5 kinds of mentors every aspiring entrepreneur needs

Chasing your entrepreneurial dream is no fairy tale. According to Bloomberg Business, eight out of ten businesses fail within the first 18 months. However, according to another study, 70 percent of mentored businesses survive more than five years. That is about double the rate for non-mentored small businesses over the same period. This is why it’s important for every aspiring entrepreneur to find the right mentor.

“A mentor is someone who sees more talent and ability within you than you see in yourself and helps bring it out of you.” – Bob Proctor

A mentor helps you align your goals to direct you to the best results. In fact, a mentor helps you see things from a different perspective and facilitates better decision making, problem solving, team management and other such skills that are prerequisites for success.

Here is a list of 5 different types of mentors that every entrepreneur needs

The Expert

Find someone who lives the life that you want. Do not look at them with envy in your eyes, but be humble and learn from them. After all, Bill Gates had Warren Buffett, Tony Robbins had Jim Rohn and Luke Skywalker had Yoda. Using their own experience, this mentor will help you and prepare you for what you are going to face in your own journey.

Bill Gates had Warren Buffett, Tony Robbins had Jim Rohn and Luke Skywalker had Yoda.

The Sociable Person

You need the point-of-view of someone who is extremely sociable and has been in contact with influencers in your network. This mentor will not only help you build the right network with the help of their contacts, he or she will also offer genuine and valuable feedback about your progress by contrasting it against your potential contemporaries.

The person with similar skills

A person or even a group of people with similar skills as yours will help you get better at what you do. Having a support system will help you have someone to lean on for advice and professional development. This mentor will not just motivate you but also help you steer clear of roadblocks with the help of his or her knowledge and experience.

The old friend

A real friend can be your first, and perhaps, even your most trustworthy mentor.

Identify that close friend of yours whom you can turn to in times of need. As long as your friend knows the real you, it doesn’t even matter if he/she is an expert in your field of interest or not.

Such a mentor will help you gauge how far you have you come from the start line and how things have changed during your race to success. This mentor will help you realise that you must not compromise on the valuable parts of your life outside of work.

The Listener

Sometimes, all you need is a listener – someone who will patiently listen to you and understand you without judging you. Such a mentor will help you analyse and dig deeper to reach the root cause of the problems you face. This mentor will not solve your problems for you, but he or she will help you regain the strength to battle through them.

If there are any other kinds of mentors you think you need to have, please let us know in the comments section below.