I like asking for advice. I like hear other people’s opinions. It feeds in to my brain that likes qualitative research.
But when it comes to your business, whatever industry it might be in, your creative industry peers are some times the worst to ask.
Getting Good Advice
This is not to say don’t build collaborative or positive relationships, but it is to say think of it this way…
What role are they playing in answering?
- Are they your business coach? In that case, I really do hope they have knowledge of your skills, experience and limitations on hand to answer. Are the answering strategically? Do they think this is something you can learn?
- Are they answering as a possible client? Was that some very detailed market research you just did?
- Were they answering based on their abilities, goals and fears?
I find number three is unbelievably common.
This is not to say they are bad or misleading you; only that they were the wrong person to ask.
Who is the right person to ask?
This is the truly hard question to answer. If you work in a small, unique area, you may have only direct competitors to ask, and, for obvious reasons, you may not want to ask them. In that case you have to ask someone else. Try to go to people who are known for their knowledge in an area. For example, marketing may have plenty of industry specific tweaks, but overall processes are often the same. Sometimes a different industry can also be a bonus, if you think a strategy can be applied in your area.
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Not only business…
Ask yourself these questions regardless of if you’re asking for advice in your personal or business life. Frankly, the same applies, though sometimes the personal life has less distinction around categories (aka industries).
Do you ever question the advice others give you?
Oh advice can be hard, particularly if it’s coming from friends who want to be kind! Sometimes you need to hear the hard truths.
Kind friends are less than ideal in some situations!
Hmmmm advice. Usually I’d ask advice on someone who I thought had knowledge in the area of which I’m asking advice and whose opinion I valued. If it’s general life advice – I might seek advice from more than one person but I don’t always act on it. Sometimes you do what your own head tells you do in the end 😉 xo
Sometimes the advice helps you to see you were on the right path in the first place 🙂
Depends where it is coming from. I have some really dear friends who wouldn’t be able to give me honest advice no matter how much I need to hear it. Then I have other dear friends who I turn to when I know I need a reality check.
Advice can be hard to hear and ever harder to give.
I certainly had some advice the other year that was hard to hear. It wasn’t all relevant to me (at least, that was my view) but there were some good bits that confirmed what I already knew/had to change.
What a thought provoking post. Good one Ness! I only ever seek advice from my hub and then I generally weigh it up as to whether i act upon it. In my latter years (Ok, old!) I am getting more confident that I give myself the best advice. However, I do research a lot! And I keep my ears and eyes open. Denyse
I’m not sure where I get advice from. I have to really trust the persons opinion before I will truly listen to advice but I am not seeking anything professional even though I should.
You’re right – we need to be choosy who we got to, when it comes to asking questions. And choosy also in who we take advice from, even though every man and his dog seems to like offering it!
Visiting from #teamIBOT x
Of course, that is also the irony of this post, in that it kind of is advice!
I am a shocker for asking a million people’s advice before making a decision. I take it all in and then base my decision on what everyone else has said. Sometimes I agree with it and sometimes I’ll go in the opposite direction. I’m crazy like that 🙂
I’ll ask for advice…. when what I’m wanting are opinions. That’s the sort of thing I do on Facebook pages etc…
I guess for any big decisions I’ll usually rely on professionals. (Or Google!) 🙂
I think it’s quite rare to find some one who can give very honest advice, completely divorced from their own emotions but firmly rooted in their own experience.
I like the questions. Advice can be hard to get sometimes, mostly because it’s hard to find the right person to give it!