Why You Never Have to say Goodbye to your Mentor

I’ve spent twenty hours working with my mentor over a five week period and it’s been great! When you work with a good mentor you won’t feel so alone with whatever endeavor it is they’re helping you to undertake. In my case it was mounting a crowdfunding campaign for Obeah Opera on Rockethub. It wasn’t an easy project to take on. Trying to raise $12,000 in about 8 weeks without a brand and ad buys was challenging. However, in order to launch on International Women’s Day, the team and I jumped into action and shot the main appeal video for the Rockethub page, set up the page and waited until it was approved. Then we set up the profile pictures and banners for Facebook, Twitter and YouTube and a content calendar to plan posts for Facebook and Twitter.  Before we new it March 8^th was here and we launched. We didn’t have any Goods/Rewards on the page but we planned on getting them up sooner than later.

One of the first things my mentor helped me to do was to test the usability of the Rockethub page. He put his money where his mouth was and made a donation to see what that process was like. As a result of that test we discovered that there was a 30% surcharge on all donations in Canadian funds. When we contacted Rockethub they informed us as they did my mentor that it was due to the exchange rate. Despite the fact that Rockethub is a global crowdfunding site and you could choose what currency to fund the project in, transactions were conducted in USD. When the Canadian dollar was on par with the U.S. this was never an issue but now that the Canadian dollar was low, we suffered the consequences.   The benefit of that early test donation helped us alert our potential supporters to the fact that there was a surcharge. As my mentor pointed out very accurately, it was best to let potential contributors know about the surcharge as we didn’t want to have any negative blow back on the campaign.

The other helpful strategy that my mentor suggested I do as one of the project leaders on the page was to ask ten of my closest friends and colleagues to evaluate the Rockthub site and in the process of doing so actually make a contribution. This was instrumental in getting the campaign going and I owe my friends and colleagues a latte and then some, when I see them again.

My mentor helped me get the campaign off the ground and is continuing to help once the rewards are uploaded to the Rockethub page by emailing his influencers to help get the word out before the campaign is over on May 3, 2015. My mentor and I will continue our mentor/mentee relationship after the campaign is over as I have no plans of every saying goodbye to him any time soon and the feeling is mutual!

How Not To Have A Tortured Mentor Mentee Relationship

Peggy and Don, Mad Men Photo: AMC

Okay yes, I chose this image above because Mad Men is beginning its final journey to the end of the series starting this Sunday. I also chose this image because it’s a perfect representation of what my mentor mentee relationship is NOT like. There’s no torture, and by that I mean emotional torture.

The mentor mentee relationship that Don and Peggy had is of course fictional but it was set during the 60’s during a time when women were trying to break into the world of Mad Men. Women had to put up with a lot and prove their worth tens times over their male counterparts just to get a seat at the table and until they did so they had no power. It was a man’s world.  Jumping forward to real life in the 21^st century I think that women are still trying to get a place at the boardroom table but at least they’re not doing so in the brutish 60’s.

A mentor mentee relationship can only work if there is mutual respect between both parties from the beginning.   I think Don and Peggy had that at one point but it certainly got lost along the way. I know that I have been very fortunate to experience sage counsel, and unconditional support because my mentor believed in my crowdfunding campaign for Obeah Opera. But what was most important was that he also believed in me.

What I’m learning in a very unique way is to see myself through my mentor’s eyes. When you’re venturing into new territory as I am i.e., going from lifestyle TV producing to being a Digital Producer, Digital Strategist, and a Community Manager all at the same time, you might have doubts.   What’s great about my mentor is that he is able to bring my attention to the fact that there have been achievements, like becoming a featured project on the main page of Rockethub. He forces me to acknowledge the gains I’ve made in a very short period of time with little resources and that these wins are a direct result of the work I’m doing. My response to this now is to acknowledge the wins and at the same time thank my mentor for his guidance and support.

Can Influencers Turn Your Campaign Around?

I’ve just completed the first task assigned by my mentor. I approached a group of close friends to do a user test on my Rockethub crowdfunding page for the musical theatre production Obeah Opera. Of the thirteen emails I sent out I have now received seven responses and out of the seven, six people contributed on the Rockethub page. I’m now about to go into the next phase of my strategy and that is getting influencers to share the link to the Obeah Opera Rockethub page with their community.

My mentor and I began creating a list of ten influencers who we could approach to share the Rockethub page with their communities on social media. So far I have a list of five people but instead of waiting until I reached ten my mentor encouraged me to start writing my email requests right away to the people that I had. As a result I drafted one main email that I can edit based on who my influencer is and my relationship with them. It took a couple of drafts but my mentor was on hand to vet them and guide me in my approach. What I was asking of them had to be clear. How I presented that ask in the email had to be easy for them to turnaround and execute.   So the ask was to share our crowdfunding and social media links with their community and I provided those links one right after the other. I have already sent out five emails and I’ve compiled an additional four people so I’m one short of ten. My objective is to complete my list and send the remaining emails to my influencers before I meet with my mentor again next week.

Because we now have only 37 days left in our crowdfunding campaign to raise $12,000 and we are only 2% funded, my mentor suggested that we plan a second working meeting this week to actively send out the rest of those emails from my list and I will see if he’s willing to start sending out to his list.   Yes, he didn’t make me do the list alone. He is so supportive of this campaign that he is also willing to use his contacts to help get the $ total moving upward on Rockethub. I have a great mentor on my side. He takes time out of his busy schedule to devote to my cause. And he’s not just prepared to give advice but to champion a project using his own resources and contacts because he believes in it. Now that’s what I call paying it forward.

Mentor + Mentee = AWESOME

Oprah Winfrey with mentor Barbara Walters  Image: MM.LaFleur Blog

The mentor mentee relationship is a special one. On one side of it you have the seasoned professional who is usually very busy, but just might have some time to give back by being a mentor to someone who they think has got talent. And then there’s you, the mentee who’s learning a new profession or skill and is hopeful that the mentor can provide the knowledge, guidance and contacts that will enable you to make an easier entry into your industry of choice.  If all goes well and you hit it off, the mentor mentee relationship can last for your entire professional life.

In my case I am a mentee who is changing careers from TV line producing to interactive media management with a focus on digital and content strategy. I’m looking for a mentor who will acknowledge my previous work and engage me in my new endeavor, a crowdfunding page on Rocket Hub for the all female a cappella theatre production Obeah Opera (OO). I’m seeking insights and strategy to help me successfully drive users to my crowdfunding page to raise $12,000 for Obeah Opera. I will be utilizing OO’s social media platforms Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to drive traffic to the page and engage users to contribute. I am trusting that I won’t develop any lofty expectations from my mentor(s). I have one mentor on board and I’m in hot pursuit of the second.

Luckily for me, my first mentor wasn’t a cold call. I was E introduced by one of my instructors who knew the mentor and my project and thought we’d be a perfect fit. In this instance my instructor thought we could have a mutually beneficial mentor mentee relationship where my mentor would help me with strategy and I would consult on TV projects he was working on. Our first meeting was over a coffee to see if we’d be a good fit. I told him what I was looking for from him and what I would endeavor to do so that I won’t be painful mentee to work with. Basic things like setting an agenda prior to each meeting for his sign off.  Showing up on time for our meetings, and following through on what he advised me to do.

Not only was I able to lock down my first mentor by the end of our coffee meeting but he was able to provide me with a usability test to send out to my closest friends to engage them in trying out the crowdfunding page and as part of that user test, they were encouraged to make a small contribution. I sent out emails to 13 people and so far I’ve received feedback from five people and four of them made contributions to the page that helped get the crowdfunding site going. I can’t wait to see what strategy he’ll come up with for me to implement next week. I think we’re off to a great start!