Mentor matching for South-East Queensland business owners
Business Mentors
Brisbane
Most South-East Queensland businesses that come looking for a mentor have the same thing in common. The business has grown fast, faster than the way it is run. The team is bigger than the systems built to manage it. The owner is still the person every decision routes through, and that has started to be the ceiling rather than the engine. What helps in that situation is regular time with someone who has personally built a business through the same transition. Finding that person is what this service does.
Why South-East Queensland business owners use this service
- A private search run by a senior search professional, not a directory and not an algorithm
- Three vetted mentors per shortlist, sourced close to you across Brisbane, the Gold Coast, and the Sunshine Coast
- A shortlist fallback built into the engagement letter from the start
- The mentor invoices you directly. No commission taken from the mentor.
- The first call costs nothing
Talk to John directly
A 15 to 30 minute call to find out whether the model suits your situation. Free, no obligation.
Thanks. John has your details.
He'll call you back within one business day. If it's urgent, ring 0407 900 234.
Why this works
A search professional runs the matching, not an algorithm
The brief is taken seriously
Thirty years of executive search means John knows how to take a brief. Not a form filled in online, not a category ticked from a list. A proper conversation that turns what you think you need into a written document a search can actually run against. A fast-growing business often needs something slightly different from what the owner first names, and the brief is where that gets worked out.
Mentors sourced close to you
The shortlist is three vetted mentors as standard, each with operating experience that connects directly to the brief. The search looks close to you first. A Gold Coast client is matched against Gold Coast mentors before the search widens; a Sunshine Coast brief starts on the Sunshine Coast. For a specialist brief with a narrow field in the region, the shortlist may be two. If the first mentor isn't the right fit within the early sessions, you move to another from the same shortlist without paying again.
Clean financial arrangement
The engagement fee goes to Managers & Directors for running the search. The mentor's session fees go directly to the mentor. The two are completely separate and we take nothing from the mentor side of the arrangement.
What kinds of mentor we match
Eight common categories, and the briefs that don't fit a category
South-East Queensland's business market has its own shape. It is one of the fastest-growing regions in the country, and a large share of the businesses in it have grown quickly off the back of that. Construction and trades firms working the growth corridors. Development and commercial property businesses. Health and allied health practices expanding with the population. Tourism and hospitality operators on the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast running at a scale their original setup was never built for. The eight categories below reflect the most common reasons owners across the region come looking for a mentor. Most find their situation somewhere in the list. Some sit between two categories, or outside all of them. The first call is where we work that out.
Sales and growth
Revenue that has plateaued after a fast run, a pipeline that leans too heavily on the owner, pricing that hasn't kept pace with what the business is now worth.
Learn more about sales and growth mentorsFinance and cash flow
Working capital that growth keeps absorbing, project cash cycles that are harder to manage than they used to be, cash that doesn't match the profit the accounts are showing.
Learn more about finance and cash flow mentorsOperations and delivery
The gap between the work won and the work delivered consistently, bottlenecks that keep moving but never quite go away as the business takes on more.
Learn more about operations and delivery mentorsPeople and leadership
A team that functions when the owner is present and struggles when they're not, performance conversations that keep getting deferred while the headcount climbs.
Learn more about people and leadership mentorsFounder bottleneck and delegation
The business runs through one person's judgement and availability, and that has become the ceiling on what it can do next.
Learn more about founder bottleneck and delegation mentorsSuccession, exit and ownership transition
A sale being considered, a partner arrangement that needs restructuring, a staged step-back being planned.
Learn more about succession, exit and ownership transition mentorsGovernance and board-level
A business that has outgrown informal decision-making and needs a proper structure around it before the next stage.
Learn more about governance and board-level mentorsGeneral business mentor
A senior operator as a regular sounding board across whatever the business is working through.
Learn more about general business mentorsNot on this list? Bring it to the first call. The search is built around your actual situation, not a fixed set of offerings.
See the full category descriptions →
About John Morrow
A search professional behind every Brisbane match
John Morrow has been running executive search and mentor placement for owner-led businesses since he founded Managers & Directors in 1998. The private-search method he uses for every South-East Queensland brief is the same one he has applied to executive search for three decades. It is not a matching platform. It is not a panel of available mentors. It is a search run by an experienced person against a brief that has been properly built.
John takes every brief personally, builds every shortlist personally, and makes every introduction personally. Once the mentor and client are connected, he steps back. The mentoring relationship runs directly between the two of them.
GAICD
Graduate, Australian Institute of Company Directors
GIA
Governance Institute of Australia, Governance and Risk
30 years
Search and recruitment for owner-led businesses
Founder
Managers & Directors Pty Ltd, established 1998
How the search works
Four steps from call to placement
Most engagements move from first call to mentor in the room within two to four weeks. Briefs that draw from mentors already in the South-East Queensland pool tend to move faster. Briefs that require fresh sourcing take a little longer. The full process is on the How it works page.
The first call.
Free, 15 to 30 minutes. John listens to the situation, asks the questions that turn it into a brief, and tells you honestly whether the model is the right fit.
The brief.
John writes the brief and sends it for your confirmation. Once you confirm it by email, it becomes the document every mentor is measured against.
The shortlist.
Three vetted mentors presented in a written pack, sourced close to you, with John's view on which is the strongest fit and why. You decide who to meet.
The placement.
You choose the mentor. John makes the introduction. The mentor sends their engagement letter and invoices you directly. John steps out.
Fees
Two costs, clearly separated
The engagement fee is paid to Managers & Directors for the search, the brief, and the shortlist. Standard Match starts at $4,500 plus GST. Half is due when the engagement letter is signed, half when the shortlist is presented. The mentor's session fees are separate, agreed directly between you and the mentor, and paid directly to the mentor. We have no financial interest in that side of the arrangement.
Standard Match
From $4,500 plus GST.
Specialist Match
Scoped at the first call.
Payment terms
50% on signing. 50% on shortlist presentation.
Shortlist fallback
First three sessions. No further engagement fee.
Common questions
The questions most owners ask first
John listens to your situation and asks the questions that shape the brief. You hear how the model works and what an engagement actually involves. Neither of you is committed to anything at the end of it. If the model isn't the right fit, John will say so and point you toward what might be. Up to two more calls are available free of charge if the brief needs more work before you decide to engage.
The search looks close to you first. If your business is on the Gold Coast, John searches Gold Coast mentors before widening; the same applies for the Sunshine Coast and for Brisbane. The whole of South-East Queensland is the pool, so a mentor one city over is a legitimate match if their experience fits the brief better. What matters most is that the mentor has personally run a business through the transition yours is going through. In-person sessions are practical across the region, and video covers the rest.
It happens occasionally. Within the early sessions of the engagement, you can move to a different mentor from the original shortlist without any additional fee. The fallback is written into the engagement letter before the search begins, so it's a straightforward process rather than an awkward conversation. If none of the three on the shortlist turns out to be the right fit, the engagement letter covers how that situation is handled.
No. The engagement fee is a one-off payment for the search and shortlist. There is no retainer, no monthly fee, and no commission on mentor sessions. What you pay the mentor is between you and the mentor.
Take the next step
Ready to talk about what kind of mentor fits your business?
The first call is free and takes 15 to 30 minutes. You hear how the model works. John hears your situation. Between you, you work out whether it's worth taking the next step.
Tell us about your business
Thanks. John has your details.
He'll call you back within one business day. If it's urgent, ring 0407 900 234.