The life of an entrepreneur is exciting because of freedom to go it alone and create something on your own.
While you have a great idea, you may not know exactly what you should be doing with your business at each point in time to develop it into a sustainable venture.
Successful entrepreneurs have several mentors over the years and learn a large amount of valuable lessons from each and every one of them. From not making certain business decisions to fostering certain partnerships, a mentor can help guide you through your entrepreneurial journey.
Here are five reasons why you need someone like a mentor.
Mentors provide information and knowledge. As Benjamin Franklin said, “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.” Most young entrepreneurs set out without any idea of what is involved in running a business, including making a business plan, budgeting, handling daily operations, making strategic decisions or running a marketing campaign. With a mentor there from the start, a budding entrepreneur taps into a wealth of knowledge that gets them up to speed faster and shortens the learning curve.
Mentors can see where you need to improve where you often cannot. Movie maker George Lucas noted, “Mentors have a way of seeing more of our faults that we would like. It is the only way we grow.” They will always be brutally honest with you and tell you exactly how it is rather than downplay any weaknesses they see in you.
Mentors find ways to stimulate your personal and professional growth. Another famous movie director explained, “The delicate balance of mentoring someone is not creating them in your own image, but giving them the opportunity to create themselves.” Mentors prod you on and challenge you to solve problems, find answers to questions that you would ordinarily not do yourself.
A mentor would set various goals for the mentee and let them loose to see if they could accomplish them on their own, all the while watching from a distance to see how these projects help the mentee to develop. Afterwards, the mentor sits down to tell the mentee what they had observed about through the project process, what they thought was worth keeping – and definitely what the mentee would immediately throw out.
Mentors offer encouragement and help to keep you going. Inspirational entrepreneur Oprah Winfrey stated, “A mentor is someone who allows you to see the hope inside yourself.” They are there no matter what and offer moral support sprinkled heavily with cheerleading. However, some mentors would not let you stop but provide the encouragement and guidance that give you hope and confidence to do whatever is asked of you.
Mentors are disciplinarians that create necessary boundaries that you cannot set for yourself. Mentors offer a lot of tough love. They do this because they understand that being an entrepreneur can be challenging when it comes to self-motivation and self-discipline. They take on this role of parent to teach mentees good work habits and provide the boundaries for them to work within.
STEPHEN ONYEKWELU
