The Social Media Takeaway - Louise McDonnell

Masterminds: The Secret to Recurring Revenue with a Small Group

• Louise McDonnell • Season 1 • Episode 61

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In this episode of The Social Media Takeaway, I chat with Jay Fairbrother, a mastermind strategist who’s helped hundreds of coaches scale with high-ticket masterminds.

With 30+ years of experience, Jay shares how masterminds 10x’d his business and became a lifeline during tough times. We dive into the power of real connection, business resilience, and scalable offers that truly transform.

What you’ll learn:
 ✅ What real masterminds are (and why most miss the mark)
 ✅ How to build one without a big audience
 ✅ The magic of exclusivity + peer learning
 ✅ Why human connection wins in the AI era
 ✅ How to shift from time-for-money to recurring revenue

If you’re ready to create a high-impact offer, stop trading time for money, and build a community that supports transformation…don’t miss this one.

SHOW CHAPTERS
00:00 Introduction and Welcome
01:05 Jay’s Entrepreneurial Journey and Turning Point
02:15 The Mastermind That Saved His Business and Life
03:10 What a Mastermind Actually Is (vs. Group Coaching)
04:30 The Importance of Real Relationships and Peer Learning
05:45 Different Formats and Why Hybrid Models Work
07:00 Nailing Your Niche and Attracting the Right Members
08:35 Success Story: Crafting Clear Messaging with “7X” Positioning
10:30 Moving From Lower-Ticket Offers to High-Ticket Masterminds
11:45 The Problem with the “Ascension Ladder” Model
13:10 Who Should Join and Launch a Mastermind and Why It Works
15:30 Post-Covid Business Loneliness and the Need for Connection
16:40 Why Human Connection Is the New Currency
18:00 Jay’s Mastermind Bootcamp: What to Expect
20:00 Where to Connect with Jay Online

Connect with Jay!
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🗓️ June 24–26

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Louise McDonnell:

So today I am absolutely delighted to be joined by Jay Fair Brother. He is a serial entrepreneur, business coach, and mastermind guru with 30 years of experience starting buying and selling seven figure businesses. So Jay's story includes losing everything after the 20 10 financial crisis and then rising to fame afterwards again. So that's something we will explore throughout this podcast episode. You're very welcome to the show, Jay.

Jay Fairbrother:

Thank you, Louise. Pleasure to be here.

Louise McDonnell:

So tell us a little bit about your story then.

Jay Fairbrother:

I have been a serial entrepreneur for the last 30 years and 25 years ago I was struggling in my business. I pretty quickly got it to a million in revenue and I got stuck there. I couldn't seem to get beyond. That sort of range. And so I joined my first entrepreneur mastermind and I walked out of the very first meeting, I still remember it to this day, and I said to myself, oh my God, I found my tribe. Like I knew after one meeting that these people got me, they were experiencing the same things and had the same issues. And so I was like, all in. But what happened, I did not expect, because we joined this mastermind just to grow our businesses and be better entrepreneurs. But within about five or six months of us in these meetings, I'm starting to watch grown men open up and cry as they tell us about their screwed up marriages and their kid problems and the anxiety and depression that the business is creating. And it was like, this isn't what I signed up for. But for me it was really, as an adult, it was like my first real experience with human connection at that level. That kind of vulnerability and people opening up. And so I just went all in and started joining every mastermind I could so that's the start of my entrepreneurial journey and the start of my mastermind journey. And over the next seven or eight years, I built that first business up to 10 million in revenue, and sold it in 2004. And at that point, life was good. When you sell an eight figure business, life gets pretty good. And over time I bought three other businesses. I traveled, I made investments in lots of different things. And then, 2008, the world financial crisis started, lasted till 2010, 11. And over those years I lost everything. So within a few year period, I quite literally went from being a multimillionaire, living in a mansion, to living in my friend's basement, broke bankrupt, divorce alone, humiliated. And I really was ashamed because I didn't blame it on the world. Financial crisis. I blamed it on me and, so obviously that was a pretty difficult time. I spent five months literally in my friend's basement, but more like five years figuratively, just dealing with all of that. And I'd say the only reason I'm probably still here today. Is because of one mastermind in particular that I stayed in even during the living in the basement period. Because those people supported me in ways that I can't even articulate. Went way beyond the basement to live in and a car I could borrow for a few months. They really got me through that period. For me masterminds, quite literally 10 x my first business and saved my life at the worst point that I've had. So that's why I do what I do today around masterminds.

Louise McDonnell:

For a second, for anyone tuning in here who maybe isn't sure what a mastermind is, can you just even explain what it is?

Jay Fairbrother:

Yeah. It's a good question because especially in the coaching healer, thought leader industry. I would say 80% of what is labeled a mastermind is really just group coaching. They stick a mastermind label on it.'cause that's a little sexier and they can get more money. So the concept Napoleon Hill, 90 years ago came up with the term mastermind and this concept was very simple. You put one person with a brain in a room, a second person with a brain. And you create this third invisible intangible force that he called the Mastermind. So if you imagine putting eight to 14 brains in a room, the size of the invisible intangible force that you can create when you tap into the collective experience, collective knowledge, collective wisdom of everybody in the group, right? So that's the true mastermind. Concept and definition. The way Napoleon Hill envisioned it, what he didn't envision was a room, of 40, 50, a hundred people where there's q and a and maybe some hot seats that you know and that's called a mastermind, right? So to me, the key distinction is around the relationships that are formed within the program. So if you think about like most courses and group coaching programs, and maybe this applies to you, you know how many people have taken a course or a group coaching program and at the end of the program you still haven't even met all the other people that were in the program with you. Like maybe you shared a breakout room a couple times with a few of them, or you got to know the extroverts a little bit 'cause they were on stage asking questions all the time. But that's really the difference is when you build relationships with the people in the programs, then you're transitioning from a one to guru relationship. Which is certainly the case in one-on-one coaching and most courses and group coaching programs to the one to many model where you as the thought leader delivering the program, you are very intentional about finding ways to create those relationships with people in the program. Then what you strive for is that at the, if you sign up, say you have a six month initial commitment or a 12 month initial commitment for your mastermind at the end of the program, instead of people thinking, thank you. I got all your content. That was great training and see you later. Now you've put them in a situation where it's like. I don't wanna, I have such great relationships with the other people in this program, I don't wanna leave it. And they can stay. So that's why my tagline in my marketing is attract and keep clients for three years, not three months. Because when you create the container properly and you work to build those relationships and you try to keep it intimate and safe and exclusive and then you can have clients long term.

Louise McDonnell:

And tell me like because actually when I was thinking about this,'cause this, I've been in a few different masterminds and with many different formats, so I'd love to hear your take on that but what are the different formats and what's best practice?

Jay Fairbrother:

Yeah, that's a great question. So I don't believe there's a cookie cutter way to create masterminds. There are some models that are taught out there where, the Mastermind is you get the group of people together and everybody gets, eight or 10 minutes on a hot seat and you just go around the circle and that's it. That, and that's the same format every meeting. And that's the way it's run. For many coaches, healers, speakers, thought leaders, and frankly, 80% of my clients create what I call a hybrid mastermind where, in a high ticket program that we're delivering, people still want our content training, coaching, and mentoring, right? They still want the parts that we would deliver in one-on-one coaching and or group coaching. But if you add onto that, the masterminding pieces and mix it up, to me, the secret to creating a mastermind that really lasts is making it custom to you, and custom to your superpower and your genius. In other words, if you're superpower is training and content, let's not create a mastermind for you. That's 90% facilitation in that, Napoleon Hill Group. But more importantly, design your mastermind around the people that it's for and how do you deliver the most value, transformation and results for clients.

Louise McDonnell:

Yeah, that sounds really interesting. So one of the things I was thinking about when you were coming on is have you any like standout success stories from businesses who have created masterminds to generate this recurring revenue model for themselves?

Jay Fairbrother:

Yeah I have several and I'm a case study myself. And so I'll come back to the myself story because there's part of that is a critical piece of learning that I wish I had learned a lot or figured out a lot sooner. Regardless of how large or small the group is, whether it's, eight to 10 people or 20 or 30 people. It's about creating that intimacy and it's about commonality of the people who you bring into the program. There has to be a common theme that they all look at each other and say, this person's just like me. They're facing the same pains and frustrations and struggles, and they have similar aspirations and goals. So an example of that is my client, Tim, who is a real estate investor and he was like, I want to create my mastermind for real estate investors. who pivot from flipping single unit properties to multi-unit properties, right? It's perfect. That's a great niche. It's not all any real estate investor, right? It's these specific people who want to make this transition and pivot. But I said to him, Tim, who are the people that you would wake up in the morning just jumping out of bed, passionate to help and work with in this group? For Tim, he is very committed to his Christian faith and that's who he wants to help hang around and work with, right? So we came up with the tagline for his mastermind that he created was seven X your business, seven X your relationship with family, and seven x your relationship with God. That immediately narrowed it to, for him to be able to target and know exactly who his ideal client avatar is. In my vernacular, that's your purple fish. So he knows exactly who his purple fish are. He can put out marketing material that if I'm not that purple fish, it's not gonna resonate with me, I'm not gonna pay attention. Or is he gonna waste time talking to people who aren't the purple fish? So that's an example of somebody who narrowed down really well in terms of this concept of figure out. You're just thrilled to wake up and work with every day. And if you build the program around them, everything else gets easier.

Louise McDonnell:

I can see straight away how that would make your messaging easier. Your social media content creation, your lead magnets, your landing pages, your emails, Everything. And that's one of the messages that I bring across all the time in my trainings and in my coaching once you have your messaging clear and it's compelling and it's appealing to your purple fish then marketing becomes easy. And so to sell Absolutely. Selling then is the byproduct of marketing. It just aligns.

Jay Fairbrother:

One of the big things from a marketing standpoint in filling Masterminds is creating that exclusivity and scarcity. So if you can, create a program that's limited to eight or 10 people, then that creates scarcity right there. But if you position it correctly, then you can almost flip the selling script so that it's no, I don't have to convince you to join my mastermind. Tell me why I should let you in. when you set up a process that might include, an assessment and then an application to join before they join, it's no, this isn't for anyone who can write a check. This is for an exclusive, intimate group that I am very selective about. I'm very protective about who I into this community because it's important that you come into this community. Not just with a me first, me always attitude, but with the attitude that you are gonna help others. And by doing so, the value that you get in return is 10 x. Because you're put the group first. We become a team, we become a family of choice, right? And when you create that kind of exclusivity, then. The selling is easier. The market is easier. Yeah.

Louise McDonnell:

And tell me, when businesses look to start a mastermind to generate this recurring revenue, are they generally moving people who've, let's say, done a coaching program or some kind of training program with them into a mastermind? Or do they open up the mastermind to anyone that fits the profile of who they're targeting?

Jay Fairbrother:

Yeah, that's a good question. So there's two pieces to that question. One is, are there prerequisites or things that people have to do before they're allowed into the higher level program? And the other is, do I need to build all those sort of lower end products before I can launch the Mastermind? Again, it depends. That's where it really has to be customized to you because maybe there is a piece of foundational training or content or something that somebody has to get through so that the people in your high level program are all speaking the same language and understand the model that you're working within. Now, there's different ways to do that though. You can make it a prerequisite, like you have to do this first, or you can build it into the mastermind structure or make it a commitment. that if you join this program, one of your commitments is to The first thing you do is go through this training program, after you join. So there's different ways to structure that, but the bigger question I think that I usually get is, people say to me all the time, Jay, I don't feel like I'm ready to do this. And to me that's a problem because the industry teaches the ascension ladder model, right? You have a lead magnet and then you have a $50 offer and then a $500 offer, and then you can, have a group coaching program and one day you can graduate like the seven and eight figure entrepreneurs and have a mastermind. And it just doesn't have to be that way. My story is that I did exactly that. I followed the gurus, I followed the mentors, and bought the programs and for 18 months. I built a lower ticket program and then I built a signature course that at the time was like a $1,500 course, and I'm launching that course successfully, right? And it was maybe the fourth or fifth time I launched the course, and I'm looking at the numbers going what am I doing wrong here? I took those numbers and even showed 'em to my seven and eight figure mentors at the time, and I said what am I doing here? And they're like, Jay, your numbers are. Industry average. You're doing fine. You're not killing it with these numbers, but they're industry average numbers. And I'm like, oh my God, I'm gonna have to launch like 11, 12 times a year just to create a living from this. So it took me a while. and like many, people, especially when we're starting out, it's okay this looks like an interesting strategy. somebody told me I should try this strategy, and there's so many things like summits and challenges and laser coaching and there's just so many options out there and we're bombarded with it. So to me, I basically wasted 18 months. Not that some of that stuff I built in 18 months isn't useful and is gonna be great now. But as soon as I finally said, okay, it's time for me to create my high ticket mastermind in six months, I tripled my income and it's just taken off since. And it's really the model that I teach, which is called the Fewer, better Longer Mastermind model, flips the industry, Ascension Ladder on its head. And the idea is pretty simple. You make more money with fewer clients, you attract a better quality client, the ones who actually show up and do the work and get the transformation. You keep clients for the longer term so that you can keep them at least for a year, if not three years.

Louise McDonnell:

So somebody that is listening in here, like who should consider setting up a mastermind? who's your ideal appliance?

Jay Fairbrother:

The ideal person is somebody who has figured out what they offer and who they offer it to, right? hopefully at least sold something, right? And they have one-on-one clients and they're running out of time. They're tired of trading time for dollars and wanna start to scale. Or they've created one of these lower ticket programs and been able to sell it know that it converts. That's the ideal client, but I have cases of people who are pretty much new starting out that within a relatively short period of time because they skip the ascension ladder part of it, created a mastermind within the first several months of their business. So it can be done, it's better if you've figured out and dialed in at least. you have your niche and what you offer figured out and you have the confidence that you can deliver results for people.

Louise McDonnell:

Okay. And then the other side about it is, why should somebody consider joining a mastermind?

Jay Fairbrother:

That's a good question. So I think every person, especially entrepreneurs, but even non entrepreneurs, should join a mastermind of some kind, even if it's a peer mastermind. So I run three masterminds of my own. I have a local mastermind for entrepreneurs here in Pittsburgh City. I have a peer mastermind, which is a group of other six figure plus coaches, healers and speakers that target that same market. And then I have my client mastermind. So here's the difference. First of all, before I talk about the difference I just wanna mention 'cause. We, I talk about entrepreneurs a lot 'cause that's my market and who I deal with. But if you are in the personal development, life coaching, healing type of space, to me the mastermind model even works better because if you think about how much you can help someone in a one month to three month period. Compared to if you were able to work with them for a year or a few years. the level of impact that you can make in that personal development space when you know that the client's gonna commit to a full year of working with you and with the possibility of even continuing beyond that you can have huge impact. So that's the one thing. And then, the other is around the idea that it's the idea of peer learning. And for me, like for instance and I don't know if anyone listening might identify with this, I'm a type A personality and most entrepreneurs are, and so for me, like even when I hire my mentors and I pay them a lot of money to tell me what to do. It's usually the third or fourth time they tell me what to do. That it actually, gets past my stubborn defensive type A person. It sinks in. If I'm in a peer learning environment and I hear an idea, Or how somebody struggled and solved a problem or that comes from a peer that I respect, that I'm not sitting there in the business of judging or trying to coach or mentor or like I'm trying to extrapolate their experience and put it into my world. I create that learning that way, like it the first time, I get it immediately because I've got no defense up. I've got no stubbornness up of don't tell me what to do. So there's a huge amount of power in pure learning, and that's really what Napoleon Hill envision when he coined that term many years ago.

Louise McDonnell:

And do you think that. Since the pandemic, there's so many more people just working exclusively online and working remotely, and so many business owners like, who may have a team of people working for them, but they may be, by themselves in a home office or in an office somewhere. Do you think that, that's also driving the need for this peer, connection and support?

Jay Fairbrother:

100%. Since covid, really drilled into all of us around the world, this concept of isolation since Covid like here in the US in 2023, they declared an epidemic and it wasn't about the disease or the virus, it was an epidemic of loneliness. And last year, in 2024, the World Health Organization has created an entire commission to study the global crisis of social isolation and loneliness. In this world that we're living in right now. If you think about ai, you know the internet made information a commodity. AI is now making training and content a commodity because right now AI can train you in anything you want in the world for free in a matter of minutes. So in a few years, as AI continues to just, take over and develop why are people gonna be buying courses and training in a few years? In other words, every single day the value of content training and information is going down, but every single day, the value of human connection and those relationships. getting out of that loneliness, finding that tribe, finding that inner circle of people who are gonna accept you and keep your stuff confidential and be willing to open up and get vulnerable and real. The value of that goes up every day. And so I think there's a huge opportunity over the next few years for these types of programs.

Louise McDonnell:

I agree with everything you've said, but I think to add to that, I think, loneliness is definitely real and absolutely, but I think there's a because the world has opened up in terms of you, as long as you have. I heard somebody say the other day, it was actually Samantha Kelly. She said, as long as you've wifi, you can do business globally. I think that means that sometimes, like me, I'm based on the west coast of Ireland just outside a lovely little seaside village. I like to connect with like-minded people who are, aiming to achieve the same thing as me, but they're not nearby, the loneliness is one side. But there's so much opportunity for people to work anywhere in the world now, people will want to find their tribe, and that tribe may only be available through an online mechanism.

Jay Fairbrother:

I totally agree.

Louise McDonnell:

So any final thoughts on it then, Jay, before we wrap up? Anything that I haven't thought to ask?

Jay Fairbrother:

No. I will take a second though and talk about my bootcamp which is on the screen here. this is an event that I have coming up. It's a three day virtual event. anywhere in the world, basically this event is for both beginners who explore this concept and figure out, what kind of program would create and who it's for. But it's also for more advanced people because we ask you to look at some of the things you're doing from a different lens. So basically in these three days, we work on. What is the custom to you mastermind program you can create and who are the right people to fill it? Then we help you work on the belief system around creating and offering a high ticket program and build a simple. Funnel because again, one of the, brilliant things about creating masterminds is you don't need the big huge list. You don't need the fancy sales funnel with all the forks and branches and so we help you work out a simple funnel to help move people from what I say, and trust, and then you start to work on how you're gonna. Walk out of a three day event and start having conversations with people about this program that you have. In the idea stage to get the excitement built and a plan for the next step. So it's a fun experiential event. It's roll up your sleeves and do the work kind of an event. And I have tons of testimonials from people who talk about how transformational it is. Anyone listening check it out and yeah, we hope to see you there.

Louise McDonnell:

And when is that taking place, Jay?

Jay Fairbrother:

It's June 24 through 26.

Louise McDonnell:

June 24th through 26 And I presume for anyone who's tuning in after those dates you run them all the time?

Jay Fairbrother:

Yeah, I run this three times a year, so yeah, if you just check in with me, you'll see whatever the next one coming up is.

Louise McDonnell:

Fantastic. And where would people find some information on how to register for that?

Jay Fairbrother:

If you go to six figure masterminds.com and actually you can spell six. Either way you'll get to me. you'll link to either this event directly or to a masterclass that talks more about what we've talked about today and leads to the events.

Louise McDonnell:

Fantastic. And where do you hang out online? What social platforms will people find you if they want to connect with you?

Jay Fairbrother:

LinkedIn and Facebook are primary, but I have a account on most of 'em, so yeah,

Louise McDonnell:

Hanging out everywhere. Perfect. Look, thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate it. I really enjoyed the conversation and I think it's really something food for thought.

Jay Fairbrother:

Thank you, Louise. I appreciate it.

Louise McDonnell:

Thank you.