Do I Need a Mentor For My Business? Yes!!

I began my online business journey in January 2019, and for most of that time I was focused on affiliate marketing. I still do it, with this blog, although I have not had many programs to promote up until now. When I do promote something, you can be sure it’s something I believe will help some or all of my readers.

However, in March this year, 2020, I started my venture into Network Marketing, or I should say resumed since I had dabbled in it a couple of times with family members before the Internet existed. One of the concepts I kept hearing people talk about was mentors, coaches, and sponsors. All very important people. So you might be asking, What is a Mentor? Do I need a mentor to have success in my business? And what about the other terms?

My answer is an unequivocal yes. But it might not be as hard as you think.

As I understand the term, I already have about 4, probably too many.

What Is a Mentor?

A mentor is a trusted advisor. They help you have a better vision of what’s possible and provide motivation.

I should make it clear that the people I am calling mentors are not people I have a personal relationship with. I have messaged one of them on Facebook but we are not friends, not yet. Sometimes the term is used in a sense that does involve that personal one-on-one relationship.

The other two terms: coach – this is someone who does meet with you personally and helps you develop by pointing out your blind spots. You’re familiar with sports coaches, something very similar here. Someone who has a lot of experience, is an expert at something you’re trying to learn, and helps you to be better at it. I got the definition with blind spots directly from one of my new mentors who I may hire as a coach in the very near future.

And a sponsor is the person who brings you into your spot in a company and provides guidance and training on how to do the business. The term is used in a lot of other contexts too, but that is the general meaning. The sponsor can also coach you, and could also be your mentor too, so all of these terms could apply to the same person.

Who Are My Mentors?

My first mentor, in the sense of someone listened to, and excluding personal and religious connections, may have been Robert Kiyosaki, as I read his book Rich Dad Poor Dad only a few years after it came out in the 1990s. I was inspired by his boardgame in the period of 2006 onward and tried my own business venture but it was a flop. I didn’t try again, and I still thought about it once in a while but I stopped following his advice, so I’m not calling him an active mentor now. But his teachings floated to the top again once I started working on my mindset and personal development daily. I did a video about his book a few weeks ago over on Facebook.

Another would be Dave Ramsey, who also teaches about financial literacy and responsibility. I followed his teachings on getting out of debt and was able to pay off 3 credit cards and a car payment way faster than I would have otherwise. I also attended one of his live events in 2008 in Salt Lake City, Utah. I was truly inspired. I did a budget every month, I put cash in envelopes, just about everything he was teaching. However, I fell away from most of that too. I still don’t have any debt, but other than that I am not following his advice generally.

I still have a lot of respect for both of these men, and I should say they disagree on whether debt has good uses for acquiring non-residential property. I never decided between them.

My current business mentors are, first and foremost: On personal development and mindset, the man from The Secret himself, the legendary Bob Proctor. He was the first of my current 4 that I am following. I watch some of his videos nearly every day.

Secondly, a guy named Ray Higdon, and his wife Jessica Higdon, they do training on social media marketing inside a private Facebook group where the cost to join is $20 a month, I consider it quite a bargain. Like all of these mentors, their platforms are a safe space for network marketers where people are not allowed to promote or even mention the name of their specific companies. It is about learning how to do well with social media.

The third I just started following last Thursday, a guy name Dean William Mitzel. He had many years of success in Network Marketing also but has retired from that and now does coaching on how to be a good prospector on the phone.

You may be familiar with the term prospecting. In the old days, prospectors were people who searched for gold or other precious materials. It was about the searching, not the same as a miner who was extracting it after it was found. Most prospectors never found any gold, and never made any money. They were searching in the wrong places.

Likewise in business, prospecting is searching for people who you expect to do well in your company. You do this by conducting a business interview. You don’t want to have someone join your company and then leave a month later because they haven’t made any money yet. Prospecting helps you find out who will be more likely to stick around long term and not give up.

I mentioned learning new skills in previous posts. I am now practicing calling people on the phone, people who have asked for information about working from home, and interviewing them and then telling them about the business. It will take some time to get good at this so I do it every day. I may hire Dean to be my coach but I want to get some more practice on the free training and skills first. He has a free Facebook group where anyone can join to hear the recordings of his 2-3 webinars per week. In these you can hear him coaching his students and interviewing the people they are contacting, the man is a master at this. He inspires me and I listen to his recordings over and over.

My fourth mentor, if I decide to keep actively following him, I just started a couple of days ago. His name is Eric Worre, a big name in training network marketers also. He has a lot of name recognition and also teaches how to prospect, which could be on the phone or in person.

Those last 2 go together – Dean’s training on the phone will help me have more confidence in face-to-face conversations, which looks like it is one of Eric’s specialties.

I should add that all of these people help with my motivation and mindset, although Bob Proctor is the only one that mainly does just that. The last 3 are also helping with my communication skills and helping me to be more confident in my interactions with others, much needed since I have been quite shy for most of my life, at least in most social situations.

How to Choose a Mentor?

Well, it depends on what you want to learn, but the general principles are the same.

Figure out something you want to learn, a skill or attitude you want to have. Find someone who is expert at that, and start learning from them. It’s really that simple.

Everyone Needs at least One Mentor

When I joined two business opportunities in March, both under the same sponsor, I found out he teaches all of his people to do personal development daily, and recommends that everyone should have a mentor.

I am going to recommend the same to all of my readers.

Even if you’re not in business, you may find this applies to other areas of your life. If you want to have a business, this will definitely help.

How many mentors is too many? I will certainly be looking into this question.

Do you need a Mentor?

My answer is yes. We are all forgetful. We all need motivation at times, or just someone to show an example, to remind us of what’s important. They are important for staying grounded.

For those who are religious, I suppose God counts as all 3 of these terms I defined. I should have called him my first mentor. But the blog isn’t about religion.

Choose whoever inspires you to be a Mentor. That’s really the answer.

Preferably someone with a lot of experience. There’s not much I could be a Mentor at right now, maybe playing the piano, or something I do at my job.

I’d love to hear who you have (or would like to have) as a Mentor in your comments. I’m glad you have read this, I hope it was valuable.