The quote “Don’t take money advice from broke people, including yourself”, kept ringing in my head and I sat down at my desk and decided to break it down.
So let’s begin…
Though this quote specified Money advice, it isn’t just about money. Don’t take fitness advice from people who aren’t fit, don’t take medical advice from a carpenter, don’t take business advice from someone who isn’t a successful business person and the list goes on and on and on.
To this moment, I still can’t understand why a career person would take career advice from a jobless person…🤦
No doubt, people can be knowledgeable about a lot of things and some people are in the position they are not because they lack the knowledge but for some other reasons including luck. Remember the role of luck in this post?
So why shouldn’t you take advice from them?
Here’s why.
1. The person you are taking the advice from is as important as the advice itself. When you are taking advice from a successful person in that field, when things get difficult you can draw motivation from the knowledge that someone you know has done it and was successful hence the challenge isn’t impossible to overcome but when the advice is from someone who isn’t successful in that field, then it would be easier for you to quit when things get tough.
2. A broke person has no right to have an opinion on your situation. You are asking why. It is because that broke person is not an authority in the field they are advising you on. What makes one an authority in a field is their experiences both good and bad and their success in navigating through the challenges that come with taking that path. An authority can tell you what methods to use in a specific situation and can give you examples from their experiences.
3. Advice is usually one to their younger or less experienced self. Now if a successful person is giving that advice, they are likely teaching you an easier way to get to where they are and you wouldn’t have to make the same mistakes they made. From a broke person, the advice you are getting is based on assumptions.
Try to find the source of the advice you get, or the thought process behind it by asking two simple questions.
1. Why do you think this would work?
2. Who has it worked for before?
You would get a response that then points you in a direction to get better insight. A lead to a book or a post on social media or an expert you can reach. When you get to this point, go and read that book view that post, or have a conversation with that expert. Sometimes you might realize your situation is different. And in instances where the situation matches perfectly, you would be getting answers from the primary source.
I am sure people approach you for advice on different situations you aren’t even an authority in. Yeah, I also get that a lot as well and here is how I handle it in other not to mislead people or make life more complicated for them.
In the past, I would pour out my knowledge and thoughts to them and speak with so much confidence and authority😑 but I realized that most of them weren’t getting any better and that made me sad really.
So here is what I started doing and what I would suggest.
If it isn’t my field, I say very little about the subject and more about where I got this knowledge from. Direct them to that book you read, direct them to a song you heard, to that Instagram post of an expert, direct them to this newsletter, direct them to the source of your basic knowledge of the subject.
Most times, we offer advice so we are perceived as smart and intelligent, but what good is looking smart if, at the end of the day, the person you are advising doesn’t get better?
Sometimes I get that unpleasant reaction and I am perceived as arrogant when I direct people elsewhere to get the best advice – especially if I used to give them advice they perceived as smart.
If you ask me what drugs to take for your ailment simply because I had similar symptoms some weeks back, I would direct you to my doctor. If you ask me how to be wealthy, I would direct you to my newsletter where I have summaries of books you should read. If you ask me about some physics, computers, drones, and emerging tech😊 then we can sit and have a long conversation.
It would be a waste of your time to take money advice from broke people and a disservice to advise in a field you aren’t an authority in because you wouldn’t be helping. Remember you shouldn’t also advise yourself in matters you aren’t an authority in and for some reason, we tend to do this a lot.
So i made a similar statement of my WhatsApp status about 2 years ago. Although it was directed at content creators. A lot of content creators are not experts at what they do, but still command a great deal of influence on people. We need to be wary of the kind of information we subscribe to as the internet is now filled with a sea of people's opinions that are usually taken out of context.