I was out driving this morning and in front of me was a car that had obviously been in a rear end collision. The boot was all crumpled up and smashed in, in fact the boot was all taped up to hold it shut. It was a relatively new car and I couldn’t help thinking what a shame to see a car like that all banged up.

It wasn’t more than 500 meters down the road and that very same car cut right in front of another car and almost caused an accident, if it had not been for the driving skills of the second car they would have collided.

That brought back to me what my dad taught me many years ago, (yes, there were cars back then!)

and that was if I wanted to drive a car I needed to learn how to handle all sorts of situations,  both the good and the bad, so that I would be prepared for any situation.

So that meant getting into an old car ( forget the brand they don’t even make them anymore) and driving around paddocks (fields) with a young guy my dad new who drove vehicles for a living. Mike taught me so much about how to a handle a car what to do if I got in a spin, how to handle wet conditions and how to brake in a hurry without loosing control of the car. Mike was my driving mentor, and when I wanted to improve a particular driving skill I would go to Mike and have him guide me through what I needed to do or learn.

So what the heck does driving a car, have to do with creating your Success in Network Marketing?

Nothing, but having a mentor does! You see having a mentor can be the most valuable step you can take toward success in your Network Marketing career, or any other pursuit you have in life.

Mentoring is a relationship, not just a procedure or activity, where one person assists the career development of another, more than just the normal working together relationship.

It really is about pairing up with a more skilled or experienced person, with the goal of developing specific competencies or skill sets. Like follow the leader…

Mentoring, is a really effective method for quickly learning all sorts of skills.  You can have group mentoring and you can mentor on a one on one basis. I personally find one on one the most beneficial because you are really focusing on your particular issues, and for that reason it can have a huge impact on the speed at which you grow and ultimately the results you achieve.

Some of the absolute benefits of having a Mentor in Network Marketing are:

1. Increased skills and knowledge

2 -Increased potential for Growth within the business

3 – Speed up the learning  process

4- Insights into the culture and ethics of the Industry,

5 – A supportive environment in which to grow and learn from successes and failures,

6- Development of self-confidence,

7- Recognition and satisfaction,

8- Empowerment.

So how do you go about setting your self or someone on your team up on a mentoring programme?

And is a mentoring programme for everybody?

Lets deal with the second question first is it for everybody? – that answer is really simple, NO it isn’t. A person must want to learn to grow to be willing to change the things that need to be changed – I remember listening to a training call and the guys running the call were talking about a guy who asked them how did they get to be so Successful in Network Marketing so fast? he wanted to know because he wanted to get there real quick to.

So eager to share their success principles, they said:

Well we talked to everyone we knew, and he said yeah I did that.

Then we listened to great trainers like Dani Johnson and Todd Falcone,  and he said yeah I have done that.

We plugged in to all the training calls and he said yeah I did that,

And we went to all the company meetings and he said yeah I did that…

We developed other methods of lead generation, he said yeah I did that

Do you think this person is looking for mentoring? or is this person looking for the quick fix? I believe he is after a quick fix not to grow himself as a Successful Network Marketer. So NO mentoring programme is going to help him until he wants to help himself, do you agree?

To set yourself up on a mentoring programme, have a very clear outcome in mind of what you want to achieve and by that I mean a specific GOAL – BE OPEN TO LOOK AT THINGS DIFFERENTLY TO THE WAY YOU HAVE LOOKED AT THEM IN THE PAST – remember if you continue to do what you have always done you will always get what you have always got!!!

Look for a person who has achieved a similar result to the one you want to achieve – The mentor should be a person with greater experience and knowledge than you in Network Marketing. For the first mentoring experience it may be easiest to work with someone close to you in your business, speak with your sponsor or upline about this.

You must feel you can trust and respect the person you mentor with

The mentor needs to be a person who agrees and is willing to help you develop the skills and knowledge, and be able to share knowledge and experience openly and honestly, A mentor really is a person who will act as your coach.

A good Mentor will share with you their experiences, strategies or philosophies they used to gain their result – they will provide you with feed back on what you have done and will make recommendations to you ultimately though, it is up to you to either accept or reject the advice.

Does a mentor have to be a friend?  No at times it is better to have a mentor who is not a friend that way the feed back can be more open and honest.

Once you have completed a mentoring  programme as quickly as you can find your self someone to be a mentor to, so that you can share what you have learned, that will help you grow even further while at the same time helping another person improve their outcomes.

Having a Mentor for your Success in Network Marketing can prepare you for both the good and the bad, and we need to experience both in order to grow! It will also help you achieve greater results quicker. I would recommend you get yourself a mentor sooner rather than later

Yours in Success

Linda Cargill-Selfe