April 6, 2019Erin Nicole
Having a mentor in your life is detrimental. Mentors can save your skin from getting fired at work! Mentors can save your life when you’re crossing the street in heavy traffic as a young child. They can make you stretch yourself to believe that you can aim bigger in your dreams and more. Everyone needs a mentor.
I’ve had the pleasure of being around a lot of positive adult-like mentors through my up bringing. These mentors were either directly related to me, family friends, or those that I looked up to professionally. They all have helped to shape me into the woman I am today. They all in some ways have positively influenced me to become a mentor myself in various areas of my life.
The following benefits of having mentors are from my personal experiences and from the success stories I’ve heard from those I look up to. I hope you enjoy this and feel free to share if you are loving it! Also please connect with me on all social media platforms and tell me where you’re from! I ❤️ how we can support each other all around the 🌎!
(My mom and dad a few years ago right before mom sang with Auntie Carol for some elderly retirees for free)
Benefit 1: Choosing An Influencer as a Mentor Can Increase Your Bank Account
Some famous people in the business and professional world: Jim Rohn and Tony Robbins have been known to say that the 5 people you hang around most dictate your average income. Since Tony is valued at a $35 Billion Net worth last time I heard him speak and he learned from Jim Rohn, I believe their advice 😁. #SuccessLeavesClues
If you want to make 6-7 figures and you’re hanging around people that can barely pay the rent, chances are you will be in the same situation. However, if you are hanging around those that challenge you to dream bigger, to take more action and add more value to this 🌎, your income can drastically transform.
I know it has for me compared to where I’ve been! When I first graduated from college, I was drowning in school loans from my private school choice (although I did have some scholarships). The jobs available in 2008-09, didn’t cover the bills I had to pay. I didn’t have the confidence to go into business back then or the skills to even know where to start. I was trying to find teaching opportunities and none were available other than temporary substitute opportunities with no medical benefits. Everyone in my school district was talking about the big RIF (reduction in force, aka laid off for teachers).
The following year I got my break and was teaching at a 0.6FTE health and fitness at 2 elementary schools 😁!
Towards the end of the school year, teachers started talking about RIFs. Anyone with 4.99yrs experience or less in that school district was going to be laid off. It was my first year soo naturally I knew my letter was soon to come. Then at the beginning of the following school year if the district had the funds to hire you, they’d call you back and re-hire you. Even though I had a guaranteed continuing teaching contract by this point. It DIDN’T Matter. That’s when I started applying to graduate schools that would pay me to study…
As Les Brown often says, “In Life There Are No Guarantees.”
I had a phone interview with the head off the department at OSU (Beavers y’all). He said he recommended I get more years of teaching experience and apply another year to the school. He didn’t fully understand the economic situation for me and my lack of income to bills ratio….
Luckily OSU found a place for me to teach international students (Thank you to my Chinese parents who sent your college students to my school as that helped fund my Masters degree)! I was granted a full-ride tuition in exchange for teaching undergraduate fitness classes.
The district I was working in granted me permission to go back to school and promised in writing to hold my teaching position upon return. Two months before I graduated with my Masters (and followed my end of the agreement mind you), I got my RIF in the mail. I passed my final presentations and exams and got my masters degree fully funded by Oregon State University (so blessed)! Then that summer I had to apply for jobs since I was laid off of teaching 😭.
I applied that summer to over 500 different jobs working anywhere from public schools, colleges and universities, chiropractic offices’ everywhere.
Not one single interview. Times were tough.
My partner at the time told me, “don’t worry about it just relax this summer. You’ve put in so much work these last two years getting your Masters, helping with the girls, and working outside of the university to cover your bills. Let’s enjoy our summer vacation” (he was a teacher in the district I worked in prior and had a lot of family money so he didn’t feel the same pressures I felt. Neither did he understand how the comments from his mom, our next door neighbor, made me feel “not working.” I continued to look for every opportunity to make money. Man I wish I knew about Gary Lee and Tony back then.
Something within me said, “Erin you need to keep moving forward and apply to these jobs. I started to also apply for grants and see opportunities online for programs I could create. However most of the grants wanted you to be affiliated with a school district or a government entity.
Then in late August of 2012 I got a call, “Erin this is Mike from _____ School District. How are you?” He hired all the health and fitness teachers for the district among all over speciality teaching positions. I also knew him because it was the same district I grew up in and he volunteered at the Seahawks/SafeCo Field sometimes to help us fundraise for our choir trips.
“I’m good Mike, how can I help you?” I said.
“Well we’ve got some possible openings in health and fitness this coming year but it’ll be at two age levels, one at an alternative high school and one at an elementary. One is a permanent continuing contract and the other is a temporary but could turn into a permanent. I do have to tell you the FTE is at a 0.5 instead of the 0.6 you had before your graduate school break. It is the max the district can afford at this time. Are you interested in coming back to our district?”
Of course I was, but I also felt slighted for getting a Masters, getting laid off again then now being demoted.
“Depends on the pay since I moved 1.5hrs away” I said.
“I’ll have _______ give you a call tomorrow with the details. Looking forward to having you back in the district.”
The contract I had prior to graduate school was for a 0.6FTE continuing which is equivalent to 3 days a week. I worked in 2 elementary schools (one 2.5 days a week, the other half a day). Working in two different age schools would be tricky since we had no district wide curriculum. However, I always created my own curriculum anyway so it would just mean double planning, and it’d be a foot in the door….
So I decided to take the demoted teaching positions since I had no bites elsewhere and decided to substitute teach the other days of the week. I worked at the alternative high school on Mondays, and Wednesdays I worked a full day at the elementary and Fridays a half a day. I did this without signing a contract because the district office said the contract wasn’t “ready.” Come December I continued asking where the contract was and they delivered one backdated to September with an FTE that was less than what we had agreed upon…
Since I had spoken to Meredith in detail of the financials because of my commute, I called her back to get the contract corrected. She went on to say the contract was prorated based on the timeframe that I began the contracted work in October yada yada. Although I was hired on in August and started the first day of the school year with both schools. Something about budget allocation…
It never really was clear.
I never did sign the agreement at the elementary because of a disagreement with the principal there. So I resigned from the elementary since they couldn’t get my contract corrected. That allowed the rest of my week to open up for a full time opportunity…
I began working at another alternative high school in another school district on Tuesdays and got hired at a chiropractor’s office (as a wellness coach) on Wednesdays and occasional Thursdays. Then on any days I wasn’t working those, I’d substitute all over small counties in Washington. I also led fitness classes at the YMCA a couple times a week. Totaling 5 part-time jobs….
I lasted about 5 months doing 5 jobs, then I got let go from the chiropractor’s office since my availability wasn’t as open as their needs. Now down to 4 jobs….
I was barely able to pay my student loans and basic bills holding 4 jobs. I cried a lot in private. I started attending a Bible study with my friends in Olympia and started questioning my purpose a lot…
I didn’t understand why I needed to struggle so much. There is a lesson in every experience if you’re open to learning…
I learned I can help maintain a household of teenagers (that I didn’t give birth to), hold 4 jobs, and never be late to any of them (oh and run a half marathon in the middle of all that chaos). I also learned, teaching doesn’t really pay well. More importantly, creating my own name for myself and my own company was in my future from all of these experiences….
This opened my eyes to other industries out of desperation at first, and frustration. However, all of those times I created a curriculum, I saw another teacher copy my work. It taught me I can create plans for other teachers I just need to create a system to get compensated for my work….
(Me colleague and mentor Sayaka. She and I ran The Move Happy Class Together for Adult Patients in a live-in Psychiatric Hospital)
Back to Jim Rohn …..I’m honored to know that my father worked directly with the person that Tony Robbins looked up to (in the 70s). I found out 4 years ago when my father and I decided to partner in a wellness company.
And when I say we decided, I mean I told him to get out his Social Security number because we were going to transform our family (he had stopped hanging around big dreamers and was stressed about money my entire upbringing).
When he got his biz kit in the mail, he saw an audio book from Jim Rohn and proceeded to tell me and my mentors in the company that he used to work for the man.
I didn’t listen to the audio book until my dad told me that story. I’ve listened to Jim Rohn almost everyday since he told me that because I started to see all the wonderful values he instilled in me about money, my word and contribution that I’m sure were influenced from Jim’s trainings.
For the majority of my upbringing my father was the main income earner. We didn’t live fancy, we lived with enough, in the same address, and my mom still lives there even with my dad passing away almost 3 years ago now.
I believe whole heartedly my father’s choice in who he hung around is directly related to my financial belief system and my drive and my work ethic.
(The summer we found out it wasn’t pneumonia. Dad smiled through it all ❤️)
Benefit 2: Mentors Keep You On Track!
Mentors in fitness for example, don’t allow you to just do five sit ups and then you’re good. No way Jose! You and me, we’re going to full muscle overload 💪🏼🔥. That is if you actually want to achieve your goal
I have a ton of mentors! It depends on what industry or what focus I’m specifically referring to
For mindset and leadership skills I love to listen to Gary Vaynerchuck, Tony Robbins, Jim Rohn, Les Brown, Oprah, Mel Robbins, the list goes on.
For fitness motivation, I look at different pages of activities and exercises that I enjoy doing, I look at how much fun they are having and especially for new activities to try that I feel won’t kill me 😂
For inspiration and mentors that have large communities, I look for 🌎 changers & those that make me laugh 😂 like Anjelah Johnson (search “beautiful nail” 😂).
My upbringing allowed me to have many adult mentors that were my parents’ friends, my parents themselves, youth group leaders in church and at school, neighbors, etc.
I’m getting emotional thinking about it, because these mentors created such positive experiences. Their combined efforts influenced me to sign up and volunteer to be a Big Sister through the www.bbbs.org (when I was laid off of teaching unexpectedly mind you) , get a K-12 degree in health and fitness and teach in every age level and LOVE all my experiences and the people and kids and adults I have been blessed to work with.
I know the resources aren’t there for teachers and for youth group leaders so that’s why I am giving back with every single purchase on my website 10% of all proceeds goes back to a or a Chapter of your choice for Big Brothers and Big Sisters, and 30% goes back to any Mental Health Organization of your choice in the 🌎 .
Some people told me that is Way too much to give away when I’m still building my company. They didn’t know how much I struggled and struggled
.
I believe it will bring more people to want to purchase more products and services from me because they know I’m going to give it right back to the communities that have helped to shape me into the woman that I am today
Won’t you help me to make a difference in this 🌎? Keep reading find out how 😁
(My lil sis Jhoana and me at OSU taking a dream tour- she says she wants to be a “Beaver!”)
Benefit 3: Mentors Can Support You When You’re Trying Something New
Have you ever started something new and looked to another for support? 🙌. For my whole life I’ve been blessed with people that care about my well being. Sometimes I had to go seek them for wisdom and cut the noise out from the 🌎 .
My friend and mentor Deborah is one strong woman! A few years I was going through some legal stuff (ending a relationship among other things), she helped me sort through all my legal docs.
I was laid off from my teaching job at the time and my entire bank account was emptied out (without my permission mind you). Deborah is not a lawyer but she is someone I look up to. She sat down with me and all 10000 legal papers 😂 and helped me realize my lawyer was charging for things in excess. She helped me to word things so I wouldn’t be taken advantage of anymore. She also advised me how to look for resources when my bank account was zilch.
Needless to say, I ended the need for that lawyer when her response was accusatory. Deborah probably saved me another $3k. 🙌🏼
We had just met a few months prior but I know were soul sisters 👯.
She works in the Florida area in the Yacht industry. If you’re in need of interior design you can check out her business website here.
(Me and Deborah hanging in Puyallup, WA 2015 or 16)
Benefit 4: A mentor is someone who challenges you to think beyond what’s possible in your own mind for yourself
This could be someone that you look up to for health and fitness, finances, business, spiritual, or any other area of life
I have a ton of mentors I look up to you but one that comes to mind would have to be my brother Josh . He had the opportunity for basically a full ride scholarship for college, he also had an opportunity to pursue music and decided to follow his dream
He taught himself through his own experience and through watching every other aspect of musical and video production
He has over 100 music videos on YouTube and hundreds of thousands of fans all around the 🌎 . Check out his newest music/sci-fi video in the YouTube link.
He hates bragging about himself because he doesn’t like to sell and yet he was able to successfully create a financially stable income doing something he loves because he is really good! If you haven’t checked out his music you definitely need to follow him on Spotify and iTunes and buy his music
When my niece got really sick, he basically took six years off to raise her and to make sure that she was safe
He’s back in business and has some new music coming out soon and a new JRice App in Beta testing at this very moment.
If I am ever blessed to have children, I hope I can be as a loving and inspirational as my bro 💜 .
(Josh is on the right, me and our eldest bro Jason circa 2001 I think 🤔?)
Benefit 5: Being Mentored By Givers Gets You Free 🎁s!
This whole week has been about appreciating our mentors and the value they bring. If I’m someone that you look up to for advice in your specific industry or personal life, I’d love to give you a free gift.
It’s a digital download of the original Move Happy® Journal I created for my patients in the psychiatric hospital
We went over one question a day. We wrote our responses independently (even facilitators) for a couple minutes then shared our responses in a group discussion format.
You can choose to do it solo or form your own small group. You can totally purchase the journal separately for the entire program here if you prefer.
If you download the free journal option, you will also stay connected with me via a series off emails I wrote myself for you. I wanted to add more value to your mindset, community building skills and fitness no matter what your budget. Go here to stay connected via email.
Thank you for being so supportive of the Move Happy® Journey.
If you have enjoyed this reading and got any value out of it, I’d appreciate if you could share it with at least two people. The more people that read the stories and apply the lessons, the greater our 🌎 can be.
I know Jim Rohn and my dad are smiling down cheering me to keep moving forward helping more people every day. Thanks in advance for your support!
PS: Don’t forget to tell someone you love them today ❤️
(Mom and dad Thanksgiving 2012 or 2013)
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