You cannot rent intellectual intimacy.

A mentor isn’t a hobby, and it sure as hell isn’t a one-night stand. It’s not something you dabble in when the mood strikes or when business is slow; its not a cheap suit for rent. A real mentor is someone who takes the weight of another person’s ambition and shoulders it with them. It’s a bond between someone hungry to grow and someone willing to carve out the time, energy, imagination, information, and patience to make sure that growth actually happens.

Mentorship is intimate. It’s built on trust, accountability, respect, and the willingness to say the hard things when they need to be said. It isn’t about flattery, shortcuts, or entertainment, it’s about grinding through the unknown together, cutting out the wasted time, and pushing through until the student is standing on their own, equipped and capable.

That’s why mentors are rare. Because real ones don’t quit when it gets messy, inconvenient, or slow. They’re invested in the long game. But don’t confuse it, mentors aren’t the only rare ones. The people willing to step into that role as a student, to commit with humility, vulnerability, and the discipline to actually listen and apply, those are just as uncommon.

Most people want the shortcut, the highlight reel, the applause without the grind. Few are willing to set aside ego and be molded. Mentorship only works when both sides show up with skin in the game, one willing to guide, and the other willing to be guided. That pairing is where the real magic happens, and why it’s worth so much when you find it.

I am not a mentor. Yet, rarely I do.