How to Pick a Mentor
We’ve all read the many stories of famous people either getting bad guidance or not having any guidance at all. Take, for example, Bono the legendary front man for the band U2. While it’s great U2 raked in over $130 million in 2010 as the world’s biggest-selling music act, according to Forbes, that sum wouldn’t even cover the amount Bono lost on his worst investment. When Bono bought a stake in private equity firm Elevation Partners in 2004, it gave him a nearly 30% stake in Palm, including stock worth an estimated $325 million. In the pre-iPhone smartphone market, that wasn’t too shabby.
When Palm fumbled the Pre, however, and the iPhone surged in market share, that investment started to look a lot more shaky. It got worse when H-P (HPQ) bought Palm for $1.2 billion in 2010, but only valued Palm shares at $5.70 when they were trading at $18 just a year before. The whole deal set Bono back $140 million and, while it’s tough to top U2’s Pop album as a career low point, his disastrous Palm investment trumped it in Bono’s typically grand fashion.
Or what about all the folks who trusted their money with people like Bernie Madoff or Kenneth Starr. The lists of defrauded clients for both of these swindlers read like the guest list at a gala fundraiser. As mentors they both get an F on their report card.
In both stories, appropriate guidance and direction was either missing or extremely bad! So, what lesson does this teach us as advisors? No matter how successful you are as a producer, you have to find the right guidance and direction in order to succeed and grow to the next level! The next question I get all the time is, “Trent, how do we pick the right mentor for our business”? In my opinion there are 3 simple steps.
Commitment:
In my world, true commitment means an investment of TIME and MONEY. If you are willing to put real time into developing yourself, you also need to be ok with investing money to do so. Make sure that you and your chosen mentor have some SKIN IN THE GAME! Make sure that they are also invested in your success. A free mentor is not a true mentor because they have no responsibility for your success.
Figure out Who will be your mentor:
Find someone who is a big thinker and doesn’t settle for average
Find someone who is still IN THE GAME doing exactly what you do every day and is constantly trying to figure out the ways to WIN at that GAME!
Finally, figure out What you want to improve on:
Be Specific and give that mentor a list
What do you want to handle?
What are the issues?
Advisors who join Magellan Financial or Foundations Investment Advisors get instant access to dozens of potential mentors who are out there doing what you do every single day! I can help you develop all of the same processes that have made many of them successful and we can start building your successful practice as well!
-Trent