A mentor is someone who offers you guidance and support. Most famous and successful people have admitted to having mentors on their journey to the top. This is something I wholeheartedly agree with. We all could use help finding our way in careers, life, and relationships. It’s nice to have someone there to bounce your ideas off and someone who genuinely cares about your success.
Many of us have family and friends that are cheering us on, but a mentor is different. A mentor has been there in that job before you and can help you navigate the pitfalls. Your mentor has already tried to start their own business, failed and then succeeded. A mentor is invaluable, yet many of us don’t reach out to one.
Sometimes your mentor doesn’t even know they are your mentor! I follow many health and wellness professionals on social media because I gain many insights from them, not to mention positive inspiration and motivation. I haven’t reached out to them personally, but I utilize the ideas they post or send in their mass emails, to help create a better life for myself and use their business tips as I work on building my own business.
One of the people I follow posted a formula used by successful entrepreneurs which is; have an expert mentor, have a structure of support, and have a proven system. I have written before about action steps and creating a plan to accomplish your goals, this would be the proven system part of that formula. Now let’s talk about the first two parts.
At the beginning of the year, I joined a group of health and wellness coaches, sharing their coaching platform with my own clients. This group is supportive, caring, share ideas, encourage each other, praise each other’s success and value one another. This is my structure of support. These women are all doing the same work of helping people to live healthier lives, but that also translates to helping each other live healthier and happier lives as coaches. We attend weekly trainings, watch many self-improvement videos and have the support of someone when we have a question.
My other structure of support is the friends I surround myself with on a regular basis. These are the people who also encourage me to continue pursing my dreams, they don’t think my ideas are crazy. They are also the people I collaborate with and build business ideas with, we have some interesting and fun events in the works! Both of these support structures are allowing me to thrive and my work to flourish.
I’ve also been given a mentor coach in the wellness coaching business. This woman has also now become my friend through our chats. She supports my dreams, encourages my progress, celebrates my success and pushes me to continue to grow. Without her, I would not have already succeeded thus far. My mentor is invaluable to me. Most of us don’t know all the answers and there are those who have forged the paths before us who we should ask and listen to.
Think about those in your life or work that you can approach and ask to be your mentor. Is there a colleague at work who is doing the work you would like to do, someone you know running their own business? Who can you gain insights from that would be willing to help? Many people are happy to offer advice or send you in the direction to find the answers. Remember though, your mentor won’t do the work for you, that’s on you. But they will push you forward. So, make a list this week of all those you admire and get asking!
Wellness Wednesday,
Tash
