A tip / suggestion for all those who are asking for mentors

I've noticed that in the last little while there are a lot of people putting out requests for mentors. People are starting out and looking for some guidance, and hoping someone will volunteer to help them along the way. Typically a mentoring service is minimum $3000 for all the time and expertise required, so it's not so surprising that usually there are no offers to mentor free or for low rates.

I thought I would share what I did to learn what I know about internet marketing, and suggest that others consider taking the same approach.

Rather than asking for free help, give free help.

Offer your services free of charge to do all the legwork for an experienced marketer, thereby giving you the chance to see the ins and outs of real, practical internet marketing in action.

Offer to write articles to fit the marketer's needs. Offer to setup blogs for them that fit their strategy. Offer blog commenting, forum posting, social bookmarking, article submission and so on.

Find someone that is happy to detail the specifics of what they want you to do for them, in the knowledge you are a beginner, and with that extra time spent in explanation being their payment to you rather than cash.

Don't ask them to teach or mentor you, because to be direct there is nothing in it for them. Only ask them to be very clear and specific in exactly what they would like you to do, to ensure you understand given your lack of experience.

Once you have gathered enough skill and experience, you will then be able to charge for your services, and continue to learn on the job whilst making money as a freelancer.

Marketers are constantly outsourcing the 'dirty work' that is an essential part of internet marketing, so volunteer to get your hands dirty if you would really like to learn.

I have been building sites and doing freelance work for internet marketers for around the past two years, and I can tell you I have learned so so much just by fulfilling the requests that clients have given me. Additionally, I have earned my living from this work, so I've not had to try to fit my IM education around a 9 - 5 office job. Over time my learning has made my own projects increasingly profitable, and I have now been able to dial my freelancing right back to virtually nothing. In fact, right now I'm enjoying a week off with my visiting family, paid for with the money I have earned from everything I have learned.

Now of course I am not suggesting you rip off other people's marketing strategies, but that by doing work for marketers you will come to learn the principles of how to promote products, how to drive traffic, how to write keyword rich articles, how to do SEO and so on and so on. You will learn all this purely from observation.

Think of it as apprenticing yourself to the entire internet marketing world. For example, you wouldn't walk into a restaurant and go to the Master Chef and ask him to teach you all his most popular recipes. You would first ask if you could do an unpaid trial as a kitchen hand, build your ability in the basics, and then start charging for your work. During your time in the kitchen you would be able to observe the Master Chef and everything he does, and then go home and in your own time practice reproducing what you saw.

In short, to almost quote a famous phrase, "Ask not what skilled internet marketers can do for you, but what you can do for skilled internet marketers".