Mentoring Works!

My father was an entrepreneur and he was my first mentor. I learned a lot from from his success and his mistakes. It was learning from his life experiences and taking this to create my own journey. Without him I would not have had the confidence to succeed. Why is that?

My dad came to Canada with $2, a suitcase with a change of clothes and telephone number of a house that would take him in. The clever lady had a room, a laundry service, a lunch bucket operation and also sold cold beer. All the people in the house were all looking to survive and create a success story. It worked. It was the immigrant incubator if you will. The incubator found my dad a job, that helped the house succeed that helped him make friends and create a network of friends. This was 1959.

Mentorship in its simplistic format is all about helping anyone, learning from anyone and teaching others with no selfishness.

Mentorship is an essential ingredient in any successful business because for any start up the path is a scary and  lonely one that needs a platform of support.

If you are a student in a education system then there are various programs that brings students and mentors together. If you are a lonely soul in a garage with a great business idea then its a daunting challenge to get connected to helpers.

There is a big gap in mentorship today and One Million Acts of Innovation is helping decrease the gap, but many millennial entrepreneurs still lack skills in connecting the dots.

Mentors are able to help connect those dots, increase engagement and keep the positive dialogue alive in making success happen. I had a chat with a young business minded student and he wanted to spend $5000 on a marketing program. I suggested that he spend $500 and use the flyer approach and some leg work to get a bigger audience engaged to his offering. It worked in a way that gave him new customers and increased his cash flow that allows the next steps to happen.