Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Everyone has read somewhere that a mentor is great help and can save you a lot of time by showing you their mistakes so that you don`t make them yourself.

Where do I get this mentor?

First would be to know what`s your line of business? In other words, what expertise do you feel you`re lacking that a mentor might help you with? :-)

Well, If I know my line.  Where do I go from there?  And I do know my line.

Or should this be less specific?  Just someone that`s good with business?  I`m sure I`m not just going to have 1 business throughout my life.

I think Craig was asking you to be specific here so that we could help you find one.

I know that some people find Mentors invaluable. I know people who have found many of them through my alumni organization.

Personally ... I take more pride in doing things myself. So I know a Mentor is not for me. Occasionally I do need help or support though ... so I have my own personal list of resources for that.

Well, let me put it this way.  On the one hand, I`m fine doing things myself.  I feel that I can do everything myself.

This might be stupid.  So then on the other hand I think that I need one.  But I can justify not needing one as an insecurity on my part.  But on the other hand, maybe I miss things that I wouldn`t if I had a mentor?

Tertius, Nikole is right...we need some specifics. To use some humor to make a point, the way you`ve written so far, you might need a mentor who`s also a cleaning lady, see?

What *exactly* do you need in a mentor? Do you need someone who`s had a life in the space industry, the textile industry, the music industry, the steel industry, teaching profession, medical profession?

A mentor is usually someone older who`s had experience their whole life in a particular field of expertise. They`re prepared to help someone younger, *ALSO in that field,* who needs explicit help in that field.

YOU may know your line of business, but we`re not telepaths here. :-) Although it`d be an interesting forum! I can see it now, someone starts a posting topic, "I think....." and there`s one or two responses, "I agree." End of topic. LOL!

Beth Downey of BoxerHaus.com asked the same question a little over a year ago.

http://www.startupnation.com/forums/252/1/1

There were numerous responses similiar to what you received -

And then there was this post.

I think this is the type response you might be looking for, eh?

 

[quote]I guess my first question is ...

Do you want to be a millionaire?

Do you have the desire, to fortitude, the dream, the guts to "risk it all" ... to succeed?

Mentoring is easy ... its easy to help folks stay on track ... if they really have the desire.

The hard part to mentoring is finding, nuturing, grooming, and inspiring those few that truly have the desire to succeed.... but may lack the confidence to strike out on their own.

If you have the true DESIRE to succeed ... and are looking to "break into" on-line retailing, please feel free to contact me. I enjoy helping others to "reach for the stars". Who knows, you may just grab one!!

I recall when I was first starting to dream about GoTruckStop.com ... an associate was concerned what would happen if GoTruckStop.com failed. He reminded me that the resources I was investing was a lot of money. He asked ... "What if it fails?"

My response to him was ... "What if it works?"

And I`ve never looked back yet. Give me a call, if you feel I can help.

Thomas (TJ) Graff
Dir. of Sales and Marketing
GoTruckStop.com
The BEST Trucking and Gift Store Ever!!
http://www.gotruckstop.com
tgraff@gotruckstop.com [/quote]

I think that when you are considering a mentor, your #1 question should be "is this person leading me in the right direction?"

I feel a little sad when I see mentorships gone wrong because the mentor was starting from a place of faulty logic. When I look to my own mentors, I think - are they well respected in their field, in their community, or by their peers? These are the people I start with - not to say that I have a mentor, but my process of looking for "advice" should hold true for anyone looking for a mentor.

Ok, lets put it this way.

Can`t someone that is generally a good business person be a mentor to me, someone that isn`t per say experienced in textile burn mark inspection, but someone that knows how to do business, someone that has had 5 and still has 30 left in them?  This is probably where I need or think I might find help useful.

I think I can do most other things myself, but how can I ever be certain?

Youa re absolutely correct. You don`t have to be an expert in a certain field to be a mentor. You need to be an inspiration, a motivator, a guiding "angel".