Episode Overview

Podcast: Special Ops with Emma Rainville
Episode: Most Entrepreneurs Mentor The Wrong Way – Here’s How to Fix It
Date: September 9, 2025
Host: Emma Rainville

In this episode, Emma Rainville dives deep into the often-overlooked topic of mentoring your internal team, not just driving revenue. She argues that most entrepreneurs approach mentorship incorrectly—by trying to mold staff into their own ideal rather than supporting their unique goals and strengths. Emma shares her tactical approach to purposeful mentorship, providing actionable frameworks and emphasizing the lasting power of "tribal knowledge" within a team.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Value of Tribal Knowledge (00:00 – 03:00)

• Tribal knowledge refers to the accumulated expertise, systems, and company-specific insights your team develops over time.
  • "Having that tribal knowledge in your staff is worth far, far more than I think most people give it credit for." (Emma Rainville, 00:16)
• Emma stresses that while growing the business is crucial, growing your existing team is just as vital for sustainable success.

2. The Foundational Mentorship Document (03:00 – 05:40)

• When bringing on a key staff member, Emma creates a private mentorship guide to track skill levels, growth areas, and unique talents.
  • "This doesn’t get shared with them—it’s for me … I also teach them to do this for their staff." (04:12)
• She uses a 1–5 scale:
  • 1 = High expertise; 5 = Needs significant development in that skill.
• Emma documents both required and unique/personal skills.
• Important: You mentor people into who they want to be—not who you want them to be.
  • "Your job as a mentor is not to mentor someone into who you want them to be, it’s to mentor them into who they want to be." (05:16)

3. Aligning Mentorship with Individual Goals (05:40 – 09:00)

• Early conversations cover personal and professional goals for 1, 3, 5, and 10 years.

• Emma asks about:

  • Career ambitions, future roles of interest
  • Concepts of retirement and ideal work-life vision
  • Notable Quote:
    "I like to understand if someone’s trying to retire earlier … or if they’re like, 'Yeah, I’d never retire.' I’m actually the only person I feel like would say that right now—me and Perry Belcher." (Emma Rainville, 07:36)

• Emma emphasizes documenting these goals and not nudging team members toward paths they're not interested in.

4. Personalizing the Mentorship Cadence (09:00 – 13:00)

• Every mentee responds differently to communication styles and frequencies:

  • "If I made Richard get on a call with me every other week and talked about his life, I feel like he’d get quite angry... Whereas Tiago would absolutely enjoy every week talking … about how his daughter’s doing." (Emma Rainville, 10:44)

• Emma advocates adjusting mentorship style to each team member:

  • Take them where they’re at, not where you want them to be.

5. Leveraging Outside Resources & Delegating Mentorship (13:00 – 17:30)

• Emma shares examples of funding outside learning:

  • Saka was interested in tech and automation—enrolled in Mario Castilli’s Genesis Mastermind.
  • Richard needed sales skills—purchased Russell Brunson’s course for him.

• Key insight:

  • “[Mentorship] doesn’t always have to come from you … We can certainly farm that out to courses, to masterminds, to other coaches for sure.” (14:08)

• For higher autonomy and leadership growth, higher-level staff may be given access to the Ignite Mastermind program.

• Important: Follow up after team members attend programs—ask for learnings, implementations, and track progress for organizational impact.

6. Continuous Feedback & Revisiting Goals (17:30 – 23:00)

• Every quarter, Emma revisits goals and progress:

  • "What did you accomplish to get towards your personal goals? … Do you feel like you’ve wasted the quarter? Do you feel like you’ve excelled…?" (Emma Rainville, 20:22)

• She asks for feedback on the mentorship itself:

  • "Is there anything that you would like? Is there anything missing? Do you have a dream list or a wish list?" (21:45)

• Notable Moment: Emma recalls a team member's wish—sometimes it’s an expensive mastermind, sometimes it’s something simple, like a cooking class.

7. Why Growing Your People Enables Business Growth (23:00 – End)

• Emphasizes that focusing on people’s growth empowers your business to handle and sustain the revenue growth you work so hard for:

  • "If we're going to spend so much time focused on the growth of our business, the increase in revenue, we really should be equipping our people to be able to handle it." (Emma Rainville, 22:45)

• Actionable resource: Emma has provided a free template, "Mentoring with Purpose," available for download on the podcast’s Visionary Vault.

Notable Quotes

• "Tribal knowledge can really excel your ability to grow as long as the person in the role is growing with the business." (Emma Rainville, 00:49)
• "Your job as a mentor is not to mentor someone into who you want them to be, it’s to mentor them into who they want to be." (05:16)
• "I want to take each person for where they’re at, not where I want them to be." (10:55)
• "[Mentorship] doesn’t always have to come from you … everything’s not going to be in your wheelhouse." (14:08)
• "If we’re going to spend so much time focused on the growth of our business, the increase in revenue, we really should be equipping our people to be able to handle it." (22:45)

Important Timestamps

• 00:00 – 03:00: The importance of tribal knowledge, the hidden value within your existing staff, and how growth can stall if people are left behind.
• 03:00 – 05:40: Emma’s mentoring framework, skill documentation, and the core philosophy of mentorship.
• 05:40 – 09:00: How to elicit and align with your team’s personal and professional aspirations.
• 09:00 – 13:00: Matching mentorship cadences and styles to individual needs.
• 13:00 – 17:30: Using masterminds, external mentors, and courses as part of your mentorship strategy.
• 17:30 – 23:00: Tracking goal completion, quarterly feedback loops, acting on team member requests.
• 23:00 – End: Final reflections, reiteration on why team mentorship is vital, and details about the free mentorship template.

Summary Takeaways

• Don’t just mentor people to fit your mold—discover and guide them toward their own aspirations.
• Invest in your team’s growth as methodically and intentionally as you do in your business’s growth.
• Outsource mentorship when it makes sense: buy courses, enroll in masterminds, and get other experts involved.
• Continually document, evaluate, and revisit your mentorship process and each team member's progress and wishes.
• Start today: Download the free mentorship template Emma provides to implement her system in your own business.

Download the free Mentoring with Purpose template at specialopspodcast.com.