My questions about discipleship

For some years I have pondered the question of
discipleship.  I have to confess, discipling others has been something of a mystery to me.  I know the theory, but have always
had questions about it. 

Discipling someone is usually portrayed as helping a baby in
Christ towards maturity.  Maybe my questions are because I became
a Christian on my own at age 11 from reading a book and didn’t really know any
other Christians for many years. 
Yet the Holy Spirit kept me. 
Would I have benefited from some further instruction?  Undoubtedly!  But during those years on my own, I grew in Christ, having only
the Bible and the Holy Spirit to help me mature.  (I’m not even sure where I gathered the idea that the Bible
was important—the Holy Spirit maybe?)

So my question is this?  Is the process of "making disciples" literally introducing someone to a life of following Jesus (hearing and obeying him), and sharing life will help them to grow, or is "making a disciple" a much longer process that only ends when a person is mature.  I'd be interested to know what you think.