Create an opportunity for yourself and let a mentor help you with it!

WHY DO YOU NEED A MENTOR?

1. They streamline the process. 

Mentors act as teachers who helped in accelerating your learning. They shape you towards events and experiences that you are not mentally aware yet. As Robert Greene said, “Mentors do not give you a shortcut, but they streamline the process.”

For instance, you have heard me talk about going after bigger contracts and not small projects. That is because one of my mentors has told me to go after huge contracts than smaller housing type renovation projects. Due to this, I went straight to doing federal contracts and commercial projects. In fact, that became my new standard and I’m still living and operating off that same truce.  

“Kind of the reason why I believe and I credit my thinking bigger is because of having mentors who are already at a place where I want to be at. And the idea was that these people helped shape my thoughts, they helped shape my mind, they helped shape the ideas that I came up with because they were already successful in some respects, in their own rights. And as we start working together in some capacity, of course, I start to develop my own thoughts. But it all started with the mentors, themselves, giving me ideas.”   

2. They translate ideas into actual concepts. 

A lot of new people came into the government contracting space and decided to directly bid on beta.sam or buy these new softwares and tools. Although, that is not a bad idea, how will you do it when you are still new in this marketplace? 

And that’s the same case for books. These are great resources but when you don’t have someone to translate these abstract ideas into actual concepts, these resources are still of no use. 

“They’re great tools but how, you need someone, a mentor, to actually help you figure out how to best utilize these tools, how to take it from, you know, abstract idea to actual concepts that you can actually role out and implement and use for your personal knowledge and also for your personal gain, in terms of enrichment in growing your business or achieving your goal or whatever the case it is, whatever it is you’re trying to achieve.”

3. You save your time.

Learn to use your time to high level concepts, tactics, principles, and activities than just doing things that make you busy. Besides, if we start doing high level activities like reaching out to people, calling people, identifying partners that are bigger than us, identifying people in industries that we want to be around, then the things that are gonna start happening to us are gonna be high level things, as well.

For instance, if you’re bidding on the Unison marketplace rather than building relationships, what will happen if the algorithm changes? Of course, you need to relearn everything again. However, if you focus more on business development and other high level activities, you will gather more value from it. 

“There’s a lot of things that you can make up for but time is something that you can’t get back. And it’s one of the most valuable things that we have, we tend to waste it, use it, give it away free, and not really put a high emphasis or value on that.”

4. They provide concrete evidence. 

It’s so easy for us to believe in everything we see online. However, instead of being the character in the book, The Richest Man in Babylon, who got tricked and schemed by some fraudsters, you need to check who is really providing real advice. 

Remember, in this day and age, we have these influencers that popped in everywhere, but no matter how huge their following is, that doesn’t make them an expert in their area. So, the key is to listen to someone who is doing what you do, day in and day out.  

“Don’t, listen, do not mistake likes and followers and subscribers for expertise. That’s a false narrative that, today, you know, someone told me that, you know, they’ve been basically pimping education, and that’s like the new scheme and hustle on black and brown, minority people, right? So, don’t give, fall for the whole “I’m Instagram famous” because again, some people buy their subscribers, they buy followers.”  

5. You learn from their experience.

Mentors also share their experience to help you relate their past situation to your current experiences. This way, they can help you learn from their missteps or misjudgements without having to experience all of it.     

“I share my experiences to cut down on you from having to do all of these experiences. Whether you believe me or you don’t believe me. That’s up to you how you take all of this information.” 

HOW TO FIND A MENTOR?

To find a mentor, all you have to do is show up and offer to help. You don’t need to have all these lengthy messages and all of that other stuff, just bring something to the table. 

For instance, Mebz Manji actually sent me a message on Instagram saying how he had been following me for a while and asked what he can do to help. Now, he’s one of our new GovCon Giants interns. 

These are just basic stuff. Rather than be someone who asks for a job, why not ask what you can do to help? 

“It’s funny because we forget that a lot of times the people that we admire on radio, that have, those people sometimes, they sent their CDs to the radio stations, they went to ask the DJ to play their songs. We forget all of that. A combination between boldness and humility, right? So, you’re bold enough to ask them but you’re humble enough to say, ‘Hey, I’ll do whatever it takes. Like I’ll, you know, whatever that you need me to do, I’ll do it.’”

RESOURCES

If you want to learn more on how to create an opportunity for yourself by finding a mentor, then be sure to click the resources down below or visit the GovCon Giant website and social media platforms or the new GovCon Edu where you learn everything about government contracting!

5 Reasons you need Mentors and how to find them today !!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mh-3pKRSFwI