How a Mentor can be Invaluable

I often hear the phrase, “Yeah, but I don’t need a mentor,” Or “I consider following you the best way to have you as my mentor” (of course, we are not being paid.) And our favourite, “What exactly will you do for me that I can’t do for myself?”

So let’s give you NINE Big Reasons why paying to have a mentor or a trusted ally or a business advisor in your back pocket is a good investment.

File These Under “Results”

1. A Spoon Full Of Realism Makes The Truth Settle Down.

How can you go after it if you don’t know what you want your life to look like — business, money, relationships, health, spirituality?

Do you want to work full-time or part-time? How much time do you want to spend in front of your computer every day? How much money do you need to make versus how much money you want to make?

Map this stuff out. Be specific. And make it doable.

Mentors and allies talk with you about how to create a concrete, workable plan to implement changes smoothly over time, so you don’t slip up regress, give up, have to start over.

2. Your Plan

When you show up at your computer or office or plant every day and create, there are no guarantees that it will make you millions, make you happier, healthier or more in love. But, it’s true, the more you create and show up, the better you become. Likewise, the better you eat, the better you feel.

But your progress leaps ahead when you have someone guiding you on where and how to improve, bit by bit, in every area of life.

You need a plan to get you where you want to be. A trusted mentor helps you create one that includes EVERY area of your life. And thanks to their decades of experience, your plan is highly likely to get you where you want to go.

3. Your Execution

A good mentor helps you quantify what your success looks like AND enables you to set markers along the way to identify your progress.

Nobody says, “I’m going to make $100K,” and then works continuously until it’s done. Everybody needs interim goals — and rewards for meeting them.

4. Your Focus

A plan makes multiple things happen at once: improving your skills, growing your audience, networking with others like you, developing confidence, taking time for your craft, taking care of your body, investing in your relationships, and so much more.

It’s easy to lose focus, get confused, feel overwhelmed and ultimately give up.

Your mentor keeps you on task. You’ll know what’s next, why it’s essential, and you’ll already have time scheduled for it. The best part? When you get stuck, you simply call them.

5. Your Accountability

A mentor expects to provide feedback regularly.

Annoying? Absolutely.

Necessary? Absolutely.

Who better to understand the progress you are making or not making? Who better to know if you are sleeping enough or working on your business enough? Who better to light that fire under you? You are your business. Self-care is not optional.

6. Your Inspiration

When was the last time something kept you up all night? Money worries? Relationship problems? Health scare?

What if you had a friend you could call to talk you through it?

This is the essence of what a mentor does. When you’re exhausted, and out of juice, your mentor is there to clarify and amp you up.

Sometimes it’s as simple as reminding you of everything you’ve already accomplished, validation. Often you need to be reminded of your infinite wisdom. Other times you need to be reminded to get it done.

When you, we, all of us work alone –negativity can creep in. If your inner critic is the only voice you hear, you’re more likely to start believing it. That leads to procrastination, analysis paralysis and a slew of other kinds of self-sabotage.

But when someone you trust talks to you, the inner critic gets measurably quieter.

Confidence eats that tiny, doubtful voice for breakfast.

7. Your Challenge

Being in business for yourself is scary as hell. Fear is what kills the creative impulse, over and over and over. Yet creativity, self-reliance and self-trust are necessary for your success.

Your mentor and ally help you work through that and supports you as you move through layers of resistance, tapping back into who you are and why you started this at all.

8. Your Responsibility

Some people think a mentor is responsible for the client’s results.

Nope.

What happens is you become more aware of your goals, your progress, YOUR results.

Someone with experience can advise you, guide you. But the onus to make your dreams come to life is on you and you alone.

This usually translates to less whining and more growing.

The main focus of a trusted ally is to get you through the rough patches — the places where you’ve sabotaged yourself in the past and given up. Always starting and never finishing? Hire a mentor.

9. Your Skin In The Game

You get what you pay for. I don’t believe that good advice is free. Nor do I think that when something is valuable, it is an expense. When the value is there, and your gut instinct says yes, take the leap and trust those instincts. You always find the money, and when you heed the advice, the returns consistently exceed your expectations FASTER than you ever imagined.

Signed

A Solid Trusted Mentor, Ally and Business Advisor