Newsflash: You are a mentor. You aren’t just a small business owner, you’re a mentor. People admire your courage, your drive, your passion and freedom. As a mentor and leader there’s something important you want to share in your storytelling.

When your customers ask “How did you get started in this business?” How do you answer?

Do you give the quick or flip answer? The ‘Facebook perfect’ answer? Do you sometimes leave out the unflattering bits and pieces? You know – the part about when you were struggling and uncertain if there would still be a business to wake up to the next day? Do you acknowledge the bad choices, wrong turns and a few not-so-great decisions? Are you embarrassed to talk about how quickly you discovered enthusiasm and adrenaline are not enough to create a thriving business, that the way we craft reality from dreams is through a tough combination of passion, planning and persistence?

The story of your struggle is just as important as all the pretty parts, if not more so. That’s the great life lesson to anyone serious about getting started on the road to the life they want to be living. That’s where your role as a mentor kicks in.

Tell them what it really took to get you and your business where you are today. Those customers who ask are often hoping to learn something that will apply to their story, some useful piece of information to help solve a problem, inspiration to keep going or even that crazy light bulb moment that will spur them to get started.

There are countless small business owners and entrepreneurs whose stories taught me something important along my own journey. It was that honest combination of their mistakes and triumphs that encouraged me as I was growing my own company. If I hadn’t learned about the struggles they survived I probably wouldn’t have navigated the bumps along my own path to success as ably as I did because I might not have realized it was possible.

Dreamers who understand and expect the hard times along with the good are the ones who become Doers. They push on, they figure it out, and they reap rewards they never even expected. All because someone like you, through your story, told them that it could be done.

These Doers are the next group of small business owners and successful entrepreneurs that will add to the growing ranks of people who don’t just want to talk about their future they want to make it happen. They’re the folks who want to be their own boss, create jobs for others and invest in their community.

So tell your whole story, the struggle plus the pretty parts, because at some point you’ll discover an opportunity to be a mentor. And helping someone else accomplish their goals in life is one of the greatest gifts a small business owner can give.

Our business is our business – our ability to inspire others to follow their path so that they can change the world.

Let’s change the world!