By Greg Star

You may be confused by this title.

After all, a mentor is crucial for personal development. He or she can provide hard earned wisdom that only comes from their experiences facing challenges similar to ones that you are up against now. Additionally, a mentor can open up a network of contacts that you would not otherwise meet.

So why do I consider finding a mentor to be bad advice?

Shouldn’t everyone have a mentor?

The answer is no – and here’s why.

Finding a single mentor limits your thinking. You should be trying to find multiple mentors. Here are three important benefits you get from surrounding yourself with a team of mentors as compared to one.

1. Different viewpoints – Having several mentors with different specialties to bounce thoughts off of will give you broader insight on the issues you are facing. Your single mentor may have a biased experience that can only be revealed if you’re getting multiple points of view.
2. Larger network – A mentor can open up a lot of doors to a lot of key people for you from a personal and professional standpoint. Thus, the more mentors you have, the larger your network becomes.
3. Having multiple mentors teaches you how to ask for help – This is probably the best reason for finding more than one. The act of constantly reaching out to different people and asking for help is an incredibly important skill. It teaches you to put your ego aside, which is crucial in developing personally and professionally. I personally reach out for help 3 to 4 times a month to people who I think I can learn from, and the benefits have been exceptionally rewarding.

Next time someone tells you to find a mentor, stop them, and ask them to suggest 3 people you should consider.
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Greg Star is a Founding Partner of Carvertise, a Delaware-based advertising company that places ads on private commuters’ vehicles. Think of Uber meets advertising. Greg has been named Delaware’s Young Entrepreneur of the year by the SBA and is an active member of the Chester County Chamber of Business & Industry. Greg can be reached at Star@carvertise.com, or for more information about Carvertise, Like their Facebook page!