Hi, I live in the boonies in NH and am a total points addict. People around here think I am crazy! I am looking for a mentor, someone I can learn from, I have so many questions. I own a coffee shop here so I rack up a lot miles but am struggling with some of the basics. Just little questions I wish I had someone to talk to about not in a forum... anyone willing? It would be nice to have a cyber friend who shares my hobby

I can't help with a mentor, but perhaps someone will send you a PM. The forums are here to ask your questions so we can all benefit from the information. I'm sure you are not the only person with the questions, so please ask away. Nothing is too minor or a "dumb" question... we were all new to this at one time. And no one knows everything about every program. Even a longtime "expert" may have questions when forced to a new program / airline.

But if you prefer someone to talk to one-on-one, you might consider attending a gathering of FTers (see the Community Buzz forum). Regardless of the event, miles & points are always on topic. Or for a crash course, look into the Chicago Seminar Do where you'll find lots of like minded people to talk miles & swap tips.

You will have a tough time finding a personal mentor here. The best way to learn is to spend time here and ask questions, hopefully after searching so that you don't ask a lot of questions that have already been answered.

Questions: How does owning a coffee shop help you to rack up a lot of miles??? And what is "a lot"? There are many here with 7-figure mileage balances.

Coffee shop owner ergo prodigious accumulator of miles? I sense a wave of new coffee shows on the horizon! Seriously now, 1 v 1 is not common in an ongoing basis here save a couple things I suspect: a) you happen to start trading a few PMs to high-quality posters with specific questions and those exchanges lead to more insights--from my experience, most non chip shot people here respond to those; b) the regional seminars that pop up a few times a year (last, methinks, Chicago 2013) are prime ground for folks like you--real people looking for clues/tricks and the 'right' people presenting/present who ARE willing to share advice -- build real life contacts there in addition to...; c) DOs, like seminars with the same people but wholly social and maybe experiential -- youll find all that noise here -> http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/communitybuzz-380/. Plenty of people here who have been in your boat and being registered since Sep I would think y now you would have fired off a couple pointed questions in the appropriate forums. No mentor that you will find is gona hold your hand; if your found one, I suspect he or she is gonna want to see some homework.

I sent you a PM. BTW, there are a lot of nice people here.

Wow! There are some super nice people here, already got 2 responses! I am not looking for "secrets" or "hand holding" just some people I can nerd out with and share thoughts with via email.

CaptRob what is "chip shot"?
"a lot" to me is probably nothing to you lol!!
I spend about 30K a month via my shop so that adds up pretty quick, again that is probably peanuts for some people but works well for trying to get my family of 3 on a couple nice trips per year.

Cheers!

You could get a Chase business credit card like the Ink Plus. Points can then be transferred to United to be redeemed for flighs in coach, business or first class.

In my parlance, a chip shot is simply a post/response that has no substance and is used primarily to get noticed or for other, unhelpful reasons. You'll be able to tell informed low-post folks from high post talliers: I'd seek information from folks with post beef rather than solely post count. Whatever you're charging 30k a month (a grand a day is a lot of coffee!) on, I'd go to those forums first, followed by the forums for the airlines/hotels you're aiming to use (see starting point in Post #7). Those folks are most informed on strategies you'll need but also do advanced keyword searches; nothing you'll generally ask won't have already been covered.

By most measures $30k/mo is more than a supermajority spend here per month!