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I have spoken about mentors before and as time goes on, I seem to find the help of a mentor to be more and more invaluable.
Having had/have mentors that range from Knights of Australia, to wildly successful investors, businessmen and women and professionals. I have made a list of what I think to be the most important benefits of a mentor:
1: Experience
The most obvious one is experience, experience that you should otherwise be trying to find from books (also something I write about often). However, mentors can offer experience that you can't find online, at events or in books.
We are bound to run into an endless and relentless stream of issues on your journey of entrepreneurship so having someone with more experience in this type of thing to go to is extremely helpful and important.
2: Honest and frank feedback
This is something a book can not offer and something that can result personal growth. A mentor is not meant to be a friend but rather someone who is or has been where you want to be and who will tell you when you are going the wrong way.
Given you are open-minded enough to listen and try change for the better you will be able to grow tremendously with the feedback on possible short comings.
3: EQ
A high EQ is tremendously important for success in anything that involves people which roughly translates to everything. No one knew this better than Dale Carnegie, a famous American writer and lecturer. Your mentor will likely not only know this but will be an expert in interpersonal relations and thus will be able to help you be too.
Your ability to talk to people, read people, work with people etc. will largely determine your success and it has been with my mentors help that I have been able to greatly improve in these areas and thus be more successful not only in business but life.
4: Motivation
If you are like most people and go through periods of low and high motivation a mentor can help you level this out, so you can be more productive and avoid wasting large amounts of time. This also extends to simply motivating you to do things you previously weren't inspired enough to do.
Of course, you need to be propelled to do something for anything worthwhile in business to get done so a mentor can be much help here.
5: Other connections
This has definitely been an important one for me. By looking to find my first business mentor in 2016, I quickly found myself talking to various others
in all sorts of fields. This of course leads to more growth in you and those around you and ultimately your likelihood of success in your business en-devours.
6: A higher chance of success
From my own reading of various studies (linked below) it seems while not always the case, mentors can definitely have a significant positive impact on business success. This is due to all of the above reasons and more.
I would also like to add I have been told someone within my family who started his business at 16, now wildly successful. had a mentor and often attributes his success to having one.
Why you need a mentor, mentors business, how to get a mentor, australiaWhy you need a mentor, mentors business, how to get a mentor, australia
A trip to Newcastle, NSW, AU.
If you have any questions or would like more articles like this feel free to comment below!
Summary:
-Mentors will help you grow as a person
-Mentors will help you network
-Mentors will ultimately greatly increase your chances of success
Here is what I have said in a previous blog:
"This is something I see most if not all successful entrepreneurs old and young doing. You do not need to be rubbing shoulders with the richest and most successful men and women in the world or even your respective country (although I have seen young people do this, break a leg!). But finding someone who has been successful as an entrepreneur or even businessman is a really great thing.
This allows you to be inspired and learn from them. If you asked Elon Musk he would tell you, you shouldn't need inspiration if are to be successful but no one is saying you don't need to learn. This goes hand in hand with #1, so definitely do your best to leverage opportunities to work with mentors."
Studies referred to in article:
https://funginstitute.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Chuck_Eesley_Paper1.pdf,
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.677.8769&rep=rep1&type=pdf, http://web.education.unimelb.edu.au/assets/pospsych/THE%20ROLE%20OF%20MENTORING%20AND%20PEER%20SUPPORT%20IN%20CONTRIBUTING%20TO%20PERCEIVED.pdf)
Enjoyed the article, find out some tips on starting out as a young entrepreneur here:
https://www.aussiemoneyman.com.au/home/how-to-start-as-a-young-entrepreneur