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The Worst Business Advice You Ever Received

Guest post by: John Jantsch

Article Overview: Don’t worry, the title of this post doesn’t suggest something you’ll find here, it’s about something I want you to share.

The Worst Business Advice You Ever Received

Don't worry, the title of this post doesn't suggest something you'll find here, it's about something I want you to share. Let me tell you what led to this idea.

The folks at Staples contacted me and asked if I would try out (free of charge) a new desktop sized shredder called the Minimate. I've never owned a shredder, but it got me thinking that I do throw away and recycle a fair amount of information that could be used by identity theft types and I probably could use a shredder from time to time.

I received the shredder, set it up in minutes and found I kind of enjoyed shredding stuff. There's something sort of empowering about shredding stuff like junk credit card offers, printing proofs and bank statements.

So, that got me thinking, Staples also wanted me to give away two more of these little babies so if you want one, here's what I'm asking you to do.

Share in the comments your story of . . .The worst business advice you ever received.

Then on Thursday, March 25th I'll pick two winners from the best stories offered.

People offer lots of advice when you own a business, some good, some awful, some asked for and some completely unsolicited. As a business owner you've got to understand your vision well enough to know when to take that advice and run with it and when to take that advice and run it through the shredder.

Back when I was just starting to create the Duct Tape Marketing brand I met with someone I considered a mentor at the time. He had already created a measure of success in the online world and still does very well with his marketing business. While we were chatting he offered this piece of advice - "lose the name Duct Tape Marketing, it sends the wrong message completely."

As it turns out the choice of the name Duct Tape Marketing was one of the best business decisions I've ever made and has grown to be an important element of the strength of the brand. I didn't know that would be the case at the time, but I did know the kind of feedback I'd been receiving from the small businesses I encountered using that name, so I ignored this advice and consider it the worst business advice I've ever received to this day. (To be fair to this mentor, he's jokingly reminded me that he is glad I ignored his advice.)

So there you have it, share your story of woeful advice and you too could become the owner of a Minimate Shredder just in case some bad advice ever comes your way again.

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Article Tags: business advice



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Re: What is your worst / best month? - Best: October, November, April Worst: January, February, July
Re: What is your worst / best month? - Best = January, February and March. Worst = April (tac season) July and August (vacations).
My entry - 1. The Best Business Books Ever: The 100 Most Influential Business Books You'll Never Have Time to Read - this is a fascinating book about the history of Business theory, and I'd recommend it to anybody. 2. The Big Book of Small Business: You Don't Have to Run Your Business by the Seat of Your Pants, by Tom Gegax. Ditto. 3. PADI: The Business of Diving Book Okay, so this book won't be of use to anyone who doesn't want to start a scuba store, but I did, and this book was of course invaluable to me in reaching that goal.
Re: What is your worst / best month? - Best months for my business are historically March/April/May & August/Sept/Oct Worst months: December/January (Holidays) & June/July (Vacations) I see our traffic go way up during the good months and way down during the bad months. Very cyclic. Keep in mind, my clients buy businesses and no one thinks of doing that during the holiday or during vacation.
Exclusive: Interview with Results - Hi Forum Members, I'm helping start up a Business Coaching and Consulting company here in Toronto, Ontario, Canada (a Subsidiary of RSC Business in Los Angeles). As a Research and Development Intern I am required to practice my listening and interview skills by surveying Small and Medium Businesses on thier Business. This Survey is designed by RSC Business to also assist the Business being interviewed more insight into their own business. I am looking to interview about 30 businesses across North America over the span of 3 months. At the end of these interviews I will be publishing a report of the results and they will be made available for free to the Interviewees. The Report data will include responses from a minimum of 100 interviews. I would like to extend this opportunity to members of the Forum. If you would like to have this short 20-30 minute interview conducted on your Business and you reside in North America please send me an email or PM. Please contact me at andy[at]jvprosperity[dot]com to arrange our interview and to get free access to the results when they are published.


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