The fastest known way to grow your business is by working with an experienced mentor.
Why?
Because they’ve been where you are, faced the challenges you’ve faced and know what works.
When people message me to say they’re struggling to hit their goals in their business, or that it all feels ‘hard’, I always ask them “who are you working with to help keep you on track?”
Most of the problems I hear tend to be along the lines of:
“I don’t know how to write so it sounds like me.”
Or…
“Noone wants to hear about my story….it’s boring and not relevant to my business.”
Or…
“How can I leverage social media to actually grow my business and not waste hours and hours of my time”
Or…
What I know is that getting a mentor fundamentally changed my business.
I had been ticking along ok, doing my copywriting thing, earning enough to keep me out of trouble and feel ‘worthy’, but I wasn’t rocking the universe nor were those Laboutins getting any closer to sashaying inside my wardrobe. I had been following a few people quite closely online, buying into their stories and sussing out their business nouse, and decided I wanted some of what they had. I definitely knew I needed to do something different if I was going to get different results.
In the preceding months, my clients had started asking me for an alternate kind of help – they wanted to know how to write like I did, not just have me do it for them. At the same time, my neck was aching from sitting in front of a computer all day writing for people, whilst my heart sank as I realised I was once again deskbound and was trading my time for money. I had the ole “is this all there is?” soundtrack running in my head constantly and it was keeping me up at night. Many signs that change had to happen – and fast!
The itch of change became too strong to ignore, and I knew deep down what I had to do… but even the certainty didn’t stop me from feeling nervous. I still felt that perhaps it wasn’t quite the right time….and that I didn’t really have the money to invest….and that I wasn’t sure if she was truly the right person….and that maybe I could do it alone anyway….and …and …and…
And then reality kicked in.
If I could do it alone, easily, I would have already done it.
If I knew everything I needed to know at that point, I would have made the changes myself.
If this wasn’t the right time, then when was?
If I didn’t have the money now, then when would I ever have it?
And so I jumped. Boots and all.
I committed to the 1:1 sessions. I did the homework. I turned up to the group calls. I went to each of the retreats, even with young kids and pets to organise. And I told myself I’d pay for the coaching alone – not with family savings – by making the money I needed each month (which I did, by the way).
I’m not perfect. She wasn’t perfect. It was hard sometimes. There were moments when I resented the time commitment. There were glimmers of ‘this is all too hard’. But not for a minute did I think I’d made the wrong decision in choosing to invest in a mentor.
She helped me see the possibility for my business and make the shifts I desired. She opened my eyes to the power of immersion (hence why I now run Writer’s Retreats), and she showed me alternate ways of looking at myself and my strengths and then how to harness those.
I haven’t done everything we discussed. I didn’t make every change she recommended. And I probably worked with her for about 3 months too long…. Regardless, the shifts I did make were fundamental and long-lasting.
Now as my business matures and I am in a place of consolidation, I need different types of coaches. I work with mentors who have a specific skill I need at any particular point in time. I may be a coach myself, but I’m not so bold to think I don’t still need coaching. It just happens differently now for me.
So I urge you to consider what it is you need help with to grow your business to the next level, and to find the best person who can deliver that help to you. Of course, if you need help with content creation, marketing and storytelling, I hope you will choose me.