Mastermind Dinners by Jayson Gaignard

The Book in Three Sentences

  1. “Your network is your net worth”.
  2. Relationships are based on quality.
  3. Vulnerability is a gift.

The Five Big Ideas

  1. “We overestimate what we can accomplish in a day, but underestimate what we can accomplish in a year”.
  2. “Abundance creates energy, and envy (scarcity) drains it. You need to surround yourself with people who are batteries and not black holes”.
  3. “Honesty, vulnerability, and integrity are expensive gifts, don’t expect them from cheap people”.
  4. “Invest in people like others would invest in a business; the return is far greater”.
  5. “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it”.

Mastermind Dinners Summary

  • “People don’t realize that entrepreneurship is ‘living a few years of your life like most people won’t, so you can spend the rest of your life like most people can’t’.”
  • “As my friend, Colin Collard once said, ‘When one door closes, another one opens, but it sucks to be stuck in the hallway’.”
  • “Investing in my relationships was the safest investment I could make, and I believe the same is true for you”.
  • “We overestimate what we can accomplish in a day, but underestimate what we can accomplish in a year”.
  • “Abundance creates energy, and envy (scarcity) drains it. You need to surround yourself with people who are batteries and not black holes”.
  • “A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle”.
  • “Honesty, vulnerability, and integrity are expensive gifts, don’t expect them from cheap people”.
  • “If you don’t have the courage to be vulnerable at times you’ll never be able to reach a real level of depth in your relationships. If you don’t share your struggles, people won’t buy your successes”.
  • “Invest in people like others would invest in a business; the return is far greater”.
  • “In a world where people measure their self-worth by how many Facebook friends they have, I urge you to seek depth (quality) and not breadth (quantity) in your relationships”.
  • “At the end of the day, it’s not how many friends you can count, but how many friends you can count on”.
  • “What I like to propose to people who want to improve their network is the idea that if you want to connect with someone who’s a millionaire – what would make you interesting to a millionaire?”
  • “I jump at most opportunities that will lead to a better story, or a better life lived”.
  • “If I could boil my success down to one thing it’s that I have always surrounded myself with people who were one or two steps ahead of me”.
  • “My model has always been that if you’re the smartest person in the room you’re in the wrong room”.
  • “Surrounding yourself with people who make you feel uncomfortable (on some level) forces you to grow as quickly as possible to bridge the gap between where you are and where they are”.
  • “Get comfortable with the uncomfortable because un-faced fears become your limits”.
  • “Surround yourself with people who make you feel uncomfortable on some level. If you do, it’s a great indication that you’re growing in ways you may not even be aware of”.
  • “Who you surround yourself with is who you become, so choose wisely”.
  • “Want to supercharge your networking with real players? Hold a dinner for speakers”.
  • “You must be sure there is at least one commonality amongst your guests”.
  • “Make sure you don’t select people at both extremes of the unifying commonality. You don’t want to have an entrepreneur with a one-hundred million dollar company at a dinner with a bunch of people who have startups”.
  • “You don’t want to invite anyone with a conflicting interest (i.e. direct competitors). The goal for you as a dinner host is to put four to eight incredible people in a room and create an environment where they feel comfortable to open up and share”.
  • “Before brainstorming who you would like to invite be clear as to ‘why’ you are putting on these dinners in the first place, and why you want certain individuals there”.
  • “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it”.
  • “A good salesman knows that his first real sale is himself. I’ve learned that when you’re honest, raw, and authentic, marketing is effortless. If people don’t bite it’s most likely because they are not the right fit, and I NEVER sell something to someone when they aren’t the right fit. For those who are the right fit, no explanation is necessary. For those who are not the right fit, no explanation will do”.
  • “My good friend Michael Fishman sums it up perfectly when he says that ‘credibility can be established with credentials or by being transparent that you have no credentials.”
  • “Don’t forget to ask yourself one of the most important questions of all – ‘what is in it for them?’ It is baffling how often this question is overlooked. If you’re reaching out to someone cold, there must be some kind of clear benefit for them”.
  • “Ask yourself, ‘If I received 500+ emails a day, would I bother to open this email?’”
  • “Leaving subject lines open can be a great hook”.
  • “Whenever faced with an objection follow up with a question like ‘Under what circumstances would you say yes?’”