Cultivate Good Mentors

"Successful people don't earn more, then invest. They invest so they can earn more." - Erin Hatzikostas, You Do You(ish): Unleash Your Authentic Superpowers to Get the Career You Deserve

Successful investing isn't just about acquiring monetary assets such as stocks, bonds or real estate. A key asset that you should think about is yourself: how do you maximize your human capital? The money you earn provides the foundation for your finances and generates the resources to acquire monetary assets. Increasing your lifetime earnings, especially when you are young, should be a cornerstone of your investing strategy.

One way to increase your human capital is through mentorship. Finding good mentors and working with them is a great way to invest in your growth, both on a personal level and within your career.

What is a mentor?

"A mentor is someone who acts as an advisor to a less experienced individual, known as their mentee. Developing this relationship can help both of you learn new things, build your networks and grow as professionals." (24 Reasons Why Mentorship Is Important for Mentee and Mentor, Indeed.Com). As mentioned in the linked article, which I definitely urge you to read, a mentor is an advisor who helps their mentees learn and grow as professionals. They are typically people who are more experienced in the mentee's field and have achieved both success as well as built a meaningful network. They support their mentees by advising them, supporting them in building relevant skills and helping them grow their networks.

How does mentorship work?

A good mentor / mentee relationship is tailored to the mentee's needs. Mentors and mentees meet on a standing basis, such as monthly. They jointly set goals which accelerate growth in the mentee's and then use ongoing meetings to monitor progress against those goals. If the mentee needs support to achieve those goals, the mentor can serve as a source of knowledge or introduce the mentee to someone in their network who can help build the necessary skills. Mentors also serve as sounding boards for new ideas or initiatives that the mentee would like to undertake. As individual goals are reached, the mentor and mentee agree newer ones which are more complex or build upon the goals already achieved. Over time, this iterative process supports the mentee with their ongoing career and personal growth.

Working with a mentor

Bring a mentor requires a lot of time and personal engagement. Those who serve as mentors do so as a way to give back to the community and support those who come after them - mentors are typically unpaid so they're certainly not doing it for the money. As such, when you work with a mentor, please show them the respect and appreciation that they deserve. Make a real effort to prepare for and engage in all the meetings that you have scheduled. When you agree a plan or any next steps, devote the appropriate amount of time and energy to properly follow up on them. Also, make sure to express your appreciation to your mentor. 

Mentorship isn't just a one-way street though. Mentors benefit by building on their leadership skills, they often learn from their mentees, and they can also increase their personal networks through introductions from their mentee. Whenever possible to provide any of these benefits to your mentor, do so.

This completes today's post on cultivating good mentors. The practical steps you can start taking from today's post are:

• Conduct a personal skills and resources audit: Determine where you have gaps in your range of skills and resources. Get input from friends, classmates and work colleagues to make sure you have a holistic and complete view of your range
• Identify people who can be relevant mentors: Do some research and find more senior people at work or professors at school who are deeply involved in areas where you need to supplement your skills and resources
• Reach out in prioritized order to relevant people and ask if they would be willing to be your mentor: Reach out with a personalized note to potential mentors. Let them know why you admire them, why you feel that they would be a good mentor and what you can provide in return. While asking someone to make the time to be your mentor is hard to do, you will be amazed at how many people are willing to say yes. Make sure to reach out one-by-one in a prioritized order as you want at most one or two mentors at a time
• Commit to being a good mentee: make the time to meet periodically with the mentor and follow up on the items you've discussed. Be sure to show your appreciation. Also, make sure to provide benefit back to them

Thank you again for joining me on my journey to build financial literacy for young adults and their families. If you are interested in reading more of my posts, please access my author page (https://vocal.media/authors/sudhir-sahay) where you can see all the posts I’ve published. If you have any questions on today’s post of if there are any topics you’re interested in my broaching in future posts, please let me know. I can be reached at [email protected].