Now that you’ve decided to pursue a career as a remote worker, you might be excited to go at it alone and build a name for yourself. Navigating uncharted waters is going to be a challenge though. There are so many things to think about so, sometimes, you need someone to show you the ropes.

Why You Need a Mentor

If you’re completely new to the world of virtual work, you may not even know how to create a resume, prepare for a video interview, optimize your portfolio or grow your network. There’s nothing wrong with learning these through online tutorials but it’s better to have an actual person hold your hand every step of the way.

And even if you’ve been working online for years, it’s hard to say that you’ve mastered everything.

• For starters, technology continues to progress, so there’ll always be innovations to replace or refine old ways. It’s tricky to always stay on top of these to stay competitive on your own.
  
  
• More importantly, it’s good to have someone with a different viewpoint when facing difficult decisions.

Having a mentor helps resolve the issues mentioned above. They’re like a teacher who’ll set aside time to chat, share how they accomplished their goals, cheer you on, and give you advice and feedback.

Mentors can push you towards professional growth which may lead to a promotion, new job, or better work-life balance.

How to Find a Good Mentor

The main purpose of having a mentor is to have someone guide you and set you on the path to success. Thus, you shouldn’t pick just anyone to teach you. Here we have ten tips to help you choose your mentor wisely.

Determine what your goals are

Think about what you’d like to achieve professionally over the next few months. See if they would require you to switch departments or employers or not.

Make your objectives as specific as possible so it’ll be easier for you to find a mentor who’ll guide you towards your dreams.

Look for a person you want to emulate

Just because someone has the position you want, it doesn’t mean they should automatically be your top choice. Pick an accomplished person with skills and strengths that you’d like to have.

Rather than someone you want to copy, they should be someone who wants you to develop your own style with their guidance.

Find someone to open your perspectives

A mentor is someone who will help you look at problems from a different perspective so you can think up solutions on your own. They don’t necessarily give you concrete steps on how to solve an issue.

They’ll tell you about a similar experience and what they learned from the situation instead.

Study your chosen candidate(s)

Do your research about the person before attempting to contact them. Follow their blog, if they have one. Get to know the people surrounding them.

If they’re not from the same organisation as you, study their public persona and check if it matches up with their reputation. Be realistic with your expectations of them.

Figure out what you can offer

You must realise that mentoring shouldn’t go one way. Nobody would want to keep giving their time and advice without getting anything in return.

While you may not be able to aid them with their work directly, there may be aspects wherein they’d appreciate your assistance so don’t be afraid to ask.

Get tuned to the signs

It’s said that if you keep hearing about someone in a short span of time, you should look into them more. There’s a reason why people would recommend to you a certain podcast, book or course, especially if it’s not already famous.

The creator or author may be on to something and might be worth making your mentor.

Try looking sideways

In some cases, the best people you can learn from are already right beside you. For instance, they may not be an entrepreneur or a manager, but they’re the top in sales which you’re striving to be.

Your colleagues who are excelling at their work can serve as the perfect mentor if you’re new to a role or industry.

Be ready to commit

Despite what marketing spiels for short courses might tell you, you can’t be mentored in a single weekend. It takes time and effort to become a better version of yourself.

Thus, you have to be prepared to be taught in the long run, come hell or high water, as your potential mentor would ask you to.

Approach them organically

Successful people get plenty of requests every day so they’re likely to ignore you if you ask them to be your mentor right off the bat. Build trust with them in an organic manner.

For example, if they’re an affiliate of your employer, maybe you can ask for their feedback on your work at first.

Know the difference

If you’re after a raise, promotion, or job directly from the person, you’re actually after a sponsor rather than a mentor. The latter is someone who is more about giving you advice on how to do better at your current role or how to level up towards your dream position.

In contrast, sponsors are often more suitable for a shorter period.

How Remote Workmate Can Help

A lot of people think that they can just approach a leader they admire to become their mentor. The truth is that finding the perfect mentor is more complicated than that. There are plenty of things to consider before even making the request as we’ve discussed above.

If you’ve already studied the tips we’ve shared, you might be wondering how we at Remote Workmate can help. Being an offshore staffing agency that has been in the business for years, we’ve met and managed many virtual assistants like you.

With the resources we provide, we can point you in the right direction when it comes to working online. For example, we can teach you how you can better appeal to our clients so you can increase your chances of getting hired.

We can be a mentor to you, in a sense, so check out the rest of our website to learn more.