There’s no need to go lengthy on this one. An experienced mentor keeps you from building what should never have been built in the first place.
They can cut years off the length of your build and save you thousands of dollars in the process.
They keep you from reinventing The Wheel:
- They know what works and what doesn’t
- Have their finger on the pulse of their industry
- Are aware of marketing trends
- Are familiar with the right technology (hardware and software) for your situation
- Have access to networks or can help you gain access or build your own
- And can keep you from getting burned, where applicable
They’ve been around the block
Great mentors have lived what they teach and have worked with other mentors and students who’ve endured their own catastrophes.
They’ll remove those hurdles for you before you even begin and help you avoid future hurdles as you reach various milestones in your development.
Oftentimes, you are not as original as you think
The average entrepreneur is used to waiting on no one.
We have no problem going out and finding what we need and then commencing to MacGyver the whole mess into a Rube Goldberg thing of beauty.
Impressive skill but frequently more harmful than good.
Sometimes, we need someone to slow our roll and expose us to systems, tools, and info that are more efficient than what we’d build on our own.
Sometimes, we MUST be stopped!
We entrepreneurs love the action and flow so much that we’ll unnecessarily Frankenstein our way into massive headaches, all out of ignorance to better ways.
We just get caught up in the excitement of creating.
Look at your past and tell me that’s not you (if you’ve been in this game awhile.)
That’s it, really. Find the good teacher and become the apt pupil.
Run all your ideas by your guy or girl first and see if they don’t save you a ton of resources simply by tweaking your path in a new direction.
Or stopping you dead in your tracks for your own good.
The photographer of this post’s featured photo: Monica Melton