In addition to his work as a speaker, Mark Lyttleton is also an experienced business mentor and angel investor, maintaining a keen focus on supporting companies that impart a positive planetary influence. This article will explore business mentorship and the skills necessary to help guide, advise and inspire inexperienced entrepreneurs.
Business mentors help business leaders to develop ideas for growth by sharing the considerable expertise, experience, skills and contacts they have collected through their own business activities, which are usually extensive. Proven to be one of the most effective forms of support for entrepreneurs, business mentorship helps inexperienced business leaders to reduce the level of risk involved in making decisions about their business, providing them with a sounding board and enabling them to mull over the various different options with someone who shares their concerns at the deepest levels.
Business mentorship enables business owners to make positive progress more quickly, taking actions that could make a big difference to their business and investing their time and energy more appropriately as they strive to turn new opportunities into a commercial reality. Simply having someone in their corner can be hugely reassuring for inexperienced entrepreneurs, motivating them to achieve extraordinary results.
A great business mentor has no agenda other than helping the entrepreneur to be successful, providing the benefit of their extensive wisdom and experience to enable the business to develop and thrive.
Enlisting the help of a business mentor enables entrepreneurs to take a step back, gaining a more objective view of their business and enabling them to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and pitfalls they may have otherwise overlooked. In the growth phase of the business, a business mentor can provide invaluable advice and guidance, sharing ideas and helping business owners to overcome the considerable challenges associated with hiring new staff, raising capital and entering new markets.
One of the biggest benefits of partnering with a business mentor is their ability to connect entrepreneurs with the right people to grow their business and putting them in touch with the right professional services, such as lawyers, accountants and bank managers.
A business mentor will hold the founder accountable. Rather than automatically solving all of their business challenges, they will help business owners to set goals and milestones, making them accountable for investing the requisite effort and time to implement changes and deliver on time. Business mentors help entrepreneurs to stay focused on their goals, constantly challenging them to go the extra mile and make the shift from good to outstanding.
To be an effective mentor requires experience in a particular market, combined with the ability to read the business owner and understand what is required to progress their business. Business mentors help entrepreneurs to find the right path for them, guiding them through the multiple different ways of handling difficult situations. Business mentors essentially provide business owners with the benefit of their decades of business experience, drawing on their own successes and failures and providing both practical support and a positive role model.
