8. Let’s get started!

Now comes the fun part

You made it!

By getting to this point, you have officially completed all the material in the training program. Well done.

The final module here to help you check that you’re ready to start your first Pioneer Group, and then give you the steps to get started.

There are only 3 more steps for you to complete:

  1. Complete the Pioneer Mentor Quiz
  2. Do a trial run with the Stitch team
  3. Join the “Pioneer Central” private group on Stitch, where you’ll be connected to all the Pioneers and Mentors in the program. You’ll also be added to the “Mentor HQ” private group, for Mentors only.
At this point, you’ll officially be a Mentor, and are ready to get started! 
 

To get your group set up, you will need to:

  1. Choose the time for your mentoring group
  2. Create a “Kickoff” mentoring event in the Pioneer Central group for your first group meeting
  3. Create a private group for all the Pioneers who join your event
  4. Post your second, third, and fourth monthly get-togethers in your private group

We’ll explain all these steps below.

Step 1: Complete the Pioneer Mentor Quiz

The first step is to check you’ve understood the most important aspects of the program by successfully completing the Pioneer Mentor Quiz.

The quiz very short, and not too challenging, but it will help you confirm that you’ve got the knowledge you need to be an official Pioneer Mentor.

Hit the button below to give the quiz a try now!

Step 2: Do a trial run with the Stitch team

Once you successfully pass the quiz, you’ll receive a message from one of the friendly members of the Stitch team to say congratulations, and to set up a time with you to run a trial run virtual event.

If you’ve never run a virtual event before, this is a very low-stress way to get familiar with it before you run your first Pioneer Group event.

Stitch will help you feel comfortable and confident, answer any remaining questions you’ve got, and give you feedback on any areas you’re concerned about.

Don’t worry about the trial run, it’s not a test! 

It’s an opportunity for Stitch to help you feel confident, and give you the best chance of making sure you enjoy being part of the program.

Once you’ve done your trial run, you will be an official Pioneer Mentor. Congratulations! Stitch will add you to the Mentor Support Group so you can meet your fellow mentors, ask questions, get support, and stay updated on the progress of the program.

Step 3: You have graduated!

You’ve now completed all the steps required to officially become a Mentor. 

The Stitch team will add you to two special private groups on Stitch:

  • “Pioneer Central”, which is a meeting place for all Pioneers and Mentors in the program, with events and discussions that relate to the entire group
  • “Mentor HQ”, which is a private group for Mentors only

Congratulations, you are now officially a Mentor! It’s now time to get started.

Get Started!

To get your up and running, you just need to complete the following four simple steps:

  1. Choose the time for your mentoring group
  2. Create a “Kickoff” mentoring event in the Pioneer Central group for your first group meeting
  3. Create a private group for all the Pioneers who join your event
  4. Post your second, third, and fourth monthly get-togethers in your private group

After that, the adventure will be well and truly underway. We can’t wait to find out where it takes us.

Let’s explain each of those steps in detail:

1. Choose a time for your mentoring group

Choose a time that you think you can commit to for each of the next four months, for example:

  • Every 3rd Sunday at 4pm in the afternoon
  • Every 2nd Tuesday at 8pm in the evening
  • etc

Pioneers will see your time listed in their own local timezone. If you live in Los Angeles, for example, and have selected 4pm Sunday for your group, that would mean it would be 7pm Sundays in New York, 9am Monday in Sydney, and so on.

Pioneers will select a group based on the best fit with their own availability.

Bear in mind that most Pioneers are in the US, UK or Australia, so choosing a time that works for those timezones will give you the best Pioneer availability for your group. A morning time in Australia, for example, will work for many Pioneers in the US, while an evening timeslot might appeal to UK Pioneers. 

2. Create a "Kickoff" mentor event

Once you have chosen your time, create the first event for your group. We’re calling these “Kickoff” events, so that new Pioneers who don’t have a Mentor assigned yet know they can come along to join your group.

We have created a template to make it easy for Mentors to set up, which you can find at the following link once you’ve been added to the Pioneer Central group:

https://www.stitch.net/app/event/596143/australia-sydney/andrews-pioneer-mentoring-group-kickoff-meeting

You just need to:

  1. Open the link above and hit “Do this again” to duplicate it
  2. Change the details to mention your name instead of Andrew’s,  and choose the date and time you picked for your first event
  3. Hit publish!

It’s usually a good idea to pick a date several weeks away, so that new Pioneers who join the program get a chance to see it, and you are more likely to get a full group for your first event. 

3. Set up your private mentor group

After you have hosted your kickoff event, all the Pioneers who attended your event will now be part of your Member Network on Stitch, which means you’ll be able to add them to any private group you set up. 

That means you can now create your mentoring group and add the Pioneers who attended your event to it (apart from any who may have indicated they don’t want to join your group).

To create your mentoring group, simply create a Private group on Stitch, name it something appropriate (e.g. “Donna’s Pioneer Mentor Group”), and add the Pioneers to it via the Group Members tab. 

4. Post your second, third, and fourth meetings

Once your group is set up, you can post your second, third, and fourth group meetings to your group. 

The adventure will be well and truly underway.

We can’t wait to find out where it takes us!

That’s it for Module 8! It’s time to get started on the Pioneer Mentor Quiz … you can reach it here

Good luck, and welcome to the program!