Complete Disaster or Opportunity?

[Steve Richardson]

I have been fortunate enough to find two mentors whom each provide a wealth of information to guide me as I embark on my REI journey. One of them had a scheduled move out for this evening with new tenants scheduled to move in on Saturday. Overall, the place was left in decent condition, but many of the rooms need paint. He began painting with the same color paint (so we thought) and he was able to get quite a bit finished. As the paint began to dry he realized that it wasn't the correct color at all! The local hardware store added the amount of die needed for a quart as opposed to a gallon.

With his work schedule tomorrow he has very little time to work on the project. However, I work a split shift and I let him know he didn't need to worry and I will come over tomorrow morning and help paint over the areas that were painted today so it all matches. I could tell by the look on his face that it was a HUGE relief! 

I share this to say, when starting out sometimes it can be difficult to find a mentor who is willing to take the time to invest in you. When we first met we had a brief lunch and he gave me a book (Set for Life; Scott Trench). I promptly read the book and afterwards reached out to him to talk about the book AND to show I was serious. Since then he has continued to teach me about REI. When he encountered the paint disaster today, I found it as a great opportunity to give back to someone who has done so much to help me when I first got started. I didn't ask to be compensated, and even if he tries to pay me tomorrow I will humbly reject his offer.

Based on my experience I think that 1) there are many great mentors who are willing to help IF you show them that their time spent with you is an investment, not a waste of time. If someone spends "X" amount of time answering your questions and then you do nothing with the information, it may seem like a slap in the face to them. So yeah, be actionable.  2) find ways of giving back. I happen to enjoy painting so I may be slightly more excited about painting tomorrow than he is! :)  I imagine in every city, and every town, there is a great mentor who is willing to help each of us. Kicking off those relationships with dedication and by adding value seems to make things flow smoothly.