Her: “I learned from my mentor.”
Me: “Who would that be?”
Her: “You! Of course. I learned from the best.”

A Facebook friend of mine said this to me in a comment of a post of hers that I responded to recently.

It actually threw me off to be quite honest with you.

Why you may ask?

Well, I’ve never considered myself a mentor and that is really the main thing that threw me off. It was most definitely a good compliment to be acknowledged though. Especially seeing that I’ve made a difference in one person’s life.

That is one of the things that I strive for though in life and business. Creating impact in people’s lives, one person at a time. It’s with everything that I do. All the content that I share out there. It’s intended to help others.

One of the main reasons why I decided to compose this article is to emphasize on how you can influence someone else’s life.

What is a Mentor?

A mentor may share with a mentee (or protege) information about his or her own career path, as well as provide guidance, motivation, emotional support, and role modeling. A mentor may help with exploring careers, setting goals, developing contacts, and identifying resources.

I’ve never even for a minute considered myself as a mentor. Not once. The funny thing about this is that in the eyes of someone else, they see you differently. That’s what it’s all about though in the end. The impact, the change that you invoke in someone’s life can have a huge difference. It can be one of the most rewarding acts that you’ve ever engaged in.

Why would someone consider me to be a mentor though?

One of the biggest misconceptions in society today is that someone has to have a pile of accomplishments to be considered a mentor. That’s complete horse shit. I used to think this way as well. I used to think that a mentor needs to have a lot of money, be constantly in the news, very authoritative, huge following on social media, and all sorts of crap that’s completely false.

Per the description above, a mentor is someone who has certain qualities, value, insight that can help others.

• Career Path – Sure, I’ve had quite the interesting 25-year run in digital marketing and entrepreneurship. Lots to share. Something that people will find value in and able to apply to their own lives or businesses.
• Guidance – We need this now more than ever. Being a good listener. Providing strategy and tactics on how to help change the life of someone else.
• Motivation – I already do a shit ton of this with all of my social videos, articles I write, podcast, and whatnot else. This is beneficial to many people out there.
• Emotional Support – Now especially during the COVID-19 quarantine, a lot of people are struggling. In fact, the CDC has reported that suicide has grown by 35% since 1999 where the majority of spike has occurred since 2006. There are a lot of people who simply need emotional support and being that person is an honor that I proudly accept.
• Role Modeling – As a father and husband, I already adhere to this but being a role model for other adults is a whole new ball game. It’s also a huge honor to know that someone else looks up to you. They look up to you as a human being, as an entrepreneur, as a small business owner. That speaks a lot and quite frankly I guess I never really looked at it that way.

Whose mentor are you? How are you influencing their life?