“If you ask any successful businessperson, they will always have had a great mentor at some point along the road.” – Richard Branson
What do Warren Buffett and Mark Zuckerberg have in common? They have both admitted to having a business mentor that inspired and proved invaluable in charting their course. Benjamin Graham and Steve Jobs; these are the individuals that possessed the business experience, skills and knowledge that Warren Buffett and Mark Zuckerberg tapped into. Mark Bouris’ returning to TV on ‘The Mentor’ also illustrates how struggling businesses can make a turn around with a little guidance.
Here is how a trusted business mentor can help:
Refocus
Most business owners are incredibly busy. With the day-to-day operations of the business preoccupying their minds, it becomes too easy to lose focus of the big picture. The big picture could be paying off the mortgage and finally owing the family home. It could be the ability to take annual overseas holidays with the family. Or the expansion to a multinational corporation.
Setting fixed periodic meetings with your business mentor means setting aside valuable time to reflect on the issues your business is currently facing, brainstorming a solution and strategising for the future.
Grow
You don’t know what you don’t know! It is easy to get lost in your work and repeat the same motion over and over. However, if your aim is to grow your business then be ready to be challenged into doing things differently. A business mentor can provide constructive and critical feedback to push you to put your best foot forward. Feedback, when positive, can provide affirmation and increase your confidence. On the flipside, feedback, when deemed negative, can demotivate and bring out a defensive response. Choosing to take on feedback that appears negative as constructive feedback, can provide your business with the ability to improve and grow.
Extend your network
A well-established mentor, within or outside of your industry, can potentially connect you to others within their network. A new introduction from your mentor could help you develop professional relationships with people you might otherwise have difficulty reaching. In addition, these relationships would have been trusted by your mentor, enabling you to be confident when establishing your own relationships within the network.
Running a business should not be done alone. Getting support and advice from a business mentor can help take a business to new heights. A business mentor can be a friend or relative, an ex-boss or a business advisory professional. With determination and an open mind, getting a little help from your friends could prove to be the winning formula to a successful business.
Accru can assist you with many aspects of your business life, get in contact with us today to help lead you into a stronger future.
To find out more about how Accru can help, please contact your local Accru office.
