Today, I want to break down a few popular pieces of “expert” advice that I think are completely wrong and why I believe most businesses would benefit from doing the exact opposite instead.
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Chapters:
- 1:15 Ask me anything
- 5:16 You need to scale
- 6:58 Join every networking group
- 10:39 You need to pick a niche
- 12:08 You need to be innovative
- 13:28 You need social media
Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of Honestly, It’s Business. A show where I give my honest, unfiltered opinions on running a small business, building a brand, and the messy, sometimes hilarious reality that is being a creative business owner.
My name is Barbara DiLisio. Thanks so much for being here.
There’s a lot of business advice out there that I completely disagree with. Most of it feels generic, recycled, and built around formulas that sound good online but don’t actually help real businesses grow.
So today, I want to break down a few popular pieces of “expert” advice that I think are completely wrong and why I believe most businesses would benefit from doing the exact opposite instead.
But first, let’s get into this week’s Ask Me Anything, But Don’t Make It Weird. In this segment, I’ll be answering your questions, just not all of them because this is the internet afterall and some of you do not believe in boundaries.
Jen asks: I struggle with getting good feedback from my clients? As a designer, how do you get better feedback?
I would say most clients don’t actually know how to give good design feedback.
I’m sure you’ve gotten those annoying comments like:
- “Can you make it pop?”
- “Something feels off” or
- “I don’t know… I just don’t like it”
And of course, none of that is useful because they aren’t explaining the actual problem.
So instead of us asking “What do you think?”, you have to be a little more specific and guide your clients through the feedback process. That will help get better feedback.
Ask more specific questions like:
- Does this match the audience you’re trying to reach?
- Is there anything you find confusing?
- What’s the first thing your eye goes to?
- Or Does this communicate the right message?
That forces clients to go deeper with their answers instead of just responding with something generic.
Another thing I’d recommend is limiting the number of choices you give clients.
When I work on branding or website projects, I only present one design concept. I’m a huge believer in the one-concept method because it prevents endless revisions and those horrible Frankenstein designs where clients start combining random elements from the five different options you originally gave them.
The more choices you give people, the harder it becomes for them to make clear decisions.
But this approach only works if you do the strategy work upfront.
As the designer, it’s your job to ask the right questions before you ever touch the design Things like:
- Who is your target audience?
- What impression do you want people to have?
- What are your competitors doing?
- What feeling should the brand communicate?
- What are your business goals?
The better your discovery process is, the better your design decisions become. You’re not randomly presenting “options.”, you’re presenting a solution based on the information the client already gave you.
Our brand design questionnaire will help you get the answers to the questions you need to ask before you start a design project. This is the exact worksheet I give to every client before I start their project. You can pick it up in our shop. I’ll leave the link in the description.
That was ask me anything, but don’t make it weird. If you have a question you’d like me to answer on the podcast, leave a comment down below and I’ll feature it on a future episode.
Next up, we’re getting into some popular business advice that everyone seems to think is gospel, but I think is completely wrong.
But first:
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There’s no shortage of business advice, especially online. But the real question is: is any of it actually good?
Not always.
In fact, I think most businesses would probably be better off doing the exact opposite of what they’re told.
Here are 5 of the worst pieces of business advice experts keep repeating.
1. You Need to Scale
People are obsessed with scaling:
- Scale your revenue
- Scale your team
- Scale your systems
- Scale your content
- Scale your operations
Growth is treated like the ultimate goal no matter what.
But scaling is not automatically a good thing.
In fact, scaling too early destroys a huge number of businesses. A lot of companies fail because they expanded before they were ready.
- They hire too many people.
- They increase expenses too quickly.
- They add unnecessary complexity.
- They chase growth without profitability.
Suddenly a business that was simple, healthy, and manageable becomes fragile overnight.
There’s this strange stigma around staying small in business, as if a company only matters if it becomes massive. But a lean business that generates strong profit with low stress is often far more valuable than a bloated company doing huge revenue with razor-thin margins.
Bigger is not always better. Sometimes scaling is just multiplying your problems.
The internet glorifies expansion because expansion sounds exciting. But sustainable businesses are usually built slowly and carefully.
The businesses that survive long term often focus on:
- Stability
- Cash flow
- Operational efficiency
- Customer retention and
- Profitability
Not endless growth at all costs. Sometimes the smartest move is not scaling faster, it’s protecting what already works.
2. You Need to Join Every Networking Group
Networking has become almost cult-like in business culture.
People are constantly told:
- Join networking groups
- Join masterminds
- Go to conferences
- And meet business owners
Building your network is definitely important, but I honestly don’t think networking groups are the way to do it. Most of them are awful.
First, half the room doesn’t even own real businesses. Sorry, but joining an MLM and calling yourself a “CEO” because you sell protein powder on Facebook is not entrepreneurship.
Second, a lot of people there aren’t trying to build genuine relationships. They’re trying to collect as many business cards as possible so they can spam everyone with sales pitches later. You leave the event and suddenly get six LinkedIn messages that all start with:
“Just wanted to circle back…”
No. You wanted to sell me payroll services.
Three, it’s usually a bunch of people spending hours talking about business instead of actually building one.
There are people attending networking breakfasts every single week who haven’t:
- improved their product
- increased sales
- fixed customer issues or
- learned a new skill
in months.
They’re networking instead of working.
At some point, constantly talking about business becomes a substitute for actually doing business. And a lot of networking groups feel more like business-themed social clubs than rooms full of people building serious companies.
Four – A lot of networking groups have strange systems built around forced referrals.
Some require members to hit a certain number of referrals every month just to stay in the group. And that completely defeats the purpose of an actual recommendation.
A referral is supposed to mean:
“I trust this person enough to put my reputation behind them.”
But when referrals become quotas, people start recommending businesses randomly just to satisfy group requirements. Not because the service is actually good or because someone actually needs it.
That creates a network full of low-quality recommendations and fake business relationships.
Personally, if I don’t think your business is good, I’m not referring you to anyone just so I can check a box for a networking group.
My guess is that most people in these types of groups aren’t that great at what they do. The only reason they have any business is because they’re part of a group of people required to refer them business.
People who are good at what they do don’t need to aggressively network. Good work naturally attracts opportunities.
If you are genuinely valuable:
- people refer you
- customers talk about you
- clients return
- opportunities come to you
Of course relationships matter. But relationships without value don’t go very far. And most networking groups are way too transactional and not focused on building good relationships.
If you’re a part of a good networking group, let me know, because this is something that I’ve really struggled with since starting wicky 12 years ago. Networking groups are god awful and I still don’t understand why so many people recommend them.
3. You Need to Pick a Niche
So many people will tell you to pick a niche. And while having a target market for your services or products is definitely important, I think some people take this advice way too far. Especially in the beginning.
A lot of people are so specific with their niche that they actually limit their ability to grow. They’ll say things like:
- “I only help dentists”
- “I only work with coaches”
- “I only serve fitness brands”
And sometimes that niche is too small to actually get enough work to pay the bills. There just aren’t enough of that specific customer looking for your services.
Working with different types of customers teaches you:
- which industries are profitable
- which customers are easiest to work with
- And where demand is strongest
Through experience, you might discover you work really well with clients in a specific market and can refine that niche later. A lot of successful businesses accidentally found their niche after taking on a wide range of clients.
The obsession with niching often comes from marketing influencers because niche advice sounds strategic and sophisticated.
But in reality, many businesses need flexibility at the start, not restrictions.
I actually did an entire podcast episode on this exact topic, so be sure to check that out if you want to learn even more about why niching down isn’t always the right choice.
4. You Need to Be Innovative
Everyone wants to:
- disrupt industries
- reinvent systems
- change the world
- And build the “next big thing”
But most successful businesses are not revolutionary. They are reliable.
This idea that every company needs groundbreaking innovation is one of the biggest misconceptions in business.
Most businesses win simply by doing ordinary things better than everyone else.
They:
- answer emails faster
- provide better customer service
- deliver consistently
- show up on time and
- maintain quality standards
That’s it. If you can do that, you’re ahead of so many other businesses, because unfortunately, it seems like that level of consistency and service is rare nowadays.
Innovation is exciting. It feels important. It sounds impressive.
But if you can’t execute it, innovation is worthless.
There are countless businesses with brilliant ideas and terrible operations.
Meanwhile, boring businesses are making millions because they’re reliable and have been that way for years.
You don’t necessarily need to invent something new. You may simply need to improve upon something people already buy.
People will continue to buy from a business that feels dependable and consistent. It doesn’t have to be different or innovative.
5. You Need to Be On Social Media
This one may upset people the most.
The internet acts like every business absolutely needs:
- TikTok
- Twitter or
And while social media can be a helpful tool, it is not mandatory for every business.
In fact, many business owners waste enormous amounts of time trying to become content creators instead of focusing on their actual business.
Running a business and creating content are not the same skill.
Some people should absolutely lean into content because it aligns with their business model.
But many others are forcing themselves into endless posting cycles because they feel pressured by internet culture.
A lot of businesses would grow faster by:
- improving referrals
- strengthening customer retention
- improving sales processes or
- building partnerships
instead of spending hours making Instagram reels.
There are companies without social media that are making huge profits. And there are companies with huge audiences struggling financially. Social media attention does not automatically equal business success.
Another problem is that social media encourages businesses to optimize for appearance instead of fundamentals.
Companies become obsessed with:
- looking successful
- sounding innovative and
- appearing busy
Social media is a tool, but it’s not a requirement. And definitely not a substitute for a solid business.
Those were 5 commonly given pieces of business advice that I simply don’t agree with. What are your thoughts? Leave a comment down below because I’d love to hear from you.
That’s going to wrap up this week’s episode of Honestly, It’s Business. Thank you so much for joining me. If you haven’t already, make sure you’re subscribed to the channel and turn on notifications so you get notified whenever I upload new episodes of the podcast. Check out wicky.co to learn more about our services and I’ll see you next week. Love you, bye!
