Starting and growing any business can seem impossibly hard if you’ve never tried it before.
So you have two options to get it right:
- Trial and error (without doubt the most fun way to do anything, but the risks are high, so you’ll an exit plan in case it all goes wrong).
- Get a mentor. Not just any mentor, someone who understands you and what you want to do. You’re going to need all the support you can get, so you need to ensure you pick the right person.
I started with trial and error and it worked out just fine. I picked a niche that allowed me to be faster, cheaper, and better than my national competitors. And I chose a location without any local competitors to compete with.
(but I had no idea at the time, I just picked something I could do, and did it where I lived – I got lucky)
You are already in a far better position than I was just knowing the above. But I know that won’t stop you from doing whatever it is you want to do, nor should it.
Your passion will drive you either way. And passion wins every time. As long as you truly believe in what you are doing and are willing to do whatever it takes (taking into mind your sense of ethics obviously) you will succeed eventually.
But you’ll need an “I will get there or die trying” attitude to make it. As Nike say “just do it” (I highly recommend reading “Shoe Dog” by Phil Knight, founder of Nike, or Richard Branson’s “Screw it, let’s do it” for inspiration and real life stories of taking massive risks – my own journey has been very similar, but without the billions lol – I became an expert at losing millions though – ask my first investor).
So that brings us to the second option – find a mentor.
There are two types of mentor:
- Crooks
- People who care
I have paid a lot of money to crooks. You can tell them easily. They promise you riches. Ignore these people. If all they talk about is the accumulation of wealth, it may well be real, but it is not what you really need.
They accumulated it through promising the accumulation of it. Anyone can do this (and many have done so and continue to do so).
Type 2 mentors are the best for one reason only. They actually care. Test them out first. Send an email. How do they respond. How do they make you feel. Get on the phone with them. Same thing. Get on a video call. Trust your gut. Ask the most awkward questions you can think of. Get at the truth. Are they interested in you? Or are they more interested in themselves? Any doubts at all, end it.
The world is full of mentors. You don’t need qualifications. Your next door neighbour may be a great mentor. Some relative or friend may be perfect. You can never tell from their previous walk of life. They just have to be a great fit.
And they need to have a Nanny McPhee attitude:
“When you need me, but do not want me then I must stay. But when you want me but no longer need me, I have to go”
What does it cost? highly variable. Generally speaking, the more it costs, the less the mentor wants to do it. The less it costs, the more desperate the mentor is (there are exceptions to both cases of course).
BTW, all generalities are nonsense. We are all different. This is why the only way to judge a mentor is to communicate with them and see how you feel.
If they ever put any pressure on you about the cost or length of time you’ll need to commit to, and I mean any pressure at all, walk away. They are clearly more interested in the financial side of the relationship (this is another generalisation of course – but then again, most statements are).
As for me. Get in touch.
Quentin Pain
United Kingdom