Posted By: CaitlynKennedy
so what qualifies one to be a "mentor" to new ladies/gals in this profession?
age
years of experience?
travel?
education?
I hit the mark for three of those four qualifications, but I am nowhere near ready to mentor anyone. Why?
Because I know enough to know that there is a LOT I still haven't figured out. From time to time, I still hear/read terms that I'd never known before. Plus, there are some things that seem to be popular right now, of which I have very little knowledge and zero experience.
And that's just the actual providing side of things!
This whole internet stuff is still a giant mystery to me in many ways. There are ladies who post here very frequently who have been a provider for a mere fraction of the time that I have, but they know WAY more about the computer/internet/social media ins-and-outs than I likely ever will.
Marketing? I don't think very many ladies have that "all figured out" no matter what they say. It's a constantly changing and evolving thing and unless you're a HDH who only takes a few dates per month, you probably don't have the TIME to really get a handle on that. Just because a provider advertises on literally every available ad site does not mean she's doing it the best way possible. I freely admit that I'm still working on the best strategies for myself. And likely always will be.
So it's a combination of experience in the actual providing side of things, knowledge of the business aspects of bookkeeping, correspondence, taxes, etc and the how-to savvy of marketing, advertising, self-promotion and all things PR that "qualify" a provider to be an effective mentor.
So although I originally started in this biz in the pre-internet days, have been doing this on-and-off for about a decade's worth of providing time, and do love to give advice and provide whatever assistance I can to other ladies, I am NOT mentor material.
To be completely honest, I have sought out another provider to mentor ME.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo