Mentor/Mentee Friendship by Dayna Vital -Part 2

Colleen and I talked about meeting every couple of weeks, but once COVID-19 hit at the end of March, all of our pre-planning changed, as well as our employment status with Sole Miami Resort. Colleen had to pivot herself from the Travel & Resort industry and focused on building her Brand Photography business.  I found the much needed time to create handmade greeting cards as a side hustle. We still made time to “see” each other by having several ZOOM meetings to keep in touch during this time. 

Colleen offered me a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! She would photograph me as my Brand, in order to have professional photos for my business marketing, website, and social media, in exchange for editing her website before it officially launched. I love dressing up and badly needed to update my online presence and knew passing it up would NOT be a wise decision. So, I gladly accepted her offer and edited her new website so it was ready to launch. Side note; I was excited to experience my first Brand Photoshoot!

Due to the stay-at-home orders and NO activities in the past several months, I realized making hand made cards into a sustainable business was a long shot. So, I asked myself “what else could I do with my skills to make a profit?” I’ve always had a knack for words and friends say my writing style is unique. The light bulb went off,  I need to shift from cardmaking to copywriting, for my business.

They say great minds think alike, and I believe it to be true!  Apparently, Colleen was thinking the same thing. She proposed an idea, for us to transition into a mentor/mentee collaboration and try out a non-paid internship until the end of the year.  I would use my skills to write copy for her website’s blog and, in exchange for her expertise to help me build my copywriting/Virtual Assistant business. I was ecstatic, I realized this was a great opportunity to develop my skills, gain experience in copywriting, and use it to build an online business. 

Hence, a new journey in our relationship began.

by Dayna Vital

…to be continued