Before and After - and Ongoing - Jennifer Carney

I know it’s cliche to reflect upon where one once was and where one is now, with all the benefit of crystal-clear hindsight. But I think it’s an important exercise when one is on the path to truly, consciously and actively becoming who they truly are. When I think of where I was when I first joined my Mastermind group and where I am today, it’s a study in awareness and growth that I couldn’t have imagined even a year ago.

How many of us tend to withdraw when times get rough? I know I sure did. I had perhaps the worst year of my life, followed by months of aimlessness that amounted to little more, career-wise, than keeping my head above water. And I was surrounded by people doing the same.

Like many others, I was hit hard when the economy hit its rough patch. Despite a degree and years of Fortune 100 work experience, I had been under-employed for 18 months.  I was either over-qualified or under-qualified for every job I applied to, and was struggling finding freelance work in a marketplace that seemed unwilling to offer it.

It was after a series of happy accidents (although John Lennon would admonish, ‘There are no accidents!’) that I encountered this amazing group of heart-focused entrepreneurs who helped me redefine what exactly I wanted to do when I grew up – and then some.

I joined my Mastermind group despite my usual aversion to ‘business networking’ groups because I felt that I had nothing to lose, and I felt that I had to do something outside of my usual box.

If you’d told me then that within a year of joining, I’d be making more money doing my own thing than ever before, I would have said, in so many words, that you were dreaming – albeit dreaming very nice dreams.

If you’d told me that within a year of joining that I’d have a clarity of purpose and a specific career track doing something that I loved, I would have asked you to stop humoring me and help me find a desk job that would pay my bills.

If you’d told me that within a year of joining, I would have an indispensible network of people who would help me not only reach my career goals, but also become some of my closest friends… well… that would have seemed way too good to be true.

And yet it is. All of this came true when none of it ‘seemed’ possible. That’s the Mastermind difference; when you come from the heart, and keep that as the focus, you cannot help but succeed in business – and in every other area of your life. This is the ‘Mastermind difference’ and it’s what sets a group like Mastermind apart from typical business networking groups that too often amount to little more than business card exchanges and the begrudging ‘trading’ of services.

Who doesn’t want to help their friends succeed in life? Who wouldn’t go out of their way to open every door for their loved ones if they needed it? This is a group that treats one another like family, and so the enthusiasm to help each other – and those around us – is stronger than in a typical business networking group. What other business group really delights in teaching and giving as much as it does leveraging some very powerful connections?

Life is such a profound gift; it is a powerful thing to make every moment meaningful and authentic, and to follow your career goals and dreams to an end that is fulfilling both financially and spiritually. The Mastermind Mindset is all of this and so much more. Are you ready to experience complete success in your life?