Self-Employment Mentors Needed

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What is the role of the mentor?

- A mentor will act as a guide for the mentee as they develop hands-on skills about how to become self-employed and what it takes to run and develop a business. A mentor will be someone that a mentee can lean on for advice, motivates the mentee with feedback and active listening, and is eager to learn as much as they want to teach.

Mentor Criteria and Expectations:

- The mentor will be knowledgeable in the business industry, preferably someone who has run or currently runs their own business or someone who has business knowledge that would be applicable for start-ups and small businesses.

- The individuals in the program are relatively new to managing a business and could benefit from encouragement in business basics, e.g. invoicing, customer service, managing financials, basic business practices, etc.

- The mentor should utilize simple business terms for comprehension and understanding.

- The mentor shall exhibit patience and understanding about how an individual with developmental, intellectual, and learning disabilities have different learning styles and different levels of prior knowledge and experience in business.

- The mentor’s time commitment to this program could exceed the 6-month training program and into the early years of the cohort’s business, if the mentor and mentee agree to an extended relationship. However, the priority would be mentoring for the 6-month program.

- The mentor shall meet with the mentee twice a month, one-on-one, and preferably in-person to reinforce lessons, provide any help, and answer any questions that the mentee may have. The meetings will be informal and based on a mutual time and place for both parties.

o The mentor will strengthen lessons’ key points in various business topics including what is a business, business concept exploration and development, business feasibility, setting up a business, business planning, and more.

o The mentor will be provided with the topics and materials covered during the program.

- The mentor shall email a monthly feedback update to Jacqueline Neal ( jneal@seeconline.org ) about the mentee’s learning progress. In a monthly email, it would be helpful to provide answers to the following questions, as well as any other pertinent comments or information:

o What have you seen the mentee embrace and apply to their business?

o What have you seen the mentee have challenges with?

o Any other thoughts or suggestions about the mentee or the program.

- All mentors must take SEEC training, which will be a combination of the Volunteer Orientation and a presentation on the Self-Employment program specifics. We will work with you so it will be conveniently scheduled.