Tweet

We All Need a Mentor

Written by: James Dicks

Article Overview: James Dicks examines the need and the importance of finding the right people to use as mentors in your personal and professional life

We All Need a Mentor

It's true...we really do. We all need a mentor to help us succeed. There are plenty of them out there and they come in lots of shapes and sizes. Some you have heard about and some you haven't. Some are people whom you never realized. It's these people you can learn from that will change your life forever. When you are lucky enough to realize that you have found a mentor make sure you are ready to learn everything you possibly can.

I was on the plane the other day sitting next to a rather smart and well-educated gentleman; I think he was a PhD or something. But we started taking about mentors and a comment came up about Anthony Robins, a well known motivational speaker. He is also a seminar guy; meaning he does or at least used to hold seminars all over the country and around the world for that matter. I have personally heard Mr. Robins speak and WOW -- he was great! The point is we all have to have a mentor. For instance Mr. Robins is great; you don't have to listen to him everyday but only when you need to hear him. I have heard Zig Ziglar speak more times than I can count, and he has been giving the same basic speech for about 50 years. I actually was lucky enough at one of the events I was speaking at to follow him on stage. I ended up seeing Mr. Ziglar at lunch and if you don't know me I seize every opportunity I can to learn more. I walked up to Mr. Ziglar asked him if he wanted to join me for lunch, you know what he said - yes. I was amazed, but it was also one of the best lunches I ever had and he is truly an amazing man.

So, you never know when and where or who your next mentor is but you need to be on the look out to learn as much as you can from as many people as you can. When I was young I used to work for a few seminar companies. Yes, they have stigmas but there is no better place to learn. I was one of the people that helped you register when you attended a seminar. The luxury was that I got to travel with the person giving the seminar. These seminars were on a variety of topics, and at that time my favorite was real estate. I can remember being on planes with the speaker and driving them crazy with questions so I could learn everything I could on the topic. Some would be thrilled to share their information with me and some would be annoyed. Oh well, that was their loss. You can be sure that you would feel sorry for the speakers who got stuck in a car with me for a two hour drive between cities; I would ask them questions until they couldn't take it anymore. But I sure learned a lot during those summers.

Now to my good fortune. I would clearly say hands down that my best mentor would be my Uncle Jack, WOW! This guy is a wealth of knowledge and experience, both personally and professionally. You see, you want to find someone who is one willing to share with you and who really cares in your growth and development. Someone that takes ownership in what you accomplish. My uncle has been there every step of the way. Yes, I have made many mistakes and as my mentor he has even let me make some mistakes. Some of these mistakes were small some were big, but all of them I learned from immensely.

I guess one reason I take the time to share all of these stories I write and strategies is because I care. I spend a great deal of time trying to give back and help all those who wish to learn. Sure, I get some people that are skeptics, those who don't want to learn, that develop all sorts of wild ideas, but I don't do what I do for them. I do what I do for people like you; someone who may be reading what I write so that they have the "tools" and the information to help themselves. I don't think I am writing anything top secret, in fact all I am doing is passing on the same information I learned from someone else at some point in my life - paying it forward. You should do the same thing. If you learn something that really helps, and you find someone else facing the same situation, then you should do everything you can to help them. If we all do that we will all be better people.

So, at the end of the day if you want to take that next step in your personal development or your financial life you need to find a mentor that you are open to learning from and one that has and will continue to make a difference in your life. Open your heart for change and you will receive it.

Related Articles
  Why Small Business Entrepreneurs Need a Mentor
  How To Effectively Use Business Mentoring
  How to Find the Best Mentor for Your Needs
  Business Mentoring Programs
  The Success of a Mentee Is a Mentor’s Ultimate Reward

Article Tags: budget, cash, credit, credit cards, economy, education, forex, james dicks, mentor, money, New Year, plastic, premieretrade, recession, resolution, spending, stocks



Related Forum Posts
Famous Entrepreneur Question? - First name to come to mind was Sam Walton. After reading his aoutbiography, I feel so connected to him. My one Question would be...(after getting on one knee) "Would You Mentor Me?''
On Mentors - I've been fortunate that in every endevour I've taken on I have found a Mentor within that niche to guide me and help me learn from my mistakes. I've matured so much faster and more focused just by having someone listen to where i am at in my current day and in having someone to be accountable to. I've been blessed by having mentors naturally come into my life but if I wanted to approach one how would I go about developing the relationship and then asking them to mentor me?
A BIG THANK YOU TO YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!! - This is to my Mentor{ideauniversity} who invited me here,A Big thank you to you for giving me the opportunity and having so much hope in me,because of you have being able to learn so much in this forum which has improved my business skill. A Big thank you to all my new friends who have helped me express myself and also contributed to my growth through your post and answers you have given to my post. Thanks Evan and Kevin for giving me this oportunity. cheers. Tope
Re: Business Women Peer Mentoring Spotlight - That is a great idea, David. This is what I had in mind for the Women's section, but it makes sense to post in on the main site. Of course, I'm waiting for some women to step up to the plate and share how they could use some support on taking the next step with their business! If you are a Business Woman reading this, I invite you to consider that this is not displaying weakness in any form. Peer mentoring and Coaching is incredibly valuable. You get to bounce your ideas off others, hear perspectives from outside your own box, and feel the power of others cheering you on. To me, it's wisdom to use all of our available resources to move towards business success. That's why I have my own Coach and my own Mentor Coaching Group. I also offer that to my clients. These are services one usually has to pay for and you could enjoy some of it free right here! So who wants to start? Can you tell I'm excited about the possibilities for you even before you begin? Warmly, Tami
I am looking for a Mentor who is a Successful Restauranteur - Hi Evans, An idea for a forum that would be niche focused. My goal is wanting to acquire the expertise of running a highly successful restaurant. Like building any great business I think it would be great if there was One Umbrella resource underwhich I could find a highly successful restauranteur who would be willing to be a Mentor for building a successful restaurant business. A lawyer who understands business and specializes in the restaurant industry and more importantly who would not charge by the hour, But instead on as per completion of a contract basis. A competent CPA/CA who specializes in restaurants and who would be able to offer the right advice in maximzing revenues within the confines of legal parameters. A competent commercial real estate agent who specializes in restaurants and who would assist and advise on acquiring the right locations and also assist in negotiating the Term of Offer Clauses in the Lease Agreement. A competent Tax professional who would advise on maximizing revenues within the confines of legal parameters.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

The State of the Sustainable Furniture Industry

Promoting your company and self with verve

••••••>SEO Tip Of The Day: HTML Validation

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.