Leaders of Small Businesses – especially those just starting out – are often prime candidates for receiving help from a Business mentorship. Small businesses are frequently in make-or-break situations, with a majority of the decision-making and management tasks falling on one person. This creates a high-stress environment, which can cloud judgement, which can lead to poor business choices. A business mentor is crucial for assessment and evaluation, and for improving results in a range of areas. Small businesses in particular can benefit from their guidance, helping to remove some of the responsibility from just one person.

A business mentor can help small businesses in several key ways:

• Providing feedback and analysis. In a small business, it can be easier to lose track of your progress and where you might be exerting more effort than you need to be. Because systems tend to be looser and more informal, processes can become less efficient and effective very rapidly. A business mentor can provide an objective opinion as to whether you need to tighten up and put more systems and documentation in place.
• Stress relief. Being the leader of a small business can be extremely stressful, especially if you have other people on your payroll who depend on you for financial security. Stress can cause you to make poorer decisions, which can create a vicious cycle. A business mentor is very useful for providing somewhere you can confidentially express your anxieties and concerns and receive advice in return.
• Business expertise and understanding. A business mentor is, first and foremost, well versed and experience in business themselves. Therefore they can also offer practical advice on how to run your business more effectively and how to maximise your returns. They won’t tell you what to do, but they’ll work with you to assess your business strategy, to outline your goals, and to form a plan for the future.

A business mentor can be extremely useful for small businesses, allowing some of the stress and responsibility to be relieved from the person in charge. This provides clarity and a strategy for moving forward.