Welcome back to another episode of the Expand Your Impact podcast. In today’s episode, I’m going to be talking about the power of working with a mentor in your business.

I’m going to be exploring the difference between private mentoring and group mentoring as well as how to find the perfect mentor for you. I’m also going to be sharing some of my own mentoring experiences that I’ve had throughout my business so far.

If you’ve been thinking of hiring a mentor to support you in your business then keep listening because this is the episode for you.

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What is a mentor?

Let’s start by explaining what the term mentor actually means. A mentor is someone who provides valuable insights and expertise based on their own experiences. They are someone who is a few steps ahead of you and have gone through the journey that you want to go on.

Let’s take myself for example… When I first started mentoring, I wasn’t even thinking of becoming a mentor. In fact,  I was still doing custom branding and design. I launched my template shop in the July and in the August, just one month after launching my Showit template shop,  I was approached by two different designers who wanted to know if they could hire me to help them build their own passive income streams. One of them was a branding designer who wanted to launch a course to help others who were in the early stages of their branding journey and not yet ready to hire someone to do it for them and the other wanted to launch WordPress templates.

Bearing in mind that I had only just launched my own template shop at this point and had not yet made many sales, these two business owners wanted to work with me because their goal was to create and launch scalable offers which is exactly what I had just done. 

I was just one step ahead of them in my journey. They had the ideas but hadn’t yet executed them and I had just executed mine. 

That is what a mentor can do for your business. A mentor needs to be just one step ahead of you and has achieved what you are seeking for them to be able to help you.

The difference between a mentor and a coach

So now let’s look at the difference between a mentor and a coach.

In the entire time I have been mentoring other online business owners, I have not once referred to myself as a coach because a mentor and a coach whilst they can overlap, they are actually different.

I’ve just explained to you what a mentor is so let’s look at how a coach is different. A coach typically focuses more on helping their clients through structured learning, goal setting and accountability. Coaches tend to use the knowledge that you already posses to help you. They ask certain questions to help you come to your own conclusions whereas mentors provide personalised support and guidance based on their own experiences.

Something that I do with my clients which is what coaches do is the goal setting and accountability which is why I said earlier than there can often be some crossover. 

Private vs Group Mentoring

So now we understand the role of a mentor and how they differ from a coach, I want to look at some of the differences between private and group mentoring and ways to help you decide the right approach for you. 

1. Personalised Attention

Let’s start with personalised attention. In a private mentorship setting, the mentor is able to provide personalised attention and guidance to the specific individual. They are able to tailor their advice to the specific needs, goals and challenges of their client. 

Whereas with group mentorship, the mentors attention is split amongst multiple clients so whilst the support and guidance will still be valuable, it will be less tailored to each clients individual needs.

2. Customised Solutions

Next we have customised solutions. With private mentorship, the mentor is able to develop customised solutions and action plans that are specifically designed to address the unique needs and goals of their client.

In a group mentorship setting, the solutions and strategies provided may be more generalised and applicable to a broader audience therefore may not be entirely suitable for your businesses plans and goals.

3. Confidentiality and Privacy

The third thing to think about is confidentiality and privacy. It goes without saying that when you work privately with a mentor, the conversations between you and your mentor are completely confidential and private which allows for more open and honest discussions about sensitive topics and challenges.

In a group setting, whilst efforts are of course made to maintain confidentiality within the group, participants may feel less comfortable sharing openly about any challenges they may be facing and therefore you may not get the full benefits of mentorship as you cannot be as open and honest as you would like.

4. Pace and Progress

Pace and progress is something else that should be considered when deciding between group or private mentoring.

Within private mentorship, the pace and progress at which you move are determined by the individuals circumstances. This allows for more flexibility depending on specific needs or situations.

With group mentorship, the pace at which you progress, may be influenced by the overall dynamic of the group or set by the mentor which may not align with your specific needs. For example, if you are in a 12 week group program that is being supported with learning materials, the program may focus on a specific topic or area every week, two weeks or 4 weeks. This means that all participants need to have similar goals and be at similar stages in business in order for this to work effectively.

5. Accountability and Support

Accountability and support goes without saying in mentorship. It’s one of the big reasons my clients work with me because they need that in their business.

A private mentor is able to provide personalised accountability and support to help their client stay on track, focused and motivated in moving towards their goals. 

Whereas in a group setting, accountability and support is not going to be as focused on the individual and more on the group as a whole. 

One example of this could be that the mentor pops a post in the group chat once a week checking in with their clients. With private mentorship, the mentor knows exactly what the client is working on that week and can check in accordingly therefore providing a greater level of support and accountability.

6. Cost and Investment

One last thing to consider when deciding between private and group mentorship is the cost and investment.

It goes without saying that private mentoring often comes with a higher financial investment due to the exclusive access to the mentors time and expertise. With private mentoring, the mentor is also only able to take on a limited number of clients.

Group mentorship on the other hand may be more cost effective as the mentors time and resources is shared among multiple participants. The mentor is also able to take on a higher number of clients depending on the program and the level of support included.

Ultimately, deciding between private and group mentorship depends on your individuals needs and circumstances. You may decide that you would prefer the personalised attention and tailored support of private mentorship or you may think that you would benefit more from a group dynamic and shared learning experience that comes with group mentorship.

One thing that I have found through my own experiences of working with clients privately and in a group setting as well as being a client privately and in a group setting is that it could be good to start off with a course or a group program that comes with structured learning in the earlier stages of business whilst you are getting things off the ground. 

This could be something to help you with the foundations of setting up a business, starting out with marketing and how to find clients when you’re first starting out.

You may then choose to move into private mentoring once you have worked with clients and got some business experience under your belt. The reason for this being is once you have worked IN your business, you’re more likely to know what direction you want to take your business and this is where private mentoring can be extremely helpful. It also means that because you have been working with clients, you’re more likely to be able to invest in private mentorship.

You can then use the private mentorship to get really clear on the direction you want to take your business and the steps needed in order to do so. Private mentoring can be great to help you take action and build momentum if this is something you are finding you are lacking on your own.

From here, you may choose to continue private mentorship as you scale your business or you may wish to move into more of a mastermind style setting with other business owners who are working towards a similar goal.

I’d actually suggest avoiding something like a mastermind if you are a newer business owner. The reason for this is that masterminds can be confusing and overwhelming if you are earlier on in business and don’t have a clear vision for your business. The reason is because when you are in a mastermind, you are listening to a lot of other people talking and asking questions. If you don’t have a clear vision for your business, this can prompt you to start asking questions and thinking about things that aren’t part of your current vision.

Qualities of an Effective Mentor

Just because someone is further ahead in business than you, does not automatically qualify them to be a mentor. There are specific qualities in a mentor than make being a good one effective. Let’s have a look at what some of these are shall we…

1. Experience and Expertise

It goes without saying that your mentor should have experience and expertise in what it is you are needing support and guidance with. After all, that’s the whole point in hiring a mentor isn’t it. Because they have been where you desire to go and they are where you desire to be. Your mentor should possess a deep understanding of the challenges and best practices within their area of expertise.

2. Active Listening Skills

A good mentor should spend a considerable amount of time actively listening to their client. They need to take their time to understand their goals, challenges and concerns so that they can provide the best possible solution. They should ask probing questions, seek clarification and show empathy and understanding. 

3. Empathy and Support

An effective mentor needs to demonstrate empathy and provide emotional support to their clients. They need to be able to offer encouragement, reassurance and constructive feedback whilst helping clients navigate any challenges and set-backs that they may inevitably face.

4. Guidance and Direction

A strong mentor is able to use their active listening skills along with their experience to provide direction and guidance to their clients. They should be helping them set clear goals, develop actionable plans and make informed decisions. They need to be able to offer insights and practical advice based on their own experiences.

5. Accountability and Challenge

A big reason many people hire mentors is for the accountability therefore an effective mentor should be able to hold their clients accountable to ensure they are moving forwards and working towards their goals. They should also be able to challenge them to stretch beyond their comfort zone and help them reach their full potential.

These are just some of the qualities that you should be looking for when seeing a mentor for your business.

How to find the perfect mentor for you

So you know that you want to work with a mentor but how do you find the perfect mentor for you? Never fear, I’m here to help you.

1. Think about why you want to hire a mentor

First of all I want you to think about why you want to hire a mentor? What is it you are looking to achieve? 

Perhaps your client bookings are a little inconsistent and you want to be able to book a steady stream of 1:1 clients. If so, you need to find a mentor who has proved that they have consistently booked 1:1 clients so that you can learn from them how they have done it.

Maybe you’re looking to branch out and build more of an agency style mode. In that case, you should seek to work with someone who has done this and is doing this. 

Or you could be looking to build more scalable offers into your business so that you can take on less 1:1 clients and still increase your income. If this is what you want to do, you should work with someone like me who has experience in going from done-for-you services to scalable offers but also someone who has a wealth of marketing experience too. This is because simply building these scalable offers isn’t enough. It’s a numbers game so you need to be continually growing your audience. This is why a lot of my clients choose to work with me because we work on your offer suite AND your marketing strategy side by side.

2. Write down a list of potential mentors

Next you should write down a list of people who you would like to be your mentor. This should be a list of people you admire and who are where you want to be in your business. Then you want to go back through the list and start eliminating names so that you are only left with a few people who you truly believe can help you.

3.  Connect with them and binge their content

Once you have your list of potential mentors, revisit their content, watch their Instagram stories, even pop into their DMs for a chat on a more personal level to see how you connect with them.

4. Ask to book a call with them or connect with them in the DMs

This part may not always be necessary depending on how many times you have spoken to them previously. I know with some of my 1:1 clients, we spoke a lot via DM’s in the months leading up to them deciding to work with me that they may not have necessarily needed a call. I know I certainly didn’t need a call with my last mentor because I resonated with her content, I’d watched her stories daily and we’d also spoken via voice notes on Instagram. I personally do like to have calls with potential 1:1 clients so I can have that face to face conversation with them to see how we connect and to ensure I can definitely help them. A call for me when booking clients is a non-negotiable from my end. 

5. Ask them for references

Any good mentor will be able to provide you with names of people they have previously or are currently working with so that you can speak to them and see what it’s like to work with them. This is a great way to get reassurance that they should be able to help you get results.

6. Trust your gut! 

Lastly, trust your gut. I believe that you will know whether the person you want to hire is right for you. 

My Mentoring Experiences

Something else I wanted to talk about in this episode are my own experiences with working with mentors and business coaches.

I’m of the opinion that you don’t need a mentor 100% of the time in your business. Some people choose to work with mentors and that’s their choice but don’t feel like you constantly need someone by your side. In fact, I think it’s healthy to be able to go it alone in business sometimes and learn to trust your own judgement. 

In fact, at the time of recording this episode, I’m not working with a mentor because I am in a big implementation stage in my business. I know exactly what I need to do, I have a very clear plan on how to do it and I’m simply heads down and getting it done. I have no doubt that once I am through this stage or if I begin to feel myself struggling at any point, I will seek out the support of a mentor to help me.

My first experience of hiring a business coach was back in the very early stages of my business and if I’m being totally honest, I don’t think I was ready yet to fully benefit from everything she had to offer. I spent £5,000 on a 3 month program about a year into my business. I was doing custom branding and website design and at that point had no passive income streams in my business. One big thing that I did take away from that mentor however was creating my first low ticket offer.

I had created this huge 50 page workbook that I was going to offer as a freebie and when I showed it to my coach at the time, she quite rightly told me that it was too valuable to give away for free and that I should use it as a low ticket offer in my business. I then created a freebie to put at the front end of that offer and then presented the low ticket offer to anyone who signed up for my freebie.

That offer has brought thousands of pounds into my business and I only sold it for $12.

Another mentor I hired was 1:1 for 8-weeks and she was absolutely amazing. It was shortly after the pandemic hit and I was juggling working from home with a 6 year old and a 2 year old. I had to stop working with custom design clients as I didn’t have the time. We worked together to find ways in which I could support my audience on a one-to-many basis and came up with the idea of a membership which was a great success. I sold 60 founding member spots in two weeks.

I then made the decision to invest in a mastermind with about 10 other business owners in different industries. Whilst this wasn’t a bad experience and I actually booked out all my 1:1 spots in the space of 2.5 weeks during the first month of this mastermind, I then found myself feeling quite overwhelmed and distracted as I didn’t have a clear direction for my business. What I really needed at that point was another 1:1 mentor who could come in and support me personally based on my goals and challenges.

My most recent experience of working with a mentor was last year and it was my best experience yet. The reason for this is because my mentor felt like a partner in my business and worked in a very similar way to how I work with my clients. It was a very collaborative relationship and you could tell that she really cared for and went above and beyond for her clients whilst still maintaining boundaries.

I personally really enjoy working 1:1 with my mentors and I think I will continue to do so throughout my business. That’s not to say that I wouldn’t join a group setting such as a mastermind again but I won’t stop having that 1:1 support as and when I need it. There’s nothing that can beat having a mentor take a deep dive into your business, see where the gaps are, come up with a personalised plan to move forwards and then support you as you do the work.

How My Private Mentoring Program Works

Phew, this has been a long episode and if you are still listening, I salute you! Before we go, I couldn’t end this without taking about my own private mentoring program.

Whilst I’m a big advocate for scaleable and passive income, I think I will always save space to work with a small number of private clients as I absolutely adore it.

My private mentoring program is specifically designed for online service providers who want to build or grow passive income streams. It might be that you want to scale back on client work and be more selective with who you choose to work with or you may wish to stop client work altogether and have a more education or digital product based business model.

I work with service-based business owners who are at the very beginning of their passive income journey as well as ones who already have digital products, courses or programs and want to grow this side of their business.

For example, one client I’ve worked with was a copywriter who was highly successful with done-for-you services however, she wanted to scale her income and her impact but wasn’t keen on the agency model. We worked together to focus on growing her audience whilst building a group program based around her signature framework that supported those who were not ready to make the investment in a done-for-you package. She went on to make $16k during her launch and had built an asset in her business that she could scale and build on.

Another client was a duo of web designers who wanted to move away from client work completely. They already had a suite of website templates and had just finished their first one-to-many program style experience. They were also relying heavily on Instagram which is great if you are focusing on just booking 1:1 clients but not so great for selling passive products.

We worked together to focus on sustainable audience growth that would serve them long term as well as turning their program into self-paced course. They sold 11 spots on their course from a waitlist of just 33 people and again have an asset they can continue to build on.

My private mentoring program is a minimum of three months but many clients choose to work with me for 6, 9 or even 12 months after their initial 3 months working together.

I come in and act as a partner in your business so you really do feel like you have ongoing support during our time together. It’s not just a case of we have 1 call a fortnight and you can text or voice note me as and when you need me in between. I am actively in your business. I create a strategy with detailed action steps for us to follow during our time together so you have a clear direction and know what you need to do to move forward. You have my eyes on anything you need me to look at in your business and I will do what I can to support you.

More often than not, the clients I work with in my private mentoring program know what they need to do on a very top level basis. They know they need to work on email marketing, visibility, creating more long form searchable content but they aren’t doing it. They aren’t doing it because it feels overwhelming. It feels like too much work and it’s easier just to stay doing what they’re doing. 

They also have no idea where to start. Which is why we start by looking at your business as a whole, taking things apart and then begin to put them back together again. That goes for your offers, your messaging and you marketing. It’s why having that 90-day plan is so useful because it maps everything out for you so all you need to do is follow the plan.

When I have calls with my clients, they feel fired up again. Their momentum may have been dipping slightly but after our calls they are fired up and ready to go. If they feel things dipping in between calls or I notice them tailing off, I’m there in Telegram to bring you back up again. 

Another reason my clients choose to work with me privately is because they want the accountability.  Running a business alone is hard. We as people aren’t meant to do life alone. We are meant to do it with people around us – family, friends, partners and business is the same. Being an online business owner working predominantly from home can be lonely which is why having a mentor there when you are working on big things in your business is so beneficial.

My experience is heavily focused on organic marketing strategies and building a scalable business model so whether you are just starting out with this side of the business or if you already have passive products that you want to build upon, I’m here to support you.

WORK WITH ME

If you’d like to find out more about how I can support you with your marketing and scalable business goals, visit fleurironline.com/private-mentoring. 

Once you’ve done this, head on over to the application form to apply to work together. I’ll then be in touch to book a call so we can get to know each other and to see how I can best help you.

APPLICATION FORM >>> https://fleurironline.com/private-mentoring-apply 

Depending on when you are listening to/reading this, there may be a waitlist as I only take on a small number of clients at any one time.

So there we have it, a very long solo episode on how working with a mentor can be so beneficial for your business. As you can see I have a lot to say on this topic so I really hope that this has been helpful to you if you have been considering working with a business mentor.