When I talk here
about things like
the pandemic
or climate change
or shifts in the workforce,
I am almost always
early
with any advice
I give.
This is intentional.
Because making changes
in our businesses
takes time,
especially if we want
to make them
in the most resource efficient way.
There is no point
advising you
to prepare
for something
and giving you
no time to prepare.
The best advice
is advice
given early.
Don’t expect
events
to immediately occur.
I was having
what I thought was
a good conversation
with a newer writer online.
Then,
all of a sudden,
she made the conversation
personal
and she was aggressive
about this.
I immediately deleted all my comments
and blocked her.
Why?
Because the latest tactic
for newer writers
to gain attention
is to accuse a more experienced writer
of targeting them
in some way.
F*ck that.
I refuse to engage.
And I doubt,
in the future,
I’ll share advice
with newer writers.
Do not engage
with drama seekers.
The drama will merely escalate.
And you will likely lose control
of the situation.
Walk away
and block.
During a workshop,
a new writer asked
a writing hero
how she got her start
in the business.
The writing hero
prefaced her answer
with
“It was a different time
then”
and, while she relayed
her story,
she pointed out
again and again
how her path to publication
wouldn’t work now.
The world changes quickly.
I consider
anything that happened
before the pandemic
to be a situation
that couldn’t be duplicated
right now.
And even that
might be too long
of a time frame.
Ensure the advice
you’re receiving
is still relevant today.
If you’re giving advice,
ensure it applies
to the current situation.
The world is changing.
Your advice should be
changing also.
Most people don’t want
our advice.
That’s the brutal truth.
But some of us
(points to myself)
feel a responsibility
to share what we know.
There are ways
of doing this
that are less…pushy.
One of the reasons
I started blogging
(first at
Road To Forbes
and now at client k)
is because
I had so much life experience
and knowledge
and
no one to relay it to.
I put my insights here
where people can find them
if they need that advice.
A loved one
is very much aware
of the climate situation.
He makes jokes about
being a prepper,
a doomer,
preparing for the end
of times.
People laugh.
They tease him.
But they also ask questions.
They are now aware
there IS a situation.
There are a multitude
of ways
to give advice
without forcing it
on unwilling recipients.
Find the way
that works for you.
This week,
it was revealed
that most of the politicians
pushing hard and vocally
for no masks
and no vaccinations
are profiting financially
from COVID.
They are getting rich
from people getting sick
and dying.
When I receive advice
from someone I don’t know
and don’t completely trust,
I always try to figure out
how they would benefit
from giving me that advice.
There’s ALWAYS a benefit.
And the harder people push their advice,
the bigger the benefit
there is.
I benefit from posting here
on client k.
Posting here
fulfills my promise
to previous mentors
to pass along their insights,
to pay their generosity forward.
It also forces me
to write every day,
to continue learning,
to stay current.
I don’t push hard
because having merely 1 reader
will do that for me.
When you receive advice,
always ask yourself
what is in it
for the advice giver.
Note: Earlier this week,
I mused that there was no downside
to letting people wear masks.
I was wrong.
There IS a downside
…for people like these politicians,
people who profit
from other people
getting sick and dying.
The rest of us
merely shouldn’t concern ourselves
with this downside.