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Charlie Hoehn’s 6 Key Tactics for Landing Your Dream Mentor

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Charlie Hoehn

Like many other millennials coming out of college, my first foray into the work world wasn’t a smooth landing into a stable job. I spent a year in a startup incubator before leaving to start interning with a mentor to develop my marketing skills.

I then went on to lead marketing for Sumo.com, until that blew up 8 months later. There’s more detail to the story, but suffice it to say that I’ve made it to the other side successfully. Now I spend my time working for myself as an entrepreneur, traveling the world, and growing my site.

I can say without hesitation that the key to getting this ball rolling was finding a set of mentors who guided my initial learning, widened my network, and provided feedback along the way. The time I spent with my mentors set me up for success no matter what path I decided to take.

Finding a good mentor isn’t easy. It can be downright intimidating to reach out to someone you admire and ask for something. But it’s a skill that can be learned. A lot of my learning on how to find the perfect mentor came from Charlie Hohen’s book Recession-Proof Graduate.

Charlie spent the summer of 2008 after graduating college applying for jobs. Each day he’d stalk every job board applying to any job for which he was even slightly qualified – even if he didn’t really want to work them. This was at the peak of the global recession, and no employers were responding to the application of a fresh grad like Charlie.

Eventually, Charlie gave up applying for jobs and figured out how to start working on stuff he loved with mentors he admired, like Tucker Max, Ramit Sethi, and Tim Ferriss. Working with mentors eventually landed him in paid positions he could have never dreamed of before.

I was lucky enough to sit down and interview Charlie to discuss his book and his tactics for finding a mentor.

Here are the top points from our conversation that anyone can use to go from zero to getting a mentor, a fruitful internship and paid work no matter the circumstances:

1. Stop caring about what people think

You might get a lot of raised eyebrows as you opt for this atypical job search. Friends and family might doubt you, you may doubt yourself, but as Charlie says, you deserve a chance to do something unique and different. As a young person, you’ve spent more than a decade-and-a-half following someone else’s agenda, in school and at home. Now, with the fewest responsibilities you’ll ever have in your life, you’ve got the chance to follow an agenda of your own. Seize the day.

2. It’s all about communication

Finding a mentor is all about learning and mastering effective communication. Effective communication is all about giving before you ask: ‘give first, ask later’. At every point in your communication with your prospective mentor, find ways to offer value first. This might be offering insightful comments on their social media, or helpful replies to their blog broadcasts. When you’ve got something to offer, your prospective mentors will be much more receptive to offering something to you.

“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” – George Bernard Shaw

3. Get skilled

To have something to offer, you first need to develop a marketable skill. Developing a skill doesn’t mean become an expert right way. You just need to become really good at a few things. How? You can teach yourself an array of marketable skills online or through books, and then create an inexpensive online portfolio to put them on display.

4. Work for Free

This is the toughest for people to accept, but finding a good mentor means offering something in return. And there isn’t anything better than offering a useful skill for free. This drastically lowers the barrier to entry and places you in a position to impress. If working for free seems too crazy, just think about it, you’ve been doing free work for years in school. A few more months in return for a great payoff doesn’t seem to bad in comparison.

5. Make it easy for them

Don’t approach someone asking them “how can I help?”. This has the counter-intuitive effect of placing the burden on your prospective mentor to figure out what work to give you. Instead, do your research and figure out how you can specifically add value to your mentor’s life or business, and pitch that service to them. It might be editing their YouTube videos, sending them a content marketing strategy or creating an infographic based on their blog content.

“Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.” – Warren Buffett

6. Treat people like people

Resist the urge to place your mentors on a pedestal. Don’t view your mentor as a means to an end. Treat them like a person with whom you creating a lasting friendship. After all, these kinds of connections are the most valuable and long-lasting.

Here’s one more important piece: Make sure you maintain the relationship with your mentor even after you’ve moved on. A mentorship isn’t like an internship that you do over the summer and forget about. A mentorship is first and foremost a relationship, and it’s up to you to make sure that relationship keeps going. Make sure that you’re always giving back to your mentor whenever possible, and you’ll reap the rewards for a long time to come.

How did you land your dream mentor? Leave your experiences below!
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Success Advice

How to Ignite the Spark Within for Future Success

All of us come to this world with our own reserve of magic unfortunately, not everyone can unleash it

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Igniting your spark
Image Credit: Midjourney

What is it that makes some people great leaders while others remain followers? What magic do they have that others don’t? What special blessing gives them the power to bring significant change?  (more…)

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How Your Beliefs Can Supercharge or Sabotage Your Success

Your life is dictated by beliefs and biases that drive your thinking, behaviors, and decisions

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Your Beliefs Can Supercharge or Sabotage Your Success (1)
Image Credit: Midjourney

Pause for a moment and ponder two pandemic-era beliefs: First, closing schools will control the spread of a serious virus. Second, the consequences of such school closures—particularly social interruption and the prevention of immunity—are worse than becoming sick with the virus. (more…)

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How to Break the Cycles of Mediocrity and Manifest Your Greatness

There is no greatness without becoming and there is no becoming with authenticity

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Image Credit: Midjourney

In just a few weeks, we will be wrapping up 2023. Can you believe it? This year has been absolutely incredible for me.

I have seen amazing doors opened, new relationships formed and I am seeing dreams realized in my life. While this seems like the hallmarks of a great year, this has also been the most challenging year of my life. With all of the change happening in my life, I have been forced out of my comfort zone and challenged to grow in every area of my life.

I can truly say that I have made the most of my moments this year and I have used everything as a catalyst for maximizing my greatest potential.

As a revolutionary leader, I have the pleasure of consulting and advising leaders around the world to fulfill purpose, realize their greatest potential and make an impact.

I want to share some insights with you that will help you to break cycles of mediocrity and manifest your greatness

Everything legal must come through the matrix

I am sure that some of you are wondering why I am using the term matrix. However, what you have to understand is that I am trying to make a highly complex spiritual principle practical to understand.

Regardless of your spiritual beliefs, every life has an origin and I believe that origin is divine and begins with eternity. You are birthed from eternity and into time to fulfill a unique purpose and assignment in your lifetime and generation.

The matrix is simply the portal or vehicle that brings something out of the invisible realm and into tangible form. The problem with much of the teaching today is that it excludes the matrix. We are told to believe that success is instantaneous and overnight.

Nobody talks about how a dream progresses through stages beginning with visualization and ultimately culminating in manifestation. Without a matrix or portal then everything that you attempt to birth and build will be illegal.

The matrix not only makes you legal but it gives you the authority and power to function as the greatest expression of who you were created to be. 

Every matrix has an incubation process

While many people admire and respect me today, I remember a time when nobody knew who I was or the significance of my message. How did I get to where I am today? I got here through an incubation process.

In other words, everything that has been destined for your life is incubating and awaiting a set time of manifestation. The problem is that most people live their entire lives idle and never initiate the incubation process.

What do I meany by that? Most people are living reckless and very few people are living intentionally. I am amazed at the number of people I have conversations with that have no vision, goals or strategies for their lives. They show great promise and they have undeniable potential.

However, without development they will die with their dreams still in them.

Everything that has been destined for your life must be incubated and converted to become realities born to time. 

“Visualize this thing that you want, see it, feel it, believe in it. Make your mental blueprint and begin to build.” – Robert Collier

You must give expression to that which is not yet born to time

When you think about a matrix or a prophetic incubation process, you have to understand that potential is often unrealized and untapped. In other words, your potential is in raw form and your potential cannot serve you as long as it is untapped.

The thing that makes me valuable is that I have the ability to convert potential into power. I have done it in my own life and I have empowered leaders around the world to do the same. How do you convert potential into power?

First, it is important to note that you have to perceive potential. If you cannot perceive your potential then you can never cultivate your potential. In addition, you must take the time to cultivate your potential. We often get excited about our capabilities; however, we never expand our capacity in order to realize our greatest potential.

In other words, the strength of your potential is only discovered through your willingness to stretch. The more we are challenged the more we are empowered to expand our capacity for greatness. Most of all, you must begin to express your potential. The expression of potential is different for every person.

For example, the expression of my potential is best demonstrated through the thoughts, ideas, products, services, books, etc.

For another person the expression of potential may look like a screenplay, artwork, sports, scientific discoveries, medical breakthroughs, etc.

Regardless of the form of expression, I know that you will live empty and unfulfilled until you make the decision to express your potential. The expression of your potential gives voice to your dreams, life to your vision, significance to your moments and activates your true power.

You must manifest your greatness

As a revolutionary thinker and leader, my work has impacted people around the world. I am grateful that my life is a source of empowerment to so many people. However, before anyone could ever benefit from my life, I had to make a non-negotiable decision to become who I was born to be.

I wish I could tell you that this journey is easy and that you will get there overnight. However, in a world that celebrates us for doing we are often criticized for being. As a result, I wasted a lot of time trying to be who other people wanted me to be instead of being who I was born to be.

There is no greatness without becoming and there is no becoming with authenticity. It is through our bravery to be vulnerable that we ultimately manifest our greatness. We do not bless the world by being a duplicate. We bless the world when we honor our difference. When you honor your difference you honor your potential.

Ultimately, your difference is how you manifest your greatness.

When you present anything but your authentic self to the world, you are playing small and you are robbing the world of your significance. Manifesting your greatness requires you to master your gifts.

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Success Advice

Here’s a Young Man’s Antidote for the Uncertainty of the Modern World

Why do a lot of young guys lack confidence in today’s world? 

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We all have been told that confidence is a key factor in achieving success and happiness in life. But what is it exactly? (more…)

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