IT’S NOT ABOUT ThE mONEYMentors may actually change throughout your career. My mentor when
I first got into the financial services business was the person that hired
me, trained me and taught me how to be a successful financial planner.
However, as I grew as a person and as my goals began to change, I had
to find a different mentor that could help me through that period of time.
It’s always important that we have mentors in our lives, someone we
can look up to and who can help guide us and give us inspiration. You
always need someone to be there, to be an inspiration and to help keep
you going when everyday life gets tough. That mentor can also hold you
accountable for your goals and offer guidance when you get off track.
You can find a mentor in many different ways. The easiest way may be
to hire one if finances are not an issue. However, mentors can be quite
expensive and many people are not able to afford to hire one. In the past,
when I wasn’t in the same financial position that I am in now, I would
always look for that person who is more successful than me. I’ve never
been the type of person that needed an ego boost or felt like I was al-
ways the best. So, I would find the people that were better than me and
I would develop a relationship with them. My friend and mentor, Brian
Van Winkle, is a great example of an individual who has been extremely
inspirational and beneficial in my life. Brian and I met on a business trip
about seven years ago and we have been able to develop and maintain a
great business relationship. He lives in another state and does the same
thing that I do, only in a bigger way. He has always given me great
advice. Anytime I was considering making a change, or had an idea, or
faced some kind of an obstacle, I could call him and tell him what was
going on and ask for his advice.
There is one basic rule when shopping for a mentor: Your mentor must
be someone who has already achieved what you want to achieve. I al-
ways made it a point to make friends and develop relationships with
people who were already what I wanted to become. Most successful
people like to help others become successful. You would think that in
the financial services business they might refuse your request for help
- because they would view you as their competition. But, highly suc-
cessful people are not that way. They don’t worry about the competition.
They’re smart enough to realize that there are enough people out there
that we all can help. So they are open to developing relationships rather
than considering other advisors as competition.