Why Mentorship Is Very Important And How To Build It?
Brian Scudamore, Founder and CEO of 1-800-GOT-JUNK?, calls mentors “the best education money can’t buy.” He strongly believes that everyone should experience the mentoring relationship from both sides — as the person receiving advice and as the person giving it.
Why mentorship is very important and how to build it ?
There are many strategies to grow company but for the two most important strategies, I found very important for any startup to grow faster are Mentorship and Investment in Data Analysis and Mining.
In fact young entrepreneur does not have at first any professional experiences as people say professional experience is critical for every company to grow. And therefore, it would be huge problem for a young entrepreneur. That problem can be fixed with wisdom; simply through mentorship we can get that professional experience part from and complete with insights from data analysis. This leads me to the first step to build mentorship very easier.
Power of Mentorship
Kevin Johnson, founder and CEO of multimillionaire Johnson Media.Inc. one day lecturing his entrepreneurship student took one of entrepreneurship book and torn the business plan part and ask the student to do so. What is the point he wanted to make?
The point is that Business plan is not the almighty entrepreneurship god as every entrepreneur think, there is a powerful thing which can help you to build your entrepreneurship.
And I was asking myself what make him successful and one day when reading his best seller book the Entrepreneurship Mind, I got one of his secret which for me explain almost his success and I want to share with you. That secret is very important for every entrepreneur to have in his entrepreneurship luggage of travel. The thing is the mentor
“While finishing this book, Johnson Media Inc., the small company that I started as a college sophomore in 2000, beat two other companies in a bid for a $40 million project. The project, which spans three years, is the largest account that my company has ever won. Johnson Media Inc. will now be one of the most prominent companies in the marketing industry. In late July 2012 I received an e-mail and phone call from the vice president of a national organization who was impressed with my company’s work in the financial services industry. The vice president asked us to submit a proposal for the organization’s major project. I agreed without hesitation. Although I was on vacation visiting my family in Chicago, I went right to work, summoning my team to focus all efforts on winning this project. Also, I immediately reached out to two mentors whose companies have made millions to get their support and guidance. My team and I finished our winning proposal weeks before the deadline, giving the client the impression that we were all business and that we made their project top priority. It paid off. I mention this major accomplishment because it is a testament to the effectiveness of the principles discussed in this book. In The Entrepreneur Mind I detail how elite entrepreneurs respond quickly, put their business first, consult with MENTORS often, hire the best team, create an environment of stressful urgency, use time wisely, and so on.
How can we build a real mentoship?
Here, I will share tips for finding and working with mentors
STEP 1: GATHER THE POTENTIAL MENTORS.
I was very inspired by this two French young entrepreneur’s process. Before starting their direct marketing startup they need professional experience or have a lot of informations about the sector before entering. I can say that , it is the way they did their market research. That technique, they used can be transformed to build a strong mentorship.Therefore, I consider that French young entrepreneur innovation like first step in mentorship building, just I want you to apply it, try and adapt to you reality and circumstances. That is their technique:
HOW TWO STUDENTS HAVE FILLED THEIR LACK OF EXPERIENCE IN THE INDUSTRY WHERE THEY WANTED TO TAKE?
These two second year students of commercialization technics IUT have earlier in the year, negotiated with their internship tutor teacher the opportunity to work on their business project rather than going into enterprise for attachment. Their project was a few years ago, to set up a business in the field of direct marketing. To overcome their lack of experience, this is what he imagined.
First, their parents gave them by increasing their pocket money knowing that it would be devoted to the project. With these funds, students invited every two weeks at the beginning, then every week a potential stakeholder or even a competitor, to a lunch. They proceeded by telephone calls: “Hello, we are two students in the second year of IUT TC and we have a business project to set up in the year. We decided to invest in the field of direct marketing. In light of your experience we would like to meet you to discuss the project, and as we know your precious time we offer a lunch invitation near your work place, one afternoon, and the day that suits you best. We have negotiated a budget for it. Please when would you agree to meet us?” They have suffered no refusal, firstly because the approach of two students drew some sympathy, secondly because people love to talk about what they know: in one year they learned hugely on the sector, the strengths and weaknesses of different actors, the agreements which prevailed etc. Their academic year ended, their certificate in hand, convinced of the interest to create, has actually as clearly showed by their business plan, they decided to launch. Soon, they called on all parties met, concerned by this decision, have become privileged relations, as testified the order book quickly filled. Today these alumni are leading a holding company for about twenty small companies and employing some fifty salaries.
This step I called building mentor, it helps you to put your company in place
STEP 2 : HOW TO GET A REAL THROUG POTENTIAL MENTORS?
Your company in its journey needs mentor(s) to grow and therefore the mentors you gathered to start the project, try and get three out of them. How can you get them?
Notice the interesting they have for your project when you met them firstly
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They can give a call to find out how the project is going and tell you I am ready to give you more informations if you need them or you are very important to me ,if there are any obstacles let me know we will see how to fix them.
- By surprise he /she visited you to see how the project is going.
Now the ball is in your court, sit down with them and tell them what they are doing for you I am very grateful. By doing that way they will see themselves very useful to you and they willgive more experiences. I hear a pastor said “one day he gave a used suit to two members in his church, one of the receiver came to him to thank for the gift buy lying on the floor to thank, immediately the pastor desire to do more rise up and he went to his wardrobe to bring a brand new suit to him but the second receiver came and says thank you but in fact I have a lot, you can keep it“ What is my point: If you do like the first receiver to your mentors, they will be very available to you in anytime.
STEP 3: MOTIVATE YOURS MENTORS
To let the mentor works for you really you need to put it in another level. Try and know what your mentors like and sometimes try to offer them a gift. You can choose their are births day to offer it. The gift can evolve to car, why not. Remember that the world will belong to those who know how to give I mean those who know how to sacrifice some of their profit. By that way they will see themselves very useful for you and your company.