There are a few factors and I'll cover them in the coming days and weeks ahead.

One of the Top Things that has boosted my income is Joining Mastermind Groups.

It is *very* hard to achieve your financial goals when you're working in a vacuum.

A mastermind group is an entire group of people who share a common interest and work together for the better of the entire group, by helping other members to reach their personal goals. In this type of group, everyone gives and everyone benefits.

Normally, a mastermind group costs less and you’ll get to pool resources from different areas that you might not have with a one-on-one coach.

For instance, I belong to a few mastermind groups including this one.. Our group is made of internet marketers all over the world, who run every type of business you can think of. No matter where we live, what our lifestyle is like or the type of business we run, we all have 2 things in common:

• We're investing money in our businesses.
• We want to work with others.

The point is we’re there to help one another with anything and everything we can. Just a few of the advantages of being a member of a Mastermind may include:

1. Coaching and Advice from other business owners
2. Business Resources & Tools only available to group members
3. A place where others “get” what it is we’re doing.
4. Positive reinforcement and butt kickin’s when we need them to keep us from giving up when things get tough.
5. Accountability from other members.
6. Contacts that serve us well in specific areas of our business (i.e. affiliates, partners, etc.)
7. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg!

The cool thing about Mastermind groups is that they are everywhere. Here are a few examples of Mastermind groups I’ve seen:

• Mom Business Owners.
• Online Business
• Product Sellers
• Writers
• Service Businesses
• eBay Sellers
• Copywriting
• Internet Marketing
• Exercise
• Health & Diet
• And so much more

How else can an online Mastermind group benefit you?

As you may know, in sports, having a good coach will increase your chances of success. Also, the players on your team can make or break your game. If you play on a team with players who are mediocre, your game will remain mediocre. If you join a team with better players who take the game seriously and you add a a great coach, your game will improve as well — significantly.

How do you choose a quality Mastermind group?

In a good Mastermind group, you'll find people who take their business seriously. Think about it. If  the other members are willing to invest money to be there, you know they want to learn. Their business is not treated as a hobby. The members are dedicated to their businesses and work hard to achieve success.

There are several key factors to deciding if a Mastermind group is worth your time and effort.

1. The leaders
Do they know what they're talking about? What are their qualifications? A good group will be led by experts in their field, by true leaders who have experience in the topic and know how to share that information in a clear, concise manner. They are not afraid to share their success and are confident in themselves to be able to lead others to succeed as well.

2. The Resources
Most Mastermind groups offer resources that are only available to their members. These may be interviews with experts, ebooks, audio and video teleseminars, and software. Take a good look at the resources available. Oftentimes the resources alone are worth many times the price of the membership.

3. The Forum
A good Mastermind group will include a forum where you can brainstorm and build relationships with other members. This is where you'll get specific and applied help. The coaches or leaders should also have a very visible presence on the board, personally answering questions and giving guidance.

So, yes, there are great free forums online and valuable free resources. But, if you want to improve your game, then find the best coaches and jump into the game with a team who can take you to to the top.

Two Mastermind Groups to Consider:

Mom Masterminds – This is where I originally started. Kelly McCausey take you by the hand to help your Online business succeed. MomMasterminds offers a free trial membership. It's a bit pricey if you don't see the fine print that you “graduate” after a year and never had to pay again. The free trial will give you a taste of what's inside and if it's the place that you'll want to call “home”.

Lynn Terry's Elite Group – Run by the awesome and brilliant Lynn Terry. This is the place to hang if you want to make the big bucks as an Affiliate Marketer and is the place that I hang out most these days. Would love to have you join us.

The cool thing is that you bond with the people in these closed-door forums and get to know them as family.

For instance, I met Carrie Lauth in Mom Mastermind years ago. Here's a picture of us from this past weekend when we FINALLY got to meet. Aren't her babies adorable?! I wanted to squeeze them so badly, but didn't want to scare them off. She's a smart hard-working marketer, an excellent writer (very entertaining and informative) and I'm delighted to have finally met her in person.

And, here are some pics of me hanging with members of Lynn's Elite club. (I'm on the right with the brown sleeveless shirt.)

I highly recommend that you invest in a mastermind group before you even think of buying another ebook. Rather than pouring through ebook after ebook, trying to find the answers to your questions with no one to ask, you can spend the same amount of money and have an entire GROUP of successful internet marketers who will answer any questions that you might have.

Of course, if you want to pick my brain, I'll be in the Elite Group. I'm not there every day, but I do try to stop in a few times each week. (Lynn and the other marketers are there daily.)

Oh, and here's a recent pic of me and Lynn hanging out last weekend. I'll post more about the conference soon, but am still gathering pics – as you can tell.

Pssst. You can order that shirt “I'm Blogging This” at Think Geek.

Have a productive day!

Warmly,
Nicole

There are a few things you can do to help this statistic, of course.

1. Open your windows.
2. Use safer cleaning products.
3. Eat more fruits and veggies. (Since I've been back on the South Beach Diet, I think I've eaten about 20 servings of veggies per day.)
4. Use sunscreen.
5. Get regular exercise.

So, my friends. What do you think of this statistic? Do you think it is reflective of us having a higher level of stress, or indoor air, or sitting on our butts too much?

I'd love to know your thoughts.

Nicole

Well, one of the sweetest of these was by my good friend and right hand helper, Arika.

I've been awarded the Nice Matters award!

In case you're wondering what the Nice Award is here you go:

“This award is for those bloggers who are nice people; good blog friends and those who inspire good feelings and inspiration. Also for those who are a positive influence on our blogging world. Once you’ve been awarded please pass it on to 7 others who you feel are deserving of this award.”

The rough thing now, is that many of my nicest friends have already received this award so now I'm on the spot!

Let's see…

My wonderful friend, Annette, is always, always always a loyal, honest, giving, loving friend (and blogger). Can't forget her!

My Kelly friend. Always honest and ethical, and sincere and genuine. Love that girl!

Jen – She's just all around sweet. This girl needs to hide when it rains or she'll melt like sugar.

My Nell friend — gotta love her.

Vera, of course…

Regina Baker is one amazing woman.

Carrie Lauth rocks, too!

KC has always been a true friend and has been so supportive of me.

Did I miss you? Give yourself a shout out! Tell the world you're a Nice Blogger and you know it.

Nicole

My friend, Carrie Lauth, interviewed Aurelia Williams about being positive as a mom and being HAPPY.

Click here to listen to the MP3 for free

Enjoy!
Nicole

Four Jobs I’ve Had :

• Camp Counsellor
• Purchasing Dept for a Bank
• Writing Bank Manuals
• Virtual Assistant

Four Places I’ve Been On Vacation :

• Mexico
• Las Vegas
• Crater Lake, Oregon
• Miami

Four Tunes That Play In My Head :

• Theme to Barbie Mermaidia (thanks to my 4 year old)
• Whatever was playing in the car on the way to drop my 8 year old off at school
• Monster Ballads – Yes, I'm a dork, but this is usually playing while I work. (It explains some of my weirder posts.)
• And, oftentimes, the theme to SpongeBob Squarepants. (thanks to the kids again)

Four Favorite Dishes :

• Burritos
• Pesto (anything!)
• Soups
• Salads

Four Websites I Visit Daily :

• MomMasterminds – the #1 where I learn and grow in my business.
• LadyPens.com – to approve and decline articles
• www.moms.aweber.com – to check and see if my lists are growing and to update them and write more.

Four Books I Really Love :

• Dance Through Time (Time Passages Romance) – I love all her books. I'm a time-travel junkie.
• http://www.lynneklippel.com/webwonderwomen/index.htm – I just finished Web Wonder Women and enjoyed it much.
• “When You're About To Go Off The Deep End, Don't Take Your Kids With You.” – written by my friend, Kelly Nault
• The rest of the books I've read lately have all been work-oriented ones.

Four Places I’d Rather Be :

• In bed
• At the beach
• on a bike ride
• by the pool

Four Blogger Friends I'm Tagging :

• KC
• PetiteMommy
• Heather
• Jen

Nicole

Hi Nicole and thanks for featuring me My name is Carrie Lauth and I started dabbling in online marketing about two years ago when I was doing a direct sales business. After months and months of solid effort I was getting nowhere except into debt with that business model! I hated the phone calls and sales aspect of it. Meanwhile I had built a website and started monetizing it with affiliate and pay per click programs, and incidentally that income started to surpass the direct sales income…and it was nearly passive as well as very inexpensive to produce! No buying product and no phone calls. I was sold. I stopped doing direct sales entirely and focused totally on affiliate marketing. I now have 14 websites and I absolutely love building them.

Business-Moms-Expo.com – This was my first site and it's a resource for Moms who are investigating their work at home options. It features an ecourse for Moms who need some direction in starting their online business.

http://www.Natural-Moms.com – I love to talk about birth, babies and breastfeeding.

http://www.InsteadofTv.com Features a newsletter with tons of tips to help parents limit the impact of tv in their kid's lives.

Carrie, do you offer any great freebies?

My business card site, CarrieLauth.com features several valuable (no junk!) freebies for work at home Moms.

What are two products or resources you can't live without in your business (or have helped you the most)?

Mom Masterminds, the mentoring and coaching program, and XSitePro (no longer active) – I absolutely love it for building new sites.

What's your best advice for someone just starting out in online business?

Find a mentor and study what she does! I latched on to Alice Seba after discovering her IBMoms site and I try to apply her marketing wisdom to my own sites. I buy (as much as possible) the products she recommends and generally do what Alice says. LOL! I believe in shortening the learning curve as much as possible. As busy Moms, we don't have forever. We need to learn how to make money now and without taking too much time away from our families.

Check out Carrie's articles at LadyPens.com

She's compiled really good information. I hope you'll take advantage of this — and do let me know what you think!

SIGN UP HERE FOR THE FREE COURSE ON MAKING MONEY WITH YOUR NEWSLETTER

Enjoy!
Nicole

PS. If you're ready to jump into Newsletters with the Pros, also sign up for The EZine Queen's newsletter.