Free Advice - Worth More Than $.02

Well, seems I just can't get enough of Chris Guillebeau these days. A short post arrived today entitled Free Advice, where he takes old and new rules or sayings, some of them his own, and turns them on their head. Here are a few of my favorites:

The customer is always right.

~ Actually, sometimes the customer is dead wrong. Sometimes you don’t want the customer, and if you go out of your way to please one of them, you’ll disappoint the others.

You should ask people what they want when developing a project.

~ Henry Ford said: "If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses."

Never check email in the morning.

~ You don't have to feel guilty if you like checking to see what people have to say to you. Who knows -- maybe that's even the most important work of the day?

Slow and steady wins the race.

~ Some races go to the slow and steady; others go to the fast and furious. See Mario Andretti:  "If you think that you're in control, you're not going fast enough."   Maybe not your style, but I think there's a time and a place for it.

Good things only come to those who wait.

~ Some good things come to those who wait; others come to those who go out and get them. If what you want is in the second category, what are you waiting for?

You must have a local support team to succeed.

~ I think a support team can be very helpful. But what if you're on your own and no one around you believes in your mission? Those people sound like a non-support team to me. If you have to choose between a non-support team and going it alone, I suggest going it alone.

~~~~

If you enjoyed this, here's an excellent companion piece by Chris that might turn you on: Unsolicited Advice.  I'm sure we've all been on both sides of the advice dilemma and it can feel like being caught between a rock and a hard place, particularly when we're being asked to give it, but there are perils as well when we ask for advice from others.  The article is interesting and insightful and the Comments are great - my (unsolicited) advice is to definitely check it out.
~~~~