Mentorship is a vital component to succeeding in any aspect of life. Whether you are in a regular 9-5 job or you have a burning desire to succeed in entrepreneurship or in your dating/love life, or other activities, mentors exist in every form.
You won’t be able to find a successful person that has made lots of money in business who did not have mentorship in some form.
Every individual that has been successful or made lots of money has had a mentor in some form guiding them. Bill Gates had Warren Buffet, and Warren Buffet had Benjamin Graham. Mark Zuckerberg had Steve Jobs—and the list continues.
You must understand the values that a mentor can bring into your life. The question you must be thinking is, “Okay, mentors are great and all but how do I find a mentor?”
I have two mentors that are both well established and have achieved both monetary and personal success in life. My first mentor is Matt Pocius, aka, “The Youngest and Highest Paid Internet Marketing Consultant in the World”. He currently charges $5000/hour for his time. This propelled him to achieve the title at a very young age.
My second mentor is Richard Moore. Moore is an incredibly successful investor who has started four successful businesses. He also consults for boards of multi-million dollar companies and is an advisor to startups.
Here’s how to master the art of productive mentorship.
Find Someone Who Has Made a Lot of Money
This is pretty straightforward, but crucial: If your goal is to make $1-million, $10-million, $100-million or $1-billion, you need to seek who have made the amount of money you aim to accumulate that amount of money.
Similarly, it is crucial for a mentor to have a record of accomplishment of making money if that is your end goal.
Develop a Criterion of What You Are Seeking in a Mentor
Just like there are millions of paths to succeed in entrepreneurship, mentors are available in many different forms. For example, if you need a mentor who is great at sales, look for an individual who has a great sales record of and do your research on who they are, how they got started in the industry, and their successes and failures.
Most people underestimate the value of doing their own due diligence in researching and seeking mentors. Furthermore, most people view mentoring as a magic pill or a rainbow that will lead them to a pot of gold. However, this is far from the truth.
Having access to someone who is more knowledgeable or has years of experience does not guarantee you will become an overnight success. Have the right intentions when seeking a mentor and you will be reciprocated accordingly.
Find a Mentor Who Is a Great Communicator and Teacher
Just because a potential mentor has made a fortune does not guarantee they can teach others. Running a successful business is much more than having a ‘just do it’ mentality because if you don’t understand why you are doing a particular task, chances are you won’t be successful.
My first mentor once said, “For some successful people, if you were to ask them what lead them to achieve monetary success, some will say I just did it, or I believed in myself.”
Which is all well and good, but that really does not help anyone who is starting and who needs guidance on a micro level.
However, when looking at the process of how he made his first million or inked his first deal, he could pinpoint the exact steps that led him to make his first million at the young age of 18.
It is essential that your mentor provides feedback and criticism on your progress. Both positive and negative feedback is essential for growth because if a mentor is not providing that, that means they are not interested in your growth and success as an entrepreneur or as a person.
Make sure they know how to communicate their thoughts clearly and concisely and that their mind is not all over the place.
Find out Why They Want to Mentor Others
Most mentors choose to give back and help others. However, you have to make sure they have the right intentions. There are two reasons why a mentor would choose to mentor someone.
First, mentors have a big, bodacious vision that motivates and drives them everyday.
Mentors also want to give back by passing on the wisdom and knowledge they gained over the years, so it will reduce the learning curve and years of agony for others.
Second, mentors want to develop a brand and get recognized. If you were to look at the founder of Instagram and Facebook, you will realize that there is a huge difference between the two due to branding. For instance, do you know the founder of Instagram without googling?
Chances are that you don’t, because the crucial element of branding is missing there.
On the other hand, if you look at Mark Zuckerberg, who has branded himself very well as a young technology billionaire who has achieved massive success through a successful IPO (Initial Public Offering).
There are LOTS of technology companies today, but how many founders of those successful technology companies do you know? So by developing a brand and being recognized, mentors create opportunities to enter into other ventures.
Attract Mentors
Now, this is not directly related to selecting a mentor. However, it is important that you are prepared and are already doing the work needed to attract mentors. If you are someone who has only great ideas and hopes, trust me, that will not get you anywhere in life.
Do not be a wantrepreneur that talks about starting an idea, but never actually executes and takes action.
Similarly, just as investors and traders invest in stocks, mentors invest in people.
Like everyone, mentors do not have unlimited time. Thus, they want to make sure that the individual they are investing time and energy into c can produce results and implement any advice given.
However, as much as it is important to have a track record, it is equally important for individuals to have a great personality. Mentors seek individuals who are ambitious, energetic and who have the drive to conquer their goals. No one likes someone who complains or does not implement the necessary advice to succeed because the process to success gets boring quickly.
Start developing a record of accomplishments for your business so that mentors have something to work with and you are able to attract the right mentors when the time comes.
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