How To Find A Mentor Without Asking For One

Investing in your first piece of real estate is daunting. There are many moving pieces to each transaction and at the end of the day you will be writing a check for thousands of your hard earned dollars. So naturally, you are going to want someone by your side who has been there before for guidance. Unfortunately, for many beginners they believe the best way to find this person is to make a quick post on a FB REIA page asking for a mentor. This is definitely not the ideal way to find a good mentor, and I would be skeptical of anyone who actually says yes to your request. So how do you find a mentor?

Provide value. Providing value is the absolute best way to find a mentor and if done correctly will create more of a partnership versus student and teacher relationship. When I say provide value, that can mean a number of things, but at its core it finding out what that experienced investor is currently struggling with and pouring yourself into that subject to become an expert. For example, if this person was struggling with brand recognition you could learn social media skills and in turn create a social media marketing/branding campaign plan that you present to this investor and offer to implement it for them for free. Another example could include finding out what neighborhoods this investor likes to buy in and going out and driving for dollars looking for vacant properties in those areas. Then take that list of property addresses and discuss with this investor how he would like you to reach out to the owner's of those properties. 

In the end, the more value you are able to bring to this potential mentor the more likely they will be willing to offer value and insight back to you. Like I said before, you want this relationship to be more like a partnership than a mentor-ship because no one is interested in giving away their time and knowledge to some stranger for nothing in return.