Hey, it’s Alexander Seery, founder of Shifts to Success. Helping police officers break out. Make the change, and live their lives. Now in this video, I’m going to talk about mentoring, and if you should have a mentor or not. For me personally, mentoring has helped me hugely. I would not have the success I have right now, if it wasn’t for my mentors, and learning from them, and implementing the strategies and methods that they’ve taught me.
Now I’m a pretty average guy. I went to school pretty average, got average GCSE grades. One of which was an E in mathematics, so actually below average and I dropped out of Sixth-Form College after one year. For anyone who knew me when I was back at school, I was a class clown and If you’re an old teacher watching this, you could call me a little cheeky git as well. I went from job to job until I was 23, when I joined the police service. At the age of 26, I was able to resign from my job, due to running my own six-figure company.
So what changed? How did an average guy, with no credibility or experience, no valuable skillset for business, and zero startup capital end up running a successful business in two years? One word, mentorship. I learned from successful people who are my mentors, that supported and held me to account, to show I was progressing with my business goals. Some people may be thinking, “Yeah, but Alex, you don’t need mentors” and try to do it themselves. But why should business be any different from any other areas of your life?
Think about it, how did you learn how to brush your teeth? How did you learn how to read and write? How did you learn how to play sports? How did you learn how to drive? You all had mentors to teach you these things. This could be the form of teachers, parents or siblings. But nonetheless, they all taught you how to do this thing. Right? That’s how business should be looked at. You have to learn today’s best practises, by people who’ve got results for what you get. For you to succeed in business, saving time, money and energy, you need a mentor. I have had mentors help me investing, business ideas, marketing, branding, products and sales, and even helped to write my book. I’ve had mentors all around me, so I want to share with you three benefits of having a mentor, in case you still have any doubts.
No.1: You save money
Of course, to have the best mentors, you’ll have to pay money. But that’s an investment, and the return will far outweigh the cost. You see, if you go out try and build a business on your own, without a mentor, you’ll end up spending way more money, because you’re not implementing today’s best practises by people who’ve already got years of experience behind them. You’ll end up spending wasted money on things that just don’t work, such as; branding, systems, product designs, sales systems, and other elements of building a successful business. But with having a mentor, you’ll learn from them what to do, how to do it, and when to do it. You’re minimising the trial and error period.
For example, if you spend £500 on branding, without a mentor, and you do not know how to communicate with your customers clearly, you won’t attract them, and you just lost that £500. Not to mention all the sales afterwards. If you spend £500 on product design, and that product isn’t providing the value it should, you’ve just lost £500 again, Plus all future sales, because you have not retained your customers. If you spend £1,000 on marketing, and you’ve not carefully chosen the right target market to sell to, or you haven’t made yourself stand out in a competitive market, well now you’ve just lost £1,000 and that’s only three elements of building a successful business. You would’ve wasted £2,000 in total and this wouldn’t happen if you had a successful mentor teaching you what to do, because they already know what works. Don’t forget, the methods, strategies, and frameworks that you get taught are with you for a lifetime. The money you spend on a mentor will be gained back through the success that you’ve just learned, at a much higher level.
No.2: You save time
Successful people, or people who want to become successful, spend money on mentors to save time. People who are not successful, spend time to save money. However, money will always replenish itself, time will not. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. Every single second that passes by, you’re one step closer to death and i’m sorry to be all doom and gloom, but it is true. Now for me, reaching success and financial independence quicker and younger, is more important than how much I spent to actually get there. Because the quicker I succeed, the quicker I can enjoy my life more, because I know that I am dying, and I’m not coming back. Yet some people do live life like they are coming back for a second time!
I get to resign from a job that doesn’t meet my needs anymore quicker. I get to wake up whenever I want quicker. I get to travel where I want quicker. I get to enjoy my money quicker. I get to support charities quicker. I get to help other people quicker. I generally get to live life on my terms quicker. Now if you have two people with the exact same resources, such as money and time, they are literally identical in all areas of their life, they live in the same country, same area, everything is the same, and want to become successful in the same market and industry. But one person has a successful mentor to teach them what to do, how to do it, and when to do it, everything they need to know in building a successful. But the other guys doesn’t. He thinks he can gain all the information he needs from the internet, or his mates at work, or down at the pub who are successful….
…Which do you think is going to reach success quicker? It’s going to be the guy with the mentors, because he knows what money to spend things on. He knows what is going to work, and he knows what doesn’t. He knows how to communicate with his customers. He knows how to stand out in the market. He knows everything there is to know, because he’s been taught by someone who has already achieved success. The guy with the mentors will achieve success in a year, that could take the other guy three years or more. Or maybe even not at all!
No.3: You save energy.
If you run around like a headless chicken, trying to find out all of the information there is on the internet to build a successful business, then sooner or later, you’re going to be out of steam. You’ll end up giving up, because you’ve tried so many things from all of the free information there is out there, that hasn’t moved you forward at all towards your goals. As a business owner, you should be focused on the vital tasks that are going to grow your business. But more importantly, the right vital task that doesn’t require you to waste, not just physical energy, but mental energy.
If you don’t have a mentor, then you’ll be trying things that will be wasted effort. You just end up running around on a treadmill. But with a mentor, you actually implement things that are going to work, because they’ve done it, and mentored others how to do successfully too. You’ll actually use energy towards tasks that are going to grow your business, and take you towards the success and lifestyle you want.
Also, by having a mentor, you’ll end up getting more focused with your actions. Your mind is not cluttered with all the wondering and ‘what ifs’, in what direction your business should go. Plus, mentors back you. They spot you towards your personal goals. They hold you to account, always stretching you, and pushing you to the boundaries of what’s capable of your life. This can create a massive shift in your mindset, which increases the amount of energy you have in actually building and sustaining a business.
Ultimately, the decision is yours. Mentor or no mentor, but ask yourself, if you have been in the same position in your mindset, business, and finances the past couple of years, and you really want to grow those areas, or maybe even wanting to leave or reduce your hours in the police force, then I would recommend you find yourself a mentor, who has succeeded in an area that you want to succeed.
A mentor will always see more talent and ability in you than you see in yourself, and helps bring that out of you. My mentors have mentors. Their mentors have mentors!
Denzel Washington puts it best when he quotes. “Show me a successful individual, and I’ll show you someone who had a real positive influence in his or her life.” I don’t care what you do for a living, or if you do it well. I’m sure someone was cheering you on and showing you the way, a mentor”.
At Shifts to Success, we have six incredible mentors that are supporting ex and serving police officers in building successful businesses in 2018, with our nine-month business accelerator. If you want to find out more about how you can apply for this 2018 business accelerator, then please click HERE.