TIL: automations, Rockefeller and masterminds

[Case Study] 1 year in a €1K per month Mastermind

I was always curious what it really feels like to be inside a private group of business owners, a place where everyone is at your level or above.

You hear this all the time:

“Your network is your net worth.”

“The right person can open doors you didn’t even know existed.”

And honestly, I believed that. But here’s the truth:

No doors were opening for me.

Growing up, I kept hearing these sayings, but none of them matched my reality.

Not a single euro I ever made came from knowing “the right person.”

I felt like I was missing something. Deep down, I knew I was doing something wrong.

Because if who you know is so important, why were my results completely disconnected from my connections?

As I kept growing my business and understanding the world of entrepreneurship, I felt a strong pull to connect with other people like me .. people building their own companies from scratch.

That’s when I met an entrepreneur who introduced me to a private business group called METAL.

(Quick side note: this same person scammed me for $8.5K for some marketing services he could never deliver, but that’s a completely different story.)

Even though the introduction came from someone I’d later regret trusting, I can say this for sure:

Joining METAL was one of the best decisions I made that year.

Within 24 hours, I bought the annual membership and showed up every single week for a full year.

It was the first time I ever joined a private community full of real, working entrepreneurs.

And I felt it. The shift in the room, the value of the conversations, the energy of being surrounded by people who are building things.

A couple months inside that group, I Heard About the 200K Club.

Through METAL, I found out about The 200K Club (formerly called the Joint Venture Club).

It had a steeper price tag, $1,000 per month, but I knew it was run by one of the best salesmen I had ever met: Simon Severino.

He also ran the sales subgroup inside METAL, and I saw the way he thought and operated.

Since this new group cost almost 10x more than METAL, part of me thought:

“If it costs 10x more, maybe it delivers 10x the value.”

So I joined.

What Actually Happened Over the Next 12 Months?

I didn’t just attend.

I showed up, hosted sessions, ran book clubs, joined conversations, and connected with people who were running serious businesses, many of them way ahead of me in experience, revenue, and scale.

I made friends. I found mentors. I studied. I learned.

But here’s the big question:

Was it worth it?

Looking back, the answer is clear.

Every meeting gave me:

– A new perspective on how the market works

– A tested framework for solving real business problems

– A better sense of how to position myself as a consultant

Why It Was a Turning Point?

When I first started consulting, I was working exclusively with influencers.

That came easy to me – I had built a membership of over 3,000 influencers before I even started consulting.

But shifting from influencers to business owners was a different game.

They speak differently.

They value different things.

They want proof, structure, and systems – not just hype, followers and monetization.

And that’s where the true ROI of these mastermind groups kicked in.

The rooms I entered gave me the knowledge, language, and frameworks I needed to serve high-level business clients and this one shift alone made the investment worth it.

Final Thoughts?

I didn’t get rich overnight.

Nobody handed me a magical business opportunity.

But what I did gain was far more valuable:

– The right mindset

– A higher standard

– A strong circle of peers

– A set of tools and frameworks that will serve me for years

So if you’re wondering whether getting into the right room matters, my answer is yes.

But only if you show up, share value, and treat it like a long-term game. And I mean long long game.

I’ll end with this.

You don’t rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems (and the people around you).

Choose both wisely.

THINGS I’VE LEARNED

1.
J.D Rockefeller was a business genius.

If you ever start reading “The 38 Letters from J.D Rockefeller To His Son” good job letting the book down.

This book is a business masterpiece.

It contains the thoughts and lessons a multibillionaire wanted to share with his heir and son.

His letters are extremely well articulated. Full of lessons and evergreen guidelines.

If you’ve been running your business for a couple of years now, it might contain the next few lessons you need to level up.

2.
Make.com is underrated

AI has been a trend for some time now but how many people actually use it to their advantage?

If you want to get an unfair advantage in the world of business, you might want to consider using Make.

3.
10 yrs of XP in a couple of mins w/ Chris is out!

You can find the entire library of 10 yrs of XP in a couple of mins w/ Chris here.

GROW YOUR INFLUENCE

Most people never get what they want out of life. Not because they’re not smart. Not because they’re not hardworking.

But because they aim too small.

They set tiny goals. They think in safe timelines. They move like they have forever. And that’s why they stay stuck.

Here are some lessons that helped me reverse engineer goal setting and set

1. The Size of Your Thoughts = The Size of Your Life

If your thoughts are small, your life stays small.

If your goals are big, your outcomes become big.

Simple math.

A person dreaming of making €1,000/month will never build a €10M company.

Not because they can’t but because they never allowed themselves to imagine it.

Big results don’t come from “how.”

They come from daring to want more.

2. Big Goals Create Big Movement

When you set a big goal, really big, your body changes.Your energy changes. Your brain starts hunting for bigger answers. People around you start treating you differently.

When I started working with brands and influencers, my first goal wasn’t to make a few hundred euros.

It was to build an ecosystem.

An engine that prints results.

A system that changes people’s lives, including mine.

That didn’t happen because I hoped for it.

It happened because I planned in 6 months what most people try to do in 10 years.

(Shoutout to Elon for the quote.)

3. Wealth Follows Vision

You want to know how much someone earns?

Just look at the size of their vision.

Wealth is directly tied to goal.

If your goal is small, your income will reflect it.

If your goal is massive, your income will start expanding to match it, slowly at first, then suddenly.

4. You Need Ambition. Period.

A friend of mine — a man you might’ve heard of — once told me something I’ll never forget.

“A person without ambition will not accomplish great things.”

– Mr. Hendry Fold, the automobile king

Ambition is not about ego.

It’s about refusing to settle.

It’s about waking up with a fire in your chest saying:

“I’m not done yet. I can build more. I will become more.”

5. Confidence is the Multiplier

You don’t get what you want.

You get what you believe you can have.

Confidence is the switch.

The moment you decide you’re worthy of more, life starts testing you.

But that’s also when life starts delivering more.

The stronger your confidence, the faster you move.

The faster you move, the more momentum you build.

The more momentum you build, the bigger your wins.

6. Greed Is Necessary

Let me say something that might make you uncomfortable:

Greed is not the enemy. It’s the beginning.

Greed, when used with discipline, becomes drive.

It’s the feeling that says:

“I want more than what I have now. And I’m willing to build it myself.”

Without it, you stay still.

With it, you create leverage.

7. High Risk, High Reward

You don’t get big wins playing it safe.

No empire was ever built on certainty.

The higher the risk, the greater the return.

To your growth and influence,
>> Chris Fountoulis
Founder – Growth Of Influence
chris@growthofinfluence.com
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