She's That Founder: Business Strategy and Time Management for Impactful Female Leaders

056 | Unlocking Success: Is Hiring a Mentor a Game Changer or a Money Waster?

• Dawn Andrews • Season 1 • Episode 56

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Is hiring a paid mentor the secret to unlocking your business’s full potential with one key move—sounds dreamy, right?

From real-world success stories and hard-earned wisdom from those who’ve been there, and done that (like me) we're exploring the make-or-break decision of hiring a paid mentor.

But wait, there's a catch: we'll also dish on the financial risks and rewards, so you can make a smart, informed choice. Plus, we’ll cover how to balance external advice with your own badass instincts, and introduce you to our game-changing DISC-based mentorship approach that’s as unique as you are. 

Ready to turn your business dreams into reality? 


In this episode, I discuss:

  • The pros and cons of hiring a paid mentor as a business owner.
  •  How to make an informed decision to maximize your return on investment. 
  •  How to balance expert guidance with your own instincts.
  • The DISC-based mentorship approach, which tailors guidance to your unique personality type and business challenges, ensuring personalized support and growth.


This episode at a glance:

[01:50] A paid mentor is somebody who has walked the path that you want to walk. Somebody who does have subject matter expertise in that area. 

[06:10] My business needed to be in the right place, and I needed to be in the right place to receive the coaching offered.

[09:12] It's difficult to develop your clear vision and point of view when you are beholden to other people financially

[12:05] The goal is to create a harmonious blend of seeking mentorship and trusting your own judgment to be able to achieve success.

[13:44] The decision to hire a mentor is not a one-size-fits-all solution. It is a nuanced choice that depends on your unique business needs and your personal growth goals.


Resources and Links mentioned in this episode


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My Good Woman
Ep. 56 | Unlocking Success: Is Hiring a Mentor a Game Changer or a Money Waster?

Dawn Andrews:

 Even if somebody has traveled the path that you want to travel or are traveling, even if they have incredible credentials, relationships, and experience in the area that you're interested in becoming better at. You still don't know how it's going to work out. And a significant contributing factor when it comes to how that relationship may work out comes down to you. 

Welcome to the My Good Woman podcast where we help female founders break past plateaus and get to the next level of business growth by refining their strategy building systems and streamlining operations. 

I'm Dawn Andrews. The founder and CEO of free range thinking business strategy consulting. Join me each week for candid conversations, with culture shifting, glass ceiling busting trailblazing women who are leading impactful enterprises and grab their strategies to help your business reach extraordinary levels of growth. 

Imagine if unlocking the key to your business's full potential was just one decision away. But what if that decision could either propel you to unprecedented success or drain your resources with very little to show for it?

So raise your hand if you ever considered hiring a paid mentor but hesitated because of the cost. And keep your hand up if you still are unsure if the paid mentor you hired was worth the investment. Okay. We've all been there. I mean, I don't know if we've all been there, but I can tell you as a business owner and a service based business owner and somebody who bootstrapped their business, I have definitely been there.

And today's conversation is about unlocking the success of your business and discussing whether hiring a paid mentor is a game changer or a money waster. So let's get into it.

First, let me say if you've been in this place where you feel like there are skills that you don't have, and you want to hire a paid mentor to not only fill in the gaps for you, but also to teach you the skills that you need so that you can continue to grow and improve and scale your business, you're not alone.

Many business owners grapple with the same question, is hiring a mentor really beneficial or is it just another expense? And I want to be clear that the definition of mentor here, because I think that most of the time we think of mentors as. Somebody who's already walked the path that we are interested in walking.

And it's somebody that we could grab a coffee with, get a little advice from, share a particular situation and walk away with kind of a top line, next action. Fair enough. I think having mentors and people that you can turn to for advice is essential for your business. 

But what I'm talking about today are people that we call mentors that are paid. Some people could call them coaches. Some people could call them consultants. But to me, the definition of a paid mentor is somebody who has walked the path that you want to walk. Somebody that does have subject matter expertise in that area. And somebody that you can turn to, not just for the learning , like courses and things like that, but somebody that you can turn to for advice, that you can actually get into a conversation and get some feedback and unique response to whatever your situation is.

So that's my definition of a paid mentor. are they worth it? Aren't they worth it? Well, let's get into it. 

I think the first thing that paid mentors can do is provide unmatched experience and insight, which can be a game changer for your business growth strategy. The argument could be made that paid mentors can offer invaluable advice based on their years of experience and expertise. why that's so valuable is that it can save you from making costly mistakes. And when I look back to the beginning days of my business, the first couple of years, I was flying blind. I really was making it up as I went along and it took me 

four years of running my business to replace my salary. Now I'm glad it took me that four years and I'm here at year 23 and I'm super happy about it and I've more than tripled that salary at this point. it's all gone well. But a four year runway is a long time to make back your salary if you've left to start a business.

So a paid mentor can help reduce that time window of when you start making money, especially if they are skilled in the area of business that you're interested in working in.

we've all heard the statistics about how quickly startup businesses fail usually within the first two years and most of them by the time they reach year five and I already told you that I struggled to get. a reasonable paycheck out of mine and for four years. So I was right on the cusp of that.

when I look back at what made the difference, it was definitely hiring paid mentors, people that could help with my systems and strategies, people that helped me with learning how to be a better salesperson, people that helped me with my vision and my product offerings. And I've continued to do that throughout owning my business.

It's something that I always do. To give you another stat, the SBA, the Small Business Administration, has a stat that 70 percent of mentored businesses survive more than five years. So that's more than double the rate of non mentored businesses. while having a mentor's wisdom and experience are clearly a benefit to a business, it's also important to consider the other side of the coin.

 Despite the potential advantages, hiring a paid mentor involves a significant commitment, and not all mentorship relationships yield positive returns. let's start looking at the money part, shall we?

And discuss why hiring a mentor can sometimes be a high stakes gamble with no guaranteed return. So here we are talking about paid mentors. It can be a financial gamble with no guaranteed return. Even if somebody has traveled the path that you want to travel or are traveling, even if they have incredible credentials, relationships, and experience in the area that you're interested in becoming better at, you still don't know how it's going to work out.

 And a significant contributing factor when it comes to how that relationship may work out comes down to you. Let me share a little personal story with you. One of the mentors that I hired early on in building my business had a hundred thousand dollar mastermind program. I had seen this person in action. they were traveling the road. I wanted to travel. They had the experience that I was looking for. And I mean the global experience. So , they were skilled at running the entirety of a business, which is where I was at that point. I wasn't specifically looking for a sales or a marketing mentor.

I was looking for somebody that could help me with the overall shape of my business. And that 100, 000 at that stage in the development of my business was massive. It was a massive investment. It was a third of the cost the total mortgage of my home at the time.

And that was incredibly terrifying. I made the investment and I started the relationship and started the coaching. And the first month went reasonably well. But by the time we got to the second month, I realized that I had overshot my needs at that moment. Like, I wasn't prepared. My business was not in the right place and I was not in the right place to receive the coaching that was being offered.

It was a bad match with excellent salesmanship. So the sales process that this mentor had in place was incredibly compelling and everything that I wanted it to be, but I wasn't being realistic about where I was and what I really needed, and so I over invested. And then it was very tricky to get out of the relationship.

it was a really unfortunate experience with paid mentors very early on in the growth path of my business. it can be a significant financial commitment and not all relationships yield that positive ROI. when you're thinking about hiring a paid mentor, here's the simple math that I use.

I like to think about what do I expect my business will earn in the next year and what is 10 percent of that revenue growth. And that's my mentorship budget for the year. Sound good? So if you're a business owner and you're looking to make 100, 000 in your business, Like, let's say that you're in the early stage bootstrap startup, then you're looking at a mentorship budget of around 10, 000.

If you're looking to make a million, maybe 100, 000 is your number. And it could be 100, 000 with one particular mentor or spread across several, depending upon what your goals and needs are and where you are in your growth. If you're really ready to grow, maybe you make it 20 percent of your budget. But this is my, guardrails that I put up after that first mentorship experience.

Because understanding the financial risks of investing with a paid mentor is not the only consideration. Another important aspect to think about is the impact of mentorship on your own decision making and decision making.

Leadership development, because some people would argue that relying too heavily on external guidance can hinder your personal growth and self reliance. Sometimes you just gotta figure stuff out on your own, and that can be great. sometimes trying to speed your process, avoid some of the bumps and bruises, avoid some of the costly mistakes, you might be losing out on your opportunity to develop your own coping skills.

 Sound interesting? I know. That was one of those surprising moments for myself when I realized I'm spending 100, 000 with this person to shortcut my process, but I don't yet have enough of a process to shortcut. I don't even know if I have habits that are bad habits or good habits. I just really wanted to go fast.

And I really liked what this person was selling. There you have it. let's look at this perspective a little bit and see how finding the right balance between seeking external advice and trusting your own instincts can be foundation, the core, the nucleus of your business success.

. how do you develop your own decision making skills in your business acumen?

Some people would argue that relying too much on external guidance can stifle your ability to make independent decisions and to really grow personally.

And if you're a founder taken VC money, or taking investment from others, right out of the gate, you already have more cooks in the kitchen. And it's difficult to develop your own clear vision and point of view when you are beholden to other people financially. And I would say the same is true even if you're bootstrapping and you invest with a paid mentor.

That means you're beholden to somebody financially. You're beholden to yourself and to the business. let's talk about developing your own decision making skills and business acumen. How do you build the confidence that is crucial for long term success? You start relying on your own instincts and knowledge and gathering more of that.

More connection to your own instincts and gathering more knowledge. Because then you start to synthesize how you'd like to operate in your business. How do you do that? I choose to journal. people talk about it all the time. A lot of founders talk about writing in their journals, but it's a moment for you to be able to process what you're taking in, to be reflective, to ask yourself, how are you feeling?

What are you learning? What did you learn? What happened? How did it play out? How would you do it differently? All of those questions when you're writing in relationship to how your business is going and how you are doing in running it helps you to develop a clear connection to your own instincts or intuition and to process the learning that you're receiving.

another way that you grow and develop your own decision making skills is navigating your challenges independently. , by facing and overcoming obstacles on your own, you can develop a deeper Your own business and how it operates in the market and how it works and what your relationship is to both of those things independent decision making also fosters innovation.

Because you are the one and only in your business. If you are the founder or a co founder, it's that brain trust that is developing what's possible for that business and founders who trust their judgment are likely to experiment, to take calculated risks, to innovate, and to bring unique ideas together, which lead to unique business opportunities.

It's a huge benefit to being. The one and only instead of having a paid mentor in your business. I was thinking about some of the founders who advocate for self reliance, like people who are, want to do it themselves. Steve Jobs being the number one. He always talked about intuition and personal vision in his business.

And he believed that relying too heavily on external advice would dilute your vision. And hinder innovation and we all see where that is all turned out. Sarah Blakely from Spanx, she built her company with external input.

And she made bold, really unconventional decisions that led to her success

So while , external guidance can provide valuable insight and support. It is essential for you as a founder to balance this with developing your own decision making skills and business acumen. By building your own self reliance, you can maintain your unique vision, you can adapt to changing circumstances, drive innovation with your business, and ultimately the goal is to create a harmonious blend of seeking mentorship and trusting your own judgment to be able to achieve success.

 I'm cracking myself up as I make this whole argument because obviously, if you know me, you know I have a business strategy consulting company and that I am a paid mentor to many CEOs, founders, business owners, and high level executives. So one might argue that I just argued myself out of a job. But what I'm really asking for here is for you to know yourself well enough and to develop the discernment to know when you need help and to be willing to be thoughtful about what you pay for and what you expect from paying for it.

And to know when you sometimes just have to figure it out yourself. When you've got to tough it out and roll up your sleeves. And just get her done and do the best that you can. Being an entrepreneur means that you're always going to be doing that dance. And I am here to support you through it. Whether you pay me.

And use my company and my services, whether you enjoy these wonderful podcasts or join my female founder society, private Facebook group for female founders. . 

So today we talked about the multifaceted nature of mentorship from unpaid to paid and from its potential to provide invaluable experience and insight and shortcuts to help you move faster and more profitably in your business to the financial risks involved with hiring a paid mentor and the delicate balance between external guidance and self reliance.

we've seen the decision to hire a mentor is not a one size fits all solution. It is a nuanced choice that depends on your unique business needs and your personal growth goals. 

Let's summarize a little bit so you can consider these next steps and make an informed decision about mentorship for your business.

in our discussion today, we explored the complex decision of whether hiring a mentor is a game changer or a potential money waster. we started by highlighting the unmatched experience and insights that a mentor can offer, drawing on years of experience and expertise to help you avoid costly mistakes and accelerate your business growth.

And we addressed the financial gamble that mentorship can entail 100, 000 anyone? We emphasized the high costs and the uncertainty of the returns. we also saw that not all mentorship relationships lead to positive outcomes, making it essential to carefully consider the investment. We discussed how relying too much on a mentor can potentially stifle your ability to make independent decisions and grow as a leader.

But we also recognize the importance of finding the right balance to ensure both personal and business growth. hiring a mentor is a really personal decision, y'all. The benefits of the guidance, the financial risks, developing your own decision making skills, With all of that in mind, you can make an informed choice that aligns with your unique business needs and long term goals.

So if you're on the fence about whether or not a paid mentorship really makes sense for you, I have an offer for you. if you'd like to unlock your business potential with tailored mentorship, if you're a small business owner wondering where to focus your mentorship efforts, you can discover the power of personalized guidance with our disk based mentorship approach. So whether you're a D. An I, an S, or a C, dominant, influential, steady, or conscientious personality type, we have identified the key areas where mentorship can make the biggest impact on your business.

For the D's, it's about HR and strategic planning. For I's, it's mastering finance and streamlining your operations. For S's, it's about boosting marketing and leadership capabilities. And for C's, it's about embracing technology and refining your management style. And if that rings your bell, , then reach out and schedule a call.

 The conversation is complimentary and it gives you the opportunity to really air out what's right for you and see what your unique needs are at the moment and to test that discernment that we were talking about earlier.

You can unlock the full potential of your business with mentorship that aligns with your unique strengths and your specific business challenges. . So start your journey towards the next level of business growth today.

And for more details and to find your perfect mentor match, visit dawnandrews. com and fill out our business questionnaire. Thank you for tuning in to today's episode on unlocking success. Is hiring a mentor a game changer or a money waster? 

We've looked at the multifaceted nature of mentorship, weighing the potential benefits against the financial risks, and the balance between seeking external guidance and fostering your own self reliance.

 Remember the decision to hire a mentor is deeply personal and should be based on your unique business needs and growth plan. And as you reflect a little bit on what we discussed, consider taking small manageable steps to explore the potential of paid mentorship without the high stakes.

attend workshops, join peer mentoring groups like our Female Founders Society, or sign up for short term engagements to see if mentorship aligns with your vision and needs. 

 And whether you choose to hire a mentor or not, 

trust in your ability to make informed decisions and lead your business to success. Keep pushing boundaries, embracing challenges, and continually learning. 

If you found today's episode valuable, please share it with fellow business owners who might benefit.

 And don't forget to subscribe to My Good Woman for more insights and strategies to help you transform from founder to confident CEO. Until next time, keep striving, thriving, and staying impactful. I'm Dawn Andrews, and this has been My Good Woman, business strategy and time management for impactful female leaders.

See you next time.