The Invisible Mentor

Self-Mentoring: Taking Control of Your Future

December 29th, 2009 |

Many studies have shown the positive impact that mentoring has on both mentor and mentee. However, many people will never have the privilege of being involved in a traditional mentoring relationship. That doesn’t mean that you cannot reap some of the benefits of having a mentor.

What are the reasons for wanting a mentor? You have to know what you want before you can go after it. Identify two people who have done what you are trying to do (this may take doing some research to identify the appropriate people). What are three to five questions that you’d like to ask them?

For me, I’d like to make this blog content rich, since it’s an educational blog. Based on information in David Meerman Scott‘s book, Cashing In With Content, Laurel Touby has successfully done what I am trying to do with mediabistro.com the company she founded. If I got access to Laurel, I’d ask her:

What are the critical steps you took to make mediabistro.com a success?
When you first started mediabistro.com, what are three things you did to secure subscribers?
Based on your experiences, what advice do have for someone who is trying to do what you did with mediabistro.com?

I have to spend time thinking about a second person because I do not think my choice, Steve Jobs would give me the time of day. While reading A Fine Line, a book I won in a Group Writing Project, the author Hartmut Esslinger, talks about Apple and their focus on consumer experience. I thought the strategy would work for this blog, for me to focus on reader experience. I then asked myself how would that work? How can I take an interview and turn it into a reader experience? How can I take a book review/summary and turn it into a reader experience. For the interview, I think interviewing the right person, will bring the interview to life and create a unique reader experience. Video and music would also enhance the effect.

For a book, that could be a bit tricky. What if the book was dry, but the content was definitely information that I think my readers should know about, what then? Whew, the heat is on, the onus is on me to figure it out. What are your thoughts? What are your two choices for mentors and what would you ask them?

At the off chance that Steve Jobs would give me the time of day, I would ask him, “What are the steps that I should take to create a unique reader experience. ” Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please comment. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the left side) by email or RSS Feed. I created a Mini Learning Toolkit and you can grab a copy by clicking here.