What is a Business Mentor?
Business mentors lever their knowledge and experience to providing advice, counsel, network contacts and ongoing personal support and encouragement to Founders, CEOs and Executive Management teams.
Having a mentor someone who has trodden the same path before you is of immense value to an entrepreneur because the advice that they give will be borne out of a similar experience to your own journey. However be prepared for your mentor to tell you what you need to hear, which may not be what you want to hear!
“There is plenty of evidence that the fastest way to business success is by piggybacking on the counsel of men and women who have already spent years learning how to make businesses succeed” Brian Tracy, How to Earn What You’re Worth.
Why do entrepreneurs need mentors?
The UK Department for Business Innovation and Skills says “70 per cent of small businesses that receive mentoring survive for five years or more – double the rate compared with non-mentored entrepreneurs”.
Working with a mentor can kick-start or re-invigorate your plans, giving you immediate access to impartial advice, relevant experience, and a great network of contacts. Mentors can help shape and develop a company in many ways, including securing the most appropriate funding, establishing strategic partnerships, developing product strategy, expanding sales, developing appropriate marketing strategies, recruiting the best talent and adding overall brand value to the company. A mentor will help a founder maximize the value of their business.