Finding Mentoring Help for Your New Small Business

There are lots of ways to get the expert guidance you need to help you learn more about starting your small business. There are online communities and associations galore, many of which probably have local chapters that meet in your area on a regular basis.

A couple of other ways to learn more about beginning a small business or about the particular industry you hope to have your business in may be more informal and less expected.

By volunteering with an organization or business/government department that specializes in the kind of work you hope to do in your small business, you will have valuable access to individuals and their connections who have years of experience in the field. They can tell you what they learned from making mistakes over the years, and they can point you in the right direction to learn more about a specific topic if you want to learn more. For instance, by tutoring in adult education, you could gain experience working with adults as learners, and you could possibly gain access to tutoring resources in the professional development library or classes that the school district offers if you wanted to begin a tutoring business geared towards adults.

Another route may be to seek out a company similar to the one you are starting and approach the owner or an experienced employee who works there about having coffee or lunch together to discuss some of your questions. This should be done in a spirit of learning and not competition so that your potential mentor will not be put off by your wanting to learn trade and industry secrets for free. You are, in essence, wanting to do this, but having a pleasant and charming attitude should make the conversation easier. You could also offer to "intern" in the owner's store or assist him or her in the services provided to learn more.

Your local public library is likely filled with information about starting a new business, and your reference librarian could point you in the direction of books with valuable mentoring resources listed in them, or he or she may know of some local groups that offer mentoring to new business owners. Chambers of commerce are other great places to network and learn more about mentoring services in your area. Reading all you can and actively engaging others in conversation about starting a business in general and about what kind of business you are starting can lead to a well-thought out business plan that can help ensure your business starts out on the right foot as soon as you open its doors.