How Can Small Business Mentors or Business Coaches Help Your Business?

Use Your Business Coach Association to Find a Coach or Mentor

Business mentors or business coaches can provide small business owners with support, advice and opinions.

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Mentors are typically people who are experienced, skilled, knowledgeable, and who have great communication skills, along with a willingness to share. Coaches are very similar to mentors; perhaps they bring a stronger training orientation to their work.

You can find business mentors and coaches through referrals, through your business coach association, through local small business associations or networks. Always check out references and ensure that you have your coach or mentor sign a non-disclosure agreement (you don't want your business information available to others).

Building a strong relationship with a business mentor or coach, is like building a personal relationship: you have to trust your mentor, you have to like your mentor, you have to be able to talk to your mentor about your business concerns (and also just about your business – your mentor can sometimes raise concerns that you can't even see yet).

To build your own one-to-one business network with your mentor, you'll need to commit to the process in terms of both time and effort. You'll need to meet on a frequent and regular basis. You'll need to follow the advice of your mentor. Your mentor will become one of your stakeholders in business.

The mentor business is similar to the life coach business: the goal is for your mentor to become a business coach to you, helping you grow, change and succeed.

Coaches can provide you with unequaled, unbiased feedback and advice. This feedback will help you develop your business skills. Coaches are often certified (see your regional business coach association for certification criteria) and sometimes they also hold a management consulting certificate.

Coaching and/or Mentoring Activities:

• Focus on setting goals at each meeting.

• Set near-term (next meeting), short-term (next 12 months), and long-term goals (up to 5 years).

• Review progress against the goals at the each meeting. Talk about the actions you took to meet your goals.

• Start your relationship with short meetings: 45 minutes to one hour.

  Once you get comfortable with the process, make those meetings 1 ½ hours every two weeks – don't spread out more than 2 weeks if possible – it's hard to keep the continuity otherwise.

• Understand clearly what you want out of this business relationship and verbalize it – make sure your business coach understands what you want and need.

• Accept your coach's advice and act upon it – otherwise you are wasting your time and effort, and theirs.

An example of an effective outcome from a coaching session is to work with a small business marketing coach; have the coach review the marketing plan you've put together. Ask your coach to highlight areas of weakness (and strength). If you're working with a small business marketing coach don't ask that coach to help you with your financial plan - that's not their expertise. Also don't expect your coach to do the work for you, expect them to point out or discuss what you need to do.

Business coaches or mentors are only one part of a successful network. Other elements of a successful business network or community include joining and participating in the right type of association (your industry or trade association); building a strong internal committee; and working with the appropriate government agencies.

Effective business mentors will help you manage your business: consider the relationship you have with your mentor as a personal training program. And consider your mentor as your personal trainer.

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