How good was your mentor?

pedronomix

The " business help" thread got me thinking about mentors and what was anyone's experience of them in terms of what they brought to your business. It seems to me to be an area that appeals mostly to former accounting/finance/professional types who are mostly generalists and that the issues faced by SME owner/managers are generally quite specific. I could be quite wrong but lets see what people on here have experienced.

Have you had one? How did it work out?

smcgiff

Pedro, have you seen the partner stickie, if you are interested in being a mentor you could include a post on there.

pedronomix

smcgiff wrote: »

Pedro, have you seen the partner stickie, if you are interested in being a mentor you could include a post on there.

It is not something I would have time for as I already do a lot of informal mentoring in my retirement along with a number of non-exec/advisory roles and my own little start-up.

pedronomix

OK, Lots of posters advise querists to get a mentor, has anyone on here ever actually had an official mentor?

pedroeibar1

Interesting topic Pedronomix and one worth more attention than it’s got so far on this thread.

I’ve held a few mentoring roles, formal and informal, ‘though never through EI / LEO. Most were through mutual contacts asking me to ‘give a few pointers’ (because of my skillsets) and they developed from that. It usually starts pro bono, a meeting for a chat and a coffee, and sometimes it grew as far as a fee-paying role.

IMO the casual ones are the hardest as it is always best to define the objectives and roles of the mentor/mentee on paper. As soon as I can I stress that the mentor’s main purpose is to listen and to ask questions and through them help the mentee identify problems that s/he can resolve.

I’ve found it an interesting but sometimes very frustrating process. The fact that some start-ups never get off the ground IMO usually has nothing to do with the appointment (or not) of a mentor – they fail because they never had a hope from day one due a variety of reasons – plain bad idea/concept/product/service, wrong time or place, no experience by promoter (particularly on pricing), lack of sufficient cash (although too much cash is also bad), in-fighting among promoters/shareholders, unwilling to accept ‘fact’ or even listen to advice because they loved the business idea too much, lack of or poor financial management particularly attention to CASHFLOW. Some projects are as loved by promoters as the family pet, but they cannot accept when the business is in terminal decline the kindest thing is to ‘put it down.’

The worst is when as mentor you really believe in the product/idea/service, see the huge potential, know how to get the project over the line to the next stage BUT the promoter is too lethargic or distracted by a pet project to drive the real business. It’s not the mentor’s role to drive the business, that is the job of the mentee, so the frustration leads to a parting of ways and when the business fails it is a handy excuse to blame ‘a bad mentor’. I wonder how often that is the case........................?

pedronomix

I was not looking for supply side comment, but Pedroeibar, your experiences mirror my own so accurately it is positively scary! Incisive and to the kernel of the matter as usual.
I have long been of tghe opinion that much trite BS advice is doled out on here with clearly ignorant posters proffering useless comment and suggestions.
It will be inertersting to see if any of the targeted cohort share their actual experiences.

pedroeibar1

I'm not going to thank you because it would look unseemly! :)

modmuffin

I've had two professional mentors (8-10 sessions) & 1 Coach (1 session).

I find you get what you put into the mentor sessions. Typically I speak about strategy and challenges I am facing. I find that speaking about it helps me arrive at a solution to whatever problem I have.

Mentoring sessions are time to work "on" the business rather than "in" the business

I enjoyed the sessions and have maintained an informal relationship with one of the mentors.

My one coaching session was fantastic. It was like I was an open book to the coach after about 20mins. The difference for me was the coach focused on the development of me ( both personally & professionally) whereas the mentoring is all about the business

pedronomix

Thanks Modmuffin. clearly you engaged on the basis of maximising the benefits. Finding answers, solutions and understanding from with within is most beneficial and good for the personal morale too!!

Did any of your mentors bring any things to the benefit of the business in terms of introductions/contacts/sourcing/corrective measures etc.

Cheers

P

General.Tee

Hey Guys,

Dont mean to hijack this thread or anything but just wondering where the best place would be to find a mentor other than your local enterprise board?

Just so happens that I came on here looking for a thread on mentors and saw this at the top. Would be looking for a mentor or possibly even someone to take on an advisor/partner role in the business.

Basically looking for someone who has experience in the market that I am in to advise on certain issue but I will do most of the work if that makes sense!!

smcgiff

General.Tee wrote: »

Hey Guys,

Dont mean to hijack this thread or anything but just wondering where the best place would be to find a mentor other than your local enterprise board?

Just so happens that I came on here looking for a thread on mentors and saw this at the top. Would be looking for a mentor or possibly even someone to take on an advisor/partner role in the business.

Basically looking for someone who has experience in the market that I am in to advise on certain issue but I will do most of the work if that makes sense!!

Hi, put up a post on the business partner stickie. Detail what you're looking for.

pedronomix

General.Tee wrote: »

Hey Guys,

Dont mean to hijack this thread or anything but just wondering where the best place would be to find a mentor other than your local enterprise board?

Just so happens that I came on here looking for a thread on mentors and saw this at the top. Would be looking for a mentor or possibly even someone to take on an advisor/partner role in the business.

Basically looking for someone who has experience in the market that I am in to advise on certain issue but I will do most of the work if that makes sense!!

I know it is off topic but the reality is that nobody reads the stickies, and while we wait for the promised new/revised charter, post more specific detail on here!!

General.Tee

I didn't even know about the stickies till you mentioned them and I looked into what you were talking about!! I'll post something in there to see if I get any response.

I have a new online business that I am looking to expand into retail stores throughout Ireland. So far I have done everything myself but with no retail experience before starting this business I think it would be time to look for a mentor/advisor/partner to help me through this stage.

I think in order to implement this and come off as professional as I would like I will need an individual who has been there and done that! They can be as hands on/hands off as they like really. I am dedicated to the brand and will be putting in all the hours given to me but with my lack of experience I think I will definitely need someone to bounce ideas off to see if they will actually work and to get industry advise from.

Do you know of any groups/websites/organisations (other than enterprise board) that you can reach out to about this?

modmuffin

General.Tee wrote: »

I didn't even know about the stickies till you mentioned them and I looked into what you were talking about!! I'll post something in there to see if I get any response.

I have a new online business that I am looking to expand into retail stores throughout Ireland. So far I have done everything myself but with no retail experience before starting this business I think it would be time to look for a mentor/advisor/partner to help me through this stage.

I think in order to implement this and come off as professional as I would like I will need an individual who has been there and done that! They can be as hands on/hands off as they like really. I am dedicated to the brand and will be putting in all the hours given to me but with my lack of experience I think I will definitely need someone to bounce ideas off to see if they will actually work and to get industry advise from.

Do you know of any groups/websites/organisations (other than enterprise board) that you can reach out to about this?

Try mentors.ie or contact dublinbic.ie

modmuffin

pedronomix wrote: »

Thanks Modmuffin. clearly you engaged on the basis of maximising the benefits. Finding answers, solutions and understanding from with within is most beneficial and good for the personal morale too!!

Did any of your mentors bring any things to the benefit of the business in terms of introductions/contacts/sourcing/corrective measures etc.

Cheers

P

Yes and No. The business is a startup in a niche area, so it would be difficult for mentor to have contacts in the industry. Basically the mentor challenged my planned strategy on various levels which enabled me to sense-check what I was doing.

One of my mentors is through Dublin BIC's client assistance programme. These sessions are quite rigorous and are primarily focused on preparing an investor-ready business plan.

Being part of the "DBIC family" certainly has a number of benefits and I get invited to a lot of events and plenty of opportunity to meet / pitch to investors through their network.

My second mentor was through the New Frontiers programme (EI funded). Because I already have a mentor I decided to select a mentor that I thought was most different to me and to try get a different perspective.
No real benefit in terms of contacts but he provided a wealth of information that was really helpful to me. I am continuing to meet this mentor informally (even thought the "paid" sessions have concluded).

Overall I would recommend it, however I would not expect a knight in shining armour to solve all your problems and introduce you to the CEO of your biggest potential customer!

tacofries

I had a few. Had one brilliant one that really focused on what I needed to do as he actually was an entrepreneur himself so knew the road to be taken.

Unfortunately I have had more hopeless ones. One of these mentors would take notes during the session, then say that after that she would look over them and format them properly. By the notes she would send me it was clear that she directly copy and pasted the session notes which left me with unfinished sentences, no grammar and no punctuation (which really frustrates me).

The worst one I ever had was very recently. A LEO mentor was meant to help a group of 8 of us with a brief summary of what a business plan was and answer any other questions which we may have. Before the session started I made her aware that I was applying for an Innovation Voucher and would she look over my application form which I had brought with me. This form is short and would take 5 minutes to read. She very very bluntly refused and said to go to my LEO where I was originally from as her LEO were understaffed. Funnily enough it really showed the difference between entrepreneurs and 'employees' as any entrepreneur would have glanced over it.

Also done a bootcamp with 2 real entrepreneurs which was brilliant. They actually had passion and you could see that they actually where doing what they were talking about. i.e. running a business.

pedroeibar1

modmuffin wrote: »

....... it would be difficult for mentor to have contacts in the industry. Basically the mentor challenged my planned strategy on various levels which enabled me to sense-check what I was doing.

...........No real benefit in terms of contacts but he provided a wealth of information that was really helpful to me.

.......... I would not expect a knight in shining armour to solve all your problems and introduce you to the CEO of your biggest potential customer!

Thanks modmuffin, I think these are very important points because they succinctly define what mentoring is about. The phrase in bold is mentoring, the rest describes what I call 'godfathering'. That is a different process, one that can be incorporated into a mentoring arrangement; however, what is expected & can be provided needs to be clearly defined and built into the mentor agreement to avoid dissent.

pedronomix

Good word Perdo! and not to be confused with the US widely used word Grandfathering, which means something else altogether in business terminology.
I believe the promotion of and implementation of mentoring does not at all make the necessary distinction between Mentor and Godfather. The outcome of any particular assignment will be critically influenced by the quality of the match between expectation and the deliverable. If this difference is not considered, the process is probably wasting everybody's time.
I do accept that the Godfather is a much rarer best than a regular mentor. Unsurprising as the Godfather needs to be very well specific industry connected