Advice about Advice

[Ian PES]

Blimey, you think I was throwing my toys out of the pram? Come on... I thought Noah's response was completely childish and unnecessary and didn't even remotely provide a constructive/helpful answer to my question, hence my response. I can only apologise if it offended you. That wasn't my intention at all when posting on here just didn't expect the initial response to be so, well... useless.

I'm not hear to have slagging matches with people (unlike some of the posters I've seen).

....I find that 9 out of 10 people here are courteous and provide great advice but there are those that just make assumptions and spout rubbish.

Getting back to your original question. I have sought help from local authority run agencies a few times and my impression was they none of them had any real hands-on experience with running their own small business. They were either from a big business background, or were from universities or wee career civil servants. I would discreetly ask questions to find out if the adviser has ever run their own small company and if not then take their answers with a grain of salt!

 

[Chris Ashdown]

For most negatives there are equal or greater positives

Many mentors in enterprise agency's are ex business people with various experiences but one thing they will normally have in common is they can help you build your business plan, point you to where you can get your marketing information or tell you ways to get it, they can also point you to potential locations locally that might fit your requirements if any, and also possibly pass on any contacts they might think would help you

Some Mentors will be a waste of time just like posts on the forum, others can be a help or a great help, If as stated you don't have enough time whilst working full time to manage to make time, then you are probably not suited to self employment as you would be working far more hours self employed fighting rejection after rejection on your sales campaigns whilst learning what works and what does not

Many dream of the grass over the road but not all are suitable to go self employed and most who do do not last the first three years or even the first year

 

[jibbajabba]

I am one for getting loads of advice. (over social and busy fool syndrome). One that stands out is a free hour of consultancy with branding expert who spent the time redesigning the whole product. You'll love who the meeting was arranged by the now forum famous

I suppose if I mention Creative Scotland,

Some are good and others are good to have a sounding board. Others only get excited if its glossy, others try to sell you the "mindset". Best so far are business peers and the pub landlord.....

 

[Noah]

I've found it depends on what you put in.

"Life is like a sewer : What you get out of it depends on what you put into it." - Tom Lehrer

 

[SH247]

"Life is like a sewer : What you get out of it depends on what you put into it." - Tom Lehrer

Couldn't agree more Noah.. Apologies if I overreacted to your previous comments. Think the quote above explains it perfectly. I interpreted your comment as sewage and gave you sewage back... Hope it hasn’t dissuaded you from having an input in future!