Why You Need A Mentor
If you’re a new graduate then you’re becoming likely familiar with the feeling over overwhelm, and the amount of stuff that you need to know to quickly prescribe and confidently consult. On top of all of the things we need to keep at the forefront of our minds day to day as practitioners, when we run a business, there’s even more to think about. We can quickly feel that there’s too many balls in the air, too much to juggle, and it’s only a matter of time until we drop one! I know that feeling too well. When I started taking my business seriously, it became really evident to me that in order for my practise to grow into the business I knew it could be, I had to take a leap of faith and invest wisely into its expansion. For me, this meant my first commercial lease, and the investment into my first business mentor.
Many people in the game don’t have a mentor and never had. However, I don’t know many successful pracs that have never had some guidance in one way or another. This may come from gaining confidence in your consulting skills and clinical systems by learning from another prac, going into their business, doing an internship, or merely just networking and learning what others are doing. There’s lots of business and networking events to involve yourself in as well, to gain a broader insight into what’s working and not working for other businesses. I had attended many of these before I got my first mentor, and although I continue to attend these sorts of events (more so just for networking now), one thing has become so clear to me: To succeed in your business, you need someone who has been there on your side.
Think of it like learning to sail. I don't know why that's the first thing to come to mind, but let's go with it.
How many people go out and buy a boat and then take sailing lessons? I know in my experience, I tried sailing first to see if I even enjoyed it. Lucky I did, because as it turned out I was terrible at it, and didn’t enjoy it at all (I much prefer being the passenger!). So, imagine you’ve gone out and learnt how to sail first (eg getting your degree/qualification), and then you decide, yes! I want to buy a boat (eg a business). You get caught up in the emotion of having a boat and next thing you know it’s sitting in your yard all pretty. You take your boat out for the first time and realise it’s quite different to what you’ve learnt… everything feels a little strange when you’re in the boat alone. Eventually, with determination and perseverance, you will learn how to cope and how to be a great sailor (as long as your techniques are down pat! Eg your processes and systems). But, if you know that you want to have a bigger boat one day, you realise that the time will inevitably come where you have to build a team (Eg staff and mentors). No one goes and buys a big boat that needs several sailors and tries to sail it themselves. Yet, this is something I see so often in the game of entrepreneurship.
When I realised I wanted to my boat to go fast quickly, so that I could get a bigger boat… I knew it was essential for me to have someone guiding me that had already owned a big boat. Someone that wanted others to own big boats too, and teach them how to learn from their mistakes and their challenges and what worked and what didn’t work, so that they could enjoy their big boat and share it with as many people as could fit onboard! This is your mentor.
As I said at the start, as a practitioner, there’s already so much we have to cram into our heads. And, when you take on the role of a business owner, there’s even more to get your head around. Without the help of my mentors, I would never have gained the confidence I needed to take big leaps… to push through the down-times… to gain what I needed in order to get a bigger boat.
If you are feeling like you’re in your boat alone, I’d encourage you to find someone that you resonate with who can coach you and mentor you with all the amazing things they know. Whether it’s learning strategy around marketing, how to create systems in your clinic, how to build your team, or how to connect with your spiritual essence in order to manifest all your desires… get help! You would be surprised at how well you can juggle lots of balls when there’s someone spotting you.
To all my mentors, past, present and yet to come… I owe so much success to you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart and Soul for helping me break patterns, build new thought processes and learn to trust my Self.
If you want to grow beautifully and gracefully, find yourself a mentor!