MENTORS: 7 REASONS YOU NEED A MENTOR

Mentors are people or friends who guide less experienced individuals by building trust and modelling positive behaviours.

Mentors. They’ve been there and done that – they‘ve seen it all. Yet, a woeful number of entrepreneurs start their careers’ without one. In an age where instant gratification is glorified, it’s unsurprising that many entrepreneurs and young founders do not seek out mentors as hard as they do co-founders.

While many arguments are abound on why entrepreneurs don’t need mentors but should instead follow their instincts and gut feelings; There are many cases to be made on why the age-old practice aids in the success of entrepreneurs. Just think of a few of the legendary mentor-mentee duos like Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs, Warren Buffet and Bill Gates. Even in the creative/fictional space, mentor-mentee duos have curated exceptional results by moulding experience and youthful idealism think of Luke Skywalker & Obi-Won Kenobi, Iron man & Spider-man and Captain Kirk & Captain Pike just to name a few.

Here are benefits mentors provide entrepreneurs as they build their start-ups into successful companies:

Gain experience not shared in books.

Experience is a vey expensive asset crucial to business success. While there is a wealth of insight to acquire from books and articles, it’s a vexing truth that most authors do not feel comfortable revealing everything about themselves in books. Some personal experiences may be too personal to share with a wide audience, yet how they dealt with them can aid an inexperienced entrepreneur’s career. This is where mentors come in, any mentor worth their salt can usually fill the vacuum of information with both expert knowledge and outlook.

Their advice helps ease the challenges of projects which makes work easier and increases your chances of succeeding. Mentorship is one guaranteed way to gain experience from others.

“If you cannot see where you are going, ask someone who has been there before”
J Loren Norris

Mentors makes success more likely.

Whether you are a mentor or the mentee, the mentoring relationship can push your career to new heights. The benefits of mentoring are many. Research and surveys prove that having a mentor is important to success. In a 2013 executive coaching survey 80% of CEOs said they received some form of mentorship. In another research by Sage, 93% of start-ups admit that mentorship is instrumental in success.[1]

Having the right mentor can amplify your chances of success in life and in business. The valuable connections, timely advice, occasional check-in, along with the spiritual and moral guidance you will gain from having a mentor will ease the road to success.

Networking opportunities.

Aside from the fact that investors trust start-ups who are recommended by their friends or solid revenue numbers, a successful mentor has many more years of experience and a vast network of people that can benefit your career.

Since they are invested in your success they will let you tap into their network of contacts when the need arises. A good mentor will also give you valuable feedback on your networking skills as well as advice on how to improve on any problematic areas

These unique opportunities cannot be tapped into if you don’t have a mentor.

Reassurance and hope.

Research has proven quality mentorship has a positive affect on young entrepreneurs many of whom battle with self-doubt and question their ability to succeed in business. These feelings might lead to imposter syndrome, whereby an entrepreneur feels unworthy of their success.

Having someone who practically guides you and shares your worries with you often appeasing your fears with years of experience can reassure you that you’ll be successful and that your accomplishments are deserved

Mentors also help bolster your self-confidence which is an important key to success, as entrepreneurs reports revealed that having a high self-confidence contributes significantly to career success. Mentors have the capacity to help young founders tap into their self-confidence and see every challenge as an opportunity.

Business longevity.

When you imagine the number of businesses that fail, you’d wish that a lot of business owners had mentors. According to SBA, 30 percent of new businesses may not survive past the first 24 months, and 50 percent of those may not make it past five years. However, 70 percent of mentored businesses survive longer than 5 years.

Mentors will help you develop a stronger EQ.

Emotional intelligence (EQ) develops with age and life experience and its crucial to entrepreneurial success. When a young entrepreneur has a more mature and successful mentor to advise them, they’re likely to have a greater control over their emotions and reactions.

It’s a well-known fact that mixing business and emotions can lead to your business failing, to curb this situation mentors give an unbiased point of view and limit their emotional attachment to your project while simultaneously showing you how to react in given instances and overcome critical hurdles by making smart decisive judgements.

Mentors give you accountability.

You’ve likely set goals for yourself and laid out a great plan on how to achieve them. These mean nothing without follow through – a hurdle most entrepreneurs have trouble getting over. A mentor can help keep you accountable to your goals and business objectives.

Without being domineering, a great mentor will help you set key objectives and then holds you accountable in working towards them. They will rightly admonish you if you fail to meet objectives due to laziness on your part.