Pass Me the Mute Button Please

Do you ever wish you could just turn off all the noise and outside chatter you have to deal with? If this isn’t a problem you face, please let me know your secret and how you manage to escape it.

From talking to a number of entrepreneurs in many different fields, I’ve found the one thing that remains constant are the people we encounter who want to give us advice. No, that’s not it. They want to tell us what to do...and they’re telling us for our own good. Most of them aren’t even running a business, have never ran one and probably never will, but they think they know what’s best for us and our situations.

The noise doesn’t only come from people we know. It hits us from all directions – online, on tv, on the radio, from total strangers we meet at networking events. It never ends.

So how do you handle the unsolicited feedback you’re bombarded with?

In some instances you can simply ignore it. In other cases, it may not be that easy. The next time someone approaches you and feels the need to tell you how to do your job, do the following:

Ask the person to point to their credibility. Ask something along the lines of, “Are you advising me based on your own personal experiences?” What first-hand knowledge does the person have with handling the particular situation they’re trying to tell you how to manage? Are they reciting recycled information they’ve read somewhere and never put into practice? If so, excuse yourself immediately. You can’t learn from someone who hasn’t faced the challenges you’re facing. You have to relate to them in some shape, form, or fashion.

If someone is reluctant to point you in the direction of others who can offer sound advice and they only want to subject you to their “noise”, that’s a good sign you’re dealing with an ego driven know-it-all. They value themselves and their opinions over yours and it won’t be long before they become more aggressive with their tactics.

Having access to a diverse group of like-minded individuals is the best way to combat unwanted noise clutter. You have a place to go to when you need guidance, so you’re less likely to seek it from unreliable sources. Look to the members of your group when you have questions or just need help sorting through things.

One of the members in my group thought she had to start blogging and do a newsletter at the same time. Why? I’m sure she’d been told that was what she HAD to do. After our meeting, she was so relieved to know that it was ok to only implement one of the two. She was thrilled that we had given her permission to not do something! We each had our own opinions about what she should do and reasons to support our decisions, and those opinions were based on what we had experienced personally. It related to her situation and where she was in her business.

Stay tuned because I’ll be giving you more warning signs that you may not be under the guidance of a good leader and group. If you have your own experiences you’d like to share, leave a comment.

Photo credit: Chicago’s Finest