Re: Uhmmm???

> Uh, you don't think that people who have been in a business for 10-30
> years would give the kind of advice someone needs?

It depends upon the type of business we're talking about here.

> You're saying that a newcomer would give better advice than, say, a SCORE
> retired executive?

A new comer to a board - or even to the IM arena - doesn't instanlty mean
they are a newcomer to on line business. Or give useless info. If you ignore
everything they say, you can miss some great info.

I'm kind of curious why you would think this, because
> (to be terribly honest) I've seen a lot of "you can do it" and
> "go for it" messages when an honest "look -- do you REALLY
> know this market and this business? Should you BE in this business?"
> might be a lot better for the person.

If I am a newbie to on line business, and I want to LEARN on line marketing,
I would NOT go to a retired SCORE executive. Simply because he/she would
not have the info I probably would be looking for.

Just because they may have run a successful accounting firm (for example)
in Chatanooga, TN doesn't mean he can help me run an on line business in
Alameda, Cal. To assume they could, COULD be foolish for you.

> I frankly think that they're much better served by finding out what they
> know about, and what markets they know, and teaching them customer service
> and encouraging them to do business in an arena where they have contacts
> and credibility. My personal experience has been that the advice of one
> been-there-done-that mentor is worth a LOT more than all the HappyHype
> messages.

Again - happy hype messages are just messages. Sometimes you gotta look
through the hype to get to the nuggets of wisdom.

In this case, a few posts by Sam and a search of his blog isn't really
concrete proof of anything - good OR bad.

A great example - Sam frequents the How To forum allot. He started there
like gang-busters too. Same schtick. The difference though is THAT
board moderator/owner (Michael Green) took him to task BEHIND the scenes,
OFF the board.

Since then, his posts are less inflammatory (but still CAN be) and are
very informative. No, they're not ALL break-through money makers. But
niether are yours, so you can't judge by that either.

> Of course, the experienced mentor's likely to whack your ears and make
> sure you're not following the latest fad. That's a 'discouraging word.'
> The RahRah mentor is likely to lead you 'on to your dream' without
> analyzing to see if what you're doing is one of those things that leads
> 95% of all businesses to fail.

I agree here. My mentor smacks me when I jump on band wagons. ;)

> Thinking big with confidence and dreaming big with confidence are useless
> if you don't have a good game plan.

Again, agreed. But positive thinking alone DOES change how you do business.
At least it did for me.