Coaching and Mentoring

Quick Links:  There are literally hundreds of business advice articles within the Yorkshire Powerhouse website for coaching and mentoring related content – for some of the main sections please simply click on:

• What does a mentor do?
• Selecting a mentor
• Business coaching
• Working ‘on’ the business
• Planning your business exit

Good luck with your support needs.

Setting up or running a business can be a lonely place and, frustratingly, many small businesses fail because of a lack of experience and skills in the task of ‘running a business’ rather than in the skill of delivering the product or service they set out to provide.

But, this vicious circle (of a lack of skills and experience causing the business to fail) is a shame when there are highly skilled and experienced mentors and business coaches available.  Mentoring provides the entrepreneur with support, experience, vision, clarity and much, much more.

• Would you set out to climb Everest without a guide and learning from those that have gone before?
• Would you sit a driving test without taking advice from someone who can drive?
• Would you let a friend treat a toothache?
• Are all your network contacts just looking out for you?
• Is there anybody paid just to look out for your well-being?
• Would you build a bridge without an engineer?
• Would you rather fail than let someone help you succeed?

Starting a business is really hard.  Terrifyingly, around 250,000 business collapse every year (Office of National Statistics) and 29% of businesses that register never actually manage to trade.  It is very difficult to survive, it’s harder to make a living, and it’s even harder to thrive without skill, experience, knowledge and support.

Mentoring or coaching provides you with skilled and experienced support.  The role of a mentor can be essential to a new business with them not simply offering advice but a whole range of additional skills from providing a different perspective to being a sounding board to vent to.  They will often help you build up your courage and will offer you access to their trusted network of partners and contacts.

In this section, find out more about what mentoring does, how to select a mentoring partner, about business coaching, the concept of working ‘on’ your business and getting support for your business.

There is no good reason not to use a business mentor, particularly when all good mentors will save the business far more than their services cost.

Yorkshire Powerhouse – thinking about mentoring

Have you any questions?

Here at Yorkshire Powerhouse, we’re happy to help as much as possible – is there anything else we can do to help you, do you have any further questions or can we help introduce you to an expert – please let us know: