The AmWritingFantasy Podcast: Episode 146 – Author Masterminds and Masterclasses

Masterminds and masterclasses has been around for quiet a while - and for good reason. The best thing you can do for your author career is to invest in yourself. To learn and grow. 

In this episode of the Am Writing Fantasy podcast, Autumn and Jesper share some of their personal experiences from being part of masterminds, as well as, thoughts on why they are so beneficial.

 

If you want to join the masterclass on fantasy map making, sign up here: https://ultimatefantasywritersguide.com/fantasy-map-masterclass/

 

Tune in for new episodes EVERY single Monday. 

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Read the full transcript below.

(Please note that it's automatically generated and while the AI is super cool, it isn't perfect. There may be misspellings or incorrect words on occasion).

Narrator (1s):
You're listening to the Am Writing Fantasy Podcast. In today's publishing landscape, you can reach fans all over the world. Query letters are a thing of the past. You don't even need a literary agent. There is nothing standing in the way of making a living from writing. Join two best selling authors who have self published more than 20 books between them now on to the show with your hosts, Autumn Birt and Jesper Schmidt.

Jesper (29s):
Hello, I'm Jesper.

Autumn (31s):
And I'm, Autumm.

Jesper (33s):
This is episode 146 of the Am Writing Fantasy podcast. And today's topic is Masterclasses and Masterminds for authors. And it's actually a topic that we've sort of been sitting on for quite a while. Isn't it? Autumm

Autumn (49s):
It is. We've had this idea and another big idea that kind of goes hand in hand with it. Why, why are we like Masterclasses or Willy's what the benefit of them are, especially mastermind groups as well. So this will be a fun one to jump into and I'm looking forward to hearing a reader and listener. I should say reactions because I would love to know what their take is on Masterclasses and all of these things that are out there to learn.

Jesper (1m 16s):
Yeah. Yeah. And of course we have a bit of a culture. W what is it called?

Autumn (1m 20s):
Altera photos. Yes.

Jesper (1m 22s):
That's what I was trying to say yes. With this one, but that will become clear Indian, but I think most people can probably guess it already now

Autumn (1m 31s):
Probably, but we'll see if they're right. Let them consider that we could pull twist ending. You never know.

Jesper (1m 39s):
Yeah, no, no, that's right. I've had a bit of a cipher weekend this last weekend. Yeah.

Autumn (1m 48s):
Well, I know because he, over the weekend you had a lot of refereeing and things going on.

Jesper (1m 52s):
I did, yes, I did do that. I refereed three matches in the weekend, but then Sunday evening, I, I went to watch the new Dune movie in the theater,

Autumn (2m 3s):
Right?

Jesper (2m 4s):
Yes. And then I also started watching a foundation on apple TV plus. Which is also sci-fi.

Autumn (2m 11s):
Yeah. That is a huge sci-fi weekend. How are they, how is Dune?

Jesper (2m 18s):
Actually, I think, I think for once they have actively succeeded in making a Dune movie, because I think it works. They they've sort of slowed down the pace. It even says in the, in the opening credits. So it's not a spoiler. I won't spoil anything here, but assessing the opening credits part one. So it's only going to be the part of the, part of the doom story that they're going to show in this movie. And it definitely ends as well. That it's very clear that there needs to become be more movies. I don't know how many, but, but this one actually works for once. I mean, they've tried to make doom before and failed, I think, but, but this one was good and the end, the cinematography is it's amazing.

Jesper (3m 2s):
Oh, nice looking.

Autumn (3m 5s):
Excellent. I'm going to have to put that one on my list of, you know, date nights with my husband. If I can find it playing anywhere near us, where we're still,

Jesper (3m 14s):
You should go and what's it for sure. That'd be. And, and also if anybody of the listeners, I don't know, I don't think you have apple plus two TV Autumm, but if any of our listeners do then what's foundation, as well as it goes, it has a very strong dune vibe to it. And, you know, in terms of cinema photography, it looks amazing. And it's so fun. I only watched the first episode I should say, but I actually quite liked it. I was pretty good. So yeah, a lot of scifi this weekend for me,

Autumn (3m 49s):
Just trying to get out of this world a little bit. Orange juice. Very cool. I will have to go look this up. I'm good. I actually started a Netflix series that kind of goes along with some of the murder mysteries. You and I have been reading, call it high sixties, so, and that's on Netflix. So if you happen to see it, it's actually, it's fun because it takes part. I think the ship is probably the 1920s era, the roaring twenties. And so it's got all that gorgeous styling and the art deco, which is one of my favorite design times. So just gorgeous little elements. And it's a feisty young heroine who, you know, they ship a ship's officer who definitely is kind of interested.

Autumn (4m 34s):
And she was just kind of batting them off as they did in the roaring twenties. Just like get serious. There's a murder we're trying to solve. So it's really kind of cute and good acting. I think that's actually, it might be Spanish based, but it's, it's really fun. But besides that, life's been quiet literally in a way, because you know, you know that I'm partially deaf and I've picked up a hearing aid this summer, but I finally decided it's I love hearing, but it's incredibly uncomfortable. I like, while we're podcasting, I can't have anything over my ear, like while I have it on. So there's this surgery that I've been contemplating, but I do risky surgeries.

Autumn (5m 18s):
I'd had PRK done on my eyes so that I could go from like seeing three inches to 2020, it was a miracle. I cannot believe that modern science can do such things. And there's something very similar for my ear. And I'm like all for it, except for one thing, there's the nerve that goes for your taste. Buds goes right over where they need to, you know, do their little finagling. And so then she adds, you know, me, I'm a foodie. So, you know, I'm a foodie. I love food. I was like one of my joys in life. If I can't drink tea, you know, I might as well not get up for the day. Well, just exposing this nerve to light can mess it up. And they're like, usually it's three days.

Autumn (5m 59s):
Sometimes it's a week. Sometimes it's a couple of weeks in 5% of the cases, it is a term sauce possibly, you know, the rest of your life injury. I'm like 5%. So that's one out of 20 people. This is just the doctor. He's like I said, 5% of my patients have this long-term issue. So one out of 20 people walk out of that door and they're never going to taste quite right again, I'm like, that's like saying I don't like my front door and I could get it fixed and have it moved or changed my front door. But there's a 5% chance that you're going to destroy the entire house. I don't know if it's, so I've been sitting here like flipping coins going.

Autumn (6m 43s):
I trying to think of an analogy going, you know, if I, if I had a scratch on my front door and it really drove me nuts and I hated seeing it every day, what I risked destroying the entire house, just to have it fixed should probably just suck up the hearing aid, but hurts. It really hurts,

Jesper (7m 2s):
But it isn't a hearing aid, also something about getting used to it, that wearing it enough and getting used to it.

Autumn (7m 7s):
I was hoping so, but it's actually the longer I wear it, the worst it's getting, I have, it turns out I have a tiny ear canal. Of course it's got all these problems, but so it actually wearing, it makes it feel like you have a major sinus infection. That's just like clogging your ear canal. So it was like when I pull it out, if I wanted to pay a lot of money. So maybe if I save up a couple 10, 15,000, it's really expensive. Very, very expensive. So yeah, I'm on the fence. If any listener out there or someone reading the transcripts, if you cannot listen, has any suggestions, please let me know, because I am on the fence with this one leading towards sucking it up and not getting it.

Autumn (7m 54s):
But maybe if someone has had a state, but it's got a stupid doc to me, if anyone else has had that and they've had a success, you know, let me know. I need some advice.

Jesper (8m 6s):
All right. Well, that's a call for the listeners. I don't think I can help months on that one.

Autumn (8m 10s):
Okay. Fair enough. You don't have hearing problems.

Jesper (8m 15s):
No, probably other things, but not hearing. Okay.

Autumn (8m 18s):
Fair enough.

Narrator (8m 22s):
A week on the internet with The Am Writing Fantasy Podcast

Jesper (8m 27s):
This week, I was thinking to keep this section sort of short and sweet by just mentioning that we had a soon call with Jason, our Facebook group moderator last week, and Luke was supposed to be there too. He's the other moderator of the group, but unfortunately he couldn't make it, but it was so great talking to Jason, But, but the reason I'm bringing it up is basically because the Am Writing fences, your Facebook group has really come a long way since we started.

Autumn (8m 55s):
Oh my gosh. As I told Jason, I remember, I remember when it was me and I was inviting a couple of Fantasy authors. I knew to join it. So if he did tell me I should get a pin for

Jesper (9m 6s):
Being an inaugural member, but yes, it's not two people anymore. It's almost 7,000. It's a crazy, yeah. We were sort of joking if we would make it to 10,000 before the end of this year, but let's see.

Autumn (9m 22s):
Yeah. That'll be interesting. You never know. I think it's slowed down slightly this last month, but it could pick up again. You never know how these things go.

Jesper (9m 30s):
No, for sure. Not. So, yeah. So if you, you, dear listener have not joined the best writing group on Facebook yet. Just search for Am Writing Fantasy and you will find us.

Autumn (9m 41s):
It's not just us saying it's the best one. It's the members and the moderators who just absolutely adore it. So that's kind of special

Narrator (9m 52s):
And onto today's topic.

Jesper (9m 54s):
All right. That was a sort of Sweden to the point. So we'll just get right into this main topic of Masterclasses and Masterminds, but I actually did a bit of digging ahead of this excellent Episode. Autumm do you know when the first mastermind was established?

Autumn (10m 14s):
I have no idea. I'm guessing it's probably, if you're not counting internet I would say it's probably pretty early, but I mean, if you're counting the internet age, I would say probably post 2005,

Jesper (10m 27s):
Right? Yeah. I did some digging, as I said, I think actually there is something about Masterminds going on in ancient Greece, but, but if we just sort of look at it in a bore Middlemore modern context and I could of course be wrong about this. So this is just as far as I could figure out or find out by searching around. Right. So I could be wrong, but I think it was actually Henry Ford. Oh, really? Cause he met formally with like a group of men who did not work for Ford motor company and they met at least once a month and then they shared ideas and they solve problems and so on. So I think that was actually the first mastermind in, in modern times.

Autumn (11m 7s):
It makes sense. And there have been, you know, you mentioned that there have been a few notorious as well, groups, I believe in like the New York scene, the art scene slash writers scene, there were some amazing authors and scientists and minds that would get together and just spill out ideas. I think it is an amazing way of cooking up some really innovative ideas and problem-solving

Jesper (11m 33s):
Yeah, yeah. Indeed. And later on, Henry Ford was also asked about his secret to his success and he actually said that this group, his mastermind was the reason. So I found that pretty interesting.

Autumn (11m 46s):
It was really interesting. I had not heard that about Henry Ford.

Jesper (11m 50s):
Yeah. So I think it, it can definitely the needle. I have been part of a few, a mastermind, so myself as, as part of, you know, management groups and so on and I also find it incredibly helpful.

Autumn (12m 4s):
Yeah. And I've when I was learning to build courses, I was part of a mastermind group there. And so I've been in a couple as well and they can be, and like you said, work with work. I had a leadership mastermind course. So that was really, they're really great. And they can be an amazing way of focused learning as well as coming up with some really great ideas.

Jesper (12m 27s):
Yeah. And, and I think basically we're just going to have like a general discussion here about Masterclasses and Masterminds and then maybe, maybe a bit about some challenges with it as well. At least I have a few notes about that, but I believe what happens a lot to us authors, it's sort of like we have our head down in the daily grind of writing books and you know, we never sort of stop to consider the options that are available to us. You know, sometimes, sometimes we may not, might not even be aware of them, but this is where like, like Henry Ford that we can actually benefit from what others are bringing to the table because they, they will, other people will have a different take on a problem you have, or they will just bring some ideas to the table that you hadn't even thought about.

Jesper (13m 15s):
And I think that is some of, one of the main benefits probably from the mastermind.

Autumn (13m 21s):
Yes. I agree. Because like, like our take our Facebook group, The Am Writing Fantasy Facebook group there, it's really supportive people ask questions all the time, but the problem is it is nearly 7,000 members and that we need to have moderators because every once in awhile, you know, someone's a little snippy and in general, they're really nice and usually very encouraging. But there is also a huge chance because you don't know everyone you're talking to, to misinterpret, what's being asked or not to ask it in a way that everyone understands. And I think the mastermind group, because it is a smaller group, it's usually focused participants. I mean, some of the ones I've been in, you had to be vetted so that you kind of fit in with the other people who are there.

Autumn (14m 5s):
I mean, obviously it helps when everyone's on Author. So therefore, you know, everyone, a fantasy author, especially you got the ground rules right there, but when you have something like Henry Ford had, that's a S it could be this whole intellectual intellectual thing where there's a whole bunch of different people from different backgrounds coming together, you know, and you're discussing maybe random things. You kind of want to be vetted, but you get to know people and you get to know their concerns and maybe what they're working on. So that when you ask a question, they're like, they're seeing, you know, your lens and your sphere and they're problem solving for you. Not just as like a general, Hey, have you tried writing faster? You know, it's much more like, Hey, I know you have two kids and this doesn't work, but have you tried doing this instead?

Autumn (14m 51s):
So that may, you might be able to, you know, turn out more words. I just think they're so helpful because you, I know from my leadership course, I mean, we stayed, we're still friends. We stayed friends for years, decade because it really was a powerful impact to get to know someone that closely.

Jesper (15m 10s):
Yeah. And you took the points, you touched upon something that I think is important here because when you were in Masterminds or even Masterclasses for that matter, we are sort of all like-minded people. And what I mean by that is not necessarily that like Henry Ford, for example, if we use that example again, it's not necessarily that you have to be in the same industry. You don't even have to be authors all of them, but in our case, it will be. But, but even if you're not, I mean, like-minded in the sense that we all are there because we want to achieve something. You know, we, we want to move our author business further along the road. You know, we want to maybe earn more money.

Jesper (15m 51s):
Maybe we want to become better at writing, whatever it is, but we are there because we want to learn. And by helping each other, it basically becomes for the benefit of everyone. And of course, some people might think, well, I already know enough, but I think the truth of it is that no, you don't. We can all grow. We can all learn. And that will, that's a continuous thing that will go on for the rest of your life. So for me, joining masterminds, joining Masterclasses is there's always something you can take away from those sessions, even if you're already quite accomplished.

Autumn (16m 31s):
See, I think to me, that's where the master comes in. That wording is when you're still learning and still starting out, like, you're still learning how to write the intro, or maybe you haven't even conquered your first book. You're still learning a lot of stuff, but it's, it's huge and new that might actually not be the best time for the masterclass because you're still absorbing so much stuff that you're kind of figuring it out, but there's comes a certain point where you're like, all right, I've written a series. I've written a few novels. I kind of have the marketing done. I've done this stuff, but I know I'm not where I want to be. I have this growth and there's this kind of gap of what you want to learn, because it's becoming more tailored to who you are and your book and your journey, and nothing else is going to do it.

Autumn (17m 18s):
So short of paying for a coach, which is very expensive, you know, paying for like one-on-one or joining a mastermind group where you can have that focus and you're helping others. And usually by helping others, you end up helping yourself because, oh my goodness, like, you know, I've, I've learned to life coaching over the summer. So that really, when you start asking the right questions and you re reflect on them yourself, you start solving your own problems really fast. And it's kind of amazing that way. So it becomes this group energy where you're helping each other and you're all excited and you're all really going to push forward. And so, yeah, if you think you'd have nothing else to learn, you probably won't go to a mastermind group and have that energy because you won't be putting out the energy as well.

Autumn (18m 4s):
And if you feel like everything is too overwhelming, you might not be in the right spot for it either yet. You might need to, you know, write a book, tackle some of those big questions that you can just read a blog post for, or take a intro course on writing for. And then maybe you want to level up to the next stage and try mastermind.

Jesper (18m 26s):
Yeah. And I think, and maybe you can, you can see if I'm right here, but I think that one of the major challenges or major reasons as to why authors do not join Masterminds or not so much Masterclasses, maybe because they're not, they're not so time-consuming, but more Masterminds is the time commitment of it. I think, I think a lot of the time people are reluctant to join something like a mastermind because they are afraid that they won't have the time for it. And, and then they just decide not to. And as I've said in the beginning, right?

Jesper (19m 7s):
I mean, I've been part of a few masterminds myself. And of course I can only speak for myself, but I always have found that it is well worth the time that I put into it, because you're going to get so much out of it. And yeah, maybe it doesn't mean that you are prioritizing some of your time or allocating some of your time to the mastermind instead of doing something else, but usually mastermind, they don't go on forever anyway. So it might be like, I don't know, four months, five months, six months, something like that. And you meet maybe once a week, twice a month, something like that. So yeah, you, you will invest some time in it, but I think when time commitment concerns are the main reason for not joining, I think that's actually a bit of a shame, to be honest.

Autumn (19m 55s):
I agree. And I think it might be good to let's define masterclass versus mastermind. So a masterclass is usually a single course. I've seen them up to three, you know, three sessions, but it's usually like, it's just a very short, very focused course that, like I said, it levels up, it is advanced techniques. You're not coming in as a beginner. So there's going to be lingo and stuff that you're like, oh, you know, I, you should know this already. It might be explained, but if you've never written a book and you take a brighter as mastermind, you might, or masterclass, you might be a little behind and you might not be as you ain't need to watch it a few times. But yeah, Masterclasses usually a very short one to three sessions, you know, at the most, so an hour or maybe three hours is not a big time commitment, but a mastermind group, it tends to be more interactive.

Autumn (20m 46s):
And like, you, you can meet sometimes twice a month. It doesn't go on forever. It shouldn't be go on forever. I was invited to one that had no end point and cost a God awful amount of money. And I kind of cocked my head and said, you're not trying to teach me anything. You're just trying to get me to pay you and walked away from that one. So do you should always take everything with a grain of salt, but yes, they should be it's to me, it's almost like the life coaching. They should have a definite end point a definite target, a goal that you're going in for that you want to see happen and eat might be twice a month. And maybe it is once a week. It depends on whichever one you end up being a part of.

Autumn (21m 29s):
But as with all things, maybe you won't be writing as much, but when you get out of it, you're going to be writing so much better, faster, stronger. It's going to be worth giving up some time so that when you get to the other side of it, what you're doing, you're doing with so much more confidence, skill and knowledge. And with some friends that you're going to still have. I mean, like I've had a writers group and we stayed in touch again for ages afterwards, because we really cared for each other and you keep those friendships going even after the group is officially over.

Jesper (22m 1s):
Yeah. And I want to touch upon that just in a moment, but I just to add one thing to what you were saying about the difference between the master class and Masterminds, the master class are almost always very sort of instructor heavy. It is an instructor led class. So meaning that you have a teacher who is just explaining things, whereas the master mind, it also has it, but it's not so much a teacher. It's more like a facilitator. There is a facilitator there that will facilitate the conversation within the group. And there will be, at least sometimes there will be a bit of cheating as well, but it's, it's only a smaller portion of the mastermind. Whereas in the master class, you, you, you basically, even if it's probably virtual in many cases, but you're in a class room kind of environment.

Jesper (22m 49s):
If you see what I mean, somebody is teaching something, whereas that that's not so much the case in the mastermind, it's more about a group helping each other to become more successful, whatever success means to you as, as the member of that mastermind. Yeah. So, but I wanted to get back to what you were saying there, because one of the huge benefits I see is, and it ties in with what you were saying. It's the accountability part. You know, you were saying like, you, you get the friends and you, you, you, you stop meeting on a frequent basis, but you have accountability built in. And that makes a huge difference. You know? So you have a mastermind session, you agree some things that you are going to go and do for before the next meeting.

Jesper (23m 32s):
And that forces you to actually go and start ticking off those, those things on the to-do list. So that you, next next time you show up, you actually did what you were supposed to do because otherwise you're going to get stuck right in the mastermind. And you're not going to get much help. Plus who wants to show off for the next class and say, I haven't done anything of what we agreed I should do. I mean, nobody wants to do that. So not to say it can never happen, but in most cases it really helps you to, it's a lot about motivation. I feel like it's a motivating experience to be part of a mastermind. And maybe that's actually one of the greatest benefits of it now that I think about it. Yeah,

Autumn (24m 9s):
No, I would agree. It, it definitely, you, you ended up with accountability partners. Do you want to hold up your part of whatever you're working on or learning or doing. So, you know, you've put in the effort, you, you join a mastermind group when you, you know, you're going to be putting in effort, you shouldn't join it already feeling tired and overwhelmed and everything else, because it's, it's a bit of a commitment because you're really, you're trying to take some pretty good skills and move it to the master level. You know, you're, you're pretty solid intermediate. And you want to go to the next tier. You're going to have to put in a very focused time intensive, well, not time intensive, but energy intensive mind intensive. You're going to think about it. You're gonna work on it.

Autumn (24m 49s):
You're gonna have to be accountable for it. So you don't do this when you're like, I want to go on vacation. It's not maybe the best time in your life to do a mastermind, but it does up your skills, I think a lot. And I agree you end up, you know, putting in your effort, putting in your part. And so I think when you get done with it, maybe you're not quite as high getting all that same amount of workout, but you're higher than you were when you went in and you're better at getting your work done.

Jesper (25m 18s):
Yeah. And at the same time, I want to say, be careful that it doesn't become an excuse. I mean, I think you'll write into, in what you just mentioned on them, but at the same time, that can easily be turned round to becoming an excuse for not joining and a master. Right. Like, well, Autumm said that I feel like having a vacation. So now I shouldn't. Right. I mean, a mastermind is usually maybe as I said before four or five, six months duration, right. There will be some point during that period probably where you have less energy or maybe you have something going on or whatever. So I also feel like you might need to push yourself a bit to say, I'll give it a try. Right? Yeah. And, and jump into, of course not.

Jesper (25m 59s):
If, if you truly have something in your life that, I mean, I'm not saying that you should push past any like boundaries that you shouldn't, but

Autumn (26m 8s):
Keep your health family first.

Jesper (26m 11s):
Yeah. Yeah. For sure. For sure. But, but, but at the same time, if you want to sort of get to the next level, at some point sooner or later, you have to start investing in yourself and your business or in your writing skills or whatever it is you want to improve, but it's just tuition not to that's the problem.

Autumn (26m 30s):
Yeah. Well, I, I guess I'm always the one who's like, oh, learn something new and let's go do that. I don't care that I've got, you know, a mountain of things, but I do see what you're saying. And I agree I've I do think more of a self-evaluation maybe you don't think you have the energy, but if you feel static in your writing career, or, you know, if you're looking at Masterclasses anywhere, but if you're feeling stuck or static, or like you're not progressing, things are not going as quickly or they're just plateaued, even if you don't quite have the energy, but you think you have the time commitment, that might be a good indicator to do a mastermind. Because being with other people who are excited, you know, and an instructor, or at least a facilitator, I like how you use that word.

Autumn (27m 15s):
Facilitator fits very well with a mastermind group. You know, being with other people will get you the energy to keep going. So as long as you have the time commitment, even if you're not feeling it really good, like you're so excited, like you're wanting to get up at 5:00 AM to go running for half an hour. You don't have to have that level of energy because if you do, I don't talk to me at 5:00 AM. I'm still asleep, but you just have to have that realization that things are not quite going the way you want them to go. You maybe you're not feeling the writing. Maybe you're like fluff about it. You're just like, maybe I'm done.

Autumn (27m 56s):
I don't know. I'm stuck. That's probably a really good indicator that it's time to, you know, level up, get into a mastermind group, get the energy, find out where you're stuck, get unstuck and push through it and come out the other end feeling really awesome. Like you did get up at 5:00 AM and went for a run and it was great

Jesper (28m 16s):
Afterwards. It's great. But I think of course the mastermind should in itself be, be a good experience as well. It's not like, it's not like you have to force yourself to it. Like you might have to force yourself for exercising. It is it isn't true. I've always enjoyed the mastermind sessions. They are quite fun. You learn a lot, you take a lot of you get inspired from it. So I think in general, it it's a very good like that. And then I was just thinking about something based on what you said, and now it's escaped my mind again, like a puff of smoke,

Autumn (28m 50s):
So that doesn't usually happen on the pad podcast. So we'll, we'll forgive you this time, but yes, but no, I agree. It is not like exercise. It's it's more like getting to hang out with some of your favorite people talking about your favorite subject and getting geeking out about it. So if you like getting excited about something. Oh, excellent. See, I just need to talk more. Go ahead.

Jesper (29m 14s):
You just needed to fill the gap then I, yeah, no, but it was because you were talking about getting excited about the writing and so on, but it could also be of course, that you feel like I've tried every book marketing trick that I have, you know, I I've been able to find on blog, post on podcasts, listenings or YouTube or whatever. I tried, like, I feel like I've tried everything and nothing works. No, maybe then this Whaley, it could also be about, I want, I just want to sell more books, you know, that could also be something you could bring into the mastermind and, and learn from there. So yeah, a lot of good things can come from it.

Autumn (29m 51s):
Definitely. I think it is just, it's a little cooking pots, Bunsen burner, and a little crucible. It's a crucible. That's what the word I was trying to find of. Just, you know, getting things going and really leveling up your skill to a new level faster than you would be able to do it on your own. And I think that's, what's important. That's why you join a group is because it is sort of like the speed training to get somewhere new.

Jesper (30m 19s):
Yeah, indeed. So I don't know if should we get to our ulterior motive now Autumm

Autumn (30m 26s):
I guess we've held out long enough and covered the basis of why Masterminds and masterclasses are actually a really good tool.

Jesper (30m 36s):
Yeah. Because, well, the ulterior motive is not that surprising, I guess, but that it's because we want to, we actually want to have our first masterclass and we actually made it available for sign up right now.

Autumn (30m 51s):
I'm so excited. Not just because I built the website and the registration page, but I'm still excited that I got it done.

Jesper (31m 0s):
Yeah. And so there is a link in the show notes and you will get right to the registration page from clicking death. And we have shared all the different info, not that much, to be honest, but there is the information you need on the registration page, but the master class is on Fantasy map-making

Autumn (31m 20s):
And that's what I was going to say. If you weren't going to tell people I was going to jump in and be like, we have to tell them what this one is about. So this is, this one is fantastic because what one who doesn't love a Fantasy map and two, this is how we met. So I think it's our inaugural masterclass that we're going to be is going to also be like with the topic of how you and I actually started talking. So it's going to be so cool. We already geek out about Fantasy maps. So

Jesper (31m 53s):
What was it? Was it last week or the week before last we had the top 10 about Maps. I can't remember. Was it? Yeah,

Autumn (32m 3s):
I think so. Wow. I don't think that.

Jesper (32m 7s):
Okay. Whatever, but yeah, we love fantasy maps and the good news of course, is as well that the master class is taking place online. It's a virtual masterclass, so it

Autumn (32m 18s):
Doesn't matter what country you're in. So that's always better.

Jesper (32m 21s):
No, no, of course there will be a bit about time zones here in the sense that we are running it on the 28th of October. If you are in Europe, it'll be evening time. If you are in the us, it'll be daytime. But the good news is that we are going to record it. So if you sign up and you can't make it in person, that's absolutely fine. We will make a recording available. So, and I think I can promise it's going to be a lot of fun. Don't you agree? Autumm

Autumn (32m 49s):
I considering I know what the slides and I know the topic I know is going to be so much fun. We're going to have a blast. And even though being a masterclass, it is mostly instructor led. We have a ton of questions and some Q and a sessions and polls and surveys. So it's going to be so much fun and interactive. And I don't think people are going to be like, that was an hour. That was like 15 minutes. It wasn't an hour. It was going to be a blast. Yes.

Jesper (33m 15s):
Yeah. And it, and we have purposely made a soda. There are some fun things coming in between the information. So it's going to be entertaining. And I think it was 38. Was it $38 or something like that? It wasn't, it Autumm yeah. $38. Yes. And it's not very expensive. And what you get as part of that package is as well that once you've signed up for this masterclass, you will actually get, get access to a second masterclass on a different topic that we're going to have on a later date. We haven't set that date yet, but you will get in as part of the package here to have that included in the price that you're paying. So it's essentially 38 bucks for two Masterclasses.

Jesper (33m 57s):
Yes.

Autumn (33m 58s):
That's actually really good deal. I've looked at Masterclasses there. Even if you go to, what is it? The masterclass Lear learn something from Neil Gaiman. Those are $99. So $38 for a Masterclasses is for two Masterclasses is incredibly genius though.

Jesper (34m 15s):
Yeah. Well, the other thing is that, sorry, I was speaking over you there. That's all right.

Autumn (34m 21s):
So maybe we're being a little too cheap thinking about, you know, the, you know, $99 learn from Neil Gaiman and we're only doing 38 for $2 for two classes, but I guess we'll go with it because we've already announced it

Jesper (34m 33s):
We'll go with it. But the thing is as well that we do plan to, at some point in the future, we, we don't have any dates for anything of this yet, but we do plan some point in the future to actually run a mastermind. And the thing is that our planning, at least as far as it goes right now, is that we are only going to invite people who actually attended Masterclasses to the mastermind when the time comes. So that might be another reason why you want to sign up. So you can actually at least put your, you know, taking the, what, not a tick in the box, but you can put your like ticket in the hat or whatever, whatever you say, your name and the hat.

Jesper (35m 14s):
Yeah. Well, when we get to the mastermind, because the mastermind for sure will only be a very limited audience. So w w not everybody will be able to get in. So, but we do tend, it tends to add people to a wait list and so on if you don't get in the first time around. But yeah, we'll see about that. The mastermind part is secondary right now. The, the main point is that if you want to entertaining fun, geeking out about FANTASY map class, then get signed up for it. And then you're going to get a second masterclass at a later date. And of course the second one will also be recorded and it will be made available as a recording if you can't join in person and all that.

Jesper (35m 54s):
So yes, that's it to be a participant. I don't want to geek out about Fantasy maps, but I guess I have to help run the show. I would sign up for that. That's true. Darn it. I can watch the recording later though. That's okay. Yes. Okay. So next Monday, we have our very first critical reading episode. We'll share our thoughts on the fifth season by N.K. Jemison.

Narrator (36m 29s):
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