Hey, want to know a secret? It’s all about the “who.” Yeah, yeah, I know. Everyone out there can’t stop talking about and looking for the almighty “what” — but I’m telling you, start with the “who” and the “what” will take care of itself; in all aspects of life.

“Who,” of course, refers to the quality of people you surround yourself with and this is exactly what I wish I could whisper into the ear of every fledgling entrepreneur and small business owner as they embark on their journey. Because in the midst of this financial crisis/recalibration, it is the agile upstarts who will ultimately reshape, redefine, and re-grow American industry and I want to assure that these new businesses get built as securely and successfully as possible.

So, I follow up my mantra of “who” with this great big tip: find (or form) a mastermind group.

To put it in the simplest of terms, a mastermind group is a group of motivated, like-minded individuals who unite to form an inner sanctum or braintrust from which they collectively and synergistically work together towards goals of the members. Mastermind groups come in all different shapes, forms, and sizes (i.e., a group of golfing buddies, a Tuesday lunch or cocktail group, a group who meets and communicates internationally via the web) and there are no set rules for how they form, operate, or govern or how long they exist. The only requirement is that there is a dynamic of trust, respect, admiration, positivity, support, commitment, and fun. Yes, fun. A mastermind group should represent a pure symbiotic relationship in which all members gain from and enjoy their involvement. The cost of operating such a group is minimal, if anything at all, yet the benefits are profound and give your business the best chance for success through all phases of development and growth.

Below are the top 5 reasons that this is so:

Creative Enhancement

Ideas need collective input from different perspectives to develop. When a group is able to brainstorm and meditate together on one idea, that idea has no choice but to grow and/or reinforce. Even if the idea, at the end, remains unchanged, you will have a new confidence in it knowing that it has been thoroughly vetted. A breeding ground for new ideas is also created in this sort on environment where free thought and expression are allowed and encouraged to flow.

Networking and Building Business Relationships

Sharing what your goals with others exposes what your needs are. Often these needs will involve enlisting outside help and often members of your mastermind group will have contact with the next person/people you need to know. Each member’s contacts should ultimately become the group’s contacts and any introduction that is made on behalf of a fellow group member should be made with complete confidence – or not at all. Business relationships are built on credibility and trust and when outside people/businesses are thrilled to get a referral from within your group, the whole group becomes more powerful.

Resource Enhancement

Although members of your group should be somewhat like-minded, it also helps if each brings something unique to the table in terms of background and experience. Therefore, when you encounter an obstacle or challenge, certain members will have the knowledge and/or physical resources to assist you. For example, a member who needs certain printed materials may find that one member has free access to the printing hardware needed and another has already printed similar materials and can show her how to do it. Such collaborative resources can save you untold amounts of time and money.

Accountability

This is basic human nature in regards to social pressure. We are more likely to stick to something when others have a vested interest in our involvement. It’s sometimes easy to justify to ourselves why we quit but it’s always more difficult to let others down. When we make a commitment and state our goals to the group, we are making our self responsible for taking action and seeing those goals through.

Motivation

Everyone has good days and bad days but when you enter the world of entrepreneurial business, those highs and lows increase exponentially. This is where the support aspect of the group enters as even the most stoic and successful among us will have days that shake their confidence and rattle them to the core. Having business friends to lean on in these moments of doubt that can inspire and motivate you is critical to assuring that you jump back on the horse the moment you fall off.

The value of people and relationships in our lives should never be overlooked or underestimated. As one of my favorite authors, T. Harv Eker always says, “Your network is your net worth.” Entrepreneurs, in particular, have a tendency to try to tackle everything themselves and often will lose sight of the fact that they can’t (and shouldn’t — after all, everything is sweeter when you can enjoy it with others) do it all alone. Mastermind groups provide a level of camaraderie and productivity unlike any other out there and it is my sincerest hope that you seek one out. At the very least, though, always remember the “who” surpasses the “what.”

There are a myriad of powerful, practical, and universal lessons to be gleaned from the science and art of racing. For me, two of these became apparent in elementary school when I was competing in the Junior Olympic’s 200 Meter race. After assuming a strong lead, and despite the fact that my coach at the time had repeatedly warned me that losing focus of the finish line would cost me the race, I allowed the sound of impending footsteps from behind to distract me to the point that I turned my head, stumbled slightly, lost the lead, and worst of all, got completely taken out of my game. I vowed that day to grow from my mistake and forever carry these nuggets of wisdom with me (which have since become cornerstones of my success):

Avoid Looking in Your Peripheral View

Don’t confuse this as meaning that you should be unaware. I was very aware of what was happening in my race as the footsteps and heavy breath of the girl behind me made her presence and position abundantly clear. What I didn’t need to do was look back at her and give-in to my curiosity of who this person was who dare try and pass me.

Too often I see people, personally and professionally, consumed with what other people around them are doing, rather than focusing on themselves; their goals, personal bests and action steps to achieve them. When you concentrate your energy (mental, physical, or emotional) on anything other than “your race” you are in essence hindering your chances to win. If you constantly see others around you as nothing but your competition and become more consumed with what they are doing than with what you need to do, chances are you will not only lose but be miserable too.

Stay Focused on the Positive and Productive

This plays hand-in-hand with lesson #1. It’s much easier to block out the noise of “the competition” and stay within yourself when you keep your eye on the prize and your thoughts centered on positive outcomes. In the case of my story, counter-productive emotions won out. I let my fear of being passed up on the track overtake my desire to experience the thrill of winning/running a great race.

Unfortunately, in entrepreneurs eager to launch an idea, I often see this tendency to succumb to fear when it’s time to share their idea with others; worrying that it will be stolen if they talk about it. When it comes to these concerns I like to challenge myself and other entrepreneurs to adopt a defiantly positive mindset and think more along the lines of “Go ahead, steal my idea if you want. I’ll just come up with another and another and another — and each one will be better than the last!” Now, I’m certainly not suggesting that you actually say that or that it’s not imperative to protect your intellectual property, but you can see how an attitude that’s centered on inner-strength and belief creates a confident, resilient aura and keeps unproductive emotions from paralyzing your efforts. It takes an incredible amount of energy to see a concept through to market and positivity is an entrepreneur’s lightning rod. Be sure to treat it as the invaluable currency that it is.

There’s a very poignant, and now famous, quote from a faux college commencement speech by Mary Schmich that goes, “Sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind. The race is long, and in the end, it’s only with yourself.” So true. So stay focused on the prize of your own race. And don’t worry about who’s in front, behind, or beside you — there will be more than enough drama in your own journey to keep the story interesting.

From the time I was in my teens, I knew my calling. After I read an article about a key Wall Street player, I decided that I, too, wanted to be a risk arbitrageur investing in securities in the midst of takeover transactions. I was fascinated by the markets and wanted to make money because I believed it would give me power over my own destiny. My mother, who was in a traditional marriage with no control over her or our family’s finances, had planted deep within me the connection between money and my independence. I never wanted to be in the position where I had to ask permission before I could act.

Granted, this wasn’t a typical ambition among my girlfriends growing up in L.A., but I didn’t appreciate until years later how truly outside the box pursuing a career in risk arbitrage was among women at that time!

I applied to only one college — the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania — and was fortunate to be accepted. After graduation, I headed to Wall Street and worked as I had dreamed. A few years later, I formed a hedge fund with a former colleague and today am the majority principal of that firm.

I have always wondered why more women did not look into owning their own funds. Granted, it is a high stress, high risk business, but it also offers high rewards and control. I have been able to have a family and to dedicate quality time to my two sets of twins and my husband, as well as to serve on the boards of The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research and Montefiore Medical Center. More recently, I have also enjoyed being a member of the CNBC Fast Money cast. As a result, like every other working mother, I am exhausted all the time but feel immensely fulfilled.

I can’t tell you how many women I have met who prefer to avoid the topic of money, either because they have been taught to find the topic distasteful or unseemly or because they choose to remain uneducated and dependent rather than shouldering the responsibility of understanding. It might sound harsh, but I have found out that it is also true. When I mention that I run a hedge fund, even sophisticated, professional women who live at the peak of the socio-economic pyramid have responded, “I don’t understand the way hedge funds work. They are too complicated. I don’t think I could qualify.” And more often than I would have believed possible in this day and age, “My husband is the one who handles all our finances.”

Would you surrender participating in what religion you wanted to raise your children or give up casting your own ballot in the voting booth? Then why would you surrender your say about finances that can determine where you live, where you send your children to school, which house you buy or, ultimately, what to expect in your retirement?

Women want to be powerful — and we have made enormous strides — but we have not yet fully embraced controlling our own financial destiny. While money certainly isn’t everything, for good or bad it nevertheless drives our economy, our society, our world. This means that as long as we women don’t own our finances, we are depriving ourselves of taking a full seat at the power table.

One of the reasons I love what I do is that it gives me the opportunity to demystify finance for women, to get them to ask questions and become more engaged in making their own decisions when it comes to money. I enjoy being on CNBC’s Fast Money in part so that audiences can watch a woman who is as well informed about, and invested in, the market as her male counterparts.

I want women to know that they need to save, that they need to build a diverse portfolio and what levels of risk are right for their circumstances. I want them to know the difference between debt and equity, a mutual fund and a hedge fund, emerging markets and U.S. treasuries. I want them to gain the confidence to take smart risks.

My main concern is that there are too few women seeking to learn. We become too comfortable, or we think we are too busy. But what we are doing is giving away the power to make our voices fully heard in all the many ways we care — whether philanthropy, politics, corporate governance, retirement, home ownership, our children’s educational options or other area.
I am eager to begin the conversation.

When I set about selecting women for my show, PowerwomenTV, I knew what I was looking for: women who were smart, driven, open and looking to live their authentic truth, which translated into following their dreams.

The women I selected for PowerwomenTV have guts. They have a vision, and they have passion. They take risks, they believe in their ideas and they have the confidence to follow through on them. They are women in business and women entrepreneurs who look fear and doubt in the face and stare it down.

What I knew was, these bold, strong women spoke to me. I was drawn to them and I was willing to bet others would be too. What I didn’t realize at the time was that what I was doing was building a brand — the PowerwomenTV brand.

I had my fill of watching reality television programming that glorified women with 500 pairs of shoes and thousands of dollars worth of hair extensions. I was disappointed (but not surprised) to learn recently that a woman’s network had announced they were devoting an entire channel to weddings and the “drama that ensues when planning one”. Really? An entire channel devoted to weddings and drama?

After spending six months interviewing women about their careers and life choices it became very clear to me that what we see on television does NOT reflect what today’s women care about or focus on.

Women’s television programming needs a serious overhaul.

So, I have decided that the PowerwomenTV brand would do just that … turn women’s programming on its head. It’s a place for counteracting the vapid images of women that are broadcast around the world and their glorification of bad behavior, materialism and everything that goes along with it.

It is time for women’s reality television to GET REAL.

With that being said, I am stepping forward with the show called PowerwomenTV. It’s the series that lets women know there IS a place to go to be inspired, to get real, to learn from women who are leading lives of empowerment. It’s a place to see yourself, and women just like you.

You can check out the PowerwomenTV Sizzle Reel here:
http://powerwomentv.blip.tv/

Feel free to email me at info@powerwomentv.com if you’d like to pitch a powerwoman for the series!

For three years I hosted and produced a local entertainment show in NYC. I stood on dozens of red carpets and asked celebs what they were wearing. I went behind the scenes of Broadway shows and sat in flying cars. I attended Fashion Week and hung out with the glitterati. I hosted numerous awards shows like The Gotham Awards and the NY Emmy’s. I did everything that an aspiring journalist/TV host would want to do in the greatest city in the world. Yet, I couldn’t shake an idea I had for a show that I KNEW I was supposed to create.

A show called PowerWomenTV.

The idea came to me around four years ago. My EUREKA moment happened while I was having a conversation with a friend who worked on Wall Street. I casually asked him about the women he worked with.

“There aren’t any women on my trading desk” he said matter-of-factly.

“Really” I said, “Why not?”

He shrugged. “Not really sure. I can name about a dozen women I know who work in finance, and they are the ones at the top. It’s a small group.”

That conversation got me thinking. Who were these women?

I started to do some research. And then I did some more. My quest to uncover the stories of women on Wall Street lead me to amazing stories of women in business and entrepreneurship. I collected articles for over three years, and before long I had an entire file cabinet full of stories … stories of women who were breaking the glass ceiling, forging new paths, and living their lives on their terms.

They were the ROCKSTARS of the business world — and there were TONS of them.

THIS was a show waiting to happen, I told myself, and I have enough material for an entire series!

I wanted to watch this show, and I was willing to bet others did too.

I had to at least try to get it made and ON television. These women deserved to have their stories told. Wasn’t it time to counter shows likeJon & Kate Plus 8 and The Real Housewives with positive, inspiring images of women?

So, I spent last summer writing a treatment and gave it to my agent. I waited. Nothing. Waited some more. Then my agent called.

A HUGE women’s network wanted to meet with me!

Wow, I thought. That was easy.

Not so fast.

Cut to me sitting in a TV development execs office.

“So” she began “who are the characters?”

“Well, ” I began, “the characters are the women who are running companies, creating new products and balancing work and family.”

“Hmm” she said, “where is the drama? The battles? What are the stakes?”

“The drama” I countered, “Couldn’t be any more dramatic, the battles couldn’t be any more real, and the stakes couldn’t be higher. These are real women with serious careers — just look at them!”

I pointed to the treatment that contained the names of the most powerful women in business.

“Hmmm” she said.

I walked out of her office and up Fifth Avenue. Feeling slightly defeated but never one to give up, I thought of my options. Then it hit me — the web! I would create PowerwomenTV online! Sure, the internet was a little bit like the Wild West these days but at least I would be able to create the show on my terms — no catfights, no plastic surgery nightmares or scripted tennis competitions!

I called up my favorite cameraman, found a web designer who understood my vision and branding, and created my own production company.

PowerwomenTV was born.

We have been shooting the series since March and the women we have profiled for the series have been beyond inspiring. We have been given unprecedented access to offices, factories, labs, warehouses and homes.

Our conversations are candid. We talk about balance (there is no such thing), spirituality and how it relates to business (enlightenment = power), trusting your gut, following your passion, blocking out the negative and guidelines for getting ideas off the ground. The women on the show are smart, insightful, funny, passionate, quirky, serious, and playful. I look at the show as a cross section of women today — REAL women who are following their dreams, and letting us learn from them along the way.

You can read about several of the women featured on PowerwomenTV (check out Karen Robinovitz post Purple Blab!) right here on The Huffington Post. They are blogging about their products, careers, projects and lives.

PowerwomenTV is launching this summer. We are currently shooting so if you would like to pitch a Powerwoman, email me atamy@powerwomentv.com — would love to hear from you!
Next week I’ll be talking about the importance of branding and how to produce for the web!
See you then!

Amy
Creator
PowerwomenTV