Mentors are excellent resources for those who are just starting out in a field or for those who are hoping to increase, improve or learn new skills. I believe so strongly that we can learn from people who do things better than we do them, or who have been doing them longer than we have. The latter doesn’t mean that someone who has been on the job longer than us is in fact better than us; but many times people who have had more experience know the best way to do a job, or they can offer shortcuts that work just as well as the longer paths we as newbies might know.
As a new business owner, I joined NAWBO and message boards and began networking and communicating with other people in the same business as mine because I wanted to see what they were facing in terms of problems, successes and failures. In order to learn and grow in the business world I believe that I need to surround myself with people who have been doing it longer than I, and who have tips and information to share that will make my business path a bit easier.
I recently encountered an issue with a job that I was working on. I was becoming frustrated because I was unable to figure out a problem for which I knew there must be an easy solution that I was overlooking. I think this is very common. We get so involved with the technicalities that it is difficult to step back and see the whole picture, which is probably what we need to see in order to solve the problem in the first place.
I posted a message on a forum asking others if they had some experience in this particular area and I received a response from a girl who owns a web design company. In just minutes she had explained the issue to me as she saw it, and when she did I could see exactly what I had done wrong. But when I was working on this problem alone, the issue eluded me.
Since then, the girl and I have been communicating via email. She has offered to show me a few things that she knows in one particular area that she has more training and more experience in. Her information has been invaluable. I will always promote furthering your education and skill base by attending classes, workshops, seminars and the like, but I also feel very strongly that you must surround yourself with people who are doing what you are doing, or what you want to be doing, and who have a strong knowledge in that area. Book learning is great; real life learning is a must.
If you are having a problem with something on the job, in your career or in your business, you should definitely seek out the help of someone who is in your field. Many times people avoid doing this because they see the other person as competition. This is true in some respects. If you are asking a business owner for advice and this person owns the same type of business, you may feel strange about taking that advice since this person is supposed to be your competition.
The truth is, most people want to help other people. Most of the business women that I know through NAWBO and other gatherings are so interested in promoting other business women-and people-that they freely offer up suggestions and advice, whether they are in direct competition with the person that they are talking to or not.
And if you see someone in your field that has less experience and is experiencing a problem, reach out a hand to help. It only takes a few minutes and can mean so much to someone who is struggling with a work related problem. Besides, you never know when that person may be able to help you out in return.