Member Testimonials

The most extraordinary experience in franchise business development!

From San Antonio, TX . . . 

John, after watching you work with our Mastermind I came to realize you have a natural talent or gift towards getting to the core of what is going on, learning from it and in turn helping others grow. It was very invigorating to be part of those experiences.

Ben Ahern
San Antonio, TX 

From Dallas, TX. . .

 

I highly recommend a Mastermind program to anyone who wants to improve the performance of their business. My involvement with a Mastermind, facilitated by John Hayes, has proven invaluable to me. Just the preparation of being the Host office for a Mastermind is an eye-opening experience, and the feedback from your ‘Board of Directors’ (the other participants in the Mastermind) is incredible because they give you ideas for improving your business. Your ‘Board of Directors’ seems to have the ability to be more objective about your business and they’re not worried about hurting your feelings, because if you are not prepared to accept the Good, Bad and the Ugly about your business, you might want to reconsider hooking up with a Mastermind. However, if it is your desire to improve your business I highly recommend you join.

Cal Wilkins
The Real Advantage

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From Philadelphia, PA . . .

The mastermind was the most eye-opening experience we have had in our business. We learned that we didn’t know the most important things, like our numbers, our employee personality profiles, our return on investment, organization structure, etc. It was down right embarrassing when we had to call our office manager to clarify figures and categories. As a result, after we hosted our first Mastermind, we met with our accountant, learned our financial statements, began focusing on our numbers to improve our performance ratios, focused on cutting large expenses identified during the meeting and learned the personality profile inside and out to use to our advantage in placing employees. We also ended up terminating two people and re-positioning another person based upon the recommendations of the Mastermind, which were insightful to say the least. We also incorporated key ideas from other Mastermind meetings that Nick attended. Nick found the Masterminds to be very energizing in that you spend intense time with people who can really understand you. The entire experience was an eye-opener and a great way to review our organization as a whole.

Nick and Jessica Cifaldi
Cifaldi Property Investments, LLC

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From St. Louis, MO . . .

There are several reasons why I think it’s important to participate in a Mastermind, and why I continue to participate in Masterminds:

1. When you own a business you are always a victim of yourself and it’s important to find people who you respect to offer you their thinking about what you’re doing, how you’re doing it, and how you can improve the business. In my opinion, that’s where a Mastermind is invaluable in the development of a business. The members of the Mastermind help me to see things that I wouldn’t see on my own, and getting that feedback is invaluable. The Mastermind, time after time, helped me make the really tough decisions that I otherwise didn’t even want to face.

2. The Mastermind improved my bottom line the very first year. In the 12 months after I hosted my first Mastermind, I added at least $2,000 more per transaction to our revenues. That’s significant, especially since I did more than 100 transactions that year. The Mastermind also showed me where I could reduce costs. Things tend to get a little loose as you grow a business and the members of the Mastermind wasted no time showing me where to make adjustments and changes to save more money.

3. Accountability in business is so important and it’s hard to get it when you’re on your own. Once I joined the Mastermind and I got the group’s critique about my business operations, or I got their opinions about how I should handle a particular challenge, the next time we met the group expected to hear that I made progress. No progress would be embarrassing, so that extra accountability helped me immeasurably.

4. I learned almost as much about my business by preparing for the Mastermind as I did in meeting with the Mastermind. Wow! The questions you asked us to answer to prepare for the Mastermind, and the materials that we had to bring together, all of that forced me to look at our business in a way that I wouldn’t normally look at it. By the time we finished preparing, I already had a half dozen ideas for what I could do to make improvements. Plus, that process better prepared me to ask the Mastermind members significant questions when we met.

5. Your facilitation, John, has been critical to the success of our Mastermind meetings. You not only keep us on track, you also have a knack for knowing when someone isn’t as forthcoming as they need to be with information, and you’ll dig to get at the critical points. That helps to make sure that the outcome of the Mastermind is beneficial to everyone who participates.

I know that had I not participated in Masterminds, I would not have been able to build my business in ways that would be satisfying to me. I’m a much happier person today as a result of participating in Masterminds.

Bob DeClue
RMD Investments, Inc.
Master Licensee, Healthier Environment Living Program

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From Chicago, IL . . .

I really felt the Mastermind was beneficial for my business. It gave me an opportunity to open everything up and have the group dissect my business and give suggestions based on what they saw. I was able to take away lots of good strategies and information from the other members and incorporate them into what we now do. I would definitely recommend a Mastermind for any franchisee that wants to not just survive, but to increase your business as well.

Alan Washer
Value Properties Inc.

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From Queens, NY . . .

As a very experienced business owner and franchisee, the Mastermind program and the preparation that goes into the hosting of one truly makes you more prepared for not only others, but your own employees and vendors. You realize that the people you deal with every day (your employees and agents) whether letting their feelings be known or not, see you in a different way then you perceive yourself. The Mastermind program sheds tremendous light on how you are being viewed by them and your peers as well.

I have come away from my Mastermind sessions with great suggestions and ideas and the implementation of them has always made me a better boss and more successful organization. Also, there is a very satisfying feeling of sharing what is going on with your business with a group of similar professionals facing the same obstacles. Not only can they relate, but they can give you honest comments no matter how they may sting at the time, to make you a more successful business owner.

Finally, I have come away from these meetings re-energized and completely motivated; sometimes it’s you who needs the motivation, not your employees.

Mitch Cohen
Buy A Home, LLC

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From Atlanta, GA . . .

I participated in a Mastermind Group, with John P. Hayes as the facilitator. Without a doubt, the Mastermind Group was one of most valuable aspects of being a franchisee in our system. The Mastermind members became our ‘Board of Advisors’, and participation in the group forced each of us to be accountable to the rest of the group. Preparation for hosting the group became an important annual planning and review session for our office. Presentation to the group generated very candid and very valuable feedback, which was instrumental in the process of continual improvement for our business.

In my opinion, there is simply no substitute for a well-facilitated Mastermind Group; there is no other way that I know of to get hard-hitting, candid feedback from a group of people who are committed to helping each other. I strongly recommend that all owners of small businesses – especially franchises – participate in Mastermind Groups.

John Holman
Aspen Funding

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From Dallas, TX . . .

The Mastermind program . . .has been of great benefit to me. I have been a participant for roughly two years, and I joined a group that was already well-developed. The relationship aspect of the Mastermind is particularly valuable. The very nature of the process, where you share intimate details on all aspects of your business situation, creates a lasting connection. I probably talk regularly with maybe a dozen franchisees, and almost half of them are from my Mastermind. The level of honest dialogue with your Mastermind colleagues is greater, since you have confidentially shared the real story on your business.

The core of the program, where you review one participant’s business in depth for two days at a quarterly meeting, always provides new insights into my own business. I leave each meeting with a list of big and small ideas to apply to my business and my team. Several examples of input that led to tangible performance improvements for my business included techniques for buying deeper, coaching that let to shifting a greater focus to our contract assignment business segment, and several strategies for reducing overall risk. Perhaps the biggest benefit I received was learning techniques and receiving tools for raising private capital. . . .

Chas Carrier
C&C Residential Properties, Inc.

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See if you qualify to join a Mastermind group.
From Columbus, GA . . .

I believe the main benefit that I get out of the Mastermind that I am a part of is that it helps me see the business through seven different (member) mindsets and perspectives. It allows me to experience positives and negatives about the business (via other people’s experiences and in effect foretell the future of what might happen to my business negatively or what could happen to my business if I followed a good business idea that another member was using positively).

It also helped to have the Mastermind come pick my business apart and expose its weaknesses, although I am convinced that I receive equal benefit when they came to visit me and every time I went to visit another franchise. Sometimes it is best to not be on the ‘hot seat’ and look down on another business that you can compare to your own and things just click, as in. . .’that is a great idea that they are doing. I need to implement that because it sounds really good.’

Overall, a Mastermind is something I have wanted to be apart of for over 10 years and I am thankful that I have a great group of guys to mastermind with.

Randy Perez
RP Investment Group

From Detroit, MI . . .

I have been a member of a mastermind group for almost 2 years and there is nothing more valuable than having my peers dissect my business and give me real world advice on improving it. While a franchisor can certainly give good advice, my peers are always closer to reality than my franchisor and also serve as accountability coaches to ensure that I have improved my business following a mastermind gathering (regardless of whether I agreed with all their advice).

Following the mastermind meeting in my office in August 2007, my group gave me advice to downsize my business and by following many of their suggestions, I believe I have been able to weather the storm that has blown through the real estate business in the last 18 months. Had I not been given this advice (and followed it), I know that I would have been out of business by now (spring 2009).

Jeffrey A. Drake
Motor City Home Buyers, LLC

 

From Minneapolis, MN . . .

The Mastermind was an opportunity to get an accurate, honest peer review with other like-minded business owners that operated as my Board of Directors. I gave them permission to ‘speak freely’ so as to get feedback even when it wasn’t easy to hear. They weren’t ‘telling me what I wanted to hear’ and that is extremely hard for a business owner with a Type A personality to get.

Dr. Hayes, the facilitator of the Mastermind, did and outstanding job performing what I believe is a necessary function of keeping the group on track with a defined purpose and structured goals for: use of time and scheduling, functions and purposes of various elements of the Mastermind group, and as a coach and taskmaster. Our time was leveraged to the highest and best use because of his presence.


I benefited greatly from the ability to network with other like-minded business owners and developed friendships and business relationships that could be leveraged throughout the year. Using them as a sounding board for new ideas and concepts. Leveraging their experiences and research and development shortened my learning curve on many aspects of the business.

The preparation for MY TURN as host of the Mastermind required me to become intimately familiar with the details of my OWN business. Hours of preparation that would probably not have taken place without the accountability inherent in the Mastermind group. Members keep each other honest about the facts: accounting, sales, overhead, wages, advertising, performance figures, etc.

Lastly, I highly enjoyed the good Food and Fun. I had an opportunity to take a step back to see the FOREST through the TREES. I used the RR&R, time to Rest, Regroup and Recharge, to come back to my business with a fresh approach, with new ideas and increased energy and focus!

Jason Cramer
Select Equity Investments Inc.

From Oklahoma City, OK . . .

I thoroughly enjoyed the MasterMind events facilitated by Dr. John Hayes.

. . . This process of sharing ideas (along with the inevitable entertainment value that genuine debate provides) proved to be the most rewarding part for me. I found that the vast grey area of decision-making was dramatically and efficiently reduced yielding the most logical and practical solutions, something any business owner will appreciate.

Thanks to the MasterMind, we gained more clarity about how to re-align our staff assignments to be more effective and productive. We picked up numerous tips that helped us develop our buying and sales skills. As an advisory member, I had an opportunity to get a peek into another member’s business, looking at all the nitty gritty details, and then I participated with other advisory members in putting that host member’s business back together and showing the host how he could build a more successful business. By doing that, I also gained insight for my own business and was able to go home and put that into practice, too.

The MasterMind participants became my friends and confidants and I still call them from time to time seeking advice. I will look to MasterMinds in the future for increased productivity.

Scott McLain
Red Dirt Lending LLC

From Houston, TX. . .

I have been involved in a Mastermind for a number of years. It has really opened my eyes in a lot of areas that you may not pay attention to. I believe it has really helped my business and it has made me more disciplined as President of my organization. Our Mastermind gives Ideas on how to improve my business. They break the business down from start to the end. It is a breath of fresh air to have someone come in with another set of years and look into your business and give constructive ideas on how to improve. I would highly recommend to get involved in a Mastermind.

Rickey Williams
WFI Properties Inc.

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Here are details about joining a Mastermind group.

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