How to Build a Successful Mentoring Program Mentoring Org Form

HOW I GOT TIM FERRISS, JAMES ALTUCHER, AND PAT FLYNN TO BE MY MENTORSHaving mentors is a game changer. People can confuse “mentors” to mean learning from some old guy who speaks only in proverbs. Mentors can be anyone who has been in similar shoes before, gained experience, and can help you on your journey. Roy H. Williams had a great quote;“A smart man makes a mistake, learns from it, and never makes that mistake again. But a wise man finds a smart man and learns from him how to avoid the mistake altogether.”This is the question that I’ve been trying to solve for the last three years. To my luck, I’m extremely grateful to have successful entrepreneurs like James Altucher, Tim Ferriss, and Pat Flynn as some of my mentors.What’s my secret? Simple. I read their books. I listen to their podcasts. I consume their work.Another illusion about mentorship is that the “mentor” has to be right by the “mentee” holding their hand. But if a mentor is someone who has been in similar shoes and is willing to help you out, aren’t books and podcasts technically a form of “mentorship”?Take James Altucher as an example. He is a famous investor, author, and entrepreneur most known for his authentic writing style. James has over 20+ years of experience over me in areas like business, writing, and life. I’ve consumed a signNow amount of James Altucher’s work including his most recent book, The Choose Yourself Guide To WealthThat book single handedly inspired me to develop a daily practice and improve myself in four main areas of my life: Emotionally, Physically, Mentally, and Spiritually. James’ Podcast Episode 21 titled, College Is A Scam, was the tipping point for me to drop out of school. Ep. 23 with Steve Scott, an author of over 40 e-books, sparked my interest to write my first book which is up on Amazon right now! Ep. 90 with Jack Canfield, co-author of Chicken Soup for the Soul, helped me reflect on my life identify what I truly wanted in life.When a prolific author writes a book (or appears on a podcast) and distills their knowledge into a condensed piece of art, it’s time to pay attention! I would even argue a few life-changing books would be more useful than an entire year of college classes. My favorites are:a) How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegieb) The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph by Ryan Holidayc) The Happiness of Pursuit: Finding the Quest That Will Bring Purpose to Your Life by Chris GuillebeauOn top of consuming their work, I took it a step further and started my own podcast. This gave me a chance to interview brilliant people every week including, Charlie Hoehn (Former Director of Special Projects for Tim Ferriss), Ryan Porter (Tech Entrepreneur & Youth Speaker), & Dave Fontenot (Hackathon Leader).You can learn ANYTHING from the BEST people in the industry for less than the cost of your next lunch at Chipotle. Podcasts are free (including starting your own). YouTube is free. Quora, Reddit, or any blog on the internet is free. Online college courses are free! Scott Young got an MIT education at the comfort of his own home. He also made a bunch of MIT students incredibly envious from the amount of money and time he saved. Books are dirt cheap, especially on Kindle. Online Courses are embarrassingly affordable (most are free). Make the world your classroom and keep track of your learning with Degreed!To say that James Altucher and other mentors had a big impact on me is a huge understatement. Although I never met James, Tim Ferriss, or Pat Flynn in person, their mentorship has been one of the biggest factors in accelerating my learning.If you want to have your own high-class mentors, start with these three basic steps:1. Go find 3 people in your space that you admire and want to learn from2. Consume their work: Books, Podcasts (See if they have been interviewed on other podcasts), Courses, Blogs, Video.3. Use their advice and take ACTIONBonus step: Send your new mentors an email telling them how much they have changed your life. They will seriously appreciate you, trust me.

Your question unfortunately does not give any idea of what you want a mentor for.Mentors provide assistance and support in almost every sphere of life, not only business, so the where and how you find the right mentor will very much depend on what expertise you need.For the purpose of my response I will assume it is business related but if not please don’t hesitate to let me know.The first question you need to answer is whether it is a mentor or a coach you need. There are distinct differences.A mentor usually is involved in developmental process, either for the individual or for the business. They can be used over a period of time and quite often long term relationships develop. I am still using a mentor I first used 16 years ago. I currently mentor several entrepreneurs who have been with me for 5 or more years. Mentors don’t usually charge for their services.A coach tends to focus on a strategic issue that has a start and end date - much like a project. They also tend to charge for their services.How to find mentorsMentors are all around us and are often every day folks who have a specific expertise that they are willing to share with those of us in need of guidance or tuition.They can friends, family members, colleagues or ex-colleagues, educationalists, business leaders, community leaders or local business owners, as examples.My recommendation is that you first try and identify one or more prospects that are local to you. The reason for this is that they will have knowledge and experience in the market environment that you operate in or intend to operate in.Here are some suggestions to find them:Contact your local Chamber of Business and explain what you are looking for and ask for recommendations. There are often business owners and leaders who are listed as mentors with these types of institutions.Join local Industry Forums and use the same approach.Join sites such as Entrepreneur, All Business Experts, Forbes, Huffington Post and other similar sites which publish articles by “experts” in their fields. There are many articles written by mentors and you will be able to make contact.There are companies that advertise mentoring but I have found they tend to focus on intra-company mentoring programmes, i.e. manager mentoring subordinate.If you already have high profile individuals in mind as a possible mentor, join their sites and begin to interact.However you choose to find your mentor the best approach is to make contact, interact over a period of time, build up trust and when you feel the opportune moment has arrived, broach the question regarding mentorship.MentorshipRemember that a mentor relationship is a two way arrangement, both parties give and receive, obviously the mentee is the bigger recipient.The relationship has to be built on mutual trustThe mentee must understand that constructive criticism may be part of the learning process so he or she needs to learn to deal with it in a mature way quicklyMentorships can last as long as both parties need but don’t be afraid to terminate the relationship when your goals have been achieved.My experienceI have been mentored my entire working career and still use mentors. Over the last 6 years I have been mentoring home and small business start-up entrepreneurs and as I have mentioned I am still working with some of my first mentees.Much has been learned and I have shared these experiences in en eBook titled “How to be Mentored - a Guide for Home and Small Business owners. You can get an overview of the contents HEREHope this helps you but please do not hesitate to contact me should you have further questions.

Not really mentoring... I believe that mentoring is based on an innate want to help others improve themselves and a way for us to share our knowledge and experience.It all depends on the type of people you are interviewing, if the interviews had value to me and could demonstrate that to me before I opened my wallet then I might consider it, they would need to be in an audio format though ideally as I don't have time to read interviews...

I'll some information about you before I can answer.  What your background is, where you work, what location on the planet you inhabit, and your career goals would be most helpful.If you have a LinkedIn profile, I can start with that.  There were lots of "Nancy Dai" search results on there.  I suspect you are Xin Dai of Palram Americas, but it would be better to know for sure.

Hello!What a fantastic question. Start with your Dean or Principal and let them know you want to start a Peer mentoring program. My recommendation is to ask your favorite teacher to help structure what the program would be. Is this for a college or high school? Let me know and we can take it from there.

Here's my advice based on working on Women 2.0's various programs and being a mentor for many years with MentorNet.EXPLAIN WHAT MENTORING IS AND IS NOTMany potential mentors and mentees have assumptions about what they're looking for in this relationship. Some mentors are looking to create mini versions of themselves without regard for the mentee's goals. Some mentees are looking for free therapy or a replacement parent. Clearly define what mentoring is in your organization and train both sides on what to expect and how to execute it. You'll find some mentees are expecting a 2-hour lunch every week and you'll need to scale that expectation way back.ENCOURAGE THE INITIAL MEETING IS "IN PERSON"Relationships are hard. Relationships created over the phone or over email only are even harder. I think both people are more likely to stick with their mentoring relationship if they build some rapport in person. If that's not possible, try a video chat.CREATE A MENTORING STRUCTURESo a lot of participants may have no idea what to discuss. Partner with an organization like MentorNet or create your own curriculum. MentorNet is based around a 9 month commitment and there is a topic suggestion each month. The mentor and the mentee receive an email with directions on what to discuss, which is a great jumping off point.CREATE AN ACCOUNTABILITY STRUCTUREMentoring sounds great before deadlines loom and the holidays smack us in the face. You need to create a structure that holds both sides accountable for participating and rewards that participation. This has been the failure point of every program I've come in touch with. How do you make sure mentoring doesn't fall to the bottom of an unending list?TRY SPEED MENTORINGIf this is starting to sound like a lot of freaking work (because it is), you might want to test with a speed mentoring event. I've done these one-on-one, similar to speed dating, and at round tables with one mentor and several potential mentees per table. The idea is to make the first introduction between potential mentoring partners and then leave it to them to take next steps if they find the conversation mutually beneficial.

Finding a mentor who has founded a successful tech company will very likely be a difficult journey. However, it's not an impossible task. Before we get to the "hows", it's important that you keep a few things in mind before you start your search:Most of the people who are founders of successful technology companies , that still work and own those companies, will very often not have time to mentor strangers. Clark Benson, the CEO of Ranker has been quoted saying, "the only people I have time to mentor are employees". The reality is that they are likely working 50-60+ hour weeks, and will not have the time to mentor people outside of the realm of people they need to grow for their business's sake. Your best bet if you're absolutely set on finding a successful tech company founder, is to set your sights on individuals who have just sold their companies. They'll probably have a little bit more time on their hands.The best mentorship relationships will develop out of a personal relationship.  Sheryl Sandburg has famously said, "If someone has to ask the question, the answer is probably no. When someone finds the right mentor, it is obvious." You won't be able to just walk up to someone and ask for their mentorship; it's going to be a long term engagement where trust and interest should be built. With those bits of advice in mind, I would advise that you try the following in order to start building connections and relationships:Start attending meetups and networking events . Meetup.com is a website that you can browse to find tech related events to attend. 2. If there are specific people you want to engage with, determine if they have a Twitter account, and start interacting with them there. It's a great space to see what they're up to, where they'll be, and to build an internet based relationship with them (which can lead to an in-person one if you play your cards right). Don't be shy about tweeting at them!3. Attend panels where tech CEOs and Executives are speaking. Those events will usually have a networking portion at their conclusion. It's a great way to get on someone's radar. Then you can have more meaningful interactions via twitter, linkedin, etc. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------For more information on mentorship, please feel to check out my blog.  I think you'll find my blog on "qualities you should look for in a mentor" to be particularly helpful: Qualities to Look For in a Mentor - marcbombenon.orgGood luck!

Not really. The problem is that there really isn’t any mentoring involved. There is building an app. You can go buy training. Go buy my videos. Go buy my books. Go read my columns on software development.My experience based on multiple experiences with startups is that technical people don’t believe in software architecture. If it works out, then great, but there really isn’t a lot of thought involving in writing software. Startups are a one time shot. They don’t tend to listen. Lots of things have to come together for these things to work right. There is no architecture in startups. There is no mentoring. They just build. If it works, then great. Otherwise, the startup closes down. There just isn’t the money there to do it again a different way and they wouldn’t listen anyway.If you want me to build it, I’ll do that. I’ll tell you what you have to do. If you won’t do it, I’ll fire you. I’m not coming in to tell you what to do, and then listen to the excuses of why you can’t do it.