In today’s fast-paced and competitive world, the journey to success can often feel like a solitary endeavor.

Tansi.

As an athlete, entrepreneur, and motivational speaker, I remind myself of the power of mentorship.

It can make all the difference in realizing our goals and aspirations.

Let’s delve into the transformative impact of mentorship as I’ve experienced it, and explore how cultivating meaningful mentorship relationships can propel individuals towards professional excellence and personal fulfillment.

The Power of Guided Growth:

My journey from a shy athlete to a successful entrepreneur is a testament to the profound influence of mentorship. I emphasize the importance of having mentors who can provide guidance, support, and valuable insights as individuals navigate their career paths. Mentorship serves as a catalyst for personal growth, enabling individuals to tap into their full potential and overcome challenges with confidence and clarity.

Expanding My Circle of Influence:

In today’s interconnected world, the value of building a strong network of mentors and advisors cannot be overstated. I advocate for actively seeking out mentors who possess the knowledge, experience, and wisdom to help individuals chart a course towards success. By surrounding oneself with mentors who share similar values and aspirations, individuals can leverage diverse perspectives and invaluable feedback to accelerate their professional development.

Harnessing the Power of Positive Reinforcement:

One of the most impactful aspects of mentorship is the power of positive reinforcement. I recount how the belief and encouragement of my mentors propelled me forward, instilling a sense of self-belief and resilience. Mentors have the ability to inspire confidence, foster growth mindset, and empower individuals to overcome self-doubt and imposter syndrome on their journey towards success.

Investing in Personal and Professional Development:

In today’s rapidly evolving landscape, continuous learning and growth are essential for staying ahead of the curve. I emphasize the importance of investing in oneself through mentorship, coaching, and higher education opportunities. By seeking guidance from seasoned professionals and industry leaders, individuals can gain valuable insights, acquire new skills, and unlock their true potential.

Navigating Challenges with Resilience:

The journey to success is not without its challenges and setbacks. However, with the support of mentors, individuals can navigate through adversity with resilience and determination. My story serves as a reminder that setbacks are merely opportunities for growth, and with the right guidance and support, individuals can emerge stronger and more resilient than ever before.

Embracing My Leadership Potential:

At its core, mentorship is about empowering individuals to become leaders in their respective fields. I encourage individuals to embrace their leadership potential and lead with authenticity, integrity, and vision. By cultivating meaningful mentorship relationships, individuals can inspire others, drive positive change, and leave a lasting impact on their organizations and communities.

My journey is a powerful testament to the transformative impact of mentorship on personal and professional growth. As individuals strive to reach their full potential, let us heed these words and embrace the power of mentorship to unlock new opportunities, overcome challenges, and ultimately, achieve success. Let us invest in ourselves, cultivate meaningful mentorship relationships, and embark on a journey of growth, fulfillment, and impact.

Let’s look more into the importance of having a mentor, having someone guide you from where you are to where you want to be in your life, your career.

I could tell you from my experience as an athlete, as a business person, as a speaker, that if I didn’t have people guiding me, mentors, circles of influence, masterminds, I can’t confidently sit here with you and share these principles that I’ve been sharing along this masterclass.

We are built upon the people around us, the people that guide us, and if you want to get somewhere quicker with more clarity, then you have to enrich your circle of influence.

One of the quickest ways to do this is to have a coach, have a mentor, have a mastermind that you meet up with, a collective group of individuals that think like you, that are very driven like you.

This is extremely important because at home we don’t want to put that burden on our spouse, on our husband, our wife, our significant other.

We don’t want it.

When we go home, want that to be home, and that’s our home fire.

That’s a place that we are with our family.

You want to take your ideas, your business ideas on whether it’s on leadership, on management, on sales, on marketing, and you want to use that as a community of people that you meet up with all the time.

The further up the chain you are at the executive level, you may want to look at executive groups where you’re around other people from different companies, all sharing similar scenarios of what they’re working on.

As an athlete, there was a moment that I’ll share with you that really allowed me to take myself out of my comfort zone.
In grade 10, I remember walking into this gymnasium and there was a coach that I never met before.

His name was Doug and Doug, he took it upon himself.

He saw a little kid walking into this practice.

He was visibly different.

I was First Nations.

Everyone in that gym was non-Indigenous.

I walk in and then throughout that practice, I was telling myself, I’m probably not going to make this team.

I was being very negative to myself, but Doug pulled me aside at the end and he said, Kendal, I see potential in you.

I want to work with you.

You might not get a lot of playing time this year, but I want you to stay on my team.

I see potential in you.
And from that moment, someone saw something in me, a stranger, a leader, a coach, and he said something through words that really impacted my belief in myself.

He said, “I see potential in you.”

No one had ever said that to me before.

Here was a man, a stranger who said, “I see potential in you.”

And I believed him.

The next three years I committed myself to that person’s team.

He took me from my kid growing up on the reserve, living in poverty, just barely making it to practice after school and back home to the reserve, the shy kid, to becoming the team captain at the end of the grade 12, becoming the athlete of the year in that high school.

You see, that’s the power of having a coach, someone to guide you.

Even in the breaks during lunch, if I was doing something that I wasn’t supposed to be doing, all I would have to see was his presence and I would smarten up.
He would just have to cross his arms a little bit and I would smarten up.

That was the respect I had for him because he believed in me.

Now, imagine where you come from as a leader, you’re working with people and you say these words that come from here to people.

You say, “I really see potential you in this area.

I see more for you.” These words they may never have heard before from other people just like myself.

This is the power of using words in a positive way as a coach, as a mentor.

Growing up, one of the things I was told my kookum, my grandmother would often say, “Watch how you talk to people.

Watch how you talk to people.

Always try to get along, try to help each other.” She would always say, “Try not to get into arguments.” And she would scare me oftentimes.

She would say, “Because you don’t know if that’s the last time you’re going to see that person always try to get along.”

And so it really stuck with me when she would tell me that as a kid.

As leaders, when we’re working with people, we have to take that opportunity to use our words to uplift.

Yes, there’s going to be times when you’re going to have to give constructive criticism, but you always want to do it in a positive way.

I was always told from other speakers that when you’re using the word but and and it’s very important, so I’ll give you an example.

You may say to someone, “Hey Jeff, you did a really good job today, but I really hope that you could work on this next time.”

Now, if we say, “Hey, Jeff, you did a really good job today and maybe next time we can also add this to this presentation.”

Two different scenarios.

People only remember everything after.

But when you switch that with and they absorb the beginning and the end.

How we use our language is super important.

You want to use it in an uplifting way, a positive way.

Remove the but include more and.

Now, let’s fast-forward into the future.

As a university student, one of the things I really struggled with was just finishing a degree in the first place, but when Neechie Gear came around and I had to start this business, I remember going from that one bedroom apartment to an office to our own stores.

And at that time I was like, “How do I grow this company bigger than myself? How can I build a brand, a big business across this country?” And I remember thinking, well, who else had grown companies? And I remember was thinking…

I was watching the show, Dragon’s Den, Shark Tank, and there’s a guy on Shark Tank called Damon.

I was like, “I want to go see Damon. How can I go see this guy?”

And I remember I found this site that was able to book a meeting with him.

I had to pay how many thousands of dollars for his consultation fee.

I was like, “You know what? I’m going to do this.

I’m going to fly to New York.” And I did.

2014, almost 10 years ago.

I fly down there to the Empire State Building and I’m sitting right across from him in a meeting and I’m talking about my retail brand and what I’m trying to do, I have this story behind it, it’s a purpose-driven company, and I want to do this, this, and that with it.

And I was getting advice from someone who was the best of the best on this planet.

There’s going to come a time when you may get an opportunity to invest in yourself, to invest in your higher learning.

If I didn’t take those opportunities, ladies and gentlemen, these things like growing Neechie Gear, it would’ve been limited because I wouldn’t have had the insights from someone who had gone through something similar before.

I’ll give you another example.

In Saskatchewan, I had a mentor.

Thankfully this person came into my life.

His name was Paul Morton.

He used to be on the radio all the time.

Paul said, one day, “Kendal, why don’t you come to my meetings? I have this mastermind group, it’s called Tech, Tech Canada.

We have these executives from different companies in Saskatchewan.

We come to meetings once a month and we discuss issues.

Internally, we support each other and we are like a sounding board to each other.” Because they can’t discuss those problems as challenges with their team members, they have to go outside and do it somewhere else.

And I thought, “You know what? I can’t even invest into this.

I don’t have the financial means, but I’ll show up because Paul saw something in me.” I show up to these meetings and I would be around these executives and be like, my mind was getting expanded.

I was starting to see the world from a different lens.

Being around people who had achieved so much made me want to work harder.

As time progressed and as I was able to get into this speaking field, I thought, “I really need to start elevating my learning.” I started to hire a coach, and then I got into masterminds and I hired not one, but two, but three different coaches and I really invested myself in this career.

I learned how to write a book.

I learned how to build the websites, do the speaking promos in all this different areas to market myself effectively.

And so much happened in those two and a half years of really putting my foot down into this area and it got me onto different stages from 1000, 2000, 20,000 people where I was sharing my message.

I was doing the best of what I can with what I had to help change the world.

Ladies and gentlemen, every person needs a coach.

Every person needs to be around a circle of influence, of driven people that will help you to get to you from where you are, to where you want to be and to protect yourself at the same time from all the negativity out there.

It’s so easy to get influence from social media.

It’s so easy to compare ourselves to other people.

It’s so easy to wish we had something that other people have.

Stay in your own lane.

Focus on where you want to go.

Have the guidance of people that are mentoring you, that are guiding you along that journey.

When you do these things, you will be able to get there much quicker than maybe your peers who think that they know it all.

I could tell you from experience, people who think they know it all are very limited.

They cannot open up about their insecurities, their vulnerabilities.

They’re too scared to share about their own story, but not you.

You have the opportunity to take you from where you are to where you want to be.

Hire a coach, work with mentors, work with masterminds, and watch your learning journey thrive to the next part in your life that it deserves to be.

Become the leader that you are born to be.

hiy hiy