How to get the most from your music mentor relationship

Finding and nuturing a reltaionship with a mentor is one of the most effective and rewarding ways to move your music or music industry career forward.

Symphonic Distribution has launched their own impressive Women Empowerment mentorship program and offer advice on how to make the most of your time with any mentor.

by Randi Zimmerman from the Symphonic Blog.

Back in March, we launched Women Empowerment++, a mentorship program aimed to further the progress of women throughout the music industry. With it, women of all ages and backgrounds have the opportunity to connect with professionals in the industry who have the experience and knowledge to help them navigate their career goals and succeed along the way. As a mentee looking to make the most of this experience, here are some tips to keep in mind…

Be Open To Accepting Advice

The whole point of a mentorship is to be able to accept what you don’t know, be open to learning what you lack, and learn how to improve. Constructive criticism is only going to help you, as hard as it may be to hear that you are not perfect.

Be Authentic

Be as authentically you as you can with your mentor. This is a relationship you’re going to be building over a long period of time. You want to get along with them both professionally and personally. Having a strong connection with this person will ensure you can be open with your goals at every step of the way and be able to rely on their opinion as the years go by.

Put In Work

Your mentor is going to give you amazing advice and constructive criticism throughout your relationship, but none of that matters if you don’t put in the work. They are going to congratulate you as you go and encourage you to get shit done, but the only person who can make the actual moves is you.

Make it happen!

Specify Your Challenges

Once you connect with your mentor, it’s important that you have taken the time to analyze what you need on a specific level as a mentee. What things are you trying to work on? What do you genuinely suck at? What do they do professionally that you need the most work on?

Be honest with yourself, and you’ll be able to make an actionable plan to improve each area of difficulty with your mentor leading the way.

Take Notes & Do Your Homework

Throughout your mentorship, your mentor is going to give you resources to help you improve whatever you need help on. It’s your job to take note of these and really take in the information you’re being given. If you don’t understand something, ask questions! If you end up doing really well at something, challenge yourself and let your mentor know you need more.

Work together to create a workflow and plan that works for you and your needs. Taking notes will help you review what you’ve learned as you go along and use them for future reference.

Nurture The Relationship

Just as your mentor is going to nurture your growth, it’s important to check in and let them know they’re doing a good job as well. Nurturing this relationship is just as important of the exchange of information. It goes both ways! A good relationship doesn’t just happen overnight. When you can be honest and open with this person, it helps them be more open with you, too.

To wrap it all up…

Symphonic is proud to empower emerging talent in the music industry by connecting mentees with established professionals and peers who can offer valuable advice and guidance. With our mentorship program, mentees get the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the music industry’s business practices and culture, focus their efforts, and hone their skills with some of the best in the business.

We are honored to have a group of extraordinary women join us as mentors, and we hope these tips help you get the most out of it. — Good luck!