Becoming an accomplished entrepreneur is never easy. It takes time, hard work and dedication. Finding a good mentor can help ease the path to success, experts say. Here are a few basic tips on mentoring:
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What Does a Mentor Do?
Whether you’re the founder of a brand-new startup or an entrepreneur with some business experience, you can always benefit from a mentor, says Business News Daily. “A mentor can serve as a sounding board at critical points throughout your career,” said Diane Domeyer, executive director of staffing firm The Creative Group. “They can provide guidance on career management you may not be able to get from other sources and an insider’s perspective on the business, as well as make introductions to key industry contacts.”
Prepare to Meet Your Mentor
Look for someone you want to emulate, says writer and author Jeff Goins. Don’t settle for someone who just has a job you’d like, or a platform you covet. More importantly, seek a person who shares your personality traits, with similar strengths and skills. Spend time finding the right person, Goins adds. In fact, have a list of several candidates before committing to a single mentor.
What Qualities Does a Good Mentor Have?
According to Business News Daily, your mentor should have experience more significant than your own and a track record of success in what they do. “Look for mentors who are authentic, empathetic, creative and honest,” says Doug White, career expert and editor of career and management insights website TCG Blog. “You need someone who’s caring and invested in your professional growth, but also someone who will speak truth to you. Sometimes you need some constructive criticism or a reality check, while other times you need a high five or pat on the back. A well-chosen mentor can provide all of those things.”
The Mentoring Experience
Matt Choi, a professional trader and founder of Certus Trading, says his mentor, the late George Fontanills, was “100% instrumental in helping me get to where I am today. I really don’t think I can do what I do now without his guidance, that’s how important he was and still is to me.”
Choi met George Fontanills at a seminar and was immediately attracted to his personality and how effective he was in simplifying complex options strategies into something that anyone can understand. “It just showed the depth of his trading experience,” Matt Choi said in an interview. “Also, he was very approachable and was willing to answer everyone’s questions. So when he opened enrollment to his mentorship program, I jumped at the opportunity. It was a no brainer. George mentored me for a couple of years, and during that time he taught me a lot of trading strategies.”
More importantly, Fontanills spent time getting to know Choi and his personality. “He came to know that I don’t have a lot of patience, and he also knew that I loved to travel and want to keep a flexible lifestyle. He was able to pinpoint my strengths and weaknesses as a trader, and he told me to focus on swing trading using options and futures.”
A good mentor can be worth his or her weight in gold, as the saying goes. By following the above tips, you should be well on your way to finding a suitable mentor to help you improve your entrepreneurial skills and run a successful business.
About Carson Derrow
