Business Fit Magazine November 2018 Issue 1 | Page 40

Interview
Why are you passionate about
mentoring?
I love mentoring because as a result of my
guidance I get to see my clients succeed
and share their success with them. In these
continued times of unrest the world needs
mentoring! Mentoring has the power to
change lives.
I’m driven by my mission to make mentoring
accessible to everyone, this includes hard
to reach groups from unemployed, elderly,
veterans, homeless, families and those
with mental health, disabilities or long-term
illnesses, why shouldn’t they have access to
mentoring? Mentoring is a way to create a
more inclusive society and has the potential
to trigger significant benefits on a global scale.
Everyone has something to offer as a mentor
and everyone has something to learn as a
mentee. Mentoring should be accessible to
any business, adult, child or group that needs
it and National Mentoring Day will help make
this happen.
How can people get involved in
the annual day?
It takes place on 27th October each year to
encourage organisations and individuals to
create their own mentoring event, coffee
morning, talk, conference, networking or
mentoring workshop on the day to help raise
awareness on the benefits of mentoring and
thank mentors for the great work they do.
The day attracts huge amounts of press and
anyone can join in the conversations using the
official hashtag #NationalMentoringDay which
trends top on twitter every year.
Free resources include: ‘thank your mentor’
cards to recognise mentors who’ve made a
difference, social media graphics, posters and
banners to encourage mentoring and a free
downloadable 'Get Involved Guide' to create
your own event for National Mentoring Day. We
encourage everyone to share their mentoring
success stories, tips and case studies, and use
the day to highlight your internal or external
mentoring initiatives to encourage more
people to actively take up mentoring.
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You’re launching the National
Mentoring Awards this month,
tell us more?
Why is your mentoring so
successful?
With mentoring I show people how to reach
their true potential to become authentic and
have a real purpose in society and business.
Then I help take their message to the media. So
many people are approaching the media first
with the wrong message and this is why for me
mentoring is about protecting entrepreneurs
and helping them avoid costly mistakes. I
mentor from twenty-five years of working in
media, PR, marketing and sales, not from going
on a course and becoming a wannabe guru!
With over 300 published articles in business
magazines and millions of pounds worth of
national press under my belt, I mentor from
experience not theory and pass on the gift of
knowledge and contacts that can change the
course of a person’s life, that’s the power of
mentoring.
I’m beyond excited about the launch of the
National Mentoring Awards, they will be
the BAFTAs of mentoring to create (real)
inspirational role models across every sector
of business and society. The awards will give
public recognition for ‘mentoring excellence’ to
individuals and organisations and applications
are welcome from mentors, mentees,
organisations and employers. Entries are open
to those who mentor across all walks of life,
whether in their business, sport, community,
personal or professional lives.
What sectors are you covering?
The National Mentoring Awards have a
huge reach covering Business Start-Ups,
SME’s, Corporate, Education, Youth, Careers,
Sports, Disability, Rehabilitation, Diversity,
Music, Media, Health, Financial Services,
Women, Property and Fashion. The awards
are completely FREE to enter to attract wide
audiences and the campaign will encourage
millions of people to enter the awards and
nominate.
Who will be attending?
The awards will take place on 1st March 2019
at the Five-star Jumeirah Carlton London,
backed by the National Media and include a top
celebrity host. The event will be attended by
many business leaders, distinguished guests,
celebrities and top professional mentors from
every sector and industry.
We have many high-profile brands attending
and numerous Government partners. Our
official partners include Welsh Government,
NL International, Zypha, Lawbite, Careers
& Enterprise Company, Newable, PCS
Instruments and Aura Gold Water who are are
kindly supporting this great initiative.
kindly supporting this great initiative.
Why do you mentor?
I try to positively impact the lives of as many
people as I can. I’m not driven by money but
how I can make a difference. There are so
many business owners wandering around
feeling unsatisfied, this is because they are not
being true to themselves about who they really
are. You can’t go on a course or seminar and
expect to become rich, successful and happy.
This is why I get to the heart of people’s passion
and work with them to find out what they really
want so they are truly fulfilled. So many people
are just acting and playing a part in their life,
not doing what they really believe in.
This is one of the reasons why I help so many
individuals and businesses, we all have the
opportunity to positively impact someone’s
life and mentoring is the gift that keeps on
giving. You cannot put a price on the value of
mentoring, it’s priceless. The right mentor can
redefine the way you view yourself and help
your business flourish in so many ways.
What is the biggest mistake you
have ever made in business and
what you did you learn from it?
Not taking equity in a company when I was
offered it which became highly successful as
a result of my mentoring. It’s always worth
looking at the possibilities of where a company
might be in 10 years’ time.
In these continued
times of unrest
the world needs
mentoring
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