Grow Your Business With Advice That Works For You

By Cindy E Morris

In the Spring of 1991, as I walked away from work and a marriage, renouncing all that was that shall never be again, I spent my days roaming around looking for myself. Everyone I knew had an opinion about what I should, shouldn't, could and couldn't do with my life. The two most important things to consider regarding advice are to
consider the source and consult with yourself. Oftentimes unsolicited advice is meant to be helpful but sometimes people stick their noses into what is absolutely not their business. The truth is that nobody really knows what's best for you except you and everybody has their own agenda

Trust

There are certain areas of your life where it is appropriate to gather advice and use it. For instance, if you are not feeling well, you go to your health practitioner in whom you trust and believe, following their advice to improve your health. The same goes for legal advice. If you were creating a sales contract with someone or settling a divorce, legal counsel is advice well worth taking, if it comes from a lawyer you trust. And here is the operative word: trust. And even if the source is sound you still need to consult with yourself and feel if the counsel is right for you.

You always have to trust yourself first. Consult with yourself first and foremost. You first have to trust yourself and then you can decide if you can trust another's advice. You will know if someone is giving you useful advice because it will resonate, it just feel right. Does it feel right? If it does not feel right to you...don't do it!

What's Their Agenda Anyway?

Clearly identify someone's agenda. Do they have an agenda for you? Are they projecting what they want for themselves onto you? Do they sincerely want you to succeed? Are they trying to sell you something to benefit themselves? Did you ask for their advice in the first place or is the advice unsolicited?

You would never ask a car salesman: "Do you think I should buy this car?" Of course, a salesman will want you to buy a car - that is his agenda. The only person who can tell you if a car purchase is right for you is you. You will be driving the car, you will be making the payments on it, and you will be paying the insurance premiums on it. The car and the purchase of it need to feel good for you, not to the salesman, and not to anyone who is "helping" you to decide.

Even very expensive counsel and advice can lead you down a thorny path. I feel it is always best to watch over your own needs as much as you possibly can. In the long haul, you will only be left with you anyway and it is with you that you will have to settle your accounts. This is not to say that you should make important decisions for yourself in a vacuum. I have always benefited from talking out issues and scenarios with a trusted (ah, there is the 'trust' word again!) friend, family member, or therapist so I can support myself in making the most clear-headed, right decision for me.

Fear-based Advice...watch out for this!

You have to be able to distinguish between advice given from fear and advice given from knowledge. Advice given from the advisee's fear will always sound like bad news couched in worry and fret. The most vociferous advice I can remember receiving came about 4 years after I had established my store. The business was bursting at the seams and I had to move to a larger space. There was a shopping center located by the hospital that had been established in the 1950's.The neighborhood was becoming quite upscale. People were buying up the old houses there and remodeling them. The mall already had some cool shops and some shops that had been there on the original lease. Diagonally across from the center was another florist shop. For some reason everyone and their mother thought that that flower shop would make it impossible for my shop to succeed, and they were going to tell me so.

The well-meaning "advice" sounded something like this: "What about the competition from the shop across the street?" "Aren't you worried that you'll be in competition from the shop across the street?" "Are you aware that there is a shop across the street?" I began to actually enjoy the exchange because when I told people where I was moving to, I could anticipate the response.

I was so focused on what I was creating that it never crossed my mind to be concerned with the shop across the street except that it would offer comparison shopping, something that I felt confident would work in my favor, which it did.

Priestess Petal of Wisdom

Your small business needs to be the fulfillment of your dream, emphasis on YOUR. Know your dream and be willing to commit to it 100%. Regardless of what the outcome of the journey is, it is yours. Ask for advice when you feel that you need it but remember to only heed advice that feels right to you, advice that is aligned with your deepest dreams and visions for yourself. Only you know what is right for you. Only you know what is in your heart.

To learn to connect more effectively with your inner guidance so you know what is in your heart, visit http://www.PracticalPriestess.com and sign up for your free sample of the Priestess Meditations. When you are attuned and aligned, you are empowered! When you are empowered you KNOW what is good advice and what advice is just not for you, thank you very much.

Cindy Morris, msw is the best-selling author of Priestess Entrepreneur: Success is an Inside Job. Cindy owned and operated a successful flower shop for ten years before turning to writing and coaching full-time. She combines her business expertise with her knowledge of astrology, offering her unique brand of coaching: Astro-Life Coaching. Find out more about the power of Astro-life coaching to bring you home ot YOU and receive a FREE sample of her chakra-balancing Priestess Meditations at http://www.PracticalPriestess.com

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Grow Your Business With Advice That Works For You