My mentor is AWESOME! She is awesome because of two reasons. #1 She is the most amazing mentor I have ever had and #2 her last name is Awsumb! Judi Awsumb 100 percent lives up to her last name! During her younger years she was responsible for the dramatic growth in revenue and market share for several large companies. Judi is also a recognized community leader and serves on the board of many organizations. Following every meeting I have with Judi I walk away feeling more capable, empowered and encouraged. If you have a mentor, that is exactly how you should feel following each meeting and conversation with them .
My whole life completely changed in September of 2017 when my company was chosen to be one of the women’s owned small businesses that was accepted into the Athena Powerlink program at Rollins. ATHENA Powerlink is a program that helps women owned businesses take their business to the next level. They do this by forming an advisory panel of professionals who are experts in their respective industries to help you grow and scale your business. This is where I met Judi as she was the one that spear- headed my panel. When my time with the program ended in December 2018, it was sad to have to say goodbye to my panel but that is when Judi came to me to ask me to be in one of her other women’s CEO roundtable groups. It was at that moment that Judi became my mentor.
I would like to share with you the three ways that my mentor has left me in AWE of what she has done for me as my mentor. I would like to do this through the acrostic AWE
- Accountable – Right before I began my journey with Athena I chose my word for the year and that word happened to be accountable. Little did I know just how much that word would ring true for me in 2018. At the beginning of my ATHENA journey Judi sat down with me to help me develop my action plan for 2018 and set the goals that we as a company needed to achieve in every facet of our business that year. Every month I was held accountable for the progress that I had made since our last meeting a month prior and they would provide me with the guidance, support and advice that was needed at each meeting to help me work through and overcome any obstacles that we might have been faced with. I am proud to say that we did achieve 100% completion of all of our goals that we had set forth in our plan by the end of 2018. As my time with Judi and the others on my panel came to a close I was saddened but that is when something amazing happened. Judi asked me to be a part of one of her CEO groups comprised of other successful women business owners like myself. In this group of women we support each other and hold one another accountable to reach our goals.
- Work ON my business, not IN my business! I always knew I did way too much working in my business and wore too many hats but I kept on doing it anyway. Judi helped me to realize that things had to change if I wanted to continue to grow my company and that would involve me stepping away from doing the things that easily could have been delegated to others.
- Empowered – Through Judi’s guidance and leadership she has helped to change me and my company for the better! She has empowered me to do things I would have never done before. I always knew I was capable of doing great things but Judi gave me the push I needed to get out there and make things happen and as a natural result my confidence was taken to another level. As all business owners I face some pretty tough battles at times but the difference is that I know I don’t have to go at it alone as I have my mentor there to help me through it.
If you are serious about the development of yourself and your business, then I highly recommend you look for someone that can be a mentor for you that can help provide a fresh unbiased perspective about your business as well as provide you with the support that you need to succeed.
