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By Ken Andrukow, TwoBrain Mentor and owner of Reebok CrossFit Ramsay If you don’t have a mentor, it can be difficult to understand the value of hiring one. Luckily, the industry we’re in gives us the perfect analogy with which to work. Replace “mentor” with “CrossFit coach”, and “business owner” with “athlete”, and now things make sense. We’re in the business of coaching athletes in functional fitness. The tools we use―burpees and box jumps, snatches and squats―they’re not secrets. But athletes come into our gyms to get coached on how to get the most out of their time doing these exercises. In one hour, they get the most efficient combination of metabolic conditioning, strength work, mobility, mental skills, so on and so on―this the core value we provide to our clients. Moreover, a CrossFit coach explains how to perform an exercise safely, helping the athlete avoid mistakes which cause injuries or prevent performance gains due to poor form. Some athletes would be able to figure these things out for themselves over the course of several months, maybe years. However, they see the value in putting themselves in the hands of someone who already has made the mistakes and will put them straight on the path to success. In the same way, our Two-Brain Business approach is systematic, just like CrossFit programming, but is personalized to your business and your strengths and weakness. What do you need to scale (hire the right person who has this strength)? Where should you push harder (devote your creative energy)? Are you addressing all of the areas you need to promote revenue growth? Mentors will show you how to get the most out of your business in the least amount of time, how to effectively apply your skills, and get you doing the right work to see gains in your business. WHEN DO YOU NEED A MENTOR? Going back to the athlete analogy, clients come ...

“For this reason, they must believe in the cause for which they are fighting. They must believe in the plan they are asked to execute, and most important, they must believe in and trust the leader they are asked to follow.” ― Jocko Willink, Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win In the effort to be a better mentor, I study leadership a lot. I learn from my own mentors; read the biographies of leaders; listen to their words while training or driving my truck. Here are the things common to successful leaders: 1. They model the behavior they want from others. 2. They give clear directions, with no missing steps 3. They fall back on daily routines 4. They make a lot of mistakes, but never the same one twice. 5. They’re not confident all the time, but know it’s more important to appear confident than ambivalent. 6. They create other leaders. To break these down for business owners: 1. Modelling In college, I had a nutrition professor who was a walking textbook. She could recite data and draw tables about glycemic load and macronutrient profiles. But she also ate McDonald’s in her office after class. I can’t recall a single lecture she gave, but I can recall the smell of her desk area perfectly. This is sometimes an inconvenient truth, but “do as I say, not as I do” is ineffective. If you’re a parent, you already know it won’t work. But it’s easy to fool yourself into believing your clients don’t care about what YOU do. If you’re a hairdresser, your hair should look great every day. If you’re a personal trainer, you should work out. If you’re selling stocks and bonds, you should wear something expensive. Your staff will follow the example you set at your worst. Your adherence to your own rules will cue them to follow. If you break your own rules occasionally, they’ll break them ...