We all shy away from the idea of failure. It’s uncomfortable. What if we embraced it instead? Writer, filmmaker and professor Michele Meek founded the Mastermind Failure Club for this reason – and wants to help you establish your own. Clubs combine the business expertise of mastermind groups with the flexibility and ambition from impossibly high goals. To learn how to create your own Mastermind Failure Club, read Meek’s short guide available for free!
Keep reading to learn more about the book from the author:
What is your book about?
“The Mastermind Failure Club” is a short guide to help artists, writers, filmmakers and other creative entrepreneurs build and sustain a mutual support network to propel their work forward. Nearly a century ago, Napoleon Hill attributed the wealth and success of men like Andrew Carnegie and Henry Ford to their mastermind groups – support networks of colleagues for feedback and support. But how can writers, filmmakers, musicians and other creative entrepreneurs benefit from such an idea if their goal is not only to generate the most profit but also to preserve their creative freedom and acquire meaning through their work? Enter The Mastermind Failure Club, which combines two principles:
* Mastermind Groups: Business leaders and entrepreneurs put their heads together to develop strategic solutions for complex problems.
* Failure Clubs: Participants take on impossibly high goals and nevertheless set out to achieve them.
These two ideas comprise the yin and yang of the group. They emphasize the importance of moving forward in your work and art while simultaneously addressing the necessity of risk and the likelihood of failures. And by curating your own cohort of creative colleagues, you ensure a shared sense of values and purpose. It’s the simple and free DIY solution to needing a coach, mentor or board of advisors.
Topics include:
- What is the Mastermind Failure Club
- Why It Works—Tapping Into The Ancient Art of Community
- How to Choose Your Cohort
- How to Run Your Mastermind Failure Club
- Pick Yourself
Why should people read it? Who is the book for?
In our culture, we idealize entrepreneurialism, but it can be an extremely lonely and challenging career path. Knowing how to move forward, when to pivot and even when to quit and start anew can be so hard. That’s where the Mastermind Failure Club is a game-changer. By assembling your own unique group of colleagues, you will find your ventures are no longer something you pursue in isolation – they become part of a collective endeavor. You suddenly have people who cheer you on, call you out and challenge you to push ahead when you meet obstacles. And you do the same for them.
Single most important takeaway:
“Trying new things, aiming high, and taking bold risks, can lead to failure or success. Putting yourself out there means you might fail miserably or succeed tremendously—or anywhere in between. You don’t get to decide. But you do get to try.”
Skip to Page – Chapter 1
Chapter 1 provides the “what” of The Mastermind Failure Club:
“The Mastermind Failure Club combines the ideas of collective knowledge, group problem-solving, high aspirations and the celebration of failure. The mission is to inspire creative people to come together to share and listen so they can better articulate and enact their goals and values, understand the risks they want to take and learn how to celebrate the successes and failures that emerge as a result.”
About the author
Michele Meek, Ph.D. is a writer, filmmaker, professor and the founder of NewEnglandFilm.com. Her most recent books include Independent Female Filmmakers (2019) and The Mastermind Failure Club (2020). Her current research focuses on depictions of sexual consent in media and literature, and she presented a TEDx talk “Why we’re confused about consent—rewriting our stories of seduction.” She has written for Ms. Magazine, Script Magazine, Entrepreneur, The Good Men Project and Salon.com, among others. She is currently at work on her next book about depictions of sexual consent in American teen films.
Meek has also directed numerous award-winning short films, including Imagine Kolle 37 (2017), and she worked as associate producer on the documentary feature Salvage (2019), which premiered at SXSW Film Festival. She is currently in pre-production on her feature documentary, The Impermanence of Everything.
She is an Assistant Professor in the Communication Studies department at Bridgewater State University, where she teaches film studies, digital media and screenwriting.
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