Q: I’ve been approached by a young man who asked if I would be his mentor. I’m flattered by his interest, but I’m not sure I’m cut out to be a mentor. In your opinion what makes a good mentor?
- Kenneth P.

The mentor/mentee relationship is very much like that of a parent and child. The younger, less experienced child mentee will look to you, the older, more experienced parent mentor, for guidance, wisdom and advice. They will come to you with questions and expect you to have all the answers. They will bring to you their problems and expect you to solve them. And if you don’t give them the attention they think they deserve they may pout and complain about you to all their friends.

In short, if kids get on your nerves, Kenneth, don’t even think about being a mentor. Buy a goldfish or even better, a rubber plant. They require far less attention and everyone will be much happier in the long run.

Typically, there are three things every good mentor should have: time, patience, and a genuine desire to help another person succeed without expecting anything in return. If you have an abundance of those things, then being a mentor can be a highly rewarding experience. If not, please see the rubber plant reference above.

Why do some people make excellent mentors while others do not? It’s all about motive. Are your reasons for being a mentor unselfish or are they self indulgent? Are you considering becoming a mentor because you truly feel that a mentee might benefit from your wisdom and experience or is it because you like being the center of someone else’s adoration?

You should not become a mentor just to feed your own ego because you will be doing your mentee a great injustice because there will be no give and take to the relationship. I know many successful entrepreneurs who consider themselves mentors, but truth be told they simply revel in holding court and having younger entrepreneurs hang on their every word as if its gospel. They care less about hearing their mentee’s questions than they do about hearing the sound of their own voice.

As my mama would say, “If you talk just to hear your own head rattle,” then mentoring is not for you.

One of the keys to a successful mentor/mentee relationship is to set some ground rules and stick to them. Sit down with your prospective mentee and discuss the expectations of both parties, i.e. what do you and the mentee expect to get out of the relationship? It’s a given that the mentee is seeking your time, wisdom and advice, but if you as the mentor don’t also get some kind of mental satisfaction your interest in the relationship will quickly wane.

Discuss how often you will get together. Will you meet for lunch once a week or for an hour in your office several times a month? It is important that you create an actual meeting schedule and stick to it. Without a set schedule life will get in the way and you will cancel more meetings than you attend.

Next, set some guidelines and limitations. How often can your mentee call? Is it OK for them to call your cellphone or should they go through your secretary? Can they drop by the office anytime? Can they call you at home after 5pm?

Set some goals for the mentee. Assign them homework, give them a task. The relationship must be more than just chewing the fat. The point is to help the mentee grow, personally and professionally. Give them a list of books to read. Recommend seminars they should attend. Have them outline their business goals in writing, then you set milestones and hold them accountable for reaching them.

From your side of the fence, don’t be afraid to share your successes and failures. Let your experience be their guide. Help them identify opportunities and avoid pot holes that you may have hit along the way. Don’t be embarrassed to tell the truth, especially if it can keep your mentee from making the same mistakes you did.

As a mentor you should also introduce your mentee into your circle of friends and associates. Sponsor them into Rotary, take them to luncheons, and introduce them to others who might also help their careers.

Being a good mentor also means that you are a confidant; your mentee will share not only his business problems and goals, but also his personal feelings, his secrets, his plans, and his angst. Respect the mentee’s privacy. Your discussions should not be fodder for your next poker night. When something is told in confidence, respect that or get out of the mentor business.

One final point, a successful mentor/mentee relationship should not be a temporary relationship, but one that in ongoing, that grows and evolves until the day you are no long mentor and mentee, but peers.

My own mentor, who probably has no clue that he holds that spot in my life, started out as an investor in one of my companies. As our business relationship grew so did our friendship and I found myself calling on him many times for advice. We eventually became business partners and today we are peers.

I tell him he is the entrepreneur I want to be when I grow up.

He tells me to shut up and pay for lunch.

That’s how the process should work.

Here’s to your success!

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Peak Moment 75: Michelle Long shows us how a highly successful local independent business network has transformed Bellingham, WA, while inspiring other communities. From an initial “Think Local First” program, they have expanded to business peer mentoring, and support for local food producers, sustainable buildings, and green energy. An astounding sixty percent of their community are not only aware of the “Think Local, Buy Local, Be Local” campaign but have changed buying habits as well. [www.sustainableconnections.org]

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It doesn’t matter what stage your website is at, you’ll probably come to a point where you hit the point that well known web personally Ken Evoy calls ‘The Hump’.

So what is The Hump?

It’s that time in your website’s life where you’ve built a good amount of content, you’ve gone out and found some people to link to you, you’ve put Google Adsense and some affiliate links on your site…and either you’ve reached a plateau in your site’s earnings or worst still, nothing’s happening…

When this happens, you’ve found ‘The Hump’ So how do you get over that hump? Well, let’s look at three ways of taking action towards getting your business back on track and growing through this temporary setback.

Step 1 – Work out what you are doing that’s working and do more of that.

Have you created some great content that is attracting visitors from the search engines? If so, find another 20 easy-to-rank-well-for keywords and build more content for your site.

Remembering that the most important part of any business is your prospect and customer list, make sure that every page you build has a prominent place where people can subscribe to your list so you can start building a relationship with them. This will make your content work overtime by turning many more of your visitors into customers over time because they will come to know and trust you.

Step 2 – Stop doing what isn’t working until you can work out why.

Are you paying for a Google Adwords campaign that isn’t producing a satisfactory ROI? Are you writing and submitting articles that aren’t attracting visitors to your website?

Stop what you are doing if it’s not working, re-evaluate why you are doing it, and fix the problem. I see many people running up big PPC bills on campaigns that have very little chance of producing a profit.

When I ask them why, they say that they have to compete in their market and everyone else is doing it…Duh! If it’s not producing a profit, stop doing it and test something else.

Only by testing can you hope to find the right solution and get your business again heading in the right direction.

Step 3 – Find a mentor and follow the advice they give you

No truly successful person has ever made it far without a mentor to help, coach and guide him or her. It just doesn’t happen. Everyone has mentors, even if we don’t notice what’s going on.

Our parents, friends and family are all ‘mentoring’ us every day and we learn from them without even knowing it. When it comes to building your business, you need a mentor who has been where you are and has found a way over that ‘Hump’ that you are currently up against.

Finding a mentor will make all the difference and propel you forward towards your most important goals that much more quickly than if you try to work everything out on your own.

Your ‘Hump’ is not impossible to climb over. You just need some guidance to find your way around it…

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Some 100 boys being raised without fathers got perhaps their first look at what it takes to be a pilot — and some life-changing advice on how to make their own dreams come true from entertainer Steve Harvey, who was hosted by American Airlines over Fathers Day weekend. The boys, attending the first ever Steve Harvey Mentoring Weekend at his Dallas ranch, visited the CRP Future Pilots Flight School, which is sponsored by the airline. The school, based at Executive Airport in Dallas, teaches at-risk children in the Dallas and Tarrant county school systems to become pilots and aircraft mechanics.

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Starcraft 2 is Hot! Here’s the ultimate guide with a 75% commission. The Ultimate Starcraft 2 Guide

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www.localmentor.com real estate investing training video – risk free performance lease option strategy for declining real estate markets. Lock in profits, eliminate risk, skyrocket cash flow, wholesale flip to other investors or keep for long term passive income and equity profits. Discover more ‘real deal’ real estate investor strategies for free at www.localmentor.com free e-course on “How to Succeed In Today’s Real Estate Market” Mentoring and Coaching subject to wholesaling flipping short sales foreclosure fix n flip

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Teenagers are facing the most critical stage in their life – adolescence. At this stage, they experience the transition from childhood towards adulthood; in the process of transition, teens deal with lots of biological, emotional, social and psychological changes. Often, these changes make a life of a teenager miserable. There is a great desire to fit in, to be accepted for who they are, to find their true identity, and to realize their own strengths and weaknesses. This is where peer mentoring becomes a lot of help. It keeps the youth guided and makes them feel loved, cared for and accepted.

Features and of a Peer Mentoring Program

Peer mentoring is a kind of mentoring program, which matches older youths with younger ones. The former provide the latter with guidance, advice, and all forms of support they need to be able to meet challenges of adolescent life. The older youths do not only serve as mentors but as role models to the younger ones. They are not perfect but having been through the same stage and most likely, the same problems, predicaments, and challenges in their homes, school and community; they are in the position to provide friendly advice, positive influences, attention, and moral support to these younger teens.

Mentoring programs, either in schools, local communities, and youth organizations bear the following characteristics:

• Centered on the needs of the youth – Every peer mentoring program is designed to meet the specific needs of the teens to be mentored. Those who come from broken homes, for example, may need more time for counseling and recreation activities that would help them divert their thoughts on sad experiences at home towards happy ones. Those with academic problems may require more time for tutorials.

• Participants voluntarily join a peer mentoring program – A big part of the success of peer mentoring lies on the voluntary participation of the mentor and the younger teens. The student must not be forced to attend the peer mentoring program as this would only make things more difficult for him. The student must first acknowledge the need to have a mentor, someone who is older, wider, and more experienced than him. Only upon acknowledging this need can he actively participate in the activities in the mentoring program.

• Mentors are bound by the responsibility to keep things confidential – Trust is very important in building good relationship between the mentor and the student; thus, it is a must or the mentor to keep things that he and the student talks about confidential. Without trust, it would be hard for the person mentored to talk about the things he feels and thinks especially about very critical issues involving him, a close friend or his family.

Joining a Mentoring Program

Joining a peer mentoring program starts with the eagerness to be a part of a support group or program that is aimed at creating changes both on the life of the mentor and the younger person to be mentored.

If you want to be a mentor, first you must be prepared in all aspects. Do you have a plan on how to conduct peer mentoring? Do you know what to do when trying situations arise? Do you have the patience necessary for you to deal with persons who might be going through tough moments in their life? How would you handle issues such as early pregnancy, divorce, and drug addiction?

When you are ready, the next thing you should do is to look for a pee mentoring program that is suited to your interests. You can look for these in your school, local community and even online. You may also ask for your teachers, schoolmates, and friends’ recommendations. You can also ask the head of your local community church or youth organizations in your community or neighboring areas.

Technorati Tags: Adolescence, Beat, helping, Mentoring, Peer, Pressures, Teens

A record 9400 families sleep each night in New York City’s emergency shelter system. Thousands more live doubled- or tripled-up with friends or relatives, unable to afford housing in one of the country’s tightest real estate markets. The overwhelming majority of these homeless families are headed by single mothers who want to provide their children with safe and stable homes. Many lack the career skills necessary to find and maintain living wage employment. Others suffer from low-self esteem and self-worth, usually caused by years of domestic abuse. That’s why the Coalition’s First Step Job Training Program is so vital. By empowering homeless women to reach self-sufficiency through hands on job training, internships, mentoring, job placement and social service support, First Step benefits every member of the family. First Step’s innovative 14-week curriculum includes over 75 hours of computer instruction, along with literacy workshops, communication and interpersonal skills development, and other hands-on activities that give students a thorough and practical understanding of the job market and workplace. First Step also places students in internships with major corporations or non-profit organizations, and offers mentoring by experienced professional women. We also provide a lifetime of post-graduate services, including job placement assistance, ongoing mentoring from staff and volunteers, support groups, additional training seminars, and numerous networking …

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Rockdale County Public Schools seeks mentors If you feel like you can be a supporter and encourage a local child, Rockdale County Public Schools wants you. The system is excited to kick off another year offering mentoring to students who need it. Read more on Rockdale Citizen

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Internet marketing can definitely be more than one has bargained for! Have you found yourself spending countless hours searching, researching, and/or perhaps investigating, surfing, downloading, or joining affiliate programs, and promoting …. Yet, have made little or no online profit? Has it become a tedious and thankless task? Are you disenchanted?

The internet is an information highway that has probably taken you on an endless journey uphill and downhill and around the bend. Throwing curves this way and that. Have you been hoodwinked and/or simply sidetracked while taking detour after detour only to find you’ve gone in circles — and ended up where you were yesterday, last week, last month or maybe even last year?

And if that isn’t enough, do you find that you are no “techie?” Don’t know how to build a website? Or how to create and upload a links page? Or upload your website using FTP? Don’t know how to create a download link for your product, or create your thank you page on your site or how to use a redirect url? You say you don’t even know HTML code? Unsure of how to create graphics or place pop-ups or scripts on your site… Don’t know the difference between one website host or the other — or if you should use a free web host or not? And the list goes on, right?

If you can relate to any of this I highly recommend that you set yourself up with a mentor. Someone who can turn your marketing efforts into dollars and sense. And that is the ultimate goal if you are trying to earn online profit, right?

A mentor can be someone that you depend on to help make your day start with that enthusiasm you somehow lost! Someone who will be there offering you an alternative marketing strategy while providing new hope for your continued progress.

10 Ways Mentors Help:

Organization — A mentor can help you set up and organize a plan of action. Sometimes we get what I refer to as “information overload”. We get snowed under all of the information we are trying to process. Your mentor can help you sort through this and help you get organized by implementing a plan of action for your daily activity.

Time Management — Your mentor can help you with time management by having you set aside time for daily lessons and implementation. Lessons you’ll be looking forward to completing because they will put money in your pockets!

Answer Questions — Your mentor can give answers to pressing questions and provide additional information to help your bottom line.

Offers New Concepts — A mentor can point you in new directions and open up new horizons and avenues for profit — offering new and improved concepts that you may have never heard of or simply never tried.

Offer Motivation — Procrastination is something that we all suffer from at some point in time. Or you may simply be frustrated and ready to give up. Your mentor will motivate you to implement and work your program.

Provide Product Reviews — You receive product reviews in essence from your mentor because the program(s) and tactics and/or software recommended have been time-tested and hopefully used and reviewed by your mentor.

Create Newsletter or Ezine — Any mentor (worth their salt) will instruct and help you in creating your very own newsletter or ezine. This is a great list-building technique and I cannot fathom a mentor who would not instruct in this area.

Provide Discounts — You will find that because your mentor has established an online presence often they will have business rapport with other website owners who will agree to offer their products to the mentors members at deep discounts.

Provide Free Reports — Some mentors will provide you with free reports that you can use to give to others as free gifts or you can simply use them for your information only. Some will offer free downloads to valuable information packed e-books as well.

Provide Free Software — There are a lot of valuable time saving software programs available and often your mentor will introduce you to these time savers usually in the form of links. Sometimes free downloads.

If you decide that a mentor is worth your consideration take some time to check them out. If you can find a mentor that is raking in the big bucks and earning a monthly residual income, a “so-called” guru of sorts that would certainly be your best bet. However, I have found some of them to be too pricey and out of financial range for many including myself.

I have two mentors. I have my main mentor who is actually “a guru” and I follow his lead and advice to the letter as best I can. Sometimes I find myself a bit ahead of him already implementing ideas he suggests. However, he has lots of great ideas and he earns tons of residual online income so I continue to follow his lead.

I have another mentor who I simply follow because I like his style and he guides me in the right way and in a direction that is conducive to my needs without ever touting himself as a mentor. He is what I refer to as an “affiliate guru.” He is my mentor and he doesn’t know it! Maybe one day I’ll tell him! He’s the one that moves me ahead of my number one mentor sometimes.

So you see, you don’t have to pay for a mentor at all. That is entirely up to you. If you find someone whom you feel is both creative and innovative and you like their style just read their information and implement their traffic generating techniques. Just make sure they make money online. With a little research you will be able to tell!

Your mentor could possibly make you a very happy person. I love both my mentors. And as odd as it may seem they make me very happy!

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