What did your mentor/coach do for you to make sure you will succeed?

12 years ago

When I had a coach / mentor, the most valuable thing they did for me was to give me homework. The business still failed but that is another story all together.

What I liked was that they reviewed the site, made comments and told me what to do for the next step. I really enjoyed the homework portion because it gives one a goal and completing that goal means you accomplished something.

As for answering the questions above.. no, no, no, and no, and more no's.

They took the sum of the "common" knowledge that is out there and consolidated it into a detailed list. Each week we went through that list and stroke off what was completed.

Understanding that "common knowledge" isn't always common practice. There were things in the details that I had missed ie: alt tags, H1, H2, H3 tags etc... Making my header too large and that stuff. These are things I already knew that I didn't put into practice and the coach pointed them out.

Going solo you tend to rush things. Doing a tag team you can bounce ideas off each other and fine tune the details.

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JohnStP

12 years ago

A good Coach/Mentor is going to:

Help you gain clarity on your Objectives
Help you define the goals that are going to allow you to achieve your Objectives quickly and efficiently
Help you craft a plan and timetable to meet those Goals
Flatten any learning curves they can for you
Help you avoid any pitfalls they may have fallen into themselves
Keep you accountable
Push you further and out of your comfort zone
And, hopefully, ultimately, allow you to reach your Goals and Objectives faster and more effectively than you would have without a Coach

In the end, though, it really is up to you. I've had clients with basically the same skill sets move at all different speeds. Commitment to your Objective and consistency play a big role.

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Alminc

12 years ago

Originally Posted by JohnStP

A good Coach/Mentor is going to:

Help you gain clarity on your Objectives
Help you define the goals that are going to allow you to achieve your Objectives quickly and efficiently
Help you craft a plan and timetable to meet those Goals
Flatten any learning curves they can for you
Help you avoid any pitfalls they may have fallen into themselves
Keep you accountable
Push you further and out of your comfort zone
And, hopefully, ultimately, allow you to reach your Goals and Objectives faster and more effectively than you would have without a Coach

Is that what your mentor did for you, in order to make sure you'll have created a successful business at the end of the program? (

)

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RedShifted

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Invert Planet

There were things in the details that I had missed ie: alt tags, H1, H2, H3 tags etc... Making my header too large and that stuff. These are things I already knew that I didn't put into practice and the coach pointed them out.

Thats pretty amazing afaic. This is the SAME exact major mistake I've been making on my website. I used an h2 tag on the entire copy of my home page instead of changing the size of the font in the code. It was too small.

A couple weeks later I called up an "seo expert" had him look at my site, he said all my header tags were killing my rank.

Sure enough I fix everything and make it proper, also change my seo title tags, then 3 weeks later I find 2 keywords from my site on page 1 of google.

That was a learning lesson like I can't even explain. So now I obsess over EVERY single detail, I do NOT miss a thing. My site keeps doing better and better, so I'm hoping soon I'll get a lot more keywords on page 1.

We'll see, but you're making me wonder how many other people try SEO and make these same exact mistakes. You really can not ignore any aspect of SEO if you plan on succeeding at it. Thats what I learned from that experience.

-Red

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David Keith

12 years ago

Good mentors design their advice around the client. The "ok" mentors have developed a system that works for some and then they try to fit anyone who they mentor into that system.

From your post, I am guessing you are talking about a mentor for a person who has never achieved much success.

For those people, The first step is to figure out what you are working with. A mentor is just another word for "boss" when it comes to situations like this. These are much more like boss - employee relationships at the beginning.

The advice a good coach will give should vary wildly based on the student he is working with, the niche being attacked, the students skills, the students assets, and many more things.

I often time work to re-integrate convicted felons back into society by helping them start a web business. The advice I give them is vastly different from the advice I give someone who has been studying IM for a year and just failed to achieve much success.

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Alminc

12 years ago

Originally Posted by David Keith

Good mentors design their advice around the client. The "ok" mentors have developed a system that works for some and then they try to fit anyone who they mentor into that system.

I agreee with the above.

From your post, I am guessing you are talking about a mentor for a person who has never achieved much success.

Who else could I talk about? Persons who has achieved much success seldom need a mentor/coach.

For those people, The first step is to figure out what you are working with. A mentor is just another word for "boss" when it comes to situations like this. These are much more like boss - employee relationships at the beginning.

With the substantial difference that the real "boss" is paying you, not the oposite. In this situation, the student is paying the mentor, and expecting that the mentor will ensure the desired results. I didn't say this explicitely in my OP, but I'm talking about expensive mentoring/coaching programs, say $500 per/mo and up, where the student (rightly) expects the mentor to provide him with the real, valuable, highly actionable stuff, not just talking, for that freakin' money. I'm sure you understand from my OP what I mean.

The advice a good coach will give should vary wildly based on the student he is working with, the niche being attacked, the students skills, the students assets, and many more things.

Is the advice alone worth paying $500 or $1000 per month? What else do you think that the good coach should provide?

I often time work to re-integrate convicted felons back into society by helping them start a web business. The advice I give them is vastly different from the advice I give someone who has been studying IM for a year and just failed to achieve much success.

Interesting. I never met anyone who's coaching convicted felons. Did you have any successful students among them?

Oh, I almost forgot...can you share what your mentor has done for you?

.

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David Keith

12 years ago

[QUOTE=Alminc;6507214]Interesting. I never met anyone who's coaching convicted felons. Did you have any successful students among them?

I have lots of success stories from them. Oddly enough, many of these guys understand the principals of marketing and manipulation of people very well in many cases. They don't use the same terms we use to describe things, but they know the stuff. They just need to be given something to sell that is legal...lol.

Lots of these guys have few options left. They can't get a job... no one will hire them. So when presented with a real opportunity, some latch onto it like you can't believe.

As far as "who else needs a mentor". Well, one of my clients does over 7 million a month in sales. They call me for all sorts of advice on many different aspects of online business. A company / person can never have too many smart people trying to give them a competitive advantage.

As far as the boss - employee relationship. My point was not about who is getting paid. But when working with "newbies" the biggest and hardest problem the vast majority of them face is "management of me" stuff. The stuff a normal boss does for employees.

The actual tasks of making money online are not all that complicated. The much harder thing is to teach people how to see things like an entrepreneur rather than just looking at this internet as their own personal "cash cow"

As far as what a coach is worth. A good coach is worth a whole lot. In fact, they have the potential to give you something that is priceless. Freedom and control.

When it comes to what a coach should provide. a good coach will provide you with a proven method of making money. A great coach will provide you with a custom plan designed around your skills and situation that gives you the best opportunity for success.

For some, my coaching is almost all "life" coaching. For others, it is more like a boss relationship where I just keep them on task. For others, I am just more of a cheerleader. (i know that last one sounds crazy, but you would not believe how many people need to hear someone they trust say "yea, I that will work".)

What great coaches provide is whatever their students need to help make them successful.

as for guarantees. There are NONE in entrepreneurship. Anyone who tells you any different is absolutely lying. You want a guarantee, go get a job.

Truthfully, I don't really have a mentor. I have been doing this for over 16 years. There are very few with more overall experience than me, so I really don't look up to anyone. I do have several people that I follow and respect what they say, but I don't have any mentors. There are some people who I would look to about specific things.

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Alminc

12 years ago

Originally Posted by David Keith

What great coaches provide is whatever their students need to help make them successful.

I like that one. I think that's the way it should be.

Originally Posted by David Keith

as for guarantees. There are NONE in entrepreneurship. Anyone who tells you any different is absolutely lying. You want a guarantee, go get a job.

Then there are very meny liers, and very few truthful mentors/coaches out there. As you know, almost all sales letters for mentoring/coaching programs are promising (black on white) that the student will have a successful business as a result of mentoring or make $2000/$5000/$10000 (whatever the figure) after the completion of the program.
They are maybe not explicitely giving any guarantee, but they are selling the program by promissing the above results in the sales letter.
Don't you think that anybody reading those sales letters is rightly entitled to expect that kind of mentoring that leads to that kind of results? Or should they read one thing, but expect some other thing?

Originally Posted by David Keith

Truthfully, I don't really have a mentor. I have been doing this for over 16 years. There are very few with more overall experience than me, so I really don't look up to anyone. I do have several people that I follow and respect what they say, but I don't have any mentors. There are some people who I would look to about specific things.

Well, than I guess you are already successful enough in your business to fall into the category mentioned earlier who don't need mentoring.

I hope we can agree that the majority of those who need mentoring/coaching are people who want to build their first successful internet based business and who need everyhting in order to achieve that. They are not necessarily total newbies who don't know what cloaking is and such, they can be people who already have solid technical/webmaster and marketing knowledge and some experience of making money online, but they don't have real, full-blown, sustainable business.

.

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David Keith

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Alminc

Then there are very meny liers, and very few truthful mentors/coaches out there. As you know, almost all sales letters for mentoring/coaching programs are promising (black on white) that the student will have a successful business as a result of mentoring or make $2000/$5000/$10000 (whatever the figure) after the completion of the program.

.

How in the world can anyone actually guarantee that anyone else is going to make xx,xxx dollars in a given amount of time? That is just crazy.

Many of those that make those sort of guarantees are taking clients online in the IM niche. Essentially clients that are trying to make money selling to other IMers. (despite not knowing how to make money online themselves).

What you find in many of these programs is that what you are really paying for is to essentially buy into the club. Of course you need a product and such, but your fee basically is just to get a marketer who can sell the product to his list to know your name. Many operate much like a JV broker more than a coach.

I know a good bit about what i am doing when it comes to online business, but i still lose money on ventures from time to time. I can't even GUARANTEE my own success on any single project, how the hell can i guarantee anyone else will make a big pile of money.

And if you think I probably just don't know enough, thats why I lose money on some deals. Look at the ultra successful in offline business. Warren buffet makes bad deals, google has tried and failed at several projects, and Donald trump has filed for bankruptcy several times.

These guys take risks for a living. There is no way to win on every deal. So any coach that tells you they can not only win at every deal, but they can show you how to win at every deal is just simply full of it.

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Alminc

12 years ago

Originally Posted by David Keith

How in the world can anyone actually guarantee that anyone else is going to make xx,xxx dollars in a given amount of time? That is just crazy.

Many of those that make those sort of guarantees are taking clients online in the IM niche. Essentially clients that are trying to make money selling to other IMers. (despite not knowing how to make money online themselves).

What you find in many of these programs is that what you are really paying for is to essentially buy into the club. Of course you need a product and such, but your fee basically is just to get a marketer who can sell the product to his list to know your name. Many operate much like a JV broker more than a coach.

I know a good bit about what i am doing when it comes to online business, but i still lose money on ventures from time to time. I can't even GUARANTEE my own success on any single project, how the hell can i guarantee anyone else will make a big pile of money.

And if you think I probably just don't know enough, thats why I lose money on some deals. Look at the ultra successful in offline business. Warren buffet makes bad deals, google has tried and failed at several projects, and Donald trump has filed for bankruptcy several times.

These guys take risks for a living. There is no way to win on every deal. So any coach that tells you they can not only win at every deal, but they can show you how to win at every deal is just simply full of it.

David, I totally agree with your point, giving any such guarantees is insane.

And yes, most of the times it's actually buying into the club as you described.

What I'm now thinking about is the fact that many mentors, especially guru-level mentors, have very little or no respect at all for their clients money. And they don't seem to understand that when someone is paying for that kind of service, then they themselves are kind of 'employed' or 'hired' for a very specific purpose.

When an ordinary person is hired to achieve certain results, everybody agrees that that person is expected to do a hell of a good job for the money s/he is paid. Everybody agrees that that person should off course produce good results.

But guru-level mentors are already making so much money, that they don't feel like they are paid by their mentoree in order to provide results. They think they should 'be there when needed' to answer some emails and that's it. They are not themselves doing a hell of a good work , even if they are paid exactly for that reason.

Just as an example, let's say someone needs to build an email list of 10000 targeted subscribers, but that person is bad at list building and email marketing. The list of 10000 targeted subscribers is the end result that that person needs. S/he hires a mentor who is, among other things, a list building guru and already owns a list of 300000 subs. The mentor knows everything inside-out, has all the resources and contacts etc. Let's say the 6-month mentoring costs $10,000. My point is that in that case the mentor should not only teach and give advices, but even do and provide anything that is required in order to make sure his client will walk away with the list of 10000 subscribers after 6 months of his mentoring. Why? Because he is the expert who can do that, and because he is paid to achieve that result together with his client. He should provide both the know-how for fishing and make sure there is fish on the table.

.

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realreview

12 years ago

After 4 years of messing around online and making a bit of money here and there I have taken up a 1-2-1 mentoring program and although it's only been a few days I feel more confident about achieving the success I am after than ever before. The best tip so far is forget making millions overnight, this is a proper business so if you treat it as such you will be able to make it grow.

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sdentrepreneur

12 years ago

I met my mentor online in 2007, he provided me all the tools, training and mindset needed to be successful online. In 2010, we spoke about how I was doing with my offline marketing business and he suggested I create a course to help others learn Internet Marketing and also a course for business owners to purchase. I finished both of those in 2011 and owe much of my success to having a mentor in the first place. I am actually speaking at his event this weekend to 300 Entrepreneurs.
So for me....best thing that ever happened to me...hands down...

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David Keith

12 years ago

The truth is that for almost every "great" mentor their opportunity cost for coaching is very high. Essentially good coaches are losing money when they choose to coach people.

I have several corporate lvl clients that pay $450 an hour. It still costs me money to spend time coaching. According to my numbers through june of this year, 4% of my income comes from coaching, yet I spend 19% of my time on that aspect.

I am hired by the hour to do the best they I do for you at the time. But I should not be expected to make sure you are a success because you pay me. So little of that is actually on me.

Even in a very aggressive coaching situation you will be with a mentor 10 hours a week. Most are more like 1 hour a month. At any rate, there are 168 hours in any week. So the time that is under the control and direction of the mentor is minuscule really. they are not miracle workers.

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ShayB

12 years ago

I'm very fortunate that my biz mentor is also my best friend.

He has worked with a number of biz startups and knows the ins and outs of taking a business from startup to getting investors, selling the company, going public, etc.

The best things he does:

He makes me accountable.

He makes me draw up 30-, 60- and 90-day plans.

He has me give summaries on how business is going and what my projections are.

He has me present my biz plans and explain when I expect a ROI.

He makes me do a hard analysis on things that DON'T work.

He gives me encouragement and is a sounding board.

Did I mention he knows nothing about IM?

But he knows about building solid, long-term businesses, and that's why I asked him to be my mentor.

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Alminc

12 years ago

Originally Posted by ShayRockhold

I'm very fortunate that my biz mentor is also my best friend.

He has worked with a number of biz startups and knows the ins and outs of taking a business from startup to getting investors, selling the company, going public, etc.

The best things he does:

He makes me accountable.

He makes me draw up 30-, 60- and 90-day plans.

He has me give summaries on how business is going and what my projections are.

He has me present my biz plans and explain when I expect a ROI.

He makes me do a hard analysis on things that DON'T work.

He gives me encouragement and is a sounding board.

Did I mention he knows nothing about IM?

But he knows about building solid, long-term businesses, and that's why I asked him to be my mentor.

You are really fortunate. Sounds like a great mentor.

.

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ShayB 12 years ago

Originally Posted by Alminc

You are really fortunate. Sounds like a great mentor.

.

He's amazing.
- Thanks
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footbag_man

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Alminc

Did you have a mentor/coach who guided you and helped you create fully operational and successful online business from scratch?

If so, I have a question for you.

What exactly have your mentor/coach been doing for you during that program, except giving you advices?

And let's take the obvious out of the way: I know that you've done the work , I know that your mentor didn't do the horse work for you.

Given that you performed the horse work needed to build your business (or that you outsourced it), what did he/she do?

For example:

- Did your mentor create a detailed, fail-proof, step-by-step business plan for you?

- Did your mentor give you access to vital resources and people (e.g. workers) that are not publically available?

- Did your mentor introduce you to his own network of JV partners and affiliates?

- Did you feel that your mentor/coach have been personally concerned and active in all the important steps?

- Did your mentor manage your first product launch for you when you created your product/service?

- etc. etc.

Has the program been expensive, but worth every cent (or not)?

Please share your story.

.

A good mentor will teach you a method that is not well known or he will do something slightly differently..

I have been mentored by Kenster and I have been very happy with what I have learned through him.

Fergal

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Randall Magwood

12 years ago

My mentor gave me personal email support, phone support, and gave me countless amounts of products and courses for me to learn from. He's an amazing guy, and is a master copywriter. And also... a great internet marketer.

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What did your mentor/coach do for you to make sure you will succeed?

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