Being a business owner is extremely exciting, yet it can also be challenging, especially in uncertain times like we are in right now. The pandemic has disrupted many industries, from hospitality and retail to food and travel. With inflation rising and supply chains getting impacted due to other global disturbances, business environments are likely to become even more challenging.
How do you, then, as a small business owner with limited resources, thrive and face these unpredictable headwinds with the right strategies, tactics and innovation?
The Power of Mentorship
Mentorship can be your secret weapon to accelerate your growth.
What is mentorship?
Mentorship is about having one or more experienced humans in your life who passionately and actively care about your success.
Who is thinking about your success and business growth when you are sleeping?
Think of three to five individuals who love what you do, support your business, appreciate your work ethic and are constantly thinking about expanding your possibilities. Those are your mentors.
If you couldn’t come up with three to five names, then you have an amazing opportunity to change that status quo today and leverage the power of mentorship to accelerate your business growth!
Surrounding yourself with successful business owners as your mentors can be incredibly empowering to you — because it’s no longer just you and your team thinking about your business success. Now, there are other leaders thinking about how you can grow; helping you to come up with new ideas, new pricing structures; find growth capital; and how to find new customers and markets.
You as a business owner working hard eight to eight and actively working in the business will not have time to think from outside the business. This will be like learning to play tennis while playing tennis. Of course, you will improve your game over time by playing often, but you don’t have that kind of time in business, but you may have the luxury to learn on the job!
As small business owners, you need to allocate time for having “growth conversations” with mentors about your business.
Five Ways Mentors Can Help Your Small Business Grow
- Mentors can be your sounding board and help you bounce off new ideas, products and services. They can share perspectives from their own experience. Their hindsight can be your 20-20.
- Mentors can be your trusted partners with whom you can be vulnerable without being judged.
- Mentors can open new possibilities. Combining your network with that of your mentors can give you access to a lot of great people and resources.
- Mentors can help you prioritize and make the right decisions that will move the needle for you and your business.
- Mentors can see what you, yourself, cannot see. They can help you recognize your true strengths and identify any blind spots that may be hurting your business growth.
One conversation can change your destiny. Rate yourself at the end of every month as to how many growth conversations you had during that month.
MentorCloud
MentorCloud is a purpose-driven technology company with a vision to positively impact 100 million people with the transformative power of mentorship. MentorCloud offers a technology platform and proven methodology for organizations to achieve breakthrough performance with scalable mentorship programs. MentorCloud is trusted by globally leading organizations in hospitality, healthcare, banking, higher education and the nonprofit sector, and has users from more than 100 countries achieving success faster.
For more info, visit www.mentorcloud.com.
Ravishankar Gundlapalli, Ph.D., is the author of “The Art of Mentoring” and the founder of MentorCloud.
