A few years ago I had the honor of having a call with Farnoosh Torabi, money expert and the host of the So Money podcast.
She was conducting informational interviews with her entrepreneur listeners, to find out the greatest pain points we were facing. We chatted for about 30 minutes on Skype and she gave me this advice for my business:
Build a community for your clients, like a Facebook Group, to increase the value you bring to them.
This was in 2015, right before everyone and their aunt started private Facebook groups to share exclusive content, curate communities, and avoid Facebook’s ever-changing algorithm.
It was good advice, but I had a gut feeling it wasn’t the right fit for my clients. First of all, I didn’t have very many clients – it would have been a tiny group! Second of all, my clients were (and are) diverse in their industries – I couldn’t imagine how putting them all in a Facebook Group would help them. Third, my clients are busy! They hire me for tailored services to deliver results and save them time – asking them to interact in a group would put more on their full plates.
But Farnoosh’s advice was prescient. If I had taken it, I would have a valuable community with several years of growth and archives under my belt. That community could help me network, market test my ideas, and more.
A few years after I talked with Farnoosh, I thought of a community idea that I love. It doesn’t involve my clients or Facebook. It does involve my colleagues and a new way to network, amplify our content, and support each other.
I tested the idea with a few friends and the feedback was positive. And then… life got busy. I got scared of what it would take to pull off my idea, and of course scared that it would be too much work for too little value, or no one would like it, blah blah blah.
Not every great idea needs to be brought to life. Some ideas are fun to have and fun to let go. Yet every now and then this idea comes back to me, and I wonder… is it time? Was that advice from Farnoosh just a few years early for me?
So:
- Not every expert’s advice is good advice…. for you
- Some advice is good advice… but not in exact way you hear it
- Not every idea needs action… at least not right this second.
This post is part of my 100 Blog Posts in 100 Days series. View the rest here.
