Life Behind The Scenes With The Ironing Diva
Why I Value Mentoring Other People.
When I was growing up, I knew that I never wanted to be a teacher. I have no patience with people who don’t want to learn. And it’s hard for me to remember what it was like when I didn’t know how to do something. A quality in a teacher that’s not to be admired!
But as I’ve become more experienced in business. And in life. I discovered that I really want to share what I know with people. And to help people who would otherwise not have someone to turn to.
Not everyone wants to help. And some people just don’t like to share information. It’s often a jealousy thing.
Through online forums and joining online business groups, I’ve been able to achieve that goal of sharing what I know.
But what does surprise me is when people who have read my blog posts. And my posts in online forums. Contact me to see if they can take the relationship to a different level. More a one-on-one learning experience.
Which I always say yes to. Because when I was 12 years old. Someone extended a helping hand to me. And her help is part of the reason why I am where I am today.
Let me ask you. Do you mentor someone?
I’ve mentored many people. And find it an especially rewarding experience. It also gives me the opportunity to pay forward all the help I’ve received on my journey down the Yellow Brick Road of life.
I do it for free.
I’ve helped people start a new business. Understand Facebook. Learn to sell. Become computer literate.
I’m the gal on the other end of the phone guiding a novice through the steps they need to take to get their Wordpress blog up and active.
So many people fear cold calling. I’ve helped overcome that fear just by helping them understand why they’re making their cold call. And what they will offer to help their prospect. Without starting with a sales pitch.
My most rewarding mentorship was changing a person’s attitude to customers. To understand that they’re not an intrusion into a business day. But they are the proverbial money tree everyone dreams of.
On the personal front, I’m a baker. Have always loved having my hands covered in flour. I’ve had friends in my kitchen, working by my side, teaching them how to bake delicious home made bread.
Why do I do this?
When I was 12 years old. And trying to teach myself how to sew. My mom was in the hospital. Critically ill. She had been given the last rites by the church.
Before she married my dad, my mom was a couture dressmaker in New York City. And I depended on her to help me make heads and tails out of pattern instructions.
With my mom so ill. But, thankfully, recovering in a long stay in hospital. I turned to a neighbour in our apartment complex. Diana. In her late 20’s. With two children. Who I looked after some afternoons when Diana wanted to go to the grocery store on her own.
Diana never refused to help me. Whenever I knocked on her door, she’d take my pattern instructions. And my garment that I brought with me. And show me step by step what I needed to do.
And because of her, I persevered with sewing.
And went on to become the ‘go to’ gal in my school for making your own clothes. A status that I was very proud of!
I can never pay Diana back. But I can pay forward the unwavering help she gave me when I felt utterly frustrated.
And believe me, paying it forward is so undeniably satisfying.
So I’ll ask you again. Do you mentor someone? In your personal life? Business life?
Have you taught someone something they didn’t know? Or helped them achieve an objective?
Have you had the pleasure of watching someone thrive? Because you took them under your wing. And helped them achieve something they couldn’t do on their own.
If I hadn’t learned how to sew, I couldn’t have helped my partner, Victor Pleshev, an architect, design our signature product, the Fitz Like A Glove™ Ironing Board Cover, for his mother Margarita.
Someone had to sew the prototypes. And there I was. Chief Seamstress. Helping him bring to life a product that would change the life of his mother, Margarita.
And our lives.
The humble Fitz Like A Glove™ Ironing Board Cover. Which was only meant to be a gift for Margarita. Became an accidental business. And. In the process, I became ‘The Ironing Diva’.
If you haven’t helped someone, I suggest you look for an opportunity to do just that. It is nothing short of an inspirational experience. For both of you.
And you never know where it will lead.
You will also learn as much as you teach. ~Carol Jones, Ironing Diva❤
Life Behind The Scenes With The Ironing Diva are my stories about how my partner, Victor Pleshev, and I created a new life out of the ashes of Australia’s ‘recession we had to have’. How did we design 7 products? And get them to market? How did we build a worldwide business from broke? How did we carve out a rural lifestyle that is the envy of our friends? And our customers? How did we create a beautiful hectare of garden out of a barren paddock sitting atop an infertile rock shelf? It wasn’t easy. But this is the business and the lifestyle that we built from scratch. The Fitz Like A Glove™ Ironing Board Cover And Other Goodies.
