Why Having a Mentor is Important for Freelancers
There is only so much you can learn from a textbook. And with technology changing at break neck speeds—there is only so much you can learn in school before, inevetibally, technology changes again.
Internships are a great way for students to get hands on experience working in their chosen field—but there aren’t many internships available for freelancers who are looking to learn without receiving college credit. This is where mentorships come in.
A mentor can help a newbie learn acquired skills, which sometimes take years to develop. The mentor/mentee relationship provides the newbie exposure to skills beyond the textbook teaching to help that person fast track his or her career with advanced skills that will separate them from the piles of résumé for a job. —PRDaily
Whether you are a freelance designer, photographer, writer, or marketing professional, having a mentor can be beneficial—especially when you are first starting out.
When I was in graduate school, I landed a coveted part-time job at Inc.com as an online reporter. I learned more at that internship than I did sitting in a classroom. Why? I had an editor who took me under his wing and showed me the ropes. He was the one who really helped me learn to craft a great lede. He helped me learn how to identify the right people to interview for a story. I made a lot of mistakes, but he took the time to talk them over with me, instead of yelling at me.
Thanks to my 9 months with Inc.com, I built up a portfolio of clips as well as my confidence. It was the highlight of my graduate career.
Had I not had an editor who was so willing to help shape my skills, my experience could have been much different. And trust me, not everyone was so willing to take us part-timers under their wing. That’s why it’s imperative that you have a solid relationship with your mentor.
What a mentee can learn from a mentor is only as good as the quality of the relationship. The recipe to be a good mentor is to be available, invested, open and honest, and to provide access to foster the network of your mentee. —PRDaily
Photography is another area in which having a mentor can shape the future of your career. I know many wedding and fashion photographers who bring along a second shooter for their jobs. The second shooter takes direction from the main photographer, and can watch how they interact with clients, other vendors on site, and their models. They can also see how and why they use the equipment they choose to use, and how they position whatever it is they are photographing.
Back in the studio, a great photography mentor will show their mentee how they edit their photos and explain to them what they are doing and why. I have known second shooters who, eventually, broke out on their own and started their own photography company—and that’s the point. To learn from an industry leader and then create their own brand.
Mentoring has become such a popular idea that even Macy’s has opened up a mentoring program focused on minority vendors. Macy’s realized that the majority of their shoppers in urban markets (New York City and Los Angeles for example) are minorities. So they wanted to help smaller, minority vendors, sell their merchandise to their audience.
Macy’s set up a training program where minority vendors learn the basics of big-time retail—and the most promising students get the opportunity to sell through Macy’s.
In November the retailer awarded its first orders to four graduates: two makers of cosmetics targeted at African-American and multi-ethnic women; a designer who makes dresses primarily for Hispanic women; and a designer of plus-size swimsuits. —businesweek.com
Of course, this is on a larger scale, and most Freelanceswitch readers aren’t going to be selling anything at Macy’s—but it’s a paradigm shift that is worth mentioning.
You must have someone in your industry that you look up to—why not see if you can set up a mentoring program of you own? It can be as intensive or as laid back as you see fit. Make sure you and your mentor have a clear understanding of what is required before agreeing to the partnership.
Are you a leader in your industry? Why not consider taking on a mentoree? It is a great way to share your knowledge with a hungry audience—and you might learn something, too.
Photo credit: Some rights reserved by xilius.
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So how do you get around the big elephant in the room: The mentor is training their future competition.
I was trying to connect a friend of mine up with a person I worked with who was the manager of one of those IT shops that help small businesses set up their networks and monitor their PCs. My friend was thinking he wanted to start his own IT business and was trying to see if anyone would mentor him as a free or minimum wage intern. The problem was the IT manager wasn’t interested in hiring or training a future competitor, even for the added benefit of free work.
I once had a client (when I worked as a software consultant) who was deeply offended, as in “you’re stealing from me”, when it was suggested that his people could or should professionally benefit from their work for him. He expected to drain people dry and that ethically his employees should walk out with no net increase in useful knowledge. Mentoring in the sense of this article’s purpose would have been an obscenity to him.
That kind of near sociopathic reasoning seems to float around IT a lot.
While there are certainty jerks out there, my question was directed more towards the question of the intent of the mentee to gain the skills needed with every intention to be a competitor. In areas and/or fields that competition is tight, it only makes sense for a person to not want to mentor someone who wants to be a freelancer. Looking at it from the established person’s view, the person asking to be mentored is the jerk, getting free training and advice for the sole purpose of taking potential business away from the one that trained you.
What you are describing is usually called an intern.
The intern supplies free labor. The benefit to the business is an extra body. In return, the intern receives knowledge. I think that situation accurately describes your initial post.
I consider it strange to label someone who wishes to intern for a business a jerk. That sounds like zero sum thinking.
It never hurts to ask for anything – the other party simply has to say “no interest.”
You are correct Don. I wasn’t saying that the intern was a jerk, just that a talented potential mentor may be inclined to see it that way. I do see the trade off: free labor for training. It’s just that I was hoping for ideas a person could use to overcome this very real conundrum.
To add some clarity… I’m differentiating between an “intern” and “freelancer”. This blog is targeted to freelancers and so the person desiring to be mentored would most likely be a direct competitor to the mentor in the near future. On the other hand, and intern could be assimilated in the mentor’s company, or find another job with another employer. While there still may be some type of indirect competition from the intern, it’s a lot less scary looking to the mentor.
^ “This blog is targeted to freelancers and so the person desiring to be mentored would most likely be a direct competitor to the mentor in the near future.”
Ah, gotcha now. And I mentioned the “solution” to that in my stand alone response – if you want competent mentoring in a freelance field, you generally have to pay for it. Problem pretty much “solved.” Common rates in the copywriting profession for mentoring are $150/hr and up. Although it’s less like freewill mentoring and a lot more like a transaction.
Here’s another elephant in the room: the right mentor may simply be unavailable, and there are plenty of bad mentors around.
A mentor should do it for the right reasons – to help and to build up. And they should have the commensurate experience level to actually help you.
I have been around several toxic individuals who wish to mentor for the wrong reasons: they use the learner’s putative position in relation to them as a platform to ego-trip. Simply put, everything they say becomes “junior, you’re stupid – I know best and I am a shining beacon, once again, because ——”
The reality, I have sadly found, is that nobody in today’s society has the attention to spare for anyone else’s problems. So that gets to one last issue: you can *purchase* mentoring for just about any field that you wish.
Those definitely are toxic individuals, and no one should be a mentor just to have an ego-trip. However, I have found that there are some experienced people who work in a chosen field who want to share advice.
These people may be adjunct instructors or professors who now teach instead of work in the field. Some of these people are getting close to retirement and have no fear of competition.
I think it’s quite sad that you don’t believe anyone in today’s society has the attention to spare for anyone else’s problems. I have not found that to be the case—at least where I live.
“I think it’s quite sad that you don’t believe anyone in today’s society has the attention to spare for anyone else’s problems. ”
I should have been more specific: the best people are bombarded with requests for assistance. They either shut down, or they charge for the service.
This is an ADD afflicted society. In general you have to pay for meaningful advice and a fully engaged *expert* brain.
Most people really don’t know how to mentor and don’t have the patience, either. Note Electrician’s excellent point about debate driving away the mentor.
After helping a handicapped family member get established independently with virtually no meaningful outside advice from any existing eco-system of help (church, etc) I have learned that useful actionable advice is quite rare. It usually costs yah.
I more think of it as apprenticeship than training future competition. There are plenty of ways to make the mentor/mentee relationship mutually beneficial.
For one, the older generation is passing along their knowledge and experience to the next generation, thereby strengthening the field. If you’ve been freelancing for 25 years and there are suddenly a bunch of kids who don’t know what they’re doing hanging up their shingles, it dilutes the field and looks bad for everyone. Mentoring is a great way for a freelancer to build a legacy. I know the names and have been to the websites and workshops of quite a few colleagues–some paid, some not. They’ve all been extremely helpful, friendly, and liberal with great advice for a freelance rookie.
Another potential benefit for the mentor: profitable work-sharing. Many experienced and respected freelancers are often offered more work than they can handle, and at times have to turn clients away. This is never an easy thing to do. By mentoring, freelancers can pass this extra work off to their apprentices and split the fee if they so desire.
I’d also argue that most apprentices, if treated with the proper care and respect, are going to remember who gave them their start. I’ll never understand how freelancers who take the “every man for himself” track stay afloat. You can never, ever have too many friends in this business. A good mentor isn’t creating a competitor, he/she is bringing a new ally into the fold. I have the cards and know the specialties of any number of colleagues, and would happily pass along work to them that doesn’t fit with the direction my business has taken. Conversely, you can bet I won’t remember the names of those sour few who were rude enough to turn me away when I asked for help.
This was the answer I was looking for. Makes lots of sense.
Can I add another Elephant to the mix …
Most people become a Freelancer to be Free. To never work for “the man” again and have absolute control over their life and destiny.
However, in taking on a mentor you run the risk of being guided by them and following their guidance in such a way that they effectively can become your boss (in a way). To avoid this you really need to develop a mentor relationship where you’re confident in debating the options and what you are going to do next. This process of debating is super difficult. Debate too much and the mentor is going to walk away thinking “this person simply doesn’t want to listen”, don’t debate enough and you’re going to walk away thinking “I’m just a bunny doing whatever this guy says”.
Food for thought.
@Electrician: Nice elephant!
Actually, you may be right! Respect and trust are mandatory for the the mentoring relationship to build up. The mentor should not be prescriptive, the mentee (protegé) is the master of his development. A lack of training about the mentor’s role explains many cases you bring as examples, be they fictional or real.
We should differenciate informal (spontaneaous) mentoring relationship and formal ones which offers training and followups.
Bad mentors may be really toxic for the mentee. In this case, the freelancer mentee is better alone!
By the way, in Canada, there is a mentoring program built by the Canadian Youth Business Foundation (www.cybf.ca) aimed to the entrepreneurs. Take a look at what a good mentoring program can be and how it can helps entrepreneurs to succeed. Freelancers are entrepreneurs, in my opinion.
Cheers!
There is plenty of information online and there is no reason for mentoring someone in my opinion. The only way I would mentor someone is, if they lived in another country. Also been there done that, mentored someone but the relationship went sour.
Yes Don i an agree with you.you are right.thank you
I think it just comes down to this saying “A people hire A people and B people hire C or D people”
If your good at what you do and your confident in yourself then you won’t be worried about the people coming up behind you. Because your already two steps ahead of them.
I don’t know how many motion graphic designers there are here but take a look at Videocopilot.net the owner Andrew Kramer freely gives up a huge amount of information for free, yet I’m pretty sure he’s not worrying about it costing him jobs.
It’s great if you can pass on things you’ve learned, but just remember it was your brains that came up with it in the first place and that’s something that will take people a long time to learn. You can teach someone a technique but you can’t teach someone how you came up with that technique.
Does that make sense?
Cool article. I included it in my latest issue of Freelancing Weekly (http://freelancingweekly.com/issue-10) a once weekly, free newsletter of curated tips, articles and resources for Freelancers.
I just wanted to say that you need to differenciate mentor and coach. The former helps the freelancer to BE a freelancer and acts as a role model, as for the latter, he trains the freelancer on a specific topic or competency. Both are complementary.
And a further difference I make: the mentoring activity is volunteer compared to the coach which is a profession by it self, thus he is paid.
In response to Don Wallace : I have been around several toxic individuals who wish to mentor for the wrong reasons: they use the learner’s putative position in relation to them as a platform to ego-trip. Simply put, everything they say becomes “junior, you’re stupid – I know best and I am a shining beacon, once again, because ——”
–> Actually, you are right! A good mentor should be there for good reasons, let say: encourage a person to fulfill his/her potentiel, to help them to be confident, to let them shine their own knownledge and experience, to assist freelancers in their professional and even personal development, because we should see people as a whole, personal life maybe disturbing the professional one.
In a formal mentoring set up, mentors should be selected on the basis of strict criteria: including their ethical conscience. They should also be there FOR the mentee (protegé), not their own profesionel advancement.
That’s not most of what mentoring could be, but fundamentally, mentoring is a specific relationship which is different from coaching.
There is a LOT of confusion between coaching and mentoring… unfortunately.
And NOT everyone CAN be a good mentor…
Take a look at this book : Designing Workplace Mentoring Programs: An Evidence-Based Approach, by Tammy D. Allen, Lisa M. Finkelstein, and Mark L. Poteet, Wiley Ed.