Mentoring? Is it necessary?

I want to find a mentor, but not really sure on whether it is a good thing to do or not lol

It is like I'm close to having a mentor then *boom* here comes all those second thoughts

Of course it's important. The main problem a newbie fails in this business is because he lacks of direction. Everything is like overwhelming and makes him to get distracted. No focus, hence, no consistency. Then, he'd say nothing works for him because he has tried many things and has got no commission at all. That IS the problem. The point is to be focused and consistent, not to try many things. You need to keep doing the right things over and over again. This is why a person who can keep you accountable is very important, also a person whom you can talk to or consult to make sure you're doing fine and makes you keep going.

Good luck, Keith!

it takes lot of time for a newbie to understand the depth of marketing and the scams running around, so what I think is that assistance from a mentor can save a lot of time and save from being scammed

Mentors are important in life. You need to invest your time wisely, and learn what happens in business, plus the experiences. That will make you good at what you do.

Remember you will always remain your true self - in everything you do, give it your own taste.

Absolutely. The right mentor will shave years off your learning curve.

i won't go to a paid mentor for help, and you can get a lot of sincere advice from fellow warrior members here. Once you get the basics of how things work, you will need to be on your own.

It varies, according to how people learn best.

For some people, mentoring is a far better and easier way to learn, and there are plenty of people here who have been very successful after some mentoring, after struggling for a long time before it.

For me, "formal mentoring" wouldn't have helped at all, I think: I need to learn things my own way. I know that that's true of some other people, too - so I wouldn't take too much notice of anyone claiming that mentoring is "necessary", myself: they just mean "necessary for them" (though they don't always say that).

Probably not, but you probably wouldn't need to learn everything they know.

I know that you're right to be very cautious indeed about mentoring services, Keith, because I know that there are many people promoting mentoring services online (including some here, unfortunately) simply because they find that a much easier way to make some money online than it would be from themselves actually applying the content of what they're teaching, because what they're teaching doesn't work at all and is in some cases even based almost entirely on factually incorrect "information".

Call me a skepchick but it seems very obvious to me that "whether they actually know what they're talking about in the first place" is a far bigger and more significant issue than your apparent concern of "whether they'll keep key information back"!

I can't tell you some of the horror stories I've heard from people here who have arranged private mentorship from others (typically at suspiciously low prices) who have given them some of the most ludicrous, ridiculous advice imaginable. (I literally "can't tell you" because I tend to hear such stories in confidence!).

There's also quite a lot of confusion between "mentoring" and "coaching": some people use these words more or less interchangeably; others mean two entirely different things by them.

The moral of the story, I think, for those considering mentoring of any kind, is to be careful about two things, before you start ...

(i) You need to see independently verifiable evidence that the proposed mentor actually has their own currently profitable, successful internet marketing business, not just a "mentoring business";

(ii) You need to be able to follow up, independently, testimonials of people who have been through the mentoring process offered and talk to those people yourself and ask them your carefully drawn-up list of questions, not just "read their testimonials". Every successful mentor has people who are available to do that, on request, just as you yourself may occasionally be asked afterwards to do that for future prospective mentees. If for any reason this facility isn't available, then there's something very wrong. Don't be fobbed off with excuses for this being "difficult to arrange at the moment", for whatever reason(s). It's a standard, everyday, necessary, totally reasonable thing to request, and the prospective mentor should be able to fulfil it (and should expect to) without turning a hair.

Mentoring is really important. Otherwise a newbie marketer will go here and there without any aim. A lot of newbies lose huge money by buying "Magic Buttons" because they have no mentor to suggest to set the aim.

mentoring is the best way to get your business on the right track from the beginning..... but as a newbie it is almost impossible to know who to trust.

when I was new I followed everyone that said he would make me rich, and I jumped on every shiny product out there....

I paid alot of money to alot of people
but I got nowhere....

The problem about being new is the insecurity, you don´t want to make the wrong choice so you make sure you don´t miss anything.... and that is the road to complete failure....

Research everything... when I started to research it saved me alot of money.

And in the end when you decided what to do and who to listen to.... block your eyes and ears for every new shiny thing! if you don´t focus on your business you only end up making someone else rich....

well this got more complicated then I was aiming for...lol... I started by saying yes you should get a mentor, and that is still my believe

good luck

IMO having a mentor in every single aspect of life is 100% necessary!

MMA fighters, football players, stock brokers, doctors.. everyone of these careers have mentors behind the great individual..

If you read think and grow rich you will discover the key to success is "overwhelming desire and a great mentor".

If you are too proud to admit you need a mentor then you are destined for failure online.

Having a mentor changed my life and now that I am a full time internet marketer I have not stopped having a mentor.. I now pay higher prices for mentors than I did at the start and I will not stop learning.... ever

It depends what they are teaching you.
Many coaching mentors show how to get sales via solo ads.
Anyone can do that....that's not learning. A couple of sales here and there is hardly
success.
Get a mentor to show how he makes $1000 a week selling products via their blogs and you won't find many takers.

I think we all need mentors. Are you talking about a mentor or coach though. Some use them interchangeably here but I do not.

I think you should network and have mentors, I do. I have completely new people who I consider a mentor because I have learned things from them.

Do you know why young people do so well on the internet, because they just do it, they don't listen to what shouldn't be done, they just do what they want.

I would look for skype rooms and other areas where like minded people help each other and find a mentor, and since your here try this place out also. Sorry for trying to be funny. lol

Good luck.

P.S. Do you need a coach? If you can not do a step by step plan then yes, if you have to be told when to take a right or left then yes. If you need someone to think for you then yes by all means hire a coach.

In my experience yes it is.. Having a mentor gave me focus.

A mentor isn't necessary at all, a lot of people succeed online without one. However they do help a lot, and are especially suited to people from information overload and simply don't have a clue where to start. They will help you avoid the mistakes they made, and guide you every step of the way until you are comfortable and earning enough.

Nothing will get you to a full time online business faster than a high quality mentor. The fastest path to success is to model the successful.

Many thanks to all the warriors for their inputs!

I personally don't have positive experience on mentoring. But I find joined paid membership site and followed the training and ask questions in the forum helps a lot.

If you cannot afford to have a mentor, I would definitely suggest that you should start lurking around the forum and learn something for yourself. But if you can afford, just go ahead and find a mentor or coach who is reliable, but make sure you take a look at the customers' or students' testimonial first. But for me, I didn't even need one. Just self-studying....

First let me start by saying that nearly anything can be learned "on your own"...

The question is do you REALLY want to have to learn on your own?

For some "learning on your own" includes lots of trial and errors and lots of failure and lots of "wasted time"...

In general - a mentor should help you shortcut that by sharing their own experiences based on their personal "trial and error".

For some - this could be the difference between spending a year or two "learning on their own" and having a shortcut to success.

Will the mentor share all of their secrets? That's hard to say w/o experience with that mentor - but in my opinion if you are paying someone they should teach you everything they know about the subject... Does this mean all mentors will share "all" their secrets - no.

Some very well known marketers do some kinda shady things - so sometimes they can't share what they actually do and thus you would never fully get the maximum benefit of their coaching.

In conclusion - a mentor can help if you are struggling or want to fast track, but a mentor does not guarantee success. In the end you will have to do some hard work to get results - with or without a mentor.

Good luck.

Cheers,
Coby

P.S. If you decide to get a mentor - do your homework. Check their personal stuff - see what others are saying. In general - put in the due diligence before handing over your hard earned money because there are some slime balls out there.

Seems like having a mentor is a great thing! I'll try and earn some money on my own before so that I could get enough to pay for a good mentor

If you can afford a mentor then get one and make sure they know what they're talking about. It's like getting a personal trainer or coach.

You don't need a mentor but if you get one, it will give you an advantage, shorten your learning curve and shorten your path to success.

Whether you have a mentor or not, you can't get away from the fact that you have to work hard if you want to be successful.

Instead of mentoring you should read strategies that warriors have used to make money (ex: solo ads). A mentor won't help you from start to bottom because you have to learn yourself.

The difference is "knowledge" and "specific knowledge in a executable replicable format". Mentors, if they have something that works, will show you want to do, when to do it, and why it makes money. So, you can gather info and test for months, or learn someone's proven technique. I think that is the primary difference.

Hey Keith,

I do think you need a mentor. I entered world of marketing only 2-3 months back but straight away I got a mentor. He kept me focused...and told me what books to read. I was basically shielded by all the BS that surrounds marketing and results are showing better than I expected.