I’ve always been surprised how little people ask for help with their goals. Could you imagine if a well designed tech product never asked for funding from investors to grow their offering?

If you have career goals and aren’t following a similar motion, you are going to see less than favorable outcomes.

This is a concept I learned from Dalton Van Hatchet (Co-Founder at Hatchet Ventures), and it’s all centered around building an internal advisory board you can look to in times of help.

Others might call this “mentorship”, but it goes so much farther above and beyond that.

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Why do I need a personal advisory board?

Simple - you don’t and won’t know it all. Neither will your PAB (personal advisory board).

However, they can cover the gaps in your knowledge and provide an alternative point of view to your struggles at work and with your career.

Here’s a question to ask yourself: “If the next three years went the same as the last three years would you feel fulfilled?”

That answer may be yes, and that’s great if it is! For me in 2019 it was a hard NO.

Up to that point I had spent 6 years in sales, and I was far behind my cohorts, and was slow to adapt to professional best practices.

So I decided to make a change, and I went and put together my PAB.

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Who should be part of this personal advisory board?

It’s simple - people who you want to emulate, or you feel they could be pivotal in your career growth.

It’s important to note there are also two types of advisors that will “sit” on this board.

Direct advisors - those that you have 1:1 communication with and some form of frequency to your conversations (weekly, bi-weekly, monthly).

‍Indirect advisors - those that you don’t have 1:1 communication with but you engage with the principles they teach (e.g. a GaryVee, Kevin “KD” Dorsey, Brene Brown, etc).

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How do I approach these individuals about joining my personal advisory board?

Ask.

You will be surprised how open someone will be to join your collective group of feedback. Sometimes those that we look up to have just as much motivation to mentor and develop someone as individuals do to be mentored and developed

Especially in the age of “LinkedIn Thought Leadership” - who doesn’t want to give out a humble brag about someone who they have had the pleasure of coaching that is achieving new heights!

I do encourage you however to think about what you are asking for, and understand the level of time spent that may come with such commitment.

I typically start with just approaching someone for advice in a one-off scenario and seeing how receptive they are.

Most of my direct advisors are made up of people I never formally asked to mentor me, but individuals I go to when I have questions regarding a specific area of life and they are always able to give me great feedback.

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For example here are just a few people I have regular conversations with and receive feedback from:

Larry Long Jr - anytime I’m curious about how to grow the public speaking side of my business, or if I need someone to kick my butt into gear after a slew of low performing weeks.

Dalton Van Hatchet - he has helped shape my business acumen and cross department collaboration skills to an unmatched level, which continues to skyrocket my career trajectory and executive presence.

Bradley Paster - when it comes to understanding sales leadership, metrics, and developing leaders and individual contributors around me, Bradley has always been quick to respond and chat.

Now it’s important to remember, I value their time and so I make sure to add value to each of their lives where I can as well.

Whether it’s showing up to support Larry at the Flip The Script Tour, or working with Dalton’s company to produce and host their founder’s podcast, or highlighting Bradley to my network and making valuable introductions - I’m always looking for ways to return the value I’ve received.

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Conclusion

I can tell you from years of mistaking movement for achievement (more on that in a future newsletter), that finding your personal advisory board is key to your success.

You will not and cannot do it alone, and the great thing is that nobody should really expect you to!

So close this edition of the Sales RX Newsletter out, put your fingers to work, and start building your personal advisory board.

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