{"id":38551,"date":"2023-10-20T14:57:17","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T14:57:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/four-ways-to-build-yourself-a-powerful-network-of-mentors-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T14:57:17","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T14:57:17","slug":"four-ways-to-build-yourself-a-powerful-network-of-mentors-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/four-ways-to-build-yourself-a-powerful-network-of-mentors-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Four ways to build yourself a powerful network of mentors – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
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When speaking with\u00a0business owners, there\u2019s one topic that never fails to get people fired up: how much help they had when starting their business.<\/p>\n

Opinions on mentoring and what it means are fiercely held and regularly contested.<\/p>\n

So in Australia\u2019s SME landscape, how are business owners actually seeking out the advice they need?<\/p>\n

Read more:\u00a0Should you pay for a mentor?\u00a0The mentors who charge millions<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Some entrepreneurs say they haven\u2019t been able to secure mentorship because the kinds of people they\u2019d like advice from\u2013 often people in similar circumstances but further along their career paths \u2013 simply don\u2019t seem to be available.<\/p>\n

This is something female business owners have been telling SmartCompany<\/em> on a weekly basis.<\/p>\n

Several business founders say they\u2019ve never had a female mentor despite now running projects that champion that cause.<\/p>\n

But what constitutes a useful mentorship or knowledge sharing arrangement, and how do SME owners secure one?<\/p>\n

Here are four approaches currently in action.<\/p>\n

The professional network<\/h3>\n

One way to get better acquainted with people who can help your business flourish is to widen the net as far as possible, which is where industry and cross-sector professional networks come in.<\/p>\n

In industries like hospitality, where the Females in Food network <\/a>launched last month, this involves a paid membership model where those in need of professional feedback and guidance can draw on others who\u2019ve done it all before.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think women in the industry are very good at saying yes and being seen,\u201d Females in Food founder Chelsea Ford told SmartCompany<\/em> last month.<\/p>\n

The appeal of professional organisations or short bursts or cross-sector professional development, like the Vital Voices program run with Bank of America, is the transfer of business knowledge without getting bogged down in the details of the business that aren\u2019t helpful.<\/p>\n

It brings, it seems, a kind of perspective.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest thing is the people that the mentor introduces you to \u2013 then that expertise that happens much more quickly,\u201d Aden + Anais founder Raegan Moya-Jones says of her involvement in this kind of mentoring<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cSelf mentoring\u201d<\/h3>\n

What about when you can find plenty of people to help you grow, but there are key questions about your industry that need answering?<\/p>\n

Group programs a more collaborative way to get across key situations and contexts that are important in your work.<\/p>\n

The Australian services sector has its own \u201cself mentoring\u201d program where members of the industry can meet up to discuss particular topics, like \u201cSpeed dating through free trade agreements\u201d, with an expert to guide the discussion.<\/p>\n

Whether you want to speed date your way through key economic policy or not, the reality is that many SME owners need assistance getting across global contexts, says Australian Services Roundtable chief executive Alina Bain.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey see this stuff in the news all the time \u2013 what we need to do is make that relevant to them,\u201d Bain says.<\/p>\n

Across a sector, these types of programs can also highlight what other professionals can teach you about running your business, even if they\u2019re not in exactly the same game.<\/p>\n

The self-mentoring program brings together people in areas\u00a0like financial services, IT and transport.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are so many things that these [service sector members] have in common \u2013 growing their workforce, maintaining qualified staff, bringing together a team,\u201d Bain says.<\/p>\n

The structured program<\/h3>\n

Some professionals who have spent time in the world of big corporates have a hunch as to why businesses fail to deliver professional development programs for themselves and their employees: time.<\/p>\n

\u201cMillennials are going to make up 50% of the workforce in five years,\u201d says Mentorloop founder Heidi Holmes, and because of the rapid pace of IT, \u201cknowledge isn\u2019t sitting in a hierarchy anymore\u201d.<\/p>\n

Holmes exited the corporate world and started her first business in 2011, but found the startup world can actually be quite lonely for first time entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n

On top of that, larger organisations seemed to be hassled by the paperwork involved in actually matching candidates to help each other develop professionally.<\/p>\n

Holmes\u2019 business Mentorloop aims to take away the paperwork and do the admin of matching and tracking candidates \u2013 and while this works for formal mentor programs, they don\u2019t have to be time and contact intensive to be useful.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt could be that you have a regular call, but you might have these other people that you just connect with every few months,\u201d Holmes says.<\/p>\n

Instead, the focus is on building up a few points of contact for advice and assistance along the line.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s space for those five quality connections that can change your career or your life going forward,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

The cold call<\/h3>\n

This is a particularly divisive approach because not all entrepreneurs feel comfortable doing it \u2013 but rather than jumping into a company-wide project or professional network, several entrepreneurs have told SmartCompany<\/em> they found their most helpful supporters by accident \u2013 or just by asking for help.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s hard to find mentors, I think it\u2019s hard to get off your arse and find mentors,\u201d says Mike Pritchett, co-founder of video production operation\u00a0Shootsta.<\/p>\n

Pritchett\u2019s a big believer in picking up the phone, and when he\u2019s sought out the advice of a business owner he doesn\u2019t know, \u201cnine times out of ten, the response has been \u2018call me any time you need\u2019,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Raegan Moya-Jones now champions structured professional development programs, but when building up her children\u2019s clothing retail brand, she never had any formal mentor relationships \u2013 rather, she came across people naturally in the course of building up her multimillion-dollar business.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had people I came across who were instrumental in becoming a better leader,\u201d she told SmartCompany<\/em> last month.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut in the classic sense, I didn\u2019t really have any [mentors].\u201d<\/p>\n

This article was originally published on SmartCompany<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Follow StartupSmart on<\/em>\u00a0Facebook<\/a>,<\/em>\u00a0Twitter<\/a>,\u00a0LinkedIn<\/a>\u00a0and iTunes<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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