Mentors. They've been there, done that and have seen it all. Unfortunately many entrepreneurs start their careers without one but some of the worlds most successful businesses or business leaders started with mentors...
Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg was mentored by Steve Jobs
Jobs was mentored by Mike Markkula -- an early investor and executive at Apple
Eric Schmidt mentored Larry Page and Sergey Brin of Google
Here are seven strong reasons why having a mentor is important:
Gain experience that you can't find in a book
Experience is the most expensive asset which is why it's crucial to sustainable business success. There's only so much about a person's experience you can gain from books because most authors don't reveal everything about themselves in books. Some personal experiences may be too intimate to be shared, yet how they dealt with it can help an inexperienced entrepreneur's career.
Mentoring is a guaranteed way to gain experience from others that have been there, done it and learnt from their mistakes.
Mentors significantly increases your chances of success
Research has proven that having a mentor is extremely important to success. In a 2013 executive coaching survey, 80 percent of CEOs said they received some form of mentorship. Research by Sage showed 93 percent of startups admit that mentorship is instrumental to success.
Your chances of success in life and in business can be amplified by having the right mentor. The valuable connections, timely advice, occasional checks -- together with moral guidance you will gain from having a mentor -- will literarily leapfrog you to success.
Networking Gold
Aside the fact that investors trust startups who are recommended by their friends, a successful mentor has an unlimited network of people who can benefit your career. Since they are already invested in your success, it only makes sense for them to let you tap into their network of people when the need arises.
This is an opportunity you cannot tap into if you do not have a mentor.
A mentor gives you reassurance because they've been in your shoes
Having someone who practically guides you and shares your worries with you -- often placating your fears with their years of experience -- keeps you reassured that you'll be successful.
Self-confidence is very important to success as entrepreneurs. Research has also proven that having a high self-confidence contributes significantly to career success -- more so than talent and competence. Mentors have the capacity to help young founders tap into their self-confidence and see every challenge as an opportunity.
A mentor will help you with the stamina for business
When you imagine the number of businesses that fail, you'd wish a lot of business owners had mentors. 30% of new businesses may not survive past the first 24 months, and 50% of those may not make it past five years. A whopping, 70% of mentored businesses survive longer than 5 years.
Mentors will help you develop a stronger EQ
Emotional intelligence (EQ) is crucial to entrepreneurial success. We all know that a quick way to make a business fail is to mix it with emotions or make crucial decisions based on emotional feelings. Situations like this can be curbed as mentors will help show you how to react in given instances.
Dealing with hard times
Enduring failure on your own can set you back and impact your productivity. In hard times, having a mentor will help you keep your head high and remind you why you are doing this. Entrepreneurs often deal with depression when they are unable to meet their goals and expectations. The impact of depression on entrepreneurs is often underreported but entrepreneurs without mentors bear the brunt the most.
A mentor who has experienced the highs and lows of running a business is in the perfect position to give positive and soothing words of advice to you when things refuse to go your way. Not only do they have the right words to share, they would also have ideas to help you navigate your way to success.
How do I find a mentor?
Pick someone outside of your market with no conflict of interest, this way you know they will be impartial and focused on you. Avoid using family or close friends, sometimes you will need to have difficult conversations so having this when you have an emotional connection is not good practice.
If you would like to talk to Purple Yak about mentoring, ask any questions, ask for advice on sourcing a mentor or you wish to talk to us about mentoring you then please let us know.