Looking for a Mentor (4)
Hi All!
I'm looking for a mentor, so I need suggestions on going about finding one. I'm a big fan of the Star Wars apprentice model, where someone experienced teaches someone with promise. I spent some time on Charles Ngo's website, and he has a mentorship program but it's full (and expensive). Ideally, I'd like to find someone who is a full-time affiliate and lives in the Los Angeles area, but the location is not so important.
I have been running different campaigns on Facebook, some profitable, most are not. So I'm familiar with some of the technical setup, but need help in turning a campaign profitable, and understanding where my focus should be.
If you have any suggestions or know of someone who might be interested, comment or PM me. Thanks!
In my opinion your best bet on finding a mentor is working for someone.
Take a step back and think why would an experienced affiliate who is running profitable campaigns want to teach someone else exactly what they are doing? What's their incentive to help you?
They will either need to charge crazy amounts and dedicate little time. Or, they don't have a clue what they are doing.
It's maybe better to pitch yourself as a media buyer wanting to work for an affiliate team. You will learn and earn as you work.
You also have to be clear how you define what you mean by mentor or mentorship. Maybe you need a coach/teacher, not a mentor.
A mentor is someone who cares about deeper aspects of your professional development that may not be directly related to what he is mentoring you on.
Mr Geen's suggestion is great though - find an affiliate to work for. What I would add though is to not necessarily think only of the media buying aspect. You can learn by being involved in different sides of the business, as long as you make it clear what path is it that you actually want to take in your professional life.
Sometimes people ask "...but if I want to leave at some point, won't that instantly mean that they won't hire me?". The answer is not always - what an employer cares about is getting their money's worth while you work there, and of course, the better you are, the more they want to keep you. If you are too worried about that question it can mean that either:
a) You are too unskilled to provide value for the position or wages you expect.
b) You plan on doing a hit and run, without thinking about being fair to your employer
In either case, you have a lot of control over those factors.
Thank you Mr Green and manu_adefy. Very good tips. And yes, I am looking for a coach, maybe not a mentor, much like a figure skater or even a business coach, to help me be the best affiliate marketer I can be, with the understanding of my own talents and strengths and help direct the efforts.
It does make sense that a super affiliate would not have any incentive to help someone else. I get it. But I also get that there are people who recognize that they've "made it" to some degree, and want to help others reach their goals (for a fee or barter of course). Affiliate marketing is a tough road in the beginning. To be clear, I'm not looking for someone to teach me for free, and allow me to steal their campaigns. Ideally, I'm looking for someone to look over my shoulder, while I run my own campaigns, and help tell me areas to improve.
When I was running a small business years back, we built it to where it got acquired by a bigger company. I didnt' mind at all helping other startup CEOs who can use a coaching to help them with their own unique situation. I hope I can find something similar in affiliate marketing.
I will appreciate any other tips that anyone else has. At the moment, I will crank away and learn everyday, and network with people in the industry. Maybe I'll find someone who can allow me to work for free in exchange for the knowledge.
Any other insights from anyone appreciated 
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