Jono and Kirsty Rowe on the Importance of Mentorship

Jono and Kirsty Rowe are rising entrepreneurs and influencers in the New Zealand business landscape. Their innovative relationship-based approach to business has been key to their success. In just a short time, Jono and Kirsty have gone from fledgling entrepreneurs to running a host of successful businesses, achieving financial freedom and becoming leaders in their community. And this is all while raising 4 children at home.

Jono and Kirsty Rowe are proving that individuals and couples around New Zealand, Australia and beyond can achieve financial freedom and entrepreneurial success from their own homes, no matter the circumstances.

What’s the secret behind the Rowes’ approach to business? According to this power couple, mentorship is at the core of success in business, relationships and personal fulfillment.

It’s not surprising that mentorship is central to the relationship-based business model that Jono and Kirsty have built. But their unique approach to mentorship—how it cultivates real financial and leadership results—may not be what you expect.

Below are some of Jono and Kirsty’s thoughts on mentorship and how their approach to interpersonal support can foster stellar growth.

Defining Values

Jono and Kirsty Rowe believe that mentorship is not about making friends or even meeting goals. It goes deeper than that. The role of a mentor is to help their mentee define their values and make good decisions filtering through those values. Then, the mentee can begin to live life according to those values.

Defining and understanding your values is like shining a light on your path forward in life. Acting on those values causes the mentee to stand out among their peers.

This is easier said than done. Jono puts it best:

“Everyone has values, but how often do we proactively and mindfully dig into what those values mean? And how often do we find ourselves acting totally against our values due to convenience, laziness or societal pressure? What’s even harder is that we don’t often understand our value and worth from our own personal perspective.”

A mentor offers much-needed perspective, bringing the mentee’s strengths into the forefront and encouraging them to live by those strengths.

Breaking the Norm

A funny thing happens when a mentor helps a mentee define their values. Usually, the mentee finds that their values are different from the box that society has tried to put them into. The next challenge is to break out of the norm and live life according to one’s values and not what society demands.

Jono and Kirsty Rowe found themselves shoved into this same box. Only a few years ago, they were working around the clock and barely had time for their children, or each other. Without effective mentorship, they might still be working 80-hour weeks, struggling financially from week to week, and wasting away valuable time in front of the latest TV drama series or mindlessly scrolling social media.

Kirsty explains:

“We weren’t happy with the outcome that was ahead of us if we kept doing what we were doing. We worked long hours and felt exhausted and frustrated at weekends. Our mentors helped us see the bigger picture and think about the long-term outcome as a result of our current daily actions. We were living someone else’s dream and spending most of our waking hours building it for them. We were being very small-minded about our possibilities and our potential. Our mentors could see that even when we couldn’t.”

Since aligning with their values, Jono and Kirsty have been more successful and happier than they ever were before. But they couldn’t have done it without the support of their mentors during their transition to a life of financial freedom. This goes far beyond a financial position for them as it’s more about the choices they have to make decisions based on values.

Now, Jono and Kirsty have taken it upon themselves to mentor other couples and individuals on a global scale in their journey to empower and equip others to build a legacy of their own through financial independence.

Cooperation over Competition

Jono and Kirsty Rowe’s innovative and holistic mentorship style has led many others in New Zealand and Australia to pay off personal debt, manage their time more effectively, and focus on their family values of financial independence and a life of freedom for themselves. This is because mentorship extends beyond financial success. Mentorship as a business practice embraces cooperation and collaboration, doing life together.

The current corporate structure in the 21st century is built on old-school industrial-aged thinking, endless ladder climbing, positional relationships, and secrecy. Jono and Kirsty have rejected this system and believe that success comes from strong relationships through the right association.

The Rowes’ relationship-based business structure helps mentees and partners understand their value through mentorship. These collaborators then develop their own capacity and skill set to overflow that value to others as they grow in partnership with Jono and Kirsty.

This system of collaboration and positivity has led to rapid growth for Jono and Kirsty’s businesses and those of their mentees. This is largely due to the strong relationships, perspective and honesty that mentorship brings to each business endeavour.

The Importance of Accountability

Of course, mentorship isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. Success follows failure, and frustrations can arise as people grow and stretch themselves. Growth doesn’t happen in the comfort zone. It’s only natural for people to stray from their values and make mistakes. This is where an effective accountability framework is absolutely critical to effective mentoring.

Jono and Kirsty pursued mentors who showed them this “hard love” early on in their journey. The couple had defined their values and made a game plan, but struggled to get focused and apply themselves consistently.

“We were talking a big game”, said Jono. “But we hadn’t learned how to really apply ourselves. Our mentor told us what we needed to hear rather than what we wanted to hear.”

That’s one aspect of mentorship that makes it so valuable. Friends and family are often overly comforting and kind—they don’t want to offend. Mentors tell their mentees hard truths that they need to hear. Those hard truths are the catalysts of growth, according to the Rowes.

Friends and family love you for who you are, but a mentor loves you too much to leave you where you are.

A Growing Community

Now that Jono and Kirsty Rowe have achieved their own financial independence and entrepreneurial success, they’ve dedicated themselves to spreading their message of legacy and impact through mentorship. Both experienced mentors, Jono and Kirsty have helped many couples and families to define their values and take charge of their lives.

“We’re thrilled to have helped couples pay off tens of thousands of dollars of debt,” remarked Kirsty. “Others have built their own successful businesses and now collaborate with us regularly. There’s nothing more fulfilling than being a part of this community of mutual respect and accountability. And it all starts with mentorship.” 

Jono and Kirsty Rowe continue to grow their business portfolio while working with their mentees regularly. They speak and write at length on mentorship and other topics on The Legacy Academy Podcast and jonoandkirstyrowe.com.