The following is a guest entry from respected entrepreneur Julie Lenzer Kirk, author of The ParentPreneur Edge
Whether you call them advisory boards or mastermind groups, much has been said–and written–about the value of good advisors. In one of the programs I lead where we’re helping women start technology-based businesses, we all but require the women entrepreneurs to build an advisory board. Personally, I got a lot of value from my membership in Vistage, which is a facilitated peer advisory group. Although I am no longer a member, I still count many former group members as friends. Whether they are formal or informal, the consensus is that soliciting advice from qualified individuals on your business is a good thing. However…
If you are new at the whole entrepreneur thing, advice from the outside can be confusing and often conflicting. I have had one highly qualified individual tell me one thing that completely went against what someone else–equally accomplished–had advised. So, what is an entrepreneur to do? Based on my experience as an entrepreneur, a teacher and an advisor, I have pulled together the following tips to help make the most out of your advisory relationships:
- Meet with more than one, or ideally all, of your advisors at once. Whether virtually or in person, having all of the people advising you in the same room at the same time will almost always yield better results than one-on-one interactions. When they’re together, your advisors can hear where advice they are providing is conflicting and address their differences. While they may just agree to disagree, many times they will play off each other and come up with an alternate recommendation that is better than each one provided individually.
- Beware of the “Bobblehead Advisor.” A Bobblehead Advisor is someone who continually agrees with you. Bobblehead Advisors love what you’re doing, offer little in the way of alternative insight and never disagree. Although you may be really good at what you do, a useful advisor should offer a different or added viewpoint as well as information and ideas for you to think about. If you are looking for someone just to make you feel better, call your mom and have her tell you how good you are. If you’re looking for an advisor to help you propel your business, find someone who won’t just tell you what you want to hear, but who will tell you what you need to hear.
- Reconsider following advice if it goes against your gut. Lack of confidence in a particular area of our businesses can lead us to follow the advice of an outsider even when something inside gives a strong thumbs down. Don’t be afraid to listen to your gut. After all, you have a lot of insider (no pun intended!) information and history that your advisor may not be aware of. If you’re still not sure, get a second opinion; but blindly following the advice of others can lead to big trouble.
- Be careful playing one advisor off another. There is nothing more frustrating as an advisor than to hear “So-and-so told me this…what do you think?” First of all, there are most likely details missing in the translation of the advice and, in some cases, flat-out misunderstanding. Many advisors, especially if they’re in similar fields, talk to each other, so be careful what you say to one about another.
Advisors can be an incredible way to compensate for experience that you don’t have and can act as a valuable sounding board, but you have to use them wisely to get the best use of your–and their–time.
