Caveat Vendor

Lotta people giving advice out there, in cyberspace and in your hometown---life coaches, launch coaches, how-to-do, how-to-be, how-not-to-freak-out, how-do-what-you-love-without-taking-alotta-crap.  Conquer the world!  Learn how not to pick up the phone every time mom calls!  Buy my e-book!  Sell your e-book! 

Give me a second for my head to stop swirling, ok?

The good news:  there are plenty of more-than-credible advice-givers out there.  The first one that comes to mind is Diane Gilleland of http://www.craftypod.com/, and there are many more.  The great part is that many if not most of these folks will provide plenty of advice for free before even thinking of asking you to buy anything---and better yet, they really do know what they're talking about and can back it up with experience and facts.

Hooray for these folks!  They work their butts off doing all this.

Okay, now it's time to turn on your bulls#it detector, starjets!  Turn it up to 11. 

Question:  Are they making more money giving advice about, say, selling your artwork than they ever did selling their artwork?  (Fill in your own more relevant question here). 

One career coach held several "try me out" group sessions a few years ago.  She was encouraging, engaging and provided good food for thought.  All for free!  I emailed her to find out how much it cost for her to coach me personally.  $5,000 over a 6-month period.  Hoot mon!  Time to reflect!  Then I remembered something she said:  when she was an artist, she made beautiful masks and sold them to clients on a regular basis, but she found that when she needed to raise her prices she had a much harder time selling them.  Okay... so she couldn't communicate convincingly enough with her clients to make a living from sales of her artwork... but she wants to teach me how to make a living from sales of my artwork...

Another coach gives excellent advice in his free e-books and weekly emails; he tweets links to other inspirational articles, and although he gears his advice more to an audience of tech creatives, authors, and other would-be coaches, his wise thoughts apply to artists.  He has a fun punch-the-camera headshot, is flippant, irreverent, honest, and willing to share his vulnerabilities so you too can quit that day job... and, guess what?  He recently announced that he was just about to quit his day job! 

I love ya, pal, but I quit my day job nearly three years ago. 

Bottom line:  many of these people are nothing short of great.  The credible ones will give you lots of opportunities to sample their wares prior to purchase.  It's up to you to sort them out. 

I'll repeat three little words from the last sentence---okay, four: 

It's Up To You. 

When it comes down to it, no one can actually lay the groundwork for you, no matter how much money you pay them.  No one can decide for you what your priorities are, what product will transport you into a world of fame and/or fortune, or what is genuine to you.  They can give you great questions to ask yourself, but you have to answer those questions.

Still, don't be shy about sharing your questions and your answers with others---your insights are valuable too, and they may benefit not only you, but a neighbor, a friend, a client...  I love living in a world populated by other people with vastly differing experiences, opinions and types of wisdom.  I'd get bored pretty fast if everyone was just like me!

So, am I a complete nutter, or have you had experiences like this?  Have you given out advice?  Had to re-orient good but general advice to your own situation?

Photo notes
Top:  "Daring" by Teresa Sullivan.  Photo by Teresa Sullivan
Middle and bottom:  "The Turtle" and "The Pirate" by Teresa Sullivan.  Photos by Dan Kvitka.