How To Find A Great Business Mentor

Finding a great mentor can benefit any small business owner immensely. You benefit from first-hand experience, learning from someone who has been in your shoes before. With a mentor, you can learn from past mistakes without having to make them yourself. Mentorship is a relationship built on learning and trust.

With a mentor, business owners have someone who they can trust to confide in. Whether they need advice on a bad situation, new ideas, a new business direction, or financial advice, a mentor is a great go-to figure. A great mentor can help your business grow further than if you were on your own.

The trick to getting the most out of your mentor is finding the right one. A great mentor can be the best thing for your business. Some say that finding a good mentor is like finding a needle in a haystack, but with these 3 tips to finding a great mentor, your search will be a little bit easier.

1. Take the time to find the right one

Patience is key when it comes to finding a mentor. You need to take the time vetting any prospective mentors so that you get a mentor who is right for your business and its situation. To know whether a mentor is right for your business look at what you want out of the mentor and how they relate to your current situation.

Do you need someone to help your business through the early stages? Then you may want to look for someone who can provide advice for surviving the early few years. Maybe they have started multiple successful businesses, and so, are experienced in these early stages. For this kind of mentorship, you may need someone you can touch base with regularly.

If you want to start a business in a niche industry, like IT or entertainment, you will need someone with Industry experience. Look for someone with a lot of experience in growing businesses in your industry.

2. Know what exactly you need help with

Go to your prospective mentor with your biggest pain point. Needing help with “everything” is too broad, by narrowing it down you can find a mentor who can help you fix the biggest point holding your business back. Generally, it is rare to find someone who is a master of everything, this is why you need to find a mentor who is an expert in the problem you want to be solved.

If you are looking for financial advice, look for an experienced financial coach. If you are looking to expand into a certain industry, look for a mentor who is an expert in that industry. The trick is to find what you want your business to be, then look at what is holding you back, find a mentor who can help you beat what is holding you back.

3. Ask questions

You want to ensure that your mentor is the right fit for you. You also want to learn the most from your mentor. The way to achieve both is to ask questions.

While the prospective mentor may seem great at face value, to be sure they are what you are looking for, ask questions. Ask hard-hitting questions. You want to be sure they are worth your time, that you can trust them, and that they will provide value to your business. Ask about their results, testimonials, how they think they can help you, and more.

If you are unhappy with their responses, then you should keep looking. You must be sure that you have found the right mentor to be able to trust them and learn from them.

Conclusion

A mentor is a vital part of any business owner’s professional network. Having someone who is more experienced than yourself to learn from, bounce ideas off, and look to for advice, can help you make the right decisions when growing your business.

Often, many businesses are looking for financial advice to help them take back control of their business. If this is you give us a call today.