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Straight answers

Mentoring is not coaching.
Here is the actual difference.

Two questions come up more than any others: what separates a mentor from a coach, and how do you know the person you are about to book is who they say they are. Both deserve a real answer rather than a brochure one.

01 — In the wider world

The professional distinction

These are established disciplines with their own bodies, training and ethics. This is how the professions themselves draw the line — before we say anything about our own platform.

Mentoring

Someone who has done it tells you what they learned.

Expertise
In your field. A mentor is chosen because they have held a role like the one you are heading towards.
What they do
Advise. They answer from experience — what they did, what it cost, what they would do differently.
Shape
A relationship. Usually open-ended, led by what you are facing right now.
Good for
Entering a field, judgement calls, knowing what "normal" looks like, who to talk to.
Credential
Their track record. There is no licence to be a mentor.
Coaching

A trained practitioner asks until you find your own answer.

Expertise
In the process. A good coach does not need to have held your job to be useful to you.
What they do
Ask. Coaching deliberately withholds advice and uses structured questioning instead.
Shape
An engagement. Time-bound, with a goal agreed at the start and measured at the end.
Good for
A specific goal, a behaviour you want to change, performance you can define.
Credential
Often formal — bodies such as the ICF certify coaches against a competency framework.

The shortest version: a mentor tells you what they did. A coach asks you what you will do.

02 — On Visnavigans

What you are actually booking

We are a mentoring platform. Every person you can book here was selected for having done the work — not for holding a coaching qualification. Concretely, this is what that gets you.

01

You pick a person, not a curriculum

Browse by field and read their background before you commit to anything. You are choosing whose experience you want, which is the whole premise.

02

You book a real session, by the hour

A private one-to-one video session of a set length, at a time you both pick. You pay for that session — there is no subscription running quietly in the background.

03

They look at your actual work

Bring a case, a draft, a decision you are stuck on. Mentors can set assignments and review what you submit, which is the part a video course structurally cannot do.

04

It continues between sessions

Message them here between bookings. Everything stays on the platform, which is what lets us stand behind the relationship if something goes wrong.

Where coaching fits

A mentor may bring coaching methods into a session where they judge those will help — a structured goal, an accountability check, a focused exercise. That is a technique being used well, not a coaching engagement. If what you genuinely need is a certified coach working to a coaching framework, we would rather tell you that than take the booking.

03 — Trust

How we verify a mentor

"Verified" means almost nothing on the internet — on some sites it means a confirmed email address. So here is precisely what it means here, and precisely what it does not.

✓What we do

  • A person reads every application. Professional background, the areas they want to mentor in, and a supporting credential document. It is reviewed, not scored by a machine.
  • Approval comes before any mentee. Until then they cannot be booked, cannot message anyone, and do not appear in search. You cannot create a mentor account yourself — that review is the point.
  • Approved mentors carry a badge. So you can tell at a glance who has been through it rather than who merely signed up.
  • We hold the money. You pay Visnavigans and we pay the mentor afterwards. No mentor ever needs your card details, so none has a reason to ask.
  • Mentors sign up to keep it here. No soliciting you off the platform, no payment outside it, no swapping contact details to continue elsewhere. Messages have personal details removed automatically, and sessions may be recorded and reviewed — with everyone’s agreement — to check that holds.
  • Reporting someone costs you nothing. If a mentor asks for your personal email, asks to be paid directly, or behaves in a way that worries you, tell us. It will never affect your access or your money.

×What we do not do

  • We are not a background-check service and we do not run criminal records checks.
  • We do not independently audit professional licences with the issuing body.
  • We do not verify employment history with past employers.

If your organisation needs any of those before staff work with an external mentor, tell us — we can arrange it for a cohort. We would rather say this plainly here than let you assume it.

Still deciding which you need?

Tell us what you are trying to get better at and we will say honestly whether a mentor here is the right call.

Browse mentors Ask us first