Find a Business Mentor Preview Video

Are you running a student business project where students create their own small business? I love bringing entrepreneurship into my personal finance classroom as a 1-2 month project in our increasing income unit. Starting a business offers our students so many opportunities to learn valuable skills and gain meaningful experiences, and one of the most powerful can be the idea of building a network through mentorship.

Find the resource here: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Find-a-Business-Mentor-Networking-Meeting-for-Entrepreneurship-11376989

Building a network and having a mentor in your life (personal and business) are two of the biggest learning moments I have had since becoming an entrepreneur. Creating a strong group of friends and acquaintances in the world in which your business is based is a fantastic way to accelerate the growth of your business and to help you avoid many common mistakes by newbies in the space. Mentors can give you guidance, share their experiences, introduce you to their network, and be a wonderful sounding board for your business.

This activity seeks to create that for our students. The students are going to contact a mentor who owns a business in a closely related space with the aim of learning more about how to start a successful business, what mistakes to avoid, and tips for best practice. They will learn so much more from someone like that than they will from you, at least in their specific business area.

The resource is divided into two parts.
The first is the preparation activity, where they are listing potential mentors to contact, questions they want to try and get answered, goals, and an action plan for reaching out.
The second part is a reflection which happens after the contact with the mentor. This asks the student to share how the meeting went and what they learned from it.