It’s been a helluva day at sea, sir.
Wow, what a day.
Ever been immersed in tech so deep that everything kinda becomes a hazy, cloudy version of itself?
That’s what I was doing today.
Moved our site to a new hi-speed server with Ft Knox security. Our own IP address on a VPS! And a killer theme for our blog.
It’s a beautiful thing.
And there’s no way I woulda got all that done if it weren’t for my friend and mentor.
Which brings me to the subject of this email.
Ya see, I’ve been against this whole wave of “coaching” for a long time now.
You may not know what I’m talking about, and that’s OK. But ya gotta know the difference between a coach and a mentor.
And ya definitely gotta know when someone is just full of crap.
There’s a LOT of them out there.
They’re the ones that believe that crap that all ya gotta know is a page in the book ahead of the marks that you’re fleecing. At first they’re difficult to recognize. I mean, how the hell are you supposed to figure it out if you’re brand new?
They’re so convincing!
Here’s the deal… If you’re brand new and haven’t done anything and don’t even know where to start, you don’t need a coach.
You need to find out what you want to know and go as far as you can on your own before you look for help.
Rule #1 for success in my book is
QUIT LOOKING FOR SOMEONE TO TELL YOU WHAT TO DO!
You’ve been told what to do since before you could speak and the conditioning is buried deep.
But you can overcome it.
I know you can do it.
How do I know?
Because I did it.
I can point you in a direction, but if you’re not moving I sure as hell can’t suggest ways for you to steer.
You’ve got to be in the game before anyone can coach you.
Which brings us to the subject of mentors.
Mentors do things that transcend a monetary exchange.
To put it simply, you just can’t pay a mentor for what you get from them.
Why?
Because you’d never be able to afford it.
I’ve got a friend like that. In fact, I believe that’s how true friends operate.
I can’t give him money. I can do favors for him or give him stuff. And he can do the same for me.
But our relationship is beyond money.
It’s not a business thing.
A mentor is like that too.
They can do things for you that you couldn’t buy. Although there’s always somebody trying to ride their coattails to success.
For whatever reason, they choose YOU.
You can’t choose them.
That’s not the way it works.
Everyone would love to “work” with them or “partner” with them.
But they don’t do it because they know that these losers just want to take. To get from them something while offering nothing in return.
That’s why it’s an honor to be chosen by one of them.
Because they give you things that you have no right to ask for and couldn’t possibly pay for.
They do it for their reasons alone.
So if you’re ever chosen, thank your lucky stars and step up your game.
Make it worth their time to associate with you.
You’re being given a gift that you’ll only ever be able to repay on the day that you have the capability to give the same gift to someone you choose.
That’s the difference between a coach and a mentor.
In order to need the one or be worthy of the other, ya gotta perform.
That means learning to think and do for yourself before you even think of asking for assistance.
Give all the help you can.
Take it if it’s offered.
But don’t you ask for any.
You just go out there and play to win.