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What happens after I have decided to see a Mentor and sent off the booking form?
Your application to see a Mentor goes to your local Victorian Business Centre (VBC) who will call you to confirm the Mentor’s availability. The VBC administers our programs and is part of the Department of Innovation, Industry and Regional Development. First you will receive a letter from the D.I.I.R.D. confirming your booking and then, usually within a few days, you will receive a call from the Mentor to arrange the first meeting.
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Does the Mentoring program follow a standard format?
Although we have a range of programs, see
Programs and Pricing, they are just the starting point. Every Client has differing issues and the role of the Mentor is to work with you to address and help solve those issues. This requires concentrating on the issues not on any standard format.
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Do I have to have a Business Plan prior to the first mentoring session?
There is no doubt that a Business Plan is a help but many small businesses don’t have one and this will not be a hindrance in your seeing a Mentor. If you have a Business Plan your Mentor should get a copy ideally prior to the first meeting. You can download a Business Plan template from the
Business Tools tab on this web site. Your discussions with your Mentor will help to create a vision and strategies for a Business Plan.
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Do I need to do any preparation prior to the first mentoring session?
The more information you can give your Mentor at the first session the better as this will speed up the time taken to understand your business and issues. Some of the subjects that your Mentor will be interested to learn about would include your financial position, your vision and ideas, any challenges and any opportunities that you face and an overview of your industry and what your service or product is.
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How many times do I see the Mentor?
That is up to you. We recommend a minimum of four sessions with each session lasting about 2 hours. We advise this as the first session is finding out about your business or proposed business and the remaining sessions are devoted to setting simple action points to work on. Please see the
Programs and Pricing section on the website.
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What topics are covered during my mentoring sessions?
This depends on your specific problems or challenges. Some clients need immediate advice to remain in business whilst others need more strategic long term support. Our Clients have a wide diversity of questions and issues and our Mentors are chosen for their broad range of skills and ability to apply practical solutions.
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What is the best Mentoring program for me?
This will depend on your particular business need and issues. There are a range of programs available that can be seen on the
Programs and Pricing tab.
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What is my involvement in the mentoring process?
Research has shown that learning occurs when people listen, take notes then actually are given a task to apply this learning. At the conclusion of each mentoring session you and your Mentor will agree a set of actions that you will need to carry out as part of the process of building your business and addressing the issues. These Action Items will be reviewed and refined during the course of the mentoring process.
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What sort of activities would Action Items cover?
Action Items are not onerous but will assist you in clarifying issues and gaining more insight into your business. They will relate to the progress needed to build your business or resolve problems and will cover all aspects of the issues being discussed.
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Who should attend the mentoring sessions from my business?
As a minimum we strongly recommend all joint owners are present at least for the first session. Otherwise there is the possibility that the process starts off with misunderstandings. There is no reason to restrict your asking other employees to join sessions if this suits the issues under discussion but this should be kept to one or two only otherwise it becomes difficult to remain focussed on the key issues at hand.
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Where do the mentoring sessions take place?
Ideally, for an existing business, the first session should take place at the business premises. This helps the Mentor get a ‘feel’ of the business. Subsequent sessions can take place elsewhere with mutual agreement.
For a start-up business the Mentor will agree with the client at the time of making the first appointment where the meeting will take place.
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Will I have a record of my mentoring sessions?
Yes. After each session your Mentor will write a brief report covering the important issues discussed and list the Action Items to be carried out. This report will be the starting point for the next meeting.
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How long a gap is there between sessions?
There is no set period. It will depend on several factors and your Mentor will assess this with you to determine the ideal date for the next meeting. It may be as short as a week or can be a month or more. It is not however a good idea to let time elapse otherwise the momentum can be lost.
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What time of day are Mentors available?
Generally Mentors operate during business hours and not in the evenings or weekends.
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Are there any business tools that can help me?
There are a number of standard business tools such as business and marketing plans that you can download. Go to the
Business Tools tab in this website.
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How confidential are my sessions with a Mentor?
Completely confidential. To be of benefit the mentoring will touch on very confidential and sometimes personal issues. It is therefore essential that these aspects are kept between you and the Mentor. Please see our Privacy and Confidentiality Statement at the bottom of this page.
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Is my Mentor allowed to undertake additional paid work from me in addition to the mentoring sessions?
No. A Mentor signs a Code of Ethics when joining the Small Business Mentoring Service and one of the clauses prohibits a Mentor from gaining any commercial benefit from their mentoring work.
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If my original Mentor cannot provide all the assistance I need is another Mentor able to assist?
Yes. Your original Mentor will quickly determine if you need to see another Mentor with different skills that match your particular issues. They will arrange the transfer to another Mentor
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Will changing the Mentor cost more money?
No, you pay for the number of Mentoring sessions regardless of who the Mentors are.