If you?re looking for an online business mentor, make sure that you do your due diligence before you make your final choice on whom to take advice from. After all, if you choose unwisely, you could waste a lot of time, energy and money following the wrong mentor on a road to nowhere.

But what should you look for?

Below you?ll find a quick checklist of 5 important characteristics that your online business mentor simply MUST have if they?re going to help you get the best results possible.

You?ll save yourself a lot of time, effort and money by choosing the right mentor from the outset. Plus, you?ll achieve the results you want with much less effort too.

So, here are the 5 important characteristics to look out for in an Online Business Mentor:

Characteristic #1: Solid Track Record

One of the main reasons for having an online mentor is that you are able to tap into their vast reserves of knowledge and experience. With their experienced eye, they can expertly guide you towards online success and help you to avoid unnecessary pitfalls along the way to building your internet business.

So ask yourself: How many years has this online mentor been successfully operating a business online? Does this mentor have a proven track record helping people like me to build their own successful online business?

Characteristic #2: Real Expertise

In addition to a solid track record you also want to make sure that your online business mentor is a real expert and not just a self-proclaimed ?expert?. Real expertise takes years – and even decades – to build and solidify. And it is mainly the depth of expertise of the mentor that will help you get the results you want as efficiently and effectively as possible.

But how can you tell a real expert from a pseudo-expert?

Ask yourself: Is the online business mentor regularly consulted by other well respected experts in the field? Have they demonstrated their expertise by being a published author on the subject? Are they invited to speak about online marketing by the media and their peers?

Characteristic #3: Mentoring Skills

In addition to a solid track record and real expertise about the subject area, your mentor should also be sufficiently skilled at mentoring people just like you. After all, it?s one thing for your mentor to know their subject inside and out and quite another skill set entirely for them to be able to mentor you effectively to get results. The more experience they have at mentoring people just like you to achieve the success you want ? the better.

So ask yourself: Does this online business mentor have extensive experience mentoring people just like me to achieve the type of results I desire?

Characteristic #4: Credible Testimonials

Anyone can claim to be a great online business mentor but you need to ensure that you see solid proof that they are as good as they say they are. How? Simple?

Look to check that your online business mentor provides you with credible testimonials from other people that they have already helped to get the type of results they?re promising to you.

Let their client testimonials tell you how good they really are!

Ask yourself: Has this online business mentor provided credible testimonials from clients to prove they can produce the type of results they?re promising to me?

Characteristic # 5: Impressive Lifestyle

One of the main reasons for using an online business mentor is for them to help you to grow your business so that you can also improve your lifestyle. Ideally, your mentor needs to be quite a few steps ahead of you in business and the rest of life so that they can help you to grow your business and lifestyle too.

So ask yourself: Is this online business mentor actually living the type of lifestyle I want? Are they the type of person I?d like to be mentored by?

Copyright 2006 Darren Dunner

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