Without a doubt one of the best ways to get a good grasp of a particular industry is to find and milk an expert for all his worth!

If you want to become a day trader dealing with stocks, get to know a person who is currently making millions doing that, if you want to become an entrepreneur, get to know someone who is doing that.

And of course, If you want to become really good at sports betting, finding a mentor who’s successful at online sports betting us based will get you to the top of the sports betting food chain significantly quicker than doing it alone.

I have had mentors in my life, although admittedly not in sports betting. Mine were more with business, but the principles are still basically the same. So what is the role of a mentor? To me a mentor is summed up nicely by Confucius who said:

Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime.

Taking this quote in mind, a mentors role is to teach you:

• How to research the sport in an expert way both on the Internet and offline through other forms
• What the key figures to look for are when performing your research
• Managing your money for long term positive investing
• How to effective use multiple sports betting agencies
• How to stay focused and motivated

There is a skill set required to be an effective mentor. At the top of the list is to have excellent communication skills, counselling skills, leadership skills, implement a range of learning techniques and to be patient.

Ultimately the expert has to to be willing to become a mentor. If it is forced or if it’s viewed as a chore then the mentor will not be at his best. Frustration, anger and resentment will soon follow if this is the case.

Don’t worry about that last paragraph all too much. If a mentor has decided to take you under his wings, it’s more than likely they have accepted and he’ll accomodate being as effective as he can be.

Does all this talk about mentors make you want to go and get one? Unfortunately mentors can’t be purchased in any of the thousands of shops in Westfields. Luckily there are a few places where they hang out.

• Sports Betting Forums – This is the best place to find a mentor. Forums are a great place to come across people who are really passionate about a topic. There are heaps of people in these forums though, so it’s best to spend time checking out and separating the experts from the not-so-expert punters
• TAB Retail Outlets – You can find mentors/experts in TAB outlets – although you are in a place with a lot less people than a forum. It’s like fishing in the ocean(forum) versus fishing in a small little pond(TAB Outlet). You may still catch something, but the quality, the time it’ll take and the experience of the expert many not be as good
• News Articles – Check out your daily newspaper for sports betting articles. Occasionally when the topic gets mentioned you may have a reporter who calls upon an expert. Once you have the experts name, try a Google search to find ways to connect with the person – through social networks is the best way
• Blogs – Like the one you’re reading now. The best way to find experts on a blog is through the comments section of posts. If people are open to comunicate they’ll leave an email and/or a URL.

Ok I have found an expert who makes 6 figures a week on sports betting! … now what? Buy them lunch! Buy them a coffee – Be nice to the person. I think it’ll be rude if you were to approach an expert and straight out ask them to teach you. Don’t do that.

Instead, if you find a mentor through a forum, contribute to the threads they’ve started, or reply to a thread they’re in. Add them to Twitter, or add them on Facebook and ask politely that you want to get to know them because you have similar interests!

You’re not there to deceive your new mentor friend, so make sports betting the main topic of discussion. You have to show that you’re really enthusiastic about sports betting and that you’re willing and very eager to learn as much as you can.

If you find the person on a blog or through a news article, try to Google their name – so that you can add the person to Twitter and/or Facebook. The key here is to form a communication channel with the person.

If you would rather try your luck in a little pond (TAB outlet) and if this is more your thing, then it’s just a matter of having good people skills. Become close to the person, find out their name, find out how often and when they make it to the TAB and get their contact number. From here it’s your job to become a good friend to the person.

Eventually you want to ask the question. Once you become good friends you want to ask them to mentor you. You should let them know that you admire their success and that you believe they would be a great mentor.

One of the most important things to this is that you must be willing to become a student. Become a sponge, take in all you can but also give the mentor some space – you don’t always want to be looking over his shoulder. This will just make the experience uncomfortable for him.

If you end up finding a mentor, let me know about your experience in the comments section below. Have you ever mentored someone in the past – and do you want to share the story? Let me know and we’ll make a blog post out of it.