Business mentoring is a profession where a mentor spends focused time and energy over a defined period with the owners and managers of a company, helping take the business from where it is now to where the business owner(s) want it to be. A mentor provides perspective, shares hard-earned experience, and guides clients toward objectives that once felt out of reach.
Before I go further, let me clarify something I’ve learned over the years. People often use the terms coach, consultant, and mentor interchangeably, but they aren’t the same. A coach focuses on improving you as an individual. A consultant brings specialized expertise to solve a specific business problem. And a mentor draws from firsthand experience running businesses to help you see the bigger picture. That distinction matters as we continue.
The confusion is understandable. Anyone can call themselves a coach, and many do. However, the role of a coach is primarily focused on the individual—improving performance, mindset, or leadership habits. That’s valuable in the right context, but it’s not the same as mentoring. A mentor helps you step back and see how the entire system of your business works together, drawing from firsthand experience in building and running companies.
This distinction matters because too many entrepreneurs have been burned by self-proclaimed “business coaches.” I liken it to my own experience coaching my son’s youth soccer team years ago. I had never played the game or studied it in depth, but after reading a couple of books, I could help the team move forward. I knew more than the kids, but I certainly wasn’t an expert having never played the sport myself. In business, that’s often what happens when someone hires a coach who has never actually lived through the realities of running a company.
Certifications only muddy the waters further. I hold a “Certified Business Consultant” credential with the SBDC and a “Certified Small Business Mentor” credential with SCORE. However, let’s be honest, those certificates were earned by completing an online code of ethics form. They didn’t teach me the hard-earned skills my clients truly need. Real business wisdom only comes from carrying payroll, wrestling with margins, navigating regulations, and making the tough calls day after day.
That’s why I now use the term “business mentor” deliberately. While the marketplace may still default to “coach,” mentoring is the more accurate description of what I do and what many business owners are actually seeking. A mentor doesn’t just improve performance; they help you understand the bigger picture of your business, identify root causes, and avoid learning every lesson the hard way.
So the next time you hear someone talk about finding a “business coach,” pause and ask yourself: Do I really need a coach—or do I need a mentor? That clarity could make all the difference in your business journey.
Now that we’ve clarified how mentors differ from coaches and consultants, let’s look at the key qualities you should evaluate when choosing the right business mentor.
Experience
When you decide to hire a business mentor, look for someone with real-world experience. Ideally, the mentor should have experience in launching, operating, and successfully exiting a business. Anyone can claim to have started and operated a business. What you want is someone who has had a successful business. One that has earned an acceptable return on invested capital and could have been sold to another company or owner. Building a company that someone was willing to buy proves the business’s value and the mentor’s experience.
When you hire a mentor, much of what you are paying for is their experience. As we alluded to earlier, many mentors are trained in a system or process and may claim to be certified business mentors. However, the real value comes from their real-world business experience rather than their education.
Industry Knowledge
Industry knowledge is another crucial attribute in a business mentor. If you hire a business mentor who has built, operated, and sold several automotive-related companies, while they may have been very successful in this type of business, their business experience may not be 100% relevant if you are starting an eCommerce drop shipping business.
Moreover, when your business mentor has worked in the same or similar industry, they likely have a list of contacts that will prove very valuable. Furthermore, they have likely developed numerous procedures that can be easily applied to your business.
Business Acumen
You will also want a business mentor with a high degree of business acumen. According to Wikipedia, business acumen is a “keenness and quickness in understanding and dealing with a business situation, both risks and opportunities, in a manner that is likely to lead to a good outcome.”
A good business mentor, by virtue of their vast business experience and industry knowledge, can see the big picture that often eludes business owners who are forced to keep their heads down while operating in the trenches every day. The best business mentors are usually business owners themselves and possess an executive mentality that helps them understand all the moving parts and how they interact and affect one another.
Authentic
Great business mentors are authentic and true to their personality, values, and spirit, regardless of the pressure to act otherwise. They are honest with themselves and others and take responsibility for their mistakes. They share stories of both their personal failures and successes.
Delusions of Grandeur by cmdixon2
In his book, Good to Great, Jim Collins refers to a concept he calls “The window and the mirror.” The window is a metaphor for looking at external conditions, while the mirror is a metaphor for self-reflection.
When a less effective leader encounters an obstacle, they look out the window and try to find external conditions to blame. When something good happens, they look in the mirror and take personal credit for it.
However, effective leaders use the window and mirror in a very different way. When an effective leader encounters a problem, they look into the mirror and ask what they could have done differently, taking ownership of the problem. When something good happens, they look out the window and attribute the positive results to external events or their team.
Great business mentors are effective leaders and authentic. They don’t hide or withhold anything from their clients and demand that their clients do the same with them.
Business Stage Alignment
Not every business mentor’s experience will align with yours. There are seven stages of business growth, mostly related to the size and complexity of the business. Over the course of the seven stages, the business’s priorities, the role played by the leader, and the challenges faced by the business evolve.
I have several friends who have led venture-backed companies. While we have all started, grown, and sold businesses, our business experiences are not the same. I have other friends who occupied the C-suites of large publicly held companies and were heads of Sales and Marketing or acted as Chief Financial Officers (CFO); while they have a tremendous amount of business knowledge, they may have little to offer the owner of an HVAC company or a tire store. It is therefore important that the stages in which your business mentor has gained experience align with those of your business.
Business Advisor Specialty
There are many specific forms of business advising generally reserved for larger enterprises, but it’s worth mentioning even though I’m writing for an audience of smaller firms. Among the most notable business advisor specialties are sales, leadership, executive, financial, and marketing. We generally call these business advisors consultants, not mentors. While a small business may desire to hire a business advisor with a particular specialty, such as a Consultant, many small businesses often focus on finding a mentor with more industry knowledge than a coaching or consulting specialty.
Are you ready to hire a business mentor, and do you know what to look for?
