Do I need any Mentor, for my startup?
I am handling my business well. Still, I need a mentor?
I know everything about my product, as I am from a technical background. Why mentor?
The answer to all these questions is YES.
Who is Mentor?
First of all, let us understand Who is a Mentor?
A mentor is someone who offers their knowledge, experience, and advice to those who are less experienced. A mentor is your experienced and trusted advisor.
Is Mentor is a Coach?
No.
A Coach is a person who trains people to achieve a particular task.
e.g. An athlete coach will help his or her students or clients to compete in a marathon or in Olympic games. The relationship is for a particular period and is finite.
A mentor is someone with which you can develop a long-term relationship that is centered around building the mentee’s growth and development. A mentor does not work on a day-to-day basis to help a mentee make decisions, but they are there to serve as someone who can offer support, wisdom, and teaching over time.
Most startup founders as well as small business owners, hesitate to have a mentor. May be based on their past experiences.
One needs to take hard efforts to get a mentor. As every business is different, the mentor required for a particular business has to be different. Right?
We cannot offer the mentorship of our business to that person who is mentoring my friend, or relative. In simple words, be more cautious, while choosing the mentor.
List down why I need the mentor? In which area I require it the most? What must be the experience area of the mentor?
Why I need a Mentor?
For startups and small industries, Mentors play a key role in overall organizational development. By increasing their own experience and skills, mentors steer the oriented in the right direction.
Source of Knowledge and Experience: You may think all types are knowledge is available, in a click, over Google. Yes, It is. But, not sufficient to run the business or achieve growth.
Mentors share their knowledge and experience with you so that you can learn from their experience. You can then apply these lessons to your life as a student and in personal and professional settings. We cannot find these lessons, in any management book.
Making mistakes in school or business is inevitable. However, you can learn lessons from your mentor’s past experiences and stories so that you can avoid making big errors in your own life.
Professional Network: Networking is the soul of the business. You may have a professional network. Mentors can introduce with the 'right' connection. They are well connected in professional networks, which will help to broaden your business network and expand the business.
Assures Growth: Mentors help you to grow, in business as well as in your personal life. Mentor share their knowledge and experience with you so that you can learn from their experience. These experiences are equally applicable to your professional and personal life.
Support System: When you need to ask someone’s opinion on a big decision, you can turn to your trusted mentor for advice
Mentors are not only advisors. But, they are the support system for your business. They redirect you towards the goal. Also provides the encouragement to take risks and believe in yourself.
Help you to stay in business: The failure rate of startups is a big issue. Only 22 % of startups are able to survive, in the first two years, as per the surveys.
But, 30 % of mentored businesses survive for more than five years. It highlights the need and necessity of having a mentor, to run a business.