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Do you really need a mentor?

I have read many articles where people keep recommending to newbies in affiliate marketing to look up and find a good mentor but I can say from my own personal experience that I didn't need one so far. I have started from scratch and just educated myself by gathering information over the internet and reading ebooks about affiliate marketing. However, some still insist that mentor is a must in order to fully understand the whole area and to become successful.

What's your opinion on this? Do you really think that mentor is required in affiliate marketing or do you believe that you can reach the top on your own by doing research and studying?

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Ctstrphy
It would depend on how patient you are and how much are you willing to bleed out. Having mentors is like giving yourself a shortcut that would let you go right directly to what your goal is. It may or may not be successful but your mentor would sure gain from you. Having everything else self-taught would be the try-and-die method, which you may take a few wrong terms and depending on your commitment or patience, it would give results. But what matters on both ways is your willingness and commitment to what you want to achieve. Affiliate marketing works, if you earn a lot of customers. With or without a mentor, with the right attitude you would surely get there.



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DenisP
Yes this is mostly what I believe as well. It is definitely going to take more patience as well as some trial and error in order to find your way alone. Having someone that has gone through it all is basically having a shortcut, and avoiding messes that you would otherwise probably walk into head on. It's obviously also going to depend on the mentor. Some mentors might be caring and genuinely want to help and instruct, while with others you might need to be careful and make sure they're not just ripping you off for their own benefit. I think with the right mentor things can go a lot smoother, but if you put your heart and mind to it you can still make it on your own.



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wiseagent
Yeah. I think it's possible to achieve success by looking independently, however... The natural tendency is that things to take a little longer (which may end up frustrating people who aren't very patient).

On the other hand, I don't have any problem with having some mentor to make things easier. But, the problem is that many people rather than help others, just want to take advantage of the situation without offering the least kind of support.



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vhinz
Newbies have the choice of learning affiliate marketing by themselves or having a mentor. It is not really necessary to have a mentor but it is great to have one that already knows what to do to guide you. Having a mentor allows you to figure out what is the right thing to do in faster manner than by just trying what's will work or not.



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wiseagent
I think the main difference between having or not having a mentor for that specific type of activity is the speed with which you'll achieve the recognition that you desire. But your personal effort should never be left aside because the mentor alone won't do everything for you (and unfortunately this is how many people think).



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DarthHazard
I agree. But the last part that you mentioned: "allows you to figure out what is the right thing to do in faster manner than by just trying what's will work or not.". This may not always be the case if you manage to find a mentor that doesn't really care about you but the money. They may decide to teach you the very basics and teach you at a very slow rate to try and get more money from you. But yeah, most of the time, it will be a much quicker learning process if you go with a mentor to teach you everything.



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jpyy
It depends on how much you can be motivated and/or learn without one. I mean, it's sort of like having a personal trainer. Some people find having one is highly useful while others don't. Anyway, though, probably a personal trainer and mentor are going to be costly for sure. That's something to take into account.



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wiseagent
I think the comparison that you made is very interesting and pertinent. Each person's willpower is a big differential in this situation.

Regardless of whether or not they have a mentor to continue to ask for help / follow directions, they need to be aware of the power they already have.



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Authord
Whether you think you can or you think you cannot, you are right. You see it all depends on you, there are no heights you can't reach if you are determined to do it. You don't really need a mentor. But that does not dispute the fact that having a mentor is beneficial.
So to speed things up you need a mentor, and if you are not the type that can motivate your self, then you need a mentor. And when I mean a mentor, I mean someone that is successful in your niche. A mentor is a catalyst, you can take that to the bank.



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vinaya
It depends on your learning abilities and knowledge and skills you have. Not all people can self learn. I began publishing online regularly since 2010, however, I knew about the nuances of online writing, online publishing, SEO, SEM, SMO only when I attended a course. I had a mentor who taught me everything I needed to master internet marketing.



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Baburra
I don't think it is required but it certainly helps. These days you can pretty much learn whatever you want online but I guess having a mentor would still be helpful despite this because it gives you direction on what you should learn or what you should do next. Having the right mentor is the important thing though as I think having the wrong mentor can sometimes be even worse than having no mentor at all since you might go down a path you are not ready or suited for.



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overcast
I learned most of my skills through self learning. But I lack discipline and I have no respect for deadlines. So that is the part where I may benefit from the mentor. And having one of the mentor is worth it if you are seriously investing into the people. I think in that context you can see that mentor-ship is not going to be everyone's cup of tea. Because lot of mentors are going to be expensive. You can see that clarity FM website has some calls option which can be cheap to get some guidance. And this may work out for some. But you should go local in that context.



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DenisP
I think it is definitely questionable, and while there may be certain benefits to having a mentor, it probably isn't absolutely necessary. There is no doubt that having an experienced mentor would probably help the situation go along more smoothly and efficiently. I suppose it's like visiting a new city. Yes you might be able to find your own way around with a map, but if you get lost it's going to take you more time to find your way out. On the other hand, if you have a local with you who knows the city like the back of their hand, they'll be able to definitively lead you in the right direction. I think doing things without a mentor is probably just going to take a bit more time and involve more trial and error.



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augusta
Well, to me I believe whatever we decide to do now in life it must have been done by another person nothing is so new, most things are just modification of what has been already in existence.So with this information or knowledge, I think one can make an already existing person in his or her chosen field a mentor.

A mentor to me is like a guardian, that would lead one on and also be a source of inspiration to the upcoming person.So yes we always need a mentor to guide on to success I believe.



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Pixie06
I don't think that it is important to have a mentor. Nowadays there are many tutorials on the internet and many books which one can go through. I have learnt a great deal from those and today I can do mostly everything by myself. I prefer to do all my tasks by myself. It is only very rarely that I request someone to help me.



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overcast
Yes but the thing is that tutorials and books may not cut it. Some of the time we need mentor to tell us what one should do at the right time. And that's what is going to set the mentor-ship right. And I can tell you that mentorship does not happen overtime. You have to understand that some people definitely needs mentor but not all of them. Self learning is harder as your business builds.



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Barida
It is quite difficult to survive in many aspects of life without the help of a good mentor. I mean it does not end with having a mentor for it goes further to ensuring you link up with a good mentor that can help you to succeed in the world of affiliate marketing and there is no shortcuts to that.



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DarthHazard
It will obviously depend on the person. For someone like you, you will not really need a mentor because you were able to learn the different things about affiliate marketing by reading ebooks and other methods. You shouldn't waste any money on a mentor that will probably just give you the same advice as you got from reading those ebooks. But of course, other people may be better off with a mentor who can guide them through the process step by step.



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kgord
A mentor probably isn't going to hurt, but I think you can learn as much as you can from other people in the field for instance a forum like this, as getting a formal mentor. I would think you could try the suggestions presented here and see what sort of help you need beyond what is presented here.



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Corzhens
I cannot give a final answer to this topic's question because right now I am groping for information in trying to learn how to be a successful freelancer. It is not easy to do it by myself and sometimes I am thinking of finding someone who could help me so I wouldn't have to reinvent the wheel, so to speak. However, I don't have the luxury of time so my pacing is not regular that sometimes I am out of the internet for a day or 2. Maybe if I have a more comfortable working schedule then I can get a mentor.



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keen2write
I learn my self as well, the internet is a very large place with a lot of useful sites one click from a google search can do wonders. So I really don't think you need a mentor as hey youtube as a lot of cool videos just by searching on google or YouTube how to do affiliate marketing or how to create a successful blog. There are a variety of sites out there and helpful videos so it is pretty easy to learn your self.



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RedVelvetJuliet
You don't even need a formal mentor. Even the comments you read here are like mini-mentors in themselves. Many of us don't know each other, but we take and give advice every day. Even if you don't have a specific mentor, you are still reaping the benefits of having one because you are here. It's better than not going on business-related forums at all. You become more knowledgeable about the world around you, and that's a good thing.



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Soulwatcher
I don't need a mentor. I am self taught and researched everything that i know. Now I am not knocking anyone who wants a mentor. But I would just rather research and do things my own way. That way I can sit back and look at my accomplishment and know that I did everything on my own.



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kgord
I think participating in a blog or forum and learning tips like you do here is just as important and can do just as well as having a formal mentor. I don't think you need to formalize a mentorship.



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PinkTurtle
Well I think it depends on each person. I think it is helpful to have a mentor and it can be really nice having someone to tell you what to so and how to do it at the beggining when you know nothing about the business, but I don't think you actually need one. I rather have one though. It's easier to turn to someone when in doubt than just struggle on your own to find information about it.



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iamawriter
This site has a niche for mentors and many are paying for their services. Even in real life some can manage on their own but some need props to carry on. My mentor is the Net where I go in search of solutions to my online issues. One can get great solutions there coming from experts.



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kaka135
I think it is good to have a mentor whom we can always refer to and guide us to do things right, perhaps even at the first time. But I also think it is possible for us to learn everything by ourselves, as nowadays we can find many useful resources on the Internet and many nice people sharing their advice, good tips and experience too. Not everyone can afford to find a mentor, so I think sometimes we just need to do it ourselves, though it may mean we have to spend more time, we might fail, we will always learn through the mistakes we made as well.

Thank you for sharing your experience as a successful affiliate marketer whom is also a self learner. This is really encouraging, as I don't have any mentor too.



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AmieBotella
I think each one of us is different from the other, not everyone has the ability to learn by themselves. There are those who would only really understand something when they're being coached to learn. If self study has been effective to you, you cannot say that it will work for the rest. There is a good thing also for having a mentor since you can ask questions and may probably learn stuff more faster than by your own. But when given ample time and dedication, learning by yourself or by the help of a mentor will both reap good results in my opinion.



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potentialwriter
Yes, I always need a mentor for anything I need to know about. No one is an embodiment of knowledge. No one knows everything in life. Life is a learning process and we must continue learning till we leave this world. We have come here to learn one thing or the other in life. So, mentorship is needed for what we know little or nothing about. By learning things that we don't know yet through mentorship, we can become mentors in the particular field too.



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jaymish2
I think you need a mentor. I also think you have misunderstood the meaning of mentor. Someone can also mentor you, by you reading their material and books. For example, Tim Ferris is my mentor. I have never met him and will probably never meet him. I listen to his advice on his podcasts and have made the commitment to read anything that he writes.

The reason you need a mentor is so that they can show you how to achieve a certain goal. This is easier and faster than you learning from your mistakes. Affiliate marketing is tricky and not as easy as it looks.They are many affiliate marketers out there who make a lot of money. They have written books, courses, and blogs. It's not a bad idea to learn from any of them.What have you got to lose?



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Judas2018
I think taking on a mentor or tutor as a freelancer is a choice. One you should make wisely. After all, it's not a job like train operator, engineer, pilot, etc. Where you need a mentor or someone to train you in the field because lives are at stake. Granted, we could always use a little guidance or advice from time to time but if a freelancer feels he or she needs a mentor then hire one. If not - no biggie.



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rebeccaverdad
for me it depend on you if you want to have a mentor or by on your own. But for me I think I need a mentor to guide me in every step of way here in online jobs. Sometime to have a mentor is also to have a friend. Actually before I came in here I have a friend who's telling me on how to join here and keep on telling me to be more positive.



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Corzhens
That’s also my take on mentoring that it depends on the personality because there are people who could learn things by themselves. It is called self-study and what they need is to test what they had learned. With a mentor, you are saved from the trial and error method of learning because there will be a short cut of learning courtesy of the mentor. For me, a mentor is good if the service is free for a friend but for a professional mentor I wouldn’t be comfortable.



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