What to Look for in a Mentor
Welcome back guys!
Last week I discussed the importance of having a real estate mentor and today I want to dive a little deeper and discuss what to look for in a mentor.
This is important because you should think of the relationship with your mentor as a partnership and you are trusting this individual with your business. So before jumping into a partnership, you want to make sure you both fit well together and mutually benefit from the relationship.
Early in my real estate career I jumped the gun, and worked for someone whose values didn’t match mine and I later learned that he was running an unethical business.
My Personal Story
When I first jumped into real estate investing, I had purchased my very first property off eBay for $10,000 and turned around and sold it for $15,000. I had lots of experience in eBay and had practically sold everything you could imagine so after buying and selling my first property, I began looking for more deals and began searching for other investors on eBay.
My search led me to a guy named Jeremy. His parents were very successful entrepreneurs and they gave him 1 million dollars to start a business. He decided to venture off into real estate investing and began buying houses all over Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio for as cheap as possible to sell on eBay.
So I connected with him and learned that he needed someone to sell his properties on eBay for him. Since I had already sold all types of crazy on eBay from cars, bootleg movies, you name it, I offered to use my experience to help sell his properties online and he agreed to pay me a 20 percent commission from the deals I sold on eBay.
Now guys, he had a million dollars at his disposal and was buying hundreds of cheap properties at a time. Mind you, he hadn’t seen the majority of the properties and most of the properties were in terrible shape. They were so bad that most of his properties did not sell.
After a while, I began to notice that his business was pretty messy. Buyers were upset because the properties were being misrepresented on eBay, and his buyers were pursuing me because they thought I was responsible for the misrepresentation since I was posting the properties online. So he would make his buyers happy by simply paying them off to keep them quiet.
It was a total mess!
He just wasn’t running an ethical business so I hurried and built up enough money to leave and start running my own business.
Was he a mentor?
Yes, very much so. I learned a lot from him, good and bad.
You see, the great thing about mentorship is that mentors not only teach you what to do but they also teach you what not to do and Jeremy taught me a lot of what not to do.
You have to be very careful when choosing mentors and truly spend time finding someone who shares similar values and has your best interest at heart.
I don’t want you guys to go out out just seeking anyone to be your mentor, so follow this Simple Guide to help determine what to look for in a mentor.
What to Look For in a Mentor
Before seeking out a mentor, think about your goals and your core values. It’s critical that you have your goals and values outlined so that both you and your mentor are on the same page and are clear on what the end goal is.
A lot of people ask me to be their mentor and I’m just thinking, they don’t even know me. What if they don’t like me? There are several successful investors out there who I wouldn’t want to mentor me because our values don’t measure up.
My first mistake with Jeremy was that I never asked him about his core values. I never asked him about his business structure. I probably wouldn’t have done business with him if I had known how messy his business was.
So take a moment and ask yourself these questions…
What are my core values?
What are some things I am passionate about in life?
What is one area I am struggling with in my business?
How can a mentor help me in this area?
Guys, really take time to think about these things because later on you’ll want to evaluate your potential mentor and ask a these similar questions to ensure your values and personality match.
What’s Next?
Next you want to look for someone who is actually doing the business you want to be in.
So if you haven’t decided already, you’ll need to decide which real estate investment strategy you want to pursue.
When you’re first starting off, it’s critical that you know and understand the various investment strategies out there. Then you’ll need to pick one investment strategy and find a mentor who has experience in that field.
There are so many strategies out there from wholesaling, fix and flipping, buy-and-hold, owner financing, wholesaling land, apartments, the list goes on but I would strongly recommend focusing on one strategy and mastering that one strategy first.
Often times as real estate investors, we go off on tangents, trying out new things and ventures and we lose focus. At one point in my business I was trying to do everything. I was wholesaling, rehabbing, flipping and I really didn’t know what I was doing because I didn’t have any experience in construction. I had contractors ripping me off, I was losing lots of money and I was stressed out!
My first mentor taught me that I don’t have to do a lot of things. I just need to do one thing really well and stay focused on that.
I receive a lot of requests for mentorship and oftentimes our values don’t match or they aren’t wholesalers and honestly, I can’t provide any value to anyone who isn’t wholesaling.
So first pick one investment strategy starting off and you’ll want your mentor to specialize in that strategy as well.
Conclusion
I hope this Simple Guide provides you with a little guidance on what to look for in a mentor.
When I first began investing, I didn’t think of mentorship as a partnership. I didn’t know what my core values or goals were, and I didn’t know what my mentor’s values were either and honestly, it almost cost me my reputation.
I don’t want you guys to go through what I experienced but even though I’ve had a few bad mentors along my real estate journey, my business has grown tremendously because of my experience with both good and bad mentors.
Now I know you’re eager to know where to find seasoned real estate mentors and how to go about approaching them. I’m going to spill the beans next week!