There's a Princeton professor named Ed Zschau that talked about an idea he calls "leaving footprints" during an interview between him and Tim Ferriss, the author of "The 4-Hour Workweek". He said,
"I'm not able to change the world alone. I said, 'My goal in life is to live a life that matters'... but I can better achieve my goal leaving footprints with you feet, so that's why I do what I do."
He felt that the best way to go about making a difference in the world was not just to teach his students lessons, but to share stories with them, to guide them during their time together, and to show them to live life on their own terms. Each student that he changed the trajectory of might go on to help their own students lead better lives, and so on and so forth, each successive generation might be impacted by him. I think it's an elegant way to think about the legacy we all have the potential to leave behind, but the effect isn't something that we can immediately measure and see for ourselves. In your case, maybe each of those people you mentor take their financial success and parlay that into meaningful causes that impact other fields. They could go on to take on the role of the mentor for others as well and pay it forward.
If that answer isn't satisfying enough, then I think it'd be best to model those who already have influence in the information age. The people who are the most influential are those that have a valuable message, a compelling story behind them, and a medium that conveys that to a large audience. Great writers can do it through books and blogs, while others use podcasts, videos, websites, in-person conferences, etc. Brandon Turner made it happen combining pretty much all them. You seem like you already have something in mind.
