IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ CAREFULLY
Mentor Consultations Guidelines for TFI Members
General rules
- As a TFI Member, you are entitled to 120 minutes of free consultation time with our volunteer industry mentors during your membership year.
- Mentor appointments are by application only, exclusive to current TFI members and are dependent on the mentor's availability.
- If you wish to have a guest attend your mentor meeting, please pay a $10 guest fee in advance. Failure to do so may result in losing 30 minutes of remaining mentor consultation time or the canceling of your current mentor session before it begins. Contact TFI in advance if you wish to invite a guest and payment instructions will be sent to you.
- You can use your time in several increments, depending on your schedule and the mentor’s availability.
- Consultations take place virtually. Your mentor will send you a meeting link directly.
- Mentors CANNOT do work for you. They can only provide advice and direction. They are not under any obligation to do research for you, share their contacts or do any physical work for you.
Confirming a consultation
- TFI staff will contact you as soon as they can after they receive your request. Please do not email or call TFI to say you have placed a request; wait for us to contact you. It might take a few days to hear back from us, but do not worry. TFI staff might be waiting to hear from your mentor before contacting you.
- Members can submit one request at a time. Once your request has been scheduled, you can submit another one.
- TFI reserves the right to disregard requests that do not follow procedures or are offensive.
Cancellations, late arrivals, and unused consultation time
- To cancel a consultation, please email tfi@fashionincubator.com with a minimum of 2 business days' notice.
- If you cancel your mentor consultation appointment without providing at least two business days' notice, you will lose that amount of time from your allocation.
- If you arrive late for your mentor appointment, your session will conclude at the regularly scheduled time.
- No-shows will count as used time and you will lose that amount of time from your allocation.
- Your 120 minutes of mentor consultation time EXPIRES on your MEMBERSHIP EXPIRY DATE and all unused allocated time cannot be rolled over to the next membership year.
- We strongly advise members to submit this Mentor Consultation Request Form EARLY and to allow up to 6 months for an appointment in order to not be disappointed.
- All of TFI's mentors are busy professionals who volunteer their time. Please be respectful and grateful by being on time and being prepared for your session.
Additional info - preparing for your consultation
- It is important to establish clear objectives for your meeting and to have as much background info as possible in advance. Don’t go to meetings with broad questions such as “I want to grow my business”. Do your research. Mentors are here to help you with specific answers that you can’t easily find.
- Prepare at least 2 to 3 questions as these will help you get the most out of your meeting.
- Mentors might ask about your background and education. Make sure you have information about your company at hand.
- If you've scheduled a Zoom meeting, have your laptop or tablet with you if you want to screen share and show your website, images from your line or important references. If your meeting is a phone call, upload the material in your Consultation Request Form (see field above to upload) and we will forward it to the mentor.
- If your meeting is about financials or business planning, prepare a profit and loss statement and/or draft a business plan and 3 cost sheets. Please upload the documents to your form and we will forward it to the mentor.
- If your meeting is about design or production, make sure you have samples of your product(s), sketches, fabric swatches, magazine tear-outs; anything visual that can aid in explaining what you are asking. Please upload the documents to this form (see above field) and we will forward it to the mentor.
- If your meeting is about branding, PR or communications, make sure you have marketing materials such as press kit, look book or buyers kit. If you don’t have these materials, look for references. Please upload the documents to this form (see above field) and we will forward it to the mentor.
- If your meeting is about sales and meeting with retailers, you can share your samples, price list and buyers kit. Please upload the documents to this form (see above field) and we will forward it to the mentor.
QUESTIONS? We’re happy to help. Send us an e-mail: tfi@fashionincubator.com.
NOTE: All TFI mentors sign a TFI Code of Conduct that binds them to policies such as non-disclosure, non-compete and non-discrimination. If you believe a policy has been breached, please advise us as soon as possible.