How Mentorship Has Impacted My Life

I believe success in any area of life cannot be reached without someone else’s help. Some of the greats; including Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerburg have all had a mentor in their life at one point or another. Books and podcasts are great, but how do you know what’s relevant to you? With us being in the 21st Century, anyone can post an opinion online...it’s almost as if information is TOO accessible to us in today’s age. Because of these items above, I have sought out mentorship for myself.

Where my search began

My first company I launched was selling a product line on the Amazon platform (Slightly different than ‘drop shipping’, but very similar). My business partner and I knew someone revenuing up to $30,000+ a month in sales leveraging Amazon. Our minds were blown. That reason alone and because we had him as a connection, we thought he’d help us along our journey. That simply was not the case. Yes he gave us some guidance here and there, but not to the extent we needed to take our business into the profitability margin.

From there

A lot of mistakes were made during our first company, but I would not change anything. Why? Because we learned so much through EXPERIENCE. I’ve been able to help a few others launch their companies online based on my mistakes and experiences. It doesn’t make sense to me to watch someone struggle if you can give them the leg up. This isn’t “doing it FOR them”, but at least it’s guiding their compass in the right direction. The greatest way to learn is through experience, but struggling on your own just doesn’t seem fair.

Connecting to my Mentor

Being able to help others launch their companies and guiding them away from the mistakes I’ve made, gave me fulfillment. I thought that if I could help others, someone out there can help me. It took me a while to connect with my mentor and surprisingly to me there are some guidelines and etiquette to follow in a mentor/mentee relationship. After a while, the guidelines made sense. (“The Go-Giver” by Bob Burg, is a great dynamic for these types of relationships). A brief overview, if you are pursuing someone to mentor you, you need to identify first if this individual can help you get to where you’re ultimately looking to go. Secondly if number one is a yes, they need to identify if you are a good individual to invest their time into. Have you ever tried helping someone who didn’t take your advice even though you’ve seen success in the advice you gave from others? That can be frustrating, but the same applies here. If you aren’t willing to submit, learn, and apply what your potential mentor is telling you, it will be a rocky road. Finally before jumping into a mentor/mentee relationship, you need to make sure you guys or gals click with each other. If there isn’t a positive relationship, connection, or if you don’t like one another, it won’t last either.

The IMPACT

My mentor has helped me grow in all aspects of life; Finances/budgeting, relationships, business, career, public speaking, leadership, and the list goes on. The impact and trajectory my life is on now, is exponentially better than what it would be if I took the path most traveled.

A few successes:

• Paid off (2) car loans in less than 2 years
• Paid for a wedding in full
• Career raise of 15%+
• I’ve now spoken in front of groups around 100+ individuals
• Grew savings over 100% in 2 years
• Relationship advice - Read “The Five Love Languages” together
• Learned the mindset of a true business owner

Without my mentor, I can humbly say the successes would not have been to the extent they have been for me and my wife. This really is just the beginning and I'm excited to see where my life will be in the next 10/20/50 years.

What my life would look like without mentorship

• $75,000 of debt
• Lower career income
• No successful businesses
• Lower savings account
• No House fund
• I never would have picked up a personal development book
• I would be drifting in life, not knowing what my next step would be
• My relationship with my wife wouldn’t be as great as it is today
• I wouldn’t be able to add as much value to others

Final wrap up

Whether we know it or not, we have been mentored in our life at one point of time or another. Even reading books and listening to podcasts have helped you get to where you are. But who’s helping you find what your next step actually should be? Finding someone who will personally invest into you can help you do just that, but this discovery will take some time. Find someone who has the fruit on the tree or someone who can make that connection for you. Just like those who get bigger raises are usually those who ask for them, those who pursue mentorship are usually the ones who find it.