I often wonder if I did a search on ‘guru’ if I would break Google. There seems to be so many ‘gurus’ about such a wide range of topics. In my opinion it has diminished the value of the words guru and expert. No longer can I trust those words when I see them on a sales page or a biography about a person as they are so widely used.

I have a friend of my parents who in times past has often liked to consult on my business without invitation (that’s putting it politely). The unfortunate aspect about this friend is I knew too much about their own life experience to be able to take the advice as credible. When I would receive these pearls of wisdom, what would be running through my head is “do as I say not as I do”. This person would give me advice on aspects about my life and my business that they had not achieved in their own. Their business was not successful, they were not an entrepreneur and they did not exhibit financial freedom or even financial control.

It made me realize a simple strategy when looking for somebody who is an expert, a guru, or can give me information to move my business and my life forward. That is to ask for experiences and not for advice.

Anybody can give advice. You could email me about the particular aspects of your business or your life and I could give you advice on that. It does not mean that my advice is qualified and most importantly that it would work.

If you were to ask me to share experiences about my journey, my business, and things that I have achieved then you would be able to learn from those. You could learn from the things I did right and you could learn from the things I did wrong, as accounts of real experiences don’t lie.

Ask me for advice on where to go for a holiday. I could tell you that backpacking with your family through Europe for three months would be the best holiday that you could do – but I have never done that. So how could my advice point you in the right direction to having an enjoyable holiday in Europe? I can’t tell you where to stay, where to go, or whether backpacking is the best choice and method of holiday for you.

However if you ask me in my experience what is a great place to visit, I could tell you that South America and in particular Peru is an amazing place to visit. I could tell you that visiting the non-tourist areas and seeing the real Peru is a fantastic way to spend a holiday. I can tell you this because it is an experience that I have had. I travelled with a family of friends who are actually from Peru. I didn’t visit all the tourist sites, I visited their homes in the mountains. This is an experience that I had and not just some advice I could give you.

Don’t be sucked in to the diminished words of ‘guru’ and ‘expert’ that exist in the world today. Rather gather experiences from people, and not advice, so that you can learn from their strengths and weaknesses and not just their words.