Re: How to get a mentor

Joe,

It is not clear from your post if you just need a django mentor for technical questions, or if you need a business mentor to flesh out your idea. There are hundreds (thousands??) of expert django mentors on this list all willing to give you free advice. Learn how to ask direct questions (https://www.gerv.net/hacking/how-to-ask-good-questions/, http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html) on this list and the time spent spinning your wheels will vanish. 

A couple more thoughts - 

* Refine the business idea first, then tackle the technological components. There are many source of business mentors in every city - bankers, lawyers, accountants all have Rolodexes of successful people who are retired and are willing to mentor entrepreneurs. Check with the local Rotary group. Check with you college or high school alumni group. Mentors do not need to be local. Before you build a better mouse trap, be sure there are mice out there who want it. 

* You will need an attorney to help you get 501c3 (or some other non-profit) status with the IRS - expect to pay ~$1,000 for that. The forms are easy to fill out, but you want an expert to review what you have filled out in order to not shoot yourself in the foot - easy to do. You first need to create a local corporation or partnership before you  tackle the IRS - this will cost a couple of hundred dollars. 

* Non-profit - have you suggested open sourcing your idea? You could start an open source project as a way to attract developers for the django development. If you plan to make money from this venture, then you would have to figure out how to separate the parts of you idea that give you a competitive advantage from those things that don't. Open source the ones that don't. 

I can't emphasize enough the need to spend 99% of your time to refine your business idea before you invest in other areas. Spend 1% learning how to create a django site with the help of this list until you and your business mentors are convinced you have a rock solid and defensible idea.

Just my 2 cents and some free mentoring! ;)

Mark

On Tue, Apr 4, 2017 at 9:56 AM, Joe Landrigan <driganx@gmail.com> wrote:

I'm in Fort Wayne, Indiana.  I'm not aware of any meetups in the area.  The nearest that I know about are in Chicago, but that's a 3 hour drive one way.

On Tuesday, April 4, 2017 at 10:21:14 AM UTC-4, Avraham Serour wrote:

Hi,

I suggest going to local meetups, you may meet people that could mentor or help you on specific issues, or help you to find a mentor, they could either know someone or know of local mentorship programs.

Where are you located?

On Tue, Apr 4, 2017 at 4:26 PM, Joe Landrigan <dri...@gmail.com> wrote:

I need a mentor.  I've got an idea for a non-profit that I think could be spectacular, and I think Django is the right platform.  But, every time I run into a challenge it takes me days to solve for multiple reasons: I'm a father of 6, my job has nothing to do with Python, and I don't know what I don't know.  If I had someone who has actually made a site to guide me, I bet most of my time consuming roadblocks would be decimated. If anyone could suggest a good route to find a mentor, I'd be very grateful.  I've wasted far too much time trying to solve problems only to find a package that solves the problem perfectly weeks later.  Ideally, I'd like to find someone who has some entrepreneurial experience, but I'll take any help I can get!  Thanks!

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