Want to Work from Home But Feel Alone? - The Role of a Business Mentor

By Lucy Cole-Radice
Posted Friday, September 10, 2004

I'm so excited! I can't wait to get started!! ……..Oh My Goodness!! What I have I just signed up for???

These are just a couple of extreme emotions that you will feel within minutes after your call to your sponsor or business mentor is over.

Congratulations, are in order for accomplishing your very first hurdle and stepping out of your comfort zone. You've made the decision to take control of your life and join the growing population opting join the network marketing industry to work from home.

Whether you want to build your home business for a part time or fulltime income stream, everyone begins at the same point. It is important to understand that in the network marketing industry you are not alone and that the mentoring system has been set up to help you reach your goals.

This article has been written to assist those who would like to embark on their own work- from-home network marketing business or are new to the industry, to understand the mentoring system and how it can help contribute to their business success.

Beginning your own network marketing distributorship is a particularly overwhelming experience. From the outset, there is a huge learning curve as you are introduced to new information, products, daily method of operations etc. You will have many questions that remain unanswered and you will probably ask yourself whether you have made the right decision. Many will quit here!

It is from the very beginning that your business mentor holds the lantern to light the way to your success. Your business mentor has already walked this path and understands the emotional rollercoaster that you may be experiencing. This knowledge alone can alleviate much anguish that can manifest itself after the sign up process.

Successful network marketing organizations ensure that the system by which they operate are simple and duplicatable. The mentoring process is a teacher - student relationship whereby one is simply taught the "system". All business mentors have there own distributorships and therefore are able to teach others based on their own experiences when they began as a student. It is up to the individual, however, how teachable they want to be.

The Role of a Business Mentor

It is important to understand that a business mentor is not responsible for your business success. There are a number of "You" factors that will help determine how successful your business will be ( refer to Working from home - have you got what it takes?) It is up to the individual to train themselves as fast as possible to then have the ability to become a business mentor themselves. The faster one accomplishes this, the greater the growth of their business.

Up to this point, however, your Business mentor will invest their time helping you start up and establish your own business. The following information is just a general outline of some of the roles that a business mentor may take.

Your business mentor will
* Ensure you are the right kind of person to be undertaking their own home business at the signup call. This is a process done to make sure that time and money is spent on people who are deadly serious about the decision to work from home. If you are not serious enough, don't expect to be signed up.
* Provide guidance and support through the set up stages of your business.
* Demonstrate skills required to run your business usually through "Tell, Show, Try and Do".
* Clarify areas of your business that need improvement.
* Provide constructive feedback of your business action that you decide to take.
* Provide a sounding board in the tough times of your business.
* Acknowledge your success stories in your business to help keep you intrinsically motivated.

Working from Home in the network marketing industry is a very exciting and potentially prosperous decision to make. What's more exciting is that you don't have to do it alone. Having a business mentor is a great way of learning from the success of others and it sets this industry apart from traditional business where often the leaders are unapproachable and would appear untouchable. Success is dependent on the effectiveness of the mentoring system and how teachable the new individual is.

If the system is simple enough, then anyone can learn how to do this business and become a business mentor themselves.

About the author
Lucy Cole-Radice is currently operating her own successful affiliate internet based 60 Minute Money Home business from home. She is a business mentor to others who wish to run their own home-based business. For information on your own 60 Minute Money Home business go to (http://success-at-home.org/?refid=bt-567879600)

The author has also written:

Working from home - have YOU got what it takes?

How Stay- at- Home Mums or Dads Can Pay The Mortgage Too.

Home Based Businesses - Are They The Savior Of The World?