Welcome to 7 Minute Sunday on the Switch Creator Quick Podcast. I'm your host, Ayana Angel, and we are going to spend the next seven minutes together, getting you filled up with inspiration and goodness to get your mind primed to achieve greatness as you enter the week ahead. On this beautiful summer sunny Sunday, say that three times, that's a bit of a tongue twister, we're gonna be talking about the reverse mentor. So yes, it's true.
Sometimes it is a bit challenging to approach the topic of getting a mentor, finding a mentor. And when I say approach the topic, I mean more so you getting out there, getting in the streets and finding yourself a mentor that you think will be able to properly guide you in a space where you feel like you could use some additional help, some leverage, some insight, and some experience from someone who is seasoned, who has more skin in the game than you. So I understand, looking for a mentor can be something that causes pause, it can be something that gives you anxiety, it can be something that you feel a little bit discouraged by because a lot of people are not quick to take on mentees, especially the people who are highly sought after because of their success and because of the huge strides that they've made in their industry, they may have a little bit of time and that little bit of time may not be ideally spent with a mentee. It's not that they, you know, don't want to give back.
That's not always the case. Sometimes it just feels a little bit daunting to sign up to be someone's mentor. It feels like pressure. It feels like you're gonna have this weight on your shoulders now because you're going to be somewhat responsible for guiding this human being and the results that they get whether positive or negative will be in some way, shape, or form tied back to you.
That is the reason that when a lot of people go and reach out and ask someone to be their mentor, if it's someone that they don't really know well and haven't already established a relationship with, they may be met with an unfortunate note or I don't have the time or some other excuse that basically says, I'm not gonna be your mentor or I can't be your mentor. So I want to offer something else for you. What about, let's think about the idea of the reverse mentor. Maybe this is the first time you're hearing this because I think I made it up.
I've never heard of it before but I think it's a really good concept and a really good idea. So the reverse mentor would entail you looking for a person that you admire and that you can add value to by giving them your insight, maybe your youthful ear, maybe your understanding on a more basic level of the business that they're operating in. And when I say basic level, that more so means ground floor level. Sometimes when people's careers continue to excel to a high point, it's hard for them to stay in touch and keep their ear to the street if you will, so that they know what's happening on the ground level, so that they know what's happening with the consumer or the typical end user or the buyer of the product or service or the standard consumer of that business that they're operating in.
Sometimes it's hard to stay connected as you continue to rise through the ranks, as you continue to grow in your business and get bigger and have more access to higher circles of influence, you may not have your ear to the street, you may not have that grounded perspective that you can tap into from the everyday person and that's where you come in with the idea of the reverse mentor. So what you're doing is you're looking to offer your insight on industry trends that are always changing obviously on people on topics that are being discussed and talked about at a ground level. This scenario does not require you begging for a mentor, but rather it offers that potential mentor, someone that has an insight that maybe they didn't even know they needed or maybe they've been toying with the idea of needing to get back in touch with where they started but they don't really know how. So then you come in and you offer this person a mutually beneficial relationship.
You'll be learning from them and they'll be learning from you. So now you're not walking into coffee meetings or lunch meetings or quick 30-minute chats and catch-up sessions in their office with this expectation of something to gain from them. You're walking in with an agenda as well of something that you can give. You're walking in saying hey let's exchange information.
So the the meeting now takes on a new sense of importance for this potential mentor and potential mentor mentee relationship changes. Now you're giving them something of value. You're increasing your chances of developing a relationship with this person because now you're not walking up to them with your handout saying hey can you give me your time and exchange you'll be just doing a good deed and pouring into someone else. No now you're saying hey can you give me your time and I'll give you mine.
But I will caution you do your research make sure that you have something of value to add to this person before you propose this type of situation. And when you propose this situation you don't necessarily have to say hey I'm looking to offer you a mutually beneficial mentor mentee relationship. No you can find someone in your industry or someone in an industry that you would love to be in an established relationship with and then you just approach that person with your insight and you say hey I I've been watching the trends I've been surveying people I've been attending certain events and seminars and this is what people are talking about on the ground level. I would love to set up a time to have coffee with you and chat more about this because I'm sure that with your position being XYZ sometimes it's hard for you to tap into what's going on on the surface level of things and I'd love to have that conversation with you.
The idea is you want to be respectful you want to approach the situation not in a way that you're saying hey I have something that you need but you're offering yourself to this person. You're saying I can show up for you if this is an area that you've been looking to tap more into I can be your person to tap into I can show up for you that's the main thing that you want to get across so I'll leave it up to you how you approach this but I will say starting with finding people on LinkedIn could be a great idea it could be a great resource for establishing that relationship or maybe you go back to someone that you have already proposed a mentor-mentee relationship with and come at it with this angle give it a new fresh life and maybe you'll be surprised because they just might be a lot more receptive to the idea of leading with you to the idea of having regular conversations with you but I will also say this just tread lightly in that sometimes people do not want to be obligated to this long-term relationship so go into it having that first conversation pitching that first meeting that first coffee meetup that first meeting at their office something of that nature don't make it too heavy in the beginning make sure it's light but make sure that you're presenting and letting them know what you can offer and what you can bring to the table so I hope that you get out there and try this idea of the reverse mentor I hope that it works really well for you and definitely sliding my DMs if you try it out and and you have some success with it and even if you don't have success with it sliding my DMs and let me know because I'm very curious to see how this will work out for you all as always I hope you have an amazing week this week and be sure to tune in for seven minutes Sunday every week and as always keep killing it