Mentoring benefits can cut both ways

Every entrepreneur starting his first business needs a mentor — and many know it. Nine out of every 10 start-ups fail, according to analysts, and having a mentor to guide you as you try to establish your enterprise is a way to tilt the odds in your favour.

What established entrepreneurs often don’t realise that they need a mentee just as badly.

Something many only discover when they agree to be mentors is how much they can benefit as well — in reality, it’s a two-way street, where the experienced businessperson learns just as much from her less-experienced mentee. There are always new skills to be learnt and fresh perspectives on old problems, and the mentor who listens to her mentees’ new ideas is paving the way for new ventures and opportunities for herself.

The experience can be particularly valuable for entrepreneurs who haven’t yet been successful in launching or growing a business — often they avoid such relationships, not understanding how valuable their advice can be. But the fact is, the best mentors aren’t always the ones who have run successful businesses.

Often, it’s more useful for beginning entrepreneurs to talk with someone whose business failed, especially in the same industry. That person can talk about which mistakes he made, and is likely to help others to dodge similar ones.

As I’ve written before, when I was starting up Virgin Atlantic, I reached out to a mentor for help. Sir Freddie Laker acted as my sounding board throughout the launch and in the enterprise’s early days. He knew the business: His airline, Laker Airways, came close to being a success before it was squashed by larger competitors. With his advice, we took on British Airways, and it became the successful business that it is today.

These days, we run a nonprofit, Virgin StartUp, which provides loans worth up to £25,000 for people looking to start or grow a business. An unusual feature of this programme is that every entrepreneur who receives a loan is matched with a local mentor, who commits to 15 hours of face-to-face meetings over a year.

We know that such relationships increase the likelihood that these businesses will be successful, as seasoned entrepreneurs reveal strategies and share the lessons of their biggest failures with newer entrepreneurs so that they can sidestep potential pitfalls. So since 2013, Virgin StartUp has funded over 1,200 enterprises, every business has been matched with a mentor.

If you’re thinking about taking the plunge and becoming an entrepreneur, remember that anyone can take up this career — that’s what’s wonderful about it. Don’t doubt yourself. There used to be almost insurmountable financial barriers to starting up a business, which put entrepreneurship out of reach to anyone who wasn’t wealthy and highly educated, but that’s no longer the case. (I had neither advanced degrees nor unlimited funds when starting out, and Virgin hasn’t done too badly!)

Idea matters

is These days, the internet makes connecting and networking much easier for entrepreneurs. In fact, anyone can start a business. But before you do, make sure that you’ve asked yourself these basic questions:

Do you have a great idea that can be easily explained to others? Does your product or service disrupt an already established, but tired, industry? Does your product or service help others? Are you determined to see your idea through?

Now it doesn’t matter where you were born, how you did in school or what language you speak — you can be an entrepreneur if you have a strong idea and a determination to see it through.

Figuring out whether and how to get started can be difficult, but you can find some of the world’s greatest entrepreneurs offering advice, inspiration and guidance online.

Just Google “how to start a business”, and thousands of articles will pop up, featuring suggestions from people in every industry who’ve done just that. Or search on Eventbrite for start-up meetups, and you’ll find them in all major cities virtually every night of the week.

The next step is to find a mentor. Entrepreneurs like Freddie Laker and the hundreds who are registered with Virgin StartUp are volunteers who are only too happy to help others with their start-ups. But none of them offered their help — all of them were asked for it.

So if you’re a new entrepreneur looking for a mentor, just ask someone. I think you’ll be surprised by the response.

Successful entrepreneurs recognise the positives of sharing knowledge with others. You both have everything to gain.