Seek Your Mentor

Seek Your Mentor

Glenn: [00:00:00] Hello everyone. Welcome to another edition of Empowering Entrepreneurs Podcast. I'm Glenn Harper.

Julie: [00:00:04] Julie Smith.

Glenn: [00:00:05] What's up Julie? How are things?

Julie: [00:00:07] Hey, you know, they're going again. We got a seat next to us that's empty because we had a couple of things we thought were really important to talk about.

Glenn: [00:00:13] I agree. And I think probably one of the most important things as an entrepreneur on the journey is that we're most of them are on this island where they just don't know who to talk to or why to talk to and who can help them. They just don't. They're just lost. Would you agree with that statement?

Julie: [00:00:30] I would agree. I think lonely is a really, really great word to use there.

Glenn: [00:00:34] And it's also I think there's they don't they're scared to talk about how they're really thinking about things because they just know all the people they hang around with generally might be naysayers and laugh at them and just make fun and just, you know, not be so supportive as they want. And so the question then comes up, well, how do you get over how do you overcome that?

Julie: [00:00:53] Well, I think judgment in today's world is so big. And I think it's how do you be so confident about what you're trying to do that that no longer matters because you believe in yourself way more than you don't necessarily maybe need some of those affirmations from everybody?

Glenn: [00:01:07] Well, I think the serial entrepreneur is somebody who's a seasoned veteran of being an entrepreneur. They kind of get that figured out. The person who is trying to decide if they should jump into the pool or not and become an entrepreneur, that's where it gets a little intimidating. And how does that look? Because, again, there is no safety net. They don't know who to talk to and they're not sure because they've just never it's a brand new language. Right. And that brand new language means that you've got to kind of do a little research and you got to figure out who might you think might be a mentor or somebody that can be an unbiased give it to you straight type of person. Would one go find one of those Julie?

Julie: [00:01:48] You know, I don't know the exact answer, but I definitely think in the professional career you have to go find someone who is like-minded. So if you're going to continue to surround yourself with someone who doesn't think like you or who's got a different mindset, possibly, it's probably not going to be the person that you want giving you that sound advice. So is there someone that you can kind of look outside of, you know, your group or where you're at and can you kind of seek that? And it could be in a completely different environment than you ever thought possible.

Glenn: [00:02:16] So it's probably you don't necessarily need a maybe a technical like, hey, I want to go. So, you know, ABC widget, it might be, hey, how do you run a business doing this or what? What do we need to get set up prior to and what is my mindset have to be those more of a coach per se.

Julie: [00:02:37] Right. And I think mentors have such a huge responsibility on someone's shoulder when you think like that, that sometimes that can be intimidating, but it's almost how are you going to build the people around you? What is your team look like? Who can you build to give you that trusted advice and kind of going out and seeking that? And I think, you know, as entrepreneurs, you've got to have you know, you've got to have your lawyer, you've got to have your CPA, you've got to kind of have those people in tow. And maybe as you go through that and you're setting up your entity and you're walking through that, you find that person who you never even thought it would be. And I feel like in general, someone who you're not seeking but ultimately becomes that trusted person.

Glenn: [00:03:15] So probably you should go to some sort of like Star Trek convention where it's nothing but entrepreneurs, something like that. And.

Julie: [00:03:23] Exactly.

Glenn: [00:03:23] Okay, I'm just.

Julie: [00:03:24] Because I was.

Glenn: [00:03:25] Thinking because ultimately, you know, you got to go hang with people that are going through the same thing. They might be selling some different product and service and doing something different, but they all have the same affinity to, hey, we're going to start every day negative. We've got to hustle today to make it work. The world is against us, against you or me or whoever that might be. And how do I get in with like-minded people that are going through the same thing? Because, believe it or not, in control of what you see on the news. Most people like to help other people.

Julie: [00:03:53] But I also think entrepreneurs don't like to talk. They don't like to converse because they think their thoughts are so different than everybody else's. And so I think it's just getting out there and having the conversation, figuring out what everybody else is doing. And hey, if it's one out of 100 hits, take it because that's a good OD these days.

Glenn: [00:04:09] Well, I think the other part, too, is entrepreneurs don't realize that they have their own. I think we had Janelle on here, of course, with her. She helps us with all of our marketing and things and branding. And ultimately, everybody has a superpower. And as an entrepreneur, we think that if we tell what we do, someone is going to steal it. Well, nobody can steal who you are. So ultimately, don't be afraid to just let that go and talk about it, because you'd be surprised people would give you advice because they know they can't do that. You think they can, but they can't.

Julie: [00:04:43] Or they introduce you to that person that's going to take you to the next level because no one knows what you're doing because you don't talk about it. And so to be able to I just think to converse in this community behind the secret trap door that you talk about just helps open up so many other doors behind that because without communicate. You don't you don't really get anywhere.

Glenn: [00:05:02] I feel like people can just, you know, hear your thoughts and just know what you're thinking. They'll just come up out of nowhere and talk to you and tell you things. Or is that not how that works?

Julie: [00:05:10] That's your belief, but everybody else is. Well, that's right. Yeah. Your superpowers of that.

Glenn: [00:05:15] That's right. So I'm telepathically challenged on that. So no, I think the key is just don't be afraid to talk about it and do what you do. And you should always say yes to meetings, literally. You should just introduce and meet everybody you can think of.

Julie: [00:05:30] And don't you think listening is one of the key components of this? So, you know, not only being able to communicate, but part of communicating is listening. So hearing what people are saying and taking that for its true value.

Glenn: [00:05:40] And ultimately, as you listen and you're building up your little your got your little database going in your head and you're taking all these things from all these people. At some point, though, all these thoughts are jumbled together and it's all up there. And when you talk to the right mentor, they can just laser focus. You get to the right thing to talk about, and that's really where it's at.

Julie: [00:05:59] I think. You know, if I could summarize what we've just talked about in the last few minutes, it's all about relationships and it's building those relationships and then finding those people who are going to be able to ultimately tell you the truth and be able to listen to you and you can listen to them.

Glenn: [00:06:16] Yeah, nobody generally people don't like somebody to tell them the truth because they think it's hurtful. But when you get somebody to tell you the truth who is just trying to help, it's kind of empowering.

Julie: [00:06:26] Absolutely.

Glenn: [00:06:27] Thanks again for this little addition here. I hope this is help any of you entrepreneurs out there wondering what your next step is. Definitely meet and go seek advice and people.

Julie: [00:06:38] Absolutely open up that next door next time.

Glenn: [00:06:40] Take care.