Business Mentors Worth Their Weight in Gold

Home based and small business owners have to wear many hats to run a successful business and is a very stressful career path for many people. One of the ways to solve your skill shortage problem and reduce some of your stress from the unknowns of business problems is to use a business coach or mentor.

Phone a friend

Imagine being able to call someone when you find a problem in your business that is stopping you earning more money and they provide the answer for you. A business advisor or mentor is the person that you call when in trouble. During the life of your business it is very important to have two or three specialists in key areas of business development to help you when something goes wrong.

Mentoring

Mentoring is when a person provides ongoing support and advice for you and continue to bring value to your business as it grows with you. A good mentor will be a sounding board and listen to the day to day goings on and provide some insight into why your business is doing what it is. They are in touch by phone or email often to help your business.

Business Coaching

Coaching is when the business advisor works with you to help solve business problems. This may include them actually do some work for you, including creating documents or training employees and you when you need more skills. Often business coaches are used to fix a short term problem and then they are no longer used.

Value of Business Mentors

The money spent on mentors is well worth it because they should bring about healthy increases in your revenue and customer streams from their advice and support. Getting a mentor is more cost effective for your business than hiring the specialist staff because:

• Mentors stay current and trained to the latest knowledge and skills, at no cost to you
• There is no wage costs or paperwork treating them as employees
• If they don't produce results, you can look for another one and not worry about terminating an employee, because they are contracted instead
• A good mentor has experience and knowledge from many industries and not just the same one as the rest of your employees.
• Mentors enjoy solving problems in business and look forward to achieving good results because they are achievement focused instead of being focused on watching the clock each day

If a business mentor can increase your profits by 5% every year from now your business will become stronger and healthy. All this for a small investment to get their knowledge working for you

© Copyright 2009 by Paul Baker