You have successfully forged a blazing path of entrepreneurial success in your life. Or you have carved out a stellar business career, scoring distinction in your respective field of expertise. You know the ropes and the risks, the challenges and the opportunities, and have gone through the travails to take ideas from conception to reality. You have seen opportunities grow out of the seeds you planted and witnessed them blossom into fruitful projects. If you are a successful entrepreneur, you have likely gone through the endless phases of realizing an idea into a viable product or service, and have withstood the test of time and the distresses of temporary failures.
If you have gone through these stages in your professional life and now have a repute for being an expert at what you do, the next great thing that you can achieve is become a mentor and share your wisdom with others along the way. Mentorship can be not just an exciting new engagement for you but also an unusual opportunity to teach others and at the same time, learn more about your achievements. It’s a two-way process and a sure-fire way of imparting your legacy to another generation of individuals.
Impart your wisdom
Becoming a mentor is a very rewarding experience in many ways. It’s like letting others drink from the fount of wisdom that you, as a person, are. After all, everyone has something unique to offer to others and being a successful person, you will have more things than most to teach others.
Sharing your wisdom in today’s business world is not just a quick way of achieving a form of Zen in your everyday life. It also brings a number of exciting, and lucrative, opportunities in its wake.
Get new opportunities
Companies like TechStars have forged their success with the help of excellent mentors like Twitter CEO Dick Costolo. By connecting mentors from all walks of lives to new business and startups, TechStars has gone from a tiny venture in 2006 to a leading tech incubator today. This is resonated by the findings of a study according to which 33% of the top-performing NYC tech firms had a solid mentoring network as the basis of their success.
New startups and businesses are cognizant of the fact that mentorship is a key ingredient of modern-day success. And anyone with a good pool of experience is a highly valued resource as a startup mentor. If you are ready to put on your Zen hat and start guiding any budding newbies on to the paths of success, you will have plenty of opportunities. Such as:
Join a community: A number of startup communities exist today, maintaining vast networks of mentors who are linked to the budding entrepreneurs and help them realize their ideas. New York City, for instance, is a very happening startup community, considered a second Silicon Valley of sorts. The NYC startup scene is lit up with frequent hackathons, conferences and events where mentors are invited to speak on areas of their focus and expertise. You can join hands with such a community and share your wisdom in keynote speeches.
Partner with Educational Institutes: Even better than counseling actual entrepreneurs, is to guide aspiring entrepreneurs. Students are the most in need of right guidance. Business schools all over the U.S. and Europe seek seasoned entrepreneurs and successful business managers to help guide budding talents. Educational institutes are the best place to become acquainted with new ideas, trends and the expected startup orientation in the near-future. So not only do you get to channel this current of entrepreneurial energy into productive outlets by helping them make the right decision, at the same time you are able to put your hand to the beat of the next generation of entrepreneurs and foresee the business scene in the near future.
Join an incubator: Incubators typically shortlist only such ideas which carry a spark of genius and a potential for explosive success. If you like to work with highly charged individuals and mentor them on their path to success, joining an incubator is a great idea. Incubators require their mentors to be fast-paced, professional, experienced and able to help connect their mentees with relevant connections in the industry. You can bring all of this to the table and in return, get a lot of exposure especially if you join a leading incubator.
Online Consultancy: Thanks to the vast world of internet, it is possible to connect with a number of startups and new business on your own. You can even promote your own brand of mentorship, driven by your own philosophy of mentoring and a method unique to your personality. Try an online advice consultancy community where you can register and offer your services as an expert in your specific field. By building up reputation with customers, you can amass an online credibility as an expert and use it to further your own career as well.
Become angel investors: Becoming a mentor comes with some of the best financial opportunities in the realm of startups. While being a mentor, you are directly in contact with the brewing ideas of the next generation of talent and genius. At one hand, you can give the founders of new ventures a grander viewpoint and help them resolve the difficulties they face in getting the ideas from the ground up. At the other hand, shall you come across any brilliant idea, you can choose to become an angle investor in it and garner an equity share in the project. Imagine foreseeing the next Snapchat and investing in it at the right time! Since as a mentor, you have far more experience than the budding founders of a new idea, you can measure its potential far more accurately. Based on an astute analysis, you are in a better position to invest in potentially successful ventures. And since a mentor is specifically meant to meet new people and hear their ideas, you will have plenty of exposure and options to choose from when investing your money.
Yes, yes and yes!
Mentorship is an essential element of modern-day startups and new businesses. As such, the value of a mentor is incredibly high for new entrepreneurial ventures and that’s why, many startup communities and organizations actively seek mentors to connect them with the new talent. Similarly, business schools are also always on the hunt for seasoned teachers who can guide the next generation of businesses and founders on their path to success. To be sure, you will need significant success at your back and a certain amount of credibility in order to be an effective mentor. But if you have these prerequisites, the rewards are endless.
In today’s startup environment, the position of a mentor is that of prestige. As a mentor you will be frequently engaged in lectures, key-note speeches and general orientation sessions. You will have a lot of opportunities to shape up and inspire many people and at the same time, get exposure to a lot of brilliant ideas and gifted individuals. By being mentor to such ideas and such people, you will also add to your own portfolio and earn more credibility in the business world at large. Not to mention that one of the key rewards of mentorship is that you get to glimpse at the next Facebook or Snapchat before the users do, and get the option to invest in it. By having an eye for the right idea, you can successfully multiply your net worth and influence by making the right choices as a mentor.