Day in and Day out I live by the statement to ‘Trust your Journey’ and through it all there has always been someone who’s helped me along the way. When embarking on building a company, I cannot stress enough how important it is to have an inspirational mentor throughout the journey as you build from the ground up. There are too many benefits for me to describe in this post about what you can gain from a mentor, but I’ll list a few that are of practical importance.
To me, a mentor is a source for building a more expansive network. Typically, your mentor will have extensive experience in an industry, and as a result of that experience will likely grow a vast network in which opportunities, trends, contacts, etc. can be utilized for your benefit and help your career prosper. You’ll also come to see that an inspirational mentor is there for moral support. When you are in a trying situation, and lack the experience or know-how to make the right move, you’ll find a mentor is likely to have had similar experiences in the past that they can reflect upon and use to provide insightful guidance that will help you make a sensible decision under such stressful circumstances. Luckily, for myself I’ve been blessed with some amazing mentors who’ve helped in hard times.
My last point, which is probably the most practical one, is a mentor is usually free. Think about it . . . without a mentor you have to resort to paying an arsenal of specialists, whether they are coaches, consultants, etc. who more often than not will have you pay through the nose for services that a mentor provides free of charge and are likely to be more impersonal, dispassionate, and formal—all factors which remove the humane factor that is integral for trusted, long-term business relationships. And remember: only a mentor can share their wealth of knowledge on an ongoing basis; there is no product or service they want to sell you, so you’ll find, no matter how volatile business dynamics become, you’ll have a constant source of support that you can continue to learn and grow from. Trust me; the great ones never learned on their own. In order to be the best, you must learn from the best.
Frank.