Mentorship is not new, right from the ancient Indian culture we had a tradition of having Gurus in life as a guide to help us achieve what we want in life, even schools and universities were known as Gurukuls in Sanskrit.

A Gurukul was a very profound system to impart life education to kids that were a combination of domestic work, human skills, building strong ethical character, technical education that was mostly Dhnurvidya (an art to fight wars) in the time of kingdoms to be a protector for their state. 

As we are living in a modern world now where school and college education has nothing to do with real-life education, you are only supplied with a lot of information without actually explaining how and where to apply it to add value to the universe. 

School and college education is not a real-time education because most of the professors never practised what they are preaching practically. 

MENTOR VS. PREACHER 

A mentor is the one who has done things and been there where you want to be; on the other hand, you will find a lot of people who are preaching after reading books and watching videos. You can easily feel the difference when you spend some time with them. 

Check these boxes for a right mentor:

• They are actually doing what you want to do and already 3-5 years ahead of you.
• They have an intention to make you successful rather than just earning something from you. A real mentor will help you earn more and grow more than he takes from you. Always look for at least 3-5 testimonies from people he/she has mentored earlier.
• Before you choose someone as your mentor it’s important to spend some unofficial time with them, people are more real unofficially and it will give you a chance to understand if you can work with them or not.
  
• Make a list of qualities to look for in your mentor and check if the person has it or not.  

Thus, here are those 4 kinds of mentors you’ll need to make it big in your startup journey:

1) INDUSTRY EXPERT

An experienced doctor can’t do the same thing that a chartered accountant can do. So, first of all, you need to find someone who understands your industry and have an experience of 3-5 years more than you. Once you find that person it’s up to you how you generate his/her interest to mentor you. A mature mentor will invest time in you only if you are an action taker and ready to have faith in what the person asked you to do. It’s good to build a friendly relationship first so that you can really trust the person.

2) HEALTH EXPERT

In this fast pace world, Health is the most ignored topic by the Millennials. 

Just having the right body weight is not being healthy. Someone can just build a better business if he/she is in the right state of energy because of the nutritional intake. This health expert can be your mom, gym instructor, and nutritionist.  

3) A BUDDY, A FRIEND

Someone whom you can talk in and out about your life. I am not talking about that friend whom you enjoy Friday night drinks with. This Friend is someone who can listen to you patiently. High competition and fast pace life come with a lot of mental pressure and this buddy will help you release that and clear the clutter whenever required.

People with good mental health are good at taking better and faster decisions. When you are sharing your life with someone without having a fear of being judged you end up realizing your own mistakes and distortions, that will be an aha moment of that conversation and you will be one step ahead in your journey to success.  

4) PERSONAL GROWTH MENTOR

The most important mentor to have in life. Personal growth mentor will help you build a character, work ethic, increase your productivity and let you know when you need to take a pause to refuel yourself.

Remember that the more you grow as a person the more your business will grow because your business is nothing but a reflection of who you are. When you grow as a person you will be able to add more value to your team as well as customers.

Your investment in personal growth will pay you a return of over 200% in the long run. Personal growth is like a strong network of roots beneath a tree that is not physically visible but solely responsible to serve necessary water, minerals and nutrients to the huge tree that is visible.  

I know you will ask, I don’t get one mentor and you mentioned to find 4… hahaha.

I can answer this is one line; If a student is ready a mentor will appear. If you are ready to learn teachings will come. Your goal must be clear with that mentor, once you know what you exactly want to understand from a mentor you will get it and you will be able to recognize the helpful person. If you don’t have any idea what you really seek you might end up ignoring a great mentor sitting just beside you. 

I have many mentors who guided me to reach where I am today over the period of the last seven years. My habit of being around senior people and listen to them silently made them my fan to work with me.  

It’s okay to take some time, and keep seeking, test and try; you will find the right person at the right time when you are at right place.

BEST WAY TO CONNECT WITH THE DESIRED MENTOR IN SIMPLE STEPS

Here is the best way to connect with desired mentors in 4 simple steps:

1. Find out from social media what they are involved in.
2. Comment and share their work to spread a word.
3. Volunteer in their events once or twice a month and you will get to know how it operates and about their behaviour.
4. Within a month or two you will be connected to them as a good friend and whatever you want will be given to you.

ETHICS THAT NEED TO BE FOLLOWED RELIGIOUSLY

1. Don’t expect everything for free.
2. Don’t ask how much they earn, your focus should be how they can support you.
3. If someone agrees to meet you at an outside office place (some hotel or a café) take care of the bill.
4. Don’t ask too much about their personal life till the time they open up for that.
5. Time is precious so always meet them with a written agenda and try to take as little time as possible.
   
6. Do implement what they say and come back to them with what happened. Without implementing their advice you just wasted your and their time as well.
7. You will always find something that you may dislike in a person, no one is perfect so ignore their –ve side and gracefully accept the positive side and keep learning.