ODYS Mentor Mads Singers Interviewed by James Dooley

**James Dooley says:** Hi so today I'm joined with Mads Singers, one of the OYS mentors. Pleased to meet you Mads. How you doing. **Mads Singers says:** Good to see you again James. I'm doing very good. Very good. **James Dooley says:** Sounds good. Let’s jump straight in then Mads. How has mentorship shaped your career and personal growth. **Mads Singers says:** Yeah I think my career started in the corporate world and I was very focused on management at a very young age. Both mentors and coaches have had a profound impact. Particularly now in my later successful years I hire coaches and mentors for everything because there is no point figuring out how to do something when someone can teach you quickly. Same with business. If I want better finances I hire someone good at it. Yes you can figure it out yourself but you make more mistakes and it takes longer. My philosophy is to get great results fast instead of slowly. That is the core mentality behind mentorship. In my career I have had three mentors. The first two I did not pay. I took initiative and asked them. The last one I paid and got huge value at a high business level. Whatever you do there is always someone better unless you are Elon Musk which I doubt is watching this. **James Dooley says:** So when did you first realise mentorship was important. **Mads Singers says:** I spent a lot of time reading when I was getting into management. Books like Think and Grow Rich talked about masterminds and like minded people. That pushed me to look for mentors and coaches. I have had some great ones and some less great. Sometimes personalities do not match. But 85 to 90 percent of my mentorship experiences have been very good. **James Dooley says:** What key lessons have you learned that you could not have learned alone or would have taken years of failing. **Mads Singers says:** A lot of what I teach today. Delegation was huge. I am a perfectionist. I never naturally delegated. It took time to learn and having a mentor helped massively. I see many people stay stuck for decades because they never master delegation. Communication is another. Communication in business and management is critical. I had mentors for public speaking and general communication. Today I think I am a good communicator because of that. Humans do not see how others see us. One coach told me I offended people without realising because my humour did not land. I denied it at first then watched people and realised she was right. Without outside perspective I might never have learned it. Even a friend with business sense can give great advice because we get tunnel vision. As a coach myself I often give advice then realise I need to follow it too. **James Dooley says:** The big one is learning to let go. Most business owners are perfectionists. They struggle to hand over responsibility. They hit a threshold and I tell them to speak to Mads, set up middle management, and stop thinking a job done well is done by themselves. That is where you come in. So next question. What is a mentor not. **Mads Singers says:** This is big. Most people expect mentors to solve their problems. My goal is not to solve problems. My goal is to push them in the right direction. If they have tunnel vision I widen it. Do not hire a mentor to do things for you. Do not ask a mentor to build a site or fix SEO. That is not mentorship. Also if I mentor people who do not take action I stop the relationship. My time must make a difference. Successful people value their time. **James Dooley says:** I always say if you do not innovate you evaporate. Why is mentorship more important than ever with AI moving fast. **Mads Singers says:** Example. In my companies our teams get AI support from people we hire to guide them. Not to do the work but to direct them. Internal people know a bit but an expert accelerates everything. You get 5 or 10 percent improvement alone. With an expert you get far more. Same with topical maps. One conversation with someone who truly understands it can change a business fast. Business is ROI. As a business owner you take asymmetric bets. Many fail but one can pay back huge. That is how I see business. Take asymmetric risks with big upside. **James Dooley says:** So how do you choose the right mentor. If someone needs on page, off page, technical SEO. Do they come to you and you guide them or choose one directly. **Mads Singers says:** It depends. I have a huge network so I often know the right person. If I consider someone as a mentor I ask people who know them. You might have seen someone on YouTube but before hiring them ask others what they think. Sometimes they say it is a great fit. Sometimes not. **James Dooley says:** Why did you join the OYS mentorship programme. **Mads Singers says:** I love helping. Most people who coach with me normally go through my management training first. OYS lets people get coaching without all the hoops. I appreciate Alex as a business person. I like supporting strong operators and strong ideas. **James Dooley says:** There are many OYS mentors. Why choose you. What are your strengths. On page. Off page. Technical. Staff scaling. Culture. **Mads Singers says:** My core strength is people. I have coached hundreds of business owners on management. Everyone says they are a bad manager or do not want to manage. Many like Diggity only wanted to do SEO until they worked with me. Then they realised they must choose between being an SEO or being a CEO. If you want a stressful small agency fine. If you want real money and a solid business you must learn leadership. Delegation. Hiring. Skills worth investing in. People think it is a scary thing because they have never learned it. It is like SEO. The first day is confusing. But with a mentor you learn fast. **James Dooley says:** I always talk about the three Ps. Prioritisation. Procrastination. Perfectionism. What do you tell someone before their first mentorship call. Why should they do it now. **Mads Singers says:** Two steps. First step is take a step back. Look at your business. Ask what is truly holding you back. It is rarely an SEO hack. It is sales, marketing, or management. Focus on the area that moves things forward. Then invest based on that. You can ask colleagues for advice. Most investments I have made in mentors have paid back many times because they give shortcuts. **James Dooley says:** What would you tell your sixteen year old self about mentorship. **Mads Singers says:** I started early. First coach at nineteen. The one thing I would say is invest in yourself more. I was cautious with money. Busy saving. I now know that investing in yourself gives the best return. I should have invested more and earlier. **James Dooley says:** Is this you admitting you are tight and frugal and always last at the bar. **Mads Singers says:** I usually take advantage of people who... no. Not really. I am more reserved. Some people are assertive and want to show off. I just let them. **James Dooley says:** Before booking a call people say it seems expensive. They ask for discounts. Alex and OYS say no. Then two or three weeks later they come back saying it was the best investment they made. How do you see cost versus ROI. **Mads Singers says:** I have had over 700 customers. I offer a 100 percent money back guarantee. No one has ever asked for a refund. People are always happy. There are levels of expensive. Expensive like you cannot eat for four weeks is different from expensive like high hourly rate. It took me a long time to understand this even in hiring. You can hire someone for five bucks or fifty bucks. But quality produces better results. There is always a cheaper coach. But rarely a cheaper better coach. Successful people value their time. Honestly with OYS pricing we could still make more focusing on our own businesses. I coach because I like helping people. It gives satisfaction. **James Dooley says:** How can people book you Mads. I recommend you strongly. What is the best way. **Mads Singers says:** Go to the OYS website. Go to mentors. Find my profile. It is usually the most handsome picture there. **James Dooley says:** For anyone watching the URL is oys.global forward slash mentors forward slash Mads Singers. You will see his picture. I will let you decide if it is beautiful. It has been a pleasure having you Mads. Anyone watching I strongly recommend booking Mads if you want to grow an offline or online business. You have done a lot of business coaching for us and it has been a pleasure having you on. **Mads Singers says:** Awesome. Thank you very much James. Cheers.