What exactly is mentoring?

Mentoring is the process of being alongside someone to act as a support in their spiritual, personal or professional development.

It takes many forms and there are several different kinds of mentors but usually it is someone who is either a trusted friend or a guide or counselor.

The process of mentoring has proven to work well and has a high rate of success in most circumstances, whatever they may be. It is a fact that the majority of successful human beings were mentored at some point in their lives.

When you begin a mentoring program, the desired end result should be in your mind.

You should know the following:-

- Why do you want a mentor?
- What do you hope to achieve by being mentored?
- How will you measure you success?

When trying to find the right mentor for you, think about the points below:-

- Find someone who is further along the path than you are
- Make sure that particular someone works with the same values as you do
- Choose a mentor who you can relate to
- Your mentor has to be readily available at the times you need him or her

Your mentor should:-

- Be accessible by telephone as well as face to face for a chat
- Be keen to partake in your mentoring and be part of your development
- Encourage and inspire you and join in with the celebrations when you succeed
- Ensure you meet your deadlines like they were their own
- Be well connected and able to help you gain access to others when necessary
- Help you to set achievable goals, in a realistic yet challenging way
- Help you with ways in which to achieve your goals
- Give you constructive feedback on your performance (including your failures)
- Help you to find the solution to obstacles in your way
- Be willing to share their own resources in a way which will help you create your own
- Inspire and motivate you to make more of yourself and do more
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Needless to say, there are some mentoring programs that are better than others so you need to do your homework before you choose the one you think suits you best. If you can familiarize yourself with the person you intend to become your mentor, either on a personal level or through the workplace you will know exactly what you can expect from him or her. Chat with other people who have been mentored using that program and ask whether or not they would recommend it. Will it be worth your time, money and the effort you have to put in? You will find that talking to people who have previously been mentored will be the best proof of performance you can get. A good mentoring program will give methodical training, cut down on the learning time and allow you to develop and expand.

This is what makes mentoring such a powerful tool enabling you to arrive at your personal potential and to do so quicker than you would on your own.

Prior to staring a mentoring program it is important that you are aware of what is expected of you, what you can expect and how you and your mentor will work together to achieve your goals.

People who are in the business of marketing are well aware that the way that they market to potential clients is of the utmost importance. The right copy can make the difference between a making a sale and striking out.

It all comes down to this - the smallest changes in a piece of promotional communications can make all the difference in it’s effectiveness.

The easiest and fastest part of your sales strategy to test out and retool is the headline of your brochure, sales letters or your webpage. You can get radically higher response rates by changing this one all-important line of copy.

Every piece of your marketing material matters. From the headline to the closing, all are important elements. But it is the headline more than any other line in your material that will bring in readers and hopefully interest them enough to make a conversion.

It’s simple enough to grasp why this is - after all, the headline is read first. It’s right at the top of the page, inviting you in. To be effective, you need a headline which is compelling enough to suck in a prospect and get them engaged enough to read the rest of your message.

Think of your headline as sales copy for your sales copy. You need to get people to read your pitch if you want them to buy from you and to do this, you need to get their attention.

A friendly hello, a coy come-on, a news headline or a shout of alarm. No matter how it goes about it, a headline is there to get attention and make a passerby into a reader (and hopefully, a customer).

Writing new headlines is a matter of market research and the kind of copywriter’s brainstorming session seen at ad agencies. Keep these questions in mind as you think about rewriting yours.

Does your headline make a promise of some kind of benefit for the reader? For instance, “repair your credit rating without high interest” - something that readers will want.

Are there specifics and testimonials from experts? This can help quell peoples’ natural skepticism. Think of something like “leading dog training expert says new ebook tells all you need to know about problem pups”.

Can you work your headline to make you appear to be a champion of your market’s interests? This is a particularly effective strategy for initially grabbing the attention of readers.

Does it either generate an emotional response or appeal to an issue or emotional state your target market may be experiencing? Think of something like: “Just whose interests do they really have at heart anyways?” Almost any rephrasing of “Cui bono?” can be effective.

Does your headline offer something which makes your readers eager to learn more? Perhaps a trial offer or a promise of great benefits as a result of your product.

You can appeal to the natural curiosity of your readers with something like “get out of debt - with the power of your mind”. People will want to know exactly what you mean; it’s alright to be cryptic with your headline if you can do it in such a way that it will compel people to read further.

These are just a few of the many strategies used by marketing professionals and copywriters to create attention getting headlines.

Brainstorming up different headlines is a great way to get some different approaches to your marketing strategy. Don’t be afraid to change a headline that isn’t working for you, keep at it until you find that truly winning piece of copy that will help your business grow.

It is not possible to have a successful online business without website traffic. This means that implementing an effective traffic building strategy must be central to any overall internet marketing plan. In fact, without website traffic you might as well shut up shop. However, it can be expensive to drive targeted traffic to your website using paid strategies. It is therefore helpful to understand how to get interested visitors to your site without cost.

The first free method of driving traffic to your website is blogging. Most people these days know what blogging is and perhaps you already have one. However, to successfully drive traffic to your website from a blog you need to create an interesting, informative blog that can develop a readership. After all, if no one reads your blog you won’t be able to use it to drive traffic to your site.

With blogging, it is important to submit new posts regularly, preferably daily. It is also important that your blog articles are of a high quality and of particular interest to your targeted audience. One way to attract return visits is to regularly advertise special offers such as a free e-book, template or widget.

Blogs can be an important part of your traffic building strategy because they are very popular with search engines. Every time you add a new post, search engines crawl through your blog and index the page. If you update your blog daily, your chances of gaining a high position on the free search results page is dramatically increased. Blogger and Wordpress are two of the most popular blogging sites. Both allow you to establish a blog free of charge.

Online forums can also be used successfully to generate targeted traffic. By simply posting on forums and using a link to your website as your signature, you can receive the benefit of visitors to your website. You can find forums related to your niche by doing an internet search. Just make sure that the forum is active and has high traffic itself otherwise it might not be worth your time. Once you register on the forum, take some time to browse current posts to get sense of where people are coming from and what they are interested in. When you feel ready, start writing some posts yourself.

It is very important to understand the rules of forum posting. You are generally not allowed to promote your own business or products in forum posts. If you do this, your post will be removed and you will usually get a warning. In some cases, you will lose your forum membership. These rules can sometimes be applied in such an extreme way that even if someone on the forum asks for a recommendation, you still can’t give it. The best way to use the forum is to give generic but helpful information on any given forum topic. In forums, promoting your own business is considered spam even if it is relevant to the thread.

Both blogs and forums can be used to enhance your reputation or “expert” status. Building your credibility is an important aspect of attracting targeted website traffic. After all, if you invest in your own reputation in your particular niche, people will gain confidence in your advice and return to the blog or forum to see what else you have to say.

In your forum signature or blog ‘about me’ page you can provide a link to specific web pages or affiliate programs. If you have taken the time to build credibility with your readers, they will click on your link to check out new articles or special offers. Blogs and online forums are a great addition to any traffic building strategy. They also have the added benefit of being free.

These two traffic building strategies are highly effective and you can begin to use them immediately.

Visualize walking along the beach. This will be an emotional healing visualization. Start off by taking several deep, abdominal breaths. You can either sit in a chair or lie down, which ever you feel more comfortable with. It is important that while you are breathing, you are also trying to clear your mind and relax. If any negative thoughts begin to creep into your mind, take the time to acknowledge them and then simply let them fade away. Now you can breathe normally and easily.

Try to imagine yourself walking along a white sandy beach on a warm, beautiful, clear day. As you walk along the beach, be sure to take notice of your footprints in the sand. As well, take notice of all the people lounging in their chairs, walking their dogs, children playing in the sand, the waves crashing on the shore, birds flying above you, the puffy white clouds and the merchants selling a variety of different novelties. On the beach, there is an abundance of things to see and take in. The overall mood is one of relaxation and pure happiness.

Chances are your week has been less than perfect. Life’s stressors have taken their toll on your mood. Therefore, this walk is your attempt at trying to change your mood, while getting things off your mind and relaxing.

As you walk along the sandy beach, you see a giant helium balloon in the distance. The helium balloon is very large and vibrant with colors. Attached to the balloon is a seat designed for one. You notice that a vendor is offering rides in the helium balloon. Since the price is right, you decide to take him up on his offer and go for a ride. You step into the seat. The vendor directs you on the how to work the balloon in order to go higher or come back to the ground. In order to assure you are completely safe, he has a rope attached to the balloon.

The balloon begins to lift you off the ground. The higher you go, the more peaceful you feel. As you ascend, the people and the beach appear to be so small. Then, you think about all of the problems you have experienced over the past week. Your body begins to tense up. You need to acknowledge that feeling.

As you begin to ascend, a bright light, which appears to come directly from Heaven, engulfs you. Your intuition tells you that the light is an angel who was sent to shine her bright light on you. She begins to communicate with you. She tells you that everyone experiences problems from time to time and that it is all part of life.

How we handle the problems can either make us or break us. Our reactions can either cause the problem to be a minor irritation or a complete catastrophe. Everyone has a different reaction to stress. The angel is asking you to view your problems as a minor hurdle that can easily be overcome. She is also saying that as a result of your problems, you can actually become stronger. As well, you can deal with anything that comes your way.

She tells you to feel the tension you are experiencing in your body. In order to feel this, contract your leg muscles, then completely let go. Next, contract your all of your muscles, including your abdomen, buttocks, shoulders, arms and face. Contract one set of muscles at a time. In between working each muscle group, make sure to take some time to relax. As you relax your muscles, let go of all the negative thoughts and situations you have experienced over the past week.

By the time you have worked your way through all of the muscle groups, your problems will have melted completely away. In the clouds, you can see your problems floating away. Your problems now appear to be as small as the people below. In fact, they no longer even exist.

At this point you feel as if you can tackle anything that comes your way. By simply doing this visualization, you realize you can handle all of your stress in a positive manner.

As you begin to descend, the angel tells you how proud of you she is. As you go further down, she tells you your tension will soon be completely gone. She reminds you of how joyous and refreshed you will feel when you reach the ground. Your body feels stress free and light. Be sure to take in the fresh air as you slowly descend.

Now, you begin to the see the people who are on the beach. You can feel how warm the sand is as you touch it. The vendor smiles at you as if he can tell just how refreshed and calm you are.

You thank him for allowing you to ride on his helium balloon. As you begin walking along the beach, you look up. The bright light you had originally seen, goes back into the clouds and then to the heaven. You know that you can call on this special angel at anytime. You are energized and happy. Your life is wonderful. You now know that you can take on the world.