What are the mistakes to avoid when looking for a mentor.?

Mentoring relationships most often form naturally, between friends, between colleagues, or between professors and students. Sometimes it is the mentor who detects potential in the person who wishes to be mentored and decides to help them develop their talent by offering support and advice. Other times, it is the person who wants to be mentored who must proactively seek to benefit from the mentor’s experience and advice.

Moreover, even without connections, you can still find a mentor through networking and cold contact techniques.

But to find the right mentor, there are a few mistakes to avoid:

Don’t choose your mentor just because they’re successful. This factor is important, but if you don’t feel any intellectual or emotional connection with this person, they’re probably not the one to bet on.

A good mentor for one is not necessarily a good mentor for all. Choose according to your feelings and your vision of entrepreneurship which must be common to you, not simply because the mentor in question has done a good job with other entrepreneurs before you.

How to find a mentor?

Sending cold emails can be very useful for networking, building partnerships, and growing your business. The technique can also be effective for tapping into the experience of a potential mentor you don’t know personally.

We present a model of message that can be sent cold; adapt it according to your preferences. The model is derived from cold emails that had a good response rate.

I discovered your profile on (Platform where you found the profile of the potential mentor) while I was researching about (Area you are interested in). I was truly inspired by your (List of the potential mentor’s most notable experiences).

I’m in the process of (Talk about your own goals and your approach to achieving them), and would love to learn more about how (Talk about accomplishments that have interested you in the potential mentor’s journey).

If you have a little time this week, even 15 minutes to chat on Skype or over coffee, I would be truly honored to benefit from your advice.

I wish you a great week!

Ideally, you should try to talk one-on-one with the potential mentor—whether in person or through a Skype video call/Google Hangout—to build a better connection with them and show that you really want to succeed.

Keep in mind that these potential mentors, due to their success, are in high demand and are often inundated with emails. So be as flexible and accommodating as possible.

Here are some tips for starting a conversation with a potential mentor:

In any case, make sure that you can be yourself with your potential mentor above all else. A lasting mentoring relationship must be built on solid foundations of friendship, transparency, and a mutual interest in a particular field.

Nurture your relationship with a mentor

Prefer mentoring opportunities where friendship, transparency, and mutual respect can coexist even if there is a big gap in experience between you and your mentor.

ful conclusions. It’s a dance, a partnership. A mentor should not give the answers, they should raise questions and encourage the people they mentor to answer them for themselves. »