I Need a Mentor
I’m looking for a mentor. I’m Spanish and live in Barcelona. I write a Spanish blog aimed at a Spanish-speaking audience.
I don’t know what real chance I have asking someone I admire in the United States to mentor me. Should I ask popular people? I have some in mind who I would like as mentors, but I’m afraid they won’t even notice me because of their popularity. Should I look for more “normal” people?
Getting a mentor is really just asking someone a good question and getting an answer. If you get an answer, then show the person you took action, and then ask another question. You do this until the person remembers who you are. Then you ask more involved questions — first ask questions that are like the one you’re asking me — a good question but one that is fast for me to answer.
People don’t “sign up” to get a mentor. You don’t need to ask someone to be a mentor. You need to just start asking the person questions – via email. It doesn’t matter if they are in the US or not. And they don’t care if you blog is not in English or not in the US. If they can help you, they will want to.
I’ve spent a lot of time teaching myself how to get mentors, so I’ve written a lot about the process. Here are a few posts on the topic:
http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2007/04/17/how-to-ask-for-mentoring/
http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2006/11/26/to-get-good-mentoring-build-a-relationship/