This is very bold, still getting small business and stuff. One of my favorite quotes in this area comes from Mark Twain. He said, it ain't what you don't know that gets you in trouble. It's what you know for sure. That just things. So I love that quote, because I think that's the reason that so many of us get stuck.

We think that we know everything. And I know that it's lonely at the top and you think that you have to make all the decisions yourself. You believe that asking for help is a sign of weakness. You also get stuck because you feel stupid if you don't know something and you don't want to ask anybody about it. And quite honestly, many of us out there even though with technology connects us day to day. We really don't know where to turn to ask for help or we've been believe there's one magic person that's going to help us all.

Well, let me say that you are not alone, we've all felt stuck in these areas. And to get unstuck, you need to find a mentor small business owners constantly poor that the single most important change they made to get their business successful was to find a mentor that can help them. And that's what we're going to talk about in this video segment. Finding a trusted mentor mentor is not easy, but it's very worthwhile. My mentor today is Reba lisowski. And she really helps me when things get difficult because she's an outside voice that will tell me the truth, good or bad, and I can't really fire them.

They don't work for me. That is really why it works. The first thing to do to find a mentor is fairly simple. You got to reach out you got to ask because when you ask, you'll be surprised how many people will actually say Sure, I'll help you. You can ask fellow owners, other business professionals, Chamber of Commerce professionals, folks at organizations like score or the SBDC. What should be looking for qualities in a mentor and this is of key importance.

You want to find someone that's able to listen to you. And that can listen to you, without judging you, someone that will listen to you without making you feel stupid, and can still keep the secrets and the confidentiality of your company. You also need to find a mentor that can teach you the way that you want to learn. Some people learn visually, some learn through numbers, you should be able to have that connection with your mentor. And finally, it's very important that there's mutual respect between you and your mentor. That in a sense, you admire what they've accomplished.

You also need to admit what you don't know. Think about what are you great at and what really lousy at now, you may not know this. And you could ask past employees or business professionals take the Myers Briggs test. But it's very difficult as current employees because they're not going to be able to tell you the truth. This is where a mentor really comes in handy. A lot of people ask, well, do I need to compensate a mentor?

And sometimes is where it gets weird. Successful mentorships are paid and sometimes not paid. There are advantages of each if you pay them. Will they just say what you want to hear? And if you don't pay them, will they be serious about actually being there to help you now can work either way, I think it's much better to pay a mentor because people respect what they get paid for on both sides. You'll take the mentor seriously because you're paying them and you'll make time for them.

And the mentor will give you the attention you deserve because they're getting compensation for it. One last thing True leaders actually learn by listening. Many leaders unfortunately have developed a talent for appearing to listen, but not really listening. It may be hard, it may be tedious, but actually is very worthwhile. Think about how you can go out and get a mentor and where you're going to start. This is Barry mold still getting small businesses unstuck.

Have a great day.