Mastermind, retreat, coach or coliving: which one actually moves the business

A mastermind

A group of peers, a monthly call, perhaps a yearly meet-up. Good for accountability and for hearing that your problem is normal. The weakness is that peers are peers: nobody in the room has necessarily done what you are trying to do, the quality of the group is luck, and nothing about your week changes. Masterminds drift.

An executive coach

One to one, deep, and yours. Good when the problem is you. The weakness is one perspective, often from someone who has never run a business, and again nothing in your environment changes. You have the same Monday, with a better vocabulary for it.

A founder retreat, the weekend kind

Energy, contacts, a speaker or two. Good for a reset. The weaknesses are the length, the drink and the fade: by Wednesday the notebook is closed. We have written about why a weekend doesn't do it.

Coliving

Live and work for months in a house full of people building things. Savi runs one near Valencia and it is the best way we know to change your environment for a season. The weakness, for an owner at a certain stage, is that there is no programme: the mentors are not built in and the house holds people at every stage, not twelve at yours. Read about sober coliving if months, not a month, is what you need.

A month-long mentored retreat

Sojourns takes the useful part of each. Time away, a month of it. Mentors rather than peers: three who have scaled, sold and invested, one a week. Peers too: eleven owners chosen by application. A wellness facilitator for the body. An environment that does the work, an alcohol-free house with a chef and a sea to swim in. And the business running from a desk in the house, so nothing is on pause.

The honest weaknesses. It costs what a distinctive month costs. There are twelve places. A month is a real commitment, and you have to be able to run the business remotely for it.

Pick by the problem

• You need accountability and company: a mastermind.
• You need to work on yourself with one person: a coach.
• You need a jolt of energy and some new names: a weekend retreat.
• You need to live differently for a season: coliving, and Savi is a good place to start.
• Your business works, it still runs through you and you can't switch off: Savi Sojourns.

Questions

Is Savi Sojourns a mastermind?

No, though it has what a mastermind promises: eleven peers and twice-weekly problem sessions. It adds three mentors who have done it, a wellness facilitator, a month away and a plan you leave with.

How is it different from a founder retreat weekend?

It is a month, not a weekend. The mentors are in the house, not on a stage. It is alcohol-free. You leave with a 90-day plan rather than a notebook.

Why pay for a month when a mastermind is monthly?

Different problem. A mastermind keeps you company while you run the same week. Sojourns changes the week, the body and the plan at once, for owners who can't switch off. The fare is on application.