Every business owner can benefit from advice. In fact, even the most successful business owners still rely on the advice of others. Here are just five valuable sources of advice that every business owner should turn to.
Professional advisors
A common way to seek out advice is to outsource a professional advisor. Such advisors tend to specialise in a certain area of business – a few common examples include financial advisors, legal advisors, IT consultants and HR consultants. This could be an opportunity to receive personalised advice relevant to your business. Many advisors charge for an hourly session. Others may charge a monthly rate and can be on call for when you need them (this is the case with many IT consultancy firms). Always read testimonials and reviews when choosing an advisor in order find someone reputable.
Courses, workshops and seminars
It’s also possible to learn new business skills as part of a class. A course could allow you to learn new business skills over a long period of time and potentially get you a qualification. Workshops and seminars meanwhile may not earn you any credentials but could allow you to learn new business skills from other business owners in a formal setting. There are also webinars and online training programs worth trying. As with hiring advisors, always look up reviews before choosing a course or training program – you’ll find reviews such as this Legendary Marketer review online. Most courses, workshops and seminars require payment, but there are some free ones out there.
Books and blogs
You can also seek out business advice by reading books and blogs. Such advice is handy in that you can digest it in your own time and constantly return to it if you need to. When putting your trust in books, make sure to read reviews first and check that the book isn’t too old (otherwise the advice could be outdated).
Robo-advisors and analytics
It’s also possible to seek advice from computers. Tools like robo advisors and analytics software can offer you advice based on hard data. This could include investment advice based on stocks and shares prices or it could include digital marketing advice based on web traffic analytic data. An advantage of such advice is that’s totally unbiased.
Your customers
You should never neglect your customers as a source of advice. They may be able to teach you valuable ways to improve your business. Surveys and focus groups can be great ways to encourage advice from consumers. Even customer reviews as found on sites like Trip Advisor could be a source of advice.
