hype? [w/ Jen Argue]

[00:00:40] Heather Sager: Hi, everyone. Welcome back to another episode today. We're talking about masterminds with my friend, Jen Argue. She brings women CEOs in the online marketing space together. So they're combined genius and hearts propel them forward faster with joy instead of stress. Amen for that. You know, what's unique about Jen, she's a former licensed therapist, turned life coach, turned amazing mastermind, facilitator. 

Fascinating journey, we're going to talk about it today, but she really breaks down what does a mastermind and you will get to determine whether or not it's the right fit for you. Disclaimer, the term mastermind is thrown out a lot in this online space, and there's kind of this feeling that. If you want to keep up with the Joneses. Oh my gosh. I'm totally using that term, but yeah, like need a mastermind, but the question is, do you actually? Today's episode will help you uncover what that looks like and more importantly, what you should be looking for if you're going to invest a time and money for a mastermind. I can't wait for you to meet, Jen, let's facet over to the interview.

[00:01:55] Heather Sager: All right, Jen, I am super excited. We are finally having this long overdue conversation. Welcome, welcome to the show.

[00:02:02] Jen Argue: Thank you so much for having me, so glad to be here.

[00:02:05] Heather Sager: This is going to be so much fun. Masterminds is a topic that, it's a word that's thrown out a in this space, so my hope is to kind of demystify some of that today and really give people the tools to, to consider if it's right for them.

But before we do all of that, I want to learn a little bit more about you because fun fact, you and I met at Amy Porterfield's live event almost two years ago. Same conference. Yeah, it was you, Emily Reagan, who's been a guest on the show multiple times. We all, the three of us sat together at a luncheon and I giggled because I know we had a really, really good conversation.

And I also know that I could really not hearing the room because it was so loud and I struggled with my hearing aids. So I remember walking away going, I got most of what Jen said, but I really like her and she's going to become someone that I like obsess over it when we leave.

[00:02:57] Jen Argue: It's mutual. That was so fun. And I had a hard time hearing as well, so it was just loud.

[00:03:03] Heather Sager: For like normal people. It's like, it's just, yeah, side note for anybody who hosts a luncheon at a conference, like how people with the noise scenario, because networking is so important and it's so hard when everything is so loud. Story for another day.

Anyways, Jen, you, I just love what you're doing in your business. The whole idea that you focus on building communities for women to come together and empower and support each other to chase just ambitious things. Like I, I love that. I'm drawn to that. Why don't you give a little bit more articulation around,what it is you do, and I'm very curious around how you stumbled into this idea of being the mastermind gal.

[00:03:43] Jen Argue: Okay. Well, you know, I'll start off with how I got into it, because I think it kind of gives some insight into why I do it and why it's so powerful. So all my life I've been a licensed therapist,

And if you know anything about that, you have to be, it's, state mandated. You have to get licensed in each state you live in and I move a lot. So it was one of those things where, about six years ago, we moved to California and most of my kids were in college and I thought you know, this is a chance for me to pivot, do something different.

And so I like to say, I traded my therapist couch for a coaching laptop and decided to become a life coach. And so, you know, it's kind of similar to doing therapy.

[00:04:29] Heather Sager: Hold on. Can I ask you a quick question on that? Is there kind of like, for lack of a more eloquent way to say this. Is there kind of a beef between therapists and life coaches? Is there like any weirdness there? I don't know. That seems like a fascinating jump from therapy to life coaching.

[00:04:46] Jen Argue: Well, you know, yes.

[00:04:50] Heather Sager: Maybe a little bit, maybe we'll skirt on past that, but I just like, you don't hear it very often of somebody becoming a life coach for me in a therapist. Like I just, that's fascinating.

[00:04:58] Jen Argue: Yeah. I think things are changing. You know, a lot of therapists now are seeing all the benefit of being a life coach. So that is a whole nother topic at that time, even just six years ago was a big deal. And I think especially pre pandemic because, you know, therapists are in person, but then since the pandemic, now they're all getting online, right, nd getting comfortable with that. But for me, it was a chance to pivot and so I did what any normal person would do is I Googled how to get clients as a life coach.

[00:05:35] Heather Sager: I mean, come on. That's how we all built our businesses. I mean, maybe not that question, but too old Google university.

[00:05:40] Jen Argue: Yeah, Google University. So this guy's course, I bought this guy's course, and of course great SEO.It was like on the front page and in his course he had a bonus module given by his mastermind coach. And she came on, she explained how you do masterminds, what they're all about, you know, the benefits, all the things, and I was sold. Hook, line and sinker. I was like, that's it, that's what I meant to do.

And so I decided the next week to start my first mastermind and I just called up all the people I knew who would be perfect for it, you know, business women in my life at the time. And they were all like, sign me up. Yes, I want that, and it was a huge success, and one of the ways that I knew that well too. One is, they all grew their businesses exponentially, and all told me they did more in the first month of the mastermind than they did the whole previous year, like they were just so on fire. And then the other way I knew is that at the end of the two hour meeting, I was more energized than before. So I was like, okay, this is what I'm meant to do. And when I told my husband about it, he's like, I don't know how you're more energized.

[00:06:56] Heather Sager: That sounds exhausting.

[00:06:58] Jen Argue: So you kind a know, right, when you're energy,

[00:07:02] Heather Sager: Totally.

[00:07:04] Jen Argue: Yeah. And so just seeing all that immense progress that the women made just lit me up because I love to help people, and so that's how I knew that's what I was meant to do.

[00:07:14] Heather Sager: Okay. That's fun. So let's break it down for anyone listening, let's clear up any confusion around what a mastermind is because there's probably a lot of people hosting, quote-unquote, masterminds that really aren't a true mastermind in the sense of the definition. So can you explain a little bit more, what we're talking about here? What is a mastermind?

[00:07:31] Jen Argue: Yeah. A mastermind is basically a peer advisory group to be, you know, really simple. It's a group of people coming together who are like-minded, who have a similar goal, who are contributing to each other's goal.

So if it's a business mastermind, everyone is there to grow their businesses and if it's, let's say a public speaking mastermind, they're there to improve and maybe make more sales through public speaking. If it's a parenting, whatever the topic is, it's just a group of people coming together who are lending their own experiences and expertise to each other.

And so what sets it apart from what people usually call a mastermind is that there's this expectation that the people in the group are curated to be there. So whoever is leading the mastermind has gone through a selection process to make sure that people actually are like minded and on the same page when it comes to the goals that they have and in business, the ones that I run, we also make sure that there is a similarity of types of businesses that you're running and level of business that you're in because if you're just starting out, you're going to be overwhelmed and probably discouraged at the end of the meeting if the rest of the group are already making 10K or 30K or a 100K months.

You know, so there has to be some level of similarity there to really energize the person. And it could be a range, but you know, when you're out of that range, when you just don't feel good when you're there because most people feel super exhilarated at the end of a meeting and hyper-focused and energized.

[00:09:19] Heather Sager: Yeah, and there is a piece, there's something to be said, right. Maybe where you're not as experienced as other people like I think about this, I'm in a mastermind right now and a peer mastermind. I'm actually, I'm in, I'm in two masterminds, so we'll talk about the difference between different masterminds in a moment.

But the peer mastermind I'm in right now, the businesses in there are significantly larger than me, and at first I was like, but then I realized two things. One, they represent the kind of businesses that I am building so that's what I'm aspiring to do. But then also my background in business is I have been working in businesses of that size slash coaching businesses of that size back when I was doing consulting for businesses for years operating at a much higher level.

So for lack of a better term, can keep up with the Joneses at that level because I worked in that for so long and I'm like getting there. So for me it works, but I also realized that sometimes when you don't have that same, like you're not working through the same challenges, there can create disconnect.

 So I think that point of having that shared interest, shared business that's really important because that's what creates the overused term, synergy, like that's what creates the magic, right?

[00:10:28] Jen Argue: It's true. I love that. And you bring up a good point because, and I think that kind of, it falls on the shoulders of the leader if you're in a paid mastermind to really discern who's right for the group and to be able to make that choice of, okay, if somebody is just starting their business, and this is a mastermind for people who are a little bit further along, they can look at that person and say, okay, but they've had the experience of building, 1, 2, 3 other successful businesses and so they come with all that knowledge and experience, even though they're just starting, you can see that. And so you can make those discernments about, you know, bringing people in or not. The other thing too, about the mastermind, what makes it different than what most people call a mastermind, I think what most people call a mastermind is a group coaching situation. And so they're in a group where there's a guru. You know, like a main person who's teaching everybody and everybody gets hot seats. And so I think there's similar language that's thrown around because in a mastermind, we call it when you're in the spotlight, a hot seat.

But in, in a group coaching, you don't get to contribute to each other as much. You're all just listening to the one person, whereas in a mastermind it's very much like diversity as welcome and there's this understanding that whoever's in the hot seat is going to have the ability to discern for themselves, you know, what they're going to do in the end, and sometimes even though the advice that they're getting may not be the advice that they end up with, it helps them get there faster and so it's still important to hear all the different opinions.

[00:12:06] Heather Sager: Yeah. The different perspectives, I think is really powerful. You said something that was really, really important at the end of the day, the person in the hot seat, the business owner is ultimately going to make the decision that's best for them. So it's that filtering of other people's perspective and inputs, whether it's coming from a guru or it's coming from peers, owning the ultimate outcome and owning the ultimate decision, like that's a really powerful thing. 

Talk to me a little bit about that. Okay, let me word vomit on you for a second, and then you can take where you want to go in here. I did, I was at an event a couple of years ago where they did little mini mastermind breakouts, and I didn't realize, it sounds so terrible, how difficult it was to determine a question to pose to like the mastermind, and let me get some context here.

What's important is you don't just come with your problems to a mastermind and be like help. I don't know, explaining everything under the sun. You come with a little bit more of a specific thing that you want feedback on, right? Do other business owners, am I just crazy? Is that like a struggle thing? Like business owners struggle identifying what they need help with and how to ask for help? Is that like a common thing that comes up?

[00:13:16] Jen Argue: I think that's very common because I think we have, as business owners, we have a million things going on at once so really coming to the meeting prepared is, it's a skill, you know?

And so I actually, for my groups, I actually do have a prep sheet for people to really think through what it is their one question because as a mastermind facilitator, what's really important to me is running a well-run group where everybody has equal time and we know how hard it is sometimes to cut people off and I can do that, but so,

[00:13:52] Heather Sager: And you do it so kindly, like it's so kind, right? It's not like Andrew or Dawn, like,

[00:13:59] Jen Argue: And everybody knows, you know, that's my role and so it's expected and all that. But in light of that, you're going to have X amount of minutes to have this valuable synergistic time together, and so you want to use it well. And so coming in prepared will really help you get the most for your money for, and your time, you know, for being there.

[00:14:24] Heather Sager: Yeah. Okay. Light bulb moment, like ding, ding, ding. Big light bulb moment for anybody listening, there's such a parallel between, public speaking and being ready to leverage the video, like the live video or leverage the moment in front of you when you were with an audience. A lot of people like wait until the go live happens, and then they word vomit.

It's just like, whatever comes out and it takes a lot longer to get to the point than then they want. Hence the, we got to tighten things up and make sure that we practice and have a better message coming out. You're talking about a very similar thing in order for you to get the most value of a peer group or a call, or a mastermind, you have to have the discipline to do a little bit of the prep work.So that way, when it is your shot, you don't waste it thinking out loud. You actually get to the point of the question to receive the support.

[00:15:16] Jen Argue: Prepping sets you up for success.

[00:15:18] Heather Sager: It's such like a life skill, right? It's so funny when your life, same skills, all these different ways to use it. But also as a business owners, people are running from meeting to meeting to meeting and they're using their meetings to think for the first time.It doesn't work like that. It doesn't work like that. Okay. So shifting the idea, I actually am curious with you with public speaking. Tell me about your experience, like speaking, like using your voice and talking. Obviously, you're facilitating masterminds, but do you do public speaking? Has that been part of your business and or past?

[00:15:50] Jen Argue: Okay, well, let me share something. So this is an interesting experience, you know. I, the whole public speaking aspect of my [00:16:00] life. When I was young, like in high school, I did so much public speaking in front of my whole high school, like I was asked often to do that. And so, it was just kind of like, okay, you know?Yeah, let's do it. And then when I became a therapist in my, in my twenties, I would speak often at really large conferences and give talks on effective communication for couples, which was always very fun with having the last name, Argue.

[00:16:32] Heather Sager: Oh my gosh. All the cheesy, but very easy, like icebreaker jokes. Yes. Okay.

[00:16:37] Jen Argue: Yes, you've got Steve and Jen Argue. It's a complete sentence, but then I had kids and I went through this period of being a mom and we moved a lot as I said. And so I kind of got off the circuit, if you want to say that. Yeah. And then, okay. So when I made the move to California, became a life coach, I knew it would take time to build that practice. And so I took on this outreach director job at my church, which was so rewarding. It was so beautiful. I loved it. It was, it was totally a job for an extrovert like me. So I'm connecting people in the community to these nonprofits and making these big events and organizing and getting people around serving.

What I didn't know, you know, that's all kind of behind the scenes stuff. It's a lot of like planning and networking. I didn't know, my church would want me to do announcements on Sunday morning. Okay, like that's not a big deal, right? Announcements. I was shaking. I had my notes and I was shaking so bad. I use the podium to put them on so that people wouldn't see my hands going crazy, and I thought this cannot, this cannot go on. I don't know what is going on. I talked about it with a friend and she's like, well, you know, you're asking people to do things. Are you, are you thinking about it as like you're inviting them and just serve? And I'm like, yeah, yeah, absolutely. You know, it's not like cramming announcements on their throat. 

Well, I decided. I would go to my doctor because I have this knowledge of psychotropic meds, and I would ask for something to take on those warnings before giving announcements. And she looked at me and said, you know, your blood pressure is too low. I don't know if this is going to work for you, and that scared me. I do not want to faint in front of people. So I took matters into my own hands and I brought a flask to church and took a few swings before church happened just to calm my nerves.

[00:18:53] Heather Sager: Oh my gosh. That is amazing.

[00:18:55] Jen Argue: I think it's the first time I'm actually telling this story publicly.

[00:19:00] Heather Sager: For the millions of people listening, we now know,

[00:19:06] Jen Argue: Oh my gosh. So yeah, I just have probably all of two times, but I realized, just from doing it repeatedly, that my confidence grew. It wasn't as hard anymore.

[00:19:17] Heather Sager: The doing the announcements repeatedly, not the flask thing.

[00:19:20] Jen Argue: Yes, thank you for clarifying. Yeah so, it ended up being fine. And then moving into, more of the social networking side of things. Of course, public speaking is such a big part of it. And I don't think I was comfortable with it at first and still even sometimes struggle with it, but I absolutely know the importance of it, and when I do it, it makes a big difference with connecting with my audience. So connecting with my audience is a really big way that public speaking comes into my business, also serving my customers. [00:20:00] When I am looking at my customer's needs, you know what my clients need, and I can see that it's something that I can help them with. Then I need to, you know, get my act together, and you know, give a talk on something that's really going to help them or a workshop. You know, anything of that, but also it's great because there are people outside experts that I can bring into the mastermind, like we had you come in.

[00:20:30] Heather Sager: And we had so much fun with your group.

[00:20:32] Jen Argue: You did so awesome. And they learn so much and there's so, I mean, yeah. Okay. I could go on and on about how wonderful you are. But bringing others in, if the person is uncomfortable with public speaking and can't present well, then we're going to suffer, right? We're not going to benefit from their knowledge and expertise, and so it is, what you're doing is so valuable, so important.

[00:20:59] Heather Sager: I agree. You know, you bring up something interesting. Let's go here for a second where you say you bring in guests, right? And it's so important that they're good at what they do, right? Not only are they comfortable, but their information is helpful. They have to be articulate speakers to be able to, because one, you have a brand to protect, right? If you bring in a guest, you're stamping that that guest is good.

Can you talk a little bit about that as someone who brings in speakers? What do you notice? What do you look for so that way you make sure that the quote-unquote, brand of your mastermind, the integrity of it is upheld?

[00:21:37] Jen Argue: When I bring in a speaker, what I really think makes a speaker session with us successful is if they are able to share some very practical ideas and, you know, we know there's a lot of success that is, maybe not practical, like you know, tip these steps. A lot of it is, you know, mastering your mind, but that does go hand in hand and we do need the practical steps. And so when somebody comes in prepared and with a spirit of generosity, someone who's really willing to share something that would normally be behind a paid wall, you know, can really make a big difference, not just in the people being able to take those steps and make a difference in their business, but also in the sense of showing respect, you know, I think that when we respect each other and we have this spirit of generosity and a spirit of abundance, I think it really builds a higher vibration into the room and into the relationship, and that sometimes is what makes people succeed more than any other 1, 2, 3 steps.

[00:22:50] Heather Sager: Yeah. I totally agree with that, and I think it's really important for anybody listening to really hear this. We talk a lot about having speaking strategy, right? Big reason why people are going out there and speaking is obviously to drum up business, right? But it's not a slot machine where you like shove a quarter in and like expect for all this money to fall out. Like, you can't just expect that I'm going to go into the speaking event and I'm going to hook them for however many sales. It's just a weird energy exchange when you're really there to get leads or to get paid. 

What I noticed is with a lot of the big names, they do a lot of guest speaking for people in their programs, on other people's podcasts, and never ever are they like, and here's my thing. They're not shoving things down. They let the body of their work speak for it, and they trust that when somebody lands on their social media or somebody downloads their freebie, their funnels are going to work for them. But the moment is just about being generous and being of service. I think that, like, I don't want to skip over that because I think that is really, really huge.

Have you had an ex- that you, maybe you don't want to, you maybe not, but have you had an experience where maybe you have either been in a group or you've brought in someone that you were like, that wasn't the greatest?

[00:24:06] Jen Argue: Yes.

[00:24:08] Heather Sager: How do you handle that? How do you navigate that because it is going to happen?

[00:24:12] Jen Argue: You know, I navigate it with grace, I guess. You know, there's always the option that someone just had a bad day, or maybe it was their first time, or they just haven't caught onto that spirit of abundance and generosity yet. And so, you know, I give people a bite that's okay, and we keep going and bring in the next expert. And you know, maybe prep them a little bit better. I learn from that too, you know? It's not all on them. It has to be partly my, me too. So, you know, it's, we move on.

[00:24:45] Heather Sager: I love that you said that is you asked the question, how can I learn from this and what can I do differently next time? I think that is so, so important. Anybody who has a podcast, you have to hear that very loud and clear because not every single guest is going to be like so like all these gems for you. You have to really figure out how do you get better at interviewing people and how do you, I don't know, how do you create a better environment, like asking that question? That's so insightful. Thank you for sharing that, Jen.

[00:25:10] Jen Argue: Well, let's be super meta. I mean, you're doing it right now. Just as we speak, like you are just pulling out these truths for your audience and, you know, highlighting what really is important for them, and I love how you do that so you're doing a great job.

[00:25:25] Heather Sager: The day that I threw away the canned questions, this is like a side note, but the day I threw away the candid questions, this is a few months ago. I still had questions I would write down and just said, screw it. I have some questions, right? But I'm just going to have a conversation with people and ask the thing that pops into my mind, and if it's eloquent, like you'll even notice. I'm like, I don't know what the question is, but let me word vomit and let me get to what I want to ask you. We just let it flow. And it's not the most perfect, smooth flowing thing, but I've heard based off what people are telling me in this kind of newer format, it's far more engaging and interesting to listen to.

[00:25:56] Jen Argue: So, yes. Yeah. I think flow is everything, you know, whether it's your own work time or with people, but I always think there's so much to be, you know, like the fruit that comes out of when people are flowing together.

[00:26:10] Heather Sager: Yeah.

[00:26:10] Jen Argue: And these ideas are popping off of each other. I want that. I feel like things just happen faster and they're happening, like you said, organically.

[00:26:19] Heather Sager: Yeah.

[00:26:20] Jen Argue: And that's, I think where the real magic happens.

[00:26:22] Heather Sager: That's like the beautiful amount of woo-woo that I'm like, yes. I love that. I'm totally here for that. Okay. I'm curious. This is one of the questions you and I did talk about. What is it about masterminds, that really is like a business decision for people? 

Because I hear this idea, like we're circling back to masterminds, being in community with other people is a powerful thing and I think a lot of us get lonely and would like more business besties. So the idea of being in a mastermind, that's great, but there's also some good business sense for people to be in one. So talk a little bit about why maybe somebody listening might want to be considering getting themselves into a mastermind in the short term. 

[00:27:00] Jen Argue: I think something to really, keep in mind is the power of community. You know, whether a community, I think a community has the power to either make you or break you, and I am seeing this trend lately with influencers who are saying no to the trolls who are like, like this, I follow dog accounts. Okay. There's this a woman who has this beautiful dog and she literally has her middle finger up on one of her posts, not even in her story. It is like on her post. And it's like I'm done with this, you know, all of you go somewhere else who have a problem with me loving on my dog. 

And I think, you know, and I've seen this in other places too with other influencers and I'm realizing, gosh, you know, they're trying to really curate their community. That's like, if you're not, you know, going to be all about what we're about here, then this is not for you. Just go, it's okay because it's bringing them down. And so the power of a mastermind comes in being a really positive community because community, like you were talking about before, some of the really big name people, they will give so much of their stuff away all the time in talks, in podcasts, blogs, wherever it is, like probably you could get the majority of the stuff that's in their programs just by listening and following them. But you still buy their things, especially if they have a community involved because why? It's the community, and you want to be around people who are about that same sort of thing and have that spirit because it creates what I call a success culture. Other people who are focused on achieving the same things in a sense that you are, that are actually taking those steps, and so when you're around other people who are in this mindset and in the flow of positive action, it almost takes more energy to be not that.

[00:29:09] Heather Sager: Oh yeah,

[00:29:10] Jen Argue: Not successful or not taking action, like that will take more energies. So it's that whole idea of a rising tide lifts all boats. It's truly, it's not about the programming within the mastermind. It's about the actual curation and the leading of it to create that success culture in a way where you have, you have accountability woven into every aspect of it, you have support woven in to every part of it. Like I always say, you know, we curate to make sure that the mastermind has the right people in the room, people who are, have some type of expertise, who are focused on their goals, who are taking action. And when you have somebody of that caliber, who cares about you and is thinking about you in their off time, that's pretty amazing. And so we get all the time, like women cross-promoting or who say, oh, I just saw this thing and they shoot it in the group text. You know, hey, so and so you got to see this. I think this is good for you, like that, I think is a very powerful type of support that you don't get anywhere else, and sometimes it's a little awkward to get in other places.

[00:30:29] Heather Sager: Yeah. I love that concept of like what's the success culture, like what does that look like? And it really is, with a mastermind you're putting as much into loving up on the other business as almost like you get invested, like excited for their wins. As much as I feel like a lot of times, especially with group coaching programs, it feels like, it's more of a, what can I get out of it? What can I get out of it? Which of course, as a mastermind, we also want to get something out of it, but the energy exchange between supporting and helping and cheering other people on while you're growing, that is just, it is magic as you said earlier. I love that.

[00:31:05] Jen Argue: It is. Yeah. Yeah, no, I think there is, yeah, I think community is powerful and underrated.

[00:31:12] Heather Sager: So do you think that a peer mastermind, so like a free mastermind that people put together, do you feel like that is, can be as powerful as a paid mastermind? Some people might be thinking like, oh man, I don't have the money to put into like buying one of those high-end masterminds. How do you help people navigate, like when's the right time to invest in a mastermind and like, where should they start? .

[00:31:32] Jen Argue: Yeah, that is a great question. I, you know, and I am all for free masterminds. If you can find a group of people to get together, have a mastermind together, absolutely, go for it. Like I believe in community across the board. The difference that you'll see most of the time in a paid mastermind is that people will show up consistently. And so oftentimes I hear that in a free mastermind, like, oh, you know, someone didn't show up or whatever, there's just not the investment, the level of investment.

So when people join my mastermind, typically, in our interview time, they'll tell me I've been in other masterminds or free masterminds, but I'm ready to level up. That's typically what I hear people say is I'm ready to level up, and when they're saying that they're going to know that other people in the group have said that as well. And so there is just this caliber of really paying attention and showing up that sometimes you just don't get in a free one, but sometimes you do and you'll lock out, but the percentages are much lower.

[00:32:35] Heather Sager: Yeah. Okay. That makes a lot of sense. I think that's with anything, right? We talk a lot about in this space around, it's the same thing with people with free content versus paid content. When people actually have stake in it, like a stake in it, they're going to most likely take, take more actions so that makes sense. But coming back to the caliber and the mix of the people in the room, like you keep hitting on that, like that is so, so, so important.

Okay. Thinking about that, knowing that the people are built up by kind of their personalities, this was really interesting. Something that you were sharing with my team was that you love forcing people to take personality tests. I don't think that was the word you used, but it was kind of the gist of it. Can you talk a little bit about that? Like, evidently you were very passionate about the concept of understanding yourself through personality tests. Like talk about that for a minute.

[00:33:24] Jen Argue: Okay. I forced them. I don't force anybody.

[00:33:28] Heather Sager: I think you just said, I give all my clients those so I like to dramatize things a little bit for, you know, we're media. It's media.

[00:33:38] Jen Argue: Yes. Okay. I love that. No, I do. And I, yeah, I call it an alignment session. And so what's really important to me I think with my background as a therapist is that I know where people are coming from because I want them to have joy in the journey, because I think so often we think of the destination is the destination, and I really think the journey is the destination.

[00:34:00] Heather Sager: Yeah, I totally agree with that. Totally.

[00:34:04] Jen Argue: Yes. We want to be enjoying our life and how do we enjoy our life by aligning our business to our personality strengths, to our values. And so when people's turn off, I always give them a personality battery. It just means a bunch of different personality assessments and then also a values assessment. And through that, I am able to be a really good guide to them and mirror to them to reflect, you know, the choices that they're making is this in alignment with what you have. Also, it really helps. Some people are getting stuck because often when people get stuck, it's usually because it's not in alignment with their values, and then we can work and see, okay, is this something that you actually just shouldn't be doing or is this something that you need more training and education and practice around?

[00:34:57] Heather Sager: Yeah.

[00:34:58] Jen Argue: So it really helps move things faster once you know your strengths and your values. And I'm all about speed and efficiency.

[00:35:05] Heather Sager: I loved that, like who would put those things together, right? Personality tests and speed and efficiency, but they do go together. I think, I view those kinds of things as like a really great compass, like, especially with the values is you have to know what your compass is in order to be able to go in the right direction. And I think there's so many different brainstorming ideas that you can expose yourself to at the end of the day, going back to what we were saying before is, you have to make the decision as a business owner, having that anchor, having that compass in your hand to say, oh, this is the right decision for me right now. That's really powerful. So I love, I love that you do that.

[00:35:42] Jen Argue: Yeah. It's so fun and it's so fun and it's really fun in a mastermind when people kind of learn each other's personalities and their strengths so it really, I think it just makes you feel closer and yeah.

[00:35:54] Heather Sager: Yeah. It's so great. Do you find also people then get really curious about the personalities of their spouses?

[00:36:01] Jen Argue: And their kids?

[00:36:03] Heather Sager: And their cats?

[00:36:04] Jen Argue: One client, they have.

[00:36:06] Heather Sager: Yeah. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Totally. Oh my gosh. That's funny. Okay. Well I know one of the things I, okay, I love. You have a really awesome questionnaire that people can fill out to find out what they should be looking for when it comes to mastermind. Can you talk about that a little bit? Because I know people are going to be like, Hmm, is this the year I joined one or what kind should I join? Like, there's going to be some questions. So can you talk a little bit about your guide that you have?

[00:36:32] Jen Argue: Yes. Yes. Yes. I mean, you know, from everybody asking questions about like, should I join a mastermind, should I do a group coaching program or one-on-one, I finally just put it all together in a guide with questions that you can ask yourself,

[00:36:47] Heather Sager: She was so sick of your messages, people. Just kidding. That's called be efficient. She sets processes and efficiency.

[00:36:57] Jen Argue: Yeah, it questions you should ask to see which [00:37:00] mastermind is best for you, and I would even say, even, you know, if a mastermind is best for you at all. So this, this guide will help you to bring clarity to your decision making because like you're saying and like it is masterminds are often a pretty big investment and not only financially, but with your time and your effort as well. So knowing ahead of time, you know, to help you be all in if you're gonna do it, this will really help you with that.

[00:37:28] Heather Sager: Yeah. That's you said making sure that it's the right time for you and it's not this big, giant thing. It's a really simple guide, like eight questions for you to go through, like, this is really good. I think everybody needs it. Where can they find that, Jen?

[00:37:38] Jen Argue: On my website, jenargue.com.

[00:37:41] Heather Sager: Perfect. Okay. So we'll link to that in the show notes in case any of you are confused and can't find it, right, or you're not somewhere so we'll link to that. We're gonna land the plane here, Jen, as much as I want to continue having this conversation. I am curious, we didn't talk about this, but I'm going to pivot for a moment and go here. Anyone listening, who has a business and they're thinking like, huh, I've considered hosting a mastermind, do you have any tips or advice for them for if they were making that decision of whether or not they want to go down that path in their business?

[00:38:15] Jen Argue: Yeah. I think if somebody wants to host a mastermind, I think it's a great idea. And some things to consider is, you know, what is the outcome that you want for the people and what are the terms that you're going to use to curate the group, you know, how are you going to decide who's best for the group? And the great thing about masterminds is you can do anything with them. There's no mastermind police out there. You can make them short, you can make them long. You can add them into a retreat or just an afternoon, a one-timer wherever it is. There's lots of creativity you can have with it. So I think, to feel the freedom, to just explore and try and experiment is a great thing to do. And like I said, I'm all about community. However, it happens. The more we all can make it happen, the better.

[00:39:02] Heather Sager: Yeah. Oh, okay. I love, I love that. I love that so much. Okay. So being in community, for anybody listening at once to continue to connect with you, keep up with what you're doing, maybe check out your masterminds. Where can they best connect with you?

[00:39:15] Jen Argue: Well, always in my website, but also I do love Instagram so just give a shout out in the DMS. I would love to connect.

[00:39:23] Heather Sager: Yeah. Do you like to do the voice messaging thing in the DMs? That's like my favorite new thing.

[00:39:27] Jen Argue: I love that you love that. I'm getting used to it.

[00:39:32] Heather Sager: Get used to it. It makes a huge difference because I know relationships is like a huge thing for you. And just being, like you said, being generous of service, the voice messaging thing, PS, but if you're listening right now and you're like, I still haven't done that yet or I haven't done that in a while. Send somebody a voice message today. It's a wonderful, sweet thing, even though the world is opening back up, like people are still hungry for real people and real voices and it not being a mass, hey Instagram, like don't do mass, like [00:40:00] talk to one person. Let them hear your voice. It's such a beautiful thing. You have such a beautiful voice. You should share it more.

[00:40:05] Jen Argue: Lovely. I love that. Good encouragement. Good takeaway for the day.

[00:40:09] Heather Sager: Little pep-talk. All right. Let's round it out here, Jen. Is there any additional advice you'd give for anyone listening today? Just around running life, business, masterminds, any parting words you have?

[00:40:18] Jen Argue: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I definitely think if you're not in the community, find one, you know, just find somebody or even just one accountability partner. Go in their DMS and leave them a voice message to be your buddy.

[00:40:32] Heather Sager: Oh, yes. I love that. It has to be more than your cat, like you need a person, a community is great. Jen. I'm so fortunate that you were in my community. I love connecting with you. Thank you so much for bringing all your little gems into the show today. You're a true pleasure. Thanks so much.

[00:40:49] Jen Argue: I feel the same, Heather. Thank you so much for having me.

[00:40:51] Heather Sager: All right guys, and be sure to head over to Instagram. And if you love this episode, share it. Tag both Jen and I we'd love to see your shout outs or send us a voice message [00:41:00] because that's cool too, and we will see you on the next step.