How to find a mentor for your business, and when a paid call is faster

To find a business mentor, start with the kind of help you need, then go where that kind of person already volunteers or can be reached. For general advice on running a small business, free programs such as SCORE and the Small Business Development Centers will match you with someone. For industry knowledge, such as how a particular type of buyer makes decisions, you usually have to find the person yourself, ask for a small amount of their time first, and let the relationship grow if it is useful to both of you.

A mentor is someone you go back to over months. That is different from a one-time conversation to answer a specific question, which is covered at the end.

Decide what kind of mentor you need

It helps to decide which of three kinds of mentor you are looking for:

• A general business mentor who has run a company and can help with planning, cash flow, pricing and hiring. Many free programs are built for this.
• An industry mentor or advisor who has worked in your market and knows how customers buy, what suppliers expect or how regulation works.
• A peer a year or two ahead of you on the same path, who remembers the problems you are about to have.

Write one sentence describing what you want help with over the next six months. "Help me get my first grocery chain as a customer" leads to a different search than "help me understand my numbers."

Free mentoring programs in the U.S.

The Small Business Administration and its resource partners offer free or low-cost counseling and training across the country (SBA local assistance). The main programs, as the SBA describes them (SBA resource partners):

SCORE describes itself as offering free, confidential one-on-one mentoring for U.S. business owners and says it has served entrepreneurs since 1964. You enter your ZIP code on its site to be matched with a mentor, and it also offers a live chat with a mentor (SCORE). The SBA calls SCORE the nation's largest network of volunteer business mentors. To find the nearest SBDC, WBC or VBOC, use the SBA's local assistance search by ZIP code.

These programs are strongest on general business questions. Before you commit to one mentor, ask what businesses they have run or advised. If you need someone who knows a specific industry, say so when you request a match.

Find an industry mentor yourself

Industry mentors usually do not come through a program. People who have done the job you are trying to understand are busy, and most will not answer a stranger asking them to "be my mentor." Ask for something small and specific instead.

The Founder Institute's guidance on recruiting startup advisors translates well to mentors (FAST Agreement): list 10 to 15 people who could help, look for people you have in common and ask for an introduction, send a five-sentence note asking for a call or coffee, and if the conversation goes well, follow with a small request to see how working together feels. It also warns that a well-known name or domain expertise does not mean someone will be a good advisor.

Where to look:

• Former colleagues and their networks. A second-degree introduction usually gets a better hearing than a cold message.
• Trade associations and industry events. People who volunteer on committees or speak at events are often open to helping newcomers.
• Your own customers and suppliers. A buyer who likes your product may be glad to explain how their company works.
• People who recently left the role you care about. They may have more time, and more freedom to speak, than people in the job today.

A short first message works best. For example:

I'm starting a small bakery that makes frozen pastries, and I want to sell to regional grocery chains. You spent eight years in grocery operations. Could I ask you three questions on a 20-minute call about how chains decide to take on a new local supplier? Happy to work around your schedule.

Make it worth their time

Once someone agrees, treat each conversation like a meeting you asked for. Send an agenda with two or three questions ahead of time. Take notes. Afterward, tell them what you did with their advice; people are more likely to keep helping someone who acts on their advice. After two or three useful conversations, ask whether they would be open to talking once a month. Many mentoring relationships start this way, without anyone using the word.

If the relationship turns into regular work, such as reviewing plans, making introductions or joining sales calls, it may be time to formalize it as an advisor role with an agreement. Advisory board covers how startups do that and what advisors are typically paid.

A worked example

This example is hypothetical. A founder is starting a frozen pastry business and wants to sell to regional grocery chains. She books a free SCORE mentor to build a cash-flow plan and check her wholesale pricing. That mentor has run a retail business but has never sold to grocery chains.

For the grocery question, she needs someone who has worked on the retailer side. She writes to three former grocery operations managers through a trade association directory, and one agrees to a call. The call gives her the questions a buyer will ask, and he offers to review her pitch before her first meeting. Over time he becomes an informal industry mentor, while SCORE covers the general business side.

When a paid expert call is faster

A mentor search can take weeks, and the free route depends on someone being willing and available. When you have a specific question with a deadline, such as a meeting with a buyer next Thursday, a paid call with someone who has done the job is often faster. You get a direct answer, and you can speak to two or three people and compare their views instead of relying on one person. Sometimes one of them turns into a mentor anyway.

Informational interviews cover the free, career-focused version of this conversation, and how to ask an expert online compares free and paid routes for a single question.

Your next step

Write one sentence about the help you need. If it is general business help, request a SCORE mentor or contact your nearest SBDC this week. If it is industry knowledge, list ten people who have done the job and ask two of them for a short call with a specific question.

If you cannot find the right people through your network, Instant Expert can find people who match a description such as "operations managers at regional grocery chains." You review who it finds, it sends your invitations and you pay for each call that gets booked. The directory pages for operations professionals in grocery retail and operations professionals in food manufacturing are one place to start.