The Six-Month Winner Apprenticeship
Find a proven operator and execute their system before judging it.
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- Time to result
- ~months to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 97%
Hadad's apprenticeship rule asks a newcomer to find a visible winner and commit six months to executing that person's system. The period is long enough to move beyond novelty and expose whether the learner can follow through on schedules, events, outreach, and social activity. Before accepting, however, the learner must understand what the mentor means by commitment; Hadad challenges people who say yes before hearing his expectations. Once the scope is explicit and acceptable, the learner submits to instruction from someone more skilled, asks how high when told to jump, and avoids selectively following only comfortable parts of the method. Hadad emphasizes that he need not be the mentor: the transferable requirement is a proven operator, clear expectations, and sustained execution. The framework turns vague coachability into a bounded behavioral contract.
Origin
Hadad says he gives this instruction to new people joining him in mortgages: find a winner, understand the commitment, and decide whether to give six months to executing the mentor's system.
Core principles
- 01Newcomers should learn from someone with demonstrated results rather than an untested theory.
- 02Submission means following a system consistently, not agreeing only with convenient instructions.
- 03The mentor does not need to be Hadad; fit and proven competence matter more than personality.
- 04The commitment must be understood before it is promised.
How to run it
- 1
Verify a winner
Find a practitioner with current, relevant results and evidence that their methods can be taught ethically.
Pro tip Look for observable production and behavior rather than status alone.
Watch out Success does not excuse abusive, deceptive, illegal, or unsafe conduct.
- 2
Expose the real commitment
Ask for the schedule, activities, standards, and boundaries before promising six months of execution.
Pro tip Clarify what showing up, leaving, events, and social posting mean in practice.
Watch out Do not agree reflexively to requirements you have not heard.
- 3
Check the boundaries
Confirm that the system fits legal duties, ethics, health, family obligations, and any regulated professional standards.
Watch out Coachability never requires surrendering safety or independent moral judgment.
- 4
Execute the full system
Follow the agreed process consistently rather than replacing difficult instructions with preferred activities.
Pro tip Ask questions when an instruction is unclear instead of improvising silently.
- 5
Review after the period
At six months, compare skills, activity, and results with the starting point and decide what to retain or change.
Pro tip Evaluate both the method and the quality of your own adherence.
Watch out Do not blame the system for steps you repeatedly chose not to perform.
In the wild
Hadad tells new recruits that six months may include prescribed arrival and departure times, required events, and specific social posts. He interrupts an automatic yes because the recruit cannot consent meaningfully until those expectations are understood, then asks whether the person is truly ready to execute them.
→ The mentorship begins as a clear behavioral commitment rather than a motivational promise.
Common mistakes
Choosing status over evidence
A visible personality is not necessarily a proven or ethical operator in the skill the newcomer needs.
Saying yes before hearing the terms
An uninformed commitment creates predictable conflict once the mentor's actual expectations appear.
Following only comfortable instructions
Selective execution prevents a fair test of the mentor's complete operating system.
Is it for you?
Best for
New professionals who can identify an ethical, proven practitioner and make a bounded commitment to learning their operating system.
Not ideal for
Mentorships demanding unsafe hours, illegal conduct, financial exploitation, or obedience that overrides health, family, ethics, and independent judgment.
From the transcript
“you need to go find Winners there's winners all over the place your job is to find them”
“are you willing to sacrifice the next six months to do everything that I tell you to do”
“you have to be willing to submit I have to be willing to submit to somebody that's willing to teach me that knows more than…”
From the episode
Breaking the Mortgage Mold: Jonathon Haddad's Journey