why good advice doesn't work [idgaf 002]

Hey Reader,

There's loads of advice out there. Some shitty. Some good. Most of it conflicting.

What I always found annoying was sifting through it to figure out what was worth listening to.

And even then, making it work? That was a whole new pain in the butt. There was plenty of seemingly good advice that just didn't fit with me or my business. And it made me realise one really important thing.

On LinkedIn, I'm always seeing advice on how to succeed on LinkedIn (ooh so meta). When I visit YouTube, it's the same thing (except YouTube, obv).

It's usually not bad advice. But it is the same shit over and over (linkedin edition):

All of that is technically correct.... if if fits your business and personality. You've gotta match that generic model that they've created this advice for. I don't think I'm special or anything, but I must not be generic enough cause I never seem to match.

And if you're like me at all, here's what I think you should do instead.

Strategy just the broad way you're going to achieve a goal. That's it. You don't need to overthink it, cause overthinking strategy is how people avoid taking action - and action is the important part.

For us, before anything else we need to figure out one core thing: what's the fucking goal? In my case, my goal is to get more leads for my web design service.​ps. Some people will say to make it a SMART goal, tell those people to STFU.

Next up, I'd see how that compares to reality. Do I get leads now? Where from? How many? How many more do I need? What's stopping me from getting more? At this stage I'm trying to figure out what's getting in the way of this goal happening.

In my case, maybe I'm just not getting enough leads via my existing networking activity, and my website doesn't get enough traffic to generate more leads.

Now that I know the problem, I can start brainstorming options. For example, I could try run paid ads to get traffic to my site. I could start DM'ing people on LinkedIn. I could go down the SEO path to get website traffic. Or maybe I could create content on social media to get myself out there.

For each option, I'd compare how they work, whether they'd fit me, as well as how I'd actually implement them. Then I'd comit to one that I will do, and then go and do it.

The process I went through to do this is called the GROW (goal, reality, options, will do) framework. It's a super common framework in coaching and an awesome "quick" way to help narrow down your strategy.

You're smart (you subscribe to this newsletter after all), so maybe you've already seen an issue.

I picked a strategy, sure, but usually there's many ways to actually implement it. So what do I do now?

Well, I know this is a revolutionary idea, but we can just do the same thing again. Wild, I know. If my strategy to get more leads is posting content on LinkedIn that generate enquiries, then that strategy becomes my new goal, and I just follow the same framework again.

And if the result of that is another idea that has multiple ways I could implement it, I'd follow it again. And again. And again. Until I end up with something I can actually implement.

As nice as it is to be given an answer and a path, learning how to think is going to serve you way more.

The chase for answers and solutions is why so many people aren't able to breathe without asking their AI tool if they should. It's also why we end up burning out on business advice - it makes us think that we're the issue, or we're just too stupid to figure it out. And that's complete BS.

So, I'm not trying to give you the answers. I'm trying to give you the questions and thought process, so you can figure it out yourself and (most importantly) go and make shit happen.

After all, strategy without action is just as useless as generic advice. If you take steps, even when they're not perfect, you'll still be moving forward and eventually get where you wanna go.

Cowabunga,Nick Gulic

ps. I don't really promote this often, but I offer one-off coaching and consulting calls. If you're struggling to make things work and want to throw some money at figuring out what to do, you can always book some time with me.