News flash: You don't know everything.
That probably comes as a shock to you-you're an
entrepreneurial genius who's chock full of inspiration, after
all-but it's true. There is someone out there who knows more
than you about the whole starting a business thing. Someone who can
teach you what to do, how to do it and, most important, how to
survive the journey with your sanity intact. Think what Mr. Miyagi
did for The Karate Kid…
We're talking about a mentor: part coach, part parent, part
impartial judge…someone who will impart wisdom to you and
advise you on those days when you want to throw in the towel and
apply for a job at a coffee shop. We found a few select
entrepreneurs who credit their mentors with their business success:
They've been advised, taught and taken under the wing of some
bright businesspeople, and though each story is different, each
entrepreneur is sure of two things:
- That they learned from the best.
- That their businesses would not be where they are without
the strong guidance of good mentors.
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Luke Eddins, for example, is sure his business knowledge came
from the time he spent with his mentor at a former job. Eddins, 26,
is the founder of Luke Hits, an online company formed to help unsigned
bands get their songs onto movie and TV soundtracks. An avid
musician himself, Eddins wanted to combine his two loves: music and
business. And while he had the music side down, he knew his
business skills would be the make-or-break of his business.
Though his mentor wasn't actually in the music
industry-Eddins worked for a time at a company in the gem industry
under the supervision of Sam Gadodia, a Harvard MBA-he learned
everything he could about how to do business simply by spending
time near his mentor. "You have to act like a sponge,"
says Eddins. "I didn't have the experience that he brought
to the table."
Working right inside Gadodia's office proved invaluable:
"I was able to overhear all the [goings-on]," says
Eddins. "I could learn his approach, his tactics, his
strategies." Eddins likens it to taking a business course,
though a much more real-world one.
But it wasn't just observing Gadodia that taught Eddins.
Even after the two no longer worked together, Eddins would seek his
mentor's input on start-up issues-"how he would recommend
that I approach this client or how I should pitch this a certain
way," he says. And though he hasn't had much contact with
his mentor since Gadodia moved to India six months ago, the lessons
Eddins learned are still fresh in his mind.
Originally published in the August 2002 issue of Entrepreneurs Start-Ups magazine
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