Hiring the right business mentor can streamline your business success, offer you invaluable guidance and as a result, increase your profit margins.
Many very successful business founders and entrepreneurs have reached great heights of success under the guidance of a business mentor. Take Facebook CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg for example, Zuckerberg was mentored by the one and only Steve Jobs and to this day Microsoft Founder Bill Gates considers investment mogul Warren Buffet his mentor.
As an entrepreneur, the right business mentor can become the best investment you’ve ever made, but hiring the wrong one can have disastrous consequences.
The purpose of a business mentor is to first and foremost help you to grow as a person because your business success is a direct reflection of your own personal development. This is something I tell all my prospective clients during our initial interviewing stage. If an entrepreneur is ready to do the inner work – I’m ready to help them.
If you’re considering working with a business mentor, here’s some key questions you need to ask yourself when going through the hiring process.
Alignment – is this person aligned with me on a values level?
A mentor is going to get to know you very well, if they don’t get to know you well then they aren’t doing their job properly. A business mentor is mentoring you – not your business. They are helping you grow and develop because your business success is always a reflection of your own inner work. The mentor is there to support and guide you through this so you can step up to the challenges of taking your business to the next level.
Track Record – what is this person’s track record?
A business mentor needs to have a proven track record of either building their own successful businesses or having worked for many years with people helping them to grow their business.
Remember, not every tennis coach has been a number 1 tennis player. Some people are better at coaching and mentoring than they are at executing – and that’s ok. As long as they have a track record of helping their clients or the people they mentor, then they are a good bet. They also need to have the right level of experience and the right level of background to suit what you need.
Tough Love – Will this person hold me accountable?
I have a nickname ‘the sledgehammer’ by my clients because when required I do give my clients a loving tap with the sledgehammer.
Why?
Because tough love is the solution, we need people who are going to call us on our BS. We need people in our lives who are going to call us on something, when it’s needed.
Most people don’t do this because it makes them uncomfortable, but when you’re a mentor and you’re coming from a place of service it’s about the actual experience and the outcome for the client and sometimes that requires tough love.
Remember, hiring a business mentor is a big decision so ensure to interview a variety of mentors over several conversations.
Take your time when deciding who is best for you, do your research and potentially even reach out to their former clients for a reference check.
If you’re ready to take action and would like to find out more about my business mentorship and what we do with our clients in the Inner Circle, reach out here and let’s see what we can do for you.
