12 reasons why you should become a mentor

Should you become a mentor? Remember that episode of “Friends” where Phoebe said there is no such thing as a selfless good deed? No matter how you give, every act of generosity becomes a gift back to the giver. Of course that’s a paraphrase and she was 1000% times funnier, but the moral of the story was not lost on me.

Become a mentor

I wrote a Tribute to my Mentor and the value of becoming a mentor, inspired at the time by the value of having a great mentor of my own. Now the tables have turned. Thanks to World-Voices.org (WoVO), I have found myself in a position to mentor others in the voiceover industry through the organization. Robert Oleysyck found me as a mentor and I couldn’t be more proud of who he is and the work he has invested.

As the months have moved forward and Robert and I have met a few times, I learn more and more about him. In a very short time, we’re able to identify how I can help him with specific information, advice, and feedback. As a result, I have watched him absolutely transform his website and online presence. I certainly can’t take credit for his prowess, but I’d like to think my support did help guide his decisions in some way.

I have learned that mentoring (as opposed to simply supporting a friend) allows for making an official commitment to ongoing support. It has rewarded me greatly. Indeed, the value of mentoring speaks for itself, but here are some specifics…

Here are twelve great reasons to be a mentor in any industry:

1. Become even more proficient about your industry as you look for answers. Grow your resources as a resource to others.
2. Learn about yourself as you share information. (Self-awareness is where it’s at!)
3. Learn something relevant and new from someone with a different perspective.
4. Support up-and-coming people in your industry on making good decisions.
5. Strengthen your own general knowledge base by teaching others.
6. Improve your own time management “finding” the time to help.
7. Build a positive, supportive community.
8. Practice your listening skills.
9. Get out of your bubble.
10. Make a difference.
11. Feel good.
12. Give.

Much to my delight, I learned that Robert is not only a prolific DJ in Las Vegas, but an incredibly talented artist and audio engineer. Check out his masterful, music podcast (on iTunes, too), his remarkable website and offerings as a voice talent, and his impressive social media profile: Instagram and LinkedIn.

For Voice Actors:

From World-Voices.org – “Mentorship programs will provide brief one-to-one sessions for members. We rely on mentors from within the membership to make a small time commitment to make this work. This is expected to be thirty minutes per month. A pool of mentors with a range of expertise offer individual sessions to those that request help, for example, in a specialist area (should I incorporate?), or a more general one (I need a fresh set of ears on my demo). A scheduling/booking system is in place to manage this. Apart from supplying advice to other professional members (peer coaching), one of the main aims of the mentor program will be to actively assist our associates to qualify for full professional membership.”