< Return to Home

About working with a Coastal Mentor

We prepare you for a successful mentor relationship

Mentors can:

• Provide expertise & practical “know-how.”
• Identify new strategies & ideas
• Suggest useful business tools
• Become your trusted small business advisor
• And more!

First steps

After you apply to meet a mentor, Coastal Mentors will schedule a time to learn more about you and your business. Coastal Mentors meets with every entrepreneur before matching them to a mentor. The meeting helps uncover: industry, business stage, mentor-capability, and goals. When we understand the goals and reason you signed up, we can ensure that you get connected to the best mentor or resource to help you with your specific business goals.

Goal setting

Before you meet your mentor, we help you clarify the goal you are aiming for or the challenge you are trying to overcome. Then we share that information with one of our volunteer mentors that has experience in your industry or solving this type of challenge. If they know they can help you- we make an introduction.

Getting started

Once we make an introduction, it is the responsibility of the mentor/entrepreneur to make arrangements to connect. Coastal Mentors can provide online tools like ZOOM or a physical office to meet, but we ask for at least 48 hours’ notice to make arrangements for your meeting.

We ask each mentor to volunteer at a minimum of three hours with each entrepreneur. We would prefer you complete this within three months of the introduction.

Confidential

All program participants are required to sign an ethics pledge. The pledge includes a privacy statement. At no time will Coastal Mentors request sensitive nor proprietary information from one of our clients or volunteers. 

Cost

This program is offered at no cost and managed by a group of volunteers that want to support our community through entrepreneurship. To help us track the program’s success and qualify for future grants, we require a small amount of information. We report the data in aggregate form and not individual businesses; however, if you would like to provide a testimonial, we would love to share your good news!

I don’t have a business yet. Can I work with a mentor?

At this time, the Coastal Mentors program is designed to help existing businesses. If you have an idea for a company or want to learn more about starting a business, we are happy to connect you with resources that will help you during those stages.

Our events are open to everyone, and we encourage you to attend! Meeting other business owners, mentors, and the business community is a great way to get inspired to launch your future as an entrepreneur.