One of the great things about social media is that it opens up avenues for mentoring. Everyone appreciates a mentor. That individual who has achieved some facet of life we aspire to: education, wealth, power, love, passion, health, energy, etc. Maybe they’re a coach. Maybe they’re a motivator. Maybe they’re a teacher.
It used to be that someone would write a book and people would buy it, and then they would buy the CDs and attend the seminars and talk nonstop about how a particular person’s recipe for success had changed their life. The internet made these folks even more accessible. They could promote their books and videos online 24/7 so we no longer had to wait to see their commercial on TV or in print to find out how to get their information.
And then social media transformed everything. Now we can select a link on the website of our favorite thought leader and have their articles of interest populate our news feeds on Facebook and Twitter, or receive updates in our email from their blogs, websites and LinkedIn. Another wonderful aspect about social media mentoring is that we can access more than one influencer. We no longer have to rely on a single individual to be our motivator, coach, or touchstone for those times when we crave inspiration to help us through a rough patch. Now we can link up with multiple types of mentoring based on what we need. Perhaps it will be career boosting from Marie Forleo, life coaching from Dr. Wayne Dyer, social media training from Mike Wolpert, or maybe a pep talk from Kid President. Social media abounds with writers, artists, business entrepreneurs and enthusiasts who are all reaching out to share their experiences with us.
But the best part of social mentoring is that a small business owner can also take the time to reach out and become a mentor as well, because mentors are self-made. We’re the folks who know the ropes. We’ve survived the tough times, sorted out the emotional knots, found new ways to crack the tough nuts and learned to laugh and enjoy the journey. No one has to be famous to be a source of inspiration to others. Once upon a time, Tony Robbins was just a guy with an idea for how he could make a difference. Once upon a time we were all just people starting out with a dream for business success. Social media is brimming with innovative ways to market our brands. And there’s no better way to promote our brand than by sharing the lessons we learned while building our brand. Think about shining some of that hard won inner light. Let it be part of the conversation.
