I have stopped listening to business podcasts. And maybe you should too

After watching countless YouTube videos, reels, tiktoks, and podcasts, even signing up to a …course. I finally let it sink in that the advice on the internet isn’t tailored for me, and I need to take it with a grain of salt. Shocker

If you’re seeking advice, there’s a chance you have a deeper feeling of uncertainty around something within yourself or your business, which can leave you in a vulnerable state to taking on opinions not made for you.

I know I was. In the first few months of being self-employed full-time, I was willing to take on any advice thrown my way, as of course, everyone else knew more than me. This was ok for the start. I learned a lot, but eventually suffered the consequences of hearing everyone’s different ideas of success. Creators would contradict each other on the same topics, or even the same creator would contradict their own advice in different pieces of content. This is because when they’re coming up with their content ideas, they sit down and think about a specific version of their target audience and create advice for the fake persona in their head.

They know nothing about you, your business, your journey, your values, your processes. So taking on everyone’s word as gospel isn’t going to benefit you in the long run. I eventually became wary of American creators because I felt as if they didn’t understand how the Australian audience worked. Then became wary of male creators as I found their advice didn’t resonate with me. Eventually, I realised not all Australian female creators were speaking to my goals and where I am at at the time of consuming their content. So continuing to listen to their advice, and taking it all on board wasn’t working anymore. If I actually wanted opinions and advice I could use, I would need it to be personal.

The consumption of advice stopped me from testing, implementing and learning myself.

Through consuming this self-development and business advice, the more I watched, the more videos and creators I’d find, and it kept growing. Instead of trial and error, I ended up just filling my brain with ideas and doubts. One creator inspires an idea, and the next video you watch shuts that idea down. Rather than actually just giving things a go, you end up planning a whole thing in your head, feeling the satisfaction of having an idea, then overthinking it and never bringing it to life, leaving you in the same position as before.

I would second-guess myself if I were doing it properly because she said I should do it like this, but he said I should do it like that. Maybe instead we should just do it and learn from actual clients and the target audience.

You reach a point where you have so many ideas and snippets of advice in your head, you know what you need to do, you now just need to do it.

Self-development and business creators make money from you consuming their content.

Whether it’s through ads, brand deals, or by eventually signing up to their program. They need your attention to run their business, so they want you to feel unsure, they want you to keep digging through their content to learn more, to finally figure out that one thing that’s holding you back from making 100k a year. They make that much money, so you can do it too.

But you’re not selling advice on how to make your clients successful in business. You’re selling them a haircut or clean gutters.

While of course the information they give out on their podcasts and platforms can be useful, it’s usually small little pieces that again may or may not relate to you and your business.

After going through the motions of this last year, I decided to pause consuming more business advice from strangers on the internet, and change my focus to trying things out and actually seeing how it works in real life. This doesn’t mean I won’t listen to anyone’s opinion anymore or take on advice. But, I am now aware that not all advice is for me right now, and if I need advice, to find people who align with me, know me and have the best intentions for me.

So, should you stop listening to business podcasts? Who am I to tell you as a stranger on the internet? You already have the answer inside of you, so listen to yourself, and let me know what you decide.