Mentorship: The Key to a Strong Business at Every Stage

How to find and utilize a coach or mentor who will hold you accountable and help your company grow

BY LUANN NIGARA

I’ve had the privilege of working with many business owners through my coaching program, podcast and our live events. One of the biggest problems many of them have is the ability to see the actual challenges and opportunities they have and prioritize a plan to tackle them.

This is why mentorship is important. As you are starting your business, the right mentor can help you gain clarity, show you how to avoid mistakes and help you shortcut your way to success. Once you are a wellestablished business owner, a mentor will help you continue to learn and become the be-all and end-all authority on your business.

The truth is that none of us builds a business on our own. Not only is that a ridiculous expectation in terms of time and energy, this thinking traps us into doing “all the things” and prevents us from directing our energies into our unique superpowers. Here are the ways mentors can help you whether you’re a brand-new business owner or someone who’s been in the field as long as I have. Mentorship at different phases of the business

When you’re first starting out, your “mentor” could actually be a group of colleagues to bounce ideas off. For a yearly membership fee, you can join the Window Coverings Association of America, Interior Design Society, Black Artists + Designers Guild or American Society of Interior Designers. In these organizations, you’ll meet people who are at your level and years ahead of you. Building a network of informal mentors is key to fast-tracking your industry knowledge and business acumen.

In addition to associations, a no-cost solution is to approach a colleague and suggest what my friend, San Diego interior designer Rachel Moriarty, coined a “work jam.” If you click with someone you meet at the International Window Coverings Expo (IWCE), LuAnn University or High Point Market, suggest that you meet informally via Zoom on a weekly or monthly basis to hold each other accountable for making measurable improvements in your businesses.

For years, my friends, co-authors and fellow podcasters Jamie Lieberman, Amber De La Garza and Amanda Berlin have met every Friday after finding each other through a podcast conference. These three female CEOs with very different businesses meet virtually to advise each other on strategy, brainstorm ideas, vet opportunities and cheer each other on as well as pick each other up. Talk about the best one-and-a-half hours of your workweek!

Sometimes you just ask someone you admire to mentor you. This can be tricky because people are busy, but when you find the right person, magic can happen. Cheryl Luckett of Dwell by Cheryl guided her mentee, Rasheeda Gray of Gray Space Interiors, as she worked through building her business up from a side hustle to full time. When Rasheeda came on my podcast (episode 267), she shared the value of her relationship with Cheryl. Hearing this, Denean Jackson of D’Nicole Decor reached out to Rasheeda and asked her to become her mentor. It was a beautiful cycle of mentorship.

Consultancy options

Another option for mentorship is to seek out individualized help with a business coach. In this model, you get all the get,

whereas in the above examples, it is more give and take. That’s where many of my Chairman of the Board clients are. They know they want a personalized approach that is designed for them and helps them focus on the specific things they need to do in order to create the results and success they desire. We are fortunate to have many outstanding coaches and consultants in our industry, including Jessica Harling of Behind the Design; Madeleine MacRae; Kae Whitaker of Kae Whitaker Media Group; Vita Vygovska of Vitalia, Inc.; and Michele Williams with Scarlet Thread Consulting.

When you are ready to get serious about your business, investing in one-on-one consulting can be a game changer. Think about it this way: It is possible for every single person in America to select, buy and install custom window treatments without hiring one of us. But how different is the outcome when they do hire a professional? We expect others to invest in a professional to get better results. But do you resist seeking a professional when it comes to helping you and your business get better results? Got you thinking? I hope so.

My community of advisers

After 40 years in business, I’m good at a lot of things. I have built skills that I never imagined I would. I have learned and grown as a person and a business owner. I think the biggest lesson I have learned, though, is not to waste my time trying to figure out something that I know someone in my circle is better at than me. We all have superpowers; the goal is to work in yours and hire or barter others for theirs.

I have an informal board of advisers. Of course, it starts with my husband, Vin, and our partner, Bill. We meet biweekly to brainstorm, problem-solve and keep Window Works on track.

When I have any issues with employees and hiring, I call my cousin, Eileen Hahn, a leadership consultant and expert on all things hiring and employee-related. When a marketing question comes up, I call Nicole Heymer, CEO of Curio Electro, our website If I have a crazy idea and I’m not sure it’s on brand, I go to my daughter and soon-tobe podcast host, Christie, who sees what I cannot see. Diana is my guru for social media, who is able to curate my ideas into a coherent message.

So, decades into my career, do I need mentorship? Yes. Maybe it doesn’t look like it did at the beginning, but it is there regardless. My mentorship needs have changed over the years, but like they say about kids: little kids, little problems… well, bigger business, bigger problems. All the more reason to have people you can rely on and turn to.

Don’t be afraid to ask for guidance. Whether it comes in the form of formal mentorship, a coach, a mastermind, a board of advisers or simply a solid network of friends and colleagues who are happy to help you out, you can find someone to offer advice, help you fill the gaps in your own business strengths and provide assistance in areas that are out of your element.

We all need someone to remind us that we have what it takes to decide to be excellent. I know for sure that surrounding myself with smart, savvy people with strengths and wisdom and value to offer has helped me more than I could even say. I am happy and grateful for the community that we have through IWCE, Exciting Windows! and A Well-Designed Business. V

LuAnn Nigara is an award-winning window treatment specialist, co-owner of Window Works in Livingston, NJ, and a board member of WCAA. Her highly successful podcast “A WellDesigned Business” debuted in February 2016. She has since recorded more than 600 episodes.