An entrepreneur mentor is a person who accompanies you in the development and growth of your business, regardless of the stage it is in. He shares his teachings with you to provide you with clear guidance on the steps to take to achieve your goal.
It’s normal. Most of us haven’t been taught how to run a company.
And we were wrong.
The entrepreneur mentor has his own experience, and that of other professionals he has worked with, to help you avoid making the same mistakes. He provides you with safe shortcuts.
It brings you clarity in a world with so much noise. With so many marketing alternatives (funnels, email sequences, lead magnets, social networks, advertising, blogs), it helps you find the most appropriate strategy for you according to your needs.
Differences between entrepreneur mentor, coach, advisor, and consultant
An important thing to consider when choosing your entrepreneur mentor is to know exactly what they can offer you. A key aspect is to identify how they differ from a consultant. Both provide you with a strategy, but they do not do it in the same way.
So what are the differences between these two figures? Who should you turn to?
Specialized consultant
A consultant is a person with specific expertise in a particular area. For example, marketing. Their goal is to provide you with a ready-made solution to a problem you have.
In other words, when you hire a marketing consultant because you lack strategy, they will analyze your situation and deliver the plan you need. They will present you with solutions, but rarely will they implement them.
Advisor in a subject
Often, the advisor is also a consultant, but the service he provides you is different. Instead of giving you the documentation containing your solution, he informs you about it in a personal session, over the phone, or by video conference.
Sessions are usually short (approximately 15 minutes) and focus on resolving questions about a specific topic. Continuing with the example above, the advisor will tell you what steps you should take to design your strategy.
Executive Coach
Coaching focuses on the personal and professional growth of each individual involved in the transformation process. The executive coach guides you through those questions that only you can answer, but he does so through questions that will lead you to the answer.
If your problem is that you lack strategy in your business, the coach will ask you questions related to where you would like to go in your life, what you want to achieve, how you want to achieve it, etc. So, in this way, you can gradually build a strategy.
Entrepreneur mentor
Finally, a mentor is someone who is in the position you would like to be in the coming months or years. They have extensive experience that they share with you without holding back any information. They guide you on a professional level, but they have a personal involvement in your business.
During the mentoring process, he or she keeps track of your achievements and helps you overcome obstacles that may appear on your path.
An entrepreneur mentor will help you organize your ideas, set short- and long-term goals, and support you in achieving them.
But remember: you will have to be the one to implement the actions you establish. The goal is for you to learn as much as possible from this person so that, later on, you can face new challenges with the tools they provided you.
It is also good advice to have several mentors in your life, who can provide you with different points of view and experiences. Of course, allow some time between one and the other so that you can assimilate the knowledge you are acquiring.
When should I hire an entrepreneur mentor?
If you are committed enough to yourself and your company, there are three key moments in entrepreneurship when it is advisable to have a mentor:
- You want to start a business. You may want to start your own business and make a living from your own project. Maybe because you want to balance your work life without giving up your professional career or because you want to be the master of your time. But what are the steps you need to take to create a company from scratch? A mentor will accompany you in this process.
- You need to pivot your business. Sometimes, we start a business without a clear objective or strategy. We launch ourselves without defining our vision for the coming years and there comes a time when we realize that we lack that previous structure. Or that, perhaps, we want to offer new services. At this stage, an entrepreneur mentor will help you define your brand story, your services or products, and your content to position yourself where you want to be.
- You are looking to scale and automate. If you already have a business with stable and recurring income and you want to evolve, an entrepreneur mentor can help you in this phase to learn new techniques and design a strategy that helps you multiply the results of your business.
How to choose your mentor: key points to keep in mind
When you decide to hire an entrepreneur mentor to help you grow your business, you have to take into account a series of aspects that will be key to achieving your success:
You must have previous experience
For a mentor to help you, he or she must first have experience, either personally or with clients, in the area that you need to develop and improve. He or she must become an example of success with his or her own business.
Your profile must be close
It has to be a person you can relate to from the start. Otherwise, you’ll have a barrier that will prevent you from learning from them. Look for videos they’ve posted, have a free session to talk to them, and if you feel that connection, go for it.
It will push you out of your comfort zone
If you want to grow your business, you have to be willing to try different actions. Specifically, you hire an experienced outsider to guide and accompany you.
Think that, to obtain different results, you have to stop always doing the same thing.
Transmits confidence
A good mentor must give you the confidence necessary to be willing to carry out the actions he or she suggests.
Throughout the mentoring process, you will encounter mental limitations that you will have to overcome to move forward. Therefore, trusting your mentor and the goals and steps you are setting together is important for the mentoring process to be a success.
Accompany you and support you emotionally
And, precisely because during mentoring we leave our comfort zone, sometimes you will feel turbulence and you will feel like giving up everything. But that is where the greatest value of the mentor lies. You will have him available to support you when you need it.
I’m sure you’ll encounter moments when impostor syndrome creeps in. Your mentor will have the keywords that can help you overcome the fear that paralyzes many entrepreneurs.
In addition to these factors for choosing an entrepreneur mentor, there are others related to methodology and way of working. Some of the issues you will have to consider are:
- Number of mentoring sessions.
- Whether it is in person or online.
- Resolution of doubts between sessions.
- Working methodology.
- Extra materials included.
However, all these aspects that I point out and that are essential when choosing a mentor will not be of much use if when you want someone to accompany you to create your business, you do not do your part.
The mentor is a figure who will accompany you and help you shorten the path to success, but you will have to work for achievements to occur.
Are you committed to your business? Do you want to unleash your potential? Go further with your business? It’s time for you to hire an entrepreneur mentor.