11 Industry Experts Reveal Tips That Will Help You To Attract Your Dream Mentor This Year!

Have you ever had trouble finding a mentor?

Do you know someone who would be a perfect mentor match but have no idea how to build a relationship with them?

Are you seeking a mentor who can help you land your dream career opportunity or enhance your professional skills?

You can fuel your success and live the life you have always wanted with the help of a mentor who is willing to help you harness your valuable talent. Are you ready to attract your next mentor?

The Career Goddess Academy caught up with 11 industry leaders who were able to provide valuable feedback to help you in your mentor search.

“What is your best tip for finding a mentor?”

Vladimir Gendelman at Company Folders

When you’re looking for a mentor, it’s not a good idea to just do a Google search and randomly message people that you think align with your goals.

Contacting strangers is the wrong approach; instead, network and form connections within your industry. Don’t just ask them to mentor you right away. Get involved with their work; ask questions and offer support wherever you can. Demonstrate that you’re a person who is personally invested in the type of work they’re doing.

After you’ve had a chance to meet with the person, decide if you truly want to go forward with the relationship. If so, follow up with them. You still shouldn’t bust out with “will you be my mentor?” Instead, let the relationship evolve in an organic way.

Remember that any successful mentorship needs to be a two way street. If you approach everything from the perspective of what they can do for you, the relationship won’t last long. Ask your mentor how you can help them, even if it’s as simple as listening to what they have to say and sharing your feedback.”

Tim Denning at Addicted2Success

The best advice I can give for finding a mentor is to track down someone that has the life, business or success that you would like to have. If this person is high profile, don’t have the mindset to think you can’t contact them. The reality is you can get hold of anyone including Tom Cruise if you try hard enough.

The key is to aim high and not settle for someone who is only partly successful in your mind. Find someone who not only has your ideal life but that also inspires you. By inspiration, I mean that they will not only help to motivate you, but will also push you hard and not let you settle for second best.

Aim to catch up with this mentor at least once a month and ideally once a week. Be respectful of their time and try to time block meetings with them to no more than 45 minutes. To gain further leverage, see if there is anything that you can assist them with in return for them mentoring you.

By following these steps you should be able to attract a world class mentor to work with.

Liam Austin at Small Today

I’ve been lucky enough to have a few mentors in my life and I can tell you that mentors have helped me avoid $1,000s in mistakes and saved me hundreds of hours by pointing me in the right direction.

If you want to be successful, I believe you need to surround yourself with people who have the experience and expertise to get you where you want to go. Someone that has done what you want to do, who has arrived where you want to go.

Nothing compares to having an A player on your team who has experienced the pain of mistakes and help you avoid them.

To find the right mentors for you, you need to know your end goal and what you want to achieve. Then find someone who has already achieved that goal. Try and get an introduction or referral so that you come to them from a person they trust. This will help facilitate your meeting and ultimately make it easier for you to approach them as your mentor.

Before you ask them to be your mentor officially, build a relationship with that person. See if they are willing to answer your questions, and help you. If you get along and their advice is sound, over time you can more formally ask them to be your mentor.

Jeff Goins at Goins Writer

The best way to find a mentor is not to ask somebody to be your mentor. It’s recognizing the people already in your life and learning from them. Then, reach out to other people and try to befriend them. Learn from them without formalizing it with the title of “mentorship.” Keep it casual, low-pressure and you’ll learn a lot more.

Jeff Goins is an American author, blogger, and speaker. He is the founder of Tribe Writers, an online community for writers. If you’re seeking a career as an author or blogger, it’s important to associate with others who have done what you aspire to do.

Michelle Colon-Johnson at 2 Dream Productions,Inc.

At the end of the 20th Century, the term “Mentor” began to shift in definition. As technology began to advance, the younger generation began to step into those roles that were once only filled by the older generation. The modernized mentor role is now defined: as to teach or give advice or guidance to (someone, such as a less experienced person or a child). Age and monetary compensation are no longer questioned. As our society grows people are placing more monetary value on their time, and those wishing to be mentored do not seem to have a problem with the age or monetary factor.

For those looking to find a mentor, you want a mentor that encourages you to be persistent in your desires and passion.

Here are 3 things you should seek:

1. Find someone that is able to provide you with the answers that your are currently seeking in your life

2. Make sure they hold you accountable for your goals and actions.

3. The most important thing is to find someone whose voice inspires you.

If someone’s voice does not inspire you– the mentorship will not work. Their voice should light a fire under you to achieve all the things your soul is searching for.

Andrea Beltrami at The Branded Solopreneur

My best tip for finding a mentor is to scour the web looking for someone who is:

➽ Doing what you want

➽ In a way you love

➽ With a voice that resonates for you

➽ Who is getting the results you’re looking for {huge list, selling e-courses, monetizing a service, etc}

While you’re scouring, search for keywords that are applicable to your brand and business model. For instance, if you’re a blogger looking to sell e-courses, search Google for ‘Blogging E-Courses. Dive into the results, visit their website, read their blog, and decide if that’s the right mentor for you. Rinse and repeat until you find THE ONE.

Once you find this person you should subscribe to their list, engage with the content on their website, social media, and any groups they run. You want to devour everything they’ve done and how they’ve done it, then you want to implement those same things in your biz.

It’s really about modeling. The best mentor for you will be incredibly aligned with the vision you have for your brand, which will make it easier to figure out what you need and how to make that happen.

The more you engage with your mentor the better chance you have of them remembering who you are. The more they know who you are the easier it will be to build a real relationship with them.

Lastly, if this person has any coaching or mentoring services, invest in them. You already know they understand what you’re trying to do, AND you already know they’ve already done just that, so let them show you how it’s done on a 1:1 basis.

Mentors will slice HUGE amounts of time off your learning curve, making it easier to get shit done. Make sure you find the right mentor and that you do every damn thing your mentor teaches you. Here’s to your kicking ass and taking names, status!

Eric Butts at Never Less Than Success

Look for someone who others respect and is close to the work that you do. This accomplishes a couple of things. First, it gives you comfort your mentor can speak knowledgeably about the value you add. Second, you know your mentor will have the credibility to get others to lean in and listen when that person talks you up.

With respect to building the relationship, it takes time but one way you can do it is to ask to interview them. People love talking about themselves and you look like a real go-getter by taking this initiative.

Another approach that works is volunteering for something your potential mentor is leading. If that person is looking for volunteers for a special work project, raise your hand. If they’re leading a fundraiser, especially if the cause is relevant to you personally, you need to be right there with them.

Above all else, you need to be genuine. Trying to find a mentor in someone you don’t connect with on a personal level would be ill-advised.

Tor Refsland at Time Management Chef

When it comes to finding a mentor it´s not only important to find someone who has already done what you want to achieve. But also someone who is actually still walking his / her talk.

If your goal is to lose weight, you shouldn´t seek out a person who was able to lose a lot of weight 20 years ago, but today looks like the Michelin man.

They say that you should not take health tips from a fat person, and you should not take wealth tips from a poor person.

You might not need to be a rocket scientist to understand that. However, what´s also equally important is that you find a mentor that has good ethical values, cares about the people around him / her and cares about his / her family.

Why?

Because once you start having relationship with a mentor, everything will rub off on you, even though you might not notice it at once.

This goes for their ethical values, their way of dressing, their way of speaking, their way of strategic thinking and their way of caring for other people.

So be sure to choose wisely.

Heidi Hill at Life In Full Bloom

When searching for a mentor, it is important to understand that a mentor/mentee relationship is a two way street. When finding the right mentor, try to ask the person what they are looking for in the mentor relationship and if there is anything you can offer in return.

In many cases the mentor will simply enjoy being a mentor as a way to give back. However, as a mentee, you also have things to offer that you may not realize. Be curious and don’t make assumptions. Being able to reciprocate in the relationship could make the relationship even more fruitful.

Then, make sure it is clear to both you and the mentor, what you are hoping to get out of the relationship. Having clear objectives, from both participants, will make the relationship a positive experience for both of you.

Georgene Huang at Fairygodboss

I believe most people will try to find mentors who are “like” them — whether that’s someone that looks like you, acts like you, or has something in common with you. There’s nothing wrong with that, but my advice is to go against the grain and find someone quite different from you. I believe a great mentor should have a different perspective than you on the world and life. That’s his or her value-add. Whether you realize them or have fully developed them, you already have your own strengths and nobody can take that away from you. Therefore, I believe that finding a mentor means finding someone who really sees your strengths and appreciates them — which often times is someone who actually has very different strengths and weaknesses.

Sue Dunlevie at Successful Blogging

I have always recommended that you look for a mentor either right where you are or online.

If you run a local business or have a corporate career, check out people at your work or in your local community. As you network, see what personality traits and business skills you see in the leaders around you. If one or two gel with your values, ask them if they have the time to mentor you.

Online, I recommend finding mentors by reading their blogs and taking one of their smaller programs. You will get to know the leader very well by spending 4-12 weeks with them in a course and then you’ll be able to decide if you want to approach them about mentorship.

“A mentor empowers a person to envision a future that is greater than what they currently see and gives them guidance that leads them to unlocking hidden potential. ” – Charlene Rhinehart

What is your best tip for finding a mentor? What tips will you use in order to attract your next mentor? Please comment and share below.