Some of us have been fortunate to have had business mentors in our careers that have changed our thinking or taught us invaluable lessons. Being an entrepreneur is a lonely path and having a mentor with you in your journey can provide a great value add in several different ways. I’ve been fortunate to have had several mentors in my career and some of the key learnings that have stayed with me have been:

The importance of having a vision: One of the first things my mentor asked me was “what are you trying to create?” He taught me the value of having a vision as the leader. While detailing out your product or solution, it’s very important to have a bigger vision of what is the problem that you’re trying to solve.
Realize there are other stakeholders in your business: When we build a business, we tend to get so invested in it that we forget that there are other stakeholders in our business as well. This was something I learnt very early on when taking a decision on whether to sell my business or not. My mentor made me realize that as an entrepreneur I was the custodian for building the business and not the sole stakeholder of the business.
The value of having a different perspective: The biggest value my business mentors provided me was having someone whom I could discuss my ideas with. Someone who listens to my thoughts and is able to re-frame them from a different perspective. As an entrepreneur you constantly need to find new ways to reach your goal and having someone whom you can discuss your ideas with can be invaluable.
Most successful entrepreneurs I’ve met have received mentorship in some form or the other, so thinking about having one or several mentors in your entrepreneurial journey could prove to be very valuable. While each mentor-mentee relationship works differently, bringing in someone else’s learnings and experience in an area that you are still a novice in can only bring a broader perspective to your thinking. So, as you look to build your business’s board of directors, think about building your own advisory board of mentors whom you can call upon whenever needed.