image with a brown color overlay with text on top that says "on the blog. the benefits of having a business mentor"

The Benefits of Having a Business Mentor

When it comes to starting and running your own business, there are so many moving parts that it can sometimes feel overwhelming. You may be asking yourself, “Am I going in the right direction?” “Am I making little mistakes that are holding me back?” “Is there something more I can be doing?” 

These are all valid questions, and the reality is – there is no one right answer. However, there are people out there who have been in the same place you are who can help you navigate these questions. This is one of the benefits of having a business mentor. 

A business mentor is someone who can: 

  • help you work through your business 
  • figure out where your roadblocks are and what you can do to overcome them
  • help set you on the right path
  • help you to avoid the mistakes they made at the same point in their business. 

Still not sure if you need a mentor or coach? Let’s dive into more of the benefits of having a business mentor. 

Unearth your brand personality to stand out. Take the FREE Brand Archetype Quiz!

Silver laptop with a web page pulled up that says "Brand Persona Quiz."

Pinpointing what is going “wrong” with your specific business

Whether you are just starting out or have been in business for years, there is a good chance you have hit a wall at some point. Maybe you don’t feel like you are doing work that brings you joy, or you can’t seem to consistently book out, or that product is literally collecting dust in your store.

You may have spent thousands of dollars on tons of courses that all say the same things without saying much at all. They may teach you specific skills – like how to design on a certain website platform – but they don’t really address the sticking points in your business. After taking all of these courses and classes, you may still be stuck:

  • Worrying your prices are too high
  • Undercharging for your work because you need clients
  • Posting on Instagram and hoping people book with you 
  • Terrified to pitch yourself because you’ll be labeled “slimy”
  • Struggling to land clients you are excited to work with
  • Finding all of your clients solely from referrals, with no other system in place
  • Getting ‘friend-zoned’ from potential clients and watching them hire someone else 
  • Feeling like you never have enough clients to meet your income goals
  • Feeling like you have no say in how few or how many clients you take on

These are real issues most business owners face.

This is where bringing in a business mentor can help shift everything. 

A business mentor isn’t going to give you a cookie cutter solution that only skims the surface of what you actually need. They are going to work with you to create tailored strategies and advice specifically for you and your business. 

While courses are a great place to start, a business mentor is going to help you take that foundation that you have laid and build it up into a successful business you’re confident in. 

Going past the Instagram advice

There are countless people and feeds that push out business advice on a daily basis. While there can be some great content in those posts, there will be gaps that information doesn’t fill. 

You may see a bunch of “what not to do” or “mistakes to avoid in your business” carousels, but most of the time, that information isn’t as earth shattering or business shifting as people expect. My point is, social media and ‘free content’ will only get you so far. At some point, you will need to invest in strategic business advice or brand consulting to make a true difference in your business growth. This is where a business mentor can step in. 

They will go a step further than what you see on social media and will actually help you implement specific practices and ideas that relate to your business and help foster that change you are looking for.

I always see posts saying… “don’t undercharge for your services” or “charge what you are worth,” and yes, that is really important, but how do you do that? How do you know where to price yourself? Are there changes that you should make to your packages? When is the right time to raise prices?

These are all questions you may be asking yourself after reading that post that you just don’t have the answers to. One of the benefits of having a business mentor is they can work through these questions with you, set timelines and goals for your business, and help keep you accountable. 

They can help you with things that social media can’t like: 

  • Niching down to your ideal clients
  • Saying yes to any client, even if you don’t resonate with them
  • Finding clients
  • Standing firm on your prices and not lowering them just to make a sale

These are all things that are vital to your business but are also very specific to your business as well. Social media posts are probably not going to give you the information you need to make these changes that will bring your business to the next level. 

You don’t know what you don’t know

Now, this one may seem obvious, but it’s true. As a former teacher, I truly believe in life-long learning and in the idea that there is always something more you can learn. There will always be someone at that next level who you can learn from. 

Here’s my truth. I didn’t go to school for business, so there is a lot that I just didn’t know. Instead of struggling on my own and hitting roadblocks, I am investing in education from a mentor to fill those gaps in my knowledge. 

When you are looking to find a mentor, it’s important to look for someone who is in a position that you want to be in. Maybe this means finding someone in the same industry as you or someone who has built a business and a community that you want for yourself. That said, they shouldn’t preach, “I did it, and you can too.” without some kind of structure in place to teach from. You don’t want to end up copying a business model, you want to emulate instead. 

This is going to be a key part of your success. Your mentor needs to be someone who can teach you what you don’t know about your business itself and how to take it to the next level. 

You may know someone who has built a super successful financial business, but that may not translate well to your design business. Instead, find someone who can help you where you are at in your specific business. 

Confidence boosting

When it comes to the benefits of having a business mentor, this is a major one. Women supporting women is an insanely powerful thing, especially in a world where you are constantly told no and told that “you can’t do that.” 

A business mentor is someone who is going to be in your corner at all times. They will be there to build you up and celebrate the wins, from booking your first dream client to hitting your income goals. 

There is something so powerful about having someone back you and lift you up and say ‘f*ck that’ when the world tells you you can’t do something. I feel like this is such an underrated benefit of a business mentor, but it is one that can make all the difference. 

This confidence goes beyond boosting you up when positive things happen in your business. Your business mentor will help give you the confidence to take the next steps in your business, whether that is launching a new product or service, increasing prices, hiring more people to work for your business, or any other goals you may have. 

The confidence you get from your mentor to pursue these new things goes beyond just having someone telling you that you can do it. They will help create plans and roadmaps for you to make these ideas a reality. 

What you will get with a business mentor

Your mentor won’t have you blindly jump into something with no thought or plan. Together, you will build out plans and steps to get you to those goals, so you feel confident in yourself throughout the process and know each and every step you need to take to get to where you want to be. 

The benefits of having a business mentor go on and on, but at the end of the day, they are going to help take you from where you currently are to where you have always dreamed of going. Business mentors can help you grow your business in the ways you want while avoiding the roadblocks they faced when they were in your shoes. 

Ready to take the next step in your business and find a mentor? Check out The Creative CEO Mentorship and how it has already helped other business owners grow and scale their creative businesses!