The best mentors are the ones you don’t even notice for a long time<\/h3>\n
I was like that for a long time. At the age of 19, when I started my first company, a computer and components business, I didn’t realize that certain people were supporting me. This has to do with the fact that as a young person you often think that a mentor has to open all doors and gates for you and, for example, pave the way for advancement in large companies. And I would have liked to have had such a “rainmaker”. <\/p>\n
Of course there are these examples, but I think that this obvious favoritism is not exactly beneficial in the long term, especially for the “pupil”. It’s too easy and it creates resentment in the environment. <\/p>\n
No, I think good mentors encourage you and at the same time allow you to make the necessary mistakes so that you can focus your efforts on the important points and learn quickly.<\/p>\n
For example, my mentor placed the first big order with us\/me in the initial phase of the completely chaotic company – I started straight from school with nothing more than work experience from summer vacation jobs. I remember it like it was yesterday. Because it was a kind of tipping point as an entrepreneur. <\/p>\n
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Encourage<\/h3>\n
Because it wasn’t just an order. That was the best encouragement I could have been given at the time. It was completely crazy for a medium-sized company like his to buy from me. There were good suppliers a dime a dozen and he still bought from me. But I didn’t realize that at the time. <\/p>\n
On the contrary, and that’s the great thing: I really thought I could keep up with this competition. And that evening was the first time I had the feeling that I was being taken seriously as an entrepreneur. The first time I realized that this could be something. There is no greater motivation to take a company forward. <\/p>\n
And it was this encouragement and motivation that made it possible for me to make the company competitive in the first place. I didn’t know all that back then. Fortunately. <\/p>\n
Low fault tolerance<\/h3>\n
On the other hand, he also let me down regularly. Not in a bad way. But he never let up, even when there were tiny little things wrong with the products. Things that other customers wouldn’t have complained about. I didn’t think that was so great at the time. Cursedly annoying, in fact. <\/p>\n
But it meant that I gradually focused on all the details and tried to get better. It would have been unthinkable if such an important customer had simply given in. I would probably never have learned what makes the difference in the details. <\/p>\n
Honesty<\/h3>\n
This first company was a real gauntlet for me. In addition to experience, I lacked capital. But capital is extremely important in trade and so I financed the company via the suppliers’ credit lines. In other words, via the 20-30 day payment terms that the suppliers granted you (not that you think that was a brilliant idea – I just slipped into this situation). I had to invest easily 2 hours a day in cash management to make this work to some extent. It was a crazy yet carefree time and as the company got bigger and bigger, I asked my mentor – the relationship had intensified in the meantime – for advice. At first he was interested and even wanted to invest. <\/p>\n
But when we went through the figures, he advised me to sell the company and do something else. The margins would be too small, the market would lose momentum sooner or later and, above all, huge investments in logistics would be necessary to make a difference. I was depressed and didn’t believe him. Someone like that has no idea, I thought. And then it took me around 3 years to learn that he was right, of course. <\/p>\n
It was similar a few years later, when I was now employed by another company and told him enthusiastically about my job and the strategy. He just said that I had been doing my learning at this place for 3 years now and that I should start something else that was bigger for me. I cursed him at that lunch. Only to spend years doing it again afterwards, only to learn that he was, of course, absolutely right. Fail fast was not my strong point. <\/p>\n
This kind of honesty is what friends should cultivate among themselves. And I think in a way we have become friends over the years. And that’s something I don’t say lightly. As you know, you always have a lot of friends when things are going well for you… <\/p>\n
Trust<\/h3>\n
When I spoke to him a few months ago about Accounto, at the time just a prototype and vision, it was immediately clear to him that he would take part in the Friends & Family financing round. And so he became the first outside investor. With a small amount, but that didn’t really count. What really counted was the trust and, once again, the encouragement. And the practical aspect should not be lost sight of either: It is much easier to find a second investor with a first one. Of course, he knew that very well. <\/p>\n
Become a mentor yourself?<\/h3>\n
As an entrepreneur, you become a mentor yourself as you get older. Funnily enough, you don’t even realize it at first. However, I’ve been doing it quite consciously for a few years now. <\/p>\n
I started mentoring consciously when I realized that without my mentors, I would never have become the conscious and optimistic person I claim to be today. I also believe that mentoring is not or should not be about success per se. Rather, it is about personal development. Success, especially financial success, is almost invariably the (not at all inevitable) consequence of this development. <\/p>\n