How to ask an investor to be a mentor and give me some wisdom

[Langdon Barnes]

I am a fairly new real estate investor in Paducah, KY with one property under my belt. I am wanting to grow and learn more about "landlording" in the coming months. I say coming months because my wife and I are expecting our first child and I'll have 3 months off of work. I'd like to spend some of my free time basically shadowing and helping an investor/landlord with whatever they may need. Any advice on how to ask an investor to mentor me and let me learn a thing or two over the next few months? Thanks!

[Jeff Joachim]

@Langdon Barnes Congrats on the baby and looking to grow as an investor. 

Here are few tips on things that I appreciate when someone asks me to mentor them:

1. First think of how you can help a mentor before thinking of how they can help you.  This will most likely come in the form of offering the mentor time (working for them), money, or a teaching them a skillset they have a desire to learn. I come from the mindset of first looking to add value to others before making any requests.

2. Offer to buy them lunch, dinner, coffee to learn more about them. I was honored to be able to buy one of my first potential mentor's a meal and hear about his investment journey. I learned what books he read, his purpose, and where he was heading next. Armed with this information, I read the books he suggested, and started doing research to help him find the deals he was looking for next. The conversation over lunch solidified that he was the type of person, I wanted to learn from. This served as interview process to see if he was a good fit, and also a way to learn how I could add value.

3. Have a clear (preferably written down) vision of what your goals are, what you are looking to learn from this mentor and how they can help. A lot of accomplished folks/mentors, are extremely busy. Coming prepared and being effective at communicating your vision will earn you a great deal of respect. 

4. Once you have your vision outlined, be a little more specific and add to this thread. Example: I'm looking to find a mentor that I can shadow in Northern Kentucky. My goals are to learn how to acquire, analyze properties, and manage the finances surrounding investment properties. I don't have much money, but I'm willing to do grunt work and buy lunch. I'm also an expert in trading Cryptocurrency, a black belt in Jiujitsu, can bake the best cookies this side of the equator, I'm the only one that knows what an NFT really is, and I am great at telling jokes.  If my mentor is out there and wants help with any of those things, I'm out here in the metaverse, waiting to meet you in the real world.

Best of luck!