Should You Always Trust The Experts When It Comes To Your Business?

In the past couple months, I’ve attended three separate professional development conferences, both virtually and in person. I absorbed so much information from the education sessions that you’d laugh if you saw the number of notes taken for each session.

Spotting a True Expert vs. A Person with Good Marketing

At the surface level, I should have had a lot of notes, right? These people ended up on the panels or keynote states because they are seen as “experts” in their field.

Their role at these events was to provide beneficial information either based on data or their own business experiences. They shared their insights to help attendees improve their businesses.

I relate to all of that as, after all, I too create lessons, educational content, and videos based on my research and data to help the DCM community get a shortcut to their success.

By “shortcut,” I mean avoiding the “spray and pray” or “throw spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks” approaches, and instead providing direct tactics to allow small business owners like yourselves to focus on what works AND knowing how to test, tweak and evolve to keep your marketing funnels flowing.

Is There A Time You Shouldn’t Listen to “Expert” Advice?

Yet even with the best intentions and information from experts, or myself, is there a time to not listen? I believe the answer is a whole-hearted YES!

And any true expert would also tell you to question everything.

Let me give you an example from, you guessed it, my own business experience.

The Red Flag to Not Ignore

When I first started my business, I invested in a business coach with a stellar reputation and a proven track record. I handed over my credit card with optimism, a solid work ethic dedicated to making this company profitable, and started their program.

As I progressed, I felt increasingly anxious. This person has achieved the level of success I wanted to reach so in theory I just needed to do the things they did and it would work for me too.

In theory..

The problem is that their strategy hinged on one tactic I couldn’t embrace: sending automated emails daily.

This method is popular and successful for many businesses and coaches, but it felt wrong to me.

It felt like TOO MUCH. (All caps for a reason there.)

Although I have seven-figure revenue goals for my business and this coach had demonstrated how this tactic worked, I just couldn’t pull the trigger and implement this recommendation.

That gut feeling of “this is just off” is the red flag.

They say “like attracts like” so if the method felt off to me as a small business owner, I’d be living in a state of delusion to think it would attract a like- minded small business owner (aka DCM’s ideal client.)

So here’s your red flag:

If a recommended tactic doesn’t align with your values as a business owner or brand as a whole, then DO NOT USE IT. Period.

Doing so would be inauthentic to your brand, which will hurt your business more in the long run.

The Importance of Authenticity

Authenticity is crucial. It’s a cornerstone of positive, productive relationships in all areas of life and business. So to stick to mine, I took the coach’s teachings that did align with the DCM brand and walked away from the rest.

Has DCM grown to 7-figures since inception? Not yet. Would we be there by now if I followed those teachings? Maybe 🤷‍♀️

But it would be a totally inauthentic way to the person I am and the reason I started this business to begin with. Yes I want to hit my revenue goals, but I am determined to do it in a way that is truly beneficial to DCM clients without them feeling bombarded or taken advantage of.

The Channing you see in articles and videos is the same Channing you get once you sign a contract—authentic and true to my values… even if that translates to a slower build to accomplishing those goals.

Key Takeaway: Trust Your Gut

Even if you love what an expert or “successful” entrepreneur is saying, always do a gut check before drinking their Kool Aid.

Ask yourself, “Is this the right path for MY business?”

If your gut doesn’t say an immediate “hell yes,” then it’s a no. Find what aligns with your values and goals within the advice given, and trust your gut.

Just because a method works for someone else doesn’t mean it will work for you. Marketing is about testing, reviewing results, tweaking, and continually testing.

As humans evolve, our marketing and sales approaches must evolve too.

Trust your gut and keep doing the work to move forward. Your unique path to success might not look like anyone else’s or be on their timetable and that’s A-okay. 👌