Episode 324:How To Find A Business Mentor That Will Help You Thrive

Are you feeling lost and unsure of where to turn as you navigate the challenges of entrepreneurship? It may be time to seek out a business mentor who can provide valuable advice, support, and encouragement.

I think it’s important to have a few mentors in your life, especially when it comes to running a business. These people can provide valuable support, advice, and encouragement as you navigate the challenges and opportunities of entrepreneurship. But finding a good business mentor isn’t always easy, and it requires a bit of effort and perseverance.

One thing I see a lot is people blindly following anyone who calls themselves a mentor, without really knowing if they have the experience and expertise to truly help them. That’s why I’ve been so open and transparent on this podcast – I want you to understand who I am and what I stand for, because it’s not enough to just reuse what other people are saying without actually doing the work.

So, how do you find a business mentor that will actually help you thrive? This week I am diving in to help you discover exactly how and who will help you succeed.

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Biggest Takeaways

2:15 Identify goals

4:14 Ask for recommendations

4:33 Join professional organizations

5:13 Attend conferences

6:10 Use online tools and resources

6:39 Be proactive and persistent

11:28 Trust their guidance

Recommendations

Business mentors are a key component to helping businesses thrive. Having that person to help guide you, answer questions or just be an ear of support makes all the difference in the world. The Jump Mastermind is a place where business owners come together to grow and scale their businesses while having 24/7 support at their finger tips. They partner up to keep each other accountable, they are provided HR help, group coaching, and an endless amount of resources they can access at any time. If you are every struggling and feel alone in your business, this is a group you might not just want but truly need.

Links

Better Marketing With Bella

Bella Vasta Instagram

Mastermind Group

Transcript

Welcome to another episode of Bella in your business. My name is Bella Vasta, your host, I want to thank you for spending some time with me. I hope you’ve been enjoying the new podcast this year. And don’t forget to like and subscribe and maybe even leave us a review. We’d love it if you, you know, heard something really good about you. And if you want to know more inspired share it. We’re focusing on trying to get as many ears on the podcast as possible this year. And you could be a really big help for us to do that. So without further ado, let’s get going on today’s show, a business mentor, and how can you find one that will help you thrive? Now mentorship comes in so many different fashions. They can be a paid structured thing to you think Gary, you say Gary Vee is one of your mentors because you follow Him and you listen to everything that that man puts out, which is a lot. And he doesn’t know it, it’s kind of like a one-way kind of thing. But that also is a mentor. So there’s a very big spectrum. And, but you should have one or two or three, a bunch of them. And I would argue if you’re listening to this podcast, I might be one of them for you, which would be an extreme honor. But I want you to kind of think about this stuff. Because I think that we need mentors in our life, for everything. I mean, not necessarily a mentor for every single area. But it’s always good to have some smart people around us that we can rely on and know that they’re gonna give us sage advice. And so today, I’m going to give you six things, a big overview to look through, and then I’m going to cut through all the crap, I’m gonna give you seven hardcore things to think about, it’s gonna be a quick episode.

So you might if you are able to get out your pen and paper because I’m going to kind of go through this pretty fast. But like I was saying, finding a business mentor can be very valuable and rewarding because it’s going to allow you to gain insight and guidance from someone with more experience and expertise. In the business world. A good business mentor could provide support, advice, and encouragement, and they can help you navigate all the challenges and opportunities of running a business. However, finding a business mentor isn’t always easy. And it requires a bit of effort and perseverance. One of the things that I see is people blindly following people, and they have no idea if their house is made of sand or gold. And it makes me cringe. So bad. It’s one of the reasons why I’ve been so open with you guys and over-shared maybe at some points on this podcast because I want you to truly understand who I am and what I stand for. Because it’s not just enough to slap together some Canva template and reuse what other people have been saying. And try to say it for yourself. There are so many people out there teaching that haven’t actually done it. So beware of that. There we go already off script you guys. So the first thing you got to think about is identifying your needs and your goals. Before you start looking for a business mentor. It’s important to take some time to think about what you want and need from a mentor. Consider your goals and objectives and think about the specific areas of your business where you’d like guidance or support. This would help you focus on and search and identify potential mentors who are well suited for your needs.

For example, maybe you’re looking for someone to help and guide you with finances like a CFO, or a chief financial officer. Or maybe you want to learn more about sales and marketing. There are a lot of different types of things. And just because someone’s a business mentor, it doesn’t mean that they’re necessarily going to be able to help you with your biggest pain point. So you want to identify it. The next thing you want to do is ask for recommendations. This is why I believe that in that saying your net or your what is it your net worth is your net, your net circles. Oh gosh, I forget what it is. Someone DM me if you know what I’m talking about. It’s saying your network is your net worth. That’s what it is. Yes, I remember that. And so you want to ask for recommendations. One of the best ways to find a business mentor is to ask for recommendations for people you know and trust. This could include business associates, friends, family members, and colleagues, these individuals may know of someone who would be a good mentor for you. Or they may be able to introduce you to someone who could help or they might even be able to mentor you. Another one. Number three is to join professional organizations and networking groups, professional organizations and networking groups can be a great place to find potential mentors. These organizations often have mentoring problems. mentoring programs, one that comes to mind is scoring the score officers if you’ve never seen them before, look them up SC O R E and number four is attended conferences and events, conferences and events can be excellent with opportunities to meet potential mentors and make connections, look for events that are relative to your industry or area of interest, and take time to network and introduce yourself with other attendees. You never know who you might meet. And attending conferences and events is a great way to expand your network and find potential mentors. Now, I want to say that because the pet industry is not as large or robust, as many of the other industries, I would encourage you to kind of go outside of our typical conferences as the level of how do I say this? Education is kind of mediocre. And I would much rather you go to something like Social Media Marketing World, which is one of the world’s largest social media conferences, it’s coming up in San Diego in March. There’s South by Southwest, there’s a lot of conferences that are about small businesses, or marketing or sales or social media that you could go to where the networking is just impeccable. And I’m speaking from personal experience, of course.

Number five, use online tools and resources in today’s digital age. There’s a variety of online tools and resources that can help you find a business mentor, like LinkedIn, they have a mentoring program that allows users to connect with mentors and mentees. There are also many online forums and discussion groups where you can find potential mentors. And also, many websites and platforms offer mentoring services, where you can find mentors who are willing to work with you on a paid or unpaid basis. So Google, number six, is proactive and persistent. Finding a business mentor is not always easy. It’s literally like dating. And it could take some time and effort to find the right person. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t find a mentor right away. And be proactive and reach out to potential mentors, make connections, follow up with people you meet, and be persistent in your search. With a bit of effort and persistence, you can find a business mentor, who can help you achieve your goals and succeed in the world of business.

All right, now, here’s where I’m gonna get down and dirty. Because I’ve got like seven things, one of them I already touched on because I can’t help myself and go off script. But the first one is, check out what Okay, now you found this person, right? So we’ve gotten to the point where we’ve done all those steps I just told you about. And we’ve found we’ve identified a person, you think that this is who you want, okay? Now, you need to think about these things. And this is important, you guys, first one the fruits of their labor. Who have they helped? And what are their results? You should, as we four episodes ago talked about testimonies, you they should have an abundance of like maybe it’s people endorsing them on LinkedIn, maybe it’s testimonies on their website, maybe it’s, you know, Rags to Riches stories about people, you need your mentor to have fruits of their labor, not just getting up there talking about something, and not just one or two, they need to have a lot, you guys, the bad advice could take you down a bad way. And so you want to make sure that you are allowing a mentor into your life who deserves to be there. The second thing I want you to consider is whether have they done what you want to do. Okay, I know this book author or this, this coach that teaches everyone how to write a book and you’ll be successful. Though that person isn’t who wrote a book, they’re not successful at all. They don’t have a pot to piss in. And they’re out there teaching people to do this with his guarantee that if they do this, they’re going to be successful. And it just kills me. So have they done what you want to do? Are they in a place of life where they can stand on it? Now, this isn’t bragging but it’s like, can they stand on it and say and it’s different for everyone, you know, oh, I want to make $100,000 a year or oh, I want time and, and financial freedom. You know, like, what are we going after? Are we the hustle, okay, I’m gonna stay on script? All right, did they make you uncomfortable? I want them to make you uncomfortable. Because when you’re not comfortable, that’s when growth happens.

That’s where the magic happens. I call it consensually uncomfortable. I focused a lot on that in 2022. I put myself in a lot of consensually uncomfortable situations and groups of people so that I could grow and guess what I did, and it was amazing. Now the other thing is are they a pushover or did they press you? If they if you try to you know get away with some other word like oh, I just didn’t have time. Oh, this happened. Oh, that happened. Or they like oh, okay, yeah. That’s all right. Or are they going to press into you and be like, Well, okay, that happened. That’s life. But we, you made a promise to yourself that you’re going to do XY and Z. And why didn’t you? And what can we do to fix this so that when life happens again, your goals don’t go by the wayside? Right? So do they? Do they? Are they a pushover? Or do they press you? The other thing you got to consider is what’s your style. Because, you know, you can have a kumbaya kind of mentor, that’s just very zen and natural and calm, and meditative. And we’ll just, you know, meditate on it. Don’t get me wrong. I believe in meditation, and I also believe in manifestation. And we kind of know what is the manifestation queen and my, my friend group, but um, you want to know what your style is? Is it straight to the point? Is it tough love? Is it soft? Love? Is it factual? Is it business only? Is it business in the front party in the back? You know, like, do you what’s your style? What are you seeking, if you’re not sure what you’re seeking, identify what you’re not seeking, okay? Because sometimes pairing up with someone, it’s a very intimate thing, and you have to be vulnerable. And you need to know what your style is.

All right, I got two more for you. The next one is to trust their guidance, don’t fight it. You just decided to allow this person into your life. And if you’re gonna fight it every single step of the way, it’s not going to work. Just like you saw in the past couple of episodes with Stephanie and Becky Lee, you saw them have faith in their fear. They saw and heard and learned about things being done differently. And it was scary. And they did it. And they did it scared. And it worked. Because they trusted the guidance of the mastermind of better marketing with Bella, they trusted the guidance of people that have been there. And so when you get a business mentor, the worst thing that you can do is fight them.

And last, what are your goals for going into it have clearly defined goals? If you’re a mastermind member, you got to see the video that I did on smart goals in the mastermind, and we you know, track goals and all that stuff. It is immensely powerful. Because you might get into it and you’re like, Oh my God, I don’t know if this is really what I want. And you’re like, Well, what did I want? Oh, let me go back to what I wrote down. My goal of having a mentor is X, Y, and Z. Oh, okay. Now you cannot, like argue with yourself on it. You either achieved it or you didn’t achieve it. You’re either getting what you set out to do or you didn’t. So have a clear vision and goals on what you want from getting a business mentor. But I truly believe that everyone needs to have a business mentor. If I am yours from afar, and I’ve never met you or talked to you, but you’re binging on Bella and you’re listening to this podcast. I love you. I think that is amazing. I would love to meet you. I do 20-minute complimentary calls. They are not sales calls. I love to get to know you guys. True story. Those calls in this podcast can take me from having a bad day. Or maybe I’m glum or depressed about something. The minute I get talking to you on this microphone, or the minute I get talking to you on the phone for those calls. My day gets better. I love it. I love what I do and I love getting to meet you and hear your stories and hear your challenges and get to excite and motivate you. So I want you to think about who you have in your ears. Who do you have? Are you watching with your eyes? Are you being intentional or unintentional with it? Because it will make all the difference in the world. Your network is your net worth don’t forget that all right my jumpers we’re gonna be back with another episode. And I can’t wait to get back to you. Remember when life gets down, always keep jumping.