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Unsolicited Advice and Why I Don’t Give a S*&# About It

Unsolicited Advice and why I don't give a S*%# about it

Thanks, I Guess?

Being out in the world of the Internet leaves you open and available for unsolicited advice of all kinds. I get an email or a message at least a couple times a week from people, both friends and random Internet netizens offering me advice that I didn’t ask for, on a whole range of topics.

Now, I’m not hating on these people because at some level, they really do just want to help me, especially the friends. The randoms are a bit more of a mystery to me and I have a hard time understanding what’s behind it. Maybe they want to feel like they’re a part of the thing I have going on? They can have a little piece of my success? Please comment to tell me why someone would do this. I really do want to understand the psychology behind it.

 

Anyway, here are only a few of the numerous things people have suggested:

  1. You should start a personal finance podcast
  2. You shouldn’t talk so much about money
  3. Why don’t you make a course about XYZ and sell it
  4. You should try to get your books published by a traditional publisher
  5. You should write a textbook for ESL students
  6. Why don’t you include XYZ specific thing in your general logo
  7. Your website needs XYZ
  8. Why don’t you hire person XYZ to write articles?
  9. Why do you do such a hard-sell? It’s offensive
  10. Why do you do such a soft-sell? You could hit it way harder

My Response = Usually not Completely Sarcastic

Although my response is usually to either ignore these people, or say something like, “Thank for the idea” or, “I’m sure I’ll figure it out,” inside my head here is what I’m actually thinking:

Do you really, truly think that I should take your advice about books when you’ve never published one. Advice about building websites when you’ve never built one. Advice about podcasts when you’ve never even been a guest on one, much less done one yourself. Advice about selling when you’ve never held a job in sales. Advice about building a course form someone who has never made one. Advice about graphic design stuff from people who have less clue about it than even I do. Advice about writing from someone who has never hired a person to do it, nor written anything themselves for money.

Do People Honestly Think I’m Totally Clueless?

Basically, what is all comes down to is this: I would venture a guess and say that I know at least 100 x more about self-publishing, Internet marketing and building websites than the average person giving me advice, and that’s at the low-end. I plan to do this for my life-like depend on it to feed myself and put a roof over my head. Does anyone actually think that I’d do this without having some knowledge about what I’m doing?

President Obama-Okay, I’m just Going to go Consult these Middle-School Kids

It’d kind of be like President Obama consulting a class of middle-school students for advice on the Iran deal. Or, a teacher with 40 years of classroom experience consulting a first year education major for advice on how to deal with a certain difficult student. It’s just ridiculous.

Who I do Listen to

Mostly myself. Those moments of clarity that I have while out biking or when riding the subway, or when reading something, or listening to a podcast. There are things that I know will work, for me, in an authentic kind of way where I can offer value to people. The people I listen to are others who are doing similar kinds of thing-publishing books or developing websites. And of course, Pat Flynn-the king of Internet marketing.

Those are Minutes of My Life I can never Get Back

Unsolicited advice-I truly just don’t even give a s*$# about it and every single time I read it, I feel like those were wasted seconds of my life that I’m never going to get back. I will follow my own authentic path, doing what seems best to me. Isn’t that what this whole passive income, digital entrepreneur journey is about anyway? Following your own path, doing your own thing, not following the herd.

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