Mentoring for success

MANILA, Philippines - For Carl Dy, motivational speaker, property sales coach and Ayala Land sales director, successful businessmen are not the only experts when it comes to dishing out advices on money and financial success. Some of the best lessons in life, career and business come from those who went bankrupt and failed.

Carl believes that if a businessman failed, he would have been just as successful because he still would have learned something from his experience which he can use to stand up and start anew. 

Some people only rely on successful honchos for lessons on attaining financial freedom but Carl attests there’s a lot to learn from the businessman who failed.

Learning from their mistakes can be helpful in navigating rough business terrains. After all, the risk of failing, the very thought of failing is a motivation to succeed more. 

In making decisions in life and in business, Carl puts his faith on his two mentors – one who is successful and the other who failed.

“I look up to two mentors, a successful businessman and the  businessman who has failed, is in debt and is slowly struggling to rise back again. From the successful businessman, I learned things like planning, taking calculated risks, research and negotiation skills, how to be smart with money. My conversations with this mentor is focused on work, money, business and economy,” he says.

“From my mentor who failed, I learned a lot about values — to trust God first, to always rely on God and not myself, to have humility as an important virtue, to always be prudent and save for a rainy day, to be overly confident, to always be humble and have a thankful heart,” he adds.

Carl also says both his mentors value time, but one looks at time from a productivity point of view, while the other values time spent with God, family and friends.

From the successful mentor, he also learned about being aggressive, maximizing productivity, setting goals and aiming for results.

“From the businessman who failed, I learned to put God above all else, learn to value the importance of relationships and to make sure you keep and nurture the relationships you have. Both have thought me different values, that have made me a better person,” he says.

Carl advises everyone, not only entrepreneurs to have a lot of mentors in life.

“My advice is for you to have mentors, it can be more than one, a mentor for work, a mentor for family, a spiritual mentor. It is good to learn from people who has more experience than you, people who have made mistakes in the past,” Carl says.

He shares that he constantly communicates with both businessmen and are actually friends with them.

“I am always in touch with both businessmen as they are my source of energy. They both energize me when I am down, they give me guidance and assurance in my career path,” he says.

On another matter, Carl says it’s always good to start working for a big corporation first before  starting your own business. 

“You may have to work hard and follow your boss’ orders, but the learning you will get from a corporate setting can be a big help to growing your business to a higher level in the future,” he says.

“Starting a business is easy, but sustaining it and growing it to become big is hard, just what like the others said. First you have to know your market, know what problem your product is solving and make sure you have a market differentiator, and make your product unique,” Carl says.

Aside from his work at Ayala Land, Carl also has a blog to share his knowledge on creating passive income through property with my blog www.earningfromproperty.com.