Building a Relationship with a Mentor

[Marcus Ramsey]

Hello!

My name is Marcus Ramsey and i am 20 years old. I am currently working on a internet start up company. I recently decided to get a mentor to help me along the road to success. I recently got ahold of a man who i think would fit perfectly as my mentor. His name is Mr Fontana and he is a lawyer and businessman who has had success at creating law application software. He has everything I've ever wanted, and i believe i could learn a lot from him. Im meeting Mr Fontana in two weeks and i am looking for advice from people on this forum, hopefully a couple successful people as well. But what i am wondering is, how to I build a great relationship with this man. What are some things that would impress you if you were him? should i just come right out and say " i admire your work and i would love to learn from you, will you be my mentor?" I need some help,I've never talked to too many rich people, let alone try to get them to believe in me and help me become like them. Also at what point should i discuss my internet company project? its really promising, I have a team behind me! first time thats ever happened in my life. I cant wait to hear from you guys!

thank you.

 

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[1step]

What value can you provide him?

James Altucher talked about how when he wanted to get infront of people and develop a relationship with them he would provide them with ideas that they could implement in their business to be more successful. Heres a video where he talks about a lot of quality topics, im sure they could help you in this situation

Choose Yourself: What James Altucher Can Teach You About Starting A Business - YouTube

So, what value can you provide him? If you were in his shoes what would you want?

Search the forum for other threads, there are a couple that address this issue.

If you stop thinking about it in terms of what you want to gain and start seeing it from the other side you will likely do much better.

Good luck

 

[Marcus Ramsey]

thank you 1step i love the video! and your profile picture!

 

[hughjasle]

just come right out and say " i admire your work and i would love to learn from you

A bit of honest brown nosing has never hurt me. All my mentors seem to greatly appreciate it. Who doesn't like to be admired!? It's an ego play, but rightly so. He has done something incredible and you are admiring him for that.

With that said, nobody likes a suck up. As 1step said, what can you give him? For some guys who get requests daily to be mentors they want to see something big (equity in a company or even money). I try and steer clear of guys who request something from me in exchange for 'their opinion' of things.

I can only speak for myself in that I offer my mentors a part of whatever I am doing that I am seeking advice on, they smile and never take the offer. However, I also take time talking to them about their businesses and deals and any help I can be for them I offer it FOR FREE. I give them ideas, sales leads, etc. It has to be a mutual relationship or it wont last. I noticed that James Altucher mentioned giving ideas away to businesses for free while looking for a job - I do the same thing, but for mentors. Works for me.

Good luck!

 

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[Sir Ingenious]

Time = Money

1. Invest in yourself first to make yourself credible. At this point, your "mentor" is a "hero" instead. At this stage, make anything or something awesome that demonstrates your magic.

2. With the skillset you've received or improved in doing above, suggest 10 things that you could offer to your future mentor that will make his business or life better.

3. OR offer to pay your mentor some money, simply just to meet and chat. Preferably at HIS turf.

If I loved Seth Godin so much and wanted 2 hours with him, I would locate him, suggest to pay him $X per hour (it's going to be expensive, judging accordingly how "big" he is) and to meet where HE'S at. It's a lot of effort from you and low effort for him as possible. You can even combine this with #2, as to paying him $X for his time and to suggest 10 things for him.

If I were to get a phone call from a guy, who's very credible because he made stuff happen on his own, that wants to pay me $X per hour for my time and suggest 10 things to help my business, I would agree.

Be brief, direct and polite when speaking with this guy. And VERY giving.

Good luck.

 

[liquidglass]

A little flattery (honest of course) will get you a little time with your preferred mentor. But adding value to them will incline them to add value to you. Wealthy and successful people always have people wanting to "take" something from them. When you ask for nothing but advice/time during and after adding value they will see it as an exchange of equals instead of you being another taker.

MJ for example as well as other members of this board offer their advice and opinions freely without asking anything in return. They see it as being able to help someone that is working their way to the top. But spending any time with someone like MJ or the like and they'd prefer you to be able to provide some value.

If you look at other successful people when they talk about their mentors, they worked for their mentors sometimes without pay depending on the request. Just to have the opportunity to glen valuable information.

examples: Napoleon Hill, worked for 25 years for Andrew Carnegie without him paying him a single dime, but he gave him priceless introductions to the most powerful people of his time, why? Because Hill was willing to put in the work to grow and learn.

Jim Rohn, worked for 5 years for his mentor (until his mentors death) on commission only.

There are plenty of other examples as well.

Personally I have worked for my mentor for 5 years (working, negotiating deals, finding contracts), we're best friends now, sharing intimate details of our lives and consulting one another on business decisions. He's never paid me a dime. Any money I earned was money I went out an earned. Resulting in building a successful business. Without my willingness to add value to his life and his business I would never have gained his decades of experience and been able to integrate them into my own life.

Research heavily what he does and what he's done, then figure out how you can add value without saying two things 1) Please tell me what I can do for you! (he wants ideas not a beggar) and 2) Here's my opinion on how you should have done xyz.

Also just for a side note, something I had to overcome and I'd like to pass along to you. He's not RICH he's WEALTHY. Unless it's the persons preference to be called RICH saying it can come off as a slow laner gawking at his bank account.

 

[Mrs. BRKb]

If I were a prospective mentor, I would not want to see my name or mention of our meeting online. Hopefully you are not using real name/s?

 

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[Marcus Ramsey]

that was some great advice! i love the note at the end. thank you!

 

[Tlcalis]

This might be helpful
[video=youtube;LAo3yq1uAPo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAo3yq1uAPo[/video]

 

[AlexV]

If I were a prospective mentor, I would not want to see my name or mention of our meeting online. Hopefully you are not using real name/s?

He did use the real name. But you need to be a bit more specific in your search because Fontana means fountain in some languages and if you search Fontana+law you hit on some character from some TV-series.

 

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[Groupie]

Here is a pretty good article on mentors

Perfected Man Articles - Become a Mantor

 

[DeletedUser2]

be your energetic self.

good luck

Z

 

[DeletedUser2]

I like this Mentorship thread from James

http://techcrunch.com/2013/10/19/the-ultimate-cheat-sheet-for-reinventing-yourself/

 

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[benhebert]

I worked as the #1 of a startup that eventually became a multi-million dollar operation and appeared on the Shark Tank. My boss is now my mentor at my current company. There is nothing that compares to having someone experienced with you in your corner, but you have to go to war for them first. Go to war, earn your stripes and then ask for a mentor relationship. That's how you make it work.

 

[DeletedUser2]

yep. I require people I mentor to provide me some amazing value first.

Z