Ask IH: Where can I find a mentor?
Hey guys,
I have hit a point with Manypixels where it kind of has outgrown me and I have to let my ego out of the project as much as I can to hit the next milestone which is transitioning it from a profitable project to a long term sustainable company.
We now have 40+ staff, more long term ambitions and I need to make sure that as a CEO (even though I hate to call myself that way!), I make the right calls and focus on working on the right things since it is not only about me but about our staff and customers.
I am already partnering up with @quentin_gilon (a long time friend, who has a solid corporate experience) who's going to help organise everything (he's flying next week to our HQ!)
But I also want to request your advice on the following:
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Where do you find mentors for yourself?
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What kind of advice should I seek? Leadership, sales, customer development and insights, communication?
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Anything else you have to tell me?
Perhaps you know any communities, think thank groups, or Facebook groups seeking to "advance" entrepreneurs?
Thanks in advance. Love you guys! ❤️
Check https://www.growthmentor.io/
Hey Robin, I'm the founder of www.growthmentor.io and have been following your journey from the beginning.
I know you're looking for help at this stage, but whether you know it or not, you've been the inspiration for so many entrepreneurs to take that leap and create productized services of their own.
Would love to have you on as a mentor, even if just for a single hour per week! I find that when you help others via mentorship you end up helping yourself just as much, if not more.
Humans are AWESOME at giving advice, but not so great at following it.
Sometimes, when you hear yourself talk while advising someone else, it makes you wonder, "hey - why am I not following my own advice??," and then snaps your ass into action!
Definitely couldn't agree more @Vinrob - growthmentor.io is the place to look at.
Hey @Vinrob! You can check out https://growthmentor.io. It's a paid service to discuss with mentors about any specific topic.
(I'm not the creator, but I'm a mentor on that board.)
Sounds amazing - will sign up today!
+1 for GrowthMentor.
Growth Mentor is forming up as a great community of people that are there not to make money but help other like-minded people push it to the next level.
I'm a mentor there myself.
Great interview. I found this interview very relevant to Growthmentor.io. The founder recommended similar platforms. Thanks for the interview.
Hey Robin,
Here's a useful excerpt from Jake Jorgovan, who also runs a productized service business (in fact it was recently featured on Indie Hackers.) The full article is here: https://jake-jorgovan.com/blog/zero-to-30k-productized-service-in-6-months-lessons-learned
"When I started my Linkedin lead generation service, I decided I wanted to seek out advisors. I was fortunate enough to get the opportunity to work with Alex McClafferty who was a co-founder of WPCurve.
My primary belief when seeking out advisors is not to find some “Business coach” but instead to seek out someone who is has accomplished what you are trying to accomplish. Alex built WPCurve with a similar model and structure as what I am doing with Lead Cookie so he was a perfect fit. "
The last part of it -- finding someone who's done something similar to what you're trying to do -- makes sense to me.
Have you tried Clarity.fm?
Amazing - agreed that some business advice is highly contextual too. Whereas it is great to learn evergreen stuff about business, mentorship can help you fix key areas of your business.
I will give a shot to Clarity.fm -- Any recommendations there?
IMHO you need to find someone who built a similar business and/or has affinity with the niche you're operating in. That will help you to bypass/overcome stuff that you don't have in your headlights (yet) right now.
Someone who knows the tricks of the trade as they say. Generic startup advice etc can be found everywhere, from VC's with experience to accelerator programs with advisors to ...
Hey Robin,
This is a great step forward for you and I';m happy for it.
Over the past several years, I've looked for mentors and I've learnt a ton of lessons on choosing mentors. Wrote a few here: https://converse.understandbetter.co/t/selecting-mentor-help/90/3 and https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6452971796533731328
Would love to help you if you need anything. :)
Thanks!
Maybe you can apply for an accelerator program like Y Combinator or Tech Stars. There's plenty out there and with the success you're having, I don't see why you wouldn't get accepted. There's also your local SCORE chapters that offer mentoring.
I tried writing to you but didn’t receive a response.. how to reach out?
Thanks
Hey Robin,
I'm a fellow IndieHacker running https://mentorcruise.com and I think we are exactly what you might be looking for.
Previously I have mostly gotten mentorship through online courses but never had much luck finding one myself.
Let me know if I can help you find one on the platform.
Hi Robin,
With the goals you described you might also consider coaching.
I'm a coach and would be glad to talk to you.
Also, here is a piece I wrote about what to look for when choosing yourself a coach
http://alexmartynov.com/en/how-to-choose-a-coach/
Hi Robin,
Your in the right track and so far your doing a good job and it's very key you start off delegating as much as possible and keep focus on at least 3 key metrics of your business that have huge impact and the easiest way for you to build advisers is to incorporate a board to Manypixel and you can achieve this very well