Finding a Mentor
Wise Guidance is worth it's weight in Gold
One of the best ways to learn business success is directly from a successful businessperson. Finding a mentor can be an advantage to your Internet business in many ways. It is important to understand that a mentor is not a partner. Mentors have no stake in your business other than a desire to help you succeed, and in the event that you and your mentor part ways, he or she will not be able to take part of your business along.For this reason, it is important to respect and value your mentor. A person who agrees to be a mentor will realize no financial gain for their invested time, and being rude or oblivious to them will only end the relationship with nothing gained for either of you. Conversely, a mentor who is rude or patronizing to you is not worth your time.
How can you find a mentor? Start by identifying some successful online businesses—they can be related to the industry you’ve chosen to start your business in, but they don’t have to be. In fact, you may want to find a mentor who runs a business that is complementary to yours, rather than in direct competition with it. They’ll be more likely to agree if there is a potential that their business will benefit from association with yours.
Your next step should be to contact the business owners you’ve identified and ask them whether they would consider mentoring. Many business owners would be flattered by such a request. You can initiate contact via e-mail. With your initial request, include a brief description of what you’d like to gain from the mentor relationship. Don’t be too demanding (I want to find out all your secrets on building a successful pet care product website); instead, try to list a handful of specific things you would like more information on (I’m interested to know the best ways to find pet related resources/how to get good pet graphics for my website/some of the biggest pet care product suppliers who run affiliate programs). If you can offer anything in return for the mentor’s guidance, include that as well.
Once you have someone who agrees to mentor you, then you and your mentor should work out a schedule together: the best way for you to get in touch with your mentor if you have questions, how often you will contact each other, whether you will be able to have regular “meetings” (often telephone conversations or instant chat messaging sessions) to discuss progress.
You may be able to find a mentor through the Small Business Administration’s
SCORE program. The SCORE program matches new and startup business owners with
successful former business executives in mentor/pupil relationships. You can
find out more about SCORE and apply for the program at www.score.org.
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