Last week in Part I, I covered the importance of mentors and sponsors for working moms who work for a business, big or small. In Part II, let’s talk about mentors and sponsors and their importance for moms with their own business. Yes, both of these roles can really springboard mom entrepreneurs.
As a working mom, you’re likely juggling all the things. As an entrepreneur, it’s about juggling different things. Entrepreneurship is a balance between getting work done and building a pipeline of new business today. And then there is the long-term business building. You must consider the balance of working on and in your business.
How much time and energy are you putting into the bigger picture. How much time each day, week, year do you focus on your business growth?
No question about it, growing your business isn’t only about doing great work. You need others to share that enthusiasm about your work with their colleagues and friends (who could be potential clients). And, let’s be honest, it’s helpful to have someone more experienced in your corner. I often hear about the need for mentors. I would argue that a combination of mentors and sponsors are both important to entrepreneurs.
And, for mom entrepreneurs, who might already have to work harder to show they are committed to growing their business, having these more experienced voices help guide you and open doors, could really make an impact. Yes, you have to do great work, but you also have to be strategic with your energy and effort.
What’s the Difference Between Mentors & Sponsors?
In the simplest terms, mentors provide guidance on your career decisions and sponsors are more action-oriented when it comes to creating career opportunities. Sava Berhane shares the difference between mentors and sponsors in her Fast Company article: “A mentor is an informal career counselor…and a sponsor is someone who can help advance [your career].” Essentially, you can bounce ideas off of a mentor, but a sponsor will open doors for you. In my own career and in the stories I heard in the interviews, it seems that both mentors and sponsors are important when it comes to growing your business. (Check out Part I on the importance of both for moving through the ranks of a company.)
Mentors and Work-life Balance
How do mentors fit into work-life balance when you’re an entrepreneur? Wouldn’t it be helpful to talk to a working mom or mompreneur who has already been in your shoes? What a tremendous resource! These mentors can be guides and can help moms understand more about the nuances of the path of an entrepreneur. This was especially helpful for me when I had really young kids and could ask strategic questions so that I really did maximize my time and energy.
Your mentors and sponsors can give you tips or share things to avoid when it comes to work-life balance. They might be able to shed some light on slowing things down without losing momentum and how to ramp things back up again when you’re ready (or even to figure out when you’re ready).
Peer Masterminds for Mom Entrepreneurs
Your tribe is important when you’re a mom. I would argue it’s even more so when you’re a working mom. You want to talk to fellow working moms and get advice from those who understand managing all the things related to the juggle of motherhood plus career. (You might also want people who aren’t parents to give you an outside perspective.)
Fellow entrepreneurs, especially those who are working moms or working parents, can be a tremendous resource. Instead of paying to join a 3rd party’s mastermind, what if you created an online or in-person group of moms who are also entrepreneurs at around the same level in their careers and journey, who can mentor each other. Imagine being able to engage with like-minded women, who are also business owners, to give you different ideas and perspectives. Imagine the ability to share your experience and hear theirs. Consider what an incredibly helpful and insightful resource that would be!
Mentors
Think of your mentors like your personal board of directors. Yep, that means you should have more than one. You want at least one mentor who is a working mom who has already been in your shoes. Learn from the entrepreneurs, including mamas like you, who are further along in their career and in the experience of building their businesses. Consider trying to find someone who can speak to your particular season of motherhood as well. Essentially, you don’t want only women who’ve owned their businesses for 30 years and have full-grown children who can’t remember anything about balancing life and work with younger kids.
I remember asking a successful entrepreneur with a well-known business about marketing a book (she was launching a book before my first book was launched). Her comment was, “I hire people to do that because I don’t do that.” She was too far removed from being able to give any advice to someone starting out as an author with young children without the same level of resources that she has.
Where to Find Mentors
Your mentors can be men or women. Speak to people you hear at conferences or on a podcast or whose blog resonates with you. Start those conversations and see if they lead to a natural fit for mentorship. They don’t all have to be entrepreneurs but have at least one mentor who is a mom who owns a business. Show that you’ve read their books or what you learned from what they shared in their conference session or workshop. Mention how you found them and what resonated with you. It shows you’re paying attention.
Consider people who you worked with before if you were previously employed by a company. They might even be a past client when you were an employee. Look at friends of friends. LinkedIn is such a great resource for this.
Tips to Have a Stronger Relationship with your Mentor
How do you make the most of the relationships with mentors as an entrepreneur? I share things that have worked in my experience and that I found while researching the book and having conversations with more than 110 working moms. About 38 percent of the moms I spoke with are entrepreneurs.
- Take your time to build these relationships. It’s helpful to start having conversations before they become necessary. Maybe that’s before you become a mompreneur. You want to engage with mentors as you’re making a change to owning a business and that’s hard to do as you’re first establishing a relationship. Find those mentors over time. Attend entrepreneurial events, both online and in-person. Join groups on Facebook and LinkedIn. Engage in Twitter chats or listen in on IG TV interviews.
- Be strategic. Find the right mentors to talk to. Set goals on networking like you do in all other strategic areas in your life. Find a good fit for personality, style, and approach to career. Don’t feel you have to mimic his or her career or work style, but you do need to be able to learn from it.
- Establish a communication approach from the beginning. Decide when and often you’ll meet. Maybe set aside a few dates even. Where will you meet? If you’re meeting virtually, what tool will you use? Will you have a more formal or informal approach?
- Get the most out of each interaction. Be respectful of his or her time (and of your own) and prepare for your conversations. Know the points you want to cover and create an agenda. Send the agenda beforehand if it’s more formal relationship. Be engaged during your interaction and use active listening skills.
- Follow up and say thank you. Follow up after the interactions and say thank you to your mentor for his or her time, insights, advice, etc. A simple email or even a handwritten note is great.
- Evaluate over time. Don’t be afraid to make changes over time as your needs and that of your mentor(s) change. Keep in touch, even if you move on because you never know when your paths will cross again. Your mentor could even become more of a sponsor down the road.
Sponsors
As an entrepreneur, you might be thinking that sponsors don’t apply to you. Here’s the thing – they do. Sponsors for entrepreneurs are different from those in a company, but they serve the same kind of purpose. Geri Stengel talks about entrepreneurs and sponsorship in her Forbes article. She describes sponsors as people willing to give you access to their own network, but it’s more than simple networking. These are people who will open doors and make introductions with a seal of approval. And she also adds that they might give you access to new customers. They give you a warm introduction to people they know and might have done business with.
Looking for funding? Stengel talks about how sponsors can make introductions to those who are able to help fund your endeavor. And funding is one of those things that’s challenging to all entrepreneurs, but it’s even more so to women and mom entrepreneurs. I might add that they could even introduce you to potential new members of your team.
Unlike a mentor, sponsors will promote your accomplishments and skills, help you make connections with more senior leaders inside and outside of the company, and help you get more exposure. For me, although I didn’t realize it at the time, I often had a sponsor at the large marketing agencies where I worked throughout my career before becoming an entrepreneur. They continue to act as sponsors, now that I have focused 100 percent on building my businesses. They recommend me to potential clients, positioning me as a go-to person with specific skills. They also hire me for projects that they’re working on. And it’s more than a simple referral. They want me to succeed and want to support my business and growth.
Finding the Right Sponsor
Now that you understand more about the role of a sponsor for entrepreneurs, the challenge becomes finding a sponsor that is the right fit for both of you.
- Look at your current network. Analyze your current network to see if you have connections who are currently mentors and are senior at a previous employer or are seasoned entrepreneurs with whom you might have collaborated with. It would be great to find a fellow entrepreneur who is also a mom as she can relate to the kinds of clients you might want or what you’re going through with managing and building a business and being a mom.
- They showed an interest in your career previously. Sponsors must be willing to take on a more active role in your career moving forward, so think about conversations you might have had with senior leaders or seasoned entrepreneurs about your career path.
- You’ve followed his or her advice previously. Look for senior people in your current network who have given advice that you have used and can show how their advice made a difference in your career. Let them know that and share the results.
- Find a sponsor whose legacy you can support. According to Sylvia Ann Hewitt’s Harvard Business Review article, sponsors can be looking for someone to help support their legacy with the company or industry. If you can fit into their legacy and you’re interested in their support, it might be the perfect fit.
What Can You Do for Your Mentor & Sponsor?
Both of these types of relationships should be a two-way street. How can you help your mentor or sponsor? Sure, they want to mentor or sponsor someone, but there is more to it. Hewitt suggests that you offer to share your knowledge or skills as it relates to projects he or she is working on. When in doubt, ask what he or she needs and how you can help. Share relevant articles that you read and explain why. Introduce him or her to the right resources, if it’s not you. Be generous with your time and knowledge and share what you find.
Now that you understand that the combination of mentors and sponsors are both important to mom entrepreneurs, what will you do to focus attention on bringing them onto your team? Already have a relationship with a mentor or sponsor? How did you find him or her? How do you keep that relationship going? And let me know if you have any questions.
Want more ideas about mentors and sponsors? You can download my Network Where You Are Guide to get loads of ideas and tips and actionable steps.
