A mentor is someone who has been been down the same path you’re taking. A mentor is experienced, successful and willing to provide advice and guidance–for no real personal gain.

But how do you find a mentor? Here are some steps for finding and working with a mentor for your new small business venture.

Government-Sponsored Mentor Organizations

You might be surprised, but the government offers a great deal of free resources and services to support small business owners, both online and locally.

The following are some organizations you can reach out to:

• SCORE: Provides free and confidential counseling, mentoring and advice to small business owners nationwide via its network of more than 12,400 retired business executives, leaders and volunteers. SCORE is sponsored by SBA and has volunteers share their expertise through in-person and online counseling.
• Small Business Development Centers: Provides management assistance to current and prospective small business owners.
• Women’s Business Centers: Provides business training, counseling and other resources to help women start and grow successful businesses.
• Minority Business Development Centers: Part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Minority Business Development Agency was created specifically to foster the establishment and growth of minority-owned businesses in America, with more than 40 centers nationwide.

Trade Associations

Many trade associations operate mentor/protégé programs that provide guidance to help you build your business. These mentoring programs are often conducted through a combination of formal one-on-one mentoring sessions and group networking and discussion opportunities with fellow protégés. Business owners might be connected with several different mentors over a period of several months to gain a more holistic experience.

Most industries are represented by trade associations, as are genders, ethnic groups and business types. If you need help finding a trade association, consult any internet search engine.

Mentoring for Government Contractors

If your business plans to sell anything to the federal government, you know that it can be tough to get started. The good news is that the General Services Administration (GSA) offers a Mentor/Protégé Program that is specifically designed to encourage prime contractors to help small businesses be more successful in government contracting and enhance their ability to perform successfully on government contracts and subcontracts.

Look to Your Network

Who do you know? Is there a previous boss who was very inspiring to you or a friend who is a business owner? Ask that person to be your mentor or share his or her successes and struggles. You have nothing to lose. Just be prepared to share with them why you chose them in particular, your goals and what you are looking for from them.

One of the best ways to find a mentor who knows your industry, your community and comes with a great referral is to use your network.

Working with a Mentor

If you decide to work with a mentoring organization, ensure there is a formal mentor/protégé structure in place.

If you are working with an individual you will need to work together to establish a mutually beneficial structured relationship.

The following are some tips to remember about mentoring:

• Be organized, prepared and consistent. No one wants to waste their time. Time is precious.
• Plan your mentoring sessions in advance. These could be as simple as having a one-on-one consultation or lunch meeting once a month to discuss where you are against your business goals, how best to tackle business obstacles, getting advice on business processes or regulatory requirements that you don’t understand, and so on.
• Casual one-on-one sessions are good, but also have more structured sessions that address different aspects of starting, running, managing and growing your business. See 20 Questions for Starting Your Business, 5 Steps to Registering Your Business, and Forecasting for Growth for some ideas.

Green: it’s everywhere. It’s taught in the first grade. It’s at the center of many corporate manufacturing and marketing policies. And whether you believe in climate change or still have doubts, consumers are now demanding GREEN.

Adopting environmentally friendly and energy efficient business practices provides numerous benefits to new and existing small business owners looking to control costs, attract customers and become socially responsible. Non-toxic, recycled, organic, energy efficient, reused, eco-friendly, farm-to-table: these terms, and others, all help define the fast-growing green market.

So what can you do as a small business? Remember, that regardless of what options you choose, each one of them should and must be connected to your marketing strategy and company messaging. If you adopt energy efficiency practices, let your customers know; if you are committed to local agriculture, let them know, and if your product contains recycled by-products, let them know. Four out of five consumers say they are still buying environmentally friendly products and services today – which sometimes cost more – even in the midst of a recovering economy.

Save energy now. The prudent use of energy is one of the easiest and most cost-effective steps you can take to cut costs and increase profitability right now, today. Given the potentially high returns and minimal risk, implementing energy efficiency practices is at the core of most business environmental management strategies. Take these steps to get started:

• Conduct an energy audit to quickly identify areas where you can save energy costs.
• Purchase ENERGY STAR® appliances and office equipment.
• Provide energy saving tips to your employees
• Look for green power and renewable energy sources

Be green-minded. You can own a restaurant, a dry cleaners, a movie house, a construction company, a card-board manufacturer—the type of business does not matter. You can go green with little or very large investments. A local restaurant may advertise farm-to-table food choices, the dry cleaners offers a local bio-degradable detergent option, the manufacturer of pipes invests in a zero-pollution state-of- the art waste recycling facility, the hand cart guy sells fresh squeezed organic lemonade.

You can decide that your entire operation goes green, or take a more incremental and affordable approach.

Build green. If you are opening a business in a new or remodeled building, make sure you build green by installing energy efficient heating and air conditioning systems, appliances, equipment and lighting. And consider LEED certification. According to the US Green Building Council, LEED is redefining the way we think about the places where we live, work and learn. As an internationally recognized mark of excellence, it provides small businesses a framework for implementing measurable green building design, construction, and maintenance solutions.

Think alternative energy. Some major alternative energy growth areas include solar, wind, hydrogen, bio-fuel, fuel cells and energy conservation technologies. Researching, building, installing and applying these technologies create business opportunities for entrepreneurs.

Green power products can include electricity generated exclusively from renewable resources or, more frequently, electricity produced from a combination of fossil and renewable resources. If interested in installing renewable energy equipment in your facility, incentives may be available in your state to “buy down” the cost.

Of course, not every small business can install renewable energy technology at their facility. Fortunately you can buy green power for your facility directly from many utilities at a slightly higher cost than regular electricity. If your utility does not offer green power options you can still participate by purchasing renewable energy certificates.

And remember: let your customers know!

Consider government. The federal government’s enormous buying power stimulates market demand for green products and services. President Obama recently committed the Department of Defense to invest in alternative energy investments and practices—including solar farms at military bases. This mirrors EPA’s Environmentally Preferable Purchasing (EPP) Program that helps agencies across the federal government comply with green purchasing requirements.

We’ve all heard of the big name “gurus” that pontificate exploiting search engine vulnerabilities, “gaming the system” in social media, and similar tactics — and you won’t find anything even remotely similar in this book. In fact, as Scott so astutely points out, by the time most of these gurus get around to sharing (and selling) you on these types of methods, there is often little profit left to be extracted from the tactics they’re sharing.

It is refreshing to read an internet marketing book that isn’t full of pie-in-the-sky hype. Scott has created, sold, built and consulted on successful businesses throughout his career. He is well-known for his commitment to his customers, and his genuine interest in seeing them succeed.

Scott’s books are based on his personal experience and success online: He has built multi-million dollar e-businesses ranging from small web site startups, to web sites for celebrities like Bill O’Reilly and Larry King, to the online division of a Fortune 500 corporation.

I’ve followed Scott for several years now, and I know the kind of value he provides — Click Millionaires is certainly no exception. Within the pages of this book, Scott introduces us to eleven successful business owners who have become part of the “Click Millionaire Revolution,” and developed lifestyle businesses. In addition to sharing their stories, Scott outlines actionable tips and strategies to enable readers to follow their examples.

From the Publisher:

“Scott Fox teaches weary corporate warriors and aspiring entrepreneurs how to trade the 9-5 job they hate for an online business they love. The book explains how to combine outsourcing, software, and automated online marketing to build recurring revenues, all while working less and making fewer of the lifestyle compromises that corporate “success” requires.”

Among the Items Covered:

• Identify your top lifestyle design goals, unique expertise, and passionate interests.
• Design what you know best or most like to do into a new online business that satisfies your personal cravings, whether for flexibility, creativity, comfort, travel, or family time.
• Find your niche and get established as an expert online, even without formal credentials.
• Use web tools, like automation software, subscription billing, and audience content creation, to help you grow your e-business without investing more money, time, and toil.

Scott encourages readers to see that even small steps can make a big impact on one’s overall lifestyle — increasing their time with family, enabling them to pursue activities they are passionate about, and to measure success in terms of happiness. You won’t find any “get rich quick” schemes within the pages of this book; instead, you’ll find the unvarnished truth about existing tools and business models that are available to those motivated enough to put them into practice.

In the early pages of the book, Scott suggests the reader begin to keep a notebook or journal, where they can keep a record of their ideas, as well as create plans to take those ideas to fruition. He provides helpful lists of exercises throughout; completing these exercises can provide the valuable introspection and niche research that so many business owners gloss over, much to their own detriment.

Scott’s book, supported by his active online community, introduces readers to a group of like-minded business owners and leaders that are available to network and learn from. Knowing this, readers can close the cover on the book knowing that they can find support, as well as answers to any questions they may have.

Scott is the host of the popular ClickMillionaires.com e-commerce and online marketing social network where he offers personalized lifestyle business coaching to help his readers and clients make more money online. His work and book have been covered by press outlets including the New York Times, Boston Globe, LA Business Journal, Toronto’s Globe & Mail, Wall Street Journal, Philadelphia Inquirer, Orange County Register, AOL Small Business, Smart Money and SUCCESS magazines, as well as many radio programs and blogs worldwide.

To learn more about Scott, or to subscribe to his free email newsletter, visit him at http://ScottFox.com, or http://clickmillionaires.com.

Some Quick Facts:

• Fewer than half of Americans have calculated how much they need to save for retirement.
• In 2009, 13 percent of private industry workers with access to a defined contribution plan (such as a 401(k) plan) did not participate.
• The average American spends 20 years in retirement.

Start saving, keep saving, and stick to your goals
If you are already saving, whether for retirement or another goal, keep going! You know that saving is a rewarding habit. If you’re not saving, it’s time to get started. Start small if you have to and try to increase the amount you save each month. The sooner you start saving, the more time your money has to grow (see the chart below). Make saving for retirement a priority. Devise a plan, stick to it, and set goals. Remember, it’s never too early or too late to start saving.

Know your retirement needs
Retirement is expensive. Experts estimate that you will need about 70 percent of your pre-retirement income – lower earners, 90 percent or more – to maintain your standard of living when you stop working. Take charge of your financial future. The key to a secure retirement is to plan ahead.

Contribute to your employer’s retirement savings plan
If your employer offers a retirement savings plan, such as a 401(k) plan, sign up and contribute all you can. Your taxes will be lower, your company may kick in more, and automatic deductions make it easy. Over time, compound interest and tax deferrals make a big difference in the amount you will accumulate. Find out about your plan. For example, how much would you need to contribute to get the full employer contribution and how long would you need to stay in the plan to get that money.

Learn about your employer’s pension plan
If your employer has a traditional pension plan, check to see if you are covered by the plan and understand how it works. Ask for an individual benefit statement to see what your benefit is worth. Before you change jobs, find out what will happen to your pension benefit. Learn what benefits you may have from a previous employer. Find out if you will be entitled to benefits from your spouse’s plan. For more information, request What You Should Know about Your Retirement Plan. (See below for more information.)

Consider basic investment principles
How you save can be as important as how much you save. Inflation and the type of investments you make play important roles in how much you’ll have saved at retirement. Know how your savings or pension plan is invested. Learn about your plan’s investment options and ask questions. Put your savings in different types of investments. By diversifying this way, you are more likely to reduce risk and improve return. Your investment mix may change over time depending on a number of factors such as your age, goals, and financial circumstances. Financial security and knowledge go hand in hand.

Don’t touch your retirement savings
If you withdraw your retirement savings now, you’ll lose principal and interest and you may lose tax benefits or have to pay withdrawal penalties. If you change jobs, leave your savings invested in your current retirement plan, or roll them over to an IRA or your new employer’s plan.

Ask your employer to start a plan
If your employer doesn’t offer a retirement plan, suggest that it start one. There are a number of retirement saving plan options available. Your employer may be able to set up a simplified plan that can help both you and your employer. For more information, request a copy of Choosing a Retirement Solution for Your Small Business.

Put money into an Individual Retirement Account
You can put up to $5,000 a year into an Individual Retirement Account (IRA); you can contribute even more if you are 50 or older. You can also start with much less. IRAs also provide tax advantages.

When you open an IRA, you have two options – a traditional IRA or a Roth IRA. The tax treatment of your contributions and withdrawals will depend on which option you select. Also, the after-tax value of your withdrawal will depend on inflation and the type of IRA you choose. IRAs can provide an easy way to save. You can set it up so that an amount is automatically deducted from your checking or savings account and deposited in the IRA.

Find out about your Social Security benefits
Social Security pays benefits that are on average equal to about 40 percent of what you earned before retirement. You should receive a Social Security Statement each year that gives you an estimate of how much your benefit will be and when you can receive it. For more information, visit the Social Security Administration’s Web site or call 1.800.772.1213.

Ask Questions
While these tips are meant to point you in the right direction, you’ll need more information. Read our publications listed below. Talk to your employer, your bank, your union, or a financial adviser. Ask questions and make sure you understand the answers. Get practical advice and act now.

Breakeven analysis

A startup business owner must understand that $5,000 of product sales will not cover $5,000 in monthly overhead expenses. The cost of selling $5,000 in retail goods could easily be $3,000 at the wholesale price, so the $5,000 in sales revenue only provides $2,000 in gross profit. The breakeven point is reached when revenue equals all business costs.

To calculate your breakeven point, you will need to identify your fixed and variable costs. Fixed costs are expenses that do not vary with sales volume, such as rent and administrative salaries. These expenses must be paid regardless of sales, and are often referred to as overhead costs. Variable costs fluctuate directly with sales volume, such as purchasing inventory, shipping, and manufacturing a product. The formula for determining your breakeven point requires no more than simple arithmetic.

Helpful Resources:
BPlans Break Even Calculator

It’s worth knowing that Uncle Sam offers access to free data that can help you understand your market and analyze consumer trends and demographics. In fact, the federal government is the largest producer of data in the U.S. with numerous offices dedicated to collecting, analyzing and providing free access to their findings – good news for budget-conscious small business owners.

Here are five government sources of market data and statistics that may boost your market research efforts:

Business Data and Statistics from SBA.gov
A good place to start is SBA.gov’s Business Data and Statistics page, where you’ll find a collection of resources providing free access to information about business and economic conditions and indicators collected by the U.S. government. Whether you sell to businesses or consumers, these sites include data and statistics on income, employment, trade, and manufacturing, and plenty more.

The U.S. Census Bureau
The U.S. Census Bureau (www.census.gov) maintains a vast repository of information that is quick and easy to navigate, thanks to a variety of Data Access Tools. For example, with The American FactFinder, just enter a city and state and the tool will generate multiple options for viewing social, economic, household and demographic data for your town or future location.

The main site has also been newly re-launched to make it very simple to find the data you need, including a neat interactive map that shows a mash-up of economic and demographic statistics for any town, city, or state in America.

If you like what you see but are not sure how to use and interpret the data, the Census Bureau hosts seminars across the country to help business owners learn more about business and industry data on the site. Learn more.

FedStats.gov
If you want data but don’t know which agency maintains or produces it, head on over to FedStats.gov. This no-frills data-driven site provides access to a full range of official statistical information produced by the federal government without having to know in advance which federal agency produces which particular statistic. Data is available on wide-ranging topics, including economic and population trends, crime, education, health care, aviation safety, energy use, and farm production.

Small Business Statistics
Interested in statistics about how small business is doing? The SBA Office of Advocacy conducts and publishes its own research on topics such as the small business economy.

EconomicIndicators.gov
For briefings on retail sales, durable goods, manufacturing, construction, new home sales, and more, Economicindicators.gov provides access to daily releases of key economic indicators from the Bureau of Economic Analysis and the Census Bureau. This is probably your best bet if you’re looking for one site that says it all.

Additional Resources
Visit SBA’s guide to Conducting Market Research for tips on how to put this data and other information to use.

About the Author:
Caron Beesley is a small business owner, a writer, and marketing communications consultant. Caron works with the SBA.gov team to promote essential government resources that help entrepreneurs and small business owners start-up, grow and succeed.

I believe in the business planning process as the secret to good management. That means you use a flexible business plan, reviewed and revised often, to manage strategy, objectives, measurements, performance, tasks, people, and basic numbers. And that’s as true with social media as with any other function in business.

Therefore, I’m recommending these three steps to manage your social media business activities using your business plan. I’m thinking mainly of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+, but I hope these three steps will apply to any other social media effort or platform as well.

1.Set strategy.
Strategy starts with focus and includes goals. It can include short- and long-term goals.

Think about what you’re going to do with social media in a business sense. Set realistic business objectives. Are you going to generate leads, answer complaints, engage with customers, or something else? Will you be doing all of the above? How will this relate to other functions and tools, like the rest of the marketing plan or the rest of customer service? Try to stay focused and be specific.

In terms of format, it doesn’t matter. The simplest form of strategy is a collection of bullet points. It serves as a reminder of priorities and goals when things get busy and hard to manage.

2.Set specifics.
Strategy alone isn’t enough. You need to add specific concrete information including how you will measure progress, what progress you expect to see, who is responsible for what tasks, and how often you’re going to review and revise.

For example, if your strategy includes Twitter, you should define what you’re going to tweet, and who will do it, what tools they’ll be using (for example, HootSuite or CoTweet or TweetDeck), and what performance measurements are important. The measurement might be posts, updates, likes, followers, connections, leads, customer incidents handled, or even the very trendy Klout score, which measures influence.

Be sure you have specifics you can track. Ask yourself how you’ll know, next month, whether you are on plan or not.

3.Manage results.
Just exactly like the rest of your business plan, the social media portions need to be managed, followed up, tracked, discussed, and revised regularly.

Schedule monthly meetings in advance. Invite everybody involved. List what numbers you’re going to be tracking and make sure it’s clear who is responsible for what.

When the meetings take place, start by reviewing assumptions, then review goals and performance measurement, one by one. Where things are better than planned, somebody should get praise. Where things are worse than planned, somebody should be prepared to discuss what went wrong and how to correct it.

Final thought: Does this sound familiar? As if social media belongs in your business planning process like every other important function in the business? Good. That’s what I hoped you’d say.

About the Author
Founder and Chairman of Palo Alto Software and bplans.com, on twitter as Timberry, blogging at timberry.bplans.com. Stanford MBA. Married 42 years, father of 5. Author of business plan software Business Plan Pro and www.liveplan.com and books including The Plan As You Go Business Plan, published by Entrepreneur Press, 2008.

“But inventing is about more than just a good idea,” Davison offers. “It’s also about taking a chance.”

As the founder and CEO of Davison, an award-winning new products development company that creates more than 150 new product samples each month, he knows a thing or two about inventing.

More than 20 years ago, Davison’s very first invention was a toothbrush sterilizer, but a larger company beat him to market. That failure sowed the seeds for what Davison calls his most successful invention—his nine-step method for shepherding ideas from sketch to prototype to market—and fueled his determination to give every idea person the opportunity to see his or her big idea realized.

One first-time inventor, Joy Clymer of Fruita, Colorado, was so frustrated by trying to transport deviled eggs to a picnic that she conceived of the idea for a covered platter with egg-shaped cutouts. Her successful product, called Party Traveler, is licensed under the name Party on the Go for QVC.

Most inventions solve a problem. For EMS pilot Joseph Springer of Harleysville, Pennsylvania, his invention was born out of his fondness for the crispy edges of homemade brownies. His Silicone Dessert Bar Pan, which ensures firm edges no matter what’s baked in it, was a hit, especially on QVC.

Some inventions improve on an existing idea. Kay Thompson of Clarkston, Michigan, found that walking her two Shelties in winter was anything but fun for her canine friends, whose paws always became cold, wet and salt soaked. So she created boots that would not slip off in the snow like the many she had tried. Now, her stay-put and fashionable Pugz Shoes for Dogs are all the rage.

Davison offers these tips to those who “dare to invent”:

Dare to Take Action: Do your research to see if there is already something similar on the market.

Dare to Share: Share your idea with others. A nondisclosure or confidentiality agreement will protect you from having your idea stolen.

Dare to Evaluate: Evaluate your idea honestly and think about how to market the product.

Dare to Ideate: Shape your creation with sketches, illustrations and photos.

Dare to Leave a Paper Trail: Use a notebook to write down all your ideas.

To see real-life stories of everyday inventors, tune in to the “Dare to Invent” webisode series at http://www.davison.com/webisodes.

Whether they are volunteering, helping fund community-based projects or working to strengthen public-private partnerships such as United Way, more companies are taking Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) seriously and investing in communities where they are located.

Here are some examples:

U.S. Bank works closely with United Way and its partners in communities across the United States to provide financial education, affordable housing and more. United Way is U.S. Bank’s largest grant recipient and sole partner of the annual employee giving campaign. Employees are encouraged to volunteer through eight hours of paid time off. In 2010, more than 36,000 employees volunteered.

Microsoft provides software and cash grants and employee fundraising—overall providing $14.3 million in cash, software and in-kind donations to United Way in 2010. Plus, when its employees volunteer more than 10 hours for an eligible organization (employees volunteered 363,000 hours last year), Microsoft provides a $17 matching donation for every volunteer hour.

Bank of America employees volunteered more than 1 million hours last year. The bank was also the first financial institution to support the United Way Financial Stability Partnership, with $4.5 million in grants over the past few years, plus employee volunteers, providing free tax preparation and filing assistance, resulting in $2 billion in total tax refunds, reinvested into communities.

Procter & Gamble works each year to touch and improve lives around the world through its partnership with United Way. Last year, P&G employees joined together to participate in more than 145 volunteer events. Since 2007, more than 300 million children worldwide have benefited from the company’s Live, Learn and Thrive Program.

Dominion granted $24 million and partnered with United Way to provide heating assistance in 2010. Last year, Dominion employees volunteered 150,000 hours.

To learn more, visit http://liveunited.org/soa.