Dont fall for bad advice

If there is one thing that is almost always available in ample supply, is “Advice”. There are many types and levels of advice and sometimes it can be quite difficult to actually work out what advice you should pay attention to and what advice you maybe shouldn’t. The big question is how do you know the difference.

I suppose the best place to start is with the obvious example. Would you go to a Dentist to do your accounting, or would you go to a Financial Planner with a broken arm. Of course you wouldn’t you would go to an Account for your accounting needs, and you would go to a Hospital with Doctors, for a broken arm. So the next question which begs asking is, who do you go to for business advice? Everyone will often have an answer here, however is it a suitable answer, take a look at some of the possible answers and see if it fits.

• Family and Friends – If you answered with Family and Friends, then you are potentially getting you advice from the wrong place. The reason often lands to emotions, and a will to protect you. Often the advice that you will get from family and friends is advice that will to some extent help you to justify taking the risk is a bad idea, or may be advice based on an opinion or view that may not be completely valid in a business sense. There is however one exception, and that is if your family or friends are running a successful business them selves.
• People at Work – Especially if you are thinking about starting a business and you are still working in a job, you will often find that the advice you get from people at work will also be placed in the wrong area. Often their thoughts will be on not wanting you to succeed while they are still stuck in a job. Or even sometimes thinking how if you start a business and succeed they will have to do more work because you are not there any more. So you may find plenty of negative stories or advice coming from people you work with.

Both of these area’s are where you probably do not want to be getting advice, and of course there are always exceptions to the rule. However before listening to anyone in these area’s give advice look at what gives them the credibility to provide that advice and what if any motive they have in giving the advice. It may not always be the easiest thing to see, however it can save you a lot of grief down the road. Now I don’t want this post to be completely negative, so here are some suggestions on more positive places to get business advice.

• Find a successful Mentor – There are a lot of successful people in business, of these people that are successful in business, there are any number of them that are happy to give a little advice.If you can find two or three, that you can talk to for a little while. While you still need to take all advice you get with consideration to your own circumstances, often advice you get in this manner can be much more powerful and useful.
• A Business Coach – While there is a potential to get some good free advice, at some point you often find to get the help that you really need, you may just have to pay for it. Possibly the most difficult part of finding a business coach will be finding one that you will be able to work with. On an ongoing basis your business coach will be on the most important business relationships that you have. As such two things to keep in mind are they someone that you feel comfortable working with? and Do they have the experience or knowledge to help you lead your business in the direction you want to take it?
• Other Advisers – The fact is that no one person knows every tiny detail of business expertly. This is why there are so many different areas of specialty, so that people can focus on the one area that they know best. Finding the range of people that can provide this different functions will of course depend on your business and your own skills, however some will include, Accountant, Solicitor and Bank Manager. As well as consultants in different areas such as marketing, import/export and construction, just to name a few.

Whatever the path you eventually choose to gain your advice, just be sure the question the validity and reason for any advice you may be getting. Especially if it is given to you without being requested and most important confirm the advice is being given in good nature to help you rather then hinder you. But possibly the most important part of advice it self is learning what it is you need to listen to and what you should ignore, if you can learn this skill properly you can start to listen to all advice and be able to discard that which is of no use.