Do You Go To The Butcher For Bread?

Co Homa The Machan – That is Singhalese (Sri Lankan) for “Hello Good Friend”.  Wifey and I are back from three fabulous weeks in Sri Lanka.  It was an amazing trip with far too much to tell in the Get more Goer, but there were some definite learnings to be had.

Most of our trip was spent with family.  Family are such wonderful people.  Sometimes they don’t realise their kindness is killing you, or at least stifling you.  They love to save you from yourself and tell you how to live life or throw in a mixed message.  In Sri Lanka, food is love.  So every visit has a meal and you have to have two or three helpings.  Usually it came up in conversation afterwards how much I ate or how “big” I was.  EXACTLY what I wanted to hear!

Things are not that different in Australia.  When I first left the corporate world and set up my own business, my parents urged me to stay in the corporate world where the job was secure and the money was good.  They didn’t say this to hold me back, it was said as a protective instinct.  They were fearful that I may struggle financially.  Frequently family are so protective of you or only want certain things because “they would be best for you”.  Unknowingly, they can cause you additional distress.

My theory is, don’t go to the butcher for bread.

What I mean is, you wouldn’t get financial advice from someone on social security, you wouldn’t get fitness tips from a chronically ill or unwell person, and you wouldn’t take ethic lessons from a lifelong criminal, so pick who you turn to for support.  Sometimes your family is great for that and sometimes they aren’t.  If your family have no experience as an exhibitor at a trade show or expo, how will they know what is “best practice”?  If your family have never sold services, how will they know the trick of the trade if that is what you are trying to do?  Sometimes you need a paid professional who will be brutally honest with you, sometimes you need a mastermind group to aid your progress and sometimes family CAN be of great assistance.

When you are next looking for support or resources for what you are trying to achieve, don’t go to the butcher for bread!  Go to the leaders in that field.  Chances are much higher that they will have what you need.

What do you need?