Why I Mentor (Young Entrepreneurs) For Free

In my last article I mentioned that I tend not to speak for free. That having crafted out a career as a professional speaker, it was important to educate people on the value that I bring to the table.

That said I wanted to flip the script a bit and explain why I mentor a selected number of young entrepreneurs for free every year.

Over the the last ten years I have had the pleasure of mentoring about 100 or so young entrepreneurs and freelancers. From a formal setting of six months to a year or the informal situation of being available on Whatsapp or by a simple phone call to young professionals who want a helping hand or a simple answer to how they can take their business to the next level.
Whilst I could rightly charge such young people for my business expertise (and I know many who do) I chose to share my experience and expertise with them for free. There is something incredibly amazing about seeing young people step into their own. Watching these innovative talents with a great idea, bundles and bundles of passion, grow into successful business owners is good enough.

I get to share not only what went right for me in my business but the things that went terribly wrong. To share insights on starting a company, marketing, team building, managing money, raising funds, sales and operations. In addition actually get to learn a lot about myself and my own patience. To sharpen my listening skills. To get respectfully challenged when they disagree with my approach to their problems. I also learn how to calm the heck down and allow them to drive the agenda at their pace and not mine.

Mentoring the 10 or so select entrepreneurs each year also gives me vast knowledge on some industries I don't know as well as I thought I did, and in helping my mentees it also broadens my network so I can connect them with people who can help them better than I. I do drive them hard but ensure that teaching resilience and demonstrating it myself helps them to reach their goals.

My current roster includes mentees in beauty, writing, comedy, fitness, fashion, consulting, music and film/photography. They inspire me as much I would like to believe I inspire them and I encourage other entrepreneurs in my network to find aspiring entrepreneurs that they too can mentor.

Unfortunately I turn away more than I can actually take on, and not all are the best fit, but when it does work it is an amazing and rewarding experience.

This year I realised how fortunate I am to work with such talented young people as I witnessed two of my former mentees receive MBE's from the Queen. Witnessing that alone was emotional. So if you can mentor a young entrepreneur or freelancer do it. Trust me when I say it is as rewarding to you as it is to them. Oh, and don't charge, the work alone is priceless.