Welcome to 2014! While we are all still flush with the promise a New Year brings, we’re happy to unveil an evolution in the PromoKitchen Mentor Program. We’ve all been in that difficult scenario where the advice of someone you trust would give you extra confidence about an important decision. As small business owners, it’s beneficial to be able to talk to a sounding board of people that have the same industry-specific challenges. And if you’re new to this business, you may not yet have someone to turn to when faced with the myriad of decisions that come along with being in the promotional marketing industry.

Mentoring can be an invaluable resource, but publicly asking others for help can be difficult: It essentially requires you to admit to what feels like a personal shortcoming to someone that you most likely don’t know very well, if at all. We understand the reluctance some people may feel and how this may prevent making a connection. Given that, we’re always very congratulatory to those folks that apply to participate in the PromoKitchen Mentor Program. We also applaud those business owners who direct their employees to us for mentorship for their willingness to seek a community of peers in order to improve.

To ensure a continually growing and thriving mentorship experience, we want to break down the walls between the good work going on in our mentor pairs and the PromoKitchen community. By doing so, we give those of you active in our community a forum to ask that difficult question to which you may not be able to otherwise find an answer.

So, with that in mind, we’re proud to debut What’s Your Scenario?

Here’s how it works. You have a scenario. Submit a description of the situation to scenario@promokitchen.com. Each Monday, we will publish to our Facebook page a list of the submitted scenarios (names omitted) and allow the PromoKitchen community to determine which scenario is chosen for further discussion by way of a poll.

The chosen scenario is then submitted to select PromoKitchen mentor pairs, who will offer their perspectives on the scenario. As we gather results, we’ll publish them on PromoKitchen.com at What's Your Scenario. As many of the questions in this industry are of a similar nature, people newer to the business will have a chance to absorb the collective advice of other pros faced with the same challenge without the discomfort of admitting the need for help.

Additionally, Founding PromoKitchen Chef Jonathan Irvin is hosting a panel session of PromoKitchen Mentor Program participants at The PPAI Expo in Las Vegas. “Growing Together: A Panel Discussion with PromoKitchen Mentors and Mentees”  will be held Tuesday January 14 from 10:40 am - Noon in Lagoon H on Level 2 of the Mandalay Bay Convention Center. A link to the event can be found here.  Scenarios submitted between now and January 10 will serve as the foundation of the panel discussion.

Anyone interested in participation as a mentor or mentee, check out the PromoKitchen Mentor Program. Join us, won’t you?