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Business mentoring in Adelaide

A mentor has run a business like yours and will tell you what they did. A coach mostly won't tell you: they build your own decision-making instead. If you want the first of those, this is the page.

Coaches pay me a fee for each enquiry I pass on. That's how this free service is funded, and it means I introduce you to coaches in the network rather than every coach in Adelaide. How this works

The difference, and why it decides what you should pay

Mentoring runs on somebody else's experience. You're buying access to a person who has already done a version of what you're attempting, and the value arrives as a story with details in it: what they tried, what it cost, what they'd do differently. It's fast, it's concrete, and it carries an obvious risk, which is that their business wasn't yours and their market has moved on.

Coaching runs on your capability. A coach mostly asks rather than tells, keeps the agenda on the decisions you're avoiding, and follows up on a fixed rhythm. It's slower and it leaves more behind, because the thing being built is the way you decide rather than the answer to 1 question.

That difference sets the price. Mentoring is usually lower touch and less frequent, so paid mentoring sits at the lighter end of the Adelaide bands, and a great deal of mentoring involves no money at all. Coaching, at a fortnightly rhythm with preparation and access between sessions, costs meaningfully more, and the extra buys structure and follow-up rather than more wisdom.

This page sits under the Adelaide coaching services hub, and the business coaching category page sets coaching, advisory, mentoring and consulting against each other properly if you're still weighing them.

Coach, advisor or mentor: what each does, who it suits, what it costsA 3 column comparison. A coach asks questions, then holds you to what you decide, suits an owner who knows the work and needs to be held to a plan, and is priced hourly or as a monthly retainer. An advisor brings expertise in and tells you what to do, suits a problem you don't have the skills for in the business, and is priced as a project fee or a day rate. A mentor shares what they did in their own business, suits an owner who wants someone who has done it before, and is often unpaid or charges a small fee. Plenty of people use all 3 words for the same work, so ask what you'd actually get before you agree.Coach, advisor or mentor3 different jobs, often given the same name.CoachAdvisorMentorWhat they doAsks questions,then holds you towhat you decide.Brings expertisein, and tells youwhat to do.Shares what theydid in their ownbusiness.Who it suitsAn owner whoknows the workand needs to beheld to a plan.A problem youdon't have theskills for in thebusiness.An owner whowants someonewho has done itbefore.How it's usually pricedHourly, or amonthly retainer.A project feeor a day rate.Often unpaid, ora small fee.Plenty of people use all 3 words for the same work.Ask what you'd actually get before you agree.

Is this you?

The mentoring enquiry has a different tone from the coaching one. It usually starts with wanting somebody's experience rather than wanting a process.
  • You don't want to be asked what you think you should do. You want to hear what somebody who has done it actually did.
  • You're about to attempt something for the first time (a first employee, a second site, a big client) and you'd like to hear how it went for somebody else.
  • Every adviser you've spoken to has been selling something, and you'd rather talk to somebody who has stood where you're standing.
  • You've got the commercial basics under control and what you're missing is perspective, not process.
  • A monthly retainer feels like a lot for what you actually need, which is 90 minutes with somebody sensible every few weeks.
  • You're the first person in your family to run a business and there's nobody at home to ask.

What a mentoring relationship actually covers

Mentors differ enormously, because the product is a person rather than a method. Treat this as the ground it usually covers, and ask any mentor what they've actually run.
  1. 01

    What they did, and what it cost them

    The specific story rather than the principle: what they tried at your stage, what it cost, what they'd do differently. The details are the point, and they're the part a framework can never give you.

  2. 02

    A sanity check before you commit

    Running a decision past somebody who has made a version of it already. Often the useful part isn't the answer but the question you hadn't thought to ask about it.

  3. 03

    Pattern recognition on people

    Hiring, partners, that customer who quietly eats most of your week. Somebody 15 years in has seen the same characters several times and can usually name what you're looking at before you can.

  4. 04

    Judgement on what's normal

    Owners in their first business have no baseline. Whether your margin, your debtor days or your turnover of staff is ordinary for your kind of business is a question a mentor can often answer in a sentence.

  5. 05

    The introductions and the industry map

    Who supplies what, which associations are worth the money, which suppliers are worth the relationship. Mentors tend to carry a network and to use it, and that is frequently the most valuable part.

  6. 06

    Encouragement that isn't hollow

    Not a pep talk. Somebody who has been through a bad quarter telling you what a bad quarter felt like at the time, which is a different thing from being told it will be fine.

Try the unpaid version first

Pointing you at the unpaid route first is deliberate. For plenty of owners it is the better option, and it costs you a few emails to find out.

Mentoring is the form of business support that most often happens for nothing. Before you pay anybody, there are 4 sources worth a fortnight of effort:

  • A former employer or a former manager. The person who taught you the trade or the profession has usually watched somebody else make the leap you're making, and is flattered to be asked.
  • A supplier or a customer 2 sizes bigger than you. They have a commercial interest in your survival, they know your sector, and a standing 45 minutes every 6 weeks costs them little.
  • Your industry association or a local business group. Many run structured mentoring or peer groups, and the people in them run businesses with the same shape as yours.
  • Another owner at a similar stage. Not technically mentoring, but 2 owners meeting monthly with an actual agenda solves more than either expects.

The reason unpaid mentoring usually fails is not the mentor. It's that nobody sets a rhythm, an agenda or an end date, so it dies after the second coffee. Agree how often, roughly what you want to cover, and that you'll review it after 3 meetings. If you get through that list and still want somebody with more structure and a commitment to turn up, that's the point at which paying for it makes sense.

Coaches pay me a fee for each enquiry I pass on. That's how this free service is funded, and it means I introduce you to coaches in the network rather than every coach in Adelaide. How this works

What mentoring doesn't cover

The risk with mentoring is not that it's useless. It's that experience delivered confidently is easy to mistake for expertise you can rely on.

A mentor brings their own history and their own network. The items below sit outside that, and a good mentor names the right person rather than improvising.

A promise that their route will work for you
Nobody. A mentor's experience is 1 business, 1 market and 1 moment in time. Weigh it as evidence, not as instruction, and be careful when the advice is delivered with total certainty.
Structured accountability every fortnight
That's coaching. Mentoring is usually looser and less frequent, so if what you actually need is somebody checking whether you did the thing, engage a coach and expect to pay coaching rates.
Investments, superannuation and insurance
A licensed financial adviser. A mentor who has strong opinions about where you should put money is still not licensed to give you that advice.
Anything on the return side
Your registered tax agent. A mentor's memory of how their own arrangements worked in 2014 is not a basis for a decision about yours.
Contracts and anything with a legal consequence
A lawyer. A mentor can tell you what they wish they'd insisted on. They can't tell you what a clause means.
A detached read of your business
An advisor is engaged for exactly that, and comes without the emotional investment in their own history. It's a different purchase, and often a complementary one.

What paid mentoring costs in Adelaide

The researched Adelaide bands, ex GST. There is no separately researched mentoring band published here, because none exists: paid mentoring is quoted against the same market as light touch coaching.
Newer or entry practitioner, hourly
$110 to $180 an hour
Established generalist, hourly
$180 to $280 an hour
Light touch retainer, monthly cadence
$800 to $1,500 a month
Peer group, mastermind or membership
$99 to $400 a month

Indicative Adelaide ranges, ex GST, checked September 2026. Mentoring is often unpaid, and where it is paid it usually sits at the lighter end of these bands. Each person sets their own fee and quotes you directly. See the full Adelaide pricing guide.

If a mentoring arrangement is being quoted to you at standard coaching retainer rates, ask what you're getting for the difference. The honest answer might be a fortnightly rhythm, preparation and work between sessions, in which case you're being quoted for coaching and should read it as coaching. What business coaching costs in Adelaide publishes every band, and the cost calculator shows which band a format and cadence combination falls into.

How the matching works

4 steps, and you decide at every one of them.
  1. 1

    You tell me what's going on

    A short form: your industry, how many people work in the business, what you want to change, and roughly what you can spend. It takes about 3 minutes.

  2. 2

    I read it and check the network

    I read every enquiry myself. I look for coaches whose actual background fits your industry, your size and the problem you've described. If nobody in the network works on it, I'll tell you that.

  3. 3

    I tell you who and what they charge

    Before any introduction, you get the coach's background and their current fee band. You decide whether you want the introduction made.

  4. 4

    Up to 3 coaches get in touch

    I pass your details to up to 3 coaches in the network, and only after you've ticked the consent box. You take a first conversation with whoever you want to, and you're under no obligation to go further.

The full version, including the 13 things checked before anybody joins the network and how ADL Business Coach is paid, is on the how it works page.

Business mentoring questions

Is a business mentor cheaper than a business coach?
Usually, and sometimes it's free. Mentoring tends to be lower touch and less structured, so where it's paid it sits at the lighter end of the published Adelaide bands: $800 to $1,500 a month ex GST for a monthly cadence, or $110 to $280 an hour for occasional sessions depending on how senior the person is. A lot of mentoring in South Australia happens with no money involved at all, through associations, former employers and other owners, and that's worth exhausting before you pay for it.
Does a mentor need to have worked in my exact industry?
It matters more for mentoring than for coaching, because the whole value proposition is their experience rather than their process. Somebody who has run a business with the same economics as yours (the same cash cycle, the same kind of customer, the same constraint on capacity) is worth more than somebody from a glamorous industry with nothing in common. If that matters to you, say it in the enquiry and I'll look for it and tell you honestly what's available.
Can I just ask somebody I already know to mentor me?
Yes, and for a lot of owners it's the right first move. A supplier you've dealt with for years, a former employer, a customer who runs a bigger version of your business, or another owner in your association will often say yes to a coffee every 6 weeks. What usually goes wrong is that nobody sets a rhythm or a purpose, so it fades after 2 meetings. Agree how often, roughly what you want to cover and how long you'll try it for, and it lasts far longer.
How often would I meet a business mentor?
Monthly or every 6 weeks is the common pattern, against fortnightly for most coaching engagements. The lower frequency is part of what makes mentoring cheaper and part of what makes it less effective at driving action, because more happens between sessions and less gets followed up. If you already do what you say you'll do, that trade is fine. If you don't, the extra structure of coaching is what you're actually buying.
What are the warning signs in a mentoring arrangement?
Certainty is the main one: somebody who tells you exactly what will happen in your business has forgotten how much of their own result was circumstance. Watch for a mentor who is really selling something else, whether that's their product, an investment or a role in your business. Watch for advice about money, obligations or contracts, which needs a licensed or registered professional rather than a war story. And watch for a relationship that has quietly become you providing free consulting to them.

Get matched with an Adelaide business mentor

Tell me what the business does and what you're about to attempt for the first time. If you want somebody who has run a business shaped like yours, say that, and I'll look for it and tell you what I find.

  • You'll hear from me within 1 business day.
  • You'll be told a coach's fee band before any introduction is made.
Tell me about your businessHow the matching works

Coaches pay me a fee for each enquiry I pass on. That's how this free service is funded, and it means I introduce you to coaches in the network rather than every coach in Adelaide. How this works

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