Start by researching your professional network. Use cold outreach to find a mentor. Meet entrepreneurs with meeting experience. Search online forums and communities.
Connect with potential mentors on LinkedIn. Start by communicating with your university's alumni network. They may be able to connect you with potential mentors. Or, if you keep in touch with one of your teachers, you can also contact them.
In the simplest terms, a mentor is anyone who has more experience and knowledge than you in a given industry. They have skills that you must master in order to thrive. While mentoring is sometimes considered a one-way street in which a veteran businessman gives advice to a young person just for the sake of doing so, this is rarely the case. A business mentor is someone who offers guidance, wisdom and advice to a mentee for an extended period of time, usually free of charge.
In the business environment, this person usually has business experience; preferably in the same industry as you. Make sure to communicate in a polite way and express to them why you would love to have this person as a mentor. Or it could be that the mentor wants to have an impact on the world through the actions of his mentor. By using LinkedIn's “Advanced” feature, you can even narrow down your list of potential mentors by filtering them by industry, location, school, and more.
That's why every entrepreneur can benefit from having a mentor who has been there and done it many times before. It's understandable that the survival rate of new companies intimidates entrepreneurs, but those numbers can change dramatically if a mentor is added to the equation. No matter where you go to find a mentor, connecting with the right one should be a key step in your business plan. However, while most young, ambitious entrepreneurs understand how important this concept is to their growth, they often struggle to find a business mentor.
As a member of the Small Business Association, SCORE, for example, has a mentoring program that can be used via email or in person. New entrepreneurs often hear that they must find a business mentor, but that's often easier said than done. In addition to the benefit of consulting with someone who has real world experience, having a business mentor can be useful in facilitating networking opportunities. Meetup groups often bring together high-profile entrepreneurs to talk, so check them out to see if there's someone there that you want to mentor.
Entrepreneurs need mentors more than other professionals, since it's almost impossible to formally teach entrepreneurship. Numerous events are held across the country where you can meet like-minded entrepreneurs, establish meaningful connections, and potentially meet your mentor. If you're feeling stuck on a certain decision or an overview, finding a mentor can help you overcome the impasse. Perhaps the mentor can invest in the mentee's startup, as happened with Daniel Álvarez Yunes, a member of the Foundr community and entrepreneur.
