MENTORSHIP
Wow!!!!!
Congratulations for staying with me till the end. You should be convinced that
by the fact you were able to keep up till the end you have more than it takes
to succeed. So never let anybody or any situation convince you otherwise.
When
we are born we have our parents to tell us what do and show us how to live,
when we begin school we have our teachers to guide us from primary to secondary
school, in university we have lecturers but somehow when it gets to the most
important time of our lives or the most important area of our lives which is
how to make a living and fend for ourselves there is no one to guide us or if
there is the person is not fit to fulfil that role.
As
the saying goes the most important (mentorship) was saved for the last because
in my opinion this is the most important of them all. You model could include
purpose, systems and relationships but without mentorship there would be no
speed because though you have all the ingredients it would take you a while to
become adept in using them efficiently and effectively.
This
is exactly what Jesus Christ did for the disciples. He mentored them for three
years before he left them to handle themselves. He could have spent a little
time telling them what to do and explaining to them how it should be done and
left but without a relationship with them providing them the opportunity for
them to see how it is done “practically” first hand it would have taken them
ages to achieve what they did achiever and some may have even given up along the
way as is the case with many businesses that start up and fold up in do distant
time for lack of understanding on the intricacies of the business and inability
to manage their expectations.
The
first question is who is a mentor?
A
mentor is one who is where you would like to be and who is willing to show you
how to get there. If he is not willing to show you how to arrive at the same
place then he or she cannot be considered a mentor but a role model as you try
to model your actions based on his but without having a relationship with the
person whereby by he or she can give you direct instructions. The key is that a mentor is supposed to
become progressively unnecessary in your life and business as time goes by. Initially
you are dependent on him, then you become independent of him and finally you
become colleagues in the sense that you are either equal to him or sometimes
greater than him.
A
mentor qualifies you for what you don’t qualify for while qualifying you for
it. Mentorship is the legal short cut to success in the sense that the mentors
results at the time he comes into your life is your starting point. If you
mentor makes N 200,000 a day and you do exactly what he says you would also
make N200, 000 a day. Initially you would not understand why but as your
relationship progresses you keep making similar results with him while he
teaches you how it is done.
You
stand on the mentor’s shoulders benefiting from all his experience and avoiding
all his mistakes as such getting to the level where his much faster than you
would have done if he was not involved in your business. The people many people
call mentors today are merely “godfathers” who use you to rise and not the
other way around.
When
you hear about a business idea or opportunity who do you ask before you venture
into it? Do you decide on your own? Do you ask your wife or husband? Or do you
ask a friend?
Before
you answer the above question, let me also ask another question which would
help you understand what I am getting at.
If you want to travel to Lagos for instance, who do you ask about how to
get there? The person that has been there before or the person that has never
been there before? Obviously the person that has been there, not the person
that has read about how to get there, not the person that has been told about
how to get there but the person that has been there because it is common
knowledge that what you see many times in reality is quite different from what
you see in the books or the fact that there is an actual difference between
reading about how to drive and having driven.
So
back to the question about who you ask when you want to venture into a
business. The answer should be none of the above unless the person is
successful in what you would like to do. If the person has tried and failed he
is obviously not the person to ask because he can only give you wrong advice,
if the person is in the business but not succeeding the way you would like to
he is also not the person to ask because obviously he doesn’t know how to
succeed in that business because if he did he would be succeeding. The person
to ask is the person that has succeeded in other words get a mentor. Someone
who is succeeding and willing to show you how to get there. There is nothing
wrong with telling your friend or your spouse but the decision of what to do
should not be based on their opinion but on the opinion of someone who is
successful in what you want to do.
How
do you get a mentor?
Look
around you and look out for those you know that are where you want to be.
Approach these people and tell them what you are doing and how you would like
them to mentor you? Preferably not one you would need to pay though if that is
the option presented to you it is okay to take it if you can afford it.
Some
have said in this country people are reluctant to mentor you if you are in
their industry as they fear you would become their competitor. To these I
reply - I see your point with regards to the mentorship challenge in this
part of the world. I mentioned a mentor especially in your area but he doesn't
have to be in your industry. You can also have mentors in various parts of your
business e.g. marketing, operations, customer care. In my business series on
Blue Ocean Strategy - How to create uncontested markets and make the
competition irrelevant I mentioned the fact that a mentor in another industry
may be an advantage in the sense that he can provide you with distinct and new
ideas not common in your industry that would make you stand out. The key in
Business Mentorship is identifying a successful business man by any standards.
Chances are that he would be of use to you as many of this people have their
hands in various industries.
However
there are certain businesses that already have mentorship as a part of their
business model. In this sense the mentor wants to mentor you because your
success is their success. I advocate these businesses.
So
there we have it. In order for our business to align with God’s Business model
we must put ourselves in the place of Jesus Christ as a business man in this
day and age and based on the word of God and the actions of Jesus Christ ensure
our business meets the following criteria:
- It must align with Gods word i.e.
help spread wealth to others (peter
and the fishing boat) Day 3
- It must be a business with systems in place so you do not have to work every day (God rested from his labor, Remember the story of the five talents) Day 4
- It must be based on leveraging your relationship ( Jesus and the twelve disciples, The Samaritan woman at the well) Day 5
- It must have mentorship in place. Day 6
Thank
you for going through this with me. I believe you were as blessed going through
this as I was presenting it to you.
You
can view the video presentation on Becoming a God=kind of Millionaire on
youtube via the following link -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eaWiNoN1CA
Look
out for the next article on my blog Dr. Ebi Ofrey Business Advisory Series -
> www.bizadvseries.blogspot.com
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Millionaire Facebook page – www.facebook.com/godkindofmillionaire
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