How a business mentor can help you grow your business

A business mentor can help you develop your skills, refine your ideas, and determine the direction you want to take your business.

Whether you’re just starting out or already an established business, here’s our guide to how a business mentor can help you achieve your goals.

What is coaching and mentoring – and is there a difference?

It can be tricky to know the difference between the types of support available. Coaching may be something you’ve considered, alongside mentoring. But if mentoring is about sharing knowledge and being a positive role model, what is coaching?

Both mentoring and coaching relationships should have clear boundaries, expectations, and goals.

But while they both aim to help entrepreneurs and business owners grow their skills and confidence, there are some key differences.

What is a business coach?

A business coach uses coaching skills to give guidance and advice based on discussions. This is usually a professional role that you’ll pay for as a service. For example, you could use a small business marketing coach to help you clarify your advertising strategy.

Coaching usually involves asking incisive questions to help someone arrive at their own answer to a particular problem or issue. The coach is focused on facilitating change in the present, rather than reflecting the past, and encourages action by holding someone accountable.

What is a business mentor?

Business mentors are experienced professionals who want to share their knowledge with someone who could learn from them.

They’ll have extensive experience within an area of business or entrepreneurship and it’s their job to be a good listener and a positive role model.

Mentors usually give up their time for free. This time commitment can often be open-ended but should be organised on a regular basis to build trust and consistency.

Mentors share experience and knowledge to inspire and support someone with their goals and direction. This is usually unpaid and can focus on both personal development and business growth.

Now you understand the difference between coaching and mentoring, why work with a business mentor?

How have mentorships and coaching supported small business owners?

As part of our Business Boost and Empowering Women in Business initiatives, Simply Business has provided several customers with the opportunity to win mentorships.

Tina Cox, founder of visual merchandising company, Dapple Pop Studio, shared how her mentoring sessions with Baroness Karren Brady OBE helped refocus her approach to her business.

“The mentoring session felt like a huge reset for me, I was at a stage where I was feeling overwhelmed and a little lost with what to focus on and after speaking with Karren it helped structure my focus and plan out how to move forward with the business.”

And Keshia East, founder of curly hair product company, No Knot Co, said her mentorship “helped to put together all my business ideas I had scrambled around in my head, and helped me to strategise these into plans for every quarter of the year.”

Plus there are many more reasons why you might benefit from a business mentor.

Tina Cox, the founder of Dapple Pop Studio

5 reasons to work with a business mentor

Working with a business mentor should help you feel supported, challenged, and inspired. What’s more, our research shows that 38 per cent of female small business owners would find working with a mentor helpful.

Here are just some of the benefits of working with a business mentor in the UK.

1. Identify your skills

You probably have a good idea of your strengths and weaknesses (if not, have a go at doing a SWOT analysis). Working with a business mentor can take this a step further by helping you hone in on specific skills that’ll transform your business. For example if you struggle with late invoice payments, a mentor may be able to offer advice for managing difficult clients or help to boost your confidence.

2. Get motivated

Being self-employed can be lonely, particularly if you’re a sole trader. A business mentor can help you stay motivated and focused. They’ll help by holding you accountable to things you say you’re going to do and celebrating your successes as you grow.

3. Make better decisions

If it’s just you and your business, making decisions can be challenging. Maybe you’re running a side business and can’t decide if it’s the right time to take the leap and run your business full time. It’s easy to overthink even the smallest decisions sometimes. A mentor is someone who can offer a listening ear and help you explore your options.

4. Discuss your ideas

A good mentor is someone you can bounce ideas off about your business. Maybe you’re thinking of developing a new product or service and you don’t know where to start. Or perhaps you want to try a different marketing approach. Working with a mentor who’s on a similar journey to you (just a few steps ahead) can be helpful as they can share their successes and setbacks.

5. Grow your network

Keshia from No Knot Co said: “Networking is super important, your network equals your net worth. Embracing failure and overcoming challenges helps us to grow and become better people.”

A business mentor can also help by introducing you to people in their network who might relate to a specific challenge you’re having.

Knowing where to go and who to speak to about business challenges can help build your confidence, knowledge, and community.

Mo Kanjilal is the founder of a small diversity and inclusion company called Watch This Sp_ce. She told us why it’s so important to connect with people and grow your business: “It’s tough starting and growing a business. You need to talk things through and share ideas.

“Find people with different perspectives and opinions to give you the feedback you need. There will be times where you need to take advice and change direction. That network will give you support along the way when things are tough, and celebrate with you when things go well.”

How to find a business mentor

If you’re looking for a business mentor, first make sure you’re clear on your goals so you find the right person to support you.

It’s worthwhile taking a look at some of these resources to get started:

• Mentorsme – a directory of mentoring organisations across the UK specifically for small and medium sized businesses
• Business Wales Mentoring – free mentoring for Welsh businesses
• Women Business Leaders’ Mentoring Programme – for fast-growth female entrepreneurs
• Prince’s Trust Enterprise programme – mentoring for young entrepreneurs aged 18 to 30

Yet mentoring doesn’t have to come in such a formalised way.

Look at your peer group

You might already know someone in your network who you trust and admire. They could be another founder like you, just with a bit more experience you’d like to learn from.

Network or join an online community

Get talking to people. Whether that’s by going to networking events in your industry or joining an online community, it can be a great way to connect with people on similar journeys to you and seek out a mentor.

Regardless of how you find your mentor, it’s important to remember that mentoring is a two-way relationship – both you and your mentor can learn a lot from each other.

More guides and resources for your business

• Self Assessment and tax resources
• a free SWOT analysis template to help you get a strategic understanding of your businesses
• assess the money you have coming into your business with this cash flow forecast template
• bookkeeping tips and a budget template to help you stay on top of your finances

Have you worked with a small business mentor or professional business coach? Let us know your experience in the comments below.

Photograph: Rido/stock.adobe.com