According to a recent article I read, women tend to credit having mentors as one of their reasons for achieving their goals. To be honest most of us have heard of successful entrepreneurs having mentors but somehow in the Virtual Assistant industry I noticed that we haven’t embraced this trend fully. This could be due to various reasons, though I believe a huge factor could be that we don’t fully understand the benefits of having a personal or professional mentor.
What is a mentor exactly?
The simple explanation is that a mentor is someone wiser and more experienced than you in a certain area, it may be personal or professional and the person may be older or younger than you. A relationship with this person helps you grow as a person, entrepreneur or Virtual Assistant or any area of your life you need to take to the next level. They will challenge you to reach your full potential, not only through words but by actively leading as an example. This is a clear indication to me that it’s important who we choose as our mentors.
Key aspects to look for in a mentor
The right mentor for me may not necessarily be the right mentor for you, and that’s why it’s extremely important that we make sure that we are compatible. Your mentor will often challenge you to grow and to step outside of your comfort zone and for that reason you should make sure that the relationship isn’t a strained one. Safe to say a mentor should not be a clone of yourself if you want to grow and achieve your goals. It should also be someone with whom you can build a trusted relationship and who’s expertise in their area will give you the edge to achieve success.
Who do I see as my mentor for 2020?
Let me introduce you to Jim Rohn. An American Entrepreneur, expert network marketer and motivational speaker whom I only discovered recently through a Virtual Assistant teammate of mine at VA Connect. Unfortunately, he passed away in 2009 however there are a myriad of books, videos and teachings of his available in the world of media for which I’m forever grateful. Although I can’t have him as a real live mentor, the teaching he’s left behind is invaluable. Especially for those that want to grow their marketing and sales skills.
Since 2020 is my year for improving my marketing and sales skills I am using lots of his material as growth medium. Believe me it’s challenging for me. Simply put, I’m pretty sure that selling something to your friends and family has to be the hardest sale of all. Yes, the hardest! You have to have confidence in your product or service. Remember after the sale you have to see that person, or deal with them, quite often, so if you’re selling them something and the sale goes south, you don’t only loose a sale, but you also loose a relationship. Sales for me is hard, sales for many of us is hard and the reality is that if we don’t have sales, we don’t have a business.
Take my business to the next level
I see a few things I can gain from my skills improvement strategy with Jim Rohn in 2020 and that’s firstly believing in your service or product enough, providing undoubted value, so that you would be willing to sell it to your friends and family. Secondly becoming so comfortable at selling that you can do it in such a manner that it adds value to those choosing to buy and those choosing not to still go away with a positive feeling for having had the conversation with you. Lastly for me it’s about using storytelling as a tool to build your client relationships, improve your marketing and sales vocabulary and building a business you love.
If you haven’t found a mentor yet for 2020, may I encourage you to try it? You will be amazed at the benefits in your personal and professional life. We can all do with some success!
