Wendy Day mentors about 20 people and won't take more unless she has capacity. She says cold emails don't work because mentors need to know your career stage, goals, and values first. She only mentors mid-career people committed long-term to music, not beginners, and won't mentor for free on topics she gets paid to consult on.
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Hey guys, so, um, mentoring. Let's talk about mentoring. All of a sudden I've got so many of you reaching out to me asking me to mentor you, and while I do believe that everybody needs a mentor, I'm just not sold on the fact that you can randomly reach out to somebody that you don't know and just out of the blue ask them to mentor you when without building some sort of a relationship. Um, first of all, I mentor about 20 people right now, so I am not looking for more people to mentor. I'm looking to get some people off of my plate so that I have a little bit more free time so that I can take on more clients or do more for my company, or maybe find a mentor for myself. Um, I do believe in mentoring, and I think it's really important that on both sides, like as somebody that mentors people and as somebody that is mentored by others, I think it's important to do both, like to play both roles, because I learned so much when I'm helping you guys. Like, as even just in putting these videos together, like I have learned so much, it's insane. And I love that. I love how much I'm learning, and It's also forced me to get better at what I do and to do more research so that I can turn around and pass on knowledge to you. And that's really what mentoring is. When I'm mentoring somebody in real life, I'm interacting with them and I'm learning about things that they know a lot about that they're willing to teach me. And then I'm giving them knowledge of things that I'm actually physically doing and that come easy for me so that I can just share the knowledge and share the wealth. Having said that, I don't think it makes sense for you to reach out to somebody just out of the blue when they don't know who you are, they don't know if you're going to be a waste of their time, they don't know where you are in your life or your career, and say, hey, mentor me. For what I do, I'm 28 years into my career, so for me to mentor somebody that's at year number one is really hard for me because it's so basic like, I don't even remember being that new in the music industry. Where I can really be of help to somebody is when they've got an artist that they're managing, or they've got an artist that's already making money and has a buzz. I can be so helpful in helping them get to the next level. So for somebody to reach out to me that may be very new to management, or hasn't even started managing yet and is thinking about managing, or somebody who's just starting their career, it doesn't make sense to ask somebody at my level for help because I'm just too far advanced to really be of value to you. And the whole point of mentoring is to give back and bring value to somebody. Um, also for me, I want to work with people that have my ethics and my morals and You're probably watching my videos, so you've got a really good idea of how I think and who I am. But remember, I'm not watching your videos. I'm not learning who you are from sitting in front of YouTube. So when you reach out to me, it's better for you to start building a relationship with me and then let it grow into a mentor-mentee relationship than it is to just send me an email and say, "Hi, my name is so-and-so and we think alike and I'm looking for a mentor and you'd be great." Okay, that's not helpful. I don't understand where you are in your career or why I'd be helpful to you or where I can help you. The last thing I wanna do is waste my time. Like, time is more valuable to me than money. So the last thing I wanna do is waste it. And if I don't know who you are and where you've been and where you're going and what your goals are, I don't know that I can add value to what you're doing. Um, and then also factor in that I get paid to consult artists. I get paid to help artists build a successful career. I get paid to teach them how to make money with their music. So if you reach out to me and you ask me to mentor you in the exact thing that I'm doing to make a living, that's kind of butt because I make a living and feed my family doing this. So for you to ask me to mentor you because you don't have a proper budget and you can't afford to pay me, that doesn't make a whole lot of sense. All that to say, all I'm saying is mentoring is really, really, really key and it's really important, but you've got to choose the right person And you've got to be right for the mentor. It's not just choosing somebody because they can help you get further in your career. I know I can help you get further in your career. That's not rocket science. What I don't know is if I can add value to who you are as a human being, if I can help you get to the next level in your evolution, not just of your career but your life. And that's important to me. I want to work with people that are going to do this for a living, not people that are going to come into this industry, find out how hard it is, and then go do something else. So I'm looking to work with people that have been doing this for a lot of years and are trying to get to the next level, not somebody that's brand spanking new. So do your research on people, let them do their research on you, get to know people before you ask them to mentor you, and maybe even let it grow naturally. There's a lot of a lot of people that I mentor and that mentor me that really are my friends. They're people that I've built a relationship with over years. They know how I think. They've seen how I react. I've helped them or they've helped me numerous times, and it just makes sense for it to grow into a mentoring relationship for both of us. And, um, I guess that's really all I have to say on the topic of mentoring. Read as many books as you can. Watch as many videos as you can. Like, In a way, Neil Patel is my mentor. Jack Canfield is my mentor. Gary Vee is my mentor. But they're not people that mentor me in real life. They're not people that I spend time with or that I meet with once a week, you know, that hold me accountable to what I'm doing. They're people that I learn from and grow from just by watching what they have to do. And what's funny is I said, like, I had said enough about mentoring. Look, I'm still going. So blah, blah, blah, mentoring. Go find somebody that you can build a relationship with and let it grow naturally into a mentoring relationship. Okay guys, thanks for tuning in.
