FINDING A 5-STAR BUSINESS MENTOR

The best business mentors are within your reach. See how to find them.

Find these qualities in your business mentors, and the sky is your starting point.

“Associating with Mrs Goodwill is my biggest mistake,” Felicia told her friend Margaret. She started her POS and financial solutions business a few years ago. After struggling for a while, Felicia asked Mrs Goodwill, a veteran in the field, to be her business mentor. After three months under Mrs Goodwill’s mentoring, Felicia noticed that she was not growing. She also noticed that she had started meddling in some illegal deals, which put her in a lot of trouble.

 It is good to have business mentors.  Endeavour, a leading entrepreneurship movement globally, states that companies whose founders had mentors have three times more possibility to be high performers. That said, you need to be careful. You do not want your situation to be a frying pan to fire one. When seeking out business mentors, make sure to look out for these five qualities.

WHAT TO LOOK OUT FOR

Share the same values and philosophies

Can two people walk together without agreeing on a direction?

Amos 3:3NLT

In your search for a business mentor, you need to be sure about your values and principles. You need to identify them in yourself before you can recognize them in someone else. It is easy to get carried away by appearances, results and success stories. Ask yourself, “Am I proud of the way this person handles business?” The answer would make you know whether to forge ahead with the person or hold back. You do not want to involve yourself with someone of whom you are not proud. Does the person value honesty, loyalty, decorum and so on? Before choosing a business mentor, answer all these questions beyond any reasonable doubt.

Sacrificial

It is one thing for a person to qualify as a mentor; it is another to sacrifice their time for the relationship. A business mentor is most likely a business owner also, with a schedule of their own. You have to be sure that they are willing to make out time for you. Putting apart time for you is a considerable sacrifice a business mentor must be ready to make.

Success stories

If you needed to go to the doctor and you have two options. One doctor with a good track record and another with no such description, who would you patronize? We both know the answer. It should be no different when trying to find a mentor, especially for your business. Make sure you have evidence testifying the success of the person in that field. Be sure that you are not going into a business mentorship unaware.

Trust

It would be best if you did not associate yourself with a mentor you do not trust. Remember that you will be sharing your ideas and plans with this person. You do not want a case where you will have to file a lawsuit against your mentor for intellectual property. Make sure your business mentor is a person of integrity and is trustworthy.

Great men like Warren Buffet unlocked the secret of business by getting mentors. You should follow in their steps. Find these qualities in your business mentors, and the sky is your starting point.

Thank you for reading. Do you have any business mentors? Please tell me in the comment section.