I talked last week about different organizations that you can use for mentoring help with your small business venture. The interesting thing about mentoring is that most just don’t use any resource for their business free or otherwise. The reason, to me it’s either laziness or not enough focus on maximizing resources to be successful.
In the case of laziness, most people I talk to about using mentors mainly shrug their shoulders about the subject. A lazy person response is usually, “I don’t know”. This is a weak excuse in the age of Google with so much information at our fingertips. So it really boils down to effort. Meeting with a mentor requires us to actually go out and find one and speak with them.
If you lack focus, you may be so busy working in your business that you don’t spend enough time working on it. A mentor is great for helping you to recognize these areas and create awareness for you. Make sure that you are taking the time to evaluate resources. It’s important to take a step back on a weekly basis to see how things are going. Focusing on the big picture of your organization is critical.
In the end, mentoring is a tool to help make your life easier. You have access to someone who has a vested interest in your success. You may think you don’t have time but that thinking is limited. Mentors can create more time in the long run of your business by speeding up your learning curve and giving you objective advice. So my question is, what are you waiting for? Why haven’t you used a mentor in the past or currently?