WEBVTT

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and so I saw her all the time and one weekend

00:00:05.769 --> 00:00:09.330
I went down to visit her and you know I was a

00:00:09.330 --> 00:00:12.609
teenager I think I was like 19 or 20 and this

00:00:12.609 --> 00:00:16.370
is now like 1990 or so and she wasn't herself

00:00:16.370 --> 00:00:19.890
she was like grouchy and irritable and not the

00:00:19.890 --> 00:00:22.660
fun grandma I knew And I talked to somebody at

00:00:22.660 --> 00:00:25.440
her independent living facility and said, what's

00:00:25.440 --> 00:00:27.960
wrong? She's not herself. And they said, oh,

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don't worry. We'll fix her. And a lot of people

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who are younger think it has to just be me. I

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better have all of this or I'm not going to be

00:00:36.200 --> 00:00:42.039
successful. We all know somebody. Truly. No one

00:00:42.039 --> 00:00:46.619
hangs out with people that are completely without

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a superpower. Everyone has some kind of a superpower.

00:00:50.240 --> 00:00:52.539
So if you look, you're really and truly not gonna

00:00:52.539 --> 00:00:55.280
have to look far, but we all think we're alone.

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It's kind of how we're all built to think, well,

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nobody's gonna know, nobody's gonna be able to

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help me. And then as soon as people open their

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mouth and they say, hey, I'm doing this, do you

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know anything? You're gonna find within three

00:01:06.120 --> 00:01:08.359
people that there's somebody who's gonna either

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know or know somebody who does. The real cool

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thing is that one man, he changed the lives of

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individual students. He changed the lives of

00:01:18.519 --> 00:01:23.159
a community and now he's bridging students between,

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he's gonna start bridging the students between

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Brooklyn and Tanzania. And he's gonna be changing

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the world, one man. And so that's really what

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the power of mentorship is, that you can make

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a bigger impact than you could ever even realize.

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She's changing the way we think about legacy.

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Dr. Deborah Heiser joins the Thrive World journey

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to reveal how mentorship shapes purpose at every

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age. Hey family, this is The Thriveware Journey.

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Look, life's too short to just get by. And 2025

00:01:55.299 --> 00:01:59.219
is the year to persist. We're here to grow, build,

00:01:59.459 --> 00:02:02.000
and thrive. This podcast is all about powerful

00:02:02.000 --> 00:02:05.040
stories, real talk, and practical steps to help

00:02:05.040 --> 00:02:07.439
you level up in every area of your life. Now,

00:02:07.439 --> 00:02:10.319
if that sounds like something you need, don't

00:02:10.319 --> 00:02:13.500
just watch. Be a part of the journey. Let us

00:02:13.500 --> 00:02:16.460
know you're here. Do us a favor. If you're listening

00:02:16.460 --> 00:02:19.020
on the podcast platform, download the episode.

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And if you're watching on YouTube, you know what

00:02:21.919 --> 00:02:25.159
to do. Hit that like button, subscribe, and turn

00:02:25.159 --> 00:02:28.639
on those notifications so you never miss an episode.

00:02:29.219 --> 00:02:33.960
And as we always say, let's make thriving our

00:02:33.960 --> 00:02:52.310
new norm. Hey, today we're talking with Dr. Deborah

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Heiser. She's an applied developmental psychologist,

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TEDx speaker, author, and the founder of The

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Mentor Project, where she's helping people tap

00:03:01.710 --> 00:03:05.509
into the power of mentorship. Her expertise in

00:03:05.509 --> 00:03:08.990
aging, psychology, and leadership has been featured

00:03:08.990 --> 00:03:11.849
in the New York Times, Thrive Global, and more.

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Dr. Heiser is here to share why mentorship is

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a game changer, how we can continue to grow.

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with and reinvent ourselves at any age and what

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entrepreneurs need to thrive in today's world.

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So let's get right into it. And we talked a little

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bit earlier, but how are you doing today, Deborah?

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I'm doing really well. And I'm really excited

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to be on your show. I am excited for you to be

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here because there's a lot of stuff. that we

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could talk about, especially with our audience

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and me personally want to know a lot of good

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stuff about aging. But as we get into it, I said

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a mouthful in the beginning, right? Applied developmental

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psychology. What is that? So most people think

00:04:01.250 --> 00:04:04.669
of a psychologist as a clinical psychologist,

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someone who's only focused on pathology, all

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the bad things that can happen in our lives emotionally.

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And I look at all of the good things. So just

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like a developmental psychologist would look

00:04:18.410 --> 00:04:22.209
at a child walking and talking and learning all

00:04:22.209 --> 00:04:24.970
of those milestones, I look at everything we

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can expect through our entire lifespan. And the

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applied part means I don't just do research,

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I work with individuals as well. Okay. Okay,

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that makes sense. So what inspired you to do

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that? Well, I I loved my grandmother like nobody's

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business and she was like the coolest lady ever

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and I would go down all the time in the 1980s

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to visit her. And florida from new york there

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is this really cheap airline called people's

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air and i get on that airline and flight out

00:05:01.420 --> 00:05:04.540
of visitor and was like practically free and

00:05:04.540 --> 00:05:09.879
so i saw her all the time and one weekend i went

00:05:09.879 --> 00:05:13.410
down to visit her and. You know, I was a teenager,

00:05:13.629 --> 00:05:16.490
I think I was like 19 or 20, and this is now

00:05:16.490 --> 00:05:21.069
like 1990 or so and she wasn't herself. She was

00:05:21.069 --> 00:05:23.949
like grouchy and irritable and not the fun grandma

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I knew. And I talked to somebody at her independent

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living facility and said, what's wrong? Like

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she's not herself. And they said, oh, don't worry,

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we'll fix her. And I was like, what? And so the

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next time I came back, she was herself. I mean,

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she was back to being the fun grandma that wore

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the cute clothes that everybody wanted to be

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around. And I said to myself, I want to fix grandma's.

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And so I switched my major in college and moved

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from doing what I was doing. and decided to pursue

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psychology, and I really wanted to go into aging.

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And at that time, it was like the Wild West.

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There was nobody doing that. And so I pursued

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it after that, looking for anybody who'd take

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me in a program that would allow me to look at

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aging in New York. And so my journey really started

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from my grandmother. I never looked back. I then

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started to research anything to do with aging,

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which at that time was everything no one wanted

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to have or get. I thought studying aging meant

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studying depression and studying frailty and

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Alzheimer's disease and all of those things.

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And one night I went to a dinner and was like

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all excited to tell this person you know, this

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whole group all about myself and all the cool

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work I was doing. And I told everybody what I

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did and the room went flat. Like nobody was like,

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Oh, you go. Yay. Completely the opposite. Somebody

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said, Oh, um, so what do we have to look forward

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to? Is that it? Is that what our life is? And

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it was like, I came to a screeching halt and

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I said, oh my gosh, I have to pivot. And that's

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when I looked at back at the research and found

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out there's so much that we have to look forward

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to. It just wasn't making it in the media at

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the time. And so I pivoted and started to look

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at what we can look forward to. And so my journey

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was one of, you know, winding paths and nothing

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was straight, a straight line. And it's still

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moving along the way as I continue in my career.

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Yeah. Well, first of all, grandparents are the

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other thing that the bees knees there. And they're

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the best they are, you know, just as you were

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talking about your grandmother took me back,

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you know, thinking about my grandmother and just

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how invested she was in my life and making sure

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that you know, I had things all the time that

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would support me in my journey and in my sports

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and everything like that. And And she was a great,

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great, great woman. And so I could see how that

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could, you know, shift you and your mindset to

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doing something that would support support grandmothers.

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So since we're talking about aging, and we're

00:08:25.720 --> 00:08:29.819
here, just kind of, I just have a question about

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aging and entrepreneurship. And I guess we'll

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just stick around this for a little bit. How

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does how does aging and entrepreneurship intersect?

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And is there an ideal way to shift when you're

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like, say, in your 40s from, you know, just say,

00:08:51.539 --> 00:08:53.919
like, you want to make a transition in your life,

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you know, what can you just kind of expound?

00:08:58.200 --> 00:09:01.399
Yeah. Well, entrepreneurship, you know, is something

00:09:01.399 --> 00:09:04.730
that it There's something so amazing about it.

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We all have questions. Oh, I'd like to see where

00:09:07.590 --> 00:09:09.870
this goes. I'd like to try this. I think it could

00:09:09.870 --> 00:09:14.110
work. And when we're young, we have that real

00:09:14.110 --> 00:09:16.190
desire to do that because we feel like we have

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a safety net oftentimes. Like, oh, if I fail,

00:09:18.950 --> 00:09:21.309
I can go live in mom's basement or something

00:09:21.309 --> 00:09:25.149
like that, you know? Right. That exists. But

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then there's a big chunk of time when we don't

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have that. And that's when we might be starting

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families and we might have, you know, bills that

00:09:32.490 --> 00:09:34.009
we have to pay and things like that. And then

00:09:34.009 --> 00:09:37.690
we kind of, it's harder to do that. Once we hit,

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you know, midlife and beyond, that's when you

00:09:40.970 --> 00:09:43.970
see people really flourish and they really want

00:09:43.970 --> 00:09:47.690
to engage in entrepreneurship. And that's because

00:09:47.690 --> 00:09:50.919
they've made their nice big fat connection book,

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you know, the Rolodex, they know who they know,

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they've accumulated expertise in something. And

00:09:57.399 --> 00:10:00.539
those questions that we have that start when

00:10:00.539 --> 00:10:02.320
we're babies, you know, when we're like, why,

00:10:02.399 --> 00:10:06.419
why, how those never go away. So we're always

00:10:06.419 --> 00:10:09.940
little entrepreneurs. We just have the bandwidth

00:10:09.940 --> 00:10:14.639
and the money and the expertise and the Rolodex

00:10:14.639 --> 00:10:17.679
to do it when we're midlife and older. So you'll

00:10:17.679 --> 00:10:20.840
see people really expanding and trying new things

00:10:20.840 --> 00:10:24.220
in midlife. The same way, you know, when we're

00:10:24.220 --> 00:10:26.279
younger and we're just starting out, we feel

00:10:26.279 --> 00:10:29.559
like we have a safety net. And that's really

00:10:29.559 --> 00:10:31.740
an exciting thing. People should say, oh, good.

00:10:32.120 --> 00:10:34.480
When I hit midlife, if I'm kind of feeling stuck

00:10:34.480 --> 00:10:37.419
and I'm in my job and I've got to do it. Well,

00:10:37.679 --> 00:10:39.799
as soon as that burden lightens up a little,

00:10:39.820 --> 00:10:41.659
you'll be able to go and do all the entrepreneurship

00:10:41.659 --> 00:10:45.639
you've ever wanted to do. Yeah. Well, I'm also

00:10:45.639 --> 00:10:51.820
looking at like, it's never too late. Oh, right.

00:10:53.200 --> 00:10:58.559
Never too late is, you know, I was, I remember

00:10:58.559 --> 00:11:01.639
about a decade ago, I was looking at some of

00:11:01.639 --> 00:11:04.580
the research and the top entrepreneurs were people

00:11:04.580 --> 00:11:07.980
60 and older. And you know, that's started to

00:11:07.980 --> 00:11:10.120
change a little bit, younger people are getting

00:11:10.120 --> 00:11:13.789
more in the game, but People who are 60 and older

00:11:13.789 --> 00:11:17.250
are still amazing entrepreneurs and starting

00:11:17.250 --> 00:11:20.330
it for this first time. Oftentimes you'll see

00:11:20.330 --> 00:11:22.870
somebody getting into the game. It is never too

00:11:22.870 --> 00:11:26.789
late. And the cool thing is that you'll see now

00:11:26.789 --> 00:11:29.549
people of all generations working together. It

00:11:29.549 --> 00:11:31.929
used to be much smaller. You know, it'd be like

00:11:31.929 --> 00:11:34.330
two young people in a garage working together

00:11:34.330 --> 00:11:37.529
where you'd see, you know, an older person starting

00:11:37.529 --> 00:11:41.080
something kind of as a solopreneur. But you see

00:11:41.080 --> 00:11:43.419
a lot of people that are pairing up because of

00:11:43.419 --> 00:11:45.879
the tech gap, you know, so you'll see somebody

00:11:45.879 --> 00:11:48.840
with tech expertise, but without the big Rolodex,

00:11:48.840 --> 00:11:52.120
or maybe the expertise in another area, or the

00:11:52.120 --> 00:11:55.419
funds to start something. So you'll see intergenerational

00:11:55.419 --> 00:11:58.720
work happening much more frequently now. So it's

00:11:58.720 --> 00:12:01.519
really, I mean, right now, if you want to go

00:12:01.519 --> 00:12:03.279
into entrepreneurship, it's a great time to go

00:12:03.279 --> 00:12:07.960
into it. Yeah, and entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship

00:12:07.960 --> 00:12:12.570
is so big now, like, I think when I was in the

00:12:12.570 --> 00:12:15.870
90s, right when I was going to college, you know,

00:12:15.990 --> 00:12:18.529
entrepreneurship was like, you know, go get a

00:12:18.529 --> 00:12:20.990
restaurant or you know, it was just, you know,

00:12:21.149 --> 00:12:23.570
brick and mortar kind of thing. But then now

00:12:23.570 --> 00:12:27.549
you have so much around technology and, and the

00:12:27.549 --> 00:12:31.169
way that entrepreneurship has expanded. It's

00:12:31.169 --> 00:12:33.710
really good for the people. I don't know if you

00:12:33.710 --> 00:12:35.929
believe in capitalism or not. But on this podcast,

00:12:35.929 --> 00:12:40.720
we do and we talk about it. And there's, you

00:12:40.720 --> 00:12:42.440
know, the midlife when you were talking about

00:12:42.440 --> 00:12:46.000
how can midlife entrepreneurs leverage their

00:12:46.000 --> 00:12:52.340
experience around just being successful in business?

00:12:52.340 --> 00:12:57.519
Look, I'll tell my own story even about it. I

00:12:57.519 --> 00:13:01.909
was I had an idea. When we were founding the

00:13:01.909 --> 00:13:04.269
mentor project, it was a bunch of us. We were

00:13:04.269 --> 00:13:06.169
batting around ideas. I knew that mentorship

00:13:06.169 --> 00:13:09.669
was really an interesting thing and wanted to

00:13:09.669 --> 00:13:13.149
learn more about it. But what happens with midlifers

00:13:13.149 --> 00:13:15.549
is what makes it easier is they tend to come

00:13:15.549 --> 00:13:19.049
together around an idea and they talk about it

00:13:19.049 --> 00:13:21.350
and they really dissect it and people will come

00:13:21.350 --> 00:13:24.289
with their different ideas and give a lot of

00:13:24.289 --> 00:13:26.309
input. And I had that. There were about seven

00:13:26.309 --> 00:13:28.669
of us that were talking at the time. It wasn't

00:13:28.669 --> 00:13:32.250
just me and a lot of people who are younger think

00:13:32.250 --> 00:13:35.730
it has to just be me. I better have all of this

00:13:35.730 --> 00:13:39.570
or I'm not going to be successful. Well, when

00:13:39.570 --> 00:13:42.149
we were setting up the mentor project, and this

00:13:42.149 --> 00:13:45.629
is very common for mid lifers entering into an

00:13:45.629 --> 00:13:47.669
entrepreneurship is that they'll talk with other

00:13:47.669 --> 00:13:51.750
people about it. And when we did that, it meant

00:13:51.750 --> 00:13:53.570
that we were able to get rid of some of the really

00:13:53.570 --> 00:13:57.220
bad ideas right off the bat. And there were people

00:13:57.220 --> 00:14:00.399
that said, here's how you form the LLC. Here's

00:14:00.399 --> 00:14:02.759
what you do for this. Well, let's talk about

00:14:02.759 --> 00:14:05.620
this. Oh, you make sure you have insurance. We

00:14:05.620 --> 00:14:07.759
were covered with all the things that we wouldn't

00:14:07.759 --> 00:14:10.779
have known to do if it was just me. If it was

00:14:10.779 --> 00:14:12.679
just me, the thing would have tanked like five

00:14:12.679 --> 00:14:15.659
minutes into it. But because there were a lot

00:14:15.659 --> 00:14:18.659
of people around giving input that were involved

00:14:18.659 --> 00:14:21.960
as founders in the very beginning. That's how

00:14:21.960 --> 00:14:24.379
it works. So midlifers are good at that. They're

00:14:24.379 --> 00:14:26.700
good at saying, I'm not going to do it alone.

00:14:26.860 --> 00:14:30.500
Why should I do it alone? Right. And that makes

00:14:30.500 --> 00:14:34.259
it so that it does generally work much more quickly

00:14:34.259 --> 00:14:38.759
and better. Well, I can attest to that. I was,

00:14:39.059 --> 00:14:44.500
you know, even though I'm very extroverted, I

00:14:44.500 --> 00:14:46.559
guess, ambivert, I guess I go, you know, introvert,

00:14:46.659 --> 00:14:49.220
extrovert, whatever. I learned that word this

00:14:49.220 --> 00:14:55.240
year. I, in my younger years, I was, you know,

00:14:55.240 --> 00:15:00.259
very much lone wolf, you know, and as I'm getting

00:15:00.259 --> 00:15:02.360
older, first of all, I don't want to do everything.

00:15:03.279 --> 00:15:06.600
And it's like, well, we need to do marketing

00:15:06.600 --> 00:15:08.840
over here. I mean, maybe I know some knowledge

00:15:08.840 --> 00:15:11.220
about it. Maybe I did take a class in my university

00:15:11.220 --> 00:15:12.899
about it. But you know, I don't know enough.

00:15:13.379 --> 00:15:15.460
Let me see if I can hire somebody to do it. And

00:15:15.460 --> 00:15:19.379
I think just having the experience of life by

00:15:19.379 --> 00:15:24.379
itself, Just leads me into just better choices.

00:15:25.019 --> 00:15:28.159
So that I don't have to be bogged down by the

00:15:28.159 --> 00:15:31.419
everyday day to day kind of things, which helps

00:15:31.419 --> 00:15:37.279
entrepreneurship period. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Well,

00:15:37.279 --> 00:15:41.340
you know, also, I was a few episodes ago, I have

00:15:41.340 --> 00:15:46.279
a good friend of mine, Tony Powell. She's, she's,

00:15:46.279 --> 00:15:47.980
you know, we're talking about real estate and

00:15:47.980 --> 00:15:50.730
things like that. But she got a mentor. early

00:15:50.730 --> 00:15:54.230
in her career, when she made this when she made

00:15:54.230 --> 00:15:57.789
a shift. And you talk you talked about project

00:15:57.789 --> 00:15:59.850
mentor, and we might as well just go ahead and

00:15:59.850 --> 00:16:04.110
talk a little bit about that. First of all, do

00:16:04.110 --> 00:16:06.950
you believe mentorship is essential for we're

00:16:06.950 --> 00:16:10.389
talking to our aspiring entrepreneurs now, for

00:16:10.389 --> 00:16:12.870
aspiring entrepreneurs and business, business

00:16:12.870 --> 00:16:17.070
owners? And how does one get in contact with

00:16:17.070 --> 00:16:22.080
mentors for them? It's it's essential it's really

00:16:22.080 --> 00:16:24.019
not going to work if you don't have one i'm going

00:16:24.019 --> 00:16:26.639
to give you an example of how a lot of the big

00:16:26.639 --> 00:16:29.159
ideas if you talk about anything in tech they've

00:16:29.159 --> 00:16:33.059
had mentors if you talk about. I've never met

00:16:33.059 --> 00:16:35.360
anybody who's an entrepreneur that didn't have

00:16:35.360 --> 00:16:38.639
mentors, but most of them are lateral mentors.

00:16:38.940 --> 00:16:41.220
And this is a type of mentorship that most people

00:16:41.220 --> 00:16:43.360
disregard. They don't realize that it's mentorship.

00:16:43.559 --> 00:16:45.320
They don't know it's there. And then they don't

00:16:45.320 --> 00:16:48.259
engage in it as much as they should or could.

00:16:48.740 --> 00:16:52.600
So basically, if you want to think back to say,

00:16:53.580 --> 00:16:56.120
I'll give you an example. There's this guy, Steve,

00:16:56.399 --> 00:17:02.730
and he is at work. And he is given a task by

00:17:02.730 --> 00:17:05.309
his boss. Now this is a startup. He's given a

00:17:05.309 --> 00:17:08.430
task by his boss. Do this thing. We need it done

00:17:08.430 --> 00:17:12.710
in three weeks. Hurry it up. Can you do it? Steve

00:17:12.710 --> 00:17:15.039
says, sure. He couldn't, but he didn't tell his

00:17:15.039 --> 00:17:16.440
boss he couldn't because he wanted to keep his

00:17:16.440 --> 00:17:18.640
job. Like how many of us have ever been there?

00:17:18.880 --> 00:17:22.759
So he's doing as much as he can. And the boss

00:17:22.759 --> 00:17:24.400
is coming in every day and he's like, Steve,

00:17:24.400 --> 00:17:26.720
where's the work? Come on. Can you do it? Our

00:17:26.720 --> 00:17:30.240
whole company is hinging on this. So Steve says,

00:17:30.599 --> 00:17:33.240
okay, I've gotten as far as I can. So he calls

00:17:33.240 --> 00:17:36.779
his friend Steve. He goes, Steve, I have a problem.

00:17:37.140 --> 00:17:39.259
I have gotten as far as I can. I don't know the

00:17:39.259 --> 00:17:41.839
same kind of engineering you do. Can you walk

00:17:41.839 --> 00:17:43.940
me through this and teach me what you know? Steve

00:17:43.940 --> 00:17:45.660
says, sure buddy, I'll come over after work.

00:17:46.119 --> 00:17:49.359
He goes over to his work and at night he helps

00:17:49.359 --> 00:17:52.000
him. And the next morning the boss comes in and

00:17:52.000 --> 00:17:54.799
he says, wow, I can't believe all this work you

00:17:54.799 --> 00:17:57.119
got done. And Steve said, I told you I had it.

00:17:57.519 --> 00:18:00.000
And then it was like Rumpelstiltskin at night.

00:18:00.119 --> 00:18:03.940
Steve would come in and help Steve. And they

00:18:03.940 --> 00:18:06.480
got the work done in two weeks instead of three.

00:18:06.579 --> 00:18:08.579
Even though it was an impossibly short amount

00:18:08.579 --> 00:18:11.359
of time, they got it done like a week early.

00:18:11.909 --> 00:18:14.529
And the bus was like, what a miracle. No one

00:18:14.529 --> 00:18:16.670
knew Steve was coming in at night and helping.

00:18:17.250 --> 00:18:18.990
Steve was just like, yeah, I told you I had it.

00:18:19.390 --> 00:18:22.970
I knew it all along. So this worked. It happened

00:18:22.970 --> 00:18:28.069
for the startup. And the mentor was Steve Wozniak,

00:18:28.230 --> 00:18:31.670
who was coming into Steve Jobs' job at Atari.

00:18:32.190 --> 00:18:35.789
The boss was Al Alcorn, who's known as the grandfather

00:18:35.789 --> 00:18:38.630
of video games. And the project they were working

00:18:38.630 --> 00:18:41.829
on was Breakout, the first video game for Atari.

00:18:42.490 --> 00:18:46.109
So that would have never happened if that lateral

00:18:46.109 --> 00:18:49.309
mentor, Steve Wozniak, who was not Steve Jobs'

00:18:49.549 --> 00:18:52.210
boss, he was his friend. He was like, my friend

00:18:52.210 --> 00:18:54.869
needs my help. I'm going to go help him. That's

00:18:54.869 --> 00:18:57.970
how entrepreneurs work. They call in people they

00:18:57.970 --> 00:19:00.750
know and say, oh my gosh, can you help me? It's

00:19:00.750 --> 00:19:04.430
critical. And who doesn't say yes? You know,

00:19:04.690 --> 00:19:06.710
most everyone says, yes, I want to help this

00:19:06.710 --> 00:19:10.069
person I know. Those are our mentors. They're

00:19:10.069 --> 00:19:13.589
lateral mentors. I could give you a hundred examples

00:19:13.589 --> 00:19:16.710
of how this looks in entrepreneurship and in

00:19:16.710 --> 00:19:21.049
tech. And what happens is we all have like a...

00:19:20.720 --> 00:19:23.940
a little virtual Rolodex all around us of all

00:19:23.940 --> 00:19:26.779
the people that we know. And when we're stumped

00:19:26.779 --> 00:19:30.460
with something, it's in aid in us, we reach out

00:19:30.460 --> 00:19:34.839
to somebody to help us. And we as people like

00:19:34.839 --> 00:19:37.099
to help our friends and other people that we

00:19:37.099 --> 00:19:39.099
know, we don't charge them, we don't say, give

00:19:39.099 --> 00:19:42.980
me an award, or give me a title. So nobody ever

00:19:42.980 --> 00:19:46.500
says that's my mentor. But a mentor is someone

00:19:46.500 --> 00:19:50.029
who is is innately wanting to give back without

00:19:50.029 --> 00:19:53.109
any real recognition or award or money or things

00:19:53.109 --> 00:19:55.410
like that. They feel meaningfully connected to

00:19:55.410 --> 00:19:58.670
the person. They trust them and they have some

00:19:58.670 --> 00:20:01.789
kind of a goal. This is how mentorship works

00:20:01.789 --> 00:20:05.130
and we always think of it as hierarchical. But

00:20:05.130 --> 00:20:07.769
everyone out there who wants to form some kind

00:20:07.769 --> 00:20:10.349
of a company and start out as an entrepreneur

00:20:10.349 --> 00:20:13.109
should really and truly look to their left and

00:20:13.109 --> 00:20:15.859
to their right. Because there's somebody there

00:20:15.859 --> 00:20:17.740
who's going to be able to tell them something

00:20:17.740 --> 00:20:20.180
that's going to shorten their journey to get

00:20:20.180 --> 00:20:22.960
where they want to go or who's going to add some

00:20:22.960 --> 00:20:25.380
little sparkle to it and make it actually better

00:20:25.380 --> 00:20:30.640
than it was. Yeah. Well, first of all, you were

00:20:30.640 --> 00:20:33.519
telling a story and you mentioned Steve, then

00:20:33.519 --> 00:20:34.940
you mentioned Steve. I was like, wait a minute.

00:20:35.140 --> 00:20:38.910
Is that the same person? I did that on purpose

00:20:38.910 --> 00:20:41.829
because if I say the name people tune out and

00:20:41.829 --> 00:20:43.569
they're like la la la la la I already know all

00:20:43.569 --> 00:20:46.450
about Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. Right, right.

00:20:46.650 --> 00:20:48.829
Well, when you had said I was like, Steve was

00:20:48.829 --> 00:20:51.410
Steven, but I was really into the story. So but

00:20:51.410 --> 00:20:57.690
I got it. But I got it, you know, when you when

00:20:57.690 --> 00:20:59.750
you finally finally say it Steve Jobs, Steve

00:20:59.750 --> 00:21:07.039
Wozniak. That's so funny. So when for any I aspire

00:21:07.039 --> 00:21:09.640
an entrepreneur, any entrepreneur that's even

00:21:09.640 --> 00:21:13.180
in their in their field already, but they may

00:21:13.180 --> 00:21:15.400
need some kind of support is what you're saying

00:21:15.400 --> 00:21:18.900
is just look around you look, you know, just

00:21:18.900 --> 00:21:20.779
to somebody that's really in your friend group.

00:21:21.240 --> 00:21:23.940
They may that may have that kind of information

00:21:23.940 --> 00:21:26.200
that will help you shorten your your journey.

00:21:27.160 --> 00:21:31.579
We all know somebody. Truly, we no one hangs

00:21:31.579 --> 00:21:35.440
out with people that are completely you know,

00:21:35.440 --> 00:21:38.420
without a superpower, everyone has some kind

00:21:38.420 --> 00:21:41.000
of a superpower. So if you look, you don't you're

00:21:41.000 --> 00:21:42.359
really and truly not gonna have to look far.

00:21:42.359 --> 00:21:45.779
But we all think we're alone. It's it's kind

00:21:45.779 --> 00:21:48.240
of how we're all built to think, well, nobody's

00:21:48.240 --> 00:21:49.799
gonna know nobody's gonna be able to help me.

00:21:49.799 --> 00:21:51.480
And then as soon as people open their mouth,

00:21:51.480 --> 00:21:53.160
and they say, Hey, I'm doing this, do you know

00:21:53.160 --> 00:21:55.839
anything, you're gonna find within three people

00:21:55.839 --> 00:21:57.980
that there's somebody who's gonna either know

00:21:57.980 --> 00:22:00.740
or know somebody who does. What do you say to

00:22:00.740 --> 00:22:05.680
the people that are scared? to find or speak

00:22:05.680 --> 00:22:10.500
up or look for a mentor. I would say to them,

00:22:10.619 --> 00:22:13.460
don't put the pressure on it. Don't most people

00:22:13.460 --> 00:22:15.039
think you have to go to somebody and say, hey,

00:22:15.079 --> 00:22:16.599
do you want to be my mentor? And that's weird.

00:22:17.039 --> 00:22:19.059
So yeah, you should be afraid of that. That's

00:22:19.059 --> 00:22:20.940
like walking up to somebody and saying, hey,

00:22:21.019 --> 00:22:22.900
you want to be my friend? Someone's going to

00:22:22.900 --> 00:22:25.940
be like, you're a weirdo. So we think of it in

00:22:25.940 --> 00:22:28.559
that way that makes us feel scared to do that.

00:22:28.640 --> 00:22:32.019
But no one is scared to say, can I have some

00:22:32.019 --> 00:22:35.380
advice? Do you mind? Can I pick your brain for

00:22:35.380 --> 00:22:38.779
a minute? That feels normal. And that is normal.

00:22:38.980 --> 00:22:41.099
And who doesn't like to say, wow, they think

00:22:41.099 --> 00:22:44.339
I'm an expert. It makes everybody feel good.

00:22:44.339 --> 00:22:47.740
So if you just approach things in that way, that

00:22:47.740 --> 00:22:52.380
fear will dissipate really quickly. Yeah. What

00:22:52.380 --> 00:22:55.740
do you say about entrepreneurs and business owners

00:22:55.740 --> 00:22:59.359
being mentors themselves? maybe people that in

00:22:59.359 --> 00:23:02.799
their organization. Oh, it happens all the time.

00:23:03.019 --> 00:23:04.460
I mean, just like I was talking about with Steve

00:23:04.460 --> 00:23:07.359
and Steve, Steve Wozniak didn't know he was a

00:23:07.359 --> 00:23:10.200
mentor. He was a friend to his friend. Right.

00:23:10.460 --> 00:23:12.960
So we often think that that's what we are. Oh,

00:23:13.039 --> 00:23:15.839
that's my colleague. Or, oh, that's somebody

00:23:15.839 --> 00:23:19.460
that I know at work. I'm just helping somebody

00:23:19.460 --> 00:23:23.299
out. So I would guarantee you that you are a

00:23:23.299 --> 00:23:25.920
mentor and you just didn't realize it. because

00:23:25.920 --> 00:23:28.380
I'm sure that you have helped somebody out along

00:23:28.380 --> 00:23:31.500
the way. And within companies, we're all lateral

00:23:31.500 --> 00:23:34.279
mentoring all the time. You know, I'll give you

00:23:34.279 --> 00:23:38.400
an example. If you are a doctor, it doesn't look

00:23:38.400 --> 00:23:40.880
very good for you to say, I have no idea what

00:23:40.880 --> 00:23:42.680
I'm going to be doing in the surgery coming up

00:23:42.680 --> 00:23:45.000
in an hour. That's not going to work out well

00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:50.099
for you. That's a very hierarchical environment.

00:23:50.240 --> 00:23:52.579
If you go to a hospital, there's a lot of hierarchy.

00:23:53.019 --> 00:23:55.740
Everybody goes by title and, you know, the outfits

00:23:55.740 --> 00:23:57.700
that they wear and who's wearing the stethoscope

00:23:57.700 --> 00:24:03.700
over there, you know, white jacket. So how do

00:24:03.700 --> 00:24:05.880
you take that away? Well, what you do is you

00:24:05.880 --> 00:24:07.880
and you bring in lateral mentoring. That's where

00:24:07.880 --> 00:24:10.480
they have, you know, a curbside consultancy.

00:24:10.720 --> 00:24:14.220
Hey, what did you do when you had that case that,

00:24:14.279 --> 00:24:16.240
you know, you were dealing with that knee replacement

00:24:16.240 --> 00:24:20.170
or whatever it was? And that isn't you divulging

00:24:20.170 --> 00:24:23.410
a vulnerability that you have. That's you saying,

00:24:23.430 --> 00:24:27.410
I would like to hear how you do things. So what

00:24:27.410 --> 00:24:30.309
I always say is that for entrepreneurs, you are,

00:24:30.470 --> 00:24:33.430
you have been a mentor to somebody who has asked

00:24:33.430 --> 00:24:36.250
you a question like that. And you should also

00:24:36.250 --> 00:24:39.950
keep on asking those questions and being a mentee.

00:24:40.069 --> 00:24:42.470
We should look at mentorship is constantly and

00:24:42.470 --> 00:24:45.289
continuous and engage with as many people as

00:24:45.289 --> 00:24:48.250
possible. It's an information exchange. It's

00:24:48.250 --> 00:24:51.049
a knowledge transfer. And if you think of it

00:24:51.049 --> 00:24:54.849
that way, you're just going to really be much

00:24:54.849 --> 00:24:59.210
better at it and much more tuned in to looking

00:24:59.210 --> 00:25:01.769
at people and saying, oh, I see they could use

00:25:01.769 --> 00:25:05.009
my help. I will offer some. I'll say, hey, I

00:25:05.009 --> 00:25:07.430
know about this. Can I give you a hand? Or you

00:25:07.430 --> 00:25:09.950
will say, can I ask advice? It'll just get you

00:25:09.950 --> 00:25:13.720
plugged in much, much more quickly. Yeah, you

00:25:13.720 --> 00:25:21.940
as you're explaining, I have a friend who is

00:25:21.940 --> 00:25:25.359
a very smart person. But there, there's a lot

00:25:25.359 --> 00:25:27.259
of things that they don't know about business,

00:25:27.259 --> 00:25:30.319
right? And I don't know about their business,

00:25:30.420 --> 00:25:32.720
you know what I mean? So I mean, I'm not the

00:25:32.720 --> 00:25:36.200
person for them to go to. How do you how how

00:25:36.200 --> 00:25:40.500
does how do you how does one in like just get

00:25:40.500 --> 00:25:45.279
engaged with a mentor, and keep engagement with

00:25:45.279 --> 00:25:50.920
that mentor. I'm thinking about myself, right?

00:25:51.480 --> 00:25:56.339
Like, I might feel like I know at all, but I'll

00:25:56.339 --> 00:25:58.579
and I'll be scared to go to a person that may

00:25:58.579 --> 00:26:01.460
know more than me in a certain field. But how

00:26:01.460 --> 00:26:03.700
do I stay engaged with the person, especially

00:26:03.700 --> 00:26:06.000
if they're busy and things like that? That's

00:26:06.000 --> 00:26:08.259
another thing. People think that it's like an

00:26:08.259 --> 00:26:10.880
arranged marriage for life. So that's very intimidating.

00:26:11.059 --> 00:26:13.160
Like I better be engaged with this mentor or

00:26:13.160 --> 00:26:16.619
mentee forever. And you don't have to. So I'll

00:26:16.619 --> 00:26:18.680
give you an example. Like I was finishing graduate

00:26:18.680 --> 00:26:22.140
school and we had to do an externship. And what

00:26:22.140 --> 00:26:24.240
an externship is, is you have to go and do work

00:26:24.240 --> 00:26:26.240
for free for somebody. And what you're hoping

00:26:26.240 --> 00:26:29.059
for is that they'll give you an amazing recommendation

00:26:29.059 --> 00:26:32.319
and all of that stuff. So you want to go in there

00:26:32.319 --> 00:26:34.619
and wow, these people. And you've never done

00:26:34.619 --> 00:26:38.039
anything. So you're like completely new to everything.

00:26:38.140 --> 00:26:41.119
So I was sitting at my externship and it was

00:26:41.119 --> 00:26:43.119
like the olden days. So the cell phones cost

00:26:43.119 --> 00:26:46.200
like $10 if somebody called you on it back then.

00:26:46.319 --> 00:26:49.900
And so my fellow classmate called me and I was

00:26:49.900 --> 00:26:51.599
like, Oh my gosh, someone's calling on my cell

00:26:51.599 --> 00:26:54.299
phone. This must be important. And she's like

00:26:54.299 --> 00:26:57.079
whisper talking. She's like, Hey, can you tell

00:26:57.079 --> 00:27:00.289
me how to do Kappa? Um, statistics, I know you

00:27:00.289 --> 00:27:03.410
know them and I wasn't listening and I don't

00:27:03.410 --> 00:27:06.250
know them and I have this thing I have to do

00:27:06.250 --> 00:27:08.609
and they're going to find out I'm a fraud and

00:27:08.609 --> 00:27:10.529
whatever. Yeah. And I'm like, all right, I'll

00:27:10.529 --> 00:27:12.950
walk you through it. So I sat there and walked

00:27:12.950 --> 00:27:19.069
her through it. I was done. That was it. I mentored

00:27:19.069 --> 00:27:21.210
her in that moment. That was lateral mentoring.

00:27:21.710 --> 00:27:24.730
She needed one thing. The goal was get her through

00:27:24.730 --> 00:27:28.039
that minute, teach her this thing. That was a

00:27:28.039 --> 00:27:30.240
knowledge transfer from me to her. She holds

00:27:30.240 --> 00:27:33.140
that knowledge. It never went away. And she finished

00:27:33.140 --> 00:27:37.299
her project and boom, out she goes. Now we remained

00:27:37.299 --> 00:27:40.380
friends and whatever, but that was all she needed.

00:27:40.759 --> 00:27:43.720
We often think that mentorship has to be a continuous

00:27:43.720 --> 00:27:45.740
knowledge transfer for the rest of our lives

00:27:45.740 --> 00:27:48.400
with this person. And that's a burden on somebody

00:27:48.400 --> 00:27:51.369
who thinks of themselves as a mentor. I was done,

00:27:51.490 --> 00:27:53.769
I did my job. I was like, oh, look at me. And

00:27:53.769 --> 00:27:56.549
do you know, I asked her seven million times

00:27:56.549 --> 00:28:00.910
to do that for me. But it was, you can do something

00:28:00.910 --> 00:28:03.849
when you're mentoring, you can say, my goal has

00:28:03.849 --> 00:28:07.190
been reached. So if you know what that goal is,

00:28:07.269 --> 00:28:09.750
it could be, I need the lay of the land for this.

00:28:09.849 --> 00:28:12.490
I'm starting a company. What does the landscape

00:28:12.490 --> 00:28:15.950
of this area look like? I know that you know

00:28:15.950 --> 00:28:17.890
this. Can you tell me? We're good to go now.

00:28:17.970 --> 00:28:21.470
Thank you. Goal is reached. It doesn't have to

00:28:21.470 --> 00:28:25.049
be now come along and continue. That makes both

00:28:25.049 --> 00:28:29.549
people feel awkward. So you could have that mentor

00:28:29.549 --> 00:28:32.529
that stays with you for decades and that goal

00:28:32.529 --> 00:28:34.930
is an ever -changing goal. As you reach one,

00:28:34.930 --> 00:28:39.049
you get another. But most of our mentors are

00:28:39.049 --> 00:28:42.109
one -offs, two -offs, you know, or they come

00:28:42.109 --> 00:28:45.670
in and out as we need them. And that power can

00:28:45.670 --> 00:28:48.210
be that that's the person that makes something

00:28:48.210 --> 00:28:51.710
happen for them and their career goes, goes all

00:28:51.710 --> 00:28:53.670
the way in a new direction, or it could be that

00:28:53.670 --> 00:28:55.589
somebody is just doing something that is important

00:28:55.589 --> 00:28:59.609
at that moment. So mentorship, again, does not

00:28:59.609 --> 00:29:03.349
have to be an arranged marriage for life. Mentorship

00:29:03.349 --> 00:29:08.170
for a season. Yeah, mentorship for a minute for

00:29:08.170 --> 00:29:13.630
not even a whole season. You talked about use

00:29:13.630 --> 00:29:20.309
the word fraud. And the thought came to me was

00:29:20.309 --> 00:29:25.029
imposter syndrome. Oh, yeah. How does how does

00:29:25.029 --> 00:29:27.069
an aspiring entrepreneur entrepreneur whoever

00:29:27.069 --> 00:29:32.589
really get rid of that mental thought or mental

00:29:32.589 --> 00:29:38.720
barrier that they're an imposter? People struggle

00:29:38.720 --> 00:29:40.720
with imposter syndrome all the time. I've been

00:29:40.720 --> 00:29:43.900
around a few Nobel Prize winners who felt like

00:29:43.900 --> 00:29:46.160
imposter syndrome in different places. When we're

00:29:46.160 --> 00:29:49.420
in a new place, we feel like the imposter, like

00:29:49.420 --> 00:29:51.859
I'm around all these experts. There's nobody

00:29:51.859 --> 00:29:54.160
who's an expert in literally everything. So when

00:29:54.160 --> 00:29:56.339
you step into something new, which every entrepreneur

00:29:56.339 --> 00:29:59.599
is doing, this is something new to me. You're

00:29:59.599 --> 00:30:03.990
going to feel like, uh -oh. I'm in a new area

00:30:03.990 --> 00:30:05.829
and that can give you that imposter syndrome.

00:30:05.930 --> 00:30:09.529
The best thing around that is align yourself

00:30:09.529 --> 00:30:12.750
with and get the advice from somebody who you

00:30:12.750 --> 00:30:15.690
think is that expert, because that's going to

00:30:15.690 --> 00:30:19.190
alleviate your imposter syndrome. Here on The

00:30:19.190 --> 00:30:21.589
Thrival Journey, we talk a lot about not just

00:30:21.589 --> 00:30:24.970
surviving, but thriving. And a big part of that

00:30:24.970 --> 00:30:27.450
for me has been understanding my health on a

00:30:27.450 --> 00:30:30.180
deeper level. That's why I partnered with Livegood

00:30:30.180 --> 00:30:32.779
and brought it under my company, Orion's Health.

00:30:33.099 --> 00:30:35.180
Not just because I believe in the products, but

00:30:35.180 --> 00:30:37.599
because I've seen what they can do firsthand.

00:30:38.039 --> 00:30:40.160
I've walked through some hard health chapters

00:30:40.160 --> 00:30:43.740
in my life, including cancer and a kidney transplant.

00:30:44.099 --> 00:30:47.420
And I know what it feels like when your body's

00:30:47.420 --> 00:30:50.059
working against you. That's why we're offering

00:30:50.059 --> 00:30:52.940
two free tools that help me and can help you

00:30:52.940 --> 00:30:57.779
too. First, go to MyFreeHealthReport .com Orion's

00:30:57.779 --> 00:31:00.220
Health. Take our quick health questionnaire and

00:31:00.220 --> 00:31:02.640
get a personalized report created by Dr. Ryan

00:31:02.640 --> 00:31:05.079
Goodkin, Livegood's Director of Product Development.

00:31:05.539 --> 00:31:09.099
It's clear, actionable, and totally free. Second,

00:31:09.240 --> 00:31:12.980
visit myfreedetox .com and get a free chlorophyll

00:31:12.980 --> 00:31:15.640
and zeolot detox bottle with your first product

00:31:15.640 --> 00:31:18.539
order. It's a gentle, natural way to clear out

00:31:18.539 --> 00:31:21.019
toxins and start fresh, something I personally

00:31:21.019 --> 00:31:24.779
use and stand behind. This isn't just a sponsorship.

00:31:24.859 --> 00:31:26.880
It's part of my mission through Orion's Health.

00:31:27.049 --> 00:31:30.609
to help people thrive in body, mind and spirit.

00:31:31.150 --> 00:31:33.509
Of course, of course, always, always, always

00:31:33.509 --> 00:31:35.650
consult your physician before starting any new

00:31:35.650 --> 00:31:38.069
supplement or health regimen. Your body is unique

00:31:38.069 --> 00:31:40.309
and your health care provider should always be

00:31:40.309 --> 00:31:42.670
part of the conversation. The links are in the

00:31:42.670 --> 00:31:45.549
show notes. Now tap in and take your next step

00:31:45.549 --> 00:31:50.730
toward thriving. Right. Getting around like -minded

00:31:50.730 --> 00:31:55.240
people, you would say? Yeah. Um, or different

00:31:55.240 --> 00:31:58.759
minded, because, you know, when I was thinking

00:31:58.759 --> 00:32:00.660
about the mentor project, I didn't want somebody

00:32:00.660 --> 00:32:02.460
who thought like me, I thought I was a total

00:32:02.460 --> 00:32:05.200
imposter stepping in this new field. I didn't

00:32:05.200 --> 00:32:07.819
want to align myself with another imposter. I

00:32:07.819 --> 00:32:09.460
wanted to go to the people that knew what they

00:32:09.460 --> 00:32:13.599
were doing. Yeah, yeah. You talked about the

00:32:13.599 --> 00:32:16.880
mentor project. What is the mentor project? And

00:32:16.880 --> 00:32:19.099
can you share like a story or success story from

00:32:19.099 --> 00:32:23.109
the mentor project? Sure so it really started

00:32:23.109 --> 00:32:27.650
organically i was looking at when i was making

00:32:27.650 --> 00:32:32.230
that pivot from looking at. Everything bad that

00:32:32.230 --> 00:32:34.529
we don't want to have her get when we get older

00:32:34.529 --> 00:32:38.049
one of the life stages that i was looking at

00:32:38.049 --> 00:32:40.150
that is something we look forward to is this

00:32:40.150 --> 00:32:42.789
life stage called generativity it's in midlife

00:32:42.789 --> 00:32:44.950
and it's where we're built to want to give back.

00:32:45.180 --> 00:32:49.660
We want to help others. We want to, um, we care

00:32:49.660 --> 00:32:51.819
for others without expecting anything in return.

00:32:51.819 --> 00:32:54.220
And we do this through mentoring, volunteering,

00:32:54.440 --> 00:32:57.400
and philanthropy. And I was curious about mentorship

00:32:57.400 --> 00:33:00.299
because it's giving a piece of us to somebody

00:33:00.299 --> 00:33:02.259
else. Whereas, you know, you could volunteer

00:33:02.259 --> 00:33:04.880
and be a docent at the zoo, but that may not

00:33:04.880 --> 00:33:08.940
be your, a piece of you necessarily. And not

00:33:08.940 --> 00:33:10.940
all of us can put our name on a building. So

00:33:10.940 --> 00:33:16.339
I was like, everyone can be a mentor. So when

00:33:16.339 --> 00:33:18.740
I was talking about it with people and asking,

00:33:18.900 --> 00:33:21.519
I was curious about the mentors, like what drives

00:33:21.519 --> 00:33:25.579
people to want to give back. And I was talking

00:33:25.579 --> 00:33:29.859
to everybody across the board. And one of the

00:33:29.859 --> 00:33:31.839
people that I was talking to said, I really have

00:33:31.839 --> 00:33:35.839
a hard time finding mentees. And then another

00:33:35.839 --> 00:33:37.740
person said, I have a hard time finding mentees.

00:33:37.740 --> 00:33:40.299
These are people that did world changing things.

00:33:40.980 --> 00:33:43.380
Like one of the fathers of the firewall. You

00:33:43.380 --> 00:33:46.480
know, people were saying, I feel irrelevant.

00:33:46.799 --> 00:33:49.839
I don't feel validated unless I'm able to give

00:33:49.839 --> 00:33:52.680
back a piece of myself to someone who wants my

00:33:52.680 --> 00:33:56.119
knowledge. It's like, what? Are you kidding?

00:33:56.880 --> 00:33:59.440
These people that people would pay tons of money

00:33:59.440 --> 00:34:03.849
to meet with can't find a mentee? So then, you

00:34:03.849 --> 00:34:05.509
know, people were saying, I'm retiring, I'm not

00:34:05.509 --> 00:34:08.469
going to be around others. So when we started

00:34:08.469 --> 00:34:10.789
the mentor project, it was really to get some

00:34:10.789 --> 00:34:16.730
of these people in front of kids to give back

00:34:16.730 --> 00:34:19.829
for free. So we just started and we thought nothing

00:34:19.829 --> 00:34:21.190
was going to come of it. It was going to be like

00:34:21.190 --> 00:34:24.389
a really fun hobby to get people in front of

00:34:24.389 --> 00:34:27.219
kids. and make a difference. For me, it was like

00:34:27.219 --> 00:34:31.420
an anthropological expedition. And so when we

00:34:31.420 --> 00:34:35.699
started it, it was like seven of us. And then

00:34:35.699 --> 00:34:38.980
people said, nobody else who's really a high

00:34:38.980 --> 00:34:41.380
level individual is gonna volunteer to be a mentor.

00:34:41.619 --> 00:34:43.780
They're too busy, they're too important. And

00:34:43.780 --> 00:34:45.940
I was like, okay, that's fine. But within six

00:34:45.940 --> 00:34:48.739
months, we went from 10 to 60, then to 80, then

00:34:48.739 --> 00:34:51.199
to 100 with people saying, I need to mentor,

00:34:51.260 --> 00:34:53.619
I wanna mentor, I wanna do it. Wow, they're doing

00:34:53.619 --> 00:34:55.880
that, I wanna do that too. And then we had to

00:34:55.880 --> 00:34:58.840
put up a waiting list because there were so many

00:34:58.840 --> 00:35:01.820
high like top 1 % in their fields like we have

00:35:01.820 --> 00:35:06.139
an astronaut. We have 7 time Nobel laureate nominee.

00:35:06.300 --> 00:35:09.159
We have artists that are well known writers that

00:35:09.159 --> 00:35:13.289
are well known anyway. So. With the mentor project

00:35:13.289 --> 00:35:15.110
now, we're in year five. We were able to give

00:35:15.110 --> 00:35:19.610
out $3 million of mentoring hours for free. And

00:35:19.610 --> 00:35:23.070
we have one mentor who lives in California. His

00:35:23.070 --> 00:35:26.050
name is Justin Thompson. And he was like, I want

00:35:26.050 --> 00:35:28.909
to teach art to kids that have not been exposed

00:35:28.909 --> 00:35:33.289
to art. Well, a person from Reach Shirati, you

00:35:33.289 --> 00:35:35.269
should really look into this organization, Reach

00:35:35.269 --> 00:35:38.710
Shirati. She called and said, we have a school

00:35:38.710 --> 00:35:43.309
of 500 kids in a rural area of Tanzania called

00:35:43.309 --> 00:35:46.570
Shirati and they would like to learn, um, they

00:35:46.570 --> 00:35:51.050
would like mentorship. So we sent Justin to Tanzania

00:35:51.050 --> 00:35:53.969
to teach these kids cartooning. He's the guy

00:35:53.969 --> 00:35:56.570
that can draw Snoopy and he does these murals

00:35:56.570 --> 00:35:58.710
around the world and he's trademarked through

00:35:58.710 --> 00:36:00.909
them because he works for Schultz Creative Studios.

00:36:01.409 --> 00:36:04.210
So here's this guy. He goes there and he teaches

00:36:04.210 --> 00:36:08.230
these kids for, you know, a week and he, it went

00:36:08.230 --> 00:36:13.239
so well. It was amazing. And he came back that

00:36:13.239 --> 00:36:16.800
he went the following year. And then from there,

00:36:17.219 --> 00:36:19.960
he taught the teachers and the other people and

00:36:19.960 --> 00:36:22.900
the whole community came out in both cases. They

00:36:22.900 --> 00:36:26.480
were so intrigued. He drew a gigantic mural on

00:36:26.480 --> 00:36:29.300
the side of the school and the whole, you know,

00:36:29.440 --> 00:36:32.500
moms were holding babies and dads were like helping

00:36:32.500 --> 00:36:34.969
with the scaffolding and stuff like that. Well,

00:36:35.329 --> 00:36:38.090
then he went to Flatbush Brooklyn just this past

00:36:38.090 --> 00:36:41.210
January and worked with middle schoolers there.

00:36:41.349 --> 00:36:44.949
So he was and same thing. The kids loved it.

00:36:45.329 --> 00:36:50.949
So the real cool thing is that one man. He changed

00:36:50.949 --> 00:36:54.090
the lives of individual students. He changed

00:36:54.090 --> 00:36:58.170
the lives of a community, and now he's bridging

00:36:58.170 --> 00:37:00.989
students between. He's going to start bridging

00:37:00.989 --> 00:37:05.010
the students between Brooklyn and Tanzania, and

00:37:05.010 --> 00:37:07.510
he's going to be changing the world one man.

00:37:07.710 --> 00:37:10.690
And so that's really what the power of mentorship

00:37:10.690 --> 00:37:13.869
is that you can make a bigger impact than you

00:37:13.869 --> 00:37:17.030
could ever even realize. And that's just one

00:37:17.030 --> 00:37:21.050
of the many, many, many stories that we have

00:37:21.050 --> 00:37:25.489
of our mentors who do phenomenal work to change

00:37:25.489 --> 00:37:30.170
communities just in a short amount of time. And

00:37:30.170 --> 00:37:33.369
for free. And for free. And I was hearing that

00:37:33.369 --> 00:37:38.289
I'm like, man, that's, that's powerful. One one

00:37:38.289 --> 00:37:41.610
man, being able to change lives and connect lives

00:37:41.610 --> 00:37:45.150
from continents. And I think that's really, that's

00:37:45.150 --> 00:37:47.309
really special, especially when you're a young

00:37:47.309 --> 00:37:50.070
person. And you're not you don't necessarily

00:37:50.070 --> 00:37:54.630
know your world outside of your world. Yeah.

00:37:54.630 --> 00:37:59.960
And just for for that gap to be connected. is

00:37:59.960 --> 00:38:03.619
pretty powerful. Yeah, it really is. We've been

00:38:03.619 --> 00:38:05.619
able to see that with other mentees who have

00:38:05.619 --> 00:38:08.239
started companies with us, who who've patented

00:38:08.239 --> 00:38:11.599
with us like kids, like who just you don't know

00:38:11.599 --> 00:38:14.099
what you don't know until somebody shows you

00:38:14.099 --> 00:38:16.639
what you don't know. And that's really what I

00:38:16.639 --> 00:38:18.659
think is the most exciting, just like I didn't

00:38:18.659 --> 00:38:21.159
know that what a psychologist was. And then I

00:38:21.159 --> 00:38:23.920
said, I'm going to be a grandma fixer. And, you

00:38:23.920 --> 00:38:26.019
know, then when we look at these kids who were

00:38:26.019 --> 00:38:30.090
like, just like kind of They weren't lost. They're

00:38:30.090 --> 00:38:33.090
curious, but how do you know if you live in an

00:38:33.090 --> 00:38:36.010
area and there aren't astronauts or there aren't

00:38:36.010 --> 00:38:37.630
artists or there aren't, you know, you don't,

00:38:37.809 --> 00:38:40.070
you don't get exposed to people everywhere depending

00:38:40.070 --> 00:38:42.329
on where you live. Like it doesn't matter where

00:38:42.329 --> 00:38:45.170
you live. People tend to congregate. Like you

00:38:45.170 --> 00:38:46.989
have Silicon Valley in California. If you're

00:38:46.989 --> 00:38:48.789
not in California, you're not going to be around

00:38:48.789 --> 00:38:52.889
those guys. This allows you to learn from people,

00:38:53.050 --> 00:38:57.130
the mentor project by going into. Um, panel talks,

00:38:57.150 --> 00:39:01.210
or to having just the opportunity to say, I want

00:39:01.210 --> 00:39:04.269
to just talk with somebody 1 on 1 to get to know

00:39:04.269 --> 00:39:07.269
what they do. And that's what students can do

00:39:07.269 --> 00:39:09.309
and we'll, you know, we also get them in front

00:39:09.309 --> 00:39:11.989
of their classes, you know, our mentors so that

00:39:11.989 --> 00:39:14.530
kids can say, oh, I could do that in the future

00:39:14.530 --> 00:39:19.670
where I could start that now. That's really the

00:39:19.670 --> 00:39:23.920
power of it because I did not. think about how

00:39:23.920 --> 00:39:26.320
powerful it was when that woman said, we're going

00:39:26.320 --> 00:39:30.119
to fix your grandma. And they did. And because

00:39:30.119 --> 00:39:33.619
that changed my trajectory. And now I know that

00:39:33.619 --> 00:39:36.820
as soon as we allow kids to learn what they don't

00:39:36.820 --> 00:39:40.199
know, their whole life trajectory opens up and

00:39:40.199 --> 00:39:43.019
shifts and changes because they see they can

00:39:43.019 --> 00:39:47.360
do it. And I could too. That's when we see that

00:39:47.360 --> 00:39:51.110
kids will take a whole new life path. And we're

00:39:51.110 --> 00:39:53.329
talking about, you know, a younger generation,

00:39:53.369 --> 00:39:56.550
and this is the digital age, so to speak. How

00:39:56.550 --> 00:39:59.349
does mentorship fit into the digital age? Or

00:39:59.349 --> 00:40:01.860
do you see it growing or changing? unbelievable

00:40:01.860 --> 00:40:04.420
growth. You're mentoring right now. Your podcast

00:40:04.420 --> 00:40:06.900
is reaching people and if a person is meaningfully

00:40:06.900 --> 00:40:09.960
connected to you and they have a goal of learning

00:40:09.960 --> 00:40:11.900
something from you and they trust what you're

00:40:11.900 --> 00:40:14.059
saying, you've just mentored. I don't know how

00:40:14.059 --> 00:40:15.820
many listeners you have, but the people that

00:40:15.820 --> 00:40:17.960
especially come back and they listen over and

00:40:17.960 --> 00:40:21.300
over, you have, you're a modern mentor. This

00:40:21.300 --> 00:40:23.699
did not exist pre -COVID. Pre -COVID, we were

00:40:23.699 --> 00:40:30.000
all on Skype and nobody met up with people. So

00:40:30.000 --> 00:40:32.780
now we see that AI is coming around and we're

00:40:32.780 --> 00:40:36.360
seeing people that are having, you know, sort

00:40:36.360 --> 00:40:39.619
of virtual bots of people that can answer questions.

00:40:39.840 --> 00:40:42.059
They have that for, they've had that for a little

00:40:42.059 --> 00:40:44.159
while with the Holocaust, people who've survived

00:40:44.159 --> 00:40:45.960
it and they answer questions that looks like

00:40:45.960 --> 00:40:49.440
a real person. And now we're seeing other professionals

00:40:49.440 --> 00:40:53.800
coming into the same. Space and they're answering

00:40:53.800 --> 00:40:56.599
questions that a person can ask that person,

00:40:56.599 --> 00:40:59.380
you know, mentorship questions and they're, they're

00:40:59.380 --> 00:41:02.659
able to answer it. So our modern mentoring is

00:41:02.659 --> 00:41:04.820
opening up. Do I know what it'll look like in

00:41:04.820 --> 00:41:07.960
10 years? No, but I have a feeling that what

00:41:07.960 --> 00:41:10.840
you're doing is going to be compounded. So the

00:41:10.840 --> 00:41:13.460
reach that you would have had without podcasting

00:41:13.460 --> 00:41:16.280
would have been limited. You know, radio is a

00:41:16.280 --> 00:41:19.679
local community. But now, you know, that was

00:41:19.679 --> 00:41:21.519
pretty serious radio, you know, where you can

00:41:21.519 --> 00:41:25.659
reach larger groups. But now podcasting, it's

00:41:25.659 --> 00:41:29.619
limitless. If you're on YouTube or you go on

00:41:29.619 --> 00:41:32.980
any social media platform, it could be millions.

00:41:33.219 --> 00:41:36.519
And that's one person that can do that. So we're

00:41:36.519 --> 00:41:40.139
able to connect people globally, you know, in

00:41:40.139 --> 00:41:42.380
a matter of minutes, which, you know, we couldn't

00:41:42.380 --> 00:41:45.139
have accomplished in our lifetime before. which

00:41:45.139 --> 00:41:47.159
I think is really powerful because, you know,

00:41:47.199 --> 00:41:50.579
when I look at, like, the behind the scenes stuff

00:41:50.579 --> 00:41:52.699
that we have to look at with analytics, and,

00:41:53.039 --> 00:41:56.860
you know, where our podcast goes, I'm amazed,

00:41:57.059 --> 00:42:03.880
like, Russia, just to speak, you know, other

00:42:03.880 --> 00:42:07.679
areas, you know, in the Asian areas. And it's

00:42:07.679 --> 00:42:10.699
like, wow, like, people are actually listening

00:42:10.699 --> 00:42:13.639
to us in these different countries. And what

00:42:13.639 --> 00:42:17.599
they get from the knowledge that shared on here

00:42:17.599 --> 00:42:21.980
is can be, you know, be exponential. We don't

00:42:21.980 --> 00:42:25.000
necessarily know. And we now have translating

00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:28.519
devices because of technology so that if you

00:42:28.519 --> 00:42:31.960
are speaking in English and someone does not

00:42:31.960 --> 00:42:34.760
speak English, but they have the ability to turn

00:42:34.760 --> 00:42:37.960
on like a Google Translate or something, we can

00:42:37.960 --> 00:42:41.289
now it doesn't matter. You can speak in whatever

00:42:41.289 --> 00:42:43.309
language you want and somebody is going to be

00:42:43.309 --> 00:42:46.349
able to get that translated into the language

00:42:46.349 --> 00:42:50.469
that they are most comfortable with. And so that

00:42:50.469 --> 00:42:52.909
makes the world that much smaller and our reach

00:42:52.909 --> 00:42:56.510
that much greater. Yeah, which I think is dynamic.

00:42:57.769 --> 00:43:01.809
Yeah. I know. So the this episode is really talking

00:43:01.809 --> 00:43:05.289
about entrepreneurship and how it is or entrepreneurship

00:43:05.289 --> 00:43:07.789
and mentorship and how does entrepreneurs find

00:43:07.789 --> 00:43:11.480
mentorship? mentors. But I think, you know, all

00:43:11.480 --> 00:43:17.920
in all, like, just in life, having a mentor to

00:43:17.920 --> 00:43:20.139
help guide you, especially when we're now we're

00:43:20.139 --> 00:43:24.639
talking about younger generation. It's a powerful

00:43:24.639 --> 00:43:29.760
person to have in your life. You know? What's

00:43:29.760 --> 00:43:31.800
a great story that you could tell about you and

00:43:31.800 --> 00:43:34.860
your personal mentorship? I'm just curious of

00:43:34.860 --> 00:43:38.320
who I've mentored or who's mentored me. Or either

00:43:38.320 --> 00:43:42.599
way, yeah. I have so many mentors and I, you

00:43:42.599 --> 00:43:44.760
know, I just talked about my grandma. Grandpas

00:43:44.760 --> 00:43:49.159
are important too. My very first mentor that

00:43:49.159 --> 00:43:51.539
I really know was a mentor who he sits right

00:43:51.539 --> 00:43:55.940
here, like he's right here. I used to, I was

00:43:55.940 --> 00:43:58.239
the oldest grandchild and I lived in Des Moines,

00:43:58.239 --> 00:44:01.519
Iowa. And my grandfather would take me every

00:44:01.519 --> 00:44:05.199
Saturday driving through town to do his errands

00:44:05.199 --> 00:44:09.380
with him. And he drove this gigantic car and

00:44:09.380 --> 00:44:12.260
I'd sit in the front seat and he would tell me

00:44:12.260 --> 00:44:15.579
stories about people that we would pass. So he'd

00:44:15.579 --> 00:44:17.780
say, Oh, you see Mary over there? She's had a

00:44:17.780 --> 00:44:20.559
hard life. You should have seen her kids though.

00:44:20.760 --> 00:44:23.280
She put them through college. She works so hard.

00:44:23.420 --> 00:44:25.659
You'd never know it. Oh, see that guy over there.

00:44:25.699 --> 00:44:27.320
His wife just chewed him out for not bringing

00:44:27.320 --> 00:44:31.150
in the dry cleaning. And you know, all of this

00:44:31.150 --> 00:44:33.230
stuff. And I was like, Wow, he knows everybody.

00:44:33.650 --> 00:44:35.710
He didn't I don't think he knew anybody. He was

00:44:35.710 --> 00:44:39.769
just the point of this is week after week, he

00:44:39.769 --> 00:44:43.849
would say to me, you never know a person's story.

00:44:44.969 --> 00:44:48.429
Every single person has a story. So what he was

00:44:48.429 --> 00:44:51.829
doing was telling me the story of everybody that

00:44:51.829 --> 00:44:56.170
we passed. And I from that moment, net have never

00:44:56.170 --> 00:44:58.449
ever met a person that I didn't want to know

00:44:58.449 --> 00:45:02.309
their story. And that to me was super powerful

00:45:02.309 --> 00:45:04.670
because it changed how I looked at people. You

00:45:04.670 --> 00:45:07.369
can look at somebody as scary or off -putting

00:45:07.369 --> 00:45:11.250
or somebody that, you know, that guy that had

00:45:11.250 --> 00:45:14.369
the grimace when he said it was because his wife

00:45:14.369 --> 00:45:16.530
chewed him out. I thought, well, of course he's

00:45:16.530 --> 00:45:19.989
going to look like that. That makes, that made

00:45:19.989 --> 00:45:22.389
me look at life and people differently. That

00:45:22.389 --> 00:45:25.099
was a mentor that that mentorship lasted with

00:45:25.099 --> 00:45:29.539
me forever. Um, in terms of me being, and I have

00:45:29.539 --> 00:45:32.639
a ton of different mentors throughout my life,

00:45:32.639 --> 00:45:35.760
you know, who are still with me, like my first

00:45:35.760 --> 00:45:39.340
boss, 40 years later, we're still friends. Um,

00:45:39.539 --> 00:45:41.900
I count her as a friend more than a mentor now,

00:45:41.900 --> 00:45:45.599
but she changed how I looked at, um, teaching.

00:45:45.820 --> 00:45:48.760
I was working with, um, children with severe

00:45:48.760 --> 00:45:53.489
disabilities. And she said, You have to find

00:45:53.489 --> 00:45:56.730
something in each child that you can resonate

00:45:56.730 --> 00:46:01.130
with that you can You you say I want to see something

00:46:01.130 --> 00:46:04.389
in this person that connects you And so whereas

00:46:04.389 --> 00:46:05.889
most people would walk in and they'd say that

00:46:05.889 --> 00:46:08.690
this group of kids. There's no hope with them

00:46:08.690 --> 00:46:11.610
You know getting a child to drink from a straw

00:46:11.610 --> 00:46:14.750
what felt like the biggest accomplishment For

00:46:14.750 --> 00:46:17.949
us and for the child or getting some thing that

00:46:17.949 --> 00:46:21.179
seemed very small to somebody else was monumental

00:46:21.179 --> 00:46:23.699
and i still i still have pictures of the kids

00:46:23.699 --> 00:46:27.579
i still remember every little bit about them

00:46:27.579 --> 00:46:30.360
and that's what she taught me was how to look

00:46:30.360 --> 00:46:34.989
at people and connect and find something of value

00:46:34.989 --> 00:46:37.150
between the two of us that would be meaningful.

00:46:37.829 --> 00:46:41.690
And in terms of me mentoring others, I think

00:46:41.690 --> 00:46:45.150
that the biggest thing I could say, and I don't

00:46:45.150 --> 00:46:48.230
always know when I'm mentoring, is that I have

00:46:48.230 --> 00:46:51.050
been pretty consistent in terms of if a person

00:46:51.050 --> 00:46:54.869
like my fellow classmate asks me for something,

00:46:55.530 --> 00:46:59.219
I am going to help them. So I will reach out

00:46:59.219 --> 00:47:01.320
and help them. And one example that I have right

00:47:01.320 --> 00:47:04.800
now is there's a young woman, her name is Dina,

00:47:04.840 --> 00:47:07.019
and she lives in Kenya. I've never met her in

00:47:07.019 --> 00:47:09.579
person, but I've been mentoring her for a couple

00:47:09.579 --> 00:47:14.159
of years now. And she was looking for how can

00:47:14.159 --> 00:47:17.599
she get involved and do things. And she calls

00:47:17.599 --> 00:47:21.360
from a crappy Wi -Fi phone that's like not working

00:47:21.360 --> 00:47:24.900
great, cuts out all the time. But she started

00:47:25.199 --> 00:47:30.639
TMP Kenya there and now has a whole lot of college

00:47:30.639 --> 00:47:32.820
students who come to her and she's the leader

00:47:32.820 --> 00:47:36.679
now and she's mentoring others in how they can

00:47:36.679 --> 00:47:39.699
get mentorship and leading an entire group of

00:47:39.699 --> 00:47:43.760
people. So she's changing her entire community

00:47:43.760 --> 00:47:48.800
in Kenya and now doing a lot of what we're trying

00:47:48.800 --> 00:47:51.889
to do. Here, I've never met her, but we meet

00:47:51.889 --> 00:47:54.510
all the time. She's now going to start writing

00:47:54.510 --> 00:47:58.909
about it and blogging about it. And to me, that

00:47:58.909 --> 00:48:01.769
feels like I'm forever connected with her. There's

00:48:01.769 --> 00:48:04.449
a piece of the two of us living in each other

00:48:04.449 --> 00:48:08.670
now, and that will never go away. You can't sever

00:48:08.670 --> 00:48:11.530
that cord. You can't take that away. When she

00:48:11.530 --> 00:48:15.630
wins, every time she grows, I feel like a little

00:48:15.630 --> 00:48:17.570
piece of me is living there with her and growing

00:48:17.570 --> 00:48:21.400
with her. powerful to me. That is very powerful.

00:48:21.860 --> 00:48:25.420
Like mentorship by itself, just as you were describing

00:48:25.420 --> 00:48:29.340
it and sharing your stories. Like it's it. It's

00:48:29.340 --> 00:48:31.480
a piece of you that continues to live on. Yeah.

00:48:31.480 --> 00:48:35.019
And you never really know how that piece of you

00:48:35.019 --> 00:48:37.219
that's now living in somebody else affects someone

00:48:37.219 --> 00:48:41.860
else. And so just by just the exponential ripple

00:48:41.860 --> 00:48:46.840
effect effect, you're really, you know, changing

00:48:46.840 --> 00:48:50.199
the life of other people without you even knowing

00:48:50.199 --> 00:48:57.400
it. Exactly. So how does someone get in connection

00:48:57.400 --> 00:49:01.760
or involved with the Mentor Project? Well, if

00:49:01.760 --> 00:49:04.639
you are a student, kindergarten through graduate

00:49:04.639 --> 00:49:07.659
school, and you want to receive mentorship for

00:49:07.659 --> 00:49:12.179
free, you click the Become a Mentor button on

00:49:12.179 --> 00:49:16.650
our website, www .mentorproject .org. and you

00:49:16.650 --> 00:49:20.949
will get through and get a mentor. If you're

00:49:20.949 --> 00:49:24.250
a minor, someone who's under 18, you will need

00:49:24.250 --> 00:49:27.769
to get your guardian to sign as well because

00:49:27.769 --> 00:49:31.190
we have paperwork. All of our mentors go through

00:49:31.190 --> 00:49:33.550
background checks and are vetted by several people

00:49:33.550 --> 00:49:37.059
and have to do a whole onboarding system. So

00:49:37.059 --> 00:49:41.179
we do ask that our mentees also fill out onboarding

00:49:41.179 --> 00:49:44.820
information as well. So we're really very strict

00:49:44.820 --> 00:49:47.639
about that, but it's free. If you are someone

00:49:47.639 --> 00:49:50.199
who says, ooh, I'd love to donate or support

00:49:50.199 --> 00:49:52.079
the mentor project, or I want to volunteer, or

00:49:52.079 --> 00:49:55.659
I want to become a mentor, click our contact

00:49:55.659 --> 00:49:58.239
us button and let us know. And then we'll get

00:49:58.239 --> 00:50:02.280
in touch with you. Or go to our donate page,

00:50:02.280 --> 00:50:05.260
whatever you'd like, but that's a way to become

00:50:05.260 --> 00:50:08.380
Generative with us and we're really excited to

00:50:08.380 --> 00:50:11.420
meet new people and get involved with more people

00:50:11.420 --> 00:50:15.159
Yeah, I think it's a it's a powerful stance that

00:50:15.159 --> 00:50:19.500
you take and when I'm first what we first talked

00:50:19.500 --> 00:50:23.559
about, you know having you on and and Turn about,

00:50:23.559 --> 00:50:25.119
you know, just having you on I was like, you

00:50:25.119 --> 00:50:27.659
know mentorship Yeah, you know, be a mentor.

00:50:27.980 --> 00:50:33.920
But it gets so much more deeper than the basic

00:50:33.920 --> 00:50:36.440
understanding of, you know, oh, okay, you could

00:50:36.440 --> 00:50:40.519
be a mentor. There's so much depth into the connection

00:50:40.519 --> 00:50:45.840
of what a mentor -mentor relationship could be

00:50:45.840 --> 00:50:49.380
and is. And I think that's just a powerful thing.

00:50:49.960 --> 00:50:53.880
It is and I think everyone who if they listen

00:50:53.880 --> 00:50:57.739
and realizes that they're a mentor in some capacity,

00:50:57.739 --> 00:51:01.219
it's the most fulfilling thing that you can feel

00:51:01.219 --> 00:51:03.420
is knowing that you have made a difference that

00:51:03.420 --> 00:51:08.539
you live on in somebody else. Yeah, it is. What

00:51:08.539 --> 00:51:14.539
would you say is advice will be a piece of advice

00:51:14.539 --> 00:51:21.769
to entrepreneurs about mentorship. And let me

00:51:21.769 --> 00:51:24.989
rephrase that. What's your one piece of advice

00:51:24.989 --> 00:51:28.449
that you can give to entrepreneurs about being

00:51:28.449 --> 00:51:31.150
mentorships in the world? I would say look to

00:51:31.150 --> 00:51:32.750
your left and look to your right. You're looking

00:51:32.750 --> 00:51:35.349
at a mentor or a mentee. There's everyone is

00:51:35.349 --> 00:51:38.090
a mentor or mentee at any given moment. And if

00:51:38.090 --> 00:51:40.369
you incorporate the idea of mentorship at the

00:51:40.369 --> 00:51:43.369
very beginning, when you're starting out, it's

00:51:43.369 --> 00:51:45.269
going to help you because you will be seeking

00:51:45.269 --> 00:51:47.969
the advice of others. You're not going to be

00:51:47.969 --> 00:51:50.510
the solo person running out, making mistakes

00:51:50.510 --> 00:51:52.829
left and right. Somebody is going to check you

00:51:52.829 --> 00:51:57.269
here and there. And you'll also end up. Having

00:51:57.269 --> 00:52:00.090
a much more fulfilling journey with the with

00:52:00.090 --> 00:52:02.889
the project that you're working on because doing

00:52:02.889 --> 00:52:05.969
things alone is a lonely existence and entrepreneurs

00:52:05.969 --> 00:52:09.030
often feel like cats you know they're off doing

00:52:09.030 --> 00:52:11.309
their thing all by themselves and that's lonely

00:52:11.309 --> 00:52:15.019
why be lonely. go out and connect with others

00:52:15.019 --> 00:52:18.280
make mentorship a part of your foundation. It

00:52:18.280 --> 00:52:22.119
does not limit your organization, it's only going

00:52:22.119 --> 00:52:25.420
to make it grow exponentially faster with much

00:52:25.420 --> 00:52:33.940
more impact. So look left, look right. Man. That's

00:52:33.940 --> 00:52:37.059
that's yeah, that's it right there. And just

00:52:37.059 --> 00:52:39.300
just a characteristic, are there characteristics

00:52:39.300 --> 00:52:43.230
of what makes a good mentor? I tell this to people,

00:52:43.809 --> 00:52:46.150
there's no good mentor and there's no bad mentor.

00:52:46.389 --> 00:52:48.469
There's, there's just, you're a mentor or you're

00:52:48.469 --> 00:52:52.190
not. So I'm going to go through it a little because

00:52:52.190 --> 00:52:54.550
it's not like you say, yeah, I've got this friend.

00:52:54.710 --> 00:52:56.969
They throw me under the bus every week and that's

00:52:56.969 --> 00:53:00.150
not your friend. Like run away from that person.

00:53:00.809 --> 00:53:03.130
So that would be, you would say that's a bad

00:53:03.130 --> 00:53:05.230
friend. I would say that's not a friend, right?

00:53:05.889 --> 00:53:09.280
So mentorship is the same way. So people will

00:53:09.280 --> 00:53:11.219
say, oh, you need to be an inspiring mentor.

00:53:11.420 --> 00:53:13.280
No. Like, do you ever say, I'm going to go look

00:53:13.280 --> 00:53:16.920
for an inspiring friend? We have to think of

00:53:16.920 --> 00:53:20.519
mentorship, not as a job and burden that somebody

00:53:20.519 --> 00:53:24.039
is carrying that, you know, Oh my gosh, I better

00:53:24.039 --> 00:53:26.960
pull this person up out of the trenches. That's

00:53:26.960 --> 00:53:29.920
not the relationship. It has to be that the two

00:53:29.920 --> 00:53:32.159
people, there has to be someone who says, I want

00:53:32.159 --> 00:53:34.920
to give something to you. And then you have to

00:53:34.920 --> 00:53:36.920
want what I'm giving. If you don't want what

00:53:36.920 --> 00:53:39.840
I'm giving. That's not mentorship. I'm not going

00:53:39.840 --> 00:53:41.840
to try to be more inspiring and give you more,

00:53:41.980 --> 00:53:45.579
you know, make you want what I have. It's like

00:53:45.579 --> 00:53:48.320
giving a gift at the holidays and somebody opens

00:53:48.320 --> 00:53:51.699
it up and they go, you know, that's not a gift

00:53:51.699 --> 00:53:55.380
then to that person. So they have to have that.

00:53:55.659 --> 00:53:58.119
Then it has to be an intrinsically motivated

00:53:58.119 --> 00:54:00.960
relationship. If you are paid, you are not a

00:54:00.960 --> 00:54:02.579
mentor. Period. End of story. People try to tell

00:54:02.579 --> 00:54:04.539
me all the time. Oh, no, no, but I'm a coach

00:54:04.539 --> 00:54:06.139
and a mentor. No, you're not. You're a coach.

00:54:06.329 --> 00:54:08.769
Would you do it for no money? No. OK, then you're

00:54:08.769 --> 00:54:12.909
a coach. You're not a mentor. You don't pay your

00:54:12.909 --> 00:54:17.489
friends, do you? This is where we have to think

00:54:17.489 --> 00:54:19.889
of mentorship as somebody has to be intrinsically

00:54:19.889 --> 00:54:23.150
motivated to do it at both ends. So mentee also

00:54:23.150 --> 00:54:24.969
can't be like, well, I'm doing it because somebody

00:54:24.969 --> 00:54:26.269
is going to say, well, they have a mentor. I'm

00:54:26.269 --> 00:54:28.369
going to give them a good performance of that

00:54:28.369 --> 00:54:32.250
or something like that. You also have to have

00:54:32.250 --> 00:54:33.750
a meaningful connection. You have to like the

00:54:33.750 --> 00:54:36.469
person. If you do not like your mentor, if you

00:54:36.469 --> 00:54:39.909
do not respect your mentee, you are not a mentor.

00:54:40.570 --> 00:54:43.110
You are not a mentee. That relationship just

00:54:43.110 --> 00:54:46.969
isn't mentorship. It's something else. If you

00:54:46.969 --> 00:54:50.510
also need trust. So if I think you're going to

00:54:50.510 --> 00:54:53.829
run, I'm an entrepreneur and I say, I'm afraid

00:54:53.829 --> 00:54:56.650
that that person is going to run off with my

00:54:56.650 --> 00:55:01.079
idea. That's not mentorship. I'm not gonna freely

00:55:01.079 --> 00:55:02.719
give to that person cuz i'm gonna think they're

00:55:02.719 --> 00:55:05.719
gonna steal my idea likewise if i say i'm not

00:55:05.719 --> 00:55:09.099
gonna i don't trust that. If i tell this person

00:55:09.099 --> 00:55:12.880
what i don't know they're going to judge me in

00:55:12.880 --> 00:55:15.800
some way it's just not mentorship. And finally

00:55:15.800 --> 00:55:17.519
there has to be a goal if you're just chatting

00:55:17.519 --> 00:55:21.599
then your friend. So you need all of these a

00:55:21.599 --> 00:55:24.019
person should never think they have to go and

00:55:24.019 --> 00:55:26.559
tap dance to be a better mentor. They should

00:55:26.559 --> 00:55:28.599
not have to think they have to be inspirational.

00:55:29.219 --> 00:55:31.460
If you say, oh, I've got a toxic mentor. That's

00:55:31.460 --> 00:55:34.239
not your mentor. That's some toxic individual.

00:55:34.320 --> 00:55:37.039
You're not being mentored by them. So we have

00:55:37.039 --> 00:55:40.860
to remove those sort of value things that we

00:55:40.860 --> 00:55:43.579
put on mentorship and think of it more the way

00:55:43.579 --> 00:55:45.719
that we think of friendship. Does everyone who

00:55:45.719 --> 00:55:48.739
passes in front of you become your friend? No,

00:55:48.820 --> 00:55:50.860
does that make them a bad person? No, they're

00:55:50.860 --> 00:55:54.320
just not your person. Same with mentorship. It

00:55:54.320 --> 00:55:57.639
has to be the right fit. Otherwise, what's unique

00:55:57.639 --> 00:56:02.699
in mentoring? What's unique about anybody? Yeah,

00:56:02.960 --> 00:56:04.860
I thought you wouldn't keep going because I was

00:56:04.860 --> 00:56:08.800
saying I saw you sort of shift and I was like,

00:56:09.039 --> 00:56:12.409
All right, I'll stop. Go ahead. Keep going. I

00:56:12.409 --> 00:56:15.329
was just going to say that the value judgments

00:56:15.329 --> 00:56:17.730
that I hear from most people and a lot of people

00:56:17.730 --> 00:56:19.969
will say the 10 top ways to be a good mentor.

00:56:20.170 --> 00:56:23.409
And I think to myself, no, nobody does that with

00:56:23.409 --> 00:56:28.150
any other relationship that we have. If you know

00:56:28.150 --> 00:56:30.869
how to be in a relationship with someone, every

00:56:30.869 --> 00:56:33.789
one of us does. That's all you have to think

00:56:33.789 --> 00:56:36.769
of it'll feel natural. It's organic Don't give

00:56:36.769 --> 00:56:39.309
it more thought than it needs to have if you're

00:56:39.309 --> 00:56:42.469
not feeling that vibe with that person just say

00:56:42.469 --> 00:56:46.150
oh I guess we were mentoring now. We're not it's

00:56:46.150 --> 00:56:49.690
run its course. Is that a failure? No, that is

00:56:49.690 --> 00:56:53.250
not a failure That is just not mentoring. You

00:56:53.250 --> 00:56:55.590
can be friends at that moment. You can be an

00:56:55.590 --> 00:56:58.010
acquaintance You can hate the person whatever

00:56:58.010 --> 00:57:01.440
you want But don't make mentorship be something

00:57:01.440 --> 00:57:05.059
that feels like a burden. Yeah, that's exactly

00:57:05.059 --> 00:57:06.820
what just came in my head. Like it doesn't have

00:57:06.820 --> 00:57:09.619
to be a burden. So like you creating the distinction

00:57:09.619 --> 00:57:13.980
between mentorship and friend mentorship and

00:57:13.980 --> 00:57:18.400
coach is very powerful. And thank you for creating

00:57:18.400 --> 00:57:22.820
the distinction between that. As your last words

00:57:22.820 --> 00:57:26.739
on the podcast, what is what is it that that's

00:57:26.739 --> 00:57:30.880
on your heart that that you want to share. I

00:57:30.880 --> 00:57:35.579
really hope that people will engage in mentorship

00:57:35.579 --> 00:57:38.820
because a more connected world, you know, I'm

00:57:38.820 --> 00:57:40.920
starting to see that the world is getting so

00:57:40.920 --> 00:57:44.019
much more connected because of our our tech advances.

00:57:44.829 --> 00:57:47.889
And if you're able to connect with more people,

00:57:48.070 --> 00:57:51.690
I see only goodness coming from this because

00:57:51.690 --> 00:57:53.949
when you're meaningfully connected with someone,

00:57:54.409 --> 00:57:57.110
that is not usually for diabolical purposes.

00:57:57.710 --> 00:57:59.530
It's because we're making the world a better

00:57:59.530 --> 00:58:02.829
place. So my goal is to hopefully get as many

00:58:02.829 --> 00:58:06.789
people as possible connected in meaningful ways

00:58:06.789 --> 00:58:10.199
so that we can make some really good change and

00:58:10.199 --> 00:58:12.980
entrepreneurship is a key part of that. So I

00:58:12.980 --> 00:58:15.159
also hope people check out my book, The Mentorship

00:58:15.159 --> 00:58:17.639
Edge and learn all those distinctions that we

00:58:17.639 --> 00:58:21.199
talked about. Yes, you know, and we'll have like

00:58:21.199 --> 00:58:24.840
your information circulating with our information

00:58:24.840 --> 00:58:27.380
and the description description and everything.

00:58:27.679 --> 00:58:30.900
And I think that people will check it out because

00:58:30.900 --> 00:58:33.199
of everything that you shared. You shared your

00:58:33.199 --> 00:58:35.820
heart, you shared your stories, you shared your

00:58:36.329 --> 00:58:38.750
your education and everything that you've been

00:58:38.750 --> 00:58:42.670
through. So I want to say thank you for just

00:58:42.670 --> 00:58:47.570
being a light in this world with connecting and

00:58:47.570 --> 00:58:51.309
bridging people from across the world to each

00:58:51.309 --> 00:58:54.449
other. And really connecting with people's hearts

00:58:54.449 --> 00:58:58.690
and souls that will, again, exponentially connect

00:58:58.690 --> 00:59:00.929
with other people and other people and other

00:59:00.929 --> 00:59:03.090
people. It's a great work that you're doing.

00:59:04.269 --> 00:59:06.949
And I wholeheartedly appreciate it. So thank

00:59:06.949 --> 00:59:09.409
you so much for doing that. And thank you for

00:59:09.409 --> 00:59:12.110
thank you. And I want to say thank you for being

00:59:12.110 --> 00:59:14.110
a modern mentor and touching the lives of so

00:59:14.110 --> 00:59:17.030
many. The impact you're making is exponential

00:59:17.030 --> 00:59:19.849
and you probably don't even know a tenth of what

00:59:19.849 --> 00:59:22.150
you're what you're doing. So thank you for doing

00:59:22.150 --> 00:59:25.530
what you do. I appreciate that. I'm gonna get

00:59:25.530 --> 00:59:27.409
I'm gonna take that label on as modern modern

00:59:27.409 --> 00:59:31.309
mentor. So Debra, thank you for being on the

00:59:31.309 --> 00:59:34.469
podcast. And anyone who's watching everybody

00:59:34.469 --> 00:59:37.050
who's watching and listening to the podcast,

00:59:37.329 --> 00:59:40.130
we'll put our information Dr. Deborah Heiser's

00:59:40.130 --> 00:59:43.230
information in our description. So make sure

00:59:43.230 --> 00:59:47.329
that you go get the book, connect with her and

00:59:47.329 --> 00:59:49.889
just become a mentor in the world. And if you

00:59:49.889 --> 00:59:54.340
need to be menteed. Find your mentor in the world.

00:59:54.920 --> 00:59:57.219
And just connect with us on the Thravo journey

00:59:57.219 --> 01:00:00.199
on Facebook, Instagram, you know how to get in

01:00:00.199 --> 01:00:02.880
connection with us. And as we always say about

01:00:02.880 --> 01:00:06.820
this time, make thriving your new normal. Thank

01:00:06.820 --> 01:00:09.739
you, Dr. Deborah Heiser. Appreciate you. Before

01:00:09.739 --> 01:00:11.840
you go, I just want to say thank you. Thank you

01:00:11.840 --> 01:00:14.559
for being a part of the Thravo journey. Every

01:00:14.559 --> 01:00:16.940
time you show up here, you're choosing growth.

01:00:17.179 --> 01:00:19.659
clarity, and the deeper work of becoming who

01:00:19.659 --> 01:00:22.019
you're meant to be in this world. And if you're

01:00:22.019 --> 01:00:24.739
ready to reconnect with what truly lights you

01:00:24.739 --> 01:00:27.440
up, I created something powerful that can help

01:00:27.440 --> 01:00:30.800
you. It's called The Empowered Path, Seven Days

01:00:30.800 --> 01:00:33.980
to Reclaim Your Purpose and Passion. It's a beautifully

01:00:33.980 --> 01:00:36.659
designed guided workbook that walks you through

01:00:36.659 --> 01:00:39.280
a week of powerful prompts. clarity building

01:00:39.280 --> 01:00:43.280
tools, and real mindset shifts. Now you can get

01:00:43.280 --> 01:00:46.000
instant access to it today. It's a small investment

01:00:46.000 --> 01:00:49.480
for a huge return, your energy, your clarity,

01:00:49.780 --> 01:00:52.920
your alignment. And if you want to take it deeper,

01:00:53.099 --> 01:00:55.800
check this out. I'm offering a limited number

01:00:55.800 --> 01:00:58.420
of free 30 minute purpose coaching sessions.

01:00:58.579 --> 01:01:01.619
No pressure. No pitch, just space for you to

01:01:01.619 --> 01:01:03.800
reconnect with your direction, your gifts, and

01:01:03.800 --> 01:01:06.639
what's next. So you can grab the guide and book

01:01:06.639 --> 01:01:10.099
your session at the link in the show notes. Let's

01:01:10.099 --> 01:01:12.500
not just go through the motions. Let's really

01:01:12.500 --> 01:01:15.760
walk this path on purpose. I appreciate you.

01:01:15.880 --> 01:01:18.679
And like we always say, let's make thriving our

01:01:18.679 --> 01:01:20.579
new normal. And I'll talk to you soon.