Mentors of this sub, what makes a mentee worth your time? What qualities, actions, or attitudes make you think, "This person is someone I want to invest in?
Besides feeling good, what's the real payoff for you in mentoring someone? What kind of value do you expect in exchange?
In your experience, what's the biggest roadblock people face when trying to find a mentor and how can they overcome it?
Mentors, what makes a mentee worth your time?
byu/infofilms inEntrepreneur
Posted by infofilms
2 Comments
Show that you invest and commit more in yourself than I do. Don’t expect me to solve your problems, just give guidance and intros but you have to the work. Show that you’ve already done something on your own, built a skillset, built relevant experience etc. basically all that you could easily done yourself. Mentors are great if you hit a wall, or are ready to grow but not if you can’t even do the most basic things on your own.
Most just want to be rich without the work and sidestep the necessary tedious steps. No interest in those.
One person wanted a publisher to hire them to translate their books into his native language. There were quite a few suggestions on approach.
I was the only one who suggested he produce one perfectly translated chapter to the publisher with the pitch explaining why this is an opportunity for the publisher. In other words, the very idea of what a mentor is has radically changed…
[Any Millionaire out there, Wanna Adopt Me?](https://www.reddit.com/r/Entrepreneur/comments/xsng94/any_millionaire_out_there_wanna_adopt_me/iqlg9va/?context=3)
[Hey self-made millionaire, Can you adopt me?](https://www.reddit.com/r/Entrepreneur/comments/14661c9/hey_selfmade_millionaire_can_you_adopt_me/)
Many post here. They claim to be motivated. They claim to be problem solvers. They claim to be fast learners. Others claim to think outside-the-box. Not one of them can claim to have put forth the infinitesimal effort of a search query nor do they ask a question about one free online article they tried to understand.
I’m sure potential mentors differ widely about who they judge to be worth investing their time in. Tilting your head back and waiting for it to rain soup might be a common disqualifier most can agree on.
This sense of narcissistic entitlement coupled with crippling neediness might not be as wonderful a qualification as it sounded in their fool heads. One reason why it is extremely rare to see a mentor post here.
Supply exceeds demand by a staggering margin. And it is for the same reason people who never learned about a customer launches their product to the sound of crickets. It’s the same reason investors turn down those entitled bastards who actually believe they are doing an investor a favor by *allowing them* to fund their venture.
Flagrant incompetence and intense self-interest to the point of singularity just isn’t that attractive. People don’t want to cut your food for you. They certainly don’t want to chew.
Cluelessness about this state of affairs really isn’t as endearing as when these guys were infants. The cute wore off a long time ago.