My name is Andrew Bustamante, and this is everyday espionage.

Freedom! Freedom. Freedom. Freedom.

I recently got a direct message on my LinkedIn message board from somebody who was reaching out and asking me to be a mentor to them.

Now, if you've ever reached out to me

on any of my social media platforms, whether it's Instagram or Facebook or Reddit or Twitter,

I read everything. I don't have some gatekeeper. I read everything, but I don't get a chance to

respond to everything. And in this case, I did not respond to this direct message either.

And that's what I wanted to share with you. I wanted to tell you why I didn't respond. And what

massive lesson came from this message that I felt you had to know today. Now, the person who

reached out to me, like I said, reached out on LinkedIn via direct message.

They identified as someone who's been listening to the podcast, and they said very kind

things and I really appreciated their message.

Here's what happened.

They were asking me to make time in my life to mentor them in their own professional

ambitions for intelligence.

Now, I have no problem with anybody who wants to be a professional intelligence officer or a professional

intelligence officer on the public side or the private side or any side.

But what I do have a problem with is when people come to me asking me for something without

being willing to also tell me what they're willing to offer me in return.

And I'm not necessarily talking about money.

I'm saying if you've ever been on the receiving end of a request,

especially a request for your time or your insights or your network,

...