Mentorship.
Mentoring.
Being mentored.
Having a mentor.
These are words and phrases we hear and see so much of today - especially on the internet.
But what exactly does it mean to be a mentor and to have a mentor and to be mentored? To begin to explain - let's take a trip down memory lane to your childhood.
To that time you were given this beautiful bike for your birthday - with stabilisers on it!! You so desperately wanted to be able to ride it the cool way - without those tell-tale white wheels affixed to the back tyre! Your friends were all free-wheeling happily and you so wanted to be one of them.
But the mystery of how it was done eluded you utterly! Where did you turn for help? Your father or mother! What did they do that you could not do for yourself? Gave you the confidence - helped to take away the fear - put you into a safe space - ran alongside with you and then - let go!! If you wobbled and fell off - what did they tell you? No problem - let's do it again - you can so do this! Don't give up - and so you didn't.
You were given all the encouragement you needed - but in the end it was down to you as to whether you succeeded or not.
They only guided and mentored you.
This is probably the simplest description of what being mentored is - no-one can do something for you - otherwise this is actually taking away your power.
Showing you how to do something on the other hand is totally empowering when you do it for yourself and by yourself for the first time.
Let's take the world of the small business on the internet - what actually does mentoring mean and entail here? Very similar to learning to solo on that bike actually! A successful mentor is a person who has done it before - is completely successful and wants and is prepared to show you the steps that they undertook to get them there.
They have a proven track record of success - they have earnings to prove it - they have the testimonials to prove it.
They have the blueprint for success.
All this has to be checked out first before choosing your mentor - that is of paramount importance.
So you have done your due diligence, chosen your mentor or mentoring company and you are ready to grow your small business with their guidance.
What do they offer you? A great training platform essentially.
One of the first things you are taught is how to avoid the bombardment of confusing shiny balls that come your way on a daily basis.
What to avoid that will just waste your time and money for you.
Secondly and really important at this stage - is how to deal with the overwhelm.
The confusion that gets to us all when faced with the enormity of the internet and its challenges.
Given a blueprint to follow - a daily plan of action - daily and weekly training calls to keep you on track.
A business plan for the first 90 days.
Strategies to follow.
Trainings to plug into.
Questions answered in a timely fashion - no hand-holding here as, after all, it is your own business and like the bike - you have to make it happen yourself.
It is just so much easier when there is someone overviewing you, guiding you, pointing you in the right direction, saving you huge amounts of time and money.
Next on your agenda of being mentored is in mindset! This is probably the single most important aspect of mentoring.
If you are not positive in your mind; not clear, crystal clear in your goals; suffering from self-doubt; surrounded by the wrong, negative people; in a fear space around your life, your health, your business - this is the silent killer of any business! So what does mentoring offer in terms of mindset training? Group and community backing in terms of conference calls, webinars, one-to-one coaching sessions, self-development training, self-development books, videos and courses.
The backing of a like-minded community can pick you up on the lowest of days! When you know how to combat fear, combat doom and gloom, how to lift yourself up to a positive, determined level - all things change for you.
Understanding how it works - how what you give out will define what comes back to you.
How an utterly positive mindset will create a positive life and business - with success! Would you be able to achieve all this on your own? The answer here is no - definitely not! You would probably be chasing your tail for a couple of years; wasting money on things you don't want or that don't work; following up on too many paths that have shiny balls there; wasting time on the technical stuff of setting up websites when you don't really know what you are doing (like I did in the beginning!); spending money in the wrong areas until you have used up all your marketing budget, burned yourself out and have to give it all up! That is the alternative to having a mentor with the backing of a community of like-minded people whose only interest is in giving back to their members what was given to them - true entrepreneurs do not see money as the goal.
Giving back is the goal! Mentoring is the way! Your success is their success!