Advice: Real or Fake?

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Ever heard of the term ‘shit advice’? You know, the kind of general advice that comes from people who quote books but when you ask for their personal experience they go silent? Yeah, that.

If you are starting a business and have an idea and skill but know fuck all about the business side, you are prime bait for it — me included.

So like other people, we go to X. Full of leaders, entrepreneurs, and literally anyone who is building a business… and unfortunately anyone with a keyboard.

Here’s an example of the problem:

I went on a space and listened to a guy who sounded like a psychology book. Nothing about his personal experience.

The scary part is he goes space to space doing the same thing. The scarier part is what if someone listens to him and tries what he said? He hasn’t tested them, just parroting someone else's work.

I mean it works. Started X with a guy who does the same thing and now he’s 56k followers strong - if that's what you're looking for.

But how much weight does a feel good motivational speech do you?

Yeah it feels good and you get ‘inspired’ but it is not a sustainable source. It’s like being a drug addict looking for a next fix because you replaced internal drive for a dopamine hit.

It scares me.

Scared because someone will trust them and try it. Then the moment they fail, they blame themselves. And that creates a cycle of self-doubt because you took a chance to solve a problem and had no clue it came from someone without experience.

So I decided to scroll through X and what I found shocked me. There was rows and rows of non-specific ‘advice’. Even worse, some of my best work was too! Things I learned and tried but instead of telling you from experience (not because people are pushing the story agenda) with real actionable advice you could use.

I realized two things:

1. I was failing you and apart of the problem.

2. In my experience when you fail on someones advice it is because one of two reasons: the advice lacked substance from the start or you didn’t follow the advice to the letter.

I don’t want any of that for you creating self-doubt. Especially when starting is already hard.

No strategy just advice (ironic right?)

Pay attention to how people give you advice/help. Then ask for explanation and see if there is a story attached or not..

Filtering the Bullshit:

1. Social Proof Overdose: 1,000 likes don't guarantee 1,000 success stories.

2. The Alluring Quick Fix: If someone says, “Boost your productivity 10x while you sleep!” – wink, nod, and back away slowly. Entrepreneurship isn’t a fairytale.

This newsletter was inspired by: Jakob Greenfeld’s ‘Insight Porn’ essay and Topher's branding cohort. They both scream the same thing: X is brimming with clichés and Ctrl+C content.

Talk to me: Shoot me a message. What are you struggling with? I’ll try to help. Or at least, point you to someone who isn’t blowing smoke.

P.S.

What's Nichole Up To?
If you are curious what I’m building, here’s a sneak peek in the last month:

1. A failed tinea versicolor cream. (A tale for another day. Ask away!)

2. Mindset coaching and inbound strategies via X.

3. Focusing on a Click Funnels accountability membership for the 90% of hackers without the 2 comma award (aka first million).

4. Diving deep into Russell Brunson's 30 Day book using a podcast.

I also have projects behind the scene but my mentor said focus on one so that’s what I’m trying to do — not perfect work in progress.