How do I contact my favourite authors and persuade them to be my mentor?

[andyjohnsonman]

I know the obvious answer is go on their website and email them. But i feel authors get thousands of emails and are likely to be too busy to mentor/be interviewed/come on a podcast. 

[Aakash]

Many teachers unconsciously work like this. 

“Trial by death”

a teacher is never looking for a needy person those are the worst student. He’s looking for passion. Let’s say 1/2 way through my journey, Leo asked me to up and move to America to access his YouTube accounts and teachings. Would I be willing to go ? 

This is what a trail by death is. To show you would. 

However the truth is that teachers are busy themselves so most will not have time for you. Which makes trail by death even more important. You have to persuade them that it’s worth sacrificing your whole life for. That’s mutual respect for the sacrifice they made to reach their level of mastery. It’s courtesy among teacher and student. 

[mandyjw]

Tim Ferriss talks a lot about the topic of mentorship. I haven't watched this one myself but pulled it up in a quick search. 

https://www.entrepreneur.com/video/304995

 

[Spiral]

You make it sound like you want something from somebody else, it’s better to reframe it as you want to offer someone something. People want benefits not be taken advantage of, this is a fundamental principle in persuasion.

[rNOW]

Figure out how you can be useful to this person. Then offer that along with the email. And expect no replies. If you get one, great. If not, do field research on their books/blogs, as if you are doing a case study on them to learn how they think and behave. That's the one value you are looking for in a mentor- to know how they think and behave in a certain situation. If you cannot study under them, you can still study them.