I Got a Mentor! & Here’s Why You Should Get One Too…

A few months ago I launched the NAB mentorship program.

I wanted a place where bloggers could come and get the one on one support they needed. I wanted to be able to give more than just the support here or in the Not Another Blonde bloggers only Facebook group.

So I knew it was time to bring the mentorship program to life and also find a mentor of my own. After all, how can I stress the importance of getting a mentor if I don’t have one myself?

When you’re trying to build something or achieve a certain goal, it’s important to surround yourself with people who are doing what you want to do. If you want to run a marathon you’re going to train with other marathon runners. If you want to have a baby you might hang with people who have kids. And if you want to be a blogger, you want to learn as much as you can from other bloggers who succeed at it and have been around for a while.

Now if you know me, you know there are only two bloggers I ever really talk about which are Lauryn from The Skinny Confidential and Erica from Fashionlush. And as it happens they’re best friends, go figure.

I find them both extremely approachable, relatable, and business savvy. So as I was scaling NAB and new challenges were arising, I decided it was time to get a mentor. I needed someone who knew the biz inside and out and was doing things I wanted to be doing. Enter Erica.

Erica has taught me things I never knew about and she’s reiterated things I always knew but never had the courage to implement. And for that, I owe much of what’s been happening lately with NAB to her. Love you girl!

(By the way, this is actually the second time writing this post, the first time I wrote it and accidentally deleted it. Lesson learned: pay attention to what you’re doing.)

So because of this new attitude and all the personal and professional progress I’ve made with Not Another Blonde, I thought it was time to share the importance of having a mentor because truly, it makes such a difference.

mentors help you pick up good habits

As the saying goes ‘you’re a combination of the 5 people you hang out with the most’, so when you have a mentor, you start to think like them. Their energy, mannerisms, and positive habits rub off on you and thus the transformation begins.

Their level of motivation will become your level of motivation. And once you get in this zone you become unstoppable.

I mean, how many books are there with titles like “think like an entrepreneur” or “rich man’s mentality” or “secrets to success”? All of those books are trying to get you to become like uber-successful people. That’s always the end goal, but if you can’t come face to face with a mentor, books (or blogs) are the next best way to get it.

I love books and I’ll continue to read them, but they’re not the same as getting that undivided attention from a personal mentor. You literally have someone coaching you every step of the way which is something you won’t get from a book or eGuide.

mentors help you learn from their mistakes

Part of the reason I have a love/hate relationship with social media is because it’s not real. I love the curation that goes into it and the fantasy it portrays but I also hate that I don’t see people mess up!

If I went by social media’s standards I’d think that 99% of bloggers just fell into the industry overnight and now they get to play dress up for a living.

Well, I know better than that and you know better than that but there is still a lot we don’t know. And being as inquisitive as I am… I want to know these things! And mentors are the ones who show them to you.

They will show you their own mistakes that you can learn from. You may think you have a great idea, run it by your mentor, and the person says “Oh yeah I tried that before and it ended up doing the opposite because of xyz”. Well, good to know!

There’s not enough of that happening in the blogging industry which is why I try to share as much as I can about it here on Not Another Blonde. But again, nothing beats one-on-one time. A mentor takes you behind the scenes and under your his/her wing… ya can’t beat it!

mentors help you stay accountable

Probably my favorite thing about having a mentor is that you’re held accountable. You feel an obligation to do what you say you’re going to do because you told it to someone else. Sometimes you need an outsider to hold you accountable because holding yourself accountable just doesn’t cut it.

When it’s just you working alone, you know you can push tentative deadlines back because, well, you made them up in the first place so what’s the difference? You are the boss with the hot sauce. But having a mentor allows you to pass the torch so to speak, and you actually follow through with things because you don’t want to let the person you admire most (your mentor) down.

For example, after the first call with Erica I immediately hung up and got to work on everything we had talked about. Why? 1. Because it was fresh in my mind and I didn’t want to lose it and 2. I wanted to show her progress the next time we talked.

There’s nothing worse than telling someone something or giving someone solicited advice and they do the opposite anyway. For example, I tell my followers never to buy followers because it will hurt them in the long-run but some of them do it anyway. Why?

You want to make a good impression and show your mentor you’re serious about getting serious. If you’re not, you’re wasting your time and their time.

Getting a mentor was one of the best things I did for Not Another Blonde. The knowledge more experienced bloggers have is invaluable and it’s something I wish I did earlier. Whether you’re a beginner, intermediate, or even a pro blogger, you can 100% benefit from a mentor.

So with all that being said, some of you may know about the NAB mentorship program. If you don’t, now you do. I’d love to have you join but there is limited availability so I’m only taking on bloggers who are really committed. If this sounds like you, feel free to JOIN HERE. 

xx

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