Thursday, March 24, 2011

I asked someone to mentor me

Never Done: I asked someone to mentor me

I mentioned here about a month ago that I have started writing a web series. It's going well; I love the world I'm writing about. I am starting to have fun with the characters. I think it will be super meaningful once it's produced and out there in the world. But I have a problem. I don't know the business side of this particular business. How do you get someone to sponsor a web series? Where do people make their money with dramatic internet content? How do I team up with a producer, so I can focus on the writing?

I saw a Facebook status update by my favorite web series writer; the update was a link to an article urging women to mentor other women. Immediately I wanted to write to her and ask her to mentor me, but immediately after I had the thought, I second guessed myself that it might be opportunistic. So I put it in the middle of my mind to work on while I did my other work for the day, and when I finished, I took it back out to run it through the Mussar mull. (I was going to write the "Mussar mill" but I realized that was a terribly mixed metaphor, and so I decided to invent an even more mixed metaphor, mixing up "mull it over" with "mill about" and "put someone through the mill.")

And here's what I thought about. Mentoring is, by definition, being in service to the other. And my socially-relevant web series, if it would be well-produced, would also be in service to the other. Also, one of the most overlooked aspects of asking for help is that it gives someone else the opportunity to ... well, to serve the other. And so without a lot more mulling, I decided to just go for it, and ask this talented, accomplished, productive woman if she would share some of her expertise with me. I'm hopeful that she will say yes.

3 comments:

  1. I hope she will say yes as well. I have mentored young women in my life (not in business) and it has been a great joy.

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  2. If you don't ask, the answer is always no. :)

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  3. Me too, Sandra -- I think I feel a little old to be mentored, but you know, that's what happens when you make a mid-life career shift.

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