If you are starting a new business venture or have been struggling with your present one, it would be wise to consider business mentoring. Such programmes often offer a MentorMatch program which would aid in achieving your business goals. Many business persons prefer doing everything on their own, though it is high time to let go of thoughts such as those. Associating with a business mentor allows you to define your objectives and outcomes, while working through a composed process identifying where you may fall short. Such a review allows one to develop a step-by-step plan with your mentor in overcoming business obstacles, while at the same time developing fresh ideas to fit in with your new business plan.
Before you embark upon the search for your business mentor, you need to sit down with your managerial colleagues, or alone, and ask yourself some questions. Assessing where your faults and weaknesses lie is vital to identifying what you need and from where.Start by asking yourself these three questions. What outcomes do I seek from business mentoring?What additional skills and experience do I seek from a business mentor?What mentoring personality and style would help me the most?Armed with the answers to these questions, your search will be much easier. You can identify potential mentors through many different routes including personal recommendations from people you know, on-line through Google, and through various web directories.
Accountability – the main steps in mentoring are to identify the issues/areas to improve, put a plan in place and ensure that the plan is implemented. Most mentor assignments that I take on with clients last 3-6 months. Putting a plan in place is the easier part of this process. Making sure the changes are made can be a bigger challenge. This is where the mentor plays a key role as the business owner gets ‘homework’ to do and knows that the mentor will be along again soon to review this work.
Expert knowledge – most owner/managers worked in the business as a haidresser or architect before starting their own business. They will have picked up other skills along the way but there may be some gaps in their knowledge. Many mentors will have experience of finance, sales, marketing, strategy, HR etc. so they can help plug any knowledge gaps that the owner may have.
At this point, make contact and have a chat on the phone with the mentors on your short-list. After each conversation ask yourself how you would working with this mentor? It will be easy to identify the ones that you really aren’t fond of, negative feelings will manifest themselves strongly when you don’t develop an initial trust. Based on your feelings, select a few potential suitors and arrange to meet with them.
One reason is there’s a lack of understanding about the “influence” one must have before others will want to follow them in business. There are simple steps one can take to move forward and begin positioning themselves as leaders in their company and in the industry in general.If you’re a network marketer who genuinely wants to become a leader, the rewards are tremendous because you’ve taught your team how to duplicate success. But, be sure you’re in a highly leveraged business opportunity or the time you spend mentoring won’t match the money you make unless you charge outside coaching fees. The instance I’m speaking of here is you being a home business mentor to your personal downline business partners at no charge.
If you randomly decide when you will and won’t work, you’ll likely spend too much time behind your computer and find that family is suffering or you are not putting in enough time. Keep track of the hours you contribute toward money generating activities in your business and hold yourself accountable. Do this because that’s what a home business coach/leader does. You are not in the business of convincing your business partner to stay in the business if they are not putting forth the effort. That’s not what I’m talking about. What I am talking about is that most home based business owners do not get adequate support and you, as a home business mentor, will be their breath of fresh air. Remind them of their dreams and their why. Let them know they are not alone in their business and encourage them to reach out to the online community and establish new relationships with like-minded people. Do this because that’s what a home business coach/leader does.Don’t be afraid to make them work. Do not do the work for them, but certainly it’s OK to show them some things and point them to information or resources where they can master what they need to learn. People want confident instructions, good ideas and resources.Let them see you work. Let them see your fresh new content being placed online on a consistent basis. Leading by example has been defined as the best thing you can do as a leader. When they can see you placing ads, participating in the social media platforms, putting up videos, attending seminars, doing webinars, they can see you practice what you preach.
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