Mentor Yourself – Interview With Invisible Mentor Luba Rusyn

Invisible Mentor: Luba Rusyn, Owner

Company Name: Red Squirrel Productions Ltd 

Avil Beckford: Tell me a little bit about yourself.

Luba Rusyn:  I’m an expert collector. For the past 30 year, I’ve been collecting resources – educational, financial and spiritual. What I provide my clients with is a needs assessment for them in the business community. Entrepreneurs with zero to $10 million in revenues have been my general clients, and after I do my needs assessment I stick my hand into my collection, and support them in any area that they need, to help them increase their productivity in their business. I’ve been an entrepreneur for 30 years.

Avil Beckford: What’s a typical day like for you?

Luba Rusyn: A typical day involves traveling, speaking to many people, and going to personal development events, so again, collecting a lot of resources, sitting down with people, either in person at events, or on the phone providing coaching services for their businesses.

Avil Beckford: How do you motivate yourself and stay motivated?

Luba Rusyn:  I stay motivated for the simple fact that I’m alive, that I have a life, that I wake up and I’m still here and have another opportunity, another 24 hours to do something great.

Avil Beckford: If you had to start over from scratch, knowing what you know now, what would you do differently?

Luba Rusyn:  I would have started personal development training for myself sooner. I would have focused earlier rather than having that mindset that I’m only twenty, twenty-one. Rather than having that mindset at the time, I would have utilized every moment of the day, and be focused on what my end is. I would focus on the end in mind every single day.

Avil Beckford: What’s the most important business or other discovery you’ve made in the past year?

Luba Rusyn: Simply that it’s possible. Whatever an individual is looking for, from my perspective, it’s simply a matter of figuring out what you want then letting yourself know it’s possible. For me, it’s possible that I can, then making the steps and taking the actions to get there.

Avil Beckford: What are the three threats to your business, your success, and how are you handling them?

Luba Rusyn: The biggest block to my business is unfocused attention, and how I’m handling that is I have compartmentalized each investment area. I have a virtual assistant, and some support in helping me with that organization, to make sure that the paper work is done, and that I’m aware of the actions needed on my part, and I’m able to do them. But being unfocused on too many projects is a problem.

Avil Beckford: What’s unique about the service that you provide?

Luba Rusyn: The unique thing that I provide in my coaching is that I utilize the 360 degree perspective on business. I have the vision of an entrepreneur – 30 years of entrepreneurial experience in diversified industries – and I have the wisdom of experience. My formal business education provides the models and the critical thinking, and the experience from professional consultancy, both in an accounting firm and also on my own helps. So when I look at a project, a client, their situation, I approach it from all aspects. I can approach it from a big picture point of view, as well as a detailed point-of-view, coming from a large corporation or from the entrepreneur side. I bring all those together so I have a generalist as well as a specialist view.

Avil Beckford: Describe a major business or other challenge you had and how you resolved it. What kind of lessons did you learn in the process?

Luba Rusyn: It’s been both personal and business, again, it has been about focus and how I have overcome that is by making the conscious decision to delegate the things that I need done, and to release the things that are not moving me forward to my goal. And to back it up, what I’ve done is actually take some time to look at what goals I really want to achieve.

Avil Beckford: Tell me about your big break and who gave you.

Luba Rusyn: Recently my big break has been in the speaking industry, and personal development, and it’s from a company called Powerteam International and Mr Bill Walsh is the CEO and Founder of the company. The way he’s provided that big break is I decided I was playing small and decided to step up. When I decided to step up, I went to Bill and said, “Hey, I’m really excited about how I fit into this organization,” and through our conversations I had the opportunity to train at some of the seminars overseas like in Barbados. I have spoken on stage in Orlando on other people’s stages, as well as provided executive coaching across North America the last couple of years. So I’ve had the opportunity to take it outside of my local community.

Avil Beckford: Describe one of your biggest failures. What lessons did you learn, and how did it contribute to a greater success?

Luba Rusyn:  I suppose it can be called a failure, and it was ending a 19-year marriage. I think it’s been both a failure and a success because the personal aspects failed, but it also allowed me greater freedom. That’s where I was playing small, in the marriage, and leaving allowed me to play big and take on the responsibility of putting my gifts out there, and creating my own goals and working toward those.

Avil Beckford: What’s one of the toughest decisions you’ve had to make and how did it impact your life?

Luba Rusyn:  The toughest decision was taking my well-earned, worked-hard-for substantial nest egg that has allowed me financial freedom and the opportunity to move and go wherever I choose to do, and to play bigger with it. Rather than leave it intact and growing interest, I stepped out, researched, utilized my education and my experience and have taken that, and broken it down into a number of opportunities allowing them to grow. So stepping out of that fear of not having that nest egg intact, allowing the freedom to grow and make it even bigger.

Avil Beckford: What are three events that helped to shape your life?

Luba Rusyn:

1. My sister’s support.
2. My friend Lori’s support.
3. My sister’s illness.

Avil Beckford: What’s an accomplishment that you are proudest of?

Luba Rusyn: I’m proud of stepping up and stepping big, taking on these investments, the most recent being a co-contributor for a New York Times Bestseller called Off the Coast of Zanzibar, with Mr. Gregory S. Reid who is with the Napoleon Hill Foundation. He also wrote a book called Three Feet from Gold: Turn Your Obstacles in Opportunities with Sharon Lechter from Rich Dad Poor Dad, and so stepping up and deciding that I wanted to be a part of that opportunity.

Avil Beckford: How did mentors influence your life?

Luba Rusyn:  My mentors, Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Princess Diana, and of those who are still with us, Robert Herjavec from Dragon’s Den and Shark Tank – basically looking at them influenced me so I can see that it’s possible.

Avil Beckford: What’s one core message you received from your mentors?

Luba Rusyn: The core message is that it’s possible!

Avil Beckford: An invisible mentor is a unique leader you can learn things from by observing them from afar, in the capacity of an Invisible Mentor, what is one piece of advice that you would give to readers?

Luba Rusyn:  Start moving toward your goal right now. Whatever it is, start now because it’s possible.