Benefits of Building Your Mentor Network

There are a number of ways to learn in the world. You can buy books, attend seminars/conferences/events, take classes, read articles, participate in on-the-job training, and much more. With all of these methods, one essentially learns from somebody who has more experience than you. One often under appreciated method is mentorship.

Benefits of Mentorship

1. Introductions. Build a relationship with an individual where you can not only get knowledge, but introductions to other people.

2. Customized Knowledge. As opposed to a book or school where the curriculum is controlled, you can ask specific questions that are of interest to you or get feedback on your goals and strategies.

3. Understand the Individual. Research shows that 7% of communication is what you say, and that the other percent is how you say it. Having phone and one-on-one contact with mentors can provide valuable contextual information that helps you determine that validity of their knowledge.

4. Letters of Recommendation. As you build a relationship with the individual, you can ask them for recommendations to scholarships, schools, and jobs. Sometimes this can even go farther to an actual call if the individual personally knows individuals in the organization you're applying to.

5. Free Food. Although you should always offer to pay when you take a mentor out to lunch, 95% of the time they will pay. This beats paying thousands of dollars for one class at a university.

6. It's Easy. You'd be extremely surprised at how easy it is to set up a mentor meeting with individuals, even when you're cold calling. Many people are extremely willing to help ambitious, hard-working young people. Read my article, "Use Your Youth To Your Advantage" for more information on this.