The role of a business mentor

Business mentoring is all about helping you get the most out of your business. Sometimes you need someone on your side with fresh ideas and who can keep you going when the going gets tough. When you’re running a company, you need a mentor whose role is to challenge you, ask the right questions and be a trusted advisor.

Why do you need a business mentor?

It’s especially important that you work with a business mentor when you’re trying to make changes in your business. Most people come to me when they are grappling with trying to do something different with their business. They’re ready for the next stage.

Sometimes you just need to talk through your ideas with someone who has a lot more experience in business and get some constructive input to make your plans a reality. But the role of a mentor should also be to go with you on your journey and to be excited about what you’re trying to do. At the same time, your mentor must have enough experience to keep you from making mistakes that are going to delay or jeopardise what you want to do.

The difference between free and paid business mentoring

Free business mentor

This is usually someone who has retired and wants to give something back by mentoring young people, for example, through the Prince’s Trust.

This option is great, if you don’t have much budget and want some support to keep you on track. And if you can get a business mentor who has the right kind of experience and knowledge to mentor you for free, that’s a good choice.

A professional business mentor

The second kind of business mentor is someone like me who does this as their profession and business. You’d expect someone who has run a business and has extensive experience of being a mentor for all kinds of businesses. Someone who is able to do much more than just listen and be a sounding board for your ideas for the business.

This kind of business mentor will have a proven methodology for how they help your business to move forward faster. And a proven track record of working with other businesses.

Of course, the other difference between the two is cost. A free business mentor is usually a volunteer, so you don’t usually have to pay for their services. A professional business mentor costs money.

How does business mentoring work?

Different business mentors work in different ways. If you’re working with a free volunteer mentor, you’d probably see them for a coffee for an hour every month and have a chat about your business and how you’re getting on.

Some organisations will come into your business for a couple of days at a time, run extensive workshops, consult with senior staff and organise strategy days. This is more of a corporate consultancy approach, suitable for businesses with a few hundred employees.

I specialise in working with business owners with less than 30 employees, and I prefer to free up as much time as possible for the owner to get into action and work on their business, so my process is much simpler. We get together twice a month online. In between meetings, we keep the process going by email and phone. If there’s something urgent or ongoing, we might have some catch-up Zoom sessions between our main meetings.

Why get an online business mentor?

You want to work with the person who is the best fit for your business. The one who is up to date in their approach, who you click with, and the one who you feel cares about your business. That may not be the person you happen to meet at a local business networking event or who comes up in Google as being a few streets away in a search for “business mentor near me”.

You need the best person for you and your small business. That might mean hopping on a Zoom call every couple of weeks.

Plus, working with an online business mentor does make the process more efficient for everyone. Before I took my mentoring online, clients had to travel to see me in my office in Brighton, find a place to park, and wait for me to make them a coffee. Now, we’re in the same (Zoom) room instantaneously.

You might need an international business mentor

For my international business mentoring and coaching clients, working online makes perfect sense. International mentoring is super important. When you’re running a business with international customers, you need someone who understands the world of exporting both physical goods and knowledge-based services. Some of my clients specifically want a UK-based business mentor because they are targeting the UK market from overseas, so it makes sense to have someone who is based in the UK. Other clients are UK-based companies who need an experienced mentor with a global perspective.

I started out as a business mentor in Brighton, UK. I’m still based here. I can see the sea from my office window, and you might hear some herring gull calls on a Zoom call with me.

But nowadays, most of my clients come from around the world – I’m very much an international business mentor, working online all around the world. In a typical week, I might be on calls with clients in Ireland, Paris, Johannesburg, London and Idaho. I’m also a member of several US business groups which provides an excellent insight into the US way of doing business. And I have one client in Brighton, and another in Eastbourne.

How much does a business mentor in the UK cost?

I charge on a sliding scale between £1500 and £3500 per month for business mentoring, depending on the kind of business you’re running, what stage you’re at and how much more money I think you’re likely to make as a result of working with me.

The fee for a business mentor should, I think, be linked to the return on that investment you’ll get in the long run, which is why I have this sliding scale.

I regularly see clients who have recouped that investment in the first couple of months of working with me because I always look for the quick wins that will put money into the business fast.

Clients tend to stay with me for six to twelve months. But the financial return on investment stays forever because the changes we make will be cumulative over time.

Will this make me more profitable?

A business mentor will help you to get your business in shape so you can make more money. That’s simple – you make an investment of time and money, and you expect your business to become more profitable.

Those profits should come from increased turnover because your business mentor has helped you to get your marketing right, be able to set the right prices and bring in more customers.

Your business mentor will work with you in areas like personal productivity, simple automation for your business, and prioritising your time to spend on the areas which will make the most difference to your business.

What results should I expect?

You’re looking for two kinds of results – financial results plus making you feel more confident and that you enjoy your business more.

I call my work “helping people to make more money and have more fun”

When you feel that you are in control of your business and you have a clear plan of action that you totally believe in, you can start to enjoy running your company more. And when you add in seeing those financial results, running a business becomes a joyful, creative enterprise instead of a hard slog.

Keep in touch

You might be reading all of this and thinking, “Yes, that sounds good, but I’m not quite ready yet.” That’s fine, although it’s also fine to book in for a chat even if you’re not totally sure business mentoring is right for you at the moment.