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You might’ve heard the advice “treat yourself like a business”.

You may have also, at some point, wanted a formal mentor.

What you probably don’t realize is that these two ideas go extremely hand-in-hand with each other.

And now that you’re completely confused by what I mean – just, keep reading.

Like a Business

“Run yourself like a business” isn’t awful advice. For the most part, it’s done me pretty well.

While working in audio, I’ve never considered myself “part of the team” – as in, having some sort of emotional debt where I’d feel awful if we weren’t working together anymore. For me, audio has been extremely transitory.

Working on films was like a few months of summer camp with various different people each time.

Working in music and live events was a constant flow of new faces.

Working in games, I’m with a new “family” every year or so.

There’s nothing wrong with creating a deep emotional bond with your co-workers – I’ve just rarely ever done it. In fact, there’s only one company I can name that I feel “part of the family”, and I don’t work with them currently.

For me, I attempt to make friends at work and do great work – but it’s always temporary. There’s always something or someone new just beyond the horizon. The moment that I’m in, I will not be in forever.

So, I get in, work hard and kill it, make friends and build up those around me while I’m there.

Then I move on.

My hope is that if I ever work with said people again – we’ll pick up pretty close to where we left off. But, that opportunity hasn’t happened very often.

This mindset -whether right or wrong – gives me the ability to focus on the work. I’m rarely ever trying to schmooze or leverage people to further my career. Instead, I’m considering myself a “hired gun” so-to-speak whose job it is to do the job I am paid for masterfully and go above and beyond the call.

This is usually a great attitude to have – but I’m learning that being a “business of you” in this way misses a huge point:

It’s nothing like building a business – unless it’s a 1 person business.

Want a Mentor

“Mentorship” has been a big topic in the creative communities I frequent over the past 2 years. Professionals want to build others up, and young professionals really want guidance – this is laudable from all perspectives.

However, the word “mentorship” often comes with this assumption that you get magic 1-on-1 time with an individual over a period of time. Maybe it’s skype calls, coffee, lunch, dinner, whatever – but you’re meeting with someone and if you’re being mentored then the mentor is pouring all of their skill and learning into you.

That’s happened to me on occasion, but again – it’s rare.

In fact, I can count the number of those types of mentorships on less than one hand – and usually they were completely unintentional by both of us.

Instead, most of my mentors haven’t ever actually known they were my mentor. I just realized I was deficient in some topic, or wanted to know more, and intentionally sat myself under their learning tree. It might’ve been watching all of someone’s YouTube videos, reading their books, blog posts, emailing and getting on calls – whatever. If it was a positive mentor, then it was me intentionally pursuing time to gain knowledge from my “mentor”, in person or not.

I’ve had “negative mentors” as well – people I learned how to not live my life from. These people are usually extremely easy to find, and chances are that you’re one of them (I sure have been!). You can often find them when they start complaining, or by their story telling. Like, people who live beyond their means by buying an expensive car or house, going into consumer debt for no reason, giving life advice where they have no place doing it (I’m waiting for your email), etc. etc.

Think about it – if your uncle told you the perfect way to invest in the stock market that was guaranteed riches, meanwhile he’s having trouble paying his rent… would you take his advice?

YES! Just… the opposite of what he’s actually doing and telling you to do – not what he says you should do.

You’ll be really surprised at how many “mentors” you can find this way, and how much you can learn. It was, in fact, the first step I took on the journey that leads me to the conclusion of this post.

Build a Team

Whether you believe it or not – you’re not smart or capable enough to run your entire life yourself properly.

As much as I love punk rock DIY ethos – as I get older, I’m learning that taking that extremely literally is incredibly limiting. You usually just don’t have enough time or energy in the day to handle everything yourself if you want to accomplish your biggest dreams. If you’re speaking honestly, sometimes we want to just sit on the couch and relax too, you know? But you won’t have time if you do it all – I promise.

This is the precise place where “Run yourself as a business” and “find a mentor” intersect. It’s also one of the wisest and most humbling lessons I’ve yet had the opportunity to learn in life.

Because, if you can’t perfectly run your life and be the best at everything you want to do and handle – you have to rely on other people.

That means you need to find and work with people that you trust.

Which means you need to assemble a team. If you want to make this feel cooler – you’re assembling your Avengers and they’re all about helping you.

And, I mean this incredibly literally and practically. Because when I think of my team, my “mentors”, the people who help me “run my business of me” – my team consists of:

My doctor
My optometrist
My physical therapist
My hairstylist
My dentist
My fitness coaches, nutritionist, and “style coach”
My mental health advisors
My religious/spiritual advisors
My accountants
My lawyer
My programming “coach”
My business “coach”
My marketing “coach”

At the very least. I’m probably leaving some people out too.

The point is this – those people may or may not know that they are “part of my team” – but I vetted each one. I’m serious – I had a standard of what I wanted from them when I met them or paid for their services, and did not continue the relationship if I wasn’t satisfied.

For example, I’ve gone through probably 3-4 different doctors during my time in Seattle until I found the doctor. I know myself pretty well medically due to various issues I’ve had – so I needed a doctor who would listen to me and work with me. Usually I wasn’t listened to, and I was given canned information or just brushed aside quickly. Debate about American medical care aside – I wasn’t willing to tolerate a doctor I didn’t trust with the health of the body I live in every day.

My haristylist is another, more humorous example. For years, I cut my own hair – buzzed it. It wasn’t always great, but it was the easiest thing to manage. Then I moved up to the cheapest haircut I could find – this was extremely hit-or-miss in terms of quality. Eventually, when I decided I wanted to up the quality bar – I went to a more legitimate shop. On my 2nd or 3rd visit – I sat down with a young woman who had gone completely OCD about my hair by the end of my visit. I don’t mean that she got socially awkward – I mean that she wasn’t willing to let me stand up until my hair was perfect in her eyes.

15 minutes before – I hadn’t cared how anyone cut my hair. Moments later – she was the only person I’d trust from here on out, because she cared so much more more than me. It made me end up caring more about my appearance, in turn. Thanks to her, if anyone else has to cut my hair – they’ll be judged by her standard. Let me tell you, the bar is pretty high now.

So you see how these people can not only drastically affect your life, but also vastly improve it compared to if you didn’t have them?

Whatever concerns about my health I have, I can easily message my doctor about. He also provides me systems and advice I can trust.

I don’t have to think about my gym routine, when I go, or a whole heck of a lot about my food options because of the systems and information my fitness coaches and nutritionist have given me.

My hairstylist cuts my hair so that it’s perfect to her well-trained eye, which is better than my horribly blind eyes that allow me to look stupid.

My business and programming “coaches” answer any dumb questions that I have, and point out things that I never would have even known to think about.

All of this not only gives me a big “leg up” – but it just relieves the stress, strain, and energy drain of having to constantly make decisions, search out answers, and parse information that we all deal with. These people are my trusted advisors – again, whether they know it or not, whether I pay them or not.

How to Get Started

If I’ve convinced you at this point that it’s a good idea to build your own team, here’s a few things to think about and how you can get started.

Just like “the first rule of Fight Club” – nobody but you need know about your team
Your team should meet your specific needs – your team will not look like my team
Those in roles don’t need to know that they’re in said roles – just intentionally look to them for advice and leadership
More often than not, the people on your team will not be your friends or family – though they may become like that over time
You can have infinite positions on your team – it’s up to you
Your team can (and will) comprise of paid professionals, and unpaid smart people
You need to have a standard – a quality bar – for each person on your team
Your team will change over time – people will drop off and come back (“hired”/”fired”)
You do not need to know all of your team members in real life/in person – in fact, some of them will definitely be people on the internet with trustworthy information

The process for building your team looks much like what I described above with my doctor or my hairstylist.

In one case, you may know exactly what you want in very specific detail. In that case, you don’t lower your standards or rest (figuratively speaking) until you find the right person. For me, this kind of example has mostly been medical professionals and work-related. This makes sense, as I want my health taken care of and I constantly want to work with the best and get better myself.

In the other case, you may not even care about a part of your life until a certain opportunity is presented. In this case, you’ll find that someone cares way more than you do. Don’t get weird about it, don’t turn down their expertise – learn from them. If you’re paying for their services, be thankful that they put in so much care and effort and reward them for it by becoming an intentional repeat customer and tipping well (if that’s an option).

It will take time, but you’ll eventually develop a group of “trusted mentors” that you find yourself relying on regularly. Much like building a business, you’ll have a team where you are trying to hire the right people and you get incredibly sad when one departs. While you’re vetting people, you can develop your set of personal standards through various interactions where you find yourself saying “ugh – I’d never want to be like THAT” – that’s having a standard.

Once you build your team – I promise – you’ll wonder how you ever did anything well by yourself.