Excitement
Excitement gets the juices running, and motivation to do all the right work for your application and auditors visit. Fear shuts people down, and stops the dreams. It can put us into a freeze situation; where we stop everything, or a flight situation; where we run away from what we are doing. In both situations we are unable to find the courage to move forward with the RTO development.
Fear
Fear is often present when setting up your RTO, because fear’s a way to ensure compliance. “Do this,” the auditor/regulator/well-meaning friend threatens, “or you won’t pass your audit.”
The thing is, learning to build a business is difficult. If it was easy, you’d already know everything you need to know. And if you could do it on your own, you wouldn’t need the time or expense to do it with others.
But when we try to learn something new on our own, we often get stuck.
It’s not because of fear, it’s because of tension.
Tension
Tension is what we face when we get confused, or feel overwhelm, and it usually is when people stop and fail to continue. Tension however is great signal; it is the time when we’re about to cross a threshold. It is that break through moment when we finally are getting what we need to know.
Tension is the hallmark of a great educational experience. The tension of not quite knowing where we are in the process, not being sure of the final outcome, not having a guarantee that it’s about to happen. So we let fear take control.
As adults we willingly expose ourselves to the tension of a great circus act, or a football game or a thrilling movie. So why do we stop when it is about learning something new?
Has your RTO dream stopped?
As someone who is setting up your own RTO and an adult learner you need to actively seek out this tension, because it works. It pushes us over the chasm to the other side. A trainer who builds that tension and get people to the other side, are special, and do it on purpose to see your gains.
I’ve been working with people setting up their own RTO for over 9 years, and in that time have seen hundreds of people consider the dream, and maybe even start it. Some of them see the tension coming and eagerly dive in, asking for reflection, and feedback. Others mistake that tension for fear and back away, promising themselves that they’ll get back to it later.
Tension pays off 
The ones who leapt are transformed. The tension pays off.
At RTO Mentor we’re proud of the tension we create. We build it from the start, realising that education is never about easy access to information, it’s about the forward motion of learning. It is important to us that you are part of the journey.
So if your still considering setting up your own RTO, then the hesitation comes from knowing that a process of tension works. That the unknown is right over there, and to get yourself there, you have to walk through a few months’ worth of tension. That’s the best way I know to learn. And so that’s the way we assist you through the RTO process.
