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Genecia Alluora: I have a free gift for you. Go download secrets of personal branding. And how do you delegate 80% of your to do list so that you can make make money online while focusing on your zone of genius? Go to soulrichwoman.com. I believe we can change the world, but that first, we've got to stop living in fear of being judged for who we are. Hi, I'm Genecia Alluora, founder of the number one leading female entrepreneur network in Southeast Asia, supporting 1 million women to own and love the F word. Being fabulous, having freedom, financial independence and family. With a challenge to women everywhere to stop talking themselves out of their dreams. So why? Secrets of the Soul Rich Woman Blueprint identifies the excuses to let go of, the behaviors to adopt, and the skills to acquire on the path to growth, confidence, and believing in yourself to be recognized as a leader online, get clients online, and to have more impact on the world.

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Genecia Alluora: Stop believing the lies about who you are so you can become who you were meant to be. You are just an F word away from the life you want, the marriage you want, the family that you want is going to be fueled by the business and life you build. Join me, be a Soul Rich Woman. Alone we are strong. Together, we are unstoppable. Welcome to the show.

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Genecia Alluora: Hello, my name is Genecia Alluora. Today I want to share with you why a mentor is important. Okay. You are convinced that you need to be online, bring your business online, be seen as a leader online and but you are aren't quite sure what are the steps to take? In one of my episodes, I talk about my mentor, right? Kind of like telling me that I'm not focused on the things I'm actually doing. Even so, I was thought I was I thought I was refocused and I thought I was doing the things I was already doing. Supposed to do that is leading me towards my dreams. But my mentor told me that now you're not. And then it irritated the hell out of me. But anyway, because he's my mentor and I respect him a lot. Like I said, when you find someone, you have to be really respecting the person. And even though I argue with him a lot and kind of debate with him a lot, but because of the respect and because of the respect I have for him and he has been there, done that, you know, and because, you know, he is not a mentor just in one day, you know, he has been my mentor since for the last, what, ten years. And because of that, you know, he has guided me through proven results, proven systems and processes to to kind of guide me through and get to where I am today.

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Genecia Alluora: So in 2012, I told you 2013 I was looking away to go from offline to online. So in 2012 I was still trading time for money. I work, I get paid, I work, I get paid, I don't work. I don't get paid. So it's tough, right? Because I was an image consultant after I won't Miss Singapore, I went to take on the image consultant certification and of course, plus my Miss Singapore title. It does help me to land very good clients. So I was serving a very premium clients where, you know, you get paid in five figures, you get flown around the world to make sure they look good in the personal brand when they do their media interviews and things like that. So I get to work with politicians, I get to work with ministers. I get to work with CEOs, decision makers. And that's how I knew to that I have this gift of kind of helping people getting seen and heard in high, very high level ways. And also that I also can teach other women how to sell and promote high end, high end, high ticket, high value products and services like 20,000, 50,000, 100,000, that kind of value. Okay. That's the value I was talking about. But you know what, my dear? I was trading time for money. Okay? If I work, I get paid, I work, I get paid, I don't work, I don't get paid.

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Genecia Alluora: So even though I was doing very high value clients. But you know what? I was still doing that time transaction thing. So eventually I found a mentor. And even though I spent a lot of money, I was actually going around around in circles. I was buying courses from different places, different gurus and trying to figure it out, trying to figure it out. And I realized that, hey, you know what happened? Because Southeast Asia and Asia, our context is different. We are made up of different cultures, different, different. We are just different animals in a jungle, you know, like between Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines, Cambodia, Myanmar and other countries. We we have like just within our cities alone, we have different types of people, right. Between Hanoi in Vietnam versus Ho Chi Minh. The women there are also different. Anyway, my point is, even though I try to buy courses from overseas and try to learn from it, I realize that it's not contextually applicable to what I was trying to do.

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Genecia Alluora: So eventually I found someone who was able to localize and contextualize it in the culture format for me to learn and apply it to my business so that to me, a mentor is important, must be applicable to, you know, yet being world being able to see the world having world experiences, but yet able to have that local knowledge, you know, that can help me in my business on the ground to bring my business from offline to online. So that's the first thing, right? And eventually I found James. James Wee. Let me share with you why, you know, these few factors are important, okay? After going through all the selections. So I like I said, contextualizing is very important. I will share with you on another episode on that by giving you a more detailed example. But finding a mentor takes a few things. First and foremost, you must respect the person fully, 100%. You cannot find a mentor. And just like I will just listen a 30% and then I will not listen and I will just don't care. That will not work. Because in order for mentorship to really work, even though you have your own ideas and opinions, I'm not saying that you cannot have a version of yourself. No, it's more of like, are you able to synchronize this mentorship mentee mentor relationship and have that respect?

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Genecia Alluora: Then you know for sure that this person is watching your back, this person is guiding you and standing with you, and not for once in doubt the person, because once you doubt. And you said, Oh, this person is not for me, he's against me, she's against me. And then it will not work. Must trust. Believe. Listen and take action. Okay. So must fully respect the person. Number two, you must, he or she must have the results that you want. This is really very important. Cannot be neglected. Okay. He or she must have the results that you want. Like, for example, if you want my result right. For example, have gone from offline to online make my first million dollars helped thousands of women around the world, especially in Southeast Asia and in Asia, to achieve the F-word being fabulous, having freedom, financial independence and family, then it is important that you are you know, you look for me, right, because you want my kind of result. So results is very important. So when I chose James as my mentor, he was he had been through a ten year bankrupt period. Okay. And then later on crossed his first million and then 10 million. And that's how he built up. And for me, having been through six figure debts and I felt that he could understand my predicament rather than being judged by another mentor who has not even been through the same thing. I would not say don't date, doesn't need have to be the same, but at least been through like my, I have to work very hard to support myself through school, you know, since I was 14 and kind of being able to understand and empathize fully to a certain extent versus finding someone who have no life experiences and, you know, being the mentor, I cannot accept that for me.

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Genecia Alluora: Okay. And I would not recommend you to find somebody who have no life experiences and just read by a textbook. I can tell you all this. I hate knowledge and not really life experiences that will take you through that journey. Okay. You need someone who is equipped. All right. And I am glad I found James, okay? And he has so much experiences and he was able to guide me through that. And you know what? Because of that, in 2013, I made my first million dollars. Okay. Doing going online and doing online business, bring my business online. And, you know, under his mentorship and guidance and then later on invested in a cafe retail chain. And we grew it not just me, my not just me, but all the partners. We all of us did it together, right? We were able to grow it to three countries Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and we had 18 franchisees and licensees and after four years exited to a public listed company owner. And all these things would not have been possible if he had not mentored me to know and guide me how to put my money, how do I invest? How do I grow because of his wealth of experiences.

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Genecia Alluora: And I'm truly grateful for that. And last but not least, when you choose a mentor. Okay. Is are you able to fully, fully take action? That means dedicate time to follow up with a mentor. One common mistake that I always see people making when they find a mentor is they expect the mentor to do everything. You know what a mentor is? A mentor is a mentor. That means this mentor. This person is very busy. You know, they have got many things to do. They have many things in their life. Even though you pay them money or you invest in, you know, a fee to get this mentor, you know, you need to chase after them. You need to chase after them. They are at the caliber, right? So it's not a lopsided relationship. It's more like, you know, you respect the person, you look up to the person and you must make your own effort to to chase after and, you know, work with the person. You can't expect the person to keep coming back and then, you know, dragging you along. Just imagine you, my cats, okay, my cats can't walk on a leash. You can imagine I'm pulling my cats on the leash and then they are not walking. They're expected to be carried. So it's kind of like setting yourself up for failure if you are choosing and doing this kind of thing to yourself. If you were to find a mentor, always have a form of respect and know that success is in our own hands.

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Genecia Alluora: No one else can stop us from being successful. A mentor is just someone to kind of watch our blind sides and give us good. You know, kind of like what I call like perceptions, like different ways to look at things. And then you have to, in the end, make your own directions and directives and decisions to move forward. So that's the success when you are able to find a mentor. That's when you too can have success. And that's why I am where I am today. Being able to, you know, move towards my dreams. Empower, Inspire women to bring their business online to own and love the F word. All these things is because I decided to invest in myself and get myself a mentor, even if that means my ass being kicked. So, my friend, find a mentor if you already have. Good for you. How else are you working towards your dreams today being a soul rich woman. I love you. And I speak to you soon. Bye for now.

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Genecia Alluora: Thank you for joining me today. I would love you to connect with me on Linkedin, Facebook, or Instagram and share with me your thoughts on today's episode at Genecia Alluora. Alternatively, you can send me an email at hello@soulrichwoman.com. I have a free gift for you on our website. Secrets of personal branding and also how do you delegate 80% of your to do list to your assistant so you can make money online and focusing on your zone of genius? And that is available at soulrichwoman.com. Join the number one leading female entrepreneur network in Southeast Asia, connecting more than 200,000 women across the region. Be a Soul Rich Woman. Dream to shine. Woman leader, leader activated. Alone, you are strong. Together, we are unstoppable.