Looking for a coach or mentor in Silver Lake or Los Feliz? Blackburn Mentoring gives you one dedicated mentor who meets in person in Los Angeles or by video, at hours that fit a freelance or creative schedule. You agree on goals, turn them into a short list of weekly steps and stay in contact by text and phone between sessions.

Creative neighborhoods, unstructured weeks

Between the reservoir, Sunset Junction, Vermont and Hillhurst, these neighborhoods are home to a lot of musicians, designers, writers, editors and people building something of their own. Many work from home or from a laptop in a cafe. The upside is freedom. The downside is that nobody else sets the schedule, and weeks can disappear without the work that matters most getting done.

What people here tend to bring to a mentor

A project that keeps stalling. An album, a portfolio, a script or a small business that never quite gets to the finish line
Freelance money. Income that arrives unevenly, taxes set aside too late and no cushion for slow months (money and life skills)
A day job question. Whether to keep it, cut back or leave, and what has to be true first
Routines. Sleep, exercise and a start time that hold up without an office
Direction. A sense of being thirty-ish and not where you planned (quarter-life crisis)

If most of your work is creative, our page on coaching for actors and creatives goes into more detail.

Structure that does not kill the work

Creative people are often wary of coaching because it sounds like spreadsheets and hustle. That is not the approach. A mentor helps you protect the conditions that make good work possible: a few reliable hours, a clear next step and someone who notices when you go quiet. The rest of the week can stay as loose as you like.

Pick one or two goals for the month, for example finishing a demo or sending ten pitches
Break each into steps small enough to do this week
Set two or three anchor blocks in the calendar and guard them
Check in midweek by text, and review honestly at the next session

Families on the east side

Los Feliz and the hills above it also have plenty of families with teenagers. For a high school student, a parent or guardian joins the intro call, helps set the goals and gets regular updates. Common goals include homework follow-through, a first job and less screen time on school nights (mentoring for high school students).

In person or on video

Silver Lake and Los Feliz sit close to Hollywood, Echo Park and Glendale, but parking and hill streets make short trips slow. A good pattern is to meet in person in Los Angeles every so often, for example a walk near Griffith Park or a coffee, and handle most weeks by video. Sessions can be early, midday or evening.

Getting started

Start with a few questions. The five-minute assessment asks about the person being mentored and the goals that matter now.
Have a free intro call. A person on our team, not a form letter, reviews your answers and calls to talk about fit, timing and rates.
Meet your mentor. One mentor is chosen for the person, based on what came up on the call.
Start meeting. Sessions run 60 minutes, weekly or several times a week, in person in Los Angeles or by video, at hours that suit irregular work, on a monthly plan.

Hills, stairways and the mix of ages on the east side

Silver Lake and Los Feliz are walking neighborhoods built on steep ground. Public stairways cut between hillside streets, the reservoir loop fills up at dawn, and Sunset and Hillhurst stay busy late. Echo Park and Atwater Village sit on either side, with the 5 and the 101 framing the area. Long-time families who have been here for decades share blocks with renters in shared houses and newer arrivals with toddlers.

Work nearby is varied: animation and post-production up the 5 in Glendale and Burbank, a cluster of hospitals along Sunset and Vermont, design and tech done from home and many owner-run shops. The subway stop at Vermont and Sunset makes it possible to reach Hollywood or downtown without a car, which gives teenagers more freedom than in most of the city. College students often live here with roommates, and plenty of young adults are piecing together a creative career and a steady paycheck at once.

Situations that come up often in Silver Lake and Los Feliz

A teen who can walk to Vermont or take the subway alone and needs a plan for how that freedom fits with school nights.
A young adult in a shared hillside house where every roommate keeps different hours, making sleep and a morning routine hard to hold.
A hospital worker on rotating shifts who wants exercise, sleep and one personal goal that survives the schedule.
A college student who grew up here and is weighing whether to stay close to home or leave for a different city.
A parent of an eighth grader in Los Feliz who wants the routines for high school in place before the first semester starts.

The east side is close enough that meeting in person in Los Angeles is usually practical; the spot is agreed in advance and chosen to be convenient and appropriate, and video covers the weeks that get crowded. Texts and phone calls keep things moving in between. Read about video mentoring, the guide to balancing a creative career and a day job, and how mentoring and coaching in Los Angeles is set up.

Common questions

I work from home. Can sessions be in the middle of the day?

Yes. Sessions are scheduled around your actual week, including midday and evenings, in 60 minute blocks.

Will a mentor push me to give up creative work for something safer?

No. The goals are yours. A mentor helps you make a realistic plan for the path you choose, including the money side.

Do you help with freelance finances?

Mentors help with budgeting, tracking income and building habits around money. For tax questions, a tax professional is the right person.

Can I keep the same mentor if I travel for work?

Yes. Video sessions are scheduled in your local time zone anywhere in the United States.

Get started

Looking for a mentor or coach in Silver Lake or Los Feliz? Call (888) 305 5422, email contact@blackburnmentoring.com or start with a short assessment. A member of our team reviews every assessment personally and sets up a free intro call.

Mentor and Coach in Silver Lake and Los Feliz