At age 16, Eleni Mitakos bought her first car: a 1954 SE Holden.
“It came with a very good-looking boyfriend, I must add,” Eleni says with a smile. “It was a very cool car, and I was very cute in it, but I realised very quickly that when it broke down – which they often do when they’re 50 years old – I had no idea what to do.”
Over the years Eleni collected bits and pieces of information in notebooks and became a car care expert. She went on to found Galmatic, a company that offers fun, interactive car care and defensive driving workshops for women. Prior to Galmatic, Eleni was a ballroom dance instructor for 15 years. She knew she didn’t want to return to dance instruction after having her first child, and she already had the idea for Galmatic, but she didn’t know how to go about starting the workshop business. So, when her daughter was just 72 hours old, Eleni joined MentorNet, a program that connects new businesswomen with seasoned business professionals who act as mentors.
Eleni explains that MentorNet places businesswomen into “pods” with like-minded peers:
“We all worked really well together, chatting with each other late at night on Skype and Twitter and using all our social media to keep in touch. I still keep in touch with my pod mates! It gave me a sounding board. For instance, I had never worked with contractors before. I didn’t know whether I should pay staff or use contractors. What should I do for insurance? It was also a good opportunity for me to practice my business networking skills.”
The MentorNet program also provided Eleni with valuable advice on how to manage a new business as a new mother:
“Now, when it comes to having little people and running a business, it’s very, very tricky because, when you work from home, you sometimes get caught in ‘I’ll start cooking dinner’ or ‘I’ll start washing clothes.’
My mentor gave me a fantastic pointer which has been really beneficial to me and that was: When you’re doing something at home, do two things at once whenever possible. So, for example, I watch House every Wednesday. (I can’t believe he kissed Cuddy last week and they finished it, so I’m devastated!) But when I’m watching House, I write down everything I need to do and then write down a timeframe for each task using post-it notes. So when I’ve got babies asleep or at preschool or just watching the Barbie movie, I think, ‘Oh I’ve got ten minutes!’ Or ‘I’ve got 20 minutes peace!’ I’ll go to that section of the book, rip out the postit note, do the chore, and chuck the postit note in the bin.”
“You pick up little tips from MentorNet that you’d have to normally pay $600 for in a motivational seminar or an ‘organise yourself’ seminar.”
“But when you’ve got a networking group like MentorNet, you can just send someone a message saying ‘I’m really bad at managing my time.’ Or ‘Finding it hard when the babies don’t sleep at the same time.’ Or ‘I don’t know how to do a conference call.’ And the good thing is that when you’ve got a MentorNet pod of up to 20 people, there’s always someone who’s been in the same position as you before. So you’ll get a little message back in your box that says, ‘This is what worked for me. Try this.’ And you can go online any time of the day and post a question or work on your business plan.”
Since completing the MentorNet program, Eleni has put her business plan into full effect and hired 55 trainers at Galmatic. She explains, “My workshops were only in my business plan when I started. Post-MentorNet, they’re up and running. We’ve got a really successful following now.”
“The best thing about the MentorNet program was chatting with other people and saying, ‘Look. This is what I’m not very good at. This is what I’m strong at.’ In doing so, I learned to use my strengths rather than really being nervous about my weaknesses. I’m not very good with email, for instance. I get very nervous about what to write, but I’m good at talking. So I picked up the phone and kept calling people until someone would see me. If you’re thinking of doing MentorNet, it’s worth every dollar. Don’t wait. Do the next one that’s coming up.”
Learn how to focus your strengths and build the business of your dreams with mentoring.
