Document your mentoring needs
You've been presented with the opportunity to meet with a mentor. You want to be sure that you're making the most out of this opportunity and that the mentor feels like the meeting was worthwhile. If all goes well, you're hoping to meet with this mentor on a regular basis.
Every founder brings a unique set of skills, knowledge, and insights that have inspired them to start building a company. You're no different. But it takes more than passion and vision to build a successful company. Strong founders recognize that they need a variety of insights across a myriad of topics to be successful with their startups. Mentors can be the key to gaining these insights. When used properly, mentors can often be one of the most helpful and cost-effective means of support for founders and the companies they're working to build.
So how do you ensure that the meeting has the highest likelihood of being successful and that your potential relationship starts off with the best possible interaction? It all starts with being clear about what you're hoping to get out of the relationship and planning an initial meeting that makes a positive first impression.
Where could mentorship be most helpful for you?
First and foremost, it's important for you to document all of the areas where you believe you could use mentorship. This could be as simple as a list of your strengths and weaknesses. Or it could be a matter of capturing all of your questions about how to build your startup, from product to people to profits.
The most important thing about this initial effort is that you are honest with yourself about the areas where you need help and advice. The more truthful you can be about your strengths and weaknesses the more prepared you'll be to take advantage of the benefits of entrepreneurship. But it's not just you as a founder. It's just as important that you be as detailed as possible about specific areas of business where you could use guidance and education.
Pen and paper exercise: Grab a stack of sticky notes and a pencil—or the virtual equivalent. Give yourself 15 minutes to jot down whatever comes to mind about your strengths and weaknesses. It may take several 15-minute sessions to complete this exercise. Just work to get the ideas out. Don't worry about the structure, organization, or repetition. Simply concentrate on generating as many sticky notes as possible in the time allotted.
Next, let's work to organize those insights into topical areas for mentorship.