How did you find your mentor?

[Michael Bross]

I'm a 19 year old driven, coachable Real Estate Investor in the making. At 19 I know entry level plumbing, entry level residential HVAC very well, I've learned a little electrical, how to mud and tape drywall, how to paint, and of course like every other money motivated preteen, how to a yard shine. In my opinion, if I were a 40-Something Investor with a couple flip houses this is just the guy I would want. 

I would be more than happy to do grunt work, demo, and the countless Home Depot trips that are needed very inexpensively with an addition of some hands on training along the way. I've learned so much about the numbers that go into a flip (Much more than I ever would have assumed) but I feel like I'll never fully understand the diversity of numbers from house to house until I experience the inevitable problems every investor runs into eventually. I COULD go get a loan right now from a hard money lender, go buy a house that I HOPE will sell, fix it up with some elbow grease and the use of contractors, and sell it.

ORRRRRRRRR

I could be smart (Trust me, I want to just do option A) and I could be the pupil of a seasoned flipper, learn the language, meet contacts, and absorb every bit of information they give me inexpensively with the exception of valueable information.

It might not be making me money right now, and I may still be an average 19 year old while learning how to play the amazing game of real estate. But if I lay low now and learn the game, 4 or 5 years down the road I'll probably have several projects sold and profited off of, maybe even a rental or two. 

  Age is nothing but a number, and I know that if I show up and bust my butt harder than  anyone in the room, listen carefully and absorb every bit of information I get thrown my way then plan B will be the most rewarding.

But, there's only one problem with this scenario.

I've tried social media, emailing, and this forum looking for a local Mentor. I have found a coupled but I'm not happy with them, I don't know if it would be the wisest to invest my time into people who are less into their own project that I am. So, BiggerPockets Community, how did you meet your first mentor and/or how did you gain the knowledge needed?

Hypothetically speaking, I know if I were to go get a small $15K house I could do a large amount of the work (financial and labor) I may not be able to fix every problem, but thankfully I've been raised around service men of all kinds and if I run into a problem or two I'm sure I know someone who knows the solution.

So, in a nutshell: In your opinion, is it better to go under a mentor and learn the ropes or buy a cheap auctioned forclosure and learn by trial and error? 

Thanks in advance!