The Invisible Mentor

Posts Tagged ‘Shannon Van Roekel’

How tuned in are you to what’s going on around you? I have pulled the interview responses from several interviews to give a different perspective because the interviews are rich in content so you may miss key information. I usually allow interviewees to interpret questions which has resulted in a minefield of very rich content. Take a look at the diversity of responses to each question. Which answer would be closest to yours?

What’s the most important business (or other) discovery you’ve made in the past year?

Steve Spalding

My most important business discovery has been that working more does not mean working better. In the last few months I’ve realized that you need to take some time out for yourself and do things completely different than what you spend 50-60 hours a week doing or you’ll start to stagnate.

Go for a hike, learn about Jazz, take a trip to New Zealand, do something entirely different and see how it ties back into your day job. You might not think that your career has anything at all to do with the plot of Pulp Fiction, but the lesson that most entrepreneurs really need to learn is to take lessons from everything they do.

It’s a badge of honor among entrepreneurs to brag about how many hours you work on your business, that’s great and I do it all the time myself but the truth is that success is much more a function of efficient time use rather than raw volume.

Shannon Van Roekel

I have been startled to recognize that God is not at all intimidated by business. That world belongs to Him, too. I am trying to learn to strive less and to depend on His nudges and promptings more. He is the best agent/manager anyone could ever have.

Deborah Koehler

I am good at whatever I set my mind to do.

Dennie Theodore

The best skill to have is the ability to adapt.

Don Martelli

The most important discovery I’ve made is pretty simple — social media is great, but it doesn’t replace the human aspect that’s needed to close business deals. Yes, clients like the fact that we are on the cutting edge of social media, but if we don’t vibe well with the client, we won’t win the business. Relationships and personal, face-to-face interaction is key to bringing in new business and keeping current clients happy.

What’s one of the biggest advances in your industry over the past five years?

Steve Spalding

In the realm of Social Media (where I work most often), the biggest advances are coming as large companies start to care less about the number of people coming to their sites and start to care more about the quality of those people.

Almost every client meeting I have starts with the person wanting to get millions and millions of hits, as if traffic alone was somehow going to drive their business forward. I have to tell them that if that is all they want, that’s not too hard but no matter how many million people show up to see whatever stunt we devise to attract them, none of it matters at all unless those people eventually turn into customers.

I think companies are getting a more sophisticated understanding of how to read their own analytics and this understanding is translating into making discussions about “quality over quantity” a lot easier.

Shannon Van Roekel

I write contemporary Christian fiction; the biggest advance in that field over the past five years has probably been the growing interest in reading about real life issues, including international crises.

Deborah Koehler

Of course the movement of natural and organic products.  Nepal is ideally suited to deliver wonderful products that are non-chemical, utilize wise water usage and zero carbon footprint – all the new buzzwords. My business works to support new business opportunities in these areas.

Dennie Theodore

Women seen as necessary in leadership positions to move projects and business forward.

Don Martelli

That’s simple — social media. It has greatly impacted the way we think about our business and our client’s business. Every program we develop is run through a digital prism. The lines of advertising, marketing, journalism and PR are blurred because of social media.

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

Steve Spalding

Unfortunately, when you are in an information or knowledge based business like mine you only really have one threat — obsolescence.

Every day you wake up and your industry has moved forward a step, if you aren’t keeping up then it won’t be long until you have nothing to offer your clients that they can’t just read on the Internet.

I think the hardest thing about working in this field is the fact that not a day goes by where you can be complacent. If you are not constantly improving then you’re dying, and that death will come suddenly and without warning if you aren’t paying attention.

How do I handle that?

Well, mostly, I use the Internet a lot. I also try to avoid the trend lines. I am more apt to observe early adopters rather than be one myself, if you spend your time too deeply tied to the hot new trends you start to lose the forest for the trees and when you make your living off of the trees, that can be a serious problem.

Shannon Van Roekel

Three threats to my business and success would be

1. Not placing God first.
2. Lack of discipline
3. Getting distracted (can you spell f-a-c-e-b-o-o-k?)

I handle these threats, more or less, depending on the day, by starting it with God, keeping a day planner and working through the tasks I set for myself one at a time. Keep on doing the next thing.

Deborah Koehler

Local corruption, unskilled staff, and lack of testing facilities.

1. Local corruption: I face it without a Nepali present.  Usually corrupted officials are unwilling to ask for bribes directly to foreigners.
2. Unskilled staff: I teach in a college, train my own business staff, and offer suggestions where I can.
3. Testing facilities: I find existing documents and then talk to different labs and see if they can create a similar testing program or request that the testing be done in the clients home country.

Dennie Theodore

The usual… Similar Circles is run out of my kitchen with no funding, no time and is too GTA-centric. I’m handling them by asking my community to pitch in and they’ve been giving with both hands.

Don Martelli

There really isn’t three threats. It’s just one — social media. However, it’s also an opportunity. Social media has all but leveled the playing field for agencies. We are all “experts.” We are all going after the same budgets. It’s created a very intense and competitive environment, even more so than it was before. So the key is to stay on top of the trends and develop programs that are so forward thinking that the work you do speaks for itself. Clients hire on experience.

What’s unique about the service that you provide?

Steve Spalding

I think the most unique thing we provide is that we try to avoid stunts. A lot of Social Media tactics can devolve into pet projects that look great in a case study but don’t provide real client value.

At our core, we are educators, I want our clients to leave us, not only able to use the infrastructure we’ve built up for them effectively, but to also use some of the intuition that’s necessary to grow.

Shannon Van Roekel

I like to weave a story around a real issue, not normally in our radar, that will hopefully, not only inform and entertain, but also lead readers to compassion and empathy. Information dumps have caused us to shut down to the need, because we are intimidated by the enormity of the situation—especially in the third world arena. I believe touching hearts through the power of these stories can pull one out of that inertia into a state of true identification and hope.

Deborah Koehler

Traveling to and living in Nepal for 25 years, as well as working outside of my own culture has made be astute to cultural dynamics and my communications skills help me to facilitate new transactions.  I am accepted on both sides of the transactions.

Dennie Theodore

I’m not trying to offer a 10-step “how to” process, but rather open discussion on “why to”. By creating an emotional/mental comfort zone, folks feel better about mentoring and networking.

Don Martelli

Our unique perspective on this business stems from the mashup of the PR world before the web and since eruption of the web 2.0. We have experience that runs the gamut and fusing that experience with the knowledge of the digital space, truly gives our clients a 360 view of their brand and how we can help them move the needle.

What are your thoughts? How would you answer the four questions? Which interviewee do you identify with? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please comment. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the left side) by email or RSS Feed. I created a Mini Learning Toolkit and you can grab a copy by clicking here.

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I got the idea for this post after I read the headline “10 Reasons You Need a Mentor, Especially Mid-Career.” I decided to approach this post by presenting the responses to mentor questions that I ask accomplished people, and you get to decide if you need a mentor.

How did mentors influence your life?

Dennie Theodore

By believing in me. That’s the thing you need most when the world is feeling dark.

David Gray

Mentors have influenced my life more by their actions and their own ways of conducting themselves rather than by any specific mentoring per se.

Rodger Harding

Mentors have held up the mirror and shown me potential I did not know I had…Oftentimes I only realized the enormity of their contribution years later…

Deborah Koehler

They made all the difference in the world. They believed in me when I doubted myself.

Shannon Van Roekel

I never had a real mentor, unless I can count my mother, but I have had lots of examples of what not to do and a husband who is wise.

Brian Johnson

Interesting that I get to this question after describing the above. I have a complex relationship with mentors.

On the down side, had I followed a couple of “mentors’” advice early in my life, I never would have created my first business, eteamz. When I asked some pretty successful people what they thought of the idea, they thought it was a terrible idea and one actually told me “to take another hit on that pipe if you think you can pull that off.” They told me it would cost at least a million dollars to build the technology (we did it for less than $15,000 + 6 months of hard work and a lot of canned tuna) and reminded me I had no experience or contacts so who was I to get that money and build it (fair points as I had very little business experience and essentially no contacts). Oh, and they said I violated rule #1 of a business: the market has to “need” your product—which was a valid point because, at the time, there were only a few hundred teams and leagues in the world who were using the web so they didn’t think there was a need.

That was just the motivation I needed to rock it. I set the goal of getting 1 million teams in 5 years. (We got there in 4)

On the positive side, I’ve gotten amazing support and wisdom from some extraordinary human beings. Special thanks to Sam Wyly again, plus John Mackey (the CEO of Whole Foods) and Gay Hendricks (author of 30+ books including my favorites: “Five Wishes” and “The Big Leap”).

Being around these guys has totally changed my life. But, I’ve gotta say that it has been less what they *told* me (although they’ve each given me great practical advice) and much more about who they are and how they show up in the world and how that mojo has rubbed off.

For example, the scope of Sam Wyly’s vision is RIDICULOUSly big. He sees the world in terms of THE WORLD. So, when I’d tell him I wanted millions of people in our community at Zaadz, he’d nod his head and smile and say, “How can we do it and how much money do you need to do it?!?” (I remember one day when I met with him (a billionaire) and a nice, well-meaning potential investor (a millionaire) and the difference between how BIG they thought and the resulting advice they gave was *amazing.*)

Additional unsolicited advice: In addition to choosing your mentors wisely, I think the biggest thing to keep in mind is to trust yourself. Ultimately, a great mentor is someone who reflects back your highest potential and helps you tap into the wisdom you already have while sprinkling some tips they’ve picked up along the way. I’d personally run away from anyone who tells me I’m thinking too big or can’t do something or some such other nonsense.

As John Eliot says in his great book, Overachievement: “as soon as anyone starts telling you to be ‘realistic,’ cross that person off your invitation list.”

Steve Spalding

I like to believe that I learn something from everyone I talk to, that’s why I love chatting with different kinds of people.

As for my mentors, I think that all the people I would consider mentors had shared one thing in common — they have given me the opportunity to make mistakes.

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

Dennie Theodore

To be yourself, ask questions and be an advocate for yourself and others.

David Gray

Establish trust by being principled and doing what you say you will do.

Rodger Harding

That I am a gifted person who has loads of untapped potential…Using this potential will benefit myself and others.

Deborah Koehler

You know what you need to do within yourself, trust yourself and move toward where you are pulled.

Shannon Van Roekel

The best thing I can do to market my book is to learn to write well.

Brian Johnson

Trust yourself.

(I vividly remember a chat with Steve Wynne (the former CEO of Adidas who we brought on as our CEO at eteamz), when he told me the two most important things about business: 1. Trust yourself. 2. Business is simple, keep it that way.)

Steve Spalding

I think that is the core message. To grow as an entrepreneur, you need to have the freedom to make mistakes. If you don’t, you can’t expect to do anything interesting.

People grossly underestimate how complex business can be, they assume that everything will work out exactly as planned. What I will say is that in all cases that I’ve seen, it never does.

One of the few good things a mentor can give you is the room to breathe that you need to learn this for yourself, find a solution (or not) and fail with your head held high.

They need to teach but only after they’ve let you do it yourself for a while.

What are your thoughts after you have read the responses to the two questions? Do you need a mentor?

Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over here The Invisible Mentor (top on the left side) and subscribe by email or RSS Feed. I created a Mini Learning Toolkit and you can grab a copy by clicking here. Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please comment.

These interviews are meant to provide you with useful information that you can use. In this segment of the interview, Shannon shares the three threats to her business, why her service is unique, how she integrates her personal and professional life, five life lessons she has learned so far and a whole lot more.

Tell me a little bit about yourself.

I am married, with five children, two of which are getting married within the next 6 months. Lately I’ve been waking up in the middle of the night “angsting” over table centerpieces, floral arrangements and crash diets.

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

Three threats to my business and success would be

1. Not placing God first.
2. Lack of discipline
3. Getting distracted (can you spell f-a-c-e-b-o-o-k?)

I handle these threats, more or less, depending on the day, by starting it with God, keeping a day planner and working through the tasks I set for myself one at a time. Keep on doing the next thing.

What’s unique about the service that you provide?

I like to weave a story around a real issue, not normally in our radar, that will hopefully, not only inform and entertain, but also lead readers to compassion and empathy. Information dumps have caused us to shut down to the need, because we are intimidated by the enormity of the situation—especially in the third world arena. I believe touching hearts through the power of these stories can pull one out of that inertia into a state of true identification and hope.

What do you observe most people in your field doing badly that you think you do well?

OK. Tricky question. I am new to the whole “published author” thing, so cannot speak with experience, but I constantly pray that I do not lose sight of the importance of my relationships with my husband and kids in the light of being published and the extra demands it brings to my life.

How do you integrate your personal and professional life?

Relationships are more important to me than business. By choice. I have found, possibly due to the decision to put people first, a greater interest in the issues I am writing about and the professional aspects of my life from those closest to me.

What’s a major regret that you’ve had in life?

Causing pain to others; to see family splinter and break apart and not be able to fix it.

What are five life lessons that you have learned so far?

1. Ask God for help, the sooner the better.
2. Forgiveness is always easier than resentment—and healthier.
3. I can forgive myself all I want, but unless God has forgiven me, I get no peace.
4. Nobody is free from insecurity or dysfunctions. Some are just better at hiding it.
5. Life doesn’t last forever so speak the truth.

When you have some down time, how do you spend it?

With a good book. And I love to listen to great music and just move to it…

What process do you use to generate great ideas?

I ask God to give me His ideas, which are better than mine all the time. Then I wait. Eventually something begins that I can only describe as brain percolation. It’s this craziness of ideas and connections that bubble up and spill over into story.

What’s your favourite quotation and why?

“I am the way and the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father except through me.” –Jesus (John 14:6)

I don’t like being lost, lied to or living without a purpose. In this quotation I find the remedy.

How do you define success?

Success is more than good living; it is living in agreement with God’s purpose for your life.

In your opinion what’s the formula for success?

Without a doubt it is to trust God and obey Him.

What excites you about life?

Watching God

How do you nurture your soul?

Same as above

If you had a personal genie and she gave you one wish, what would you wish for? Or, if I gave you a magic wand, what would you use it for?

To pay off the mortgage

Complete the following, I am happy when…..

I’m just moving through normal and then something happens that is so perfect and surprising and good, like autumn leaves falling or a baby’s toothless smile or the first taste of a mandarin orange, and I think, “Thank You.”

How might you apply the information from this interview? Let’s keep the conversation going, please comment.

Skills often transfer well across industries, and the advice that is dispensed for specific positions and industries also transfer very well. In this post I pull together advice from three interviewees. How do the responses compare, and how can you apply their responses?

Tell me a little bit about yourself?

Dennie Theodore

Professional strategic planner, facilitator, writer and business manager, contributing to business and artistic projects across Canada and internationally. A long and successful history in many communities and known as a caring mentor, negotiator, leader and unappreciated parent.

Don Martelli

I am a 14 year-veteran of the communications business. I started out as a reporter for the Boston Globe and worked for six years in the education space in PR and marketing roles. I’ve worked for three top PR agencies, working on technology, corporate, healthcare and consumer accounts. Currently, I’m a VP and Director of Digital Communications with MS&L Boston (www.mslworldwide.com). You can find out more about me at http://www.donmartelli.com.

Shannon Van Roekel

I am married, with five children, two of which are getting married within the next 6 months. Lately I’ve been waking up in the middle of the night “angsting” over table centerpieces, floral arrangements and crash diets.

What are the steps you took to succeed in your field?

Dennie Theodore

Realized it wasn’t enough to dream but the practical bits needed planning. And that nothing succeeds if you don’t have passion – looked to put that back into my daily life.

Don Martelli

Good education. Staying grounded in my beliefs and vision for my future. Working with smart people that I can learn from. Helping others learn what I know.

Shannon Van Roekel

When I felt the burden on my heart to pursue writing, I did all I could to learn to write well, believing that this was what God was asking of me.

What advice would you give to someone just starting out?

Dennie Theodore

Have as many cups of coffee/tea as you have time for in a week with people who are willing to sit with you. Don’t make it transactional – simply meet them to enjoy them and see where it leads. By doing so you’re building a personal community that will care with you and for you as you start to put your plans in action or require support to see them through.

Don Martelli

Read, read, read, read and read some more. Make connections in the business.

Shannon Von Roekel

Read about writing; find other writers to talk to; go to a writer’s conference!

What are five life lessons that you have learned so far?

Dennie Theodore

1. Speak up
2. Ask questions
3. Speak out
4. Forgive
5. Listen

Don Martelli

1. Be yourself
2. Be honest
3. Help people
4. Take care of your family
5. Own up to mistakes

Shannon Van Roekel

1. Ask God for help, the sooner the better.
2. Forgiveness is always easier than resentment—and healthier.
3. I can forgive myself all I want, but unless God has forgiven me, I get no peace.
4. Nobody is free from insecurity or dysfunctions. Some are just better at hiding it.
5. Life doesn’t last forever so speak the truth.

What process do you use to generate ideas?

Dennie Theodore

I read read read. And then I talk about it with friends till I figure out what I’m thinking.  Then I write write write.

Don Martelli

Playing catch. Walking or listening to music. My creativity is fostered when I’m not thinking about something specific.

Shannon Van Roekel

I ask God to give me His ideas, which are better than mine all the time. Then I wait. Eventually something begins that I can only describe as brain percolation. It’s this craziness of ideas and connections that bubble up and spill over into story.

How might you use some of the interview responses? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please comment.