Mentorship Letter

**Mr Nice Guy** · 03-04-2012, 05:42 PM

Thats a really good idea actually. Takes balls of steel to just ask a random person to mentor you though. Good luck and keep us posted.

**snafu** · 03-04-2012, 09:37 PM

mrb: Do you expect these folks to feel flattered or annoyed by your request? People are so busy with so many demands on their time you may be disappointed by the reaction. Have you considered attending the early AM networking meetings for your profession?

**jteezie** · 03-04-2012, 10:38 PM

You better do your research and learn everything you can about the person before approaching them, otherwise they'll call the cops on you. You need to be able to articulate exactly why you chose them, not just because they're successful so they should help you. Imagine if you were in their shoes.

**bjl584** · 03-05-2012, 08:18 AM

All may not be what it seems. Just because you see people living in big houses and driving fancy cars doesn't mean that they are doing well.

You would be better served heading to the library and picking up a few books on personal financial management and investing.

**snshijuptr** · 03-05-2012, 08:39 AM

You might be better served by setting up informational interviews with people who are professionally successful in an industry that interests you. The advice our career adviser gives is to write someone at their professional address/email (email being better) and tell them that you are interested in their field and would like to ask them a couple questions. Usually it starts out with a couple questions and then can blossom into a good networking contact.

**mom-from-missouri** · 03-05-2012, 05:29 PM

Originally posted by bjl584 View Post

All may not be what it seems. Just because you see people living in big houses and driving fancy cars doesn't mean that they are doing well.

You would be better served heading to the library and picking up a few books on personal financial management and investing.

I agree. We have people come into the center for assistance all the time who live in half million dollar homes, driving bmw's who don't have enough money left after paying the credit card bills to buy food or pay the eletric with.

When I was in the telephone industry, we every month cut off people our town thought were wealthy, because they could not pay a $65 phone bill.

Often, those who have it hide it. Those who don't have it, flaunt it.

**Mr Nice Guy** · 03-05-2012, 07:42 PM

Originally posted by mom-from-missouri View Post

I agree. We have people come into the center for assistance all the time who live in half million dollar homes, driving bmw's who don't have enough money left after paying the credit card bills to buy food or pay the eletric with.

When I was in the telephone industry, we every month cut off people our town thought were wealthy, because they could not pay a $65 phone bill.

Often, those who have it hide it. Those who don't have it, flaunt it.

Uhhh, I think OP is looking for career advice, not personal finance... When the sheer mentioning of a luxury car or home immediatley sends you to your soapboax without looking at the context of the question, you should re evaluate why you are saving money.

**2bfrugal** · 03-05-2012, 08:39 PM

Originally posted by Mr Nice Guy View Post

Uhhh, I think OP is looking for career advice, not personal finance... When the sheer mentioning of a luxury car or home immediatley sends you to your soapboax without looking at the context of the question, you should re evaluate why you are saving money.

in my 60+ years, I have discovered that many a failing business that is owned by a single investor, often isn't what it seems. Rather than scale back, the owner still tries to keep up with the jones and make a business seem as if it is more profitable than it seems.

I worked for an auto dealership that by all appearances did well. One day GM and the bank came in out of the blue and removed all the vehicles from our lot and shut us down, actually told us to take our personal belongings and then padlocked the doors--we all without warning had no job. Yet the owner had just bought a new boat 2 weeks before and was planning a vacation to England.

By all appearances, this was a successfull business, that one might want to "mentor" with based on the owners lifestyle and the outward appearances. Only the owner and book keeper (who was the owners wife) knew the business was really failing. And they were not letting on, holding on for appearances sake until the end. By the way, they also lost their home for not paying taxes.

**Mr Nice Guy** · 03-05-2012, 08:53 PM

Don't listen to these party poopers mbarryk. I say go for it. Worst thing that can happen is "no," best case is you get a new job/friend/etc.

There is a great story about Sidney Weinberg, and how he landed his job at Goldman Sachs. He eventually became CEO but started in maintenance. He got his maintenance job one day by standing in front of the tall building in NYC that housed Goldman and he told himself he was going into every office on every floor until he had a job (talking with complete strangers btw.) Sure enough on the last office, he got a crappy job with Goldman Sachs and worked his way to the top. Reminds me of OP for some reason.

**bjl584** · 03-06-2012, 08:21 AM

I'm not saying that talking to someone with a big house and fancy car is a bad idea. I am saying that you shouldn't assume that someone with a big house and fancy car is successful and wealthy. The opposite may be true. You need to dig deeper before you start heeding their advice.

It may be a better idea to talk to some local successful local business owners and real estate investors.

**YLTL_Dan** · 03-06-2012, 08:43 AM

I always try to use a "+1" approach to networking. I've done this in my career as well as in my current blogging world and it seems to work quite well.

Here's how it works. You have to make an initial connection in the field you're interested in. You can do this by using Linked In, your current network, or even searching online. Reach out to that person and state exactly what you're looking to do in a very concise format. More than likely they're very busy and won't pay attention to a long email. Ask for a quick 15 minute interview or something like that and then try to build the relationship from there.

Only after that initial conversation should you try to meet them in person - they'll want to vet it all out first to make sure they're not walking into a bad situation. Hopefully, you'll get a meeting with them and learn some good info. Here's the key point - at the end of the meeting, ask them if they know someone else who you could talk to - this is the "+1" part.

You can then reach out to that new person, with the previous person as a reference. They'll be much more likely to talk to you if you say "John told me you might have some time to discuss....". If that works, you can continue on with the "+1" as long as you want!

**camelia255** · 03-21-2012, 12:11 AM

Take your time on creating a great cover letter. that is the 1st good expression about you

Mentorship Letter