This post may contain affiliate links please read our disclosure for more info.

If your objective is to grow your business or just to improve the way that your business functions, you should find yourself a mentor. Mentoring offers business owners the chance to learn from seasoned business owners or entrepreneurs on a regular basis. There is a popular misconception that mentors are only for young, inexperienced business people or startups. It is no coincidence that most top billionaires with high performing businesses have mentors. I have listed below 5 very successful people who currently have or have had mentors.

Top Billionaires with Mentors

1. Bill Gates

The co- founder and former CEO of Microsoft, the world’s largest personal computer software company has Warren Buffett as his mentor. Warren Buffet* is one of most successful stock market investors in history.

2. Oprah Winfrey

The former host of the Oprah Winfrey Show, CEO of Harpo Productions, CEO of the Oprah Winfrey Network, noted philanthropist and currently North America’s only black billionaire has a mentor. Her mentor is Maya Angelou, the author and poet.

3. Sir Richard Branson

The founder of the Virgin Group that has now grown to over 400 companies, one of the UK’s richest citizens, humanitarian and philanthropist had a mentor. His mentor was the late Sir Freddie Laker, CEO of Laker Airways.

4. Mark Zuckerberg

The co-founder of Facebook, the largest social networking website and current CEO was mentored by Steve Jobs* who advised him to build high-quality teams and maintain a sharp focus on Facebook’s products.

5. Sara Blakely

The founder of Spanx, a multi million dollar underwear garment company and currently the world’s youngest self-made female billionaire has a mentor. Her mentor is Sir Richard Branson. Bill Gates is also advising Sara on philanthropy after she joined the Giving Pledge.

There is a direct correlation between these billionaires having a mentor or having had a mentor in the cases of Sir Richard Branson & Mark Zuckerberg and then going onto achieve amazing levels of success. Even if you don’t aspire to be a billionaire it is very likely that you would benefit from having a mentor. If you don’t have one it is our recommendation that you look for one within your network. You could also try here.

If you like this post you will also like, Mentoring for Young Entrepreneurs : Do you Want a Mentor?

Also, you should read this post, 10 Golden Rules For Entrepreneurs  

B2B Content Marketing Agency London

Marketing Fundamentals Ltd is a B2B Content Marketing Agency in London that creates Content and manages Social Media for Professional Services firms. We hope you find this information useful.

If you would like our help creating and executing a Content Marketing Plan for your business or organisation give us a call on +44 (0) 845 2264 247. You can also email us via mail@marketingfundamentals.com

On our YouTube channel you will find marketing advice, business advice & inspiration. Subscribe if you work in Marketing for Professional Services or are a business owner or solo-preneur trying to grow your business. New uploads on Wednesdays.

Best regards,

Marketing Fundamentals Team

* Warren Buffett also had a mentor. His mentor was Ben Graham who was an economist.

* Steve Jobs himself had many mentors. More on that here. 

Follow Mike on Pinterest

Subscribe to

Follow us on LinkedIn

Online courses:

How to TurboCharge Your Business with a Blog
Meet Edgar Social Media Management
TurboCharge Your Twitter Presence
Quora For Business

Follow Mike on Twitter

Web Hosting Special Offer 

…

The post Mentoring is only for startups, right? Wrong! – 5 billionaires who have mentors appeared first on Marketing Fundamentals.

There seem to be a plethora of new communications platforms and opportunities for business owners and entrepreneurs. Unless you are a marketing consultancy it is unlikely that you will have the opportunity to explore them all sufficiently to work out how they could benefit your business. One failsafe way of achieving prominence in your sector is to consistently pursue excellence. Your strength will come from your product or service excellence. You would still need to market yourself, of course. Away from business if I mentioned martial arts whom would you think of? Of course it would be Bruce Lee – the best exponent of Wing Chun Kung Fu. Similarly for football if would be one of the following names; Pele, Maradona or latterly Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo. How close to excellence are you in your sector. Below are 5 ways in which you can get closer to achieving it.

Great Marketing Strategy – 5 Ways to Excellence

1. Going beyond best practice – What is best practice in your industry in your sector?
Spend some time analysing what constitutes best practice in your industry. Now think about how you can improve on current best practice. Going beyond conventional wisdom is one way of achieving excellence. For inspiration consider how Lovefilm and Netflix disrupted the home video rental market.

2. What can you learn from other industry sectors?
Having a broad view of commerce and businesses beyond your sector is a great way of picking up on advancements in other industries that ultimately can have an impact on your business. For example a business like Naked Wines.com in the UK took inspiration from what the Top 5 supermarkets were doing with their online grocery stores and adapted it to the wine industry.

3. What would Sir Richard Branson do with the opportunities in your industry?
The every day running of a business can become a grind and it is very easy to lose sight of the original opportunities that excited you. One good technique for refreshing your approach is to consider what your favourite entrepreneur would do. Often when you start with a blank piece of paper from the perspective of someone who may be willing to take more risks you will see new opportunities.

4. Better use of segmentation – What would your business model look like if you could move upmarket?
How would you deliver your products or services to a more upmarket clientele? Excellently? If you could plan and then implement this move successfully this would increase your profits and you would be able to deliver excellence.

5. Remain focused on the big picture – How far could you propel the business forward if you were removed from operational tasks? Plan for growth and recruit a suitable number 2 who can take your operational responsibilities allowing you to focus on delivering excellence.

Do you need help in your pursuit of excellence? We would be happy to help you or to discuss any aspect of your marketing requirements please give us a call on
+44 845 2264247 or drop us an email via mail@marketingfundamentals.com

We hope you find this information useful.

Kind regards,

Marketing Fundamentals Team

The post Entrepreneurs – Excellence is always a great marketing strategy – 5 tips to help you achieve it appeared first on Marketing Fundamentals.