I credit a lot of my success to mentors. Since I’ve revealed this on stage, the #1 question I get is:

“How Do I Find a Mentor?”

Ironically, it’s a tough question for me to answer, but I’m going to try.

Let’s first understand what a mentor is.

A mentor is not someone who teaches you everything about everything. Usually I have more than one mentor at a time. I currently have more than 3 just in the world of business.

A mentor is someone who has “been there and done that.” They know the ropes and are willing to guide you. They are your lead advisor.

Here are some ground-rules when it comes to finding a mentor:

1. Do not PAY for the mentor. Anyone you are paying is likely not truly a mentor.
If you pay them, do it be because YOU want to. If they have an up-front fee - forget about it.

2. It is OK to surpass your mentor.
I have surpassed many of those who taught me in the past. It’s not offensive, it means they did a great job.

Luckily, my mentors today are way ahead of me so I have some running to do.

3. Find a mentor for your specific situation.
Just because you already have a “business mentor” does not mean you cannot get another one in a more specific role.

My example/

I am currently looking to write a book. My mentor has not written one before. So, what did I do?

I found someone who has, he has written many. He is well connected and cares about my success.

(We already had our first consultation call and no, he did not charge me nor ask for any money).

4. You need a personal relationship.
Don’t go around asking people to “be my mentor.” That’s not how it works. A mentor comes out more naturally. You need a personal relationship with them.

A great mentor becomes a great friend and even a part of the family. They have to do it for the pure joy of teaching - no other side-benefit.

5. Mentoring relationships GROW…
Again, you don’t walk in, sign a contract and walk out with a mentor. Mentorship is not a business deal, it’s a relationship.

My best mentors “just happened.” A better way of saying that is that they started off slowly and as our relationship grew, so did the amount of advice.

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The Mentors In My Life
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My Parents - Had it not been for the great discipline my father instilled, I would not be who I am today. He stressed education and forced me to always be ahead.

I am who I am today because of my parents.

Copywriter - I learned copywriting and the essence of selling through words from a very popular and generous man.

Not only did I not pay him - he paid ME for the work I did for him. I am forever grateful to him.

Salesmanship & Business - An amazing man who I happened to re-connect with a few days ago! He taught me how to speak on stage, sell a customer and built my confidence.

He was the main reason I had the guts to leave my pre-medical studies and enter business.

Big Business - After graduating from College, I connected with a brilliant and wise man (only old enough to be my brother)! He has expanded my vision and taught me how to run a “big business.”

He’s become a great friend, part of my family and a trusted confidant.

Top Selling Author - As of today, my mentor helping me write my first book.

** There have been many others along the way, the above are the ones that made the biggest impact on my life.

How Did I Find Each of These?

Copywriter - Connected through a random friend. He was impressed with my work online and offered me a part-time virtual (work at home) job.

I earned 3 times my friends and learned 100 times as much.

He started as a boss and quickly became a mentor.

Salesmanship & Business - I joined a company as a Financial Planner at 18 and he was my Marketing Director.

In this case he was “forced” to forge a relationship with me. I was awed with his success and knowledge. He and I became friends immediately and slowly I began turning to him for all of life’s advice.

Big Business - He was my professor in Entrepreneurship 101. Luck would have it, he was also the Director of a business incubator program I got admitted to.

Again, he was “assigned” to help me by the University. However, our relationship went way beyond the 9 to 5 day. He soon saw potential in me and found great joy in helping me.

Top Selling Author - He fell into this role as a friend. He and I travel in the same business circles for the last three years.

I needed help and he offered. One day, he may need help and I’ll be there for him.

The Steps To Finding a Mentor:

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Step 1 - Build Relationships
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Be in as many places as you can be and BUILD RELATIONSHIPS. Treat everyone as if they can teach you something (because they really can).

Treat everyone as a potential mentor, the right one will emerge automatically.

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Step 2 - Ask Questions
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I have news; you don’t know it all. Actually, you barely know anything.

The best thing you can do is admit that today - your rate of growth will go up exponentially.

The good news is that you don’t NEED to know it all or anything at all for that matter. Use your network. Ask questions.

The more questions you ask, the more answers you will get. Watch who answers your questions and look for patterns - your mentor emerges before you.

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Step 3 - Give Back
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Never take, take, take. Learn about your mentor and show respect. Give back to them (any way you can) and show them you appreciate them.

This is where the relationship building takes off.

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Step 4 - Show Results
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The quickest way to lose a mentor is to never listen.

If you ask, ask, ask and never implement their guidance - you’re 2 skips away from losing them.

The biggest reward a mentor can have is to see their student succeed after implementing their advice.

Never ask the same question twice!

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In Summary
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Finding a mentor is a process, not an over-night practice. It’s not easy, but that is what makes it worth it.

Get out there, build relationships, ask questions and give back. Every day you do this, you’re 10 steps closer to finding your perfect mentor.

But, remember, mentors are useless if you are not ready to take action. So, really, making sure you’re ready should be step 1.

Popularity: 18% [?]

Ok, how many of you have heard the whole “secret” technique or the “law of attraction.” It has many names, but basically it’s…

“You attract whatever you want. Think about it, believe in it, feel it and you’ll attract it.”

This works for the good and the bad. If you’re negative and afraid something will happen, well…it’ll happen.

If you’re positive and can really truly imagine something good happening…well…it’ll happen!

Honestly, it sounds like a bunch of silly *self help* mumbo jumbo…

Yes, I hear ya. I didn’t believe it for a while too. The natural argument is…”well, great, I’m thinking…Lamborghini…oops, opened my eyes, where is it?”

Ok..seriously…if you’ve ever done that - what are you, in 3rd grade? Cut it out…

It works…it’s amazing

I’ve been teasing my team the last few months that it seems that WHATEVER we ask for or WHOEVER we ask for (to add to the team), just minutes/hours/days later, it plops in our laps.

I’ve been seeing this the last few months on my professional AND personal side and it’s got me real confused, but Im not complaining.

Today, someone said to me “Everything Just Works Out For You…”

Ooo if they only knew my life and back-story. But, I’ll agree with them right now. If you look at my life from the outside, it really DOES feel like “everything just works out for me and that I’m lucky…”

I don’t think it has anything to do with luck. I just think that after years of work, I’ve finally aligned my brain-waves with the Universe and am able to control my own destiny!

…No I have not lost my head, I really do believe this.

Let me give you an example - the Free Car I won…

Ok, you read the last post right? You saw that I won a free car recently…

You probably won’t believe this. Just a WEEK before I won this car, I was in Atlanta at a seminar and I was speaking to my friend Russell Brunson.

Russell was the first one who ran an affiliate contest where he gave away a Free Hummer H3 (car). In those days, I didn’t have the capacity to truly compete. Today, I can!

So, I spent the entire 3 days with him bugging him to run another contest for a free car, any car - I told him “I’ll do anything it takes, but I’m going to win that car.”

…And…

Less than a week later, the Universe provides me precisely what I had been looking for. An affiliate contest that had a free car giveaway!

This is just one example…

There are many more…

I wanted a VP of Marketing - 1 week later the perfect candidate contacted ME.

I wanted to travel the world - 2009, I’ve barely been home.

I’ve wanted to meet celebrities and bollywood stars for years - Now, when I’m in Mumbai, I see them regularly (weekly almost) and we even dine at the same restaurants. I know people that have LIVED in Mumbai their entire lives and not had the same success.

Make The Universe Your Best Friend…

I haven’t exactly figured out how to do this yet, but I’m working on it.

To start, get rid of negative thoughts right away - you’re attracting all the bad things you think about.

Next…anything you want - IMAGINE yourself already having it. Close your eyes, feel it, smell it, taste it - really embed yourself in the fantasy and convince yourself you have it.

…just like little kids do with their invisible friends…

** I noticed that I do this a lot (imagine myself having it already) and I feel pretty confident that it’s the main reason I’m starting to get whatever I ask for.

Beware of your own thoughts…

Yes, the next time you think anything - you better be careful. Put it through a filter and stop your nega tive thinking.

You’re actually shooting yourself in your own foot every time you think negatively.

So…cut it out “Mr. Glass Half Empty!”

Popularity: 24% [?]

A shout out to my friend, Barry Goss (from LWLWorldWide) for sending me this video…

It absolutely sums up my attitude towards life in 46 seconds - I guess no where better to get it from than Rocky (the fighter) himself!

I couldn’t agree more Rocky Balboa!

Popularity: 14% [?]

Yahoo! recently published a Forbes article that’s a lot of fun. Find out if you have what it takes to become a BILLIONAIRE…

Click here to read the entire article, but here’s the summary…

The article evaluates 657 self-made billionaires to find COMMON traits in all of them and they found some “funky” commonalities.

I compare myself to their findings, let’s see what my chances are…

1. Billionaires had parents that were good at math…

==> My dad rocks at math! (checkmark)

2. More were born in the FALL than any other season…

==> DOH! I was born in June…

3. More than 20% didn’t do college…

==> I SWITCHED degrees and didn’t pay attention in college…does that count? (half-checkmark?)

4. 11 started working at Goldman Sachs

==> Screw that, I was making more money by end of college than any job. So, I would never have taken a job anywhere!

5. Many had major early failures…

==> My first venture online miserably failed!  (Checkmark!)

6. Many were members of the secret society - Skull and Bones

==> Still waiting for my invite : /

So…if these 6 points were the only thing that determines whether I’m going to be a Billionaire, I have a 42% chance of being a Billionaire in my life…

Gotta get back to work!

Popularity: 11% [?]

Here’s the back-story, sorry to make everyone wait so long to hear about this - but the last few days have been nuts.

So, I went into the event expecting to speak on Saturday but found out that I was speaking on Friday. Even though I needed to still make my entire presentation, I was OK with this - that is until I saw the speaker line-up…

Jay Abraham (Marketing Legend)
Eben Pagan (GetAltitude.com)
Jim Collins (Wrote Good To Great)
Brad Smart  (Wrote Top Grading)
Gary Vaynerchuk (TV.WineLibrary.com - a recent SENSATION)
Chet Holmes (Tony’s Partner)

…even other AMAZING speakers…

Basically this event had some of the world’s most RENOWN business specialists and all amazing speakers. When I say amazing speakers, I mean speakers who have been doing it for years - full of energy and absolutely mesmerizing to watch.

The first day I got there, I stepped in to list to Eben and Gary and was blown away.

I will admit - I got freaking NERVOUS.

Now, I’m not scared of speaking - have done it many times. I wasn’t even bothered by the fact that this was the largest group (500+) I had ever spoken to. However, the caliber of speakers I had to live up to was beyond my wildest imagination.

The honor and prestige that I had been rewarded by being able to speak at this event finally hit me and I came close to *bugging out*.

Thank you to my amazing friends and my team who all encouraged me and really rooted me on!

Long story short, I got prepped and was supposed to speak at 1:30 PM Friday…

Well…from 1:30 it went to 3:00, then it got pushed to 4:00, then it got pushed to 7:00 and eventually it landed at 8:00 PM!

So What?  Why Did Speaking So Late Worry Me?

Well, a few reasons:

1. I have a speaking ritual where I do not eat anything before I speak - the entire day. So, going until 8 PM ET, I was starving and low on energy!

2. I was mentally prepared to speak by 1:00 PM and dragging that to 8:00 PM was very psychologically tyring.

3. The last speaker of the day is VERY key. You have to make sure the audience leaves incredibly motivated and excited.

4. The crowd had been in there since 8 AM and was TIRED. I’d have to do some magic to really energize them.

Having said that, I was up for the challenge - I just had to “bring it.” I didn’t know what I was going to do, but I’d do SOMETHING…

The Most Amazing Crowd I’ve Ever Seen

I’ve spoken at MANY events and have never seen a crowd like this in my life.

Firstly, there were a good 500+ people in the room, all who paid a VERY good price to be there.

Secondly, I have never seen the kind of energy they had. They were jumping up and down and just incredibly motivated, hungry and excited.

Thirdly, they made their speakers feel like rockstars - literally…

So, thanks to the crowd - my job was MUCH easier.

The Time To Speak Came…

And, so the time came…the host announced me and the crowd stood up and began to go nuts. Remember, 80% of this crowd doesn’t even know who I am, but they were just as excited anyways!

I ran up on stage and the adrenaline and the incredibly welcoming just TOOK ME OVER.

I brought my A game…

Something happened - I just snapped into it and I ROCKED THE HOUSE.

I don’t want to sound arrogant, but I had my best performance ever.

1. I was funny
2. I was ENERGETIC

3. I had the crowd 100% tuned in.
4. I delivered amazing content they had never seen before.
5. I pumped them up and entertained them…

They actually gave me an ENCORE - asking me to stay on longer and keep speaking at the end (I was brought on the next day to participate in a panel as well).

My First Standing Ovation Ever!

Boy did it FEEL GOOD. This was my first time in my life that I saw 500 people jump to their feet and cheer me as I came off the stage.

They were stepping into the isle and high-fiving me and just going nuts.

After the event finished that day, I had to actually FIGHT my way out of the room. I was mobbed with people thanking me, appreciating me, congratulating me and asking question after question!

As the event continued, I must have had at least 200 people individually approach me to thank me and say what an amazing job I did.

A few even compared me to Gary (who was by far the best speaker in my opinion). That was a true honor for me!

The Buzz Got To Tony…

All in all, the buzz spread. The entire staff and people from Tony’s company were very happy with me and the exact words used were:

“This is just the beginning my friend…”

So, I’m happy to report that this event could not have gone ANY better than it did. I’m incredibly excited and cannot wait to see where it leads to from now.

Thank you for your support - you all rock!

Popularity: 17% [?]