Do I Need a Business Mentor? 7 Signs You’re Ready for One

You’ve built a business. You’ve learned a lot along the way. So why does it sometimes feel harder than it should?

There’s a moment I see quite often when mentoring women business owners.

She’s sitting across from me, telling me about everything that’s going on in her business.

The team isn’t doing what she needs them to do. Sales aren’t where she’d like them to be. She’s tried different strategies, invested in courses, listened to podcasts, and worked incredibly hard.

She’s frustrated.

And somewhere in the conversation, she says something like:

“I feel like I should be able to figure this out myself.”

I understand that feeling.

But after more than 30 years of running businesses and mentoring women, I’ve come to believe that one of the most valuable things you can do as a business owner is recognise when it’s time to get another perspective.

Not another course. Not another book. Not another list of things to do.

A real conversation with someone who understands business, can see what you might be too close to see, and can help you work out what you actually want.

So how do you know when it’s time to work with a business mentor?

Here are seven signs I see regularly.

1. You’re working harder, but your business isn’t growing the way you want

You’re doing all the things.

Marketing. Networking. Improving your offers. Trying new approaches.

And yet, the results don’t seem to reflect the effort.

Or perhaps your business is growing, but the extra revenue is bringing more complexity, more responsibility and more demands on your time.

When this happens, it’s tempting to assume you need to do more.

But what if the answer isn’t more activity?

What if it’s identifying the one or two things that would actually make the biggest difference?

One of the first things I do in a mentoring session is help a woman get clear on the real problem.

Because the issue she arrives wanting to solve isn’t always the issue we need to address first.

And once we identify what’s really going on, the options often become much clearer.

2. You’re frustrated with your team and tired of being responsible for everything

You hired people to make your business easier to run.

Somehow, you’re busier than ever.

You’re answering questions, checking work, solving problems and making decisions that you thought other people would be making by now.

You might even find yourself wondering whether having a team is worth the trouble.

I’ve seen this with businesses of all sizes.

Sometimes the problem is the people.∂ Sometimes it’s unclear responsibilities, missing systems or expectations that haven’t been communicated.

And sometimes the business owner simply hasn’t yet developed the leadership skills needed for the business she’s now running.

That’s not unusual.

Most of us started businesses because we were good at something. We didn’t necessarily start out knowing how to lead a team, develop people or get results through others.

The good news?

Leadership is a skill you can learn.

And developing those skills can open up an entirely different way of working.

3. You’ve been going around in circles on a decision

Should you hire someone?

Change your business model?

Raise your prices?

Raise your prices? Or get more confident about the financial numbers behind your business decisions?

Launch something new?

Let go of a product or service that’s no longer working?

Or perhaps you’re facing a bigger question: Do you even want to keep running this business?

I’ve worked with women who’ve been sitting with decisions like these for months. Sometimes years.

They’re capable, intelligent women who know their businesses.

But when you’re emotionally and financially invested in something you’ve built, it’s not always easy to see your options clearly.

And the longer a decision goes unmade, the more energy it can consume.

This is where a good mentoring conversation can make a real difference.

You get to explore the options, challenge your assumptions and consider possibilities you may not have given yourself permission to entertain.

Clarity brings empowerment.

And when you feel empowered, making decisions becomes so much easier.

4. Your business is successful, but you’re not enjoying it

This one is more common than you might think.

From the outside, everything looks great.

You’ve got customers, a team, a reputation and a business that generates revenue.

You’ve achieved many of the things you once dreamed about.

But somewhere along the way, the business has become something you feel responsible for rather than something you’re excited about.

Perhaps you’ve lost your motivation.

Perhaps you’re bored.

Perhaps you’re wondering what all the hard work is actually for.

And because the business is successful, you might feel guilty even admitting that something isn’t right.

I want you to know that you’re allowed to want something different.

You can love what you’ve built and still want to change how it operates.

You can be proud of your success and still want more freedom. I’ve explored this tension in The Freedom Trap.

You can even decide that the next stage of your business isn’t about growing bigger.

Sometimes it’s about consolidating, simplifying or creating space for the things that matter outside work.

You get to decide what success looks like now.

5. You’ve tried to solve the problem yourself, but you’re still stuck

Books are wonderful. Podcasts can be inspiring. Courses can teach you valuable skills.

And AI has given us extraordinary access to information and ideas.

I use these resources myself.

But there’s something different about sitting down with another human being who has actually experienced the challenges you’re facing.

Someone who can listen to what you’re saying, notice what you’re not saying, and ask the question that changes the conversation.

I bring more than 30 years of my own business experience to mentoring.

I’ve experienced difficult staffing decisions, changing markets, financial pressures, growth challenges, business transitions and moments when I’ve had to rethink what I wanted.

I’ve also spent decades working with women business owners facing similar situations.

That lived experience matters.

But so does the conversation.

You can find information almost anywhere. Finding someone who can help you make sense of your particular situation is something else.

6. You know something needs to change, but you can’t see what the future could look like

Recently, I mentored a woman who’d been running her business for more than 20 years.

She was frustrated with her team, concerned about profitability and considering significant changes to the structure of her business.

There were plenty of operational problems we could have started working on.

But I asked her a different question:

“Knowing what you know now, would you build your business the same way again?”

The answer was no.

And that opened up a completely different conversation.

Instead of immediately trying to fix everything that wasn’t working, we began exploring what she actually wanted her business to become.

What did she want financially?

What role did she want to play?

What would the business need to look like to support the life she wanted?

She described herself as having been stuck in a “mud hole” of emotional decisions.

But as we explored the possibilities, she began to recognise that she needed to start with the bigger picture, then make decisions about people, processes and profitability that supported it.

We hadn’t solved every problem in one session.

But she now had a clearer direction and a more empowering way to approach the decisions ahead.

This is one of the things I love most about mentoring.

Sometimes the biggest breakthrough isn’t discovering the answer to the question you arrived with.

It’s realising there’s a better question to ask.

7. You’re ready to invest in yourself, but you’re wondering whether you’re ready for a mentor

I’ve noticed that some women hesitate to seek mentoring because they think they should be further along.

Or they worry that a mentor will expect them to have everything figured out.

They don’t want to appear inexperienced, confused or, as one woman might put it, “a bit lost.”

Others wonder whether mentoring is an expense they can justify.

I understand all of those concerns.

But you don’t need to have the answers before you come to mentoring.

You don’t need a perfectly organised business plan.

And you certainly don’t need to impress me.

You bring your business, your experience, your questions, your frustrations and your ambitions.

I bring my experience, perspective and the ability to help you identify what’s really going on.

Together, we work out what comes next.

And while mentoring is an investment, it’s worth considering what it might mean to finally make a decision you’ve been putting off, resolve a recurring problem or discover a better way to run your business.

That value will look different for every woman.

What actually happens in a business mentoring session?

I don’t have a one-size-fits-all agenda that I take every woman through.

Your business is different. Your ambitions are different. And what you need right now will be different from what another woman needs.

Sometimes we’ll work through a specific strategic challenge.

Sometimes we’ll look at team structure, pricing, profitability, leadership or the direction of the business.

And sometimes the most important work is helping you reconnect with what you want.

I usually begin by helping you identify the real problem and explore how things could be different.

From there, we can draw on my experience to look at practical options and decide what action makes sense for you.

My goal is that you leave our conversation with more than a collection of ideas.

I want you to have greater clarity, renewed confidence and a practical direction.

I want you to feel relieved that you don’t have to keep going around in circles.

And ideally, I want you to feel excited about your business again.

Because you deserve to enjoy what you’ve worked so hard to build.

Is business mentoring worth it?

Only you can decide whether mentoring is the right investment for you at this moment.

But here’s something I’d encourage you to consider.

How much time and energy are you spending thinking about the same problems?

How long have you been putting off an important decision?

And what might become possible if you had the confidence and clarity to move forward?

You don’t have to be in crisis to benefit from mentoring.

You don’t have to be aiming for a multimillion-dollar business.

And you don’t need to wait until you’ve exhausted every other possibility.

Sometimes the best time to seek support is when you recognise that you’re ready for things to be different.

Ready for a fresh perspective on your business?

I’ve spent more than 30 years building businesses and mentoring women business owners.

Today, I work with women across three continents, helping them navigate business challenges, make confident decisions and create businesses that reflect what they really want from life.

Whether you’re trying to grow, lead your team more effectively, make a major decision or simply find your enthusiasm again, I’d love to help you explore what’s possible.

I offer personal, 1:1 strategic business mentoring, with limited places available.

Explore 1:1 Business Mentoring with Suzi Dafnis

You don’t have to have all the answers.

That’s what the conversation is for.

Suzi Dafnis
CEO & Founder, HerBusiness