On the second edition of PT’s Pointers, Paul discusses the importance of mentors.
Mentors.
It's considered by many of the business coaches to be one of the keys in growing as a professional and a person.
Unfortunately that means everyone wants one, putting the “good” ones out of supply.
But what if I were to tell you there's another way.
First off let's talk about what a good mentor truly is. The ideal mentor is not some guru or expert, your ideal mentor can be anyone who’s been in a position of leadership and has life experience.
My mentor for Super Signs in the early days was my father. He was a computer systems salesman, so he knew next to nothing about the signs and stickers that make up the bulk of my business!
But he did know a thing or two about sales, managing people and process systems. One of the main areas he taught me was the keys to negotiating.
As we all know negotiating is one of the most important skills in life. Everyone develops it from birth. However when we are a child we have our parents to show us paths to navigate and deal with life. When you start out in business, you’re like a child in many ways. You’ve got a lot of passion, a lot of time, and more often than not you can get too excited to fill your portfolio. Unfortunately, without a mentor you can get burned on some bad deals. After all everyone has had great deals and deals where we have been burnt chasing the next big thing. Your mentor offers an experienced outsider’s view. Therefore they can point you away from some red flags that you might be blind to simply because you haven’t been in the industry long enough.
To make sure you don’t go chasing fool's gold, you better make sure your mentor has experience. As my Dad used to say, “It takes 25 years to get 25 years”. A proper experienced mentor has won and lost, they know what can happen if they take the leap. Whether they have landed or not they know the consequences of when things go wrong and the rewards when things go right. With over more than forty years experience in international business, I often found myself querying for and listening to his advice when I was starting out. Let me tell you not all of his advice was given with a spoonful of honey. Which leads me to another key point.
Your mentor has to be someone who you have mutual trust and respect.
Part of the reason why I sought out my father as a mentor was because he offered tough but fair advice. At the end of the day you have to put your personal feelings aside and act on what your mentor is instructing you to do. Their tough talk comes from a place of past experience and a desire for you to avoid whatever unpleasantries they had. After all, the mindset of the mentor is one to look for opportunities that your young eyes can’t see!
However if you really want to take the next step, I suggest having role models. For role models you can choose anyone in the world. The best bit about it is that at any moment you can get an excellent role model.
Want to learn more business tips, stay tuned for next week where we explore Role Models.