When I first had the idea to put together a group coaching/mastermind program, those same feelings bubbled up that I’ve had about many other things I’ve done in my business…..

“I could never do that”

“Who am I to put together a program?”

“I don’t have 50k followers on Insta and am not a biz celebrity so I have no business putting this out into the world.”

But I’ve been here before and I have people in my life who (luckily) will call me out on my BS. I knew that this type of program was something I personally WANT but can’t find. And if I was desperate to find it than others probably would be as well.

I decided to move forward. And it was probably one of the hardest AND best decisions I have made so far in my business.

Group Coaching + Mastermind

I had a lot of ideas about what I wanted the group to look like and how I wanted it to operate. But when it came to naming this program, I was on the struggle bus. Big time.

I didn’t want it to be only group coaching focused and it also wasn’t ONLY a mastermind. There were elements of both. And I just didn’t know of a word that is used out there in the creative industry that felt right.

Intensive. No.
Accelerator. Nope.
Consulting. Ick.
Workshop. Not right.

I was chatting with Paul in the car one day about my conundrum and it came to me.

A circle.

I was also on the tail end of my own involvement in the Speaker Circle and I was like, duh…of course! That name just makes so much sense!! How in the world had I not thought of it before?

I asked Jess (the leader of the Speaker Circle) if she was cool if I called it The Cinnamon Circle and she was like, DUDE YES!!!! That is seriously the perfect name.

So I finally had a name! And I kind of loved it.

Putting it all together

I was very intentional about how I brought everyone together. I knew I didn’t want to do a traditional “launch” with this because honestly I wanted the group to be hyper curated based on where people were at in their businesses and what they were looking to accomplish.

I’ve been in groups and masterminds before that were NOT focused on this and it truly and honestly disrupts the group dynamic and all members suffer.

I didn’t want this for this group. I wanted people to thoughtfully consider being a part of this group and I wanted to make sure that everyone in the group would be good for each other. You only have so much control over that, but I wanted to have as much control over it as I could.

I didn’t do a big snazzy launch. I didn’t even have a sales page or landing page built out. I mentioned it in one of my weekly emails with a link to a questionnaire and talked about it a couple of times on instagram. From those who responded I narrowed it down to the ones I felt would be a best fit and from there I introduced the program to them, discussed what it would look like, how much it would cost and all of the other pertinent details.

The In Person Kick off

I felt it was really important for us to have an in person meeting at the beginning of our 16 weeks together. Online is great, but you just can’t replicate the bonds that are built when you are chatting in the car on the way to dinner or sitting on the living room floor, laptop in hand getting ideas from the group about how to deal with a tough client email you just got 5 minutes ago.

That environment, the body language, the in between moments…those are what make a group successful.

Our time in Seattle was better than I could have ever imagined. Everyone came together, challenged each other, laughed until our stomachs hurt and we all left feeling motivated and READY to REALLY dig in with each other for the next 16 weeks.

Branding Media

In addition to the content during our in person kick off, each member had a 30 minute branding photo/video session. I had two amazing people there to do photo (Mekina) and video (Adrienne) and each member of the group got to leave with photos they can use for their marketing as well as branding looper videos. I was SO pumped to be able to provide this for each member.

What’s next?

This is just the beginning. We wrapped the in person kick off and now we have another 16 weeks together.

We will have weekly calls that will include coaching on specific subjects, group hotseat calls and 1:1 calls. My goal is for each member to feel challenged, supported and actually take action on their goals during our time together. I am so ready to see all of the amazing things these ladies accomplish during and after our time together.

I can’t wait to follow up with another post after this initial round of The Cinnamon Circle wraps up!!