How I built a Six Figure Business without working with Mentor

When I decided to leave corporate America, I set an intention to link up with a mentor that would help guide me through the process.  I envisioned meeting a successful woman who ran a highly profitable business.  She would give me all the advice, motivation and inspiration necessary to carry me through every phase of my business.  I told all of my friends about how badly I wanted a mentor. I wrote it down as a goal.  At networking events, I made my intentions known.  But, in the end, I never found that mentor I was looking for.

Even without the mentor, I still was able to launch a relatively successful business.   Someone once asked me the question of how to find a mentor.  Since I was never able to find one myself, I couldn't really respond.  But after reflecting I realized that we can still gleam the valuable advice from successful people and apply it to your situation to create massive results.
At the start of my journey, I spent most of my time and energy reading or listening to books on success.  They were exactly what I needed at the time.  I took the opportunity to work on my mindset, overcome my fears, build confidence.  But in the end, all that time invested didn't really create any real world results.  Don't get me wrong, I needed to study the fundamental laws of success but it didn't directly impact my financial life.

If you want to launch a venture or build a different type of lifestyle that doesn't involve a 9-5, you need to transition from working solely on your mindset to focusing on skill set.  

How do you know when you're investing too much into mindset based learning?  Take a look at the successful people that you listen too.  How are they primarily making their money?  If they make most of their income from teaching others, chances are that their content is mindset based and will lack the specific advice you need to take actionable steps.  

That's the beauty of working with a mentor. Ideally a mentor has walked down the path that you wish to take.  That allows them to give you clear, specific advice on next moves while helping you avoid blind spots.  Success teachers don't have detailed knowledge of your potential business. They can't help you when you're stuck.  They'll get you excited to launch something new, but can they help you get to six figures or more?

When I quit my job, my goal was to generate six figures in revenue.  The first year out, I nearly reached the multi-six figure mark.  How?  I sought out "mentors" who actually had businesses similar to mine.  Most of them were earning 7 figures.  They shared their strategy and I took action. This happened without me having to engage in a single conversation with them.  Although we didn't speak, I treated their advice as if they were talking to me directly.  Honestly, I didn't do everything they recommended, but taking some action is better than nothing.  And since their advice is so applicable, it really makes an impact.  

Some of these online mentors charge quite a bit for their training.  If you're looking for a low/cost free option, I suggest you head over to Youtube and find people who are where you want to be, and are doing what you want to be doing.  Be advised that some folks will give the appearance like they have made it, when they actually haven't. They just need to make you believe in their success so you can buy their program.  Believe it or not, there are people out there who are giving out advice without trying to get you to buy their program.  Some people are just in a good place in life and are willing to share their wisdom.  

Sometimes, you find someone online who has the lifestyle you want, but they don't talk much about how they built their brand.  My advise for you is become good at studying the behavior of others.  If you pay close enough attention, you can reverse engineer the process they took to produce the results they currently enjoy.  Even if you don't know every step they took, you can still learn a lot simply by paying close attention to what people do.  

Once I got serious about building a business, I veered from typical "success teachers" to people who created built real businesses. Some success teachers started off as entrepreneurs.  But some don't  really talk much about what created their early success.  John Asaaraf, for instance, is known for his appearance in the movie The Secret.  He does a ton of mindset coaching.  But most people don't know that his path to financial freedom started off in real estate. He made a small fortune in his late teens by putting in a ton of MASSIVE ACTION that others weren't willing to do.  Making 100 sales calls a day before noon doesn't sound as sexy as the mindset stuff so you don't hear much about it.

Another thing I look for in "mentors" is who they seek for advice.  Every once in a while, someone I'm following will share that they are receiving coaching from X person.  I'll immediately do a Google search to study their path to success.  I'd like to scale my current results, so I've been seeking out inspiration entrepreneurs who far surpassed my current results.  One thing I've noticed from my 7 figure mentors is that they are always scaling their actions.  They aren't afraid to spend money to have access to the kind of results they now enjoy.  They also work closely with real mentors or they are a part of a group of other successful entrepreneurs (a mastermind group).

Last weekend, I went to a women's business conference. On the panel was a woman who also had an online store.  During her talk she mentioned earning around $500k last year in sales.  When I heard that, my ears perked up and I made a mental note to talk to her one-on-one after the session.  Once the talk was over a group of us formed a line so we can ask the speakers a question.  I observed the people in line in front of me. Most of them were talking about their own businesses and would offer a card to the speaker.  I took a different approach.  It was my opportunity to talk to a "mentor." After briefly introducing myself and thanking her for the talk, I told her that I had a business online and wanted to scale to her levels.  Then asked for the one thing she did that created her current results.

Her response was short and to the point.  She encouraged me to get very focused and intentional with my marketing efforts because that would be the one factor that will give the results I desire.  Once she answered my question, I asked if she offered any mentorship or 1-on-1 coaching.  She informed me that she didn't.  In the end, I'm still without a mentor. But that piece of advice she gave me was invaluable. Although it's not new information, the fact that she clearly told me to focus solely on that was what I needed to hear.  If I put her words to practice, I'm sure I'll be in a different place a year from now.

To sum everything up, if you really, really want to create a different path for your life, seek out and learn from mentors who can help you, even from afar.  Apply as much advice as you can as quickly as you can.  Look for people who have already achieved what you want. That's the easiest way to get to where you want to be in the fastest time possible.