Top 4 Tips on Finding a Mentor That Will Help You Grow Your Business

Have you ever had a great idea for a business, a side-line hustle or passion project, an idea that you got sooo excited about, you couldn’t wait to share it with your friends and family… 

But then the moment you shared it, your dream got shattered...

• "Oh no, that will never work!"
• "That’s not a real business"
• "There is already someone doing that"

Yup I’ve heard them all!

In today's video I’m going to talk about the 2 important lessons we’ve learned from building a thriving business. 

When we started our kids crafting club, we had sooo many people telling us reasons why we should NOT do it.

In fact one of my dearest friend’s exact words to me were:

“Stefanie, you know 5 out of 7 new businesses fail and you’ve got such a great steady job, don’t be silly.”

Before we started our club I worked as an engineer and on my last day, at my going away party, an ex-colleague said:

”Is an arts and crafts club even a real business?”

Ouch, I know!

Fast forward a few years. Now I can tell you, two of the most important things I’ve learnt in my journey of building a thriving creative business are:

1. to find and surround yourself with people who inspire and support you, and
2. to find mentors who have gone before you who can give you step-by-step guidance they’ve used to achieve success.

Christelle and I are firm believers in studying and learning from mentors. Over the years we’ve had a number of mentors and they have been fundamental to the success of our business.

When we were still running Canvas Club as a franchise we consulted a business coach and mentor called Kathy on a monthly basis.

She really opened our eyes to how unique our business is and the impact it can have on helping kids develop confidence to create and experiment. We also learnt the power of community and creating a collaboration culture in your business.

When we took our business online and started our membership we started learning from Amy Porterfield, online marketing expert, and Stu McLaren, who is the go-to for learning how to run a membership. They made a huge impact on our business and lives and we will forever be thankful to them.

Whether you are just starting out or you are growing your business, having a mentor is so important.

What is a mentor?

A mentor is someone who has gone before you. This is someone who has learnt the lessons and has succeeded. 

It’s someone who has created a life and business similar to the one you dream of creating. 

Now, you want to make sure that you’re learning from someone who aligns with your vision and the goals that you have set for your life and your business.

Someone who has accomplished similar things in their life and business. Someone who has succeeded in the areas where YOU want to succeed.

All right. Let’s get to the good stuff.

I’m going to share my top 4 tips on finding a mentor that will help you grow your business:

# 1: Have 1 or maximum 2 mentors 

Starting and growing a business can be overwhelming and if you have too many mentors and too many opinions you will get even more overwhelmed and stunt your growth.

You may have dozens of people that you follow online and whose books you’ve read and who you admire. You may want to consider them all your mentors, but (coming from experience) it really is best to have 1 or maximum 2 mentors. 

This allows you to build trust and invest energy into learning from their content, resources and courses or trainings.

#2: Find a mentor that is willing to share behind the scenes so that you can see how it's done

The amazing thing about finding a great mentor is that they can give you tools and content that you can directly apply to your business and even your life.

A mentor doesn’t have to be someone who you have one-on-one sessions with, it can be as part of an online course or membership. Just make sure that they are willing to share their exact learnings and resources with you. You need to see the specifics, I'm talking about all the details!

For example, in our membership, Creative Crafting Club, we share with our members our exact marketing strategies and materials, processes and tools - everything it takes to start and grow a thriving creative club. We share all the things that we’ve had to learn the hard way so that our members don’t have to make the same mistakes we did.

See what I mean? Your mentor needs to be sharing enough so that you can learn exactly how to run your business.

#3: Be willing to invest in a great mentor

You can Google until you’re blue in the face, watch free YouTube videos, and try to piece things together yourself, but the beautiful thing about investing in a mentor that comes in the form of a membership program is that you can stop wasting your time guessing. You can instantly and easily get the answers you need from somebody that you know has gone before you and has a proven roadmap of what to do (and NOT to do) so you can save tons of time and not make the same mistakes. 

It is scary to invest in yourself? Yes.

Is it necessary? Absolutely!

We invested in courses and memberships to get where we are today. We had fears and doubted whether it would be worth it, but boy am I glad we did! It accelerated our growth and we have made so many like-minded friends in our industry. You don’t have to go it alone. 

#4: Find your people

What I mean here is to find a mentor that comes with a community that ‘gets' you.

It’s easy to get stuck at different points in your journey of starting, running and growing a business. Having a community to lean into makes all the difference.

Online communities are great because you can share with the community where you are getting stuck and (in a matter of minutes or hours) members of the community, all with their own unique perspectives and experiences, can help you get unstuck.

This happens in our CCC community every day and it’s beautiful to see. Members are sharing their experiences, fears, obstacles and learnings. They are sharing advice and giving guidance and are all learning and growing together in the process.

So when you decide on your mentor, make sure you gain a community too. It's invaluable.

If you’re looking to start or grow a creative club, Christelle and I would love to be your mentors. If you don't know us that well yet, a good place to start would be to join our upcoming Get Started Workshop. It's a 1 hour LIVE workshop where we give you the essential first steps to start and grow a creative club - to teach online, in person or sell creative kits. You can get a taste of what we offer for a minimal fee.

Click here to learn more about our Get Started Workshop and sign up >>

Let's recap what we talked about in this episode:

Find and surround yourself with people who inspire and support you. Find mentors who have gone before you who can share their secrets for success with you.

Remember the 4 tips on finding a mentor that will help you grow your business:

1. Have only 1 or 2 mentors, you don’t want to get overwhelmed with too many opinions
2. Find a mentor who is willing to share behind the scenes so that you can see how it's done
3. Be willing to invest in a great mentor
4. Get a mentor who comes with a community

If you'd like to dive in and join our community so we can mentor you, head over to sign up for our Get Started Workshop. It's the best way to connect with us and get the essential first steps you need to get started with your club.

Until next time, cheers!

Stefanie
XO