I have had the remarkable good fortune in my entrepreneurial career to work alongside and be mentored by many successful entrepreneurs. Six of my closest mentors are male, between 40 and 60 years of age, and all are multimillionaires. Two of these gentlemen are 7-figure millionaires, three are 8-figure millionaires (assets in the 10's of millions), and one is a 9-figure millionaire (assets in the 100's of millions).

Three of these individuals launched entrepreneurial ventures that made them millionaires
later in life while working for other people in management or executive-level management positions. More specifically, they used their earned income and skills gained on-the-job to wisely invest in their own ventures. The other three individuals got the entrepreneurial "bug" much earlier in life (in their teens in all cases) and made their first million or millions from scratch in their 20's.

Half of these mentors are from families that had entrepreneurial tendencies already, and the other half are from working class families. Half have graduate degrees in business and the other half do not. They all, however, know how to analyze the numbers in regards to a business deal...an absolutely essential skill for all entrepreneurs that want to achieve any degree of success or wealth.

Now I'm going to reveal to you 10 Essential Lessons I've learned from this diverse group of millionaire mentors.*

1. Golden Rule of Business: He Who Hath the Gold, Makes the Rules. If you want to play with the big dogs and you don't want to be squashed like a little bug, go out and get some gold for yourself or at least partner with someone that has a bunch already.
2. Golden Rule of Management: Your Subordinates Will Only Respect, What You Inspect. Don't expect your employees (or partners or peers for that matter) to do a particular task if you don't have a way to consistently follow up or at least a system in place to measure and track the results of that action. 
3. Golden Rule of Negotiation and Sales: Know What's in Your Opponent's Head. Never go into any negotiation or adversarial discussion without first having put yourself into your opponent's position and considering all their motivations, needs, and wants, and every angle they may try to use against you or to object to your position or presentation.
4. The Right Relationships Are Power. If you continuously seek out and nurture new relationships with peers that are on the same page as you and with mentors that are at a higher-level than you, you will never have far to fall. Your network is your support system, your life line when you need help or get in a tough spot. Treat your relationships like they are all you've got.
5. The Quality of Your Results Will Be Consistent With the Quality of Your Preparation. Poor preparation will yield poor results. Excellent preparation will yield excellent results. Action, reaction. You get out what you put in. The bottom line is that you have to do the work to get the result. There are no magic bullets, quick fixes, or get-rich-quick opportunities. Do the work. Get the result. Repeat process over and over and over again until you get what you want.
6. Results Matter Most. Too often entrepreneurs fail to take the actions necessary to succeed because they become paralyzed by a what seems to be a bunch of little details. You must always create a laser-like, pinhole focus on getting the end result. Sometimes this requires you to be comfortable being unpopular and putting the feelings and needs of others second in order to make the tough decisions. See my previous post, Entrepreneurship Ain't a Popularity Contest, for more on this topic.
7. Be Comfortable in Your Own Skin. Entrepreneurship is not for the timid. If your self-image and confidence levels are weak, figure out how to fix it...now. Push yourself. Stretch yourself. Mold yourself into the person you need to be to get what you want. Figure out what massive action looks like and take it.
8. If You Fail, Get Back in the Game ASAP. Dwelling on failure is a waste of your precious time and energy. Pick up the pieces, clean up your mess, identify what went wrong, what you learned, and how you can prevent the same factors from causing you to fail again. Then, move on to the next venture immediately. Don't look back. Don't get depressed. Don't feel bad. Focus on what you learned and find new opportunities.
9. If You Find Yourself in the Jungle, Make Sure You're the Tiger. One of my mentors says that every good businessperson needs a "pop up sharks fin." There is a raw, rugged, tough component to business that you need to embrace objectively and without emotion. Sometimes there can only be one winner, and if you want it to be you then you must work to develop the right "stuff." Again, this comes by pushing, stretching, etc.
10. Invest in the Best Advice. Cheap (or even worse...free) advice is dangerous advice. If you feel good about saving money by using a less expensive account or attorney, think again because your thinking is wrong and inconsistent with how successful entrepreneurs behave. Of course, not all expensive professionals give good advice. However, there is a reason that there continues to exist $500 and $1,000/hr attorneys. You must know how and when to use them.

If you've had mentors in business and entrepreneurship, what are some of the most profound lessons you've learned? Use the 'Post a comment' link below to start a discussion!

*You will not get these lessons in business school.