What's better than a mentor?
When I first started out in business, approximately 100 years ago now, the first thing I thought I should do was get a mentor. All the books told me that’s what I needed and it sounded like a good idea. So I did. And it went really well, for about the first seven months.
My mentor was fab. She’d run a big business and had been around the block a number of times. She was tough and held me accountable, which is everything you want from a mentor. But we got to a point where I’d exhausted her knowledge and I’d heard most of her stories.
I credit my next move to being life-altering and business-transforming. I joined a peer-to-peer network and a whole new world opened up. I was placed in a group of entrepreneurs and instead of having just one mentor to unpack my challenges with, I had several. It was genius.
It was largely because of my own experiences with peer-to-peer mentoring that Business Chicks started PowerPlayers – a unique program designed to help female entrepreneurs come together and learn from each other. We place successful applicants into ‘Packs’ of up to eight members, then match each pack with a trained facilitator who leads their monthly meetings to help maximise time.
We are currently accepting applications for the PowerPlayers program in 2018. Peer-to-peer mentoring was the one thing that truly kick-started my business journey and helped me form deep relationships with like-minded entrepreneurs who were going through, or had been through, similar challenges. The experience left me feeling uplifted, confident, powerful, and ultimately supported.
Business can be lonely and finding others that truly get it can be tough. You need good people around you to succeed, and it’s my dream that PowerPlayers will help get you there. Come join us!
Emma Isaacs is Founder and Global CEO of Business Chicks