You’ve read the books, taken the classes and guided your business through some pretty significant stages. So where do you turn for that something extra to move the needle?

You need a mentor. Mentors can help you think through a business concept, suggest ideas for startup capital, lend insight into your market or operations and give you the heads-up when trouble is headed your way. The right mentor relationship can go a long way to saving—and even making—you money.

Fortunately, in the Kansas City region, there are 36 organizations that provide mentoring services, often for free. So how do you decide if you are ready for mentoring? And how do you determine which type is best for you?

What’s In It for You?

From working with entrepreneurs and business owners, we’ve seen some key benefits to the relationship, including:

• Perspective and experience that can help you spot problems and avoid them.
• One-on-one, just-in-time skill development to address the challenges you are facing.
• Connections to customers, suppliers and potential investors.
• A sounding board for dreaming about how big your business can grow.
• Advice—but honestly, the best mentors don’t really give advice. They help you discover the right path through questions and examples.

How Do You Know If You Are Ready for a Mentor?

You should have a firm grasp of your business, some successes, some mistakes and some lessons learned to bring to the mentoring relationship. The Helzberg Entrepreneurial Mentoring Program also suggests in its guidelines that the business owner should desire growth and be willing to invest time in the relationship.

But it’s not just about being ready. It’s about being open, according to Kelly Pruneau, who has coached many business owners through the Women’s Business Center and the Women’s Capital Connection. “The ability to take and process advice is critical to a successful mentor relationship,” she says.

What Kind of Mentoring Is Right for You?

Formal mentoring programs like HEMP and Pipeline provide structured programs to match mentors and mentees. Both require a commitment of time and money, and participants are selected through an application process. (There’s no cost to join Pipeline, but participants do pay their own travel costs.) Access for Entrepreneurs, hosted by the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, is a group mentoring experience. Incubators and accelerators—TechStars, BetaBlox, SparkLabKC, Enterprise Center of Johnson County—also offer mentoring for their clients.

Peer mentoring encompasses programs like the roundtables at the Women’s Business Center, the collaborative network at local coworking spaces and Startup Weekends hosted by UP Global. Peer mentors can also be found through local chambers of commerce and industry groups.

One-on-one counseling can also be a form of mentoring. The Kansas City SCORE chapter has a large cadre of volunteer mentors who come from a variety of industries. The University of Missouri-Kansas City’s Small Business and Technology Development Center and the Johnson County Community College’s Small Business Development Center offer one-on-one feedback. And then there are a range of organizations that offer input for businesses in specific industries, from bioscience to child care, from contractors to artists, from inventors to veterans.

What’s Next?

Use KCSourceLink’s Resource Navigator (www.kcsourcelink.com) to find the mentor program for you. Just enter your business data and select “Mentoring” under “Assistance Needed.”

And then, when the time is right, step up and mentor the next upcoming business.

Great Places to Find Mentors  Here are a few programs that have helped Kansas City entrepreneurs find the right mentors.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP SCHOLARS (E-SCHOLARS) PROGRAM – BLOCH SCHOOL AT UMKC

The Entrepreneurship Scholars Program is a community-wide program designed to prepare brilliant and promising entrepreneurs with the skills and knowledge needed to launch world-class ventures upon graduation. Throughout the program, candidates work with mentors to develop innovative and sustainable business models.

FREELANCE EXCHANGE

At the Freelance Exchange, independent consultants in advertising and marketing find a network of support, a friendly atmosphere and a place to exchange ideas with others who are self-employed.

HELZBERG ENTREPRENEURIAL MENTORING PROGRAM

The Helzberg Entrepreneurial Mentoring Program (HEMP) is designed to help entrepreneurs with businesses older than three years and revenues of more than $1 million to achieve the next level of success. HEMP facilitates the development of a long-term relationship with a mentor who acts as a coach and a sounding board.

ACCESS FOR ENTREPRENEURS, GREATER KANSAS CITY CHAMBER

In the Access for Entrepreneurs program, senior executives tap into the energy and ideas of Kansas City’s most dynamic entrepreneurs, while participants receive advice, assistance and connections to help build their businesses.

PIPELINE

Pipeline is a regional technology entrepreneur fellowship program, designed to systematically identify high-potential technology entrepreneurs and match them with best-in-class training, resources and mentors to facilitate their dynamic growth.

WOMEN’S BUSINESS CENTER

The Women’s Business Center provides programs for aspiring and accomplished women entrepreneurs. In additional to their educational opportunities such as Kauffman FastTrac programs and WBE Certification workshops, the WBC offers peer-to peer mentoring roundtables and pairs experts in the fields of finance, marketing and sales with women business owners needing guidance in these areas.