The transition to mentoring is a way to continue my passion for business and use my skills and knowledge to help other people achieve their dreams.

With a degree in economics and experience in media and advertising, at the age of 25, I started to dream of being an entrepreneur. It worked out. Raluca Andrenacci invested in and developed businesses in various fields in Romania, learned, and developed her business skills and knowledge. Seven years ago, she decided it was time to take her entrepreneurial experience into another role, that of a mentor and coach. She now works with business people in Romania, helping them make changes in their lives, invest intelligently, and seize the opportunities they encounter.

“The coach-client relationship is very important and should be one of trust, honesty, and collaboration, and if it’s mentoring, it’s very important to have similar experiences or expertise in the client’s field of action. ‘I’ve been there’ is crucial in the client’s choice of mentor.”

With Raluca Andrenacci, we will discuss coaching and mentoring in the following paragraphs, learn the difference between the two, and how each helps in a professional change process.

The path to coaching and mentoring
At the age of 25, with a degree in economics and experience in media and advertising, in the late 90s, I dreamed of creating business opportunities. With the help of intuition and curiosity, I decided to open a real estate agency. With the money earned from the commission as the manager of the advertising sales division at Mediapro, I furnished my first office. Two years later, I became a vacation apartment developer by the sea, a situation based solely on the opportunities I had at that time “in my pocket,” as I like to define it. In the following years, with a portion of the profits from the sale of apartments, I expanded my family’s business into the hospitality industry by creating new investment concepts in restaurants like beach clubs or boutique hotels.

I took my entrepreneurial experience into a new role, that of a mentor coach, because it is quite common for entrepreneurs to turn their attention to coaching or mentoring after experiencing the business world. Entrepreneurs can excel in business, but sometimes they want to share their experiences and knowledge with others, helping them avoid the mistakes they made in the past and grow their businesses.

For me, the transition to mentoring is a way to continue my passion for business and use my skills and knowledge to help other people achieve their dreams. Bringing prosperity to those around me has become a mission for the second half of my life.

How coaching works. What it is and what it is not
Coaching is a process of personal and professional development that focuses on the individual goals of the client. The coach is a partner who helps clients achieve their goals and develop the skills necessary to improve their performance. In general, the coach does not provide solutions or advice but helps clients find their own solutions and strategies to achieve their goals.

The difference between coaching and mentoring
On the other hand, mentoring is a process in which an experienced person guides and advises those who want to learn and develop. The mentor can offer advice and personal experiences to help the mentee understand and develop their skills and achieve their goals.

In conclusion, coaching and mentoring are two different processes, but both aim to develop the personal and professional growth of the client/mentee. The coach and mentor are partners who help others develop and achieve their goals through the skills and knowledge gained over time.

The most common challenges entrepreneurs face in these times
In a dynamic business environment like the one I started in, namely the real estate market, the main idea is to know what you want and have a solid development or exit plan. Otherwise, you can risk losing valuable opportunities along the way and facing major problems. If you have unrealistic expectations about your resources, competition knowledge, or the value of your business, or if the chosen moment for development or exit is not the right one, then there is a consequence of devaluing your chances of success.

Who are your clients?
Clients who have complex assets, such as real estate, investments, and businesses in various fields. These clients expect a mentor to help them manage these assets efficiently, identify investment opportunities, minimize risks, learn to manage their personal lives in harmony with their professional lives.

Business people and entrepreneurs who run their own businesses and need a mentor to help them optimize their strategies and maximize their profits, gain clarity about the structure and planning of their business, as well as solutions and feedback.

Families and individuals with above-average incomes, but not necessarily large fortunes. These clients need a mentor to help them manage their income and investments efficiently, plan for the future, and ensure that they achieve their long-term goals.

I add my expertise related to young successors in family businesses, with whom I prepare the takeover and integration plan into the family business structure. There are also special cases that make me feel honored, especially when at the end of the program, the client has offered me a share of the company’s shares to involve me permanently as a partner, thanks to the trust created and the results exceeding expectations.

In general, I can work with a variety of clients, but it is important for the mentor to adapt their strategies and approaches to the needs and goals of each individual client, which come from their own expertise and experiences.

The coach-client relationship
The coach-client relationship is very important and should be one of trust, honesty, and collaboration, and if it’s a mentor, it’s very important to have similar experiences or expertise in the client’s field of action. ‘I’ve been there’ is crucial in the client’s choice of mentor.

Coaching for change
In general, coaching can help a person/entrepreneur make a significant change in their professional life by identifying clear goals, developing a specific action plan, and monitoring progress to achieve those goals. Additionally, coaching can provide a safe and supportive space to explore and overcome obstacles and challenges that may arise during the change process.

What does a mentoring program with you involve?
If your desire for change is accompanied by uncertainty and no matter how hard you try, clarity is slow to appear, the solution is to accept guidance. The mentoring program I propose provides the tools needed to maintain your inner motivation, establish a strategy, and evaluate the capacity you can channel toward your desired goals.

Imagine that, during our mentoring sessions, you see the entire situation clearly and from multiple perspectives. Will it ultimately help you make the best decision? I believe it will!

I support personalized one-on-one and remote mentoring programs for individuals looking to improve their performance, leverage their skills, and maximize their potential. Clients who appreciate practical expertise, a focus on strategy, motivation, action, and the ability to provide clarity, knowledge, guidance, and new perspectives will gain guidance and feedback, validation, new perspectives, and new knowledge.

The mindset of a successful person
To have an interesting and successful life, a person’s mindset must be open, curious, and full of energy. I consider several attributes that need to be recognized, explored, and developed, which can contribute to a successful life: courage, confidence, curiosity, resilience, creativity, discipline, intuition, and last but not least, networking.

The importance of a coherent communication strategy in a business
It is important for a company to have a coherent and planned communication strategy to ensure the consistency of messages conveyed inside and outside the company. This strategy must consider the target audience and the communication channels used to ensure that messages reach the right recipients as efficiently as possible. In addition, a well-defined strategy can help increase the visibility of the company and build a strong brand image. Building strong relationships with customers and business partners can also give a company a competitive advantage.

What is your communication strategy as an entrepreneur and business coach? Effective communication of my differentiating factor is essential in a competitive environment by offering unique, customized packages together with practical experiences or by using innovative personal branding tools. Like any brand component, my programs cannot be copied, and I value that because of the diverse expertise I have gained from years of entrepreneurship. Networking and personal branding are two important aspects of my success. First and foremost, I communicate to those who know me about my professional development as a mentor, and then I engage in building relationships with other professionals through networking events.

Furthermore, building trusted relationships with existing clients reinforces my position and ensures the loyalty of clients who become the first promoters to recommend and validate me. Last but not least, I learn and get inspired by my son about all the technology-related news in the field of online communication.

The business community in Romania from a distance

Seven years ago, I exited all my businesses, keeping only the portfolio of real estate assets, and decided to offer myself a new challenge, that of living in Italy where I could dedicate time to family and personal development. I continued to work with entrepreneurs in Romania and constantly informed myself about all the changes. Education for young people is essential for individual and societal development and should be provided and updated for free and continuously by the state. However, in recent years, during mentoring sessions, I have noticed a significant change in the needs of entrepreneurs for specialized educational programs and the desire of young people, especially for financial, social, legal education, and as many practical projects as possible so that they can be assimilated more easily into the labor market after completing their studies. In conclusion, I am delighted to be part of the change through my special mentoring programs with family business members and to contribute to repositioning Romanian capital firms through the changes and vision brought by the first generation of successors prepared by foreign schools in all fields, but with a majority in Business Management.