The Importance of Business Mentors

Unbeknownst to many, some of the biggest entrepreneurs in the world have relied on a mentor for ongoing guidance, including the likes of Richard Branson and Bill Gates. Even if you have a respectable understanding of your target market, a mentor is often crucial to your personal and professional growth. Mentors can serve as a beacon of light into your life and guide your business to new grounds, helping you succeed in ways you never thought possible.

Experience

Experience is obtained in one of two ways: by making mistakes firsthand or by learning from the mistakes of others. While you are never truly free from potential failure, a mentor can increase your chances of success thanks to their wisdom, knowledge, and insight. This person is there to show you the ropes and help you prevent mistakes you might otherwise fall victim to.

Highlighting Hurdles

Regardless of your experience, there are always certain skills you could improve. This is sometimes the toughest step for both mentors and business owners to overcome, as many are accustomed to performing their job a certain way. A mentor can see your blind spots. Seek wisdom and be open to feedback. You may even add to their experience through the hurdles the two of you face along the way.

Solidify Your Strengths

Eliminating your weaknesses will allow you to zero in on your strengths and help your small business thrive. In some cases, talent is practically useless without the help of a great mentor. An emerging singer can clearly have talent, but a vocal coach can sharpen natural skills and bring the artist's career to a new level. Likewise, a mentor can assist in enhancing your strengths and bring out hidden or unknown traits in the process.

Greater Social Networking

Thanks to years of experience, a mentor will often have a vast network and know many businesspeople in your field. They can connect you with key players and make introductions. This will expand your social network in the event of a satisfactory working relationship. In addition, a mentor can open the doors to potential business partners and customers. Because you come personally recommended, the mentor's connections will most likely be much more receptive compared to if you introduced yourself on your own.

A Fruitful Working Relationship

A great aspect about mentorship is the fact that a mentor does not have an ulterior motive other than your success. There is no catch or hidden agenda. Seeing eye to eye forms a foundation built on trust. In time, business planning becomes more efficient as your mentor grows more acquainted with your goals and ambitions, often leading to a strong friendship along the way.

Honesty

With a good friendship and professional relationship comes honesty—and sometimes this can hurt. Understand you may not always be in agreement with your mentor, but remember that their primary objective is to be your teacher. While a friend might tell you what you want to hear, it's a mentor's job to tell you what you need to hear. They may occasionally push you during frustrating or difficult situations, but only because they want to see you succeed and are genuinely interested in what you can achieve.

A Mentor Is (Usually) Free

Mentors are typically happy to give back to others and the community by lending their expertise at no cost. Organizations like SCORE—Service Corps of Retired Executives—can connect you with the person who best matches your needs and target market. While this might be favorable to some, your business may be more suited for other highly reliable coaching services depending on your overall goals.

Though your small business could certainly thrive without the added assistance, a mentor's extensive education and experience can help you become far more successful in the long run.

Small Business Successes: How to Reflect and Celebrate

Running a small business can feel like an uphill battle. After you set goals and make plans, you might struggle to see things through. In fact, there are few business owners who can honestly say that they accomplished everything they set out to do in a given year. However, it is important to recognize what you did right. As the end of the year draws near, take some time to celebrate your small business successes.

Acknowledge the struggle

Launching a business can be hard, especially when you are juggling a family and other obligations. Every entrepreneur knows that there will be some struggle involved with starting a new company, but you never get the full impact until you take this action yourself. As such, it is important to acknowledge the specific difficulties you have faced and recognize how well you did in spite of these challenges. By doing so, you can feel a sense of validation and accomplishment.

Leave criticism for another day

Small business owners can be their own worst critics. Every time you make a deal or try something new, you may be driven to think of ways you could have done it better. This approach is healthy in some respects, but you have to acknowledge what you are doing well, too. As you look back at the last year in your professional career, make sure that your critiques do not outweigh your celebrations.

Measure your small business successes

Before you can celebrate an accomplishment, you need to establish a set of guidelines. Do you define success as taking an action that helped your brand, regardless of the financial implications? What are the other terms necessary for you to accept an achievement? Most successful entrepreneurs look beyond money when evaluating their performance over a given year, so be sure to keep an open mind when you are setting your goals and keeping track of them.

Build on your strengths

By celebrating your achievements, you can be one step closer to identifying your strengths. After all, when you recognize what you have done right, you can determine further steps to take to steer your business in the right direction. For example, while you may have started your business with a plan to expand to multiple locations, you may have realized after a few years that your core neighborhood clientele is your ideal target market. In this scenario, you could decide to launch new products that appeal to your best customers, instead of opening new locations.

Reward yourself

At the end of the year, you should make an effort to reward yourself for all of your business successes. Perhaps you could finally take the week off to spend time with your family, or maybe you could treat yourself to a new blazer to wear to business meetings. These simple treats could provide you with a powerful morale boost.

Fight the good fight

Unfortunately, some years bring more challenges for small business owners than others. Even in the most challenging of times, you have to remember to focus on the positive. That could mean simply celebrating the fact you are fighting the good fight and working hard every day to help your customers fulfill a certain need. Be proud of the fact that you have never compromised your values or taken the easy way out.

At the end of every year, you should devote some time to celebrating your small business successes

4 Entrepreneurial Presidents of the Past: What Can You Learn From These Major Figures in the Business World?

Many former United States presidents were very successful businessmen. Here are some small business lessons that you can learn from four entrepreneurial presidents of the past.

1. Warren G. Harding: Look for the value in a struggling business

Warren G. Harding took advantage of an opportunity that he discovered early on in his career. In 1884, Harding bought the struggling Marion Star along with two partners, according to the Miller Center. As Harding had previously worked in the newspaper business as a reporter, he was able to use his past experience to keep the Marion Star afloat. In fact, over the next five years, Harding was able to achieve moderate success with the Marion Star. The lesson here is that it may be valuable for you to seek out the potential profit that could come with taking over a failing business. If you have the background and insights necessary to turn this business around, you may want to consider making the necessary investments.

2. George W. Bush: Do what you love

Many entrepreneurs launch companies that allow them to do what they love on a daily basis. But it is important to note that you should also keep your interests in mind when you make investments. If you need a little inspiration, look no further than George W. Bush, the 43rd president of the United States. A lifelong baseball fan, Bush invested $500,000 as part of a group purchase of the Texas Rangers in 1989, according to the Center for Public Integrity. Just nine years later, Bush and his partners sold the team for $250 million, and Bush saw a 25-fold return on his investment. Sometimes the stars do not align in such a way that entrepreneurs can easily do what they love, but the dream is always worth chasing.

3. Jimmy Carter: Respect your family business

Jimmy Carter, the 39th president, was an excellent businessman from a young age. When Carter was just 13 years old, he bought five houses using money he had saved from working on his family farm, according to the Miller Center. Due to the Great Depression, these houses in Plains, Georgia, were on the market for extremely low prices. Young Carter went on to rent these homes out to local families. The obvious lesson here is to keep an eye out for opportunities when you can "buy low" and make your money back quickly.

When Carter's father died of cancer in 1953, the former president realized that his family's peanut farm was at risk. Carter decided to abandon his successful naval career in order to manage the land. By 1959, he was able to make the farm prosperous. It is clear that Carter respected his family business enough to want to find a way to make a failing venture work. When it comes to this business segment, you must establish a clear chain of command and always think ahead to what the future may bring.

4. Franklin D. Roosevelt: Give back to your community

Before taking office, Franklin D. Roosevelt contracted polio, which left him paralyzed from the waist down. According to the Georgia Vocational Rehabilitation Agency, Roosevelt recovered the strength and confidence he needed to continue his political career after he swam in the mineral-rich waters of Warm Springs. This experience inspired Roosevelt to purchase the property and launch the Georgia Warm Springs Foundation, which provides rehabilitative services for those suffering from polio.

As a small business owner, your local store or office plays a large role in your community as a whole. Get inspired by presidents of the past and identify your own meaningful way to give back.