{"id":103123,"date":"2023-07-20T03:00:46","date_gmt":"2023-07-20T07:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/?p=103123"},"modified":"2024-04-09T07:15:08","modified_gmt":"2024-04-09T11:15:08","slug":"find-a-mentor-theyve-seen-what-youre-seeing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/find-a-mentor-theyve-seen-what-youre-seeing\/","title":{"rendered":"Find a Mentor: They\u2019ve Seen What You\u2019re Seeing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Executive Summary.<\/strong>\u00a0Finding someone who has been what you\u2019re going through, has seen what\u2019s in your future, and\/or can help you directly or with some sort of connection, can be invaluable to your mental and financial health. Go find someone \u2013 it may not be as hard as you think.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border-radius: 12px;\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/episode\/5zT8MOrDqgqSIIYp47DSGl?utm_source=generator\" width=\"100%\" height=\"152\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>You\u2019re not alone.<\/strong>\u00a0These days you can go to a \u201clife coach\u201d, you can go to a \u201csupport group\u201d \u2013 call it what you want \u2013 but finding others who can relate to your problems can take a huge burden off of you. This is the role of a mentor. And as strange as your issue may be, likely a mentor has been through it before.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-103127 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-4-2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"215\" height=\"275\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>My story (as a mentee)<\/strong>. As I continued on with this article, I realized that I should just jump to the My Story section, since I can personally relate. I never went out to someone and said \u201chey, would you be my mentor?\u201d It was more like I just found a guy who had more experience in an area than me, and then I just spent time with him. A beer, a sandwich over lunch, invited to the house for dinner \u2013 these were the informal events we shared. I learned a lot. I called when I needed advice. I heard stories about what happened in their business experiences. They shared with me their experiences which helped. Here are the top three things that come to mind:<\/p>\n<p>\u2022\u00a0Don\u2019t know how, but I lost a million dollars\u00a0\u2013 When I was running my construction company, I had a $248,000 job I spent $825,000 on. It was a military project digging a electrical trench. I don\u2019t even know how it happened. My mentor said he had the exact same problem on a job building a water reservoir. Somehow he lost $1.5 million on a job and never really could explain it.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-103126 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-3-209x300-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"209\" height=\"300\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\u2022\u00a0Sometimes you just get lucky\u00a0\u2013 I was traveling in the car with my mentor and he said to me \u201csometimes you just get lucky\u201d. That may seem like an innocent statement, but can you imagine a person with extreme ego and hubris stating this. Here was a man that said, or implied, that \u201cI didn\u2019t necessary make all the right decisions, I\u2019m not a business savant, sometimes Scott you just get lucky.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u2022\u00a0Bribery \u2013 what you need to know\u00a0\u2013 I had a scenario where an Owner\u2019s representative said that we could pay him money and we\u2019d end up winning a job. Once that offer was in to me I called my mentor. The bottom line was that the ethics were all up to me, but the only thing that would put you in jail would be bribing of a public official.<\/p>\n<p><strong>My story (as a mentor)<\/strong>. I\u2019ve never been a mentor in a formal mentoring program, but I\u2019ve helped plenty of people (both young, and of a more veteran-of-the-business status). I do it because I like helping people and I think I have a lot of life experience to offer. I\u2019ve done a lot of things right \u2013 I\u2019ve done plenty of things wrong! But I\u2019ve seen a lot.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-103125 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-2-2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"518\" height=\"402\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-2-2.png 518w, https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-2-2-480x373.png 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) 518px, 100vw\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Help me get a job \u2013 I\u2019ve helped numerous college kids become employed. Contacts I\u2019ve had in industry have opened doors for these folks and they\u2019ve become great contributors to the community.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Help me change my career \u2013 One of my greatest stories involved a personal friend who wanted out of high end retail, and came to me over a beer and asked for a suggestion. I introduced her to a construction consulting firm and she went from entry level associate to principal of a $1.5 billion company. Awesome!<\/p>\n<p>\u2022\u00a0Help me start a business\u00a0\u2013 I recently helped a near-40 year old man meet with a bonding and insurance company. This was a connection he would have eventually made, but I cut three months out of the equation for him. There\u2019s more stories than the ones above, but the takeaway for the reader is there\u2019s always someone out there to help you, you just have to find him or her! Don\u2019t be afraid to ask someone out to lunch or a beer after work. Chances are they\u2019ll be honored to help you. I always am!<\/p>\n<p>Work safe!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"su-button-center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/2023.07.14-Find-a-Mentor.pdf\" class=\"su-button su-button-style-flat\" style=\"color:#FFFFFF;background-color:#293a57;border-color:#212f46;border-radius:12px;-moz-border-radius:12px;-webkit-border-radius:12px\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"color:#FFFFFF;padding:0px 30px;font-size:22px;line-height:44px;border-color:#6a768a;border-radius:12px;-moz-border-radius:12px;-webkit-border-radius:12px;text-shadow:none;-moz-text-shadow:none;-webkit-text-shadow:none\"> Download The PDF<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<span class=\"et_bloom_bottom_trigger\"><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Executive Summary.\u00a0Finding someone who has been what you\u2019re going through, has seen what\u2019s in your future, and\/or can help you directly or with some sort of connection, can be invaluable to your mental and financial health. Go find someone \u2013 it may not be as hard as you think. You\u2019re not alone.\u00a0These days you can [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":104767,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","iawp_total_views":7,"footnotes":""},"categories":[445,46,367,125,547],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Find a Mentor: They\u2019ve Seen What You\u2019re Seeing<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Finding someone who has been what you\u2019re going through, has seen what\u2019s in your future, and\/or can help you directly or with some\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/find-a-mentor-theyve-seen-what-youre-seeing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Find a Mentor: They\u2019ve Seen What You\u2019re Seeing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Finding someone who has been what you\u2019re going through, has seen what\u2019s in your future, and\/or can help you directly or with some\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/find-a-mentor-theyve-seen-what-youre-seeing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SJ Construction Consulting, LLC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-07-20T07:00:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-04-09T11:15:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-2-2-1.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"518\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"402\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gaurav Mehrotra\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gaurav Mehrotra\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/find-a-mentor-theyve-seen-what-youre-seeing\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/find-a-mentor-theyve-seen-what-youre-seeing\/\",\"name\":\"Find a Mentor: They\u2019ve Seen What You\u2019re Seeing\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/find-a-mentor-theyve-seen-what-youre-seeing\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/find-a-mentor-theyve-seen-what-youre-seeing\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-2-2-1.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-07-20T07:00:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-04-09T11:15:08+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4ed4100aeab94898a812ce73ed139b13\"},\"description\":\"Finding someone who has been what you\u2019re going through, has seen what\u2019s in your future, and\/or can help you directly or with some\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/find-a-mentor-theyve-seen-what-youre-seeing\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/find-a-mentor-theyve-seen-what-youre-seeing\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/find-a-mentor-theyve-seen-what-youre-seeing\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-2-2-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-2-2-1.png\",\"width\":518,\"height\":402},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/find-a-mentor-theyve-seen-what-youre-seeing\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Find a Mentor: They\u2019ve Seen What You\u2019re Seeing\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/\",\"name\":\"SJ Construction Consulting, LLC\",\"description\":\"Helping the Construction Industry!\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4ed4100aeab94898a812ce73ed139b13\",\"name\":\"Gaurav Mehrotra\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bfb4580db7a75744d486b06a2bfce6aa?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bfb4580db7a75744d486b06a2bfce6aa?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gaurav Mehrotra\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/author\/gmehrotra\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Find a Mentor: They\u2019ve Seen What You\u2019re Seeing","description":"Finding someone who has been what you\u2019re going through, has seen what\u2019s in your future, and\/or can help you directly or with some","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/find-a-mentor-theyve-seen-what-youre-seeing\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Find a Mentor: They\u2019ve Seen What You\u2019re Seeing","og_description":"Finding someone who has been what you\u2019re going through, has seen what\u2019s in your future, and\/or can help you directly or with some","og_url":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/find-a-mentor-theyve-seen-what-youre-seeing\/","og_site_name":"SJ Construction Consulting, LLC","article_published_time":"2023-07-20T07:00:46+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-04-09T11:15:08+00:00","og_image":[{"width":518,"height":402,"url":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-2-2-1.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Gaurav Mehrotra","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Gaurav Mehrotra","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/find-a-mentor-theyve-seen-what-youre-seeing\/","url":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/find-a-mentor-theyve-seen-what-youre-seeing\/","name":"Find a Mentor: They\u2019ve Seen What You\u2019re Seeing","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/find-a-mentor-theyve-seen-what-youre-seeing\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/find-a-mentor-theyve-seen-what-youre-seeing\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-2-2-1.png","datePublished":"2023-07-20T07:00:46+00:00","dateModified":"2024-04-09T11:15:08+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4ed4100aeab94898a812ce73ed139b13"},"description":"Finding someone who has been what you\u2019re going through, has seen what\u2019s in your future, and\/or can help you directly or with some","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/find-a-mentor-theyve-seen-what-youre-seeing\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/find-a-mentor-theyve-seen-what-youre-seeing\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/find-a-mentor-theyve-seen-what-youre-seeing\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-2-2-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-2-2-1.png","width":518,"height":402},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/find-a-mentor-theyve-seen-what-youre-seeing\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Find a Mentor: They\u2019ve Seen What You\u2019re Seeing"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/","name":"SJ Construction Consulting, LLC","description":"Helping the Construction Industry!","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4ed4100aeab94898a812ce73ed139b13","name":"Gaurav Mehrotra","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bfb4580db7a75744d486b06a2bfce6aa?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bfb4580db7a75744d486b06a2bfce6aa?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Gaurav Mehrotra"},"url":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/author\/gmehrotra\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103123"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103123"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103123\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":103129,"href":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103123\/revisions\/103129"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sjcivil.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}