What I think would help me the most was to form/find a meetup with like-minded individuals for us to bounce ideas and strategies off of. Just composing this email has been therapeutic.
To which Thanh responded:
One of the ways we implement this concept of a mastermind, is through an amazing piece of technology called Whatsapp (iPhone, Android, Blackberry).
Whatsapp is a real-time cross-platform application that uses data to send messages. What this means, is that you can send message to ANYONE in the world, as long as you have a smartphone and data connection (be that a cellular data plan, or a wifi connection).
While iMessage requires you to have each others’ Apple IDs (an email address), Whatsapp works straight away as long as you have someone’s phone number in your existing address book. This is HUGE, and probably a large contributing factor to Whatsapp’s success/dominance as the main phone-based instant messaging platform.
There are a couple of things you need to do to use Whatsapp to its full potential.
For example, in the US, you dial 011, then the country code, then the number. In Australia, you dial 0011, then the country code, then the number. The “+” sign is a universal translator that handles that first “001” or “0011” for you.
E.g., convert 0455-555-555 to +61455-555-555 (an Australian mobile number) or 415-555-555 to +1-415-555-5555 (a US SF Bay Area number).
Now let’s take a look at Whatsapp itself (iPhone version, from what I’ve seen, BB and Android versions are similar).
Feel free to play around with the application and all the settings and functions – what’s more interesting, is the mastermind aspect which I will get right into.
- Your Status, like this:
- Install Emoji (those cute smiley icons you see everywhere). On iPhone, find the Emoji Free! app and use that.
- Under Settings –> Chat Settings, you’ll want to set your name to something recognizable, as this is what your friends will see when you message them:
This correlates to:
- Make sure you turn notifications on. You want to get Whatsapp messages the same way you get SMS and phone calls.
Your chat screen looks something like this:
Two-way masterminds
For example, here is a recent chat where we were discussing the upcoming AE series on Sex and Motivation:
A couple of interesting things to note:
International Masterminds
Napoleon Hill-style masterminds were all about meeting in person, to discuss things. Whatsapp lets you do this regardless of geographical limitation.
- Thanh – in Budapest.
- Dr Ngo – in Ho Chi Minh City.
- Stark – in London/US/all over the place.
- JB – in London.
- Micha – my roommate in Bangkok.
- Dr Wong – in LA.
It may seem subtle, but this is really the next evolution of masterminds at an international level, and the sad thing is that most people see tools like Whatsapp as a new instant messaging program for high school students, rather than a valuable business and networking tool to leverage.
But wait, there’s more!
You can build them a number of different ways:
Next Steps
Photo by: JD Hancock