Business Mentoring 101: What Is It And How Can It Help You

“Show me a successful individual and I’ll show you someone who had real positive influences in his or her life. I don’t care what you do for a living—if you do it well I’m sure there was someone cheering you on or showing the way. A mentor.” — Denzel Washington

Actor Denzel Washington's words perfectly describe the role a mentor plays in someone's life - guiding and supporting them to achieve true success. And in the world of entrepreneurs and business owners, this role falls upon business mentors. 

Here you'll understand what a business mentor does, the benefits of having one for business owners, and how to find one. Read ahead:  

What Do Business Mentors Do?

Before we understand the role of a mentor in business, it's important to understand who exactly is a business mentor. 

A business mentor is an individual, usually a successful entrepreneur with considerable experience, who provides support, advice, and valuable insights on running a business to their mentees. Usually, these mentees are entrepreneurs themselves, but they're either new to the industry or the business. However, even established entrepreneurs may have business mentors. 

So what do business mentors do? They help a mentee's business development, by relying upon their years of industry experience and knowledge. This knowledge can have a direct impact on a mentee's business growth.

Global shipping and logistics services organization UPS surveyed over 180 business owners conducted and concluded that 70% of the entrepreneurs who underwent mentoring had businesses that survived for 5 or more years.

This is exactly why business mentors are so valuable. This is also what sets them apart from other mentors - individuals who may be able to provide well-meaning advice in general, but may not necessarily have the requisite knowledge or experience to guide a business' growth. 

Another key aspect of a business mentoring relationship is the sharing of resources and tools that can help mentees find the right solution to their business challenges.

However, it's important to not look at business mentoring as a one-way street where mentees simply follow a mentor's instructions. A successful mentorship relationship is always based on mutual respect and trust and is symbiotic in nature.

Yes, mentees benefit from a mentor's experience. But mentors can also learn from their mentees - they may gain a new perspective, learn new tactics, expand their business network, or put their knowledge to the test. In some cases, business mentors have even turned potential investors into a mentee's business and benefitted from the relationship. 

Benefits Of Having A Business Mentor

The financial technology company Kabbage surveyed 200 small businesses. As per the survey results, 92% of small businesses saw mentors directly impact growth and the survival of their businesses.

Clearly, the role of business mentorship in a business's growth and survival can't be ignored. While there are numerous, obvious benefits to having a business mentor, here's a look at some of the biggest advantages: 

i) Learning from someone's else' experience:

Experienced entrepreneurs offer invaluable advice that they've gained from running their own businesses. Mentees can learn from their extensive business experience and avoid making the same mistakes.

ii) Expanding your business network

Mentors can help mentees build broader business networks. Mentors can provide mentees access to their own professional network and even help them develop stronger industry associations. In many cases, mentees may not have access to these connections independently or may have to spend significant time and resources in building a connection.

iii) Potential opportunities 

Another benefit of mentorship is access to potential opportunities. Mentors can help their mentees find prospective clients and at times, even better business partners. Mentors who work with more than one mentee may connect two businesses or individuals who can benefit from each other. Mentors are also willing to set up meetings between acquaintances and mentees. 

iv) The outsider's perspective

Whether it's an important business decision, a new business idea, or a difficult business situation, mentors offer an outsider's perspective. This perspective can give mentees the validation they need when drawing new business plans, or help them improve business operations by seeing a problem in a different light. 

How To Find A Business Mentor

A good business mentor is a trusted advisor. But, where exactly can you find expert business mentors? Here are a few ways through which one may find a potential mentor in business: 

Attend meetups and networking events

Networking events are a great opportunity to not just build your network but also find mentors for business consulting. Individuals can search for specific networking programs or meets related to their field of expertise or industry. For example, a hiring meet is a great way to meet talent acquisition leaders. 

Join an incubator 

Business owners can also join incubator programs that not only provide support to new organizations and startups but also help entrepreneurs build the right connections. For example,  IIM Bangalore’s flagship business incubator NSRCEL. Many entrepreneurs have found mentors through incubator programs where they first pitched their startup idea and brought it to fruition.   

Enroll in mentoring programs

There are multiple formal mentorship programs that individuals can sign up for online. These mentoring programs often pair individuals with mentors best suited to their needs - be it business expansion, or otherwise. 

Tap into your own network

Our professional network is often full of individuals who could take on the role of a business mentor - be it a former colleague, a senior from college, or an ex-boss. Your college's alumni association is also a great way to connect with potential mentors. 

Ultimately, not every individual you reach out to may take on the role of a mentor - but there's no harm in asking and reaching out. Even if you don't find a mentor, you may still be able to expand your network and increase your business' reach.  

Questions To Ask A Business Mentor

There's no fixed template for the kind of questions business mentees can ask their mentors. And there's certainly no limit to the number of questions they can ask. However, here's a brief guide to the different stages one may encounter in a business mentoring relationship and the possible questions to ask at each stage: 

During the initial meeting

When mentees are still looking for a mentor, they should ask questions on how potential mentors can meet their questions they ask potential mentors should revolve around understanding if the mentor can be a good fit. A few questions that can be asked here are: 

• Can you share your experience in this industry?
• How much time will you be willing to give a new business? or How often would you want to meet? 
• Why did you decide on this field/to start your own venture?
• How do you stay motivated?
• What's your communication style?

After a short-term association

Once mentees have a dedicated business mentor, they can start asking questions that revolve around their business. Some of these questions can be: 

• What was your first impression of the business? 
• Is there anything wrong with our short-to-term business plan?
• What's a better way to prepare for meetings with investors?
• How regularly should we review the goals we discussed?
• Is there any networking advice that you can share with me?

After a long-term association

Once mentees have established an ongoing mentorship, questions can revolve around long-term associations. At this stage, mentees can focus on long-term business goals as well as areas of personal development that could make them better leaders. A few sample questions to ask at this stage are: 

• I wish to add a new vertical to the business. What kind of contingencies should I prepare for? OR how can we streamline our research activities? 
• How do you manage work-life balance?
• Are there areas I can improve on as a leader?
• How do you deal with failure? OR What can I do to mitigate the risk of failure?
• What are some skills I can work on?

If you look for success stories in the world of business, you will find that most, if not all of them, were influenced by a good mentor. Yes, finding a mentor who understands your business, is compatible with your working style, and can offer valuable insights is not the easiest task. But, the myriad benefits of a good mentor far outweigh the short-term challenges of finding one.

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