 Are you an entrepreneur looking for a mentor? We're going to talk about how to find one here on the journey. So venturing into a new career field can be really exciting but also kind of intimidating at the same time. Yeah because you don't have much experience and you may feel a little awkward. For instance, Alex did you know I have a degree in chemistry? I did not know that. I do but I'm now in front of the camera talking to you. It's been very important for me to look at others who are doing what I'm doing now before I did it to see what they did and the tips and tricks that they suggest in order to you know come across natural and make sure that people are engaged when they're speaking on camera. So first let's lay out the framework of what exactly is a mentor. Is this just a friend or someone nice to you at work? Now it could be. In addition, a mentor is someone that has the experience and the feel that you're interested in. And there's a big difference between a mentor and a consultant. You know a consultant is someone who's charging you fees for this. A mentor isn't that. It's just someone to help you out. Yeah someone that honestly they've made some success in their career and they want to give back into someone else because nine times out of ten successful people in whatever industry they had someone who mentored them as well. So when you're looking for a mentor there are a few key qualities that you should probably look out for. So first are they successful right? So it may be nice to talk with someone who's just starting out as well but that's not really going to benefit you. So find someone of course it's kind of the obvious but who's successful in that field. Number two, someone who's friendly right? Someone who you know it wants to actually help you out. Exactly. Also you want someone passionate. You know they really are loving what they're doing and that will actually show in how they're willing to help you to do what they're doing. Also availability. You want to be able to talk to this person. They don't have to be you know available 24-7 but they have to have some time maybe once a week to you know connect with you so that you can actually get that quality time with them. Yeah if that person is constantly stressed and has their calendar fully booked all the time it may not be a great relationship for them or for you because it's just gonna be a hassle to their day-to-day schedule. So once you know what qualities to look for in a mentor it's time to start actually finding that mentor. Here are a few places to start your search. First place, your workplace. Now if your workplace has an employee resource group that could be a great place to find a mentor. For instance, GoDaddy we have multiple employee resource groups like black in technology, women in technology, entrepreneurs in technology in which I really appreciate about GoDaddy because they really empower their employees to have their own side hustles to really make our own way and they show it in actually having that resource group to encourage them to build a community and share resources and tips and tricks on how to continue to further along in that entrepreneurial journey. The next place you can look for a mentor is online. There are tons of networks and resources you don't just have to think about finding a mentor at your workplace you know the worldwide web. Yes the internet really has broken down a lot of barriers that we once had without it even for instance I'm part of Veterati. It's an online network where members of the military community whether it be veterans service members or military spouses can come and get a free one-hour mentorship call from someone that is well versed and experienced in whatever they need that mentee needs some help with. So if you want to start your own business and you fall into that category check out Veterati the link to it will be in the description below. So the next place where you can find a mentor networking events you can find local meetups on many different topics and industries you just figure out which one works best for you and you can meet people with face-to-face interaction. Yeah all you have to do is sign up and then you go and attend these networking events and you meet all these really great connections to help y'all in that industry. The next resource to keep in mind is of course LinkedIn and LinkedIn groups. I mean it's literally created to connect professionals and I know Sam you're on LinkedIn all the time you're an expert. Well I appreciate that and also when you think about LinkedIn don't forget to look at each profile very closely there's certain sections the about section the experience section and then also the volunteer section. If a potential mentor for you mentions anything about mentorship in one of those three sections that could be an indicator strong one at least that they are willing to mentor you. Sam I need you to mentor me in how to use LinkedIn. I can cover that. All right so the next place that you can find a mentor volunteer events oftentimes those that are successful they want to give back so they'll spend time volunteering and making sure that they can give some of their knowledge that they've learned over the years. Yeah so once you start attending regularly you can start to talk with other regulars and connect and grow your network. So last but not least think about your community. Now we talked about your workplace we talked about online maybe where you live or your gym think about outside the box where you're interacting with other people these are great places that you can potentially find a mentor. So the best way to accelerate your career or your business is to find a really great mentor who's not only going to encourage you but also challenge you to grow both professionally and personally. Exactly so use the tips that we talked about in this video here to make sure that you find the mentor that's good for you. Thanks for watching be sure to like this video and leave a comment down below. Make sure you subscribe to our channel and ring the bell so you're notified when we have fresh content coming out. This is The Journey. Thanks for watching.