Mentors show you what’s possible. They help get you where you want to go in your career and in life. And it’s not as hard to get one as you might think.
All you have to do is pick someone you admire, and do them a favor.
For example, one of my favorite writers had a bunch of spelling errors in his blog. I knew it wasn’t worth his time to fix. So I found all the errors in one of his articles and sent them to him. I said something like, "Hey, I love the blog. I noticed these typos and figured you might want to fix them." He was thankful and said he would pay me to edit his most popular blog posts too.
Just like that, I was working for one of my favorite writers. It was awesome. I got paid to read his blogs, which I would have done anyway.
When I finished the project, he said he'd let me know if he needed any help with his blog in the future. He hasn’t yet, and no, it hasn’t turned into a mentorship. But it might. I haven’t pursued it any further; I have other stuff going on and I’m sure he does too.
But this is huge. I will be one of the first people he considers if he needs help with his blog soon. All because I took the initiative and gave him an unsolicited gift.
People don’t understand how rare receiving a gift like this is, especially for popular writers, executives, podcasters, musicians, etc. It grabs their attention because most people try to take, take, take.
Plus, gifts are inherently powerful. People are designed to reciprocate a gift. Con men have taken advantage of this for centuries. Yet few people use it for good.
You might ask, "But what if he didn’t respond to your email?"
I would have found someone else.
There are many people doing cool and inspiring work. Find something–literally anything–that you can help them with. It could be small or big, maybe even just a helpful idea. Send it to them. Thank them for their continued inspiration, and let them know you would love to help if they need anything for an upcoming project. This is how mentorships or even full-time jobs begin.
Or just do whatever you want to do by yourself. You don’t need a mentor. You probably already know what your mentor would tell you to do anyway. Write out the problem you are having. Think about how your mentor would solve it. The next steps will be clear. You don’t need permission. Just do it.