It is quite interesting to have the possibility to pick someone's brain when you know they got the knowledge you are looking for, and if they have a lifetime of experience that you would love to get access to.
It is not always the case that they will give you the advice or answer you are looking for, especially when you either don't have the right relationship with them, or when there is not enough trust between you.
If you are just looking for some free advice I am sure you can do better by just googling your question, but if you really want some good stuff in our business world, you have to pay for it one way or the other.
Free advice can sometimes have dire consequences, and in some cases the wrong people speak out about good advice that we all can see are a little too obvious, and in many cases just there to get your attention so they can interact with you.
In many cases they only do it so they can get you as a future customer, or they use it as click bait to get their information out there.
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The worst ones are the ones who share other persons or competitors Intelligence Properties and gives the impression that they are the ones sharing info with you.
So, what about my self, do I ever give free advice to total strangers?
Yes I do, but it is never as good as to the customers who pay for it, or that have a relationship with us, total strangers can at best get some general guidelines, anyone who says that they do share the best advice for free, is lying.
In my spare time I am a fly fishing guide and of course I do have my extra special
hotspots that I only share with paying customers, the other hotspots I share are also ok , but they are not my hottest hot spots of course.
Many of these hotspots has taken, days and hours to find, and they all are found due to my experience over the years, why would I ever give them away without geting something in return?
So where should I go for some good advice, when I really need it to make some good decisions in life, and where can I expect to get some good answers to my questions?
Well first of all, what are you looking for, business advice that can have some big impact on your future or just some good advice to see if you are heading in the right direction?
First of all, do not expect free advice to be the best, especially if you do not know the dude, or if the same advice is available to anyone. It is like asking for the best first move in chess, if everyone you meet would start with the same move, what would then happen?
In my case I have over 150 colleagues around the world with a variety of different industries they interact with, that I from time to time ask if they could give their view on how different business scenarios could be solved in their countries.
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In most cases it is not the one and only answer to an issue that I am looking for, in many cases it is better to have different opinions on how to solve it and at best it gives me the insight in different options and how to approach it for the best outcome.
The best advice I have been given over the years and that have had the greatest impact on my life is actually given from a row of different persons in my life.
It has given me some principles that I can use from time to time and that seems to work better than other advice from other persons over the years.
One thing is obvious to me, the best advice has never been for free, in my case I either know the person very well or I know them trough channels that I can trust, free advice has never worked for me, if I look back over the years.
I am sure we all can agree on one thing, when it comes to important decisions in life, we all are prepared to pay as long as the price lives up to the value of the advice and it is not given to anyone else or at least not to everyone.
Even though you in some cases have access to an insurance that lets you lean back if things go wrong, it is not the best way to approach different business issues in your world.
The best advice in life comes from experience, in some cases it is hard earned experience, why would anyone give that away for free if they have had to work and pay for it?
If you have some important decisions in your life, make sure you get it from someone you can trust and who knows what they are talking about.
There are no silver bullet advice in life, at best you can in most cases learn from others misstakes and success, but in the end you have to make the decisions your self, after all it is your life, you have to live it, for better or for worse.
Christopher Bell Blomquist
Managing director Scotwork Sweden
BellBlomquist Consulting.
www.scotwork.se
www.bellblomquist.com