From Stalls to Balcony: How Mentoring and Networking Help You Work ON Your Business
As a business owner or professional, it's easy to get lost in the daily grind of working IN your business. However, it's equally important to work ON your business, to take a step back and assess where you're headed. This is where mentoring and networking can be valuable tools in your business growth. But what does that really mean, you might ask?
See the bigger picture
Imagine you own a theatre, working in the stalls, in the ticket office and the projection room each and every session and each and every day, attending to the needs of your customers. You're so focused on their immediate needs that you may not be seeing the bigger picture where the opportunities abound to better serve your customers. Now imagine stepping onto the balcony and taking a helicopter view of your business. This is what working ON your business looks like.
A mentor can be the person who takes you to the balcony and offers a different perspective on your business. Leigh Powell, a Business Strategist and Mentor with YTM, is an expert in this area. He knows the importance of setting aside time to work "on" your business and asking the hard questions.
Mentoring and networking are also valuable in a community setting. The YTM's "Let's Talk Business" sessions and “Think Tank” workshops, have over the years, provided opportunity for business owners and professionals to share their ideas and challenges with a diverse, like-minded group. These sessions encourage participants to dig deeper into business-related problems and leverage the unique experiences of everyone in the room. In the past month, the conversation has been highly engaging as the group discussed and debated the relevance of creativity and AI.
The value of different perspectives, ideas, and experiences
While all businesses face similar problems, translating solutions can be different depending on the maturity and type of business, as well as the owner's personality. This is where mentoring and networking can help, by offering different perspectives, ideas, and experiences to help you work ON your business and achieve your goals.
In both the mentoring and networking sessions, you can tease out the issues you're facing and get valuable input from other business owners on a range of topics, including your proposition, finding target markets, demonstrating how you can solve client problems, and developing tools and systems to support your business.
So, take a step back from the stalls, and work ON your business.
Seek out a mentor, join a community, and take advantage of the experiences and insights of others. You might be surprised at the fresh ideas and renewed energy you'll gain from working ON your business.
Meet Leigh Powell, Business Strategist and Mentor with YTM . His expertise supports business owners and professionals by asking the hard questions.
Having grown up in a small business families and witnessing first hand how challenging small business can be.
Leigh facilitates the “Let’s Talk Business” sessions we run for our community members each month.
The design of a YTM "Let’s Talk Business “ session is fluid depending on needs of the group, and encourages participants to dig a little deeper into business related problems, often solved by sharing and storytelling and by so doing, leveraging the unique 150+ years of experience we have in the room.
Leigh is able to harness the differences in the room so that everyone feels heard and able to voice and share their experiences, both as a mentor and equally as a mentee. Each person took the lead providing questions they would like to put to the group. This is true and real learning and sharing.
If you would benefit from accountability and are also keen to belong the a welcoming and connected business community, check out our membership.
We would love to help you learn, grow and achieve and this addition to our Membership can certainly support you in keeping you accountable and focused.
