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Author Tom Gillis has practiced as a CPA, a lawyer, and a CEO in his own business. He now works with Silver Fox Advisors in Houston, and has put much of his lifetime of business knowledge into his new book. I chose one topic from the book and talked with Tom about it. We discussed consultants, and he said that small businesses would be better off with mentors.
"This is different from a career mentor, who is generally in a corporation," he said. "Unless your mentor has been a CEO he has not really walked in your shoes. It's a lonely and solo act." Tom also made another distinction between mentoring and consulting. "Mentoring relationships are longer term relationships, where somebody is inside and on your team, and gets to know the key people and so forth. In the long run for small business, a mentoring relationship is more meaningful and productive." His book is full of pragmatic advice like this on all aspects of starting, running and building small businesses. It's a lot like having Tom Gillis as a mentor -- for a lot less than the $100 an hour he charges clients.
Michael Pellecchia writes about business and finance books each month He can be reached at michael_pellecchia@bookpage.com.
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