How do you find mentors?

I started using Growth Mentor a few months ago and actually found it really helpful. Some mentors are free while others are paid, and there's a huge range of subject matter experts to choose from. Might be worth checking out.

My mentors have come about in two key ways: • I worked with them or they’ve been intro’d to me by people who’ve seen me work, so they vouch for me as someone worth investing in. • I also have a looser bunch of people I tap for specific know-how. I cold outreached them via LinkedIn with a few key Qs after I’d done a bunch of learning on my own. I ask for only what I can’t learn on my own / can’t find online. And I ask for only 20 mins. If I get the 20 mins, they almost always offer more time later, because they’ve seen in the 20 that I put in a lot of effort into learning. Why that matters: People who are high caliber get way more requests than they can fulfill. They tend to help those who help themselves. Years ago, I had some potential mentees show up to mentoring sessions unprepared, like baby birds waiting to be fed. I filter out all such people now, because they’re not generally good investments in time. Nowadays, I mentor only folks who know what specifically they want to work on. They ask smart Qs. They aren’t asking me stupid shit you can google or looking at me like I’m their high school guidance counselor — they’re professionals with goals and focus. Personally, I budget a set amount of time for mentoring every month. Once that’s filled up, I’m good. And my network already supplies more requests than I can accept.