Avoiding Mentoring Disasters with Mark Timm

As we start the new year, we often contemplate resolutions and adopting new behaviors into our lives. Good mentoring relationships can have an amazingly powerful impact on both our personal and professional lives, but a bad one can lead to a devastating outcome. Learn how to identify a great match in today's episode with Mark Timm. Mark Timm has been a serial entrepreneur and exponential thinking practitioner for nearly two decades. He started more than two dozen companies, several of which have multiplied and been sold. His experience with dealing with the entrepreneurial challenges has fueled his passion for teaching people how to balance the demands of family life and business. Show Notes: [1:15] - Mark co-wrote the book Mentor to Millions because of his experiences (good and bad) with mentors. He describes how he met the friend he wrote the book with. [2:32] - Where mentorship goes bad is when you think you have found the right person due to their success. [3:28] - The first thing to look for in a mentor is to ask them about their failures. You want a mentor who is not only a big success story. [4:17] - The second thing to look for in a mentor is their ability to really listen. A good mentor will listen and learn about you in order to help you down the right path. [4:58] - The third thing to look for is a mentor who has a mentor themselves. Learning is a lifelong journey. [5:31] - Mark shares a negative experience with a mentor in an industry he didn't know much about. This mentor tended to tell Mark everything he was doing wrong. [7:51] - Mark likes to have more than one mentor because one mentor is not capable of helping you in every facet of your life. [9:45] - Most people don't know how to find a mentor. It begins by having some vulnerability. Are you ready to be coached and taught? [11:59] - You already know everyone you need to know in order to accomplish everything that you need to accomplish in this world. Your inner circle may know the exact person you need. [12:51] - The formula is 1) get the right mentor, 2) become that mentor's best student, and 3) take everything you've learned and teach it to someone else. [14:05] - Mark ends every chapter in Mentor to Millions with him applying what he learned in his business to his family. [15:06] - Mark describes how important his mentorship experiences have been with his family. [16:23] - Mark gives an example of how a personality test that he was using in his business and how he bought extras to do with his family in the same way. [17:58] - The personality test experience gave Mark's family a tool to be themselves and understand each other. [18:26] - In regards to finding a mentor that is "wired differently" than yourself, there are so many different situations and combinations of people. [19:55] - When you can say that you know the person, you like the person, and you trust the person, there could be a very good opportunity for a mentorship when you know they can help you. [21:36] - Anyone can learn, but it takes the right kind of person to teach. [23:11] - If you'd like to become a mentor, you need to practice listening and be open about your failures and how you've learned from them. [25:17] - Mark talks about Mentor to Millions and his experiences with a great mentor. [27:00] - Mark is one his way to his first multi-million dollar business because of the lessons he's learned with his mentor. [27:38] - Now, Mark mentors successful entrepreneurs with their family and home life, which is what Mark is passionate about. [29:03] - It is not all about balance, it's about integration. Mark describes how combining his worlds made a huge difference in his business and relationships. [30:29] - Mark and Kevin and offering a special mentoring opportunity to listeners who buy the book. Go to KevinMentor.com for 30 days of free mentoring after proof of purchasing the book. Thanks for joining us on Easy Prey. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes and leave a nice review.  Links and Resources: Podcast Web Page Facebook Page whatismyipaddress.com Easy Prey on Instagram Easy Prey on Twitter Easy Prey on LinkedIn Easy Prey on YouTube Easy Prey on Pinterest Kevin Mentor Website Mark Timm Home Page Mark Timm on Twitter Mark Timm on LinkedIn Mentor to Millions: Secrets of Success in Business, Relationships, and Beyond by Mark Timm and Kevin Harrington