What’s the Deal with Mentoring?

Sorry for the cheesy title, but I always have a flashback to a particular Seinfeld episode when I think of mentoring. Anyway, I digress. While many people and publications will state the importance of mentoring, not many clearly define it or tell you how to get started. I will.

Honesty is Key

As a mentee, be prepared for brutally honest, transparent conversations with mentors. Sugarcoating the realities of life won’t benefit anyone. That approach might hurt the mentee’s feelings at the time. But when a self-aware person looks back at the blunt advice, they appreciate the honesty.

Analyze Your Need

What do you need to do before reaching out to potential mentors? First, think about what your end goal is. Start there and break it down into smaller bites. Work your way backward until you’re asking yourself, “What can I start doing today?” which leads to “What do I need to know that a mentor might be able to help with?”

Find the Right Mentor

Many people have shared that they are afraid to ask for help. Often, they don’t think they have anything to offer potential mentors in exchange for their advice. The good news is that there are giving people out there. They enjoy the fulfillment of helping people because someone helped them at one point in their life. You need to take the initiative and ask for help.

After my 40 years of being a business owner – starting, running, and selling six companies – if I can help somebody else not suffer through some of the things that I suffered through, I will. What good would it do me to just hold it in? It’s better off to share it and pay it forward.

Learn More

Mark Carter interviewed me for his Idea Climbing®/Podcast, and we discussed all things mentoring, including:

• Answering the question: “Do you ask someone to be your mentor right away or let mentoring relationships happen organically?”
• Where to go, online and offline, to find mentors.
• The top reasons you should become a mentor when the opportunity presents itself.
• How to keep mentoring relationships going after the first conversation.
• … and more golden nuggets of advice!

Check it out here. And I thank Mark for having me on his podcast.

I hope you find the podcast worthwhile. In the meantime, please reach out if you want to learn more or scale your business for success.